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Then let them laugh and rejoice in our man’s ill-luck.
Alive perhaps they felt no need of him, but now that he
Is dead, they will grieve their lack in the demands of war.
For foolish men do not appreciate the noble prize
they have, until it is discarded from their hands.
His death pains me and falsely pleasures them,
for him it is a pure delight. For he has gained all that
he wanted for himself and that was simply death.
Why then should they exult in overbearing mockery?
He died at the hands of god. They had no part in it.
And let Odysseus gloat at this along with them.
For Ajax is no more for them- for me his loss
Bequeaths a legacy of pain and lament.
– Teucer in Ajax by Sophocles (442 BC)
Buruji Kashamu, Nigerian politician, entrepreneur, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and a controversial public figure, has gone the way of all mortals- one of the high-profile victims of the global scourge called COVID-19 – which has effectively turned the year 2020 into “annus horribilis”. No man is completely good, nor is any man completely bad, all mortals are archetypes of the very incompleteness of Creation itself. But if anything must be said of Buruji Kashamu whose last remains were buried in his home town of Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, on Sunday, August 9, it is that he was deeply loved by the common people whose aspirations he championed and who benefited greatly from his benevolence. It was not for nothing that Kashamu was known as “Alanu Mekunnu”. He was more comfortable identifying with the poor, despite his stupendous wealth. He was in his lifetime one of the most prominent Ijebus of the first quarter of the 21st Century.
I recall that each time he entered Ijebu Ode from Lagos, motorcyclists (that is Okada riders) would form a convoy – that convoy could be as long as a durbar/calvacade of 100 motorcycles, hailing him, and they would lead him all the way from Ijebu Ode to his home town, Ijebu Igbo, about 20 minutes away. The first time I witnessed that spontaneous reaction to his presence by ordinary people trying to earn their own living, I was shocked. In the course of his public career, Kashamu had gained a reputation as a friend of the ordinary people, not just in Ijebuland, but across Yorubaland and by extension, other parts of Nigeria. He had established a group known as the Omo Ilu Foundation through which he provided support for the poor. These include(d) indigent students whose school fees he paid, the sick whose hospital bills he picked up, struggling petty traders for whom he rented shops and paid house rent. He donated vehicles to many and provided shelter. He sponsored community development projects. With the Omo Ilu Foundation, he also managed to build a vast, grassroots political network, across the South West.
The headquarters of the Foundation in Ijebu Igbo sits on acres of land, and if Buruji called a meeting of members of his grassroots network, every local government in the South West sent delegates. I saw the power of such a political network on display when in 2019, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held its South West flag off campaign at Mapo Hall in Ibadan, Oyo state. There was and there is still conflict in the Ogun State branch of the People’s Democratic Party, with Buruji Kashamu at the centre of it all. In 2019, the party at the national level had refused to work with him and chose instead to collaborate with other forces within the state. The plan was to hand over the party flag to the Ladi Adebutu group whereas the Kashamu-led Engr. Bayo Dayo faction of the party was legally recognized by the Courts and was effectively in charge of the party secretariat. If the party was not so divided at the time, the PDP would perhaps have won the Gubernatorial election of 2019 in Ogun State. But Ogun PDP remains divided. On election day, fifth columnists further worked against the party.
I was talking about the Mapo Hall flag-off. Senator Kashamu ensured that his grassroots network in the entire South West was fully mobilized. By 2 am ……
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