FROM RASCALITY TO HEROISM: A REVIEW OF MUKAILA LAMIDI AUXILIARY: LIFE
& CAREER BY EBIKA ANTHONY
Mukaila Lamidi Auxiliary: Life & Career is a literary
biographical book, creatively telling stories of a rascally boy, who wobbled
through the undulating paths and snaky roads of existence to become a man of
heroism. Written by Biola Layonu and Freeman Okosun, two cooperative partners
in the practice of biographical documentations, this book is very unique,
captivating and desirable. It treats issues of political history,
socio-political struggles, childhood plays and pranks, street life, friendship
fun and traditional polygamous setting where rivalry, pettiness and jealousy
often rear their heads.
Interestingly, the authors take a reader from floating in
one stream of exciting story to another, and then to another, making the reader
enjoy tributaries of stories flowing into the sea of pleasurable reading. Biola
Layonu and Freeman Okosun succeeded immensely, in telling stories about Mukaila
Lamidi, whose father, a Civil Servant, had wished that he (Mukaila) went to
school and eventually become a Civil Servant as well. But alas! A father’s idea
of travel by air was quite different from the son’s idea of travel by road.
Indeed, seeing a book on Mukaila Lamidi, alias Auxiliary,
one’s mind would be congested of various ideas. Here is a rugged and dogged man
who holds the society with a firm grip, because, he believes that the society
holds him with iron hands. The good thing is that the authors have told stories
that the society cannot ignore, but to read in order to know the true person of
Mukaila Lamidi and his hustles and bustles to be able reach the arena of
leadership. From a nobody, he bulldozed his way to become somebody, who now
dines and wines with the high and mighty.
In Chapter One of the book, the reader is introduced to Pa
Lamidi’s polygamous home into which Mukaila was born. Pa Lamidi, believing that
Mukaila should be a Civil Servant like himself, made arrangements for his
enrolment at the N5 Elementary School. Indeed, Pa Lamidi believed so much in
Mukaila as a true son with the air of fearlessness around him. On page three of
the book, the authors noted: “A child whom he (Pa Lamidi) was certain would
grow up brave and bold enough to confront life’s complexities was well as its
whims and fancies.”
Mukaila’s start of elementary school is captured in Chapter
Two. Here, the authors gave an account of General Yakubu Gowon’s visit to
Ibadan, how Mukaila and a number of pupils were lucky to shake Gowon’s hand,
and how Mukaila developed hatred for school environment as a result of being
flogged by Teacher Ajala.
The incidents in Chapter Three are quite attention-grabbing.
Against Pa Lamidi’s strong wish, Mukaila refused to taste the juicy apple of
secondary school education. Despite his good First School Leaving result, and
Fatimah College, Ikire, waiting to welcome him, the boy Mukaila, who already
had hatred for school environment, turned his back. Instead, at the age of 12,
he drank the strong wine of street life to define his own kind of freedom
existence, and not a regimented life of civil service. Hear the authors on page
60: “He didn’t want the clean, coordinated, almost sweat-less way of life that
Civil Service produced. It looked too dull and uninteresting for the kind of
blood that boiled through his veins.”
Since he turned against his father’s wish, Mukaila
disappeared from home and took to car-washing at Mokola, which was then the
major motor park in Ibadan. In those days, Gbadegesin, a fearless and most
feared motor pack tout ruled Mokola. It happened that while Mukaila was washing
a car one day to make ends meet, Gbadegesin who desperately needed money,
approached Mukaila to collect the day’s tax. Mukaila told Gbadegesin to give
him some time to finish washing the car, but Gbadegesin will not take that. So,
he pushed Mukaila by his shoulder and kicked his bucket of water.
In annoyance, Mukaila pushed him as well, and that highly
annoyed Gbadegesin, the lord of Mokola Motor Park. A fight began, it was a
great fight. The two rascals fought until both of them were exhausted before
they were separated. Gbadegesin, in the full glare of the world, looked dazed.
Nobody at the Mokola Park had dared him. But Mukaila, that small boy had the
gut and bravely bruised his ego, rudely roughened his mien, badly battered his
personality and brought his great motor park authority to disrepute. Gbadegesin
was truly dazed.
After that great fight, Gbadegesin was afraid that Mukaila
might one day overthrow him at the park. So, Gbadegesin worked on his loyalists
and they began to rebel against Mukaila. On page 71, Layonu and Okosun wrote:
“He (Gbadegesin) began to devise several mischievous means to put Mukaila in
trouble, and to present him like a villain in the eyes of everyone, because he
had reckoned that with Mukaila around, he was bound to lose his place of honour
before long. This mischievous sabotage by Gbadegesin began to make the streets
unbearable for Mukaila.
For what seemed like a dark moment, Mukaila left Ibadan for
Lagos to begin a new life of making ends meet. This new life of Mukaila was
painted on the canvas of Chapter Four. While in Lagos, he worked as a bus
conductor, saved money and eventually gained admission into a driving school to
earn his driving certificate. Along the line, the death of his father, Pa
Lamidi, which Mukaila read in a letter sent to him, hit him so hard and got him
devastated. “Mukaila had not cried in years,” the authors wrote on page 98/99,
“he was a man of the streets, and one thing every person from the street would
always learn, was hardiness, to be unfeeling. But as Mukaila held the letter,
he could not withhold the urge to cry. It was the only way he could loosen the
grip that was tightened round his neck like a noose. He covered his hands round
his face and wept.
In Chapter Five, the authors described episodes of Mukaila’s
return to Ibadan, and how he joined the National Union of Road Transport
Workers (NURTW). In the NURTW, Auxiliary became an active politician and a
unionist who gradually, rose to the position of Vice-Chairman in Oyo State.
While in Chapter Six, Auxiliary was linked to a sensational murder case. Said
to be a victim of political persecution, he was detained in prison and
eventually, was discharge and acquitted. Later, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo
State elevated Auxiliary to take charge of disciplinary matters concerning
motor park management in Oyo state.
Noted as an ardent lover of a large polygamous family in
Chapter Seven, eulogized as a devout Muslim who built a mosque in memory of his
Muslim father, and also built a church in honour of his Christian mother in
Chapter Eight, and described as a socialite and hotelier in Chapter Nine,
Auxiliary’s biography is concluded in Chapter Ten, with comments by his
relatives, friends and associates. Amongst these people, Johnson Abiola
Jaiyeoba commented on Auxiliary. “He is stubborn but very hardworking,” Abiola
said, “he is also steadfast and resilient. I believe those qualities made him
to rise in his chosen career,” Abiola added.
In fact, this biographical book is a laudable feat of
creative versatility and distinction. It is a bold literary piece that serves
as a veritable window through which readers can see the clear image of Mukaila
Lamidi, a man whose dog is given a bad name, but the society cannot hang it, a
man whose person some people unfortunately, misunderstood and misinterpreted,
but refused to be bullied, a man whose waist is far above water level, and so,
opposite forces cannot drown him.
The authors – Biola Layonu and Freeman Okosun thrived with a
smooth-flowing prose, their collective voice is bold, and heir narrative
pattern is highly commendable. They are advised to take care of the typographic
errors in the book when the next edition is to be produced.
In conclusion, this book is a biography of important
revelations. It is a revelation of motor park society in which the leader
enjoys robust financial benefits, and he is highly respected by his followers,
but he must always keep on his toes not to be bullied out of his position by
way of force. It is a revelation of what our people will describe as ‘bad
belle’ politics where the winning party victimizes perceived opponents. This
biography is also a revelation of what people can get through the highly-placed
people they know. Above all, it is a revelation of Mukaila Lamidi alias
Auxiliary as a fearless Ibadan indigene, a onetime car washer, bus conductor,
driver, unionist, politician, socialite, hotelier and a family man paddling in
the boat of polygamy like his father of blessed memory.
Ebika Anthony is a poet, puppeteer, performer and publisher
based in Ibadan.
