I Wish PDP Will Not Survive This Crisis

Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, who became a lawyer in 1961, marked his 80th birthday on Tuesday 17 September 2013. The founder of Nigeria Advance Party speaks to General Editor, ADEMOLA ADEGBAMIGBE, on his life, his ordeals when he was defending Chief Obafemi Awolowo (during his treasonable trial) and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. He  appraises also President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, comments on the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party, the way forward for Nigeria and other issues. Photo Editor, IDOWU OGUNLEYE, snapped the shots   

How will you describe your life as you clock 80?

The point is this, at 80 years, you must imagine that anybody who clocks 80 must have seen a bit of life’s ups and downs, but basically I thank God who allows me to reach this age. I pray that you too will reach 80. Somebody says to clock 80 in the tough terrain of Nigeria is a big feat. I agree. But our lives are in the hands of God.

 Many believe you have Lagos and Ijesha blood running in your veins…

Tunji Braithwaite is a son of the soil of Lagos State although we have our ancestry as well in two states now – Ilesha, Osun State and Abeokuta, Ogun State. But we were all born in Lagos here at the old Mercy Maternity Hospital, That was the only maternity hospital run by the British government then. It was a high quality maternity hospital and that was where I was born on 17 September 1933.

I went to school in Lagos – CMS Grammar School, Lagos. Then I went abroad to study Law because during the colonial rule, you had to go abroad to study most courses. In Nigeria, no university taught Law, even till the time that I graduated. I graduated in 1960. I am a Barrister of England. When I came back, there was no Law School in Nigeria and a few of us did not attend Nigerian Law School. So in practical terms, any lawyer or any judge, living or dead, who attended the Nigerian Law School is my junior at the Bar.

During your school years, can you remember any of your mates, those who are alive and those who have passed on?

Yes. Ernest Shonekan is one and he is alive. There was one Oba, a paramount ruler, he was in the military then, he passed on not too long ago. He was an Oba in one of the Ijebu towns. There was Professor Afolabi Olumide, who was the pioneering Vice-cChancellor of Lagos State University, LASU.

Many lawyers like to refer to the late Alexander Sapara Williams as their role model. Who is yours? 

Sapara Williams was in fact my relation; he was my older brother from my father’s side. He was one of the first lawyers, along with the Kesters.

Well, my role model as a lawyer was an English Lord (and I’m sure so many lawyers will agree with me). His name is Lord Denning. He was a great lawyer and he must have inspired 10,000 x 10,000 lawyers across the world. Even in other democracies, like in the United States, they cite Denning.

Why did you prefer private practice to the Bench?

In our time, the Bench was very dignified no doubt and most lawyers aspired to the higher Bench. But at the same time, legal practice offered young, hardworking lawyers a fast track to build a reputation, accompanied with wealth, because there were not many lawyers. I think I was number 234 or so on the roll, which means, from the time that lawyers were enrolled, from the time of Sapara Williams, the Moores, Alakija, Fani-Kayode, Rotimi Williams and others.

There was a lot of opportunities for lawyers to get to the top of their professions. Though the Bench was revered, in terms of building up a reputation, accompanied with wealth, private practice offered better options.

As a lawyer, you defended the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Can you narrate some of the experiences again?

The defence of Awolowo came with some difficulties. The defence of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, too, came with its own difficulties. But that of Awolowo was unique in the sense that it was the first treason trial that ever took place in Nigeria and even since then there aren’t many treason or treasonable trials.

So in terms of its legal and professional magnitude, the case was unique. There was great tension in the country; political tension. It got to a point that relating to Awolowo was dangerous, in the sense that the powers that be, led by the Northern oligarchs, controlled the Federal Government which had the power of life and death, so to speak. Distribution of patronage was in their hands and they could arrest and detain people without trial for days. And here was I, a young lawyer – I was under 30 years – going publicly in the open to relate to this man and to the annoyance of the powers that be. I was threatened with detention.

Awolowo was being persecuted. His friends and associates betrayed him. They came forward to say things against him and by my nature, I simply abhorred that persecution. The more Awolowo was persecuted, the more I felt obliged in my own young and humble way to be a source of comfort to him. That was the compelling reason. And as I said, we were marked.

And in the Nigerian situation, the government could distribute patronage and also intimidate. It was a civilian government but the country was polarised because the 1959 Constitution under which the country attained independence was so lopsided that only a northerner could become Prime Minister. In practical terms, the constitution so gave the North a disproportionate number of seats, that a northerner needed not come down to any part of the South to canvass for votes. He would win overall majority. That was how we started.

So the country was polarised and my nature abhors injustice; my nature is inclined to be in the support of the oppressed and the downtrodden. Awolowo was oppressed in the right sense of the word and if you are a student of history, one of the consequences of that injustice and oppression was the first coup in the country.

Since Awolowo was incarcerated, they could not conduct elections; there were inconclusive elections in 1964, there were general strikes. Talk about heating up of the polity. In the end, the first coup took place by young, idealistic, military boys in the rank of major. No one can deny that it was an indirect consequence of injustice and the persecution of one man who was popular in the entire south-west. So the trial was prolonged but he endured the trial because they locked him up in prison and while he was in prison, his first son, Segun, died in a motor accident. His promising son, first born, died in tragic circumstances! We all felt sorry for him. I remember that on the very day that I heard, I went to see him in prison at Broad Street, where they call Freedom Park now.

He was first of all banished to a place near Epe, then he was under house arrest before he was transferred to a place at Ikoyi. Then he was removed to prison. It was during this time that his first son died and the persecution nonetheless continued. I can say this without any fear of contradiction because I was part of the whole thing; all the trials. Everything was being teleguided. So I said it was dangerous for people to continue to see me with him, but that is my nature.

Apart from threats of detention, were there other threats of physically harming you at that time by the government?

They held the power, the federal power. By the grace of God, I am alive to tell the story.

Looking critically at the trial, there was a time S.G. Ikoku accused Awolowo of gun-running. How did you view that?

Well, not only SG, who was one of Awolowo’s closest aides, but many of them betrayed him. That was one of the reasons that attracted me to support and comfort Awolowo. It was not only Ikoku. For instance, the chief prosecution witness in Awolowo’s trial was the son of one of his closest aides, Dr. Maja. The chief prosecution witness who gave graphic evidence, so to speak, of his being there, of his being part of those who were sent to Ghana to go and train and to bring in guns. So it was not only Ikoku, many of them betrayed the man.

The media at that time were not as free as you have now. The media were muzzled. There were not many newspapers and there were no magazines. I believe that the British government, if they did not instigate Awolowo’s persecution were certainly giving information to the Nigerian government, led by the northern oligarchs. Things could not be worse for Awolowo.

The only reason I can give for the British interest in the persecution of Awolowo was that, of all the national leaders in the country, Awolowo and, to some extent, Aminu Kano, posed a threat to the colonialists’ economic exploitation. Awolowo, Aminu Kano in the North and of course, his counterpart in Ghana, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. These three were seen as likely to derail the exploitative appetite of the colonialists.

How did you feel in court the day Awolowo delivered that moving speech when he was going to prison, especially when the judge said “My hands are tied”. Many people have termed it as a political statement. How do you interpret that?

I was in the court room. It was obvious that Justice Sowemimo was telling Awolowo that it was more than an ordinary judgment. It was a loaded statement. So everyone was telling Awolowo that Sowemimo knew Awolowo well, on a personal level, I think. Well, he couldn’t help it. You could interpret it whichever way you like but you could interpret it as, I have to do my duty under the law. Under the law you are guilty. You can also interpret it in another sense: Sir, I would not have done this but for the pressure on me. But clearly, it was more than its literal connotations.

Apart from being a victim of persecution at that time, did you admire his politics?

Well, I wasn’t a politician; my involvement with Awolowo started purely on legal ground and sympathy. You have to distinguish that because I was not in politics. If I were to be involved in politics, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was the one likely to interest me.

Why?

Because Zik himself was a pupil under my uncle. Zik cut his political teeth under two people: Dr. Herbert Macauley and my uncle, S. H. Braithwaite, my father’s brother, who was the publisher of one of the earliest newspapers, called The Advocate. So Zik was very close to my family. He told me this himself. He was very close, you know he spoke Yoruba fluently and he called me by my first name. He was a very amiable person, Dr. Azikiwe. So if I were to choose a political person between Chief Awolowo and Dr. Azikiwe, for those reasons, I would choose Azikiwe. But as I said, my attraction for Awolowo was purely because of sympathy. Mama HID Awolowo is still alive and she always says, This is the true son of Baba (her husband).

Ten years ago, when I celebrated my 70th birthday, Mama sent an emisary, Lawyer Awoniyi, who came here and said wonderful things about my relationship with the Awolowo family.

When you formed the Nigeria Advance Party, NAP, how did Awolowo and Zik take it?

Well, Awolowo took it very very badly for the simple reason that he thought I was with him all the way till his release and after his release he set up his own practice. He later handed it over to one of his nephews, Sogbesan or Odegbesan. I remember that I gave Chief Awolowo, in his professional setting, the first brief, the first case. I invited his chambers to participate in one major case with me and while he was in the Ministry of Finance, his chambers was functioning and Odegbesan or Sogbesan would come to my chambers to brainstorm and to share brief.

He was a lecturer at the University of Lagos. When Chief Awolowo set up his chambers, he brought him out of the university. He didn’t have much experience in practice. Chief Awolowo used to send him to me and we interacted a great deal. And it went on and on until the time of his return to politics. I was very close to him. His surviving associates will testify to the fact that I was a member of Awolowo’s kitchen cabinet, so to speak. I was involved in major political decisions he took. This is why he was shocked when I formed the Nigeria Advance Party, NAP.

But the truth of the matter was that, all along, the people from the Middle Belt approached me, they came to this house. When they approached me and said we should form a party – this was in the wake of the return to politics in 1977-78 – I was not thinking of forming a political party. But these people came from the North, the Middle Belt.

They were in some form of alliance with Action Group in the First Republic. They said, what was needed in the next dispensation was just not an ordinary party but the political culture must be revolutionised and that the pre-coup political culture would be inadequate for the next dispensation. And that was a formidable proposal.

In other words, they said the next politics would require someone with a revolutionary bent, someone with courage. They were thinking about their situation vis a vis the deep North, as they used to call them.

The politics of that time was dominated by the Caliphate; they called them the hegemonists. They believed that it was their natural and divine right to dominate Nigeria. This was one of the reasons Cameroun seceded; they thought that Nigerian politics was dominated by the Northern hegemonists.

So this group of people came from Middle Belt, they came to invite me to form the Nigeria Advance Party and throughout the discussions, I was reporting to Chief Awolowo, everything. Chief Awolowo told me to listen to everything they were saying. I was reporting every conversation, I was reporting everything to him faithfully because they had an alliance with his party. Joseph Tarka was jailed alongside Awolowo, but later released. As I was reporting everything to him, at some stage he warned me to be careful, maybe those people were looking for money, that I should be careful but go along and listen out. I was giving them all the papers exchanged. Politics gathered momentum.

To underscore my deep connection with Chief Awolowo, I even invited some bright, radical lawyers like Alao Aka-Bashorun and others. I took them to Chief Awolowo because Alao Aka-Bashorun was a socialist, involved with workers’ union. I took them, they were not within the Action Group but I brought them and introduced them to Awolowo and they were very happy.

Later, when we formed, NAP, Aka-Bashorun told people that he could not understand Tunji; that Tunji brought them to Awolowo and then he left them there to form NAP!

I forgot to tell you this. There was one young man, Dasuki, he was a young civil servant in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I also introduced him to Chief Awolowo. When politics was to restart, Dasuki died. He was a Sokoto Caliphate prince. He was a rallying point for some bright northern youths and I had known him in the course of my profession. His boss at the Ministry of Internal Affairs was the late Sunday Awoniyi, who was permanent secretary. We used to interact at Expatriate Quarters because there were not many expatriates in the country.

This Dasuki, too, got northern boys round to support Amino Kano. I said to them: Let us do Awolowo-Aminu  Kano coalition, and that it was a coalition that could help the country against the feudalists from the North.

They bought it. So I said that to Dasuki and some of his friends, including one young Colonel or Major called Ibrahim Babangida. I introduced Babangida to Awolowo.

So when eventually, out of ideals, I became convinced that we must begin the process of revolutionary change in Nigeria, then with my own resources, I founded NAP. It was a truly socialist-political party because I brought out from the universities some young, radical, socialist thinkers.

There was a bright, young man called Jide Alao who was Nigeria’s ambassador to, I think, Brazil. He was a member of the founding team. Young Turks, rugged men, I brought them together to form the truly socialist political party called NAP. It was too much for the military junta. It was perceived by the military as dangerous, so they refused us registration. Instead, they registered the parties from the old governments because they believed they could manipulate the older ones into obedience.

In spite of the non-registration, we continued until we got registration in 1982 under the civilian regime. And that was how I contested. Chief Awolowo found me across the table whenever political parties had to meet. But he took it in good stride. You know, he got over the initial shock and then he said, ‘Well, you know Tunji is too idealist.’ So that’s that.

Was it the same reason that you defended Fela too?

Well, everybody knew that I was Fela’s lawyer, and the Kalakuta Republic. Well, Fela’s case was different. Obasanjo, Danjuma, Abiola and all those guys were pretending that Fela was corrupting the young generation. These were people who were themselves not saints. Talk about womanising, Obasanjo is noted for that sort of thing; Abiola, you know…

That’s why I said Fela’s case was radical. So they decided that they had had enough of Fela. So they decided that Fela must be, if not liquidated, reined in. So they sent a thousand troops – can you imagine, a thousand soldiers or thereabouts – to go and deal with Fela, burn down his house, deal with those girls and his band boys. It was a black Friday in February 1977, and his aged mother, in her 70s, was manhandled.

Fela’s elder brother, Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, came over here with tears in his eyes – not so much for Fela but for their mother. Although he knew other lawyers, he felt I was best suited for that case. That’s how I went into that case.

Again, it was a classical case of injustice and oppression. In the Fela case, the judge did not say that his hands were tied. The judge said, ‘The king can do no wrong.’ The king in this context was the military junta. Can you imagine, using an old English antiquated legal maxim when British subjects were precisely what they were called – slaves to their king. It was a very interesting case indeed.

I used my experience in that case in my doctoral thesis. We went through the entire trial and the Nigerian judges, their nerves failed them, right up to the Supreme Court. The trial judge, I’m quoting from the court record, found that no fewer than 1000 troops descended on Fela’s residence and burnt the place down. Fela was not harmed, Fela was innocent. They burnt the place down and ill-treated them. They even went to the ridiculous extent of acknowledging damages to which Fela was entitled but he said he could not award any damage because ‘The king could do no wrong’.

He also said that we did not come under the fundamental human rights case because fundamental human rights law had not been enshrined in the constitution. The Fela case and its ridiculous judgement had been sufficiently dealt with but one aspect that I will tell you here is this. Something good came out of that case, however. It was because of the Fela case that the Constituent Assembly went to include fundamental human rights in the Nigerian Constitution.

In civilised countries, or where people are civil and broad minded, fundamental rights law should be called Fela’s Law for generations to come.

I am very positive that the fundamental human rights law that we enjoy in this country will still be called Fela’s law.

You know Obama Medicare and so many laws in civilised nations are named after victims that caused the making of that law. The people here are so backward. Apart from his timeless music, that law should have been named after Fela. It should have been Fela’s law because it was as a result of that brutality and to correct the failure of justice that the law came.

How will you compare activism then with what obtains now?

Well, activism now has been keeping with the modern times and what obtains in other parts of the world and with all the influence and effect of the social media. Activism now is more effective. If we had this kind of modern technology – social media, computer, GSM – I think the country would have made progress. Like the one we did in January last year – the fuel subsidy thing. It has reduced to some extent the culture of impunity; corruption without caring. There is also the role of the press, especially magazines like TheNEWS and TELL, which put people in public office in limelight. For me, it is not yet enough, we should still do more. Activitism now is consistent with modern times and in other places.

How will you appraise the Jonathan administration?

When Jonathan launched my book last year, I said this is a man that should be given a chance, that I had met him just once or twice prior to that day and I found him humble, better educated than any prior president in this country. All that combined, I said  the country should at least give him a chance. But I said that with a caveat; that Jonathan should free himself from the sharks and wild animals that surround him. The people we describe as mosquitoes and rats, that he had to free himself from their grip. Unfortunately, however, to me he has not been able to cut loose from those elements and if care is not taken, they might scuttle the young man’s prospects.

I want you to speak on the reconciliation going on within the PDP, which prides itself as the biggest party in Africa?

Nigerians relish and venerate mediocrity! What is the biggest party? How long ago did they found PDP?

PDP is a grouping of opportunistic, self-seeking Nigerians who see government as a means of rapid self-enrichment, that’s all. That is what binds them together. I dislike this ridiculous appellation of biggest party. In any case, they are now fragmenting, the so-called biggest party, because the party never had cohesive ideals of patriotism. The party lacks a compass. Even an individual, a man, needs a compass in life. It lacks philosophy or principles. PDP lacks any cohesive idea. One looks at their manifesto, very hollow, and it is just a man’s slogan. I must say it is the same for all of them, including the latest grouping, called All Progressives Congress, APC.

The succeeding generations, by virtue of education, can discern better than the older ones and that is why the centre can no longer hold. I don’t see the PDP surviving its ongoing crisis despite their penchant for fixing things by Ghana Must Go.

That is the very reason that the party will not stand; because it is not bound together by serious ideals of selflessness. If there is not something in it for them they are not interested. I don’t see them surviving this crisis.

I don’t want them to survive!

Do you have any plan for NAP to contest, even if you don’t play a crucial role because of your age?

Well, the spirit of NAP can never die. That’s the interesting thing. That is why we are talking about coming out with constructive ideas and proposals for the people, and not for myself. The ideals of NAP can never die. NAP is a socialist organisation and you know the NAP motto, our philosophy, there are two: social justice and we urge people to take their destiny into their hands. And it is still coming to that in this country.

How did you get your dress sense?

I am very happy about my dress sense. Actually I called in one of the best designers that Nigeria had at the time, Shade Thomas. I gave her an idea of how we would like to dress and at that time; it was in 1980. I said I wanted short sleeves, dignified, that we should role up our sleeves; we meant business. Don’t forget, we were lawyers, lecturers, etc.

So I told everybody: take off your jackets; not just your jackets, take off your ties. So we had short sleeves, signifying that we were ready to go to the trenches.

And then, by and large, we discovered that it was militaristic. Even Ben Obi was one of the early founders and that was how we started. Then we discovered that it also helped in our own way, the local economy to use adire, ankara etc instead of buying Hector Powell suits from abroad in a hot climate! Gradually, we then began to make it more stylish and, in a few years, it cut up.

 What is your view of the supernatural, life and after life?

I am a Christian, a regenerate Christian, a born-again Christian, to use a local parlance. So that says it all. I don’t believe I can do anything except God helps me. If I am a regenerate Christian, I know that there is God and there is Jesus Christ. I know that there is life after death and I also know that if you believe in God, you have a responsibility to be disciplined, to live a disciplined life and not to hate even though you are genuinely offended and aggrieved. If you believe in Christ, you must forgive.

Look what Nelson Mandela went through. He is 95 years old now; he came out and forgave everybody. That is a man after God’s heart. Those who say that they are atheists have their reasons. How can you see what is going on around you and still think there is no Super Power? I remember I once had Tai Solarin in my office for several hours. He came to discuss this issue of whether there is God or not and he wouldn’t go. He came in his pair of shorts and I appeared as I am appearing now. I think I was able to demonstrate to him that he was in error about his atheism.

With your own experience, what are the secrets to living long?

Well the secrets of living long are not even in your hand because if you do everything well according to the book, you could have an accident and just die! So you don’t live long even though you do everything according to the book. So the secrets of living long are first: pray everyday to God for your life and the life of your family. I pray everyday to Jesus Christ for my life and the life of my family. Secondly, do not tempt God. Do everything in moderation.

How can one tempt God?

You can tempt God by saying, ‘I have prayed to God, so I can drink alcohol as much as I want and smoke because I have prayed.’ I must not do exercise, I must indulge in immorality as much as possible, you are tempting God. You must do things in moderation. As it is said, too much of a thing is bad. I do not smoke, I do not drink except occasional wine. And I do exercise.

What are your suggestions for Nigeria to move forward?

We must have a Sovereign National Conference before the next election in 2015, because if you don’t have it, what will happen by 2015 will be an interim government, with all its implications. I have been saying this for more than five years and we are being vindicated. I will advise all of them running around, jockeying for the 2015 election, to go and sharpen their swords and let’s sort out the question of the well-being of this country. You may then ask: Sovereign National Conference, what for?

The 1999 Constitution, as it is, is a prescription for chaos. The constitution is not suitable for the progress of this country: the constitution that clothes corrupt public officers with immunity, the constitution that concentrates so much power at the centre, cannot allow Nigerian citizens in different parts of this country to develop. We have to devolve power to the zones.

We may create additional zones but too much power is concentrated in the centre. We have more than 50 ministers and advisers, gulping the national resources, leaving little or nothing for development. These are things that must be addressed before 2015. If they fail to address these things, the consequences will be catastrophic.