Obafemi Awolowo the late
Nigerian nationalist and statesman who played a key role in Nigeria’s
independence, was widely known for his wise sayings and words of predictions
and was also credited with predicting the emergence of the Islamic sect, Boko
Haram.
PM News got a compilation
of predictions made by the late sage, where many of his predictions which date
back as far as 1947, have been fulfilled.
The Obafemi Awolowo
Foundation produced the most popular quotes and predictions by one of the
greatest Nigerians ever to come out of the western part of the country.
Awo
on an Ijaw Presidency of Nigeria
“I look forward to the day
– not in the far distant future – when an Ijaw would be President of our
Republic, and a Birom his Vice or vice versa.”
– Speech at the UPN’s First
Campaign (1978): In Voice of Wisdom (1981)
Awo
On Future Conflicts
“The seed for a future
minority problem in the North has been sown by the Government. It will grow
with growing political consciousness on the part of those who settle permanently
in the North.”
– Path to Nigerian Freedom
(1947)
Awo
On The Risk That The Few Rich Are Running
“We have in our midst about
1,000 rich Nigerians who in the past cleverly rigged the sources of the wealth
of our nation, and we are now tactically poised to oligopolise all the
munificent avenues of riches that may supervene now and in the future.
“The rich, and the
highly-placed in business, public life, and government, are running a dreadful
risk in their callous neglect of the poor and down-trodden.”
– Address delivered to Ondo
House of Assembly (1980): Voice of Wisdom, 1981.
Awo’s
Self-Assessment As A Leader
“While many men in power
and public office are busy carousing in the midst of women of easy virtue and
men of low morals, I, as a few others like me, am busy at my desk thinking
about the problems of Nigeria and proffering solutions to them. Only the deep
can call to the deep.”
Awo
on State Police
“Under my proposals, Police
is a residual subject, because the immediate problem of maintaining law and
order can only be properly and more effectively tackled by the State
Government.”
– The Strategy and Tactics
of the Peoples’ Republic of Nigeria, 1970.
Awo
on Population As Basis Of Sharing Revenue
“In a country where the
accuracy of the census figures is so much in acrimonious dispute, it is gross
and aggravating provocation to urge that population should be used as a basis
of sharing what belongs to others who are much fewer in number.”
-The Strategy and Tactics
of the People’s Republic of Nigeria, 1970.
Awo
On Creation of More States for Minorities
“The creation of the Mid-
West State will be the beginning of a journey which may be short or long but
which will irresistibly bring Nigeria to the goal of true federalism and more
States, and of individual freedom and happiness for all our people.”
– Awolowo and Nigerian
Federalism, 1988.
Awo
On Nigeria As Created By The British
“It is incontestable that
the British not only made Nigeria, but also hand it to us whole on their
surrender of power. But the Nigeria, which they handed over to us, had in it
the forces of its own disintegration. It is up to contemporary Nigerian leaders
to neutralize these forces, preserve the Nigerian inheritance, and make all our
people free, forward-looking and prosperous.”
– The Peoples’ Republic,
1968.
Awo
on Self-Seeking African Leaders
“Africa has produced more
self-seeking leaders than public-spirited ones. But, thank goodness, the masses
of the people remain largely unspoilt and uncorrupted, and are developing fast
the technique of differentiating gold from lead and real metal from dross. What
is more, they have begun to show their preparedness for very rough action
against any political leader who may be caught in the game of public trickery
and fraud.”
– The People’s Republic,
1968.
Awo
On “The Courage To Look”
“The gloom of the world is
but a shadow, and there is radiance in the darkness, if we could but see. To be
able to see this radiance, all you need to do is to cultivate the courage to
look, and the insight to apprehend the light which shines, at all times and in
all places, for those who make Truth the object of their daily pursuit.”
Speech to University
Graduands (1967): In Voice of Courage, 1981
Always written by the wise
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