Only few others qualify as well as LKJ to do all the three - I hope I do justice.
The death of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande brings to my mind the triumph of excellence in political leadership as well as rebellion against the political order.
A lot has been said about LKJ since he died yesterday and I hope only to contribute my perspective to enrich all said.
Only few others qualify as well as LKJ to do all the three - I hope I do justice.
LKJ's parents were from Omu-Aran in present day Kwara State but he contributed more to Lagos than so many others - we will return to this subsequently.
The political threat to Awo was very real.
He conceded ground and began to subsidise Muslim pilgrimages, appointing more Muslims into Western Region boards and agencies and openly attacking the NML which soon changed its name.
Awo therefore called on his own Muslim allies who were actually mostly non-political and got them to form a rival Muslim organisation.
Jakande stayed close to Awolowo afterwards politically and even went to jail for him.
Enahoro managed to escape the borders of Nigeria until the following year in 1963 but all the others suffered jail time.
Despite having been born in Epetedo, a lot of issue was made of his Kwara roots that Awo had to balance the ticket with Alhaji Rafiu Jafojo, an Awori indigenous Lagosian.
Jakande was the UPN flagbearer.
The stories of Ige and Jakande would soon collide but let's stay on LKJ for now.
Adeniran Ogunsanya ran on the NPP platform which had Tunde Edu as State Chairman, also formidable.
Jakande/Jafojo defeated them overwhelmingly.
He understood that Lagos was a growing city and his focus was to configure Lagos to accommodate the large and likely to increase population; that was his joker.
Houses were built with space constraints in mind - 3 and 4 storey buildings with single and double bedrooms were his hallmark.
He built that very road that Fashola added one extra lane on both sides and proposed tollgates for, despite Lagos guaranteeing the funds used to build it.
Let us spare some praise for the men who governed Lagos alongside LKJ...
Hamzat was then nominated by Pa Rafiu Ishola Solomon into the Lagos cabinet (Ganiyu Solomon's father).
It was this visionary cabinet that helped LKJ to succeed.
While Jakande was called "Baba Kekere", Ige was called "Arole Awolowo" and were seen as rivals of sorts.
But Jakande was a financial patron of Awo's political family, many of whom held no office and lived around Awolowo in Apapa; so they supported him and disliked Ige.
The charge was that the 28.5km Light Rail Lagos Metroline Project which was to convey about 40,000 commuters daily was 'corruption'.
But some then young fellows in the party were having none of it and one of them was Bola Ahmed Tinubu - they put forward Dapo Sarumi against the establishment candidate of their elders and party leaders.
The primaries was to be direct with all party members across all wards in the state voting and much manipulation of membership was introduced.
Awolowo’s daughter, Tokunbo Dosunmu, got only 7,362 votes.
Sarumi protested the results bitterly.
The LKJ group insisted Agbalajobi had won and both camps found no truce.
The regime through the electoral umpire intervened and disqualified both Agbalajobi and Sarumi from the race.
But back to LKJ...
Edu won the SDP ticket and faced Michael Otedola of the NRC whom Jakande tactically and covertly supported against his own party - Otedola won.
(This tweet is for those who will urge one to write a book: I've started it, will finish it this year insha Allah.)
Their politics was: "he who is not for us..."
Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande had only an opportunity for greatness thrust upon him and then he achieved greatness with his own hand and mind.
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I just finished Eric Adler's The Battle of the Classics, and wanted to say something about Joel Christiansen's review linked below. I am not sure what motivates the review (I speculate a bit below), but it gives a very misleading impression of the book. 1/x
The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x
Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x
The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x
It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x
As someone\u2019s who\u2019s read the book, this review strikes me as tremendously unfair. It mostly faults Adler for not writing the book the reviewer wishes he had! https://t.co/pqpt5Ziivj
— Teresa M. Bejan (@tmbejan) January 12, 2021
The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x
Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x
The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x
It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x