28 Jul 2006 |
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I was guest speaker on Thursday, July 27, at the Third Annual Memorial Lecture in honour of the legendary Tai Solarin, founder of Mayflower School, Ikenne, social activist, conscience of the community, and a courageous man of principle who died exactly 12 years ago. I had chosen to remind the audience of the essence of the man, Tai, focussing on the continuing relevance, indeed the timelessness of his thoughts and ideas to draw attention to the omissions, the contradictions, the fault lines in our lives as a nation and a people, and by so doing, to challenge civil society to seek to fill the gaps of alienation and despair, created and widened by a leadership elite that has refused to reason with itself and other stakeholders. The lecture was titled "Tai Solarin and the Legacy of Protest: Civil Society and Nigeria's Political Transition". I had said so many other things in the 8,000 words presentation, a summary would be at best an act of self-parody. But even more so, because this for me, was not the main discovery of the occasion. I had been given an opportunity to make a speech and I did. My attention was drawn, more for my own purpose to a few other details at the event. First, the punctuality of the organisers, the members of the Tai Solarin Organisation comprising admirers and former students of the late icon. At exactly 11 a.m, the advertised time for the commencement of the programme, the Director of Ceremonies asked us to rise for the National Anthem. Tai's wife, Sheila Solarin had arrived at the venue long before 11 a.m. The organisers were determined not to keep anybody waiting. "That's exactly what Tai Solarin would have wanted. Last year, we started the programme about 10 minutes late. But this year that would not happen", said Mr. Akinbayo Adenubi, Chairman of the Tai Solarin Organisation. Such faithfulness. Such commitment to a role model. By 11. a.m. when the programme began, there were very few people in the auditorium of the Bankers' House on Adeola Hopewell, Victoria Island. But the African-time, Nigerian-time observers soon trooped in, missing major parts of the event. But the audience was varied and distinguished enough. There were no government emissaries; nobody disrupted the peace of the neighbourhood with blaring sirens. It was an audience of modest persons united by their respect for and admiration of a man who devoted his life, wholeheartedly to the promotion of the common good. It was instructive that government officials do not remember the dead, not even living icons. They are too busy with the present task at hand and their own personal concerns, to bother about seeking to erect and preserve signifying icons for the long-term edification of society. We had a good day, nonetheless. We didn't miss government. Second, was the presence of the students of Mayflower School, Ikenne - both secondary and primary school pupils. The latter were dressed as mini-versions of Tai Solarin, in khaki uniform and the famous upturned cap. The young boys looked like young Tais. And thus through them and Dr. Wale Omole, a Tai Solarin protZ The Tai Solarin Organisation incidentally, is sustained by the generosity of friends and admirers of the ideas of the late sage. The Chairman of the TSO listed the benefactors. Not one government agency was on the list. The Ogun State Government has named a University after the late Tai Solarin: that is, the Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. A statue of the social crusader, shown in his khaki shorts and shirt, his upturned cap, and a pair of socks pulled up to the calf, now all cast in stone, stands at the Yaba Bus Stop in Lagos. But for the most past, Tai Solarin, like other icons of Nigerian history, suffer neglect in the hands of a government that ought to be interested in constructing national history around the exploits and ideas of its historical figures. For me, however at the Tai Solarin lecture, the high moment was the announcement that the widow of the late Tai Solarin, had only just been given Nigerian citizenship, a day earlier Mrs. Sheila Solarin now 82, arrived in Nigeria in 1952, that is 54 years ago, and together with her husband they had both established the MayFlower School, Ikenne in 1956. Sheila and Tai were/are kindred spirits. They were a husband and wife team committed to the same ideals. Although a Briton, Mrs. Sheila Solarin had taken Nigeria as her home, and for more than 50 years she has been in the forefront of all the major struggles for the transformation of Nigeria into a better place for all. Whoever is familiar with the story of expatriate wives in Nigeria, better known as NigerWives would readily attest to the fact that Mrs. Sheila Solarin is one of those foreign wives who completely adopted Nigeria as their home. Another Nigerwife that I know who has a similar passion for Nigeria is Mrs. Doris Fafunwa, wife of the foremost educationist, Professor Babs Fafunwa. But to think that Sheila Solarin, a Nigerian wife for 52 years, mother of Nigerians and a foster-mother to generations of Nigerians who had studied at the Mayflower School, Ikenne had, all these years, been denied the right to choose to be a Nigerian? Following the disclosure I could not resist the temptation to solicit for more information: "What happened? I had asked her. "You didn't apply for Nigerian citizenship until now?" "I did", she said. "But they just wouldn't attend to my application. After many years of trying, Tai told me to leave then alone..." "But now that you finally got the citizenship, how did you go about it?" "In 2002, I decided to apply again. I put all the papers together and submitted them. But even then, it has taken them four years to grant my request." "Very interesting". "In England, it doesn't take Nigerian women married to British men this long to obtain British citizenship". "Congratulations, all the same Ma". "Thank you." If anyone deserves Nigerian citizenship, Sheila Solarin does. Section 27 of the 1999 Consitution outlines the conditions precedent to the granting of ctizenship by naturalisation. One fellow remarked: "At least, now, she can die a Nigerian". But when I mentioned this at another forum later, the immediate reaction was: why should anyone hanker after Nigerian citizenship? Which is perhaps a useful point? To see a British seeking to become a Nigerian, applying again and again, for naturalisation in a country whose citizens are to tell the truth, fleeing to other lands, imbues us with some hope that perhaps, Nigeria is not yet a lost case. Sadly, there are many young Nigerians who have since acquired the citizenship of other lands, and although Nigeria allows dual nationality, these Nigerians value their other passport more than the Nigerian green passport. At 82, and with the bulk of her life's work behind her Sheila Solarin obviously stands to benefit nothing from holding a Nigerian passport. If it is meant to be an honour, it is coming rather late. Citizenship is a sore point in Nigerian life and society. Even persons who are Nigerians by birth often find themselves in situations in which they are compelled to doubt their citizenship. The distinction between indigenes and settlers in parts of the country, made worse by the politics of ethnic advantages, promotes a variant of politics of exclusion which has been accompanied by much distrust. In this connection the long residence of a Nigerian in a part of the country does not confer any rights on such a person. Women are discriminated against on the basis of state of origin and their spouse's state of origin. The effect is that there are many Nigerians who are at best non-citizens. For Nigerwives, the refusal to allow many of them naturalisation rights should be seen in the content of this structural discrimination. It explains why such women are classified as Expatriates who are required to obtain Residence Permits. The Nigeria Immigration Service routinely dicriminates against foreign women who are married to Nigerians. By treating them as expatriates, they are made to feel as if they are unwanted, and even worse, it is the idea of the family that is attacked in the process since these women are also invariably mothers of Nigerians. Three years ago, Nigerwives nearly carried placards when following the introduction of a new scheme called Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien's Card, many of them were placed in dificult circumstances. Could Sheila have been a a special target because of her activism? This is most likely. Her husband, Tai Solarin was a thorn in the flesh of the establishment. It must have given some sadists in the corridors of power great pleasure, to deny Tai Solarin's wife access to Nigerian citizenship, more so since she was the one asking for it. Which is a shame for there are many expatriates, in diffrenet stations who have identified with this country in seasons of pain and gain, whose lives have been eternally linked to ours, and to whom we should be eternally grateful as a nation. Fr. Dennis Slattery, the legend is one of these. Susanne Wenger, the Adunni Olorisa of Osun Osogbo also. And Mrs Sheila Solarin. At 80 plus, Tai Solarin's wife remains active and alert. Old woman that she is, when she found an opportunity to tell the younger people a story that would enrich their knowledge she did. And this had to do with an alternative Nigerian national anthem which the students had sung at the ocassion. According to her, the song was composed by Tai Solarin and Anthony Enahoro in protest against the first Nigerian national anthem which was put together by an English woman for the then newly independent Nigerian nation. The news of Sheila Solarin's Nigerian citizenship brought a feeling of relief to the hall. The students of Mayflower School Ikenne, who came to the event with their schjool hymn book and who regaled us with many songs, launched into a special song, taken from the hymn book (Hymn No 32) in honour of Sheila Solarin. Composed by Dr Wale Omole, the song titled: "Sheila Mama Nla" is as follows Sheila obirin ogun Sheila obirin rere Omo tobi jegberun lo Mele kawon tan Koi to (2ce) Sama ko wa niso o A o s'omo fun o Mama, koi to Sama ko wa niso o A'o somo fun o Lawyers lo bi jo Doctors lo bi jo Engineers lo bi jo Mama, koi to Sama ko wa niso o A o somo fun o.... The song in one word, is a tribute to a wonderful mother by a generatioon of grateful children. This alone is more than a green passport welcoming Sheila Solarin to Nigeria after 52 years. The Solarins deserve much greater honour.
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