The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Farewell

  • ‘Farewell, true patriot’

    ‘Farewell, true patriot’

    Minister of Mines and Steel Development Dr Kayode Fayemi pays tribute to former Military governor of Western State, the late Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo, who was buried in his Iyin-Ekiti country home last weekend.

    My earliest sense of identity and kinship as an Ekiti man stemmed from studying the lives and public careers of illustrious men and women from the land of honour. One of such was the late General (Rtd.) Robert Adeyinka Adebayo. It was from men and women of his ilk that I learnt and imbibed our pristine values of integrity, diligence and selfless service.

    I was born about the time the dear departed was at the peak of his professional calling as a military man. I recall that as a primary school kid in Ibadan City Council Primary School in Agodi, we welcomed the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and his host, Colonel Adebayo, to Ibadan in the aftermath of the civil war, excitedly waving our little flags and chanting ‘Go On With One Nigeria’, which was a popular slogan in the country after the cessation of hostilities.  The late Gen. Adebayo made us proud by meritoriously discharging of his senior command and staff positions, serving as the first indigenous Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army, 1964-1965, and Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, 1971 – 1972. He was one of the two Ekiti men in Nigeria’s history – the other being another hero, his predecessor, the late Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi – that were privileged to administratively lead the entire Yoruba race as Military Governor of Western Nigeria, 1966–1971. He contributed to regional peace, integration and stability, serving as Commander, Nigerian contingent in the Congo, 1963, and as staff officer in the United Nations peacekeeping force during the Congo crisis, 1961–1963. He was also Chairman of the Defence Planning Committee, 1963–1965, of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which is the predecessor entity of the African Union (AU), similarly leading the Nigerian delegation to the OAU Summit in Ethiopia in November 1966. He was a man of values and intellect who attained greatness by providence, dint of hard work and the courage of his convictions.

    In retirement, late Gen. Adebayo remained on the frontlines of the Nigeria project. In the second republic (1979 – 1983), he co-founded and served as the Vice Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) – which was the ruling party in Nigeria at the time. He also co-founded and served as the Chairman of the Yoruba Council of Elders, which provided a platform for sages of his ilk to lend their weight to advancing the peace and prosperity of the Yoruba race, within the context of an inclusive and progressive Nigeria. On many occasions, the YCE under his leadership successfully intervened in very serious matters of regional and national importance, demonstrating the truism in the Yoruba proverb – Àgbà kì í wà lÍìjà, kórí ÍmÍ tuntun wÍ.

    Personally, I will forever cherish the fond memories of my interactions with him, especially his fatherly counsel and support during my tenure of office as governor of Ekiti State. He was one of my father figures that I always trusted to provide clarity and direction on any matter that I brought before him. He made it a duty to inform me of impending visits to Ekiti from his base in Lagos, and to alert me once he arrived in Iyin-Ekiti, so that we could meet for our memorable discussions on the progress and development of Ekiti and Nigeria. He would enquire about healthcare; commend me for a road he noticed on his way home being fixed; and express concern about student performance in our alma mater, Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti and indeed, other schools, while commending me for the bold steps taken to improve teacher quality. In all of our conversations, he was always scrupulously non-partisan, but wholly committed to the state and the country.

    The demise of the foremost Yoruba leader has robbed the Yoruba race and indeed the entire country of a true patriot and a great leader, who was fervent in his zeal for the unity and progress of the country. His love for his fellow citizens and fatherland was legendary. We shall surely miss his leadership, wise counsel and generous spirit. His passage leaves a deep void that will be hard to fill. We are however not mourning; rather we are celebrating a life well spent and his call to greater glory. Baba has gone to be with the Lord. He has fought a good fight. He has finished his course. He has kept the faith. We are certain that he shall receive the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge has promised all those who love His appearing. We owe him as sons and daughters of Ekiti in particular and all Yorubas at large, and indeed, all Nigerians, to continue to pursue the values that the dear departed’s iconic life have come to represent.

    May his soul rest in perfect peace, and may his memory be blessed.

  • Ambode, Ashafa, others bid APC leader, Sunmola final farewell

    Ambode, Ashafa, others bid APC leader, Sunmola final farewell

    Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Chief Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Mudasiru Obasa  and hundreds of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, yesterday bade a deceased chieftain of the party,  Alh. Safiriyu Abiodun Sunmola final good bye .

    Sunmola died last  Thursday in Lagos and was interred at his country home, off Obalende area of Ijebu – Ode, Ogun State yesterday. He was 77.

    Dignitaries including  politicians and members of the Muslim community in Ijebu – Ode as well as the Mende – Maryland area of Lagos who were still pained by the shock of his passage, said Sunmola would be “greatly missed.”

    Governor Ambode, Senator Ashafa and Senator Olurunnibe Mamora all maintained mournful mood all through and unwilling to speak with journalists but some other dignitaries said Sunmola’s manner of exit was “like a  joke and play” to them.

    The Chief Imam of Ijebuland, described the late  Sunmola as a man of “good character,” saying even when he was not holding any elective office  or appointment, his death and burial drew the presence of people cutting across all strata of the society.

     

  • Farewell, ‘Daddy’

    Farewell, ‘Daddy’

    I never met him. He never met me. But, Brigadier-General Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, whose passing was announced Friday, March 10, was ‘daddy’ to me and thousands of other successful Nigerians, whom he certainly never met as well.
    The story of his sterling military and engineering feats will be told by many, but his more significant legacy to Nigeria is the gift of direction to many of us. Among us are university professors, medical doctors, lawyers, journalists, authors, filmmakers, pharmacists, engineers, etc. He gave us the chance to have an education when doors were shut on us elsewhere.
    Sam Ogbemudia came into national limelight with the outbreak of the Nigerian civil strife of 1967 -1970. He became the military governor of the defunct Midwest State (present-day Edo and Delta). He was also to return as governor of Bendel State, which Midwest was changed to during the Second Republic. But his more significant service happened between 1970 and 1975 when he was Midwest Governor.
    Ogbemudia transformed the war-bruised state to a modern paradise. Some myth (or fact that I tried to verify but couldn’t) accompanies that feat. I learned that when he was once asked how he re-built the state so beautifully and so efficiently at that time, he answered that the idea came from an exercise in military school in the United Kingdom. His class was once given an assignment, so the story goes, which made every student take a close look at the picture of a war-ravaged city and say how each of them might re-build such a city. He scored well with his answer to that question, it was said. So, when he was appointed Governor of Midwest State, he remembered his answer to that military education exercise and applied the strategy. True or false, the strategy transformed Midwest State in the areas of education, roads, transportation, sports and employment.
    I come from one of the Western states, not from Midwest or Bendel, but I benefitted from Ogbemudia’s educational reforms, just as many of my friends and other youths and not so youthful men and women from all over the country. Ogbemudia wasn’t one of those politicians who fan the embers of ethnic division. The Continuing Education Centre, which he created in Benin-City, with campuses at Warri and other places in the state, gave would-have-been failures a second chance at getting an education at affordable costs. People from all over Nigeria – West, Midwest, East and North, all flocked to Benin in the 70s to forge a direction for their lives. That was where I did my two-year Advanced Level course between October 1975 and June 1977 and got back my academic passion after a period of lethargy.
    Personally, I have close friends who attended that school who have done General Ogbemudia proud by excelling in their various careers. Among them: Ambassador Babatunde Ajisomo (in the foreign service), Professor Jim Unah, former head of department of Philosophy at the University of Lagos, Mr. Muyideen Abari, my nephew who is a legal practitioner of repute, Mr. Musibau Akanji Raji, who has had an excellent public service career, Mr. Henry Otoighile, Registrar of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, Dr. Cairo Ojugbo, ex-House of Representatives member, Dr. Richard Igwe, Barrister Oscar Osaigede, Acting Registrar, College of Education, Agbor, Dr. Daniel Omatshola, University of Abuja and Mr. Godwin Igharo who will soon retire after a star performance as a public information officer in the Federal Ministry of Information. Richard Mofe-Damijo, the actor, lawyer and public servant counts among us; so does film/TV screenwriter Lamson Yesuf.
    I tried to rally more recognizable names for the list here but RMD sent me a text message, saying: “Can’t remember any”. Yet, we number in the thousands who graduated from that institution whose name was later changed to Institute of Continuing Education. I’d admit that we have failed Gen. Ogbemudia in one sense: not having an association such as alumni to honour our school and Gen. Ogbemudia and make Nigerian profligate politicians envious of the achievements of men and women like Ogbemudia who grew high-quality manpower for Nigeria. Perhaps, they’d have been inspired to do some work of substance, too, when they just take a look at the list of us who are grateful. Something like the people who have been mentored by that great lawyer and civil liberties advocate and philanthropist, Gani Fawehinmi, sometimes do.Coming out to affirm the noble values of men and women like Ogbemudia is the best way to re-energise our weakening national moral muscles.
    During Ogbemudia’s time, Midwest State was the most progressive state in Nigeria. Its roads were the most modern. Its transportation system (with those red-and-white painted luxury buses called Midwest Line) was efficient and affordable. He created schools and libraries. One notable innovation was the mobile library, vans taking books to the market squares of inner villages and calling out villagers to come out and borrow books to read and return a few weeks later when the library visited again. The Midwest Library on Ring Road and the Midwest Bookshop on Forestry Street were among the best-stocked in Nigeria. He also created a special school to develop sports talent while not neglecting academics. That made Midwest State and, later, Bendel State top the medal tables of the National Sports Festival for several years. The state also contributed star players to the national football team regularly.
    For me and my friends, our school, CEC or ICE was a second chance at acquiring an education. It was an adult education school for many of us who had been shut out of the system. Before going to CEC/ICE, many of us had made poor grades in the West African School Certificate Examinations and couldn’t have gained admission into any university with those grades. Yet, good schools in Lagos where we could have remedied those results wouldn’t have us come near their gates, let alone admit us to write our remedial. Ogbemudia opened the gates of CEC/ICE wide to us. And we seized the opportunity with both arms and feet. One of its truly unique programmes was a three-year school cert/GCE ordinary level course designed for people with only a primary school education desirous of going further. That was the one Mr. Igharo qualified for. And he made the GCE papers which gave him admission into a higher institution in only one year after enrolment. He was already an adult at the time. So were many auto mechanics, watch repairers, refrigerator/ air-conditioner repairers, tailors and motor park touts, some of whom are now university professors.
    Go well, Daddy Ogbemudia. May the heavens hearken to the prayers I’ve been saying for you during my salat since I received the news of your glorious passing. Amen.

    •Sule sent this piece from Abeokuta, Ogun State

  • Farewell to year of shocks

    Farewell to year of shocks

    Were 2016 to be a movie, it would have by now hit a kind of catharsis. Alas, it is no movie, yet it packs in its belly all the attributes of a box office hit.

    In its dying days, this dramatic year has refused to slow down. It keeps confounding world renowned futurists, among whom I am excited to report a governor is numbered. Where are you all those  who say good things hardly come from these climes? Those who thought His Excellency’s talent is limited to pulling stunts and raising hell have been shocked that necromancy has been added to his forte. Now they are saying derisively:”The devil finds work for idle hands.” That was after the governor had bought space in a national newspaper to advertise his predictions for this year that he swore to high heavens actually came to pass, but which his traducers pooh-poohed as mere rabble-rousing. He also listed for his ever-attentive audience the predictions for the coming year. His critics are still reeling from the shock.

    Back to business. The year 2016 continues to shock us all even in its last fortnight. It has been as if the United States has two presidents since billionaire Donald Trump shocked the world by winning the November 8 election, which Russia is believed to have somehow manipulated. You see, it is not only in Nigeria that these things happen; the best candidate in an election trailing the one grudgingly listed as also a runner suddenly becoming a frontrunner and then the winner.

    Trump has been making policy statements and exhibiting little statesmanship in his speeches. To him, the United Nations (UN) is a “club” for people to “have a good time”.

    Incensed by the president-elect’s excesses, the Obama administration reminds him that the United States has one president at a time. Besides, Obama says he could have beaten Trump if he had the opportunity of running for a third term. Shocked? Do not be. It is not only here that presidents wish they could run for a third term. The only difference is that Obama won’t say he never nursed such a wish.

    Yahaya Jammeh of The Gambia shocked the world when many days after conceding defeat in an election he suddenly recanted. He would not surrender his seat to the winner, he said. President Muhammadu Buhari and other ECOWAS leaders went to Banjul to persuade him to step down. He agreed. A few days after, he dismissed his visitors as busybodies who had no right to tell him to go. Now the world is watching how Jammeh’s 22-year iron-fist rule will end. Bloody?

    Entertainment giants won’t stop leaving in a shocking manner. Songster George Michael departed on Christmas Day, sending the global pop community into mourning.

    Pentecostal giant Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye was in Ekiti where he praised Governor Ayodele Fayose’s courage at defending his people. Being used to such encomiums, the governor’s admirers and aides saw it as a routine. Not so his critics and political opponents, particularly those who know nothing about the workings of a spiritual mind. In their shock, they lashed out at the man of God, querying why he visited and praised Fayose, who in their view does not merit such numinous privilege. We should know how to draw the line. What says the holy book about those our Lord  was sent to? Besides, is Pastor Adeboye not entitled to his own opinion? Have we stopped subscribing to the universal right to the freedom of speech?

    Just before Christmas Eve, photographs of  former Delta State Governor James Onanefe Ibori coming out of a British jail were splashed all over the Internet.  He was in for six years after being convicted for money laundering. His friends launched into a street dance that only the weather in its chilliness moderated.

    His kinsmen in Oghara have been dancing ever since over the imminent return of their dearest son. His London home has become a mini studio. Politicians are flying in to record their encounters with him. Champagne glasses in their hands, they pose for photographs with the Ogidigboigbo. All these are uploaded on the Internet to shock many who feel that the matter calls for some somberness and introspection. Among the shocked, it has now turned out, is former Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan who has told those celebrating Ibori’s release to be circumspect.

    In Lagos, rice merchants have been shocked out of their wits. They had thought Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s plan to flood the market with LAKE Rice, following his collaboration with his Kebbi State counterpart Abubakar Atiku  Bagudu was a mere threat. They thought they had smuggled in enough to saturate the market and, as usual, dampen the Yuletide spirit for the poor. Suddenly, LAKE Rice made its delicious debut. Even those who have been able to buy this rice for as low as N2,500 are shocked. Now many are saying with Lake Rice and Ebonyi Rice, Nigeria is on the way to conserving scare foreign exchange that has been going into rice importation.

    Nigerians were shocked when the military announced that Sambisa Forest, the dreaded redoubt of the Boko Haram terror machine, had been captured. It was, no doubt, the biggest Christmas present ever. It is, however, a matter of regret that some people have doubted this remarkable feat of our gallant troops, despite the pictorial and video evidence that are available. They have been asking questions. If indeed Sambisa has fallen, where are the Chibok girls? Where is Shekau, the loudmouth who leads –or led – the deadly group? Where are the other captives?

    More videos of the Sambisa operation have since been released. Only fools doubt proofs, according to Bishop David Oyedepo. Even in this season of shocks, our Armed Forces deserve some praise for their sacrifice, not doubts and denigration. They should be credited with some credibility, no matter how little.

    The Federal Government also shocked many with its new policy on whistle blowing. If you report a fraud or some loot stashed somewhere, you get five per cent of it. Since the news broke, a friend of mine has been threatening to set up a company to go all over the world in search of looted funds. He plans to have his members of staff working round the clock in Panama, Luxemburg, Switzerland and others where our privileged compatriots may have kept their hard earned cash.

    Besides, he is also hiring some local bankers who will let him into the financial affairs of some notable citizens who must explain how they came about their fortune or become victims of whistle blowing. Shocked? Do not be. Isn’t this, according to a consultant with vast experience, a creative way of creating jobs? Imagine five per cent of N10 billion, for instance. Just imagine.

    Even as many are yet to recover from the hangover of MMM’s shocking departure, Nigerians have turned it all into incredible jokes. A popular Yoruba song has suddenly become commonplace, now titled MMM:

    Mole mo ba mo tun gbaa pada,

    Mole mo ba mo tun gbaa pada,

    Mole mo ba mo tun gbaa pada,

    Ohun t’ota gba lowo mi o mole mo ba

    (I chased it and got it

    What the enemy has taken from me

    I got it)

    There is also a poster inviting people to a seven-day “powerful fire vigil”. It reads: “Mole Moba Motungbapada Ministry. Are you a MMM  investor? You are cordially invited to a 7 days powerful fire vigil. Theme: MAVRODI RETURN MY MONEY.Mavrodi da owo mi pada.

    Date: Jan. 7th -13th  2017. Venue: Main Bowl, Abuja National Stadium. Time: 9pm prompt. Come with your laptop, computer, I Pad, phone and every other thing you use in logging into MMM for anointing. Bishop Fireman Dapada (Baba Dapada Now Now, Chief Host).”

    The good thing is that in two days we will be saying farewell to this year of shocks.

    Compliments.

  • Farewell cruelty

    Quite a few Nigerians have tried to redeem Jonathan out of the dust of infamy. With dewy eyes and longing, they see him as the new pope of Nigerian politics. They might even loft him up as a sort of Christ. The one who descended to the grave, and now he is alive for ever. He holds the key to kitchen and plenty.

    That is the view of quite of few Nigerians who are laden with nostalgia. This do-over of the Otuoke potentate growls beneath formal speeches. They say, in Jonathan’s day, dollar flourished in their pockets. Their food pots flowed over. Their mouths choked with delicacies. They shone with sartorial choices. They could pay their rents. They could travel. They indulged in the familiar Nigerian vanities. And, to top it all, they had their salaries, however abject. Now they seek small mercies called salaries. Instead, they face damnation.

    Today, it is quotidian misery. Their ribs now chill for lack of laughter and the party music now tamed, they act as though in self-imposed peril. So, they ask, why don’t we go back to the Jonathan era and let the good times roll again? Some of them voted for him, and we could see that as self-justification. But others who voted against him now have volte-face.

    That is one example of an about-face. The other pirouette concerns the confab of the Jonathan years. The ebullient Babachir David Lawal, the scribe of the government, tossed aside the call to bring back the reports of the 2014 National Conference. He called it “jobs for the boys.” Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, one of the confab mainstays, ribbed Lawal. How dare he condemn a work that took hours and intellectual rigour with the constellation of role models? Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka also took a swipe at Buhari for pooh-poohing the document, asserting that it surpassed the work of PRONACO years ago.

    Suddenly, Jonathan has a makeover. The shoeless man is bouncing out of a dust-ridden image. For Buhari, a “messiah” wants to go to work but meets a rising tide of the people who think he is no messiah.

    The portrait of a leader can change anytime, and it often depends less on what he did right or wrong, but what people feel at the time, especially about who leads them now. That is why Jonathan, who brought the economy to its knees, who divided the nation on ethnic and religious grounds, who crippled the Northeast with a corruption-ridden war chest, who never completed a landmark project in six years, is now the candidate for sainthood.

    But if we look at the facts, they are seductive. Salaries are hardly forthcoming. The dollar is cascading furiously, many more are homeless and roaming the streets, people are stealing their neighbours’ amala and impiously stalking Ramadan meals. Joining gangs entices boys and harlotry gulps up girls. Queues to flee the country are elongating.

    Suddenly the hero for some is the ineffectual man who created the mess. His image has changed. “There is something fatal about a portrait,” wrote Oscar Wilde in his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel about how a picture changes from winsome to murderous. The same way some people are giving new pictures to Jonathan.

    Was it not Jonathan of the billions of naira scandal, of Dasukigate, of cousins in theft, and friends in spendthrift stealth? Is it not the same Jonathan who wrecked the dollar, who excused a dame who flew with impunity and extravagance, and another dame of BMW saga?

    How come the people now salivating for him cannot make the connection? A witch cried last night, a child dies this morning, says the African proverb. Who does not know the connection?

    The same applies to the confab report. We can say that the report may not be all saintly, but what report is? Hence we can see the sagacity in Soyinka and Akinyemi and others who call for redeeming the project. I know, from sources at the time, that the meeting was called as jobs for the boys, as Lawal said. And we cannot forget the princely allowances. Jonathan’s minders also saw it as a diversion. In spite of that, they had a report and they included a few gems. Shall we forget the gems because of the germs in the hands of the makers? Judas betrayed but redemption resulted.

    But as I have noted before, we need to rake up all our reports since independence. The piles have become files of paralysis. We can even build a museum and stack them and see what catastrophe of ideas has been our trajectory as a nation. Is it about the Niger Delta? Or about education, the army, the civil service, the housing crisis, urban squalor, foreign policy? The files abound. Or it is about our ethnicity or faith clashes? Go to the informal museum. Maybe we should inaugurate the museum as a way of laughing at ourselves as monuments to paralysis.

    The crisis reflects our failure to latch on to a golden era as a nation. Well, we don’t have a golden era. Perhaps in a regional sense, we have, but only in the Southwest and because of Awolowo. The Southwest can look back to the rim-glass hero. But not so in the South-south region, which is an array of people with diverse roots. Nor in the Southeast, except the only soap bubble of Biafra. The North is grappling with its feudal fantasy in a republican age. Leaders like Shettima, Tambuwal and El-Rufai are working hard at it.

    If the past haunts the present, it is the job of the present to exorcise it. That’s the task before the charioteer of change, Buhari. Or else we will look like the post-Napoleonic France that made the historian, Albert Carrie, to write, “Those who looked back to the Napoleonic era, they belonged to the lunatic French.”

    Buhari has to attack the challenges of perception and galvanise a nation. No one but he himself can do that. Or else, the more people will start look back rather than looking forward. They will say, like Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, “Farewell, fair cruelty.”

    One hundred years after

    He was called Mala, as short for his longer Itsekiri name. But as his stature grew and myth gained vigour, everyone called him Nanna, who was fondly and sometimes derisively called Gofune or Gofine, a corruption of the word governor, a position he held in the Niger Delta where he flourished in politics and commerce.

    This week, Nanna’s death will be marked in Itsekiriland and the Niger Delta as one of the great icons of his era and pre-colonial Nigeria. Nanna’s martial spirit and patriotic rage will be marked as candle lights wink, monuments unveiled, speeches soar, his ad hoc soldiery celebrated

    Nana towers today as one of the men of visions and courage we ever had. He ranks with avatars like Sodeke, or Balogun Latosa or Ovonramwen, except that no one put up so stout a resistance to the colonising devilry of the British like Nanna. Where the British saw a servile black, he proved the mettle of sovereignty. He also turned an interregnum into republican swagger.

    He was no democrat. He was no king. He was no general. Yet, he reigned with the glamour of royalty, the groundswell of popular following and strategy that impressed an Alexander or Patton.

    The British needed him in oil trade and made him governor. But they thought they had their slaves. Nanna knew the age of slavery was over. Maybe the English still basked in that era. They broke his staff of office and wanted to trick him out of town into jail. He was on to them. They brought their Army. He mounted a blockade. The English called themselves “mistress of the sea” but got stuck and had to seek reinforcement and the help of local rivals like Numa to break the blockade. He had help moving from place to place and took shelter with his Yoruba friend Seidu Olowu in Lagos before he turned himself in.

    His story reminds us why we should study history in our schools as highlighted by patriarch and author and president of Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, J.O.S. Ayomike, the inspirer of this remembrance.

  • Farewell to HU

    Farewell to HU

    After 24 years of productive engagement in teaching, research, and administration, and learning a lot from colleagues and students, I ended my formal relationship with Howard University (HU), Washington, DC. yesterday, the 30th day of June, in the year of our Lord, 2016. It has been a memorable journey in many respects; and I am grateful for the positive experience and successful outcome of the journey.

    I first stepped on the campus of Howard University in February 1992 when I was interviewed for the position of Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy. As soon as I entered the campus, even before the rigorous interview began, I knew that Howard was the place for me. It turned out to be everything that I longed for to make my contributions to scholarship and community.

    I chose Howard University over other institutions that gave me offers of appointment because of its long and rich history of scholarship and service. Founded in 1867, Howard University earned its reputation as the Mecca of scholarship for African descendants worldwide. On top of her scholarship, however, Howard is also attractive for its social engagement, and for the training of servant-leaders with a focus on freedom, justice and equality.

    Many African leaders passed through Howard University, from where they renewed their abiding interest in freedom and justice and pledged their commitment to the freedom of African peoples worldwide. Howard has produced exemplary leaders for America and the global community.

    Occupying the Chair of Alain Locke, the first African-American Rhodes Scholar and towering figure of Harlem Renaissance, was an honour and an uncommon professional opportunity that I grabbed and made the best of. Locke placed philosophy at Howard on the map of philosophical scholarship. Though Africana philosophy had not been a recognised or sought-after specialisation at his time, he anticipated its rise in the second half of the last century, with his focus on the philosophy of race and intercultural relations.

    With my departmental colleagues on board, and the encouragement of a supportive administration, I was determined to advance the cause of Africana philosophy as a tribute to the pioneering efforts of Locke, and the success of that determination remains one of the initiatives that I will always be proud of.

    Howard Philosophy department not only features an undergraduate programme in Africana philosophy, there is also an infusion of Africana content throughout the entire curriculum. My colleagues and I conclude that if philosophy must be true to itself as the search for truth, it must stand for the whole truth, and not a partial truth which celebrates the wisdom of only a fraction of humanity.

    It is near impossible to pull that off in other institutions. But Howard is special in the sense that, as an institution of higher learning, the leadership of Howard, from the beginning, understood its uniqueness and assigned to it a mission that cannot be replicated elsewhere. With “an enduring commitment to the education of underrepresented communities in America and the global community”, Howard has opened its doors to the world’s marginalised and neglected from its inception.

    The mission of Howard is unique. It prides itself as “a culturally diverse, comprehensive, research intensive and historically Black private university, (that) provides an educational experience of exceptional quality at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels to students of high academic standing and potential, with particular emphasis on educational opportunities for Black students. Moreover, the university is dedicated to attracting and sustaining a cadre of faculty who are, through their teaching, research and service, committed to the development of distinguished, historically aware, and compassionate graduates and to the discovery of solutions to human problems in the United States and throughout the world. With an abiding interest in both domestic and international affairs, the university is committed to continuing to produce leaders for America and the global community.”

    The key is the “development of distinguished, historically aware and compassionate graduates and the discovery of solutions to human problems in the United States and throughout the world.” Howard has been faithful to this mission. Howard is the foremost university in the development of students who take seriously the issues of social justice and community service.

    It is not a coincidence that most of the major breakthroughs in the cause of social justice were initiated at Howard University. The landmark ruling on Brown versus Board of Education, which ended school segregation, had Howard School of Law faculty at its vanguard. The campaign for the freedom of Nelson Mandela and divestment from South Africa were spearheaded by Howard students and faculty. Mandela repaid this handsomely by choosing Howard as the institution to receive his first honorary degree after he regained his freedom and assumed the presidency of a free South Africa.

    More recently, Howard University students have demonstrated their fidelity to the core values of the institution with their unadulterated and unambiguous position on justice for the downtrodden in the face of police brutality.

    What will strike an African student or faculty just relocating to the United States and visiting Howard University for the first time is the commitment of the institution to Africa in all areas of its operation. In curricula offerings, in service programmes, in social activities, Africa is celebrated and venerated. There is no denying the fact that Howard students have a yearning for African original values undiluted by colonial presence and its post-colonial jaundiced vision.

    Where some African institutions neglect the study of African history and African languages, Howard is constantly adding to its offerings in these areas. From Hausa to Yoruba and Swahili, students have a variety of choices to advance their African cultural understanding. It is no surprise, as I reported two weeks ago, that Ooni Ogunwusi, Ojaja II received a red-carpet reception at the historic Blackburn Centre of the university recently.

    It was Howard University that first initiated the idea of an Alternative Spring Break (ASB), a student initiative to give back to the community. Some of these students have been volunteering their spring break for worthy causes for a long time. But shortly after the tragic Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Howard student leaders formally organised and decided to spend their Spring Break in New Orleans caring for the victims of the hurricane. Howard students have since been to Haiti, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore and the District of Columbia.

    ASB participants are self-organised. They raise their own funds. They go to inner cities to help drug addicts, assist struggling young people in elementary and high schools, and counsel HIV-AIDS patients. As one television anchor puts it, these are students that will change the world. For in the process of helping others with their time, they are also transformed, becoming more compassionate and less self-centred.

    Howard students are not in the business of asking for their individual rights. They are asking for how they can help less privileged ones in the community. That is the spirit of Howard. It is also what education is about. It is why like-minded individuals, be it faculty, administrators, staff, or students find a comfortable home at Howard and stay even when they have more attractive offers elsewhere. Howard is in the top rank of institutions that send students to the Peace Corps.

    My years at Howard have been greatly rewarding. I met here some of the most hardworking, self-less and genuinely committed individuals. In the last few years that I served in college administration, I have seen up close the milk of compassion flowing in high and low places. My faculty colleagues have been wonderful. Of those who helped me selflessly with the administration of the college, I must mention Drs. Greg Carr and Dana Williams. Dr. James Donaldson offered me the opportunity to serve and former President Ribeau concurred. I am eternally grateful.

    Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, an outstanding surgeon and triple alumnus of Howard University, is a rare gem. His commitment is unassailable. His energy and dynamism is electrifying. His vision for Howard is inspiring. Exiting with him in charge, I am reassured that Howard University will “keep on keepin’ on” in truth and service.  HU! U Know!!!

  • Re: Farewell to foreign policy

    I was attracted to the foreign policy article by Mr Ayobolu which appeared on the back of The Nation of April 23. I was curious to know what led Ayobolu to come to the conclusion that we have no foreign policy.

    After reading Ayobolu’s article, I came to the conclusion that he is deeply unhappy at the fact that President Buhari took on the portfolio of foreign affairs and decided to be the Nation’s Chief Diplomat.  In doing so, Mr Ayobolu believes that the brilliant, erudite, Geoffrey Onyeama, Buhari’s Foreign Minister, has been sidelined and has not been allowed to showcase his erudition on the International stage. I am not sure that Mr. Onyeama will be as unhappy as Ayobolu when he observes the manner in which other Heads of State receives his boss, President Buhari, as he presents his case to his counterpart all over the world. I suspect the Foreign Minister will be happy that some of the aura of an achiever will rub off on him. And in time when we have overcome most of the challenges facing us, the current Foreign Minister will travel alone all over basking in the achievement of his boss.

    Mr. Ayobolu spent the first part of his article comparing the foreign policy and achievement of Gen Murtala Mohammed and President Buhari. He was obviously proud of the activist policy of Mohammed’s era. He correctly narrated the views of the activists and conservative wing of the Organisation of African Unity. What Gen Mohammed did then was to articulate the position of majority of African states in their support of MPLA (Angola’s People’s Movement for the Liberation of Africa). His speech, “Africa has come of Age”, gave voice to African states who hitherto were afraid to voice their opposition to America’s position on the colonial issue.

    President Buhari on the other hand is operating in an era where some African Heads of State  are enmeshed in corruption, engaged in bad and cruel governance of their people and operate the right to govern  without any limitation. President Buhari is using his personal attributes, his integrity, his intolerance of corruption and those who practice it, in driving his foreign policy.   These attributes of his have endeared him to world leaders and gained him results. Fortunately, today’s international protocol makes it easy for him to interact with world leaders. No matter how educated or articulate a Foreign Minister may be, he cannot be accorded the same respect and audience as his substantial Head of State. There is to my mind a limit to the insistence that the Foreign Minister is the only one that could initiate or carry out a nation’s foreign policy. I think most Nigerians will agree that Buhari is achieving the objectives which he set for himself. Mr. Babatunde Fashola in his notes on some of the foreign trips of President Buhari said that much in his recent article  PMB’s Foreign Trips – My Takeaway.

    One may ask why I have bothered to write a rejoinder to Mr. Ayobolu’s article. I have done so because I was Gen Mohammed’s Ambassador to the United States. When he took over power, he made it clear that he was interested in 3 posts in the foreign service.  These were Washington, Nigerian Mission to the United Nations and the OAU/Ethiopia. He had a huge say in the appointment of those he chose to go to these posts. This was how Leslie Harriman became our Ambassador to the United Nations; B.A. Clark our ambassador to the OAU and I was chosen to go to Washington DC.  It did not take me a long time when I arrived in Washington that I came to realize the extent of America’s bitterness against General Mohammed. As far as America was concerned, he was the arch communist leading a communist nation. All the tirade against us was because of our support of MPLA. Those who lavish praises on Gen Mohammed were totally unaware of the backlash of his policies and the effect it had on his Ambassador at post. I bore the brunt of America’s massive propaganda machine on radio and television negatively directed at Nigeria. I was indeed a shock absorber for the Head of State.  Onyeama has to play a back role for the moment, and he and his ambassadors will have to be Buhari’s shock absorbers.

    As I reflected on my stay in Washington, I came to the conclusion that General Mohammed was the luckiest Head of State of Nigeria. He was head of state of Nigeria for only 6 months, and his utterance of one sentence “Africa has come of age” made him a hero in Nigeria and Africa.  He did not live long enough for this generation to have a full assessment of his achievement both within Nigeria and internationally. At home, he authorized a record massive dismissals of civil servants, the repercussion of which was felt for years. Internationally, his record rested on that phrase  “Africa has come of Age”. This phrase galvanized Africa particularly freedom fighters in South Africa, Namibia and South Africa. It also loosened the tongues of Africans and emboldened them particularly those who were afraid of openly criticizing the United States anti-MPLA policy. I understand Mr Ayobolu’s admiration for the foreign policy that operated under Gen Mohammed and by President Obasanjo.  My problem is the comparison being made with that of Buhari’s administration. I am unhappy that his comparison does not take into account the context of the time and issues on the ground.

    Can foreign policy be actualized and operated in vacuum? Can our foreign policy be operated without taken account of the state of the economy? Does a country operate the foreign policy of a chosen foreign Minister or that of the Head of State and the policy of his administration? A foreign Minister is to implement faithfully the policy of his Head of State and his administration. The Foreign Minister may have brilliant ideas but he still has the duty of getting his boss to accept his ideas if he finds those ideas conforming with the foreign policy objectives of his administration as set out in his manifesto. I disagree with Mr. Ayobolu’s assertion that the present Head of State is undermining the role of his foreign minister.  The Head of State sincerely believes that his personality contributes to  the achievement of his objectives in eradicating corruption, fighting religious extremists particularly  Boko Haram and soliciting support for Nigeria. His success in his effort in this direction is very obvious to those who are objective.  I disagree with the impression that we have no foreign policy because Hon Geoffrey Onyeama is not on the driving seat.

    On the whole, I think we should be proud that three Nigeria Presidents have contributed to the awakening of Africa.  Mohammed and Obasanjo in the fight against colonialism, apartheid and the heroic fight for their emancipation. Our generation is witnessing another heroic fight in the person of President Buhari against corruption, greed and avarice of the leaders.  Suddenly he has been a shining example for the world.

    I believe Buhari is entitled to be compared with Den Xiaoping, the great reformer of modern China.

    Mr. Ayobolu has every right to criticize Nigeria’s foreign policy and the way it is being carried out. But we must always bear in mind the objectives which a leader wants to achieve, and what he needs or has, to achieve them. I think President Buhari is clear In his mind what objectives he wants his foreign policy to achieve, and he is going about it in his own way.  He is the man of the moment.

    Ambassador Olusola Sanu is a veteran diplomat and the author of Audacity on the Bound: A Diplomatic Odyssey.

  • Farewell to foreign policy?

    Farewell to foreign policy?

    Perhaps, the finest moment in Nigeria’s foreign policy was at the defunct Organisation of African Unity OAU) summit in Addis Ababa on 11th January 1976. The background to the crucial summit was that the United States and other key western powers were exerting considerable pressure on African leaders to recognise reactionary, retrogressive and pro-apartheid forces like the FLNA or UNITA in the battle to extricate Angola from the grip of Portuguese colonialism. However, the Movement for the Popular Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was obviously the most progressive and widely accepted groups within Angola. Many African leaders were obviously prepared to toe the US line. In a characteristically fiery speech, the tempestuous Nigerian Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed decisively changed the tide.

    In Murtala’s words on that occasion, he declared unequivocally that – “Africa has come of age. It is no longer under the orbit of any power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful”. At the end of Murtala’s speech and vigorous diplomatic lobbying by Nigerian diplomats, the OAU leaders unanimously voted to recognise the MPLA as the legitimate government of Angola. In 1998, the Obasanjo military regime nationalized the assets of British Petroleum and Barclays Bank in Nigeria as retaliation against the sale of oil to the racist regime of Ian Smith in Rhodesia – a move that was said to have forced the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher to soft-pedal on its policy of constructive engagement with the racists. At last the British government acceded to demands for an all -inclusive party conference that eventually culminated in the independence of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

    It is obvious that there has been a significant decline in the quality and efficacy of Nigeria’s foreign policy ever since the precipitous and continuing spiralling of the country’s economic crisis. Last week, The Guardian’s perceptive columnist, Dr Reuben Abati, undertook an incisive critique of Nigeria’s foreign policy focussing particularly on the ruling APC. His principal contention was that President Muhammadu Buhari is the country’s Chief Diplomat, which makes his frequent trips abroad justifiable and inevitable. Abati cites several reasons over the years for the decline in the quality of the country’s foreign policy. These include an unhealthy politicisation of the Foreign Service, demoralisation of the professional diplomatic corps and poor funding of the External Affairs Ministry.

    There are also those who argue that Nigeria can no longer pursue the exuberant and expansive foreign policy of the Murtala/Obasanjo years because of the drastic erosion of the role of oil in the global economy. However, one factor, which Dr Abati and other commentators are silent about, is the ability and global diplomacy competency of whoever is the Foreign Affairs Minister. I have asked several persons across diverse strata, for example, who is the Foreign Minister in President Buhari’s administration. Those I asked, including highly informed persons, responded in the negative. Can you imagine majority of Americans not knowing who a Secretary of State like Hilary Clinton or John Kerry is?

    With a political science degree from Columbia University in New York and degrees in law from the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, is quite cerebral and accomplished. But is he being utilised in his area of maximum competence? I do not think so. If he were, the President would not have to personally conduct his own global diplomacy leading to severe criticism of his frequent travels abroad.

    Nigeria’s unquestionably most able and dynamic Foreign Affairs Minister was Professor Bolaji Akinyemi who served under the Babangida administration between 1985 and 1987. This was the period of Structural Adjustment and the onset of economic stress.  A contributor to a collection of essays in honour of Professor Akinyemi writes that he was “determined that Nigeria’s foreign policy would not be suspended pending the solutions of the country’s economic problems” and that the very existence of these problems necessitated “the need for an imaginative foreign policy whose strength was weighted more in its content of ideas, as opposed to the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of External Affairs”. Thus, we had such bold initiatives as the Technical Aid Corps Scheme, Concert of Medium Powers and a strong bid to revive the Pan-African Movement as a centre-piece of Nigeria’s foreign policy under Akinyemi.

    In reality, President Buhari ought not to be the country’s Chief Diplomat if he has an effective Foreign Minister. His international travels would be limited to very strategic ones as he is a very busy man. He should stay at home more to closely monitor infrastructure renewal and expansion, restoration of security and stabilisation of power supply among others. For, in the final analysis, foreign investors are no philanthropists and foreign investment capital, like electricity, has no feeling. It will flow in the direction of locations with the clement environment for their businesses to thrive and make profit.

    Does Nigeria today have a systematically formulated and rigorously defined foreign policy? I do not think so. Phrases like ‘Economic Diplomacy’ or ‘Citizen Diplomacy’ appear to me hazy and vacuous lacking in concrete meaning. If you ask me, I will say we run a ‘street beggar’ and ‘mendicant diplomacy’ that detracts from our honour and dignity.

    Hakeem Bello’s superfluous apotheosis of Fashola

    My friend, brother and Media Adviser to Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) Hakeem Bello, in his response to my last column, is of the strange view that my commendation of the Fashola administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis, somehow denies me of a right to criticise the administration in other spheres. He forgets that this column once named Fashola as its man of the year. Yet, that did not preclude me from strenuously condemning the administration’s purported wholesale sacking of striking doctors in public hospitals or the astronomical increase in school fees at the Lagos State University (LASU.

    Hakeem spends about 80% of his rejoinder reiterating Fashola’s achievements in office. That is completely unnecessary for no rational person has ever denied his accomplishments. Fashola needs no such apotheosis or deification. Largely unknown politically in 2007, Fashola had in eight years stamped his authority of competence and efficiency on the terrain. I guess Hakeem’s aim is to prove that Fashola did not concentrate solely on the elitist parts of the state. But he runs away from responding to my central contention that Fashola’s accomplishments notwithstanding, the electoral fortunes of the ACN and then APC declined steadily and substantially during his tenure. From a margin of over 500,000 votes with which Fashola defeated the PDP candidate in 2007, Ambode beat Jimi Agbaje with less than 200,000 votes in the 2015 elections.

    Much of Hakeem’s submissions are only of tangential relevance to my arguments and so of negligible analytic value. I will simply ignore them. Let me thus reiterate my position on the Ambode administration. Within his first month in office, Ambode came under vitriolic attack with even The Economist of London claiming that traffic and crime were spiralling out of control under him. As Ambode progresses towards his first year in office, however, it is obvious that Governor Ambode knows his onions and is unobtrusively delivering on his mandate. By restructuring the state’s suffocating debt exposure from 18% interest to 12.5%, he has freed N3 billion every month for other urgent challenges.

    This is obviously why his administration has been able to establish the innovative N25 billion Employment Trust Fund, rehabilitated over 500 inner roads in the city within one year, approved N11 billion to offset arrears of pensions for Lagos State government, local government and parastatals retirees since 2010, approved employment of 1,300 qualified teachers and is approving another N1 billion for renovation and supply of furniture as well as education materials across all public secondary schools.  He also procured equipment worth over N4 billion for the police with positive impact for security in the state.

    Ambode has empowered the 57 Local Government and Local Council Development Areas to construct 114 inner roads at two per local government to be delivered by June 2016, procured 26 transport ambulances for General Hospitals as well as approving the purchase of generators and x-ray machines for all General Hospitals. This is in addition to approving the construction of the first ever high-powered DNA forensic laboratory in Nigeria to take off within the next 12 months. The operation light up Lagos is on-going at a frenetic pace while work has commenced on the construction of flyover bridges for Ajah and AbuleEgba.

    More importantly, Governor Amboder is paying close attention to less elitist parts of the state with a lot of prospects for the Ikorodu/Epe axis, Alimosho and Badagry to name a few. None of these takes anything away from Fashola. Tinubu is the pathfinder, who laid the foundation for the renaissance of modern Lagos. Fashola is the actualizer who built so impressively on Tinubu’s vision. Ambode is emerging as the consolidator as well as the emancipator of less developed and long neglected parts of the state.

  • FG, NLC bid farewell to Ocholi

    FG, NLC bid farewell to Ocholi

    The Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday extolled the qualities of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi (SAN).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on March 6, the minister, his wife and son died in a motor accident along Kaduna/Abuja Express road.

    Sen. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, while speaking at the valedictory court session held in his honour at the National Industrial Court, Abuja described Ocholi’s death as painful.

    Ngige said that the legacies left behind by the late minister were good ones and would forever be remembered.

    “I have known him before we started working together; we were together in the party APC.

    “He was our deputy legal adviser and was also a member of the merger committee which I also belong.

    “I have also known him as a lawyer and working together in the Ministry of Labour and Employment was a home coming to both of us.

    “We were already friends and we have to pilot the affairs of the ministry together.

    “Our main goal in the ministry was to bring change that will benefit the Nigerian workers and the society as a whole,’’ he said.

    He said Ocholi departure would not be forgotten in a hurry.

    Speaking, Mr Ayba Wabba, NLC President, said the late minister had left his indelible footprints in the sands of time.

    Wabba described Ocholi as one of Nigeria’s brightest and finest minds who was cut down alongside his family members when his star was in the ascendancy.

    “It is with a grief-stricken heart that I perform, arguably, one of the most difficult tasks as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

    “As Ocholi’s death is an unspeakable tragedy that numb the senses and he left no one in doubt that he was a trusted ally of Labour.

    “Indeed, Ocholi’s knowledge of labour laws, industrial relations practice and his eagerness to work with social partners in the labour circuit raised hope for the labour movement,’’ he said.

    The president also described Ocholi as a legal luminary, an urbane, a highly cultivated person and an invaluable asset in government-labour relations.
    “What a shame death has robbed us of this priceless and irreplaceable gem. How can we come to terms with this? It is ever so difficult.

    “The least we can do in memory of this illustrious son is to imbibe his noble qualities. We should also go a step further to immortalise his name after him a worthy edifice or institution.
    “Fare thee well, my friend and my brother, Mr James Ocholi, (SAN),’’ Wabba added.

  • Dignitaries bid Ngige’s dad farewell

    Dignitaries bid Ngige’s dad farewell

    It was a gathering of political giants and prominent citizens when Pa Pius Okonkwo Ngige, father of Minister of Labour Dr Chris Ngige and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Emeka Ngige, was buried in Alor, Anambra State. JOSEPH JIBUEZE and NWANOSIKE ONU write.

    For a long time to come, residents  of Alor town in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State will not forget  the burial of their patriarch, the late Pius Okonkwo Ngige (aka Akunnia).

    The late Ngige was one of the oldest men in the state. He died at  the age of 105. Thus, it was a celebration of life. The late Ngige is survived by his youngest brother, Alphonsus, who is in his 90s; six children, including a former Anambra State Governor and now Minister of Labour Dr Chris Ngige, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Emeka Ngige, who holds the title of Ikemba n’Alor; as well as many grand and great-grand children.

    A wake-keep the previous night took a party-like turn. Soon after prayers were said, fireworks lit up the sky. Various traditional dance groups entertained guests. On the adjourning roads leading to the Ngige family home, long rows of vehicles occupied both sides.

    It was a beehive of activities last Friday, after a funeral mass at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Alor. There was a heavy security presence, including men of the Department of State Services (DSS) operatives and the police. Men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC),  were busy controlling traffic and the surging crowd.

    Choice wines and assorted drinks were in abundance. Local delicacies as well as continental dishes were on display. It was a carnival-like occasion.

    Traders also made brisk business, selling customised fez-caps, hats and vests which bore the late Ngige’s photograph.

    As large as the church cathedral was, it could not contain half of those who attended the ceremony. Canopies were mounted outside.

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu led other party chiefs to the event. They included National Chairman John Odigie Oyegun; former Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande; a former Ogun State Governor Chief Segun Osoba; a former Ekiti State Governor Otunba Niyi Adebayo, among others.

    Also at the event were: former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme; Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole; his Delta and Anambra counterparts Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Willie Obiano; and former Anambra Governor Peter Obi. Also paying their last respects were Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi; Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN); Lagos branch chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Martins Ogunleye, his predecessor Chijioke Okoli, among others.

    President Muhammadu Buhari was represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation Pastor Babachir David Lawal; Senate President Bukola Saraki was represented by Senator Dino Melaye; former Enugu State Governor Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo; Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Umeadi; a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Charles Soludo; a former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro; and a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN); ministers- James Ocholi (SAN) (State for Labour); Senator Udo Udoma (Budget and Planning); Dr Kayode Fayemi (Solid Mineral); Rotimi Amaechi (Transport) and Hajiya Zainab Maina (Women Affairs), among others.

    Bishop Paulinus Ezeokafor, in his sermon, urged the Ngige family to be comforted by the good life their father lived.

    He reminded all of the inevitability of death. He urged all to reconsider their lifestyles and change their bad ways by keeping God’s commandments.

    Senator Ngige said: “My father’s life was a book of many volumes where you learn a lot of lessons. There was not a day I did not learn something new from him. He fought for the helpless, the voiceless, and the downtrodden.”

    Emeka Ngige, in his tribute, said the late Akunnia meant a lot to him. He was not just a father, but a friend, confidant, counselor, protector, motivator, educator and role model.

    The senior advocate said his father taught them integrity, consistency, doggedness, resilience, hard work, peacemaking and most importantly the fear of God.