Book Launch: Offa people celebrate First Republic Opposition leader, J.S. Olawoyin

 

A first Republic Opposition leader in the Northern Region House of Assembly, Chief Josiah Olawoyin was on Wednesday celebrated at a book launch held in his home town, Offa in Offa local government area of Kwara state.

A convergence of sons and daughters of Yoruba land who were present in the ancient town praised the courage of the late politician who was the only elected member of the Action Group (AG) in the Assembly dominated by the ruling Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) in the country.

The event was the book launch and posthumous centenary birthday celebration of the late politician, which was graced with the presence of political class, traditional institutions, business moguls, among other personalities.

The book, a compendium of unnamed writers has its foreward written by a veteran journalist and former editor of the Nigerian Tribune, Mr Banji Ogundele.

Reviewing the book, titled, J. S. Olawoyin: a century of legacy and leadership, Dr Lasisi Olagunju, an award winning editor, Saturday Tribune, told stories of network of relationships among Offa, Ilorin, Ibadan, and old Oyo people, as well as other tribes in the country.

The book is well referenced and comprehensively indexed. It is a worthy testimonial in memory of a worthy Chief J. S. Olawoyin. The book has done a great justice to the life and memory of the first Asiwaju of Offa.

“It’s a celebration of glorious place of Offa and its leadership in Yoruba history. I recommend the book to all leaders and aspiring leaders to know the strength of the complexity called Nigeria and to all, who currently suffer subjugation and slavery made in the Nigeria state.

“The book tells them that the masquerade that currently pursues them and pursues us would soon be tired. And they should not surrender to the marauding spirit”.

The reviewer also eulogized the late elder statesman for bequeathing a worthy legacy, while he congratulated the children for allowing their father to live on through them.

Also speaking, the Senator representing Kwara South senatorial district, Lola Ashiru, said that the late politician was an inspiration and a lesson for the present generation of politicians and the generality of the people of Nigeria.

He said, “Late Chief J S. Olawoyin was a leading light in the political trajectory of Offa and the then Northern Nigeria. It’s now a thing of pride to be a Yoruba man.

He added that through the efforts of such courageous people, a Yoruba man can now walk freely in Abuja.

The chairman of the occasion and a legal icon, Yusuf Ali (SAN) lamented that principled political stands have left the nation’s politics, especially, starting from the Second Republic.

He said that the matter is made worse today because, “unlike in the First Republic, when the political parties were mass movement and owned by all party members. Today, the political parties are virtually owned by the mighty, powerful and the rich in the society.”

Ali said “late Chief Olawoyin, by his principle political stands, showed that one can be a politician with high moral values, adding that the late elder statesman refused all the juicy political offers to stay true to his political convictions.

“Chief Olawoyin used his politics to benefit his immediate consistency, Offa, and the larger North. He was a formidable man in the opposition camp.

This was at a time when the opposition was playing the role it ought to play by putting the government of the day on its toes”, Ali said.

Notable traditional rulers at the event were Oba Adedokun Abolarin, Orangun of Oke-Ila in Osun state, Oba AbdulRazaq Afolabi, Olojoku of Ojoku and Oba Muftau Lawal, Onipe of Ipee while all the traditional chiefs in Offa represented the Olofa of Offa, Oba Muftau Gbadamosi (EsuwoyeII.)

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