Erudite Prof. Bolanle Awe, went back to ,memory lane
and recounted how the Magnificent 7 (Prof. Wole Soyinka,Nat
Oyelola, Sylvanus Egbuche, Pius Olehi, AIG Imokhuede, Ralph Okwara and himself)
founded the revered The Pyrates Confraternity aka to National
Association of Seadogs (NAS) in their days as undergraduate students at the
University of Ibadan in 1953. Prof. Awe, who is now a pastor at Fullness of
Christ Evangelical Ministry (FOCEM) in Ibadan explains how it all started,
enjoy it:
‘’The idea was conceived by Wole himself, at least I know he was the one
who talked to me. I don’t know who spoke to the other five members but we
actually assembled at Teeder Hall, the second hall to be completed after
Melamby. We assembled in the basement and just made merry in the evening. We
were just out to be different and I saw it to be fun. None of us envisaged that
we were laying the foundation of a virulent cult in that 1953/54 session,
though the association insisted that it was in 1952 hence they celebrated their
50 years in 2002. At that basement we had something to drink, nothing potent,
we went around the campus in unusual ways, we were well known and there was
nothing like secret oath, nothing spiritual about it all.
You earlier said people doubted your
new life because of what you have dipped your hands into. What were these
things?
I am one of those who founded Pyrates Confraternity (PC) and I am one of those
who maintained that though PC which transformed to National Association of
Seadogs (NAS) truly dissociated itself from PC on campuses, it can not really
separate itself from it. This was the basis of the attack of Prof. Wole Soyinka
on me at their 50th anniversary where he gave an 18-page lecture, where
substantial part of it was an attack on me and my ministry. That only showed me
that his camp noted that someone has left them. In fact, I have just finished
writing a reply to him on that.
My attitude is that whatever we may say today, it was the idea of PC that gave
rise to these virulent cults. Even though we were not violent when we started
it and we didn’t call it cult, but the cult culture began after when we
started. Today, they still recognise we the founders as the Magnificent 7! The
NAS does not want to agree with that. Though they decreed that no PC should not
exist on campuses, but we all know that they still do. The fact is if they say
they have no link to the ones on the campuses, I’ll be prepared to accept that
but to say they don’t exist on campuses, I disagreed and we parted ways on
that.
At the time you started, what was the criteria used to recruit members
It was solely based on friendship. My own interpretation was that at the
appropriate time, Satan hijacked what we started since we didn't know where we
were going.
What were the creed of the association?
I wrote it somewhere I can not locate
now. I think they were to abolish convention, revive the age of chivalry (where
you show deference to the weaker sex) etc. In any case I can’t remember
anything that we did to promote those creeds. The motto was; Orders Is Orders. Also, Wole did not stay long enough because he
left a year after for Leeds, because he wanted to study English honours which
was not available as a course in Ibadan then. I think Ralph Opara took over
from him as the head. But I stayed till 1956 when I left for Britain. Three of
us Wole, me and Pius Olehie, who formed the PC, were from the same class in
Government College, Ibadan while Ralph Opara was a year before us.
So when would you say Pyrates Confraternity became virulent?
I think by the 1980s. The thing is that
at the beginning, there was only PC and so many people struggled to be a member
because it was a prestigious thing. When I returned from Britain, some students
who wanted to become members needed a lecturer to sponsor their membership, those
who came to me got my nod.
Up till about 1972, PC was the only association, but when there was schism over
one of them who violated the law and he was not ready to subject himself to
discipline, he left and started a rival organisation and that was how the
Buccaneers Confraternity started. About the same time, Eye Confraternity
started. You must not also forget that violence was become rife in the society.
This began in Ibadan with Operation Wetie around 1964/ 65. Things became
intolerable until the coup in 1967.
Violence became the order of the day and it crept into PC by the time, I had
become disenchanted with the club and was ready to leave. Some of the PC
members had their vision beclouded by violence and the old PC decided to form
National Association of Seadogs and went ahead to register it at the Corporate
Affairs. They said PC should no longer exist on campuses but there is a
difference between saying and establishing it.
So the whole thing between Wole and I was the inability to establish what they
proposed, and so other groups began to spring up in various universities using
the name Pyrates Confraternity because nobody has any right on the name. This
is the problem between Wole and I.
At what point did you renounce your membership?
I must say that I did not officially
renounce until I became a Christian. I kept being less and less active because
I kept seeing it as an activity for children and younger people. But when I
became born-again and established this ministry, I consciously went to God and
confess that we were the people who started this thing, which has become
something we did not envisage. I asked Him to forgive me and forgive the rest
of us and I confessed on behalf of others too. That is the only time I’ll say I
renounced it. It was a private thing.
Have you done that publicly?
No, I have not bothered but I’ve told
all who are concerned that I’m no longer one of them. At any public
opportunity, I always say it and they know that I am no longer one of them. If
Wole could take the trouble to attack me in an 18-page report, then I know it
has registered that I am no longer one of them.
Did they make any effort to ask you why you were leaving?
No, we did not bond ourselves to be
members forever. I think when they found out that I stopped turning up for
their meetings that must have convinced them that I was no longer interested.
But I didn’t make any statement concerning them until I started this ministry
and got involved in the University as chairman of Anti-cultism Campaign Committee.
Did you take the cultism to a higher level like joining the Ogboni, as
people believe it happens?
As I said, I was only active in it
between 1953 and 1957after which I left for Britain. When I came back in 1960,
I was on the staff of the University and was just an adviser to them. I didn’t
know what they did at their services (meetings) I didn’t know when the oath
taking, etc started or if it was actually done. However, I know it is done
today. This is what the Seadogs pretend not to know.
Have you spoken about Christ to Wole Soyinka?
I have not but I will certainly welcome
the opportunity. The only problem I envisage is that unless God softens Wole’s
heart, it might be difficult to speak with him on Christ.
Interview with Elife
