Frederick Fasehun - A Heavy Dawn
The Duke has received the news of your passing with a heavy heart and has immediately ordered the lowering of our flag and a procession to mark your passing. Although I did not agree with your politics and recent passion for some elements that scuttled our democracy and limited our freedoms, I still regarded you with the highest respect and dignity. We met twice at your hotel somewhere in Isolo. Your quiet mien and calm disposition belied the thunder your intellect and passion for your country that your words and actions showed. That day, it was a marketing call as a rookie broker. We were mandated to help raise capital for the now defunct National Bank and you know as a wise man, I concluded that this was an opportunity for the children of Oduduwa to rise up and reclaim this symbol of their ethnic prosperity so I announced gleefully to the bewildered staff and colleagues at BGL that I was coming to market you. They were shocked because this was at the peak of the wahala between your group and the splinter group led by your erstwhile man and now the Are Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land the iconic Gani Adams ( na iconic I call am o, make dem no drive me out of Shomolu o, I cannot come and cry o) so I made my contacts and within 24 hours I was seated in your presence. Suffice to say that the discussions had nothing to do with National Bank or buying any shares. We talked very deeply about the position of the Yoruba in the Nigerian Project. Although as a young man I refused to be cowed by your very strong logic and held on to my beliefs the way a drowning man holds on to the last pole in the water to save his life. All your logical punches not making me leave the emotional pole. I held tightly, not agreeing that the Yoruba was marginalized and as such had to find a way out of the artificial construct. I remember asking you if Yoruba with all your Awolowo and Abiola, your Lagos, the biggest commercial centre in Africa, your Cocoa House, your universities, your beautiful Yoruba Nollywood Actresses, your sea ports, your Obasanjo and all are crying marginalization, what do you now want my Akwa Ibom people to say? Mbok, I did not agree and still do not agree. The session lasted five hours after which you offered me a drink which I refused fearing that you may hypnotize me and turn me into a Yoruba warrior. I hugged you, leaving you better educated even though still holding on to my beliefs that all this energy and intellectual strength could be better directed to building a stronger national polity instead of just limiting it to a people who were having a very good deal in the construct. I got to the office without a cheque and received a query