By Banji Ayoola
The 2019 Michael Adekunle Ajasin Colloquium will hold on November 28 in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
A statement issued by Prof C.O.O. Kolawole and Mrs Jumoke Anifowose (nee Ajasin) on behalf of Ajasin Foundation, the organisers, said that the event is holding under the theme: “Promoting Economic Development, Social Justice and Rule of Law as Pathways to Stability, Peace and Prosperity in Nigeria.”
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, will be the Keynote Speaker at the occasion.
The discussants are Prof Adenike Osofisan, Dr Olufemi Adu and Hon Mrs Janet Febi Adeyemi.
It would be chaired by Senator Bode Olajumoke; while Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, is the Chief Host.
The event which would kick off at 11 am, would hold at The Dome, Alagbaka.
Ajasin, the revered former Afenifere leader, and former leader of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, which led the pro-democracy struggle that midwifed the prevailing dispensation, by fighting the military dictatorship to a stand still, is best remembered in Nigeria for his principled, honest and exemplary leadership traits, which are rare among politicians generally.
He was the first civilian Governor of the old Ondo State, which is now broken into Ondo and Ekiti States. His administration established many firms that accelerated the industrial and economic development of the state.
When the Second Republic was eventually sacked by the military in 1983 through a coup, Ajasin was among the few civilian Governors who were found without blemish after they were probed and released from detention.
In the heat of the pro democracy struggle which he led from his Oke Ogun, Owo country-home, Ajasin demonstrated an uncommon courage when in his bedroom he confronted the then Ondo State Military Administrator, the late Navy Captain Anthony Ibe Onyearugbulem in a hot verbal exchange, over unwanted military rule.
He had taught the Military Governor, who had come as an emissary of the then Head of the military junta, the late Gen Sani Abacha, to whittle down the pro-democracy struggle, by simply defining Democracy as “You talk, I talk.”
Ajasin, was one of the closest and most trusted associates of the late Yoruba Leader and former Premier of the defunct Western Region, the legendary Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
In fact, he wrote the position paper on Free Education, the major policy of the Awolowo Government, through which children of school age from the region benefited free education from primary school up to university level which saw to the rapid development of the defunct Western Region in many areas, above other regions in the Country.
