By Olusegun Adeniyi
The bombshell memoir of the late Eme Awa, a professor of political science and former chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), was completed 25 years ago in December 1995 and six years before his death in March 2000. Mrs. Selome Awa (Mummy Awa as we call her) published it posthumously. I was availed a copy ahead of its presentation. It tells a compelling story of the political journey of Nigeria before and after independence, the mutual ethnic suspicions that ultimately led to the civil war, the mismanagement of our diversity by the military, the incursion of tribalism into the academic community and of course the ‘transition’ to civil rule programme of General Ibrahim Babangida in which Awa played a critical role. Some may remember his controversial removal as NEC Chairman as well as the drama of how his name was displaced at the last minute by J.S. Cookey as chair of the 1986 Political Bureau.
Across the world, the Labour movement is today commemorating May Day, otherwise called Workers Day. But in Nigeria, there appears to be nothing to celebrate apart from being alive
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