BEFORE THINGS FALL APART TOTALLY

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*BEFORE THINGS FALL APART TOTALLY...*

 *Favour A. Adéwọyin,*
 _June 21, 2025._

"Things Fall Apart" is the title of an African foremost prose written by a renown novelist, Chinua Achebe (now late).

Achebe, who chose his title to reflect the collapse of traditional Igbo society under colonial influence, mirroring the chaos and disintegration described in the poem, got the title "Things Fall Apart" from W. B. Yeats's poem "The Second Coming" and the phrase comes from the line: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold".

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In Chapter 20 of "Things Fall Apart", Obierika, the closest friend to Okonkwo, the protagonist of the popular novel, said:

"The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart."

In this quote, Obierika reflected on how the arrival of the white colonisers and their religion, their education, philosophy, ethics, values, civilisation and general administration, divided the traditional Igbo society by weakening its unity, its bond, synergy, cohesiveness, camaraderie, togetherness and oneness.

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In other words, the crucial moment in the novel encapsulates the central theme of cultural disintegration and the impact of colonialism. The metaphor of the knife cutting "the things that held us together" refers to the way traditional social structures and beliefs were disrupted by the arrival of the missionaries and British colonial authorities.

But, up till today, we still have with us the vestiges of slavery and colonialisation scattered all over the continent of Africa as the citizens are only physically, socially and politically free, or let me say, delivered; but, are not spiritually, mentally, emotionally and psychologically liberated.

Wherever people's judgments are coloured along subjective sentiments like religious bias, political parochialism and tribalism as we have in Nigeria, people are not free, but are still in mental bondage. Oppression has become mental condition in Africa to the extent that physical deliverance, which is a semblance of freedom, is not enough.

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We can say that the black man is still struggling to be free because he was only delivered, but not liberated. It means, unlike the popular belief and consensus acceptance, October 1, 1960 was not a day of independence or freedom for Nigeria and Nigerians. Rather, it was like a day when the Israeli's slaves were allowed to leave Egypt physically but, mentally, psychologically and emotionally, Egypt did leave them. They were still going about with slavery mentality. Meaning, they were and are still thinking, reasoning, imagining, meditating, planning and envisioning from slavery perspectives.

No wonder they are still tied to the appronstrings of the white people as they eat white man's food and drinks, wear white man's clothe, goes to school to learn white man's history and way of life in white man's language, prefer white man's medicine, transportation, security system and every other thing.

This is nothing but a complete overhauling and dislodgement of the black man psyche. It was an attempt to turn the black man into a white man, which began with slavery that took the black man out of his natural environment for mental, emotional and psychological indoctrination to contiue in colonialism, which involved intentional and deliberate indoctrination in the black man's natural environment.

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Today, in our time, what is obtaining is neo-colonialism, which is using the black man to oppress the black man without suspecting any foul play as they are brought down on their knees economically to bow down for foreign institutions, IMF and other institutions of oppression that are keeping the black man in perpetual bondage up till today. And, if nothing is done to emancipate themselves from mental, emotional and psychological slavery, oppression will continue in the black man's continent.

But, it is good to say, at this juncture, that my main concern in this article is not Africa or Nigeria and its history of slavery and oppression only. My concern is the marginalised regions in Ọ̀yọ́ State using Òkèògùn as a case study. I can speak emphatically about Òkèògùn region because that is the region of my birth or origin, both paternally and maternally.

Looking at things critically, it is evidently apparent that the problems of Òkèògùn is the same problems facing the marginalised regions that constitute the stakeholders of the state of the pace setters.

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In other words, what obtains in Òkèògùn as its problems, is exactly the same that obtains in  Ìbàràpá, Ọ̀yọ́ and Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́. The crumbs falling from the master's table may be bigger than one another, yet it is still crumbs and nothing but crumbs.

The Yorùbá people will use metaphor to declare the commonessness of the problems among the marginalised regions in a proverb by saying: "Àrùn tí ń ṣ'ogójì ní ń ṣ' ọ̀ọ́dúnrún, ohun tí ń ṣ'abọ́yadé, gbogbo Ọ́lọ́ya ní ń ṣe".

I have presented the marginalised stakeholders in Ọ̀yọ́ State to be Òkèògùn, Ìbàràpá, Ọ̀yọ́ and Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ who are at different levels of crumbs eating, I don't think it is out of place to identify the msrginsliser, which is Ibadany who, originally, did not mean to engage in the act of marginalisation when it fought for power rotation, but for the freedom of all the marginalsed regions and people, when Ijesa was the leading marginaliser in those days.

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But, the truth that said: "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" has caught up with the new marginaliser and, now, the oppressed has been tranformed into an oppressor.

In Chinua Achebe's novel "A Man of the People", Odili's father, Hezekiah Samalu makes an used the metaphor of rain to express disappointment at Odili, his son, for distancing himself from Chief Nanga, the politician, despite the fact that both Odili and Nanga shared humble beginnings. His words are a metaphor about shared hardship, likening it to people being beaten by rain together, and how easily people forget those shared struggles once they attain comfort or success.

In the exact word of Hezekiah Samalu, Odili's father:

"You and Chief Nanga were in the rain together. But now you have seen the sun and forgotten the rain."

The above line reflects one of the novel's central themes, which is the betrayal of solidarity and the allure of power and privilege. It also reflects the generational and moral conflict between characters like Odili (the idealistic young man) and those who have compromised or conformed to political corruption.

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When Ìbádàn was part of the marginalised regions in Ọ̀yọ́ State, rain was beating it and other marginalised regions that it had shared values and common goals with. But, since Omololu Olunloyo's victory that came about through the "ọmọ wa ní ó ṣe é" mantra or slogan, Ìbádàn's song has changed to what the Yorùbá people have described as "bámú bámú la yó, àwa ò mọ̀ b'ébi ń p'ọmọ ẹ̀nìkọ́ọ̀kan".

What I'm saying is that, it is the nature of the natural man to easily forget the time of suffering and oppression when life turns around to embrace success and breakthrough.

Now, let me go to the specifics by saying that the problems of Òkèògùn are political parochialism where people love their parties more than their region.

During the First Republic, the members of AG under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the members of NCNC led by Sir Nnamdi Azikiwe were not seeing eyes to eyes. The same happened between UPN of Awolowo and NPN of Alhaji Shehu Sagari during the Second Republic.

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The Third Republic witnessed the rivalry between the SDP and NRC. Today, in all the regions of Ọ̀yọ́ State politics in particular and in Nigeria at large, in this Fourth Republic, the competitve rivalry is between PDP and APC.

Òkèògùn people have always been party loyalists. Their loyalty was and is till to the point of party blindness to the extent that they don't vote for their indigenes during elections that involve indigenes of other regions when it is the other way round with Ìbádàn whose political philosophy revolves around "Ìbádàn lẹ mọ̀, ẹ ò mọ́ Láyípo".

So, even when the history of political rivalry along party lines in Òkèògùn region is laden with failures and disappointments, the people of Òkèògùn are still playing politics of party loyalty or party blindness where others are playing politics that the Yorùbá people have funnily described as "ọmọ ẹni kìí ṣ'èdí bẹ̀bẹ̀rẹ̀ ká f'ìlẹ̀kẹ̀ sídìi ọmọ ẹlòmíì".

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Then, I can say that, since the days of the colonial masters, there has been politicians in Òkèògùn, whose politics has not attracted commensurate  development into the region. In Òkèògùn, politics has not paid us as it does to other regions because our people have not always been there, which our people have described as "àìsí níbẹ̀ làì bá wọn dá si".

No infrastructure development in Òkèògùn as the roads are in terrible conditions which I have described severally as death-traps or what our people will call "kòtò ikú".

And, if we get to Ìbàràpá, Ọ̀yọ́ and Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, the story is the same as roads are in the same terrible conditions of disrepair because of less government intervention - whether Federal Government or State since the Local Government is not functioning in many States of Nigeria.

Talking about energy, darkness has become visible in Òkèògùn and all the other marginalised regions as the time they give electricity are less than two hours in many communities at three to four months interval. In fact, there are communities in these regions who don't have electricity in many years.

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The lack of good road network across the marginalised regions and lack of electricity that I have just mentioned, coupled with the dysfunctional state of the Local Governments, have crippled the economy of the grassroots that all marginalised regions fall into.

But, it is good to say that, at each level of political leadership and governance, oppression is the order of the day.

For many years, we are all crying that the Northerners are dominating the other parts of Nigeria, if we come to Ọ̀yọ́ State, what we see is that Ìbádàn has been dominating the other regions who are stakeholders the pace setter's State. In the same vein, if we come to Òkèògùn region, we are also going to see that some towns are lording it over the smaller towns, thereby marginalising them.

"Lording over" to oppress the other human beings is against the principle of true and genuine leadership. When he was teaching his disciples, Jesus, the leader par excellence, made a powerful statement to warn against "lording it over" the others by the leader:

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Jesus warned His disciples not to behave like leaders who "lord it over" others in several passages. Jesus said:

 " 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'"

The deduction for what Jesus taught his disciples is that servant leadeship is the best form of leadership. Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy where the leader's primary goal is to serve others, prioritising the growth, well-being, and empowerment of their team and community.

What Jesus did was to contrast the worldly model of leadership, which is always domineering, hierarchical in nature with the Kingdom model, which is expressed in humbleness, servant-heartedness.

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Jesus taught and is still teaching that true greatness in His Kingdom comes through serving others, not through exerting power over them.

In the case of Qur'an, it does not define servant leadership in modern terms, but its values are deeply embedded in Islamic teachings and the Prophet's example.

True leadership, rooted in humility, justice, and service to others is a key concept in the Qur'an.

But, though the Qur'an does not use the term servant leadership explicitly, Prophet Muhammad exemplified jts principles with several verses that reflect its values. One of such verses is:  "And We made them leaders guiding by Our command. And We inspired them to do good deeds, establish prayer, and give zakat (charity), and they were worshippers of Us." - (Qur'an 21:73)

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The above verse simply explains that righteous leaders are those who serve through guidance, prayer, and charity, which are core traits of servant leadership.

Furthermore, Hadith literature reinforces that: "The leader of the people is their servant." (Sunan Abu Dawood, 2858)

Coming to Ifá Corpus ("Odù ifá), which is a vast collection of the Yorùbá sacred texts and oral literature, the subject of leadership is richly discussed, particularly talking about the values of humility, wisdom, service, and justice.

So, while it doesn't use the modern term servant leadership, many of its verses reflect the core principles of it.

For instance Ifá talked about leadership as service, not exercise of power and authority. This is why, in several Odu Ifa chapters of the Ifa Corpus, leaders are warned against arrogance and are reminded that their role is to serve, not to dominate as it is expressed in "Ọba tó jẹ p'óun nìkan ló mọ̀, ṣi ṣubú ní ó subu." - meaning "A king who thinks only he has wisdom will surely fall."

The above verse of Ifá reflects true servant leader's mindset. Leaders must listen, collaborate, and serve the people.

Another subject treated in Ifá corpus is "wisdom and Humility in Leadership". This is found in Odù Ògúndá Meji where Ifa teaches that true leadership selection should be guided by wisdom and humility, but not by ego: "Ọ̀gbọ́n 'nu ni ká fi je oye; kii se agbara" - meaning "It is inner wisdom one uses to lead, not brute strength."

Servant leaders should lead by insight, not intimidation.

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Furthermore, Ifá treated that a Leader must be a Shepherd of the people in Òsalá Méjì where an Ifá verse emphasises that leaders must care for their followers like a parent or shepherd as in "Aláṣẹ l'órí i ènìyàn gbọdọ̀ maláa t'ọ́jù wọn bí ara rẹ̀" - meaning
"One who rules over people must care for them as they would themselves".

Servant leadership is central to Ifá Corpus which advocates that placing others' well-being first is very germane to successful leadership.

Finally, accountability and Justice are other leadership concepts treated in Ifá Corpus to remind leaders that power is a responsibility, not a right.

Many Ifa verses stress accountability, which means a leader is answerable to both the people and the divine as expressed in "Ọlọ́run l'ọba gbogbo, ènìyàn ni ìráń-ń-ṣẹ." - meaning "God is the true king; humans are but servants".

So, while the Ifá Corpus doesn't use the term "servant leadership," its verses consistently promote the idea that true leaders are humble, wise, just, and committed to serving their community. Ifá sees Leadership as a sacred duty, but not to rule over others, but to uplift and protect them.

Let me stop here for now, I will discuss further along this line where I will talk about the other problems facing Òkèògùn and the other marginalised region.

Thank you.

 *Pst. Favour Adéwọyin* _is a public analyst, social critic, writer, journalist, public relation manager, youth manager, leadership expert, teacher of the word of God and community leader._

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