Date: 2003-12-18

From far away Ghana, the award came for Gbenga, as he is popularly called by his close friends. And back home in Nigeria at the prestigious Nicon Hilton Hotel Abuja, came more encomiums amidst merriment as he was warmly received once more into the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party he co-founded. The celebration at Hilton was not just another opportunity to show-off because as Mr. Segun Awolowo, a presidential adviser puts it, "We have come to honour a brilliant friend. We are proud of Gbenga, He is one of the light for a new generation of leaders for Nigeria."

It is important to note that in a clime and time where every and any opportunity is contrived and maximised to gain advantage for inordinate political purposes, awards and fellowships and sundry conferments seem to have lately been more of the prerogative of those in power or close to it. Hardly for those who either lost out ( or rigged out if you choose) or got schemed out maliciously before the contest itself. Awards may have become the latest yardstick for political relevance as a scrutiny of the string of conferment in the recent past, seem to suggest. The only exception, perhap, is for recipients who have made their mark genuinely in business, the economy and the academia and as such, become indisputably deserving of the awards.

But for Gbenga Olawepo, what may have influenced his nomination for the Kwame Nkrumah Leadership award of the All-Africa Students Union in Accra, Ghana if anything else, is certainly not because he is currently at the vortex of political power. Nor because he instituted a $10,000 Thomas Sankara endowment for the University of Accra, because the award is, itself, from a trans-national students body. Indeed as it were, some commentators say he may not be far from the backwaters of political reckoning in the present scheme of things in the country. But that is not to say Olawepo has not made his marks in the body-politic of the country, especially in Kwara, his home state. He is one-time deputy national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). His tenure in that capacity is easily remembered for the principled stand he took at a time when individual selfish interests constituted the looming albatross of the PDP. He personally fought against a ploy hatched by top national officials of the party to extend the tenure of party officers in contravention of the party's statutes. The interesting irony in his opposition to that move was that he would have been one of the beneficiaries if it had succeeded, moreso since its chief proponent was then his political godfather. The furore and dust which that incident generated can be said to have contributed to his ouster from office and the eventual travails which he suffered in PDP. Such rare triumph of personal principles over a tempting political opportunism marked him out as a politician for the future, as attested to by speakers at the Hilton dinner. As Chief Ojo Madueke, former Transport minister and now presidential adviser, puts it, "we are here to celebrate excellence. The lives of people like Gbenga should inspire us to speak well of ourselves. Gbenga is an inner driven person not afraid to stand alone, not afraid to be unpopular, not afraid to hold a view." Not done yet, he continued: "A man who is inner driven listens to the music of his own universe, listens to the applause of the spirit inside him, that have etched out a horizon, which he must conquer and moving in that direction he takes the lead and others can follow, who can see the horizon with him, of such is the stuff a history of such is the stuff of greatness and if one can move beyond the democratization of incompetence and to take this nation to the gigantic leap that it is destined for, then we must celebrate inner driven people like Gbenga Olawepo, he inspires me."

Bur having sacrificed the party office for the sake of his personal principles, Olawepo was however determined not to let his political ambitions get stifled. It became expedient for his political survival to jump ship from the PDP to the National Democratic Party (NDP) on which platform he contested the Kwara state governorship election in the April general elections. Though withdrew from the race, to Olawepo succeeded in making the point that he was not a push over afterall, as far as Kwara politics was concerned. But as a strategist who knows where to draw the line between expediency and doggedness, he is now reconciled with the PDP and back in its fold. Being a party which he introduced to Kwara State as its convener, and which has now become the ruling party in the state, commentators are of the opinion that his return to the PDP is a right step both for his political career and the fortunes of the party especially in the state. For according to the national women leader of the party, Mrs. Josephine Anenih, at the dinner, "Gbenga is PDP, Gbenga is original PDP. He is a founding member, infact foundation of PDP. I am saying this because he has been on sabbatical, PDP has missed his contribution, I saw his contribution during the time he served on the presidential advisory committee as secretary to women and youth development. His contribution gave me courage to take up the struggle of women in the main stream of our political struggles, Gbenga is one of the new generation of people that this country needs to move the country forward, Gbenga is our promise and our hope for a new Nigeria" 

But how was Olawepo able to come this far in a field frought with landmines and dangerous intrigues, considering his young age and urbane nature?

Born 38 years ago in Yauri in the present day Kebbi-State, Gbenga hails from Agbamu in Irepodun, Kwara State. His baptism in the waters of politics dates back to his days at the then Kwara College of Technology, Ilorin where he became involved in student unionism. From the Ilorin institution, he found his way to the University of Lagos where he graduated with a degree in Mass - Communication after having left his mark on the sands of student politicking there. Olawepo was not content with student unionism alone as he got involved in the propagation of issues that bordered on both country and international politics. He rose to become general secretary of the Youth Solidarity on Southern Africa in 1986, a platform which canvassed against the apartheid policies of that era. As for social-political activism and the fight against military dictatorship, Olawepo was very much involved. He was founding national administrative secretary and one of the founders of Committee for Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) in 1989. In that same year, he was among those who languished in detention for four months due to his uncompromising opposition to the military imposed Structural Adjustment Programme. Following the return to the days of open civilian politics, Olawepo chose not to be left out as he quickly alligned with many progressive forces to form the PDP in 1998 as he served as secretary to its national publicity committee. And when the PDP won the presidential election in 1999, Olawepo served as a member of the presidential policy advisory committee, that was set up to proffer policy direction to the in-coming Obasanjo government. His rise in the party saw him to the level of deputy national publicity secretary, from where he received amongst three others, ministerial nomination from Kwara state. He is currently a member of a political advisory committee to the President, in the office of the Political Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Married with four children, Olawepo is not known to be a strictly career politician like some others. Besides a strident interest in socio-economic issues of local and trans-national dimension, the one-time student activist is said to be doing pretty well in private business where his interest ranges from public communications management to Engineering solutions.

Given these achievements, it is not strange that recognitions and honours would come the way of Olawepo. But as a prophet is not honoured in his own home, a continental students group in Accra, Ghana has decided to fill the vacuum. 

The All Africa Students Union (AASU) recently decided to honour Olawepo with the Kwame Nkrumah leadership award for the year 2003. For skeptics who might wonder over the authenticity and relevance of the awarding organization, AASU is a continental representative organisation of democratic student unions founded in 1972 with 51 member unions from francophone and Anglophones Africa. The union enjoys Consultative Status with UNESCO and is ECOSOC-accredited with UNCCD. Generally, it enjoys a cordial working relationship with the UN system. The award bestowed on Olawepo is in celebration of the legacies of the founder of modern Ghana and pan-Africanist, Late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Alongside the Kwara political top-shot, those who received the award included prominent Ghanaians like Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana; Governor Kalu Orji of Abia state; Dr Peter Odili, Governor of Rivers state; and Chief Francis Inegbeniki, chairman, Ine oil of Nigeria. The award ceremony was attended by prominent African public officials like Sierra-Leonean Minister of Education, Dr. T. Wuries and Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, ECOWAS scribe. 

Olawepo was not only conferred at the ceremony, but he also treated the important dignitaries in the audience to a taste of his consummate grasp and understanding of issues of the times. He delivered a lecture on the theme: Africa's two-fold misery: AIDS and wars. Many have said these indeed, are no mean feats for a man of his age. Professor Jerry Gana, presidential adviser and former information minister summed it up thus: "When the restoration process for democracy came in 1998/99 he was one of the young people who stood with us, so that we may allow the genuine process of democracy take place. He was one of those who came to us even when we were being harassed by the regime at that time in G34. One man who stood out any day anytime was Gbenga. I was the first secretary of PDP transforming from G34, the constitution and manifesto of the party were produced within 24hrs in my office and in Gbenga's press. He is a young man with vision and mission."

Culled from ThisDay