What I went through visiting Fela —Odumakin

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What I went through visiting Fela —Odumakin

Human rights activist, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, is the president, Women Arise for Change Initiative. She told her life story to TUNDE ADELEKE in this piece.

HOW was it growing up?

My parents were members of the Catholic church and they were also civil servants. I wanted to be married to Jesus and also wanted to be a nun. My father was very strict. Any child that came second in school would not find it pleasant at all, so you must try to come first. My parents were disciplinarians. At times, since primary and secondary school, one would read till very late in the night. After my primary school, instead of going to secondary school, as a missionary and as a Catholic, I told my mother that I wanted to be a nun. Then as Catholics, we had Reverend Father Kelly. My father was in the United Kingdom. My mother told him about my decision because, as the first daughter, I was like a young wife to him. I prepared his food, cleaned his car, among other chores. I could read his mood and my mother would say, ‘your wife’ to my dad. So, she told him that I wanted to be a nun and that he should help me to collect the form and fill. My father called my mother on the phone and gave her the time that she should call. All of us were seated when he called. He said: “You want to be married to Jesus, you don’t want to procreate? I will disown you.”

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Did he have his way?

After that call, I went to tell the Reverend Father. He said; “He is your earthly father. If he disowns you, it’s not important.” I continued till my father returned to the country. He told me that if he had to disown me, he would print my obituary and paste it everywhere so that anybody that saw me would think I was a ghost. I was barely 14 then. I cried all night. I later told my father that I had made up my mind to go to school. He took me to the School of Basic Studies, which is now called Kwara Polytechnic. It was then Kwara State College of Technology. With my result, he spoke to a friend there. The friend discussed with his wife and I was allowed to live with them. I got admitted to the A’ Level. But the man’s wife was strict. He was always asking where I was and what I was doing. I stayed there for about three days and went to my father’s office where I told him I was no longer going to the seminary.  I told him I would go to school, but that I didn’t want to live with his friend again. He agreed and I moved into the hostel. In the hostel, I was clocking in and out, morning and noon. I would clock in when going, and would sign out when leaving. It was like that till the end of the year. When I was in second year, I was on campus and I saw a notice of meeting of a group, ‘Rethink Nigeria’. I got to the meeting and saw their agenda and I raised an observation that there was no opening prayer on the agenda. They asked, “opening prayer? Who brought this one here? We are talking about serious issues and this one is talking about prayer.” I insisted and they said they would throw me out. I left. My father made sure that I read the Bible twice a year. Later, one of them saw me and said, “Reverend Sister, we are going to put opening prayer on the agenda next time.” I went there. They didn’t include opening prayer in their agenda. When I raised my hand again, they threw me out and chased me away. I lost one of the pair of slippers I wore to the meeting.

How about your academic experience?

After my A’ Level, I got an admission to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. My father was based in Ilorin. We were in the North. The first child was born in Maiduguri. The second was born in Kano, while I was born in Zaria and my brother, in Kaduna. My father was transferred to Kwara from the North. I had gained admission to study at ABU when he arrived in Kwara. I travelled a lot with him by train. My father wouldn’t allow me go through the rigours of journeys alone. My second choice was University of Ilorin. That was how I got admission to the University of Ilorin to study English (Education). One day, a lecturer discovered that someone had scored high marks in his test and read my matriculation number out in the class. He said the person with the number should see him after the lecture.  I went there. The lecturer asked me what I was looking for. I said you, you… He shouted: “are you a stammerer?  I said No. He said “be bold, be confident. Why are you looking for me?” I told him my matriculation number. He said, “You are a brilliant student. You have to be confident.” After that, he asked whether I had heard about Martin Luther King, Karl Marx and others. That was in 1985. He gave a book by Martin Luther King to me where I read: “One’s life begins to end the day one decides to keep silent about things that matter.” That was what fired up everything in me, so I decided to contest as the secretary of Women in Nigeria (WIN). I wrote a manifesto.  I gave enough quotations during my manifesto night and was applauded. That’s how I started and followed up with the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). Through me, we brought Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti to Ilorin, Bola Ige, Frederick Fasehun and Osaze Obayuwana. I finished my youth service at the 35 Amphibious Battalion, Oburutu, Calabar. After that, I came back to Ilorin for my Master’s and more works and activism started. We had Campaign for Democracy (CD), Kwara State. I was first the treasurer, then its secretary and later the chairperson. When I started this, when I became the secretary around November, 1985, Comrade Ayeoribe, a unionist in Kwara, whose phone and office I was using as my contact address, said somebody had called and said he was Beko Ransome-Kuti. I knew Beko. He told me Beko said I should be around to receive a call around 4.00 pm the following day. I went there and at exactly 4.00 pm, Beko called. After exchanging pleasantries, he asked when I could come to Lagos. I told him I would come the next day. I met Beko. He had already packed his bag and was about leaving. When I approached him, he said, “Yes, you are the girl from Ilorin, the secretary of WIN.” He said he had an appointment with Chief Gani Fawehinmi at 4.00 pm. He called Chief Fawehinmi to ask if he could come with me. Gani said we should come. So, I went with him, Gani was happy and said, “You are the one I read in the papers.”

So, you started playing in the big league straight away?

I saw everything about Beko – well organised, a stickler to time, unassuming. The same way I saw Chief Fawehinmi, he was also a detailed individual and was also passionate about documentation. In fact, the few times I stayed with Gani, he had information and everything documented. After we left Gani that day, we discussed about military dictatorship and all that. I told Beko I wanted to return to Ilorin. He said okay, I should let him drop me at Ojota as he wanted to see Fela. I asked him if that was the same Fela that I listened to his music. He said, “Yes. He is my brother.” We went to see Fela. On getting there, Fela asked me, “Wetin be your name?” I said Joe. Then he said, “Wetin be your name gan gan? Fela was in his underpants. I sat down and listened to him. He hated dictatorship, injustice and said a lot of things. After about five minutes, I couldn’t see again. When we were ready to go, I stood up and fell down. Everything around me was turning upside down because while he was speaking, he was wrapping something while I was inhaling it. When I fell, one of his wives said, “Wetin dey do this one? Common smoke na im he don dey fall up and down.” So, she brought something cold and I drank it. I saw garri underneath it. It was garri water. After that, with the traffic and everything, we got to Ojota at 8 o’clock. I insisted that I wanted to go to Ilorin that late. I had spoken with Professor Wole Soyinka earlier. He called Gani while I was with them. That showed me the four of them communicated. So, that was how I started. When I finished my Master’s, we got a flat in Ilorin – myself, Jumoke and Dolapo. When security operatives came there, they arrested the three of us. I told them the other two were innocent, but they detained all of us for two days.  When we came back, they packed and left. So, I was the only occupant of that flat. I decided that anybody that was rusticated should come, so students would come. At times, about 40 guys and I would be in the flat. Any money I had, money given to me by my uncle, I was also teaching, I bought foodstuffs. People would come there, sleep, eat, read and when it was time for us to paste posters, I prepared the starch we would apply. That was how the struggle went. But then, it got to a time whenever anything happened, security operatives would storm my house. My landlord came one day. I still had three months before my tenancy expired. He gave me all the money I paid as rent and said I should leave. Shortly after, someone came and asked if Alhaji had come. I said yes. He asked whether I had paid my rent or not. I said I had the money with me. He said I should give it to him. I gave it to him and he left. After three days, I heard a sound and looking through my window, I saw a truck. I thought it was security operatives who had come for me again, but I discovered that it was the person who came to me earlier that was moving out of his house for me to become a tenant. When he moved out, he gave the place to me. The place became a place where we had our meetings, programmes and other things.

How was the activism journey to this point?

I finished my Master’s and started my Ph.D. I was lucky that I didn’t have any issue with the institution despite activism. In the school, when we used the African Hall, we brought people like Bola Ige and Fasehun. Even when Beko Ransome-Kuti was to come, the school was flooded with security men, but we had one broken fence at the rear which we used to bring Beko in. When he came in, the whole place went wild with jubilations. I feared that I would be rusticated, but nothing happened. So in all, I had confrontations. I remember that in 1992, we were bombarded with teargas during one of the protests we had in Ilorin. I was seriously beaten. I was in skirt. When I was kicked from the back and I was falling into the gutter, the skirt got torn because they kicked me many times. I was taken to the hospital. I had not got to the hospital before they arrested me. I saw someone selling something and the scarf fell off. That was the scarf I tied round my waist through Thursday to Sunday (about four days). They took me to court on Monday. Right there, I vowed that I would never put on skirt again and since then, I have not put on skirts except on my birthdays. I was involved in pasting posters. I pasted posters at barracks, police headquarters and so on. I was caught in one of my encounters. I was pasting posters during the Ibrahim Babangida Must Go protest when a soldier was coming to ease himself. I had to lie down, but unfortunately, he urinated on my mouth and my nose. I think he was tipsy. When he was about to leave, he stepped on one of my thighs and screamed “Snake! Bring torchlight. It’s a big snake.” When they brought the torch, he saw the poster where I had crossed IBB’s face. I was looking at him. He dragged me up and started beating me. One of them said let’s kill this thing; why are you wasting your energy? I didn’t know what happened again. I later saw myself being chained under one table with starch all over me.

How did all of these affect your family?

I was living off campus because they were always harassing my parents. My mother used to say: “Ha! I should have allowed this girl to be married to Jesus and be a nun. Look at the problem you’re giving us now.”  That was why when they declared me wanted sometimes, I decided to relocate to Lagos. I was living in Dr. Beko’s house. When they came to arrest at times, (I was very close to his daughters – Lande and Nike), they mistook me to be one of Dr. Beko’s daughters until they found me out. But the last time before I even came to Lagos, I was detained in Ilorin and after that, they moved me to Panti, from Panti to Alagbon. It was at Alagbon that I met Comrade (because I still address him as Comrade) Yinka Odumakin and Chief Gani Fawehinmi.  They were released a few days after my arrival. I was there for some weeks. When I was eventually released, Chief Fawehinmi sent one of his vehicles to pick me. When I came to Lagos, Dr. Beko and I became very active. I was in Lagos during the June 12 struggle. We had all the results. Before then, Dr. Beko and I went to see Abiola two or three times. During the time before the declaration, he introduced me to Kudirat Abiola. That was how we became friends. We discussed the struggle. Even the day she was killed, June 4, 1996, I was in her house. That day, we had about three appointments. We drove back to the house together and then, I had this mobile-090. It was not long before I got a call that she had been shot. I went to Eko Hospital where I saw her dead. So, in one of the processes, I had a gunshot on my leg, but to God be the glory, I survived.

What are your pastimes?

My Facebook, my Instagram, my Twitter accounts keep me busy. I have people who respond to them, but there are ones I personally respond to.  Apart from keeping tab on issues via social media, our organisation – Women Arise – has handled not less than 5,000 cases of violence against women. About three years ago, the clinic that we set up took up special interest in violence against women and men including men that are beaten, men that are insulted. We do this once every week between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm.

How did a tough lady like you get wooed?

When I was brought from Ilorin to Alagbon, I had emaciated. I had chain on one of my legs. I saw that Chief Gani Fawehinmi was not feeling well. He needed to see a doctor and he said, “Why are you dragging her?” He screamed and was very angry. I saw one young guy with him and he said, “Yinka, don’t you know Joe?” He said Joe? Gani replied “That one in Kwara State!” So, Yinka said, “Okay, I thought that Joe was a man, so she’s a woman!” The security said that they could not talk to me, but Gani said that I had to be treated now.  When I eventually got out of detention, Comrade Odumakin would come to see me and we were doing things together. One day, he said we were discussing state of the nation, but that he wanted to discuss the state of his mind. He said, “I want to marry this girl, and she said she’s married to the struggle.” A man said, “Why are you talking?” He said “No no no, give me about three minutes to speak.” So, somebody on the panel became the time keeper; he said, “Time up! Joe, over to you.” I said, “Well, I am married to the struggle, I don’t want any distraction, not until there’s democracy.” The time keeper said, “Time up! Yinka has defeated you.”  That was how it all started for about two years before we got married in November, 1997. So in 1999, I had an appointment, a rally at Apapa and I was just feeling somehow. My mom said we needed to see a doctor. So we went to the hospital on our way to Apapa. On getting to the hospital, the doctor said, “This is advanced labour.” I still had about three weeks, but he said it was advanced. It was around 8.50 am; about 15 minutes after I got there, I heard the cry of a baby, and it was a baby girl. I just left for Apapa from Allen. With my tummy, I finished the press conference and rally and I returned to the hospital. Then, comrade said, “Where did you go?” So, apart from her, I have a son who is in the secondary school.

How do you balance your role as a mother, a wife and head of Women Arise?

Well, balancing my role, I learnt a lot of things from my mum – keeping her home. As much as possible, I cook a lot. I am a very good cook. I used to go the market myself. But when I go there, people meet me, other things come up and I end up not doing anything. I used to go for my son’s PTA meeting, but we end up discussing state of the nation. I noticed it was distracting them. Although, it’s tough because at times, I am awake at 3.00 am. But to God be the glory I have been able to manage. I have been so happy because many people have been inspired and they get back to me. I used to talk to students about drugs, cultism, most importantly, for them to be confident, to also know that they are role models.

Against the backdrop of your original intention of becoming a nun and what you have now become, what is your advice to mothers?

One thing is that they are the ones who will nurture their children; they are the first contact, they are the role models. It’s so sickening when you see mothers, career mothers running after money and neglecting their roles as mothers. By the time they have the money, they use it to take care of kids whose conditions would have become so terrible. So, no matter how you are growing up as a kid, certain issues are important – who are my friends? What do I bring home? My parents would continue to monitor me. Mothers must ensure they take their kids as their friends, as their first contacts. They must be interested in what they do when they are back from school; don’t just leave them to house maids, check their home work because at the end of the day, it comes back to them. So, mothers must ensure they give their children proper upbringing; they continue to monitor them, give them listening ear, always open their minds and let them know when anything goes bad. Apart from that, there are several ways that a child could be disciplined. Personally for me, not being allowed to be a nun, my parents did not dictate to me any other profession. When I went to the university, what I studied was my choice. There are students whose lives are ruined because their parents forced them into arts, instead of science or science, instead of arts and so on. A lot of lives have been ruined. Mothers should also realise that what they do today has a lot of impact because while a child is growing up, the mind is still amenable. Inculcate the right values that will continue.

What I went through visiting Fela —Odumakin
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