I thank the Afolabi family and the funeral committee for inviting me to speak here today. I shall try to make the best of the few minutes allotted. This speech is written to preempt misquotations.
In honouring SM as we fondly called our departed one, we must avoid claptrap. There are many worn-out cliches on some condolence registers. We should all be rather concerned about SM’s somewhat forced exit. He died a very sad man. Was this what he deserved? Tongue-in-cheek, we talk of our great shock, that such a great and good man, has died with his colossal loss creating a vacuum which cannot but be difficult to fill. We all know these are insincere and pretentious.
SM was a humble, simple and hardworking man who struggled all his life to serve his GOD and country. When will Nigeria learn to reward patriotism, loyalty, friendship, hardwork, talent and honesty? If we come here and shed tears, is it really for SM, for our very selves, his family or the nation. Let us rather shed tears for Nigeria. Let us celebrate SM’s life, bitter-sweet-bitter, as it has turned out.
SM was a loyal follower, a sincere leader, reliable friend and a strong believer in injustice and fairplay. SM was a man. He never played god. GOD is the only perfect being. No human being is ever completely good. No human being can be absolutely honest. There is no one among us who knows everything. However, GOD knows everything. SM Afolabi was an ordinary man, from an ordinary background, with ordinary talents which he used to construct an extraordinary life. He did great things with the little he started with. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He came from a small town. He was not a graduate or an intellectual. He was a modest University accountant who became a Deputy Governor, a Minister of Education and a Minister of Internal Affairs.
The story of his life and death interweaves with that of Bola Ige. They were both in the originally Action Group, then foundation members of UPN becoming Governor/Deputy Governor. They also both became full Ministers in the PDP-controlled Federal Government. SM had his detour through NPN, PF, SDP, DPN and PDM. Thus it was that Osun got two full ministers who unfortunately both came to tragic ends. Both men were roughly the same age. Ige, was a Demosthenes, an orator, and a brainbox. SM was politically something of a Mark Anthony. We must thank GOD for the life of SM and bravely reconcile ourselves to the fact of his sorrowful death. The Almighty Lord has spared him further torment. I trust GOD implicitly. Certainly His ways are not our ways. God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.
Something scares me. Was SM a sacrificial lamb or a scapegoat? I once asked Bola Ige whether Nigeria was worth dying for. He told me he was sure that it was worth LIVING for. He was, however, not so sure it was worth DYING for. With all I now know and SM’s death, I am convinced Nigeria is actually not worth dying for. Governor Ladoja stated that SM lived for Nigeria and died for Nigeria. That was apt. Poor SM! Osun Deputy Governor, Sola Obada is something of a brave, bold and beautiful amazon! Hear her: “Even in death, Baba, GOD will exonerate you, clear your name and grant you peaceful rest in Jesus’ name.” SM’s life had its share of peaks and troughs.
The 1965 physical clash with SLA at Iree, the Awolowo curse at a 1983 campaign at Mapo and the ID card matter late 2003, deserve no further mention. Altogether, SM had an eventful, good and great run. If you seek insight into how death ambushed him and the excessive trauma he must have suffered, notice that he died on Monday, May 10, 2004. Then try to discover his state of mind on Saturday, May 10, 2003. On that day, SM would never have suspected that he had only one calendar year left. He was very happy. Think! May 10, 2003 came with joy all around SM. That was half-way between April 19, 2003 and May 29 , 2003; signifying victory and swearing-in, at all levels - federal, state etc. SM as political master-craftsman was obviously ambushed, shipwrecked or marooned by Fate on May 10, 2004. Somehow, I feel SM took Nigerian politics a bit too seriously. That was probably a grave fault. We are yet to devote ourselves seriously to the betterment of Nigeria and her peoples. We presently practice live and let die.
I pray for SM’s entire family and advise the young Afolabis to avoid any controversy about the life and death of SM. God must have cleared him by now. I must apologise to anyone who complains that much of our carrying on here today resembles secretly returning items of personal clothing to someone who had earlier been stripped naked in the full glare of the public. God is the best architect, the final judge and the most accurate accountant. May GOD receive SM into paradise.
Two Poems fit this occasion:
H.W. Longfellow: A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real!
Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
James Shirley: Death the Leveller
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
SM was after all a lucky man. He died in 2004 when his PDP is in power. His mother died in 1983 when
his NPN was in power. His father died earlier when his UPN was in power in the old Oyo State.
SUNDAY MICHAEL AFOLABI, REST IN PERFECT PEACE
Requiem eternam dona eis domine et lux perpetua luceat eis. SM Fare forward,
SM Farewell, SM goodnight, SM goodbye Afolabi omo Dayioje, 0 di gba o se
Being text of tribute by Dr. Omololu Olunloyo at the lying-in-state of Sunday Afolabi at the Lekan Salami Stadium, June 24, 2004.
