The Nation Newspaper

Tag: gentleman

  • Officer and gentleman

    •Gen Salihu Ibrahim, who died at 83, reminds us of what soldiery should be

    It is not often that a soldier in the mould of late Lt. General Salihu Ibrahim happens on a generation. In a profession of hubris and esprit de corps, soldiers know that violence and conflict set them apart from other callings. Salihu was a tranquil soldier as they come, which does not detract from his awareness of his role as a gun man, and man of war. After all, he was a soldier in the throes of the Nigerian civil war, and he rose to the acme of military postings as the chief of army staff of the Nigerian armed forces.

    No one could rise in that setting without a tolerance for blood and death, and even a certain amount of butchery as self-defence. Yet, Gen Ibrahim was able to combine the intrepid with the human in his acquittal of his duties as a Nigerian soldier.

    With his pedigree, many would expect his profile to be marked by episodes of conspiracy, intrigue and bullishness. Nothing exemplified his personality like the story of his near retirement when Gen Ibrahim Babangida was military president of the country.

    In the 1985 coup that swept MuhammaduBuhari out of power and installed Babangida as the nation’s ruler, General Ibrahim did not play a role even though he was a general officer commanding a division. His non-role was perceived as inimical and he was listed for retirement. Gen Ibrahim was astounded and wanted an audience with the commander-in-chief. But General Babangida would not grant him. General Ibrahim persistent, seeking at least, a final farewell with his commander-in-chief.

    General Babangida eventually relented and granted him the audience, explaining to him that he did not take part in the coup and did not cooperate with the mutineers. Gen. Ibrahim mildly protested and explained that he had no knowledge of the mutiny, and if that was the reason for his retirement, it would not be fair.

    Gen Babangida called for Brigadier Joshua Dogonyaro who was a frontline player of the coup. In a dramatic twist, Dogonyaro confirmed Gen Ibrahim’s innocence and quipped that he (Dogonyaro) deliberately kept Gen. Ibrahim out of the fray, posing the question: “who would have taken care of our wives and children if the coup had failed?”

    On that testimony, Gen Ibrahim’s retirement was rescinded and he rose to the top of the army before he retired. Gen Ibrahim was so trusted that even his peers did not want to sully his record with a rebellion. His penchant for discipline and professionalism inspired his phrase, “an army of anything goes.”

    He was a soldier in an era when the soldier had an image of torrid corruption, gangsters style and impunity. In fact, his peers and generation of soldiers are credited with the rot and decay in our society and institutions. Hence it made sense when President Buhari paid a glowing tribute to him and remarked that, “it is a matter for great pride that outstanding officers like General Ibrahim served the Nigerian army.”

    Even his job as chief of army staff was not without its complications. When his predecessor as chief of army staff, Gen. SaniAbacha, became defence minister and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, he remained calm when the former would not vacate the flag House, the official residence of the COAS. Babangida stirred matters by appointing a new chief of army staff but Gen. Abacha would not allow Gen Aliyu assume office until Gen Ibrahim retired with honour.

    Born in 1935, he joined the army in 1956. And after his retirement in 1993, he is one of a few men of his status who did not muddy their image with politicalpartisanship.

  • Gabisiu Ayodele Williams: Gentleman, good man

    I was very sad when I heard about the demise of Dr Gabi Williams.

    I have never met anybody so considerate of others as Gabi Williams. ‘The child is the father of the man’ is a cliché that is well known.  Coming from a privileged background gave him a sense of noblesse oblige throughout his life.

    Gabi was born to an affluent Lagos family 81 years ago. Both his mother and father were Muslims. Young Gabi went to Ansarudeen Primary School, Alakuro, on the island of Lagos, and then to Methodist Boys’ High School, also on the Island of Lagos. His parents, though Muslims, were liberal enough to permit the young Gabi to acquire a western education wherever it was available. So, as soon as Gabi finished his school certificate examination, and, having performed very well in the sciences, his parents sent him to Great Britain for his Advanced Level in the sciences which he completed within a year with the idea of studying medicine. Medicine was his choice because in those days law was the preferred career choice of his contemporaries in Lagos and among his uncles and cousins – his cousin the late justice Fatai Williams became the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

    Armed with an impressive set of A-Level results, Gabi was admitted into Saint Mary’s medical school and graduated with MB, BS in 1963. After his internship in the same hospital, he proceeded to the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Hygiene and Public Heath in Baltimore, Maryland, for his postgraduate studies. Having acquired an excellent medical education, Gabi could have remained in either Britain or America to build for himself a prosperous private medical practice. However, Gabi came home because he knew his Lagos environment needed his service.

    Gabi became a medical officer of health in Lagos and was later elevated to Chief Health Officer of Lagos. The federal government, appreciating his sterling quality and service, brought him into the federal service where he rose to the post of Director of Disease Control and International Health. It was in this capacity that he represented Nigeria for a considerable number of years in the executive boards of the WHO, UNDP, and the WHO Special Programme of Research and Training on Tropical Diseases.

    Gabi’s achievements were made easy by the contribution to his life of his equally talented wife. Bisola, his wife, graduated from the University of Ibadan. She joined the federal civil service and rose to the esteemed post of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, during the tumultuous years of the Ibrahim Babangida regime – her Christian belief shielded her from the pressure and pull on her by very powerful people to bend the rules in their favour. The strong guiding hand of Gabi’s wife was many times decisive on the choices Gabi Williams made in life. Certainly, marrying a virtuous woman was an added advantage to Gabi Williams.

    At home in Nigeria, Gabi once served as chairman of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria. As a result of Gabi’s deep knowledge and practical experience in the spheres of public and preventive medicine, he on several occasions gave lectures in his areas of specialty at the universities of Ibadan and Lagos.

    He retired voluntarily from the federal service in 1993. Although retired, he was not tired: Gabi wrote bestselling books on health matters. He continued to play sport – Gabi was a sportsman right from primary school where he developed a love for ping-pong – particularly squash as a young man and, in his later years, golf, which was almost an obsession for him. He was a member of several social/sports clubs in Lagos.

    Gabi was a happy-go-lucky kind of a man, and he never wanted anyone to be sad around him. He laughed infectiously, and as a doctor his attitude was that life is short and should be lived well.  He definitely lived well without being hedonistic. There was never a whiff of scandal around him. He was a gentleman to the core. There were two things that he had encyclopaedic knowledge about, namely, medicine and lawn tennis. If he was available, he ensured that he was in England during the finals of the Wimbledon tennis championship. When global beaming of this championship became available, he always sat by the television not wanting to be disturbed or distracted from watching his beloved passion of tennis. One interesting thing about his love for tennis was his preference for grass-court tennis, which is the defining feature of Wimbledon. He did not show the same kind of passion for the Australian, French or American Open championships. This makes one feel that Gabi was an Anglophile at heart, and he did love almost everything British. Of course, he was ‘au courant’ with advances in medicine worldwide and was very concerned about how the quality of education was declining in Nigeria.

    He was also concerned about the quality of life in Nigeria, notably, the consequences of the collapse of the electricity sector and the lack of supply of potable water in most parts of Nigeria. This was a real headache for somebody with such a deep knowledge of public health.  He had to be self-sufficient in these two areas in his own home through the use of a borehole and giant generators and this made him concerned that if this was happening to him in Victoria Island, where the elite and well-heeled people live, what would be happening in the poor areas where the vast majority of Nigerian humanity live? He used to ask for my views about the direction of our politics, somehow feeling I might have an understanding of what is a complex problem of an enigma wrapped in a puzzle.

    Dr Williams cannot be easily forgotten. His laughter,  his joie de vivre, his sharing whatever he had, his love for fellow human beings, his generosity, his friendship across generations, his patriotic love for his native Lagos and his love for Nigeria as a whole and his wish that Nigeria would realise it’s destiny… It is a pity he didn’t live to see Nigeria’s potentiality become a reality.

    My late wife, Abiodun, and I and our children enjoyed the love and joy of being welcomed into the Williams’ house and being cared for after I lost my wife. I pray to Almighty God to repay him with eternal bliss.

  • An Officer and gentleman at 80

    To the becalming and somnolent Uber-city of Ibadan penultimate Saturday for the eightieth birthday celebrations of Brigadier-General Joseph Olayeni Oni, soldier, statesman and lately spiritual warrior. In service, Brigadier Ola Oni was a model officer and gentleman. Out of service, he has seamlessly transformed into model citizen, elder statesman and servant of the church.

    When this column strolled in almost twelve years ago, one of its driving concerns was to seek and pull out unsung heroes and forgotten avatars of the Nigerian narrative. This is a strategic imperative. If we allow those who have turned Nigeria into a criminal enterprise to impose their version of history on us, neither the heroic dead nor iconic living are safe.

    Ola Oni, as the retired Brigadier is popularly known, is one of the unheralded heroes of the Nigerian narrative, particularly the traumatic interlude otherwise known as the Civil War. The civil war was a very uncivil and savage fratricidal contention indeed. The crack combatant commanded the most forward brigade at the tail end of the war. It was to him that a secessionist officer eventually turned to with the offer of surrender.

    Yet despite this historic role, mum has been the word from the Ipoti- Ekiti born general. Except among his military cronies and colleagues, you will never hear the general speak about his war service. It is as if he is foresworn to an oath of permanent silence. He does not carry himself with a military swagger or martial swashbuckling. If you meet him, you are likely to think that he is a retired civil servant or a ranking apparatchik of the informal economy.

    In the general, humility and self-effacement are carried to the extreme of self-abnegation and virtual self-erasure. It is one thing if you do not want to draw attention to yourself, it is another if you will anonymity to a point of self-obliteration. This is extreme military discipline. Twice, yours sincerely has had to extricate the general from awkward social situations, the last occasion being at the wedding of the son of his former boss when the great man decided to slum it out among a crowd of locals with snooper insisting that he was having none of that. The quietly bemused Brigadier was eventually persuaded to avail himself of a more befitting sitting arrangement.

    Perhaps social background matters a lot in this business. Born in Lagos to an Ekiti father, Emmanuel Dada Oni, and a Lagosian mother, Abigail Remilekun Richards, on 5th July, 1938, the future general combines the simple piety and fierce integrity of his Ekiti forebears with the good breeding and delectable manners of the old Lagosian coastal elite.

    But it is in his subsequent struggle and heroic determination to succeed in life despite poor cards dealt him by fate that this man should serve as a beacon of hope and inspiration to all Nigerians and a role model for this generation and future generations. It is a story of grit and gruelling endeavour to make something out of nothing. It is here that we unlock the secret of genuine human distinction and its accompanying humility and temperate forbearance.

    With the death of his father while he was fourteen years of age, the young Olayeni became an orphan, having lost his beloved mother six years earlier while he was only eight years. Perhaps it is meet to note that the army was not his first choice of calling. Having completed his secondary school in 1960, the future general was studying for his A-levels at the Federal Emergency School of Science while working as a Clerical Assistant Officer at the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Marina and Valuation Assistant Officer at the Lagos Town Council.

    But he was forced to abandon his studies due to a crippling shortage of funds among other domestic challenges. He subsequently enrolled as a Cadet Officer in training at NMTC Course 5 in 1962 and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in January 1963 at Mons Officer Cadet Training School, Aldershot, England.

    Once he chose the army as career, he gave it his very best short, rising to command the army premier Division in Kaduna as well as its intellectual bastion otherwise known as TRADOC in addition to his exemplary war service. This is in addition to having served as a military governor and member of the highest military ruling body twice.

    This was the man we all came to honour on this cool rainy Saturday morning in the city of iconic Yoruba warriors of the post-empire order. The commodious bowel of the iconic All Souls Church was filled to near capacity. So was the Professor Ogunlesi Memorial  Events’ Centre where the reception proper took place later.

    Dignitaries from all walks of life came to honour the distinguished soldier and statesman: military kingpins, academics, distinguished administrators, famous journalists and top servants of God. At the church, snooper found himself being waved to a seat next to the great editorialist, Felix Adenaike, by Auntie Bola Alo, a screen diva of an earlier generation, who sternly warned that no snooping around by any footloose columnist would be tolerated. Thank you ma, but there is a difference between snooping and scooping.

    In the event, it was Adenaike, the famed musketeer, a justly acclaimed repository of Nigeria’s history and its unsettling details, who supplied the missing political, social and military details. Boy, what a country and what a people! But if all this was quite entertaining and riveting what followed was profoundly illuminating for the light it threw on the celebrant as a man of character and nobility of spirit.

    It was time for testimony. Speaker after speaker and from different spheres of life and human endeavour rose to testify to the humility, humanity and compassion of the celebrant. His military colleagues paid tributes to his devotion to duty, his self-effacing proficiency when it came to core military chores and his selfless pursuit of the welfare of others even at his own expense.

    General Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu paid glowing tributes to a man who was a trusted comrade in war and a dependable confidant in peace. Such was the camaraderie and espirit de corps in the old Nigerian army before war and booty took it apart. According to the general, although Brigadier Ola Oni was his military senior, he did not hesitate to support him when he wanted to buy a car even though Ola Oni himself did not even have a bicycle.

    But most moving and absorbing was a private testimony by Brigadier Ola Oni’s former boss, beloved friend and wartime commander, General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade. On a chance visit from the war front to the Governor’s Lodge of the old Western State where the youthful Major Ola Oni was serving as ADC to the then governor, General Adeyinka Adebayo, Akinrinade had dropped the casual hint that there would be a big hole in the officer’s service record if he did not have a stint at the war front.

    Akinrinade did not know how much Oni took this to heart. A few months after, Oni showed up at the war front and in the sector commanded by the intrepid warrior. In order to put him through his military pace, Akinrinade sent the would-be Montgomery to the hottest section of the war front. But Ola Oni quickly distinguished himself as a man of great personal courage and resourceful military commander.

    Fate had much more in store for the two men. In the early hours of 14th January, 1970, around 4am to be precise, the then Colonel Akinrinade was roused by Major Ola Oni that a secessionist officer wanted to see him. As the Brigade Commander of the most forward unit, Ola Oni should know what he was talking about. But then war does many things to officers and men, not the least weary disorientation and hallucination.

    After crosschecking the fact, a tense argument ensued between superior and subordinate over who must risk his life to go the rebel enclave with Akinrinade insisting that he must be the one and Ola Oni pleading that he could not afford to risk the more valuable life of his commander. The argument was won through a combination of superior logic and military diktat with the senior commander insisting that he was only there as operations supervisor and that it was the lot of the Brigade Commander to be with his troops.

    As a parting shot, the Yakoyo-born general had instructed his loyal subordinate that should he not be back at an appointed time, it should be assumed that he had succumbed and the final push into the rebel-held territory should be operationalized promptly and without any further delay. Mercifully, this fearsome bombardment of an enclave swollen with war refugees was not to be. The civil war had virtually concluded at that point. It was only waiting for the historic laying down of arms.

    Even in the horror theatre of war, honour, self-sacrifice, selfless heroism, nobility of spirit and some of the finest instincts of humanity often shine forth. Brigadier General Ola Oni personifies these instincts. In the current climate of political debasement and debauchery, these are redemptive tropes and resources for building a new Nigeria.  Here is wishing an exemplary officer and true gentleman many happy returns.

     

  • A quintessential gentleman at 60

    A quintessential gentleman at 60

    Minister of Mines and Steel Development  Dr. Kayode Fayemi, in this piece, highlights the virtues of former Ekiti State Governor Adeniyi Adebayo, who clocks 60

    It is often said that the most difficult phase in the life of a Nigerian politician is when he or she has to retire from public office. Such are the outsized privileges and perks of high office that the transition from VIP status to ordinary citizen is jarring and traumatic for many. Many strive to desperately retain these privileges by floating from one government position to another. They become essentially professional hustlers prostituting themselves to various political barons in order to secure office. In some cases, an exit from public office seems almost to coincide with a diminution of the erstwhile public servant’s faculties as though holding a government position was all that kept him from terminal decline.

    In an ideal situation, politics is a field for people who are already personally and professionally accomplished and are thus not inclined to derive their sense of purpose, worth and self-esteem from transient positions. As a result, such individuals can leave office as gracefully and as unobtrusively as they entered it. In reality, such unaffected personalities, while they actually do exist in our space, are rarities and outliers. One such rarity is Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, my Egbon, leader and predecessor in office and a man that I have been privileged to know as a friend, ally, mentor and confidante, and whose 60th birthday  today necessitates this tribute from me.

    Otunba Adebayo was elected the first governor of Ekiti State in 1999 and was the third youngest governor elected that year. A lawyer by training, he had over fifteen years’ post-call experience before he sought and won office. It is a testament to his character that he left office with an unsullied record of achievements. His pristine legacy in cash strapped Ekiti remains indelible – including the imposing Ekiti House in Abuja and the well built road that leads to my country home in Isan-Ekiti, two of the projects carried out with funds raised from the very first Ekiti State Bond. His enduring legacy of a peaceful and tranquil state has made him such a moral force with an undeniable weight of authority in the affairs of Ekiti State politics, and indeed progressive politics at the national level.

    When he left Government House, Ado-Ekiti, in 2003 he was only 45 – still young enough to have been afflicted by the existential challenge that drives people into post-office despair and desperation for political relevance. Instead, he did what does not come naturally to many of us in the political class – he moved on. His trajectory after office has since revealed a man of many parts. He is as comfortable in the precincts of politics as he is in the boardrooms of big business. The term “detribalized Nigerian” is such a cliché in Nigeria but it may be justly applied to Otunba Adebayo who has friends and associates from across the length and breadth of the country. He is as ecumenical in his personal dealings as he is in his professional, business and political adventures.

    Like some others in his position, after his exit from office, Otunba Adebayo could have sought to play the role of a “spoiler” in local politics, he could have used his contacts to secure a niche as a baron dispensing patronage to underlings and wielding influence as a “godfather” over his successors in office. Having served as governor of Ekiti myself, I can testify that Otunba Adebayo did nothing of the sort. Even though a prime beneficiary of his generosity of spirit, at no time was he overbearing with his presence nor boastful about his central role in my emergence as party candidate and eventually Governor. He was instead a source of unflagging support and guidance and was always on hand to offer wise counsel when it was required. He never tried to undermine me or treat me in any way other than as a fellow progressive and brother governor. Given the well documented dramas of ego-driven bickering between governors and their successors in some states, Otunba Adebayo’s disposition was one that I appreciate greatly and it reflects his enormous reserves of self-awareness, security and self-possession.

    Our relationship is an interesting one too.  Although I knew of him long before we met, it was my job as a consultant involved in a team designing the UK Country Programme for Nigeria in 1999 that first brought us in contact. Part of the task of the team was the selection of focal states for the UK development programme in Nigeria. I made a strong case for Ekiti to be the focal state in the South West and it was chosen.  Ekiti benefited tremendously from UK government support during his tenure and our relationship blossomed from there. Indeed, towards the end of his tenure, he had hinted in passing on one of my visits to Governors, Lodge in Ado Ekiti that he would want me to join his executive council after the election.

    When things went the way they did in 2003, I strongly made a case that he had a lot to  still offer our state and we must start preparation early for his return. Unknown to me, he had other plans for the State. That plan began to unfold when he asked me to run for Governor of our state with his backing in 2004. This was at a time that I had only fully relocated to Nigeria barely two years. I was not even a member of the Alliance for Democracy, although my sympathy for the party was not hidden, not to mention my personal relationship with many of the leaders. I balked at the idea of getting into the murky waters of Nigerian politics but he was unrelenting. He even enlisted the support of some of our leaders, particularly Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande. When I prudently gave an excuse that my wife would not want me to do this, he asked for her number and called her in Ghana and eventually convinced Bisi. And from that moment, I stood on the shoulders of a giant and he stood by me through thick and thin. When weighed against the background that he didn’t even know me that closely and there were many of his close political associates desirous of becoming Governor, his selflessness went beyond the call of duty.

    I was especially humbled when he unexpectedly graced my father’s 80th birthday and spent quality time with him and the rest of the guests. I was touched not only by the fact that as a sitting governor he had deemed it important to make time to honour an elder but also to honour our friendship in that way. It made quite an impression on me and set Otunba Adebayo apart as one who truly espouses the Omoluabi ethos – that blend of good breeding, nobility, decency and compassion that we hold in high esteem in these parts. For me, these little acts were very much the measure of the man.

    On June 21, 2014, when we lost to the PDP in Ekiti, Otunba Adebayo was one of the people at my side into the early hours of the following morning. With tempers frayed by what many saw as a blatant electoral heist perpetrated by the then ruling party, he was one of the calmest people in the room. Long before then, I had made it clear that I did not wish to see Ekiti plunged into turmoil because of a disputed election. I was convinced then as I remain convinced now, that political leaders have a moral responsibility to ensure that their contest for power is not conducted in ways that threaten public peace and safety or potentially result in a negative impact on the people. I was aware that deepening democracy requires politicians to be willing to rise above self-aggrandizing political considerations and guarantee peaceful transitions of power.

    It was with these thoughts in mind, and the unanimous concurrence of the good company I had that historic night that I decided to concede – regardless of our misgivings at the violation of the will of the people. Otunba Adebayo was unreservedly supportive of this – a stance that reflects his principled belief in politics without bitterness. He had been there and done exactly that in 2003.

    I’m sure I’m not the only beneficiary of his generous spirit who has a story to tell. But I owe it a duty to bear witness to the great attributes of this quintessential gentleman – mentor, teacher, leader, friend to many, high and low and an amazing husband and father – Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo, Commander of the Order of the Niger, as he celebrates this landmark Diamond Anniversary

    I feel especially honoured by the friendship and the kinship of this remarkable son of Ekiti – Oni Uyi, Oni Eye, and I wish him many more years of fruitful service to humanity in this realm. Happy Birthday sir.

  • Buhari salutes ‘gentleman, unifier’ Ekwueme

    Buhari salutes ‘gentleman, unifier’ Ekwueme

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Awka, Anambra State  declared that former Vice President Alex Ekwueme was a unifier of people and a complete gentleman.

    The president spoke yesterday at the Dr Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, during the commendation service of the late elderstatesman.

    He was represented by the Minister of Labour and Employment,  Senator Chris Ngige,  who said it was the duty of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF),  who would arrive in Oko community later in the day.

    Ngige  at  the occasion lashed at politicians in Anambra,  nay Southeast, adding that they all betrayed late Ekwueme.

    He said the late Ekwueme had distinction in everything he ventured into including politics,  but failed woefully in what he described as B and C (bribery and corruption).

    “Politicians in Anambra and Southeast were not fair to Ekwueme because we betrayed him and that is the major problem here. Politicians in this state do not  agree that there is leadership in politics “

    However,  the president, sympathised with the family of the Ekwuemes, the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano and the governors of the Southeast.

    For the President-General of the apex Igbo socio cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Ekwueme’s death should teach everyone the need to live a good life in the society.

    He described the late former vice president, as a great iroko,  not only in Anambra,  Southeast but the entire country.

    He said Anambra State should count itself lucky that all the blessings from God to the South east,  went to Anambra,  recounting how the state had produced all the firsts in the zone.

    Former Senate President Ken Nnamani,  said Ekwueme made politics to be clean when it was not,  by not being linked in any wrong doing.

    He said some people would always be fearing of being hounded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),  adding that in Ekwueme’s case,  it was different because he lived a good life of emulation.

    “According to him, politics is simply service the way Ekwueme saw it and that is the legacy he has left for everyone which was his own first address “

    Also,  Governor Willie Obiano  recounted how Ekwueme championed the  creation of the six geo-political zones in the Southeast and the formation of G-34 that metamorphosed into the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the country.

    He said Ekwueme entrenched democracy in Nigeria and showed the people that Nigeria should come first in place of ethnic consideration.

    Obiano said a national monument should be named after the political icon,  describing Ekwueme as his mentor, councillor and advocate , adding that the former vice president would be difficult to forget by him.

    Earlier in his homily,  the Anglican Bishop of Awka Diocese,  Most Rev Alexander Ibezim, said the fear of death had been the fear that had plagued every body in the society.

    He said people were battling with the fear of losing Ekwueme’s wisdom,  fear of losing his counseling ,fear of losing his weighty presence and most importantly,  the fear of who would replace him since he died.

    Quoting James Chapter 5 verse 13 from the Bible, Rev Ibezim asked, what is your life? , describing life as a journey.

    He said: “We are not here to mourn Ekwueme but to celebrate him because of the kind of life he lived,  Nigeria has indeed,  lost a statesman “

    “Who will replace Ekwueme,  who shall we run to in Igbo land” adding, there must be an intervention from God to save the people of South east.

    Some of the dignitaries that graced the commendation service  included  former Secretary General of the Commonwealth Chief Emeka Anyaokwu

    The governorship candidate of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA),  Sir Godwin Ezeemo,,  said Ekwueme  distinguished himself in public service as an honest man.

    He said he had left a legacy for the politicians, adding that his infrastructural developments for his people should be emulated

    “I pray that the present crop of leaders will take a cue from the departed igbo leader and by that,  this country will be a better place for all of us “ Ezeemo said.

    Others were Senators Joy Emodi,  Ben Ndi Obi, Andy Uba, Nnamdi Eriobuna,  Ike Nwachukwu,  former governors of Anambra,  Dr Chin woke Mbadinuju,  Chukwuemeka Ezeife,  Dame Virgy Etiaba.

    PDP presidential aspirant  Alhaji Sule Lamido, former president of Ohanaeze,  Dr Dozie Ikedife,  former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor   Prof Chukwuma Soludo,  former Minister of Health, Dr Tim Menakaya and the wife of former first president, Prof Uche Azikiwe among others.

  • The dark gentleman

    The dark gentleman

    When the Greek philosopher Pliny the Elder opined that “there is always something new out of Africa,” was he not referring to the quiet storm of Zimbabwe?

    The unfolding scenario in that country has no precedent in history. Where else do soldiers “remove” a despot and say it is no coup? Robert Mugabe cannot issue an army command, but he still claims to be president? Where is the power when the “coupists” negotiate with the “ousted” fellow? Some unimginables have happened: photo ops handshake and smiles with him. Under house arrest he struts out of confinement to a university graduation. His nine-decades feet still crisp, his slight stoop packing an authoritarian halo.

    The nonagenarian is defiant, his removers seem complaisant. He puffs, the soldiers doff their fatigues. Everyone seems fatigued by it all, but Mugabe farts on the power transition. It is comical, but no one is laughing. He is abandoned by his wife Grace, which calls to mind the femme fatales of political intrigues: Cleopatra, Medea, Lady Macbeth, Yaa Asantewa, Livia. Grace was the heir apparent until her hair had no royal apparel.

     

    Yet reports have it that when he breaks down in tears, it is not Grace, the 52-year-old scheming termagant she craves. She calls his dead wife from the days when he was still hailed a hero. The world swooned and pined for him to shepherd the country to the shores of justice. But we learn a lesson from him: If power changes with hurrahs, they don’t always usher in heroes. He was a hero before he became a horror.

    Horror for the economy that grovelled for food, investments and jobs. He is not only megalomaniac, he is blood thirsty. He has taken advantage of the three great sources of human mobilisation: Faith, tribe and ideal. Faith was a little simple. It was faith in the motherland. He converted it into faith in Mugabe. He became the god of democracy, the one constant in the life of the people. Only the God in heaven could claim that. He could not be removed, pummelled opposition and doubt, and turned the nation’s currency into at once a pariah and plaything. It was faith in the motherland that turned him against the economic mainstay of its agrarian bulwark: the white farmers. He took their land and handed them to “his people.” It was black against white. He turned the concept of racism upside down. He pauperised his people but won many to his side. He looked coy when he was cunning.

    Tribe of course was important. His Shona tribe took upper hand over the Ndebele rivals. It is a story of persecution, sometimes pogrom marked by mass killings, mass burials and a sense of false righteousness. Tribe also came in the guise of part loyalty.  His ZANU PF warred against Joshua Nkomo’s Zanu PF. He always routed them, with fire, blood and money.

    During the last annual LABAAF/CORA, a book festival held in Lagos, Nigeria’s poet laureate Niyi Osundare mused on the rise of tribalism that births such grandiloquent misfits as TRUMP and wave of right-wing populism across Europe and Asia. In my comment, I said we need to save democracy from itself. If we gripe at Mugabe who managed to fatten in power forever, we should not forget he was not the first. Even Hitler, Francisco Franco, the sawdust Caesar Mussolini rose to power on the wave of the vote. Trump was voted in. Duterte, the happy brute of the Philippines, is popular despite senseless killings. Vladimir Putin has become president, prime minister and president and a de fact Russian leader for life on the life of the vote. Mugabe never claimed not to be a democrat. They rig elections using the political machine. We saw it recently in Kenya. We see it all the time in Nigeria. Democracy may be the best form, it wears a false toga. We accept it even if we don’t believe it.

    Men like Mugabe never believe they are tyrants. Neither do their faithful. So, a sense of justice drives them like their opponents. Hence, they have no compunction when they kill and destroy. They are not like the Satan in Paradise Lost who says, “All good to me is lost, Evil be thou my Good.” Poet John Milton shows that as the subconscious voice while the self is not conscious of this depravity. Mugabe is reported to have gone on hunger strike. Only the just do that. The last great leader who did it was Mahatma Ghandhi and he deployed it to change the country’s mood from bellicose to cosy. Mugabe is suffering from delusion of grandeur, which comes from a false sense of good. But he is no Ghandhi.

    I kept thinking of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the tyrant who loved those who flattered him over the daughter who told him the truth. He died a mad man though thinking himself a saint. Nothing sums up Shakespeare’s best play better than the line: “The prince of darkness is a gentleman.” Mugabe still thinks himself a gentleman.

  • Officer, gentleman and mentor

    •That is the heart-warming story of the late Major-Gen. Timothy Babatunde Ogundeko (rtd)

    He lived and served when the venality of power robbed the Nigerian military of its integrity. Yet he had intact, his own integrity — both as a human being, and as officer and gentleman.

    That is the sweet story of Major-Gen. Timothy Babatunde Ogundeko, who died on July 8, in his native Ijebu-Mushin, Ogun State, at 84. As commandant of the Nigerian Military School, Zaria, Kaduna State, Gen. Ogundeko (then, a Lt-Colonel) mentored and shaped most of the ‘boys’ that went on to shape Nigeria’s destiny, for good or for ill, under military rule.

    Yet, until Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, former Chief of Army Staff, wrote a moving tribute to his memory in a newspaper advertisement on August 3, he was relatively unknown outside military circles.  Brig-Gen. David Mark (rtd), former senate president, also wrote a no less moving tribute, on behalf of “The Boys, Nigerian Military School, Zaria (NMS), Class of 1966”, in another newspaper advertisement, on August 10.

    “I remember very vividly that in January 1966, during the Major Chukwuma Nzegwu-led coup, there was a strong rumour that they were going to attack NMS,” Senator Mark wrote. “In his usual characteristic fatherly role, he gathered all of us in a classroom and said: ‘anybody who wants to attack the school has to kill me first.’  He remained with us for two days.”

    Mark also spoke glowingly of Mrs. Ogundeko, the general’s wife: “Mrs Otudeko was a mother to all the boys (as the students of NMS are referred to).  She cried when we cried and she laughed when we laughed.” This testimony humanises the rough and gruff side of soldiers.

    But it was the Danjuma tribute that put Gen. Ogundeko in professional perspective, in the context of the Nigerian Army Education Corps: his profound mentoring of his students at NMS; his expertise in birthing the Army Command Schools, numbering no less than 50 nationwide today; and his meritorious imprimatur, as founding Director-General of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State.

    He would appear the quintessential soldier as intellectual.

    Even risking the hyperbole in sweeping praise, Danjuma crowed: “Major-Gen. Ogundeko was easily the best direct commissioned officer that ever served in the Nigerian Army. We the professional soldiers who served with Timothy remember him as a mature and seasoned teacher who transformed the attitude of the officer corps towards continuous learning and the acquisition of knowledge.”

    On Ogundeko’s NIPSS assignment, Danjuma was no less ecstatic: “As expectedly, he fulfilled his mandate by quickly developing an excellent curriculum from a clean slate, which enabled NIPSS to become the foremost institution for policy research and reflection for a better Nigeria.”

    But what is the moral in all these? Simple. The era when Gen. Ogundeko served was about the military’s most treacherous: three coups and two of them extremely bloody. It was a period when noxious power destroyed the military, politics tragically weaned it from its core duty, and trust was as scarce as the so-called “essential commodities” in President Shehu Shagari’s Second Republic (1979-1983).

    Yet, it was from this nasty period that Gen. Ogundeko established lasting loyalty and friendship, based on honesty, focus, compassion, professionalism, integrity and fairness.

    That  both his “boys” (that he mentored) and colleagues (that he positively touched) remember and celebrate his laudable traits, even after his death, can only mean one thing: even in an ‘Army of anything goes’ (to roughly paraphrase a former chief of army staff), honour and integrity were still highly prized.

    So, as the general embarks on his final journey to his maker, Nigerians must take this away: Ogundeko is not toasted because he retired as a major-general.  Rather, his star still shines because his life radiated traits every Nigerian must ingrain, if Nigeria must be great: focus, honour, integrity, compassion and fairness.

    Despite the general rot in the army of his day, the late Ogundeko made his personal mark in honour. Nigerians still alive owe themselves no less legacy.

  • Remembering an officer and gentleman

    Remembering an officer and gentleman

    The first Military Governor of the defunct Western Region, Lt.-Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, was killed 50 years ago alongside the Head of State, Major-Gen. Johnson Thomas Ummunakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi in the counter-coup of July 29, 1966. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN extols the virtues of the gallant soldier and the supreme sacrifice he made for the unity of the country.

    He remains an unsung hero in the history of Nigeria. The role Lt.-Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the first Military Governor of the old Western Region, played in the history of Nigeria singled him out as a “star”. He did not take part in the January 15, 1966 coup, but he was a victim of the counter-coup of July 29, which was staged to revenge the killings of the first coup. In the process of trying to protect the late Head of State, Major-General Johnson Thomas Ummunakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, who was his guest on the fateful morning of the coup, he was consumed in the bloody take-over of government, alongside his boss.

    Aguiyi-Ironsi-Ironsi had arrived Ibadan on July 28, 1966 to address a conference of traditional rulers of Western Nigeria in Ibadan. Having concluded his assignment, he was to have returned to Lagos by the evening of the same day. But, his host prevailed on him to spend the night with him at the Government House, Ibadan and he obliged.

    A bloody overthrow of the civilian regime of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa’s government had taken place in January 15, 1966 in which the Prime Minister and other top government functionaries, mainly of northern extraction, were killed. Ironically, Aguiyi-Ironsi did not participate in the violent bloodletting, but he inherited the pieces of a shattered republic by virtue of his seniority in the Armed Forces. He, alongside his courageous host, Fajuyi, was assassinated by the revenge-seeking northern soldiers. They were killed at a village near Ibadan.

    It was obvious that the coup plotters never set out to kill Fajuyi; their objective was to abduct Aguiyi-Ironsi. But, Fajuyi refused to hand-over the late Head of State; he insisted on tagging along with his friend and boss. As a gallant soldier, he took the decision to die in action. An Ekiti man to the core, he was fearless and stubborn to what he perceived as injustice.

    The author of Aguiyi-Ironsi’s autobiography, Chuks Ilogbunam, gave an account of the unfortunate incident in the wee hours of July 29: “The telephone rang. Lt. Andrew Nwankwo, the Supreme Commander’s (Ironsi ‘s ) Air Force aide-de-camp (ADC), picked up the receiver instantly. Bad news, he taunted his physique. The voice at the other end of the line belonged to Police Superintendent Joseph Adeola. His message was that the much- feared and much –rumoured counter-coup had indeed started……

    “In quick, heart-piercing succession, unfolding events cast gloom of an impending doom. Soon, desperation set in. One by one, the Head of State and Col. Fajuyi started to send out their aides to approach the gates (that had been surrounded by enemy soldiers) and determine the position of things.

    “It was a season of betrayal and conspiracies. Unknown to the duo, some of their aides were either moles or had switched loyalty. But between the Head of State and the governor, there was obvious necessity to reassure each other that none had a hand in the fate loosely hanging over their heads.”

     

    How he was killed

    Fajuyi told his guest: “I make bold to declare to you that I am with you in soul, spirit and body. And, mark my words, whatever happens to you today, happens to me. I am your true friend, dear J.T.U. like the dove to the pigeon; and by the grace of our good God, so will I humbly yet proudly remain till the very end.” To this, Aguiyi-Ironsi replied: “Yes, Francis, I retain my absolute confidence in you. I have never for once doubted your integrity.

    “And, so, it was for the host and his guest. Fajuyi did not treasure his personal safety over that of his Commander-in-Chief and intimate friend. When the hour came, both were physically battered by the coupists on their way to the serene, sleepy and desolate area called Lalupon at the outskirts of Ibadan. There they were finally killed and buried in a shallow grave.”

    Another account reveals that the security guards who were supposed to protect Fajuyi and Aguiyi-Ironsi caved in and both men were exposed to danger. Fajuyi was said to have roared to the assailants: “You want to kill him in my house? Why didn’t you kill him when he visited your place? And if you want to kill him, you must kill two of us. With these heroic words, he was abducted with his guest, tortured and later assassinated.”

    It was a deep but subdued mourning for their families; for the new military authorities did not readily admit that they had died in the retaliatory coup. It took seven months before an official announcement confirmed what had been widely known.

    The bodies of Aguiyi-Ironsi and Fajuyi were exhumed from the Ibadan cemetery for decent reburial later. The corpse of the late Head of State was brought to the Lagos Airport on January 20, 1967 where the former Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, Col. Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Aguiyi-Ironsi’s widow, Victoria, stepped forward to receive it.

     

    Heroic burial in Ado-Ekiti

    Few days after, the same scene played out between Ibadan and Ado-Ekiti for Fajuyi. Both the low and mighty gathered at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan to pay their last respects to the fallen hero. In contrast, the pain-filled Ado-Ekiti indigenes could still not muster the courage to come to terms with the tragedy as the transition train moved to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the city.

    For the Fajuyis, the emotions of bereavement were absolute and consuming. Sympathisers thronged their family house in Ado-Ekiti to offer words that were intended to lessen their pains. The bereaved were hardly comforted.

    Analysts believe the course of history of this country would have been different if that exceptional soldier of soldiers, Fajuyi, had behaved differently. According to them, the Nigerian history had clearly marked Fajuyi as a soldier of distinction who died defending the Nigerian state and her unity.

    A sociologist, Dr Innocent Okechukwu, described Fajuyi as a strong moralist who adhered strictly to the ethics that a host is obliged to protect his guest. Fajuyi’s self-sacrifice, he said, proved that Ekiti tribe of Yoruba nation had no hands in the death of the Aguiyi-Ironsi.

    Former Ekiti State Governor, Chief Segun Oni, described Fajuyi as great patriot who choose to pay the supreme price for a friend and more for the unity of Nigeria. “On July 29, 1966 at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, a thick cloud descended on the shining star of a great son of Ekitiland, Lt. Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi,” he recalled.

    Commending the courage of the slain former military governor, Oni said: “Only God knows what would have become of the Nigerian nation, if he had allowed the arrest and assassination of Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi on July 29, 1966 in Ibadan.  Indeed, Lt. Col. Fajuyi chose to pay the supreme price for a friend and more for the unity of the country. He was indeed a patriot.”

     

    Politics of succession

    Following the brutal killing of Fajuyi, General Adeyinka Adebayo relunctantly took over the reins of governance in Western Region.  Initially, Adebayo rejected the offer on seniority grounds; that he could not take over from his junior.

    The former military governor argued that having served as the Chief of Staff, and with the full rank of a Colonel at the time Fajuyi was killed along with the then Head of State, Gen. Aguiyi -Ironsi, he found it difficult to take a lower position as military governor, a position which Fajuyi , a junior officer occupied till his death.

    Following his inability to get any Yoruba officer to be appointed governor of the region, Adebayo was prevailed upon to take the appointment.

     

    Family neglect

    Fajuyi was barely six months in office as military governor when he was assassinated. He neither had a personal house in his hometown of Ado-Ekiti, nor in Ibadan, the capital of Western Region. His family had to relocate from Government House to the family house in Ado-Ekiti; that was the first shock the family had to contend with. It took the intervention of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a non-Ekiti who built a befitting house for the family after more than four decades of Fajuyi’s death.

    A childhood friend of Fajuyi, Pa Adeola Akeju, blamed Gen. Adebayo for the family’s travail. The nonagenarian said he had expected Adebayo, a fellow Ekiti man, to provide a soft-landing and rehabilitate the Fajuyi family, in appreciation of his service to the nation and the circumstance of his death.

    Akeju said: “Fajuyi’s children were young at the time he was killed; the eldest had just finished from secondary school. There are those that grew up without knowing their father. His widow, Eunice, who died in June 2013, was responsible for the upkeep and education of the children. She became a widow at the age of 29. We thank God today that all the children, most of them university graduates, are doing fine.

    “Even though the people of Ekiti had continued to mourn him as an illustrious son, they too did very little to rehabilitate his family. Apart from naming a recreation centre as Fajuyi Park, with his monuments and statue as a fallen hero, the Ekiti State Government has not appointed his children into positions to compensate the family. Although one of the sons was elected as a local government chairman when Ekiti was part of the old Ondo State, that could not be regarded as political appointment.

    “Again, Fajuyi’s name was not amongst the medalists in the centenary celebration; the Federal Government has done nothing to compensate the family. While the former Presidents Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo; and military Heads of State like Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and others helped, by appointing Aguiyi-Ironsi’s, Balewa’s and Ladoke Akintola’s children into diplomatic service and ministerial positions, such gesture was never extended to Fajuyi’s family.”

    His eldest son, Donald, attested to the neglect of the family when he said his father died a poor man, owing to his selfless service, even when he had the opportunity to acquire wealth. The 67-year-old lawyer said the late governor never had a personal house of his own; he was not rich at the time he was killed. But, he died as a fulfilled man, whose name is on the positive side of history and a contributor to the country’s unity.

    One of his daughters, Mrs. Monica Desola Olujuyigbe, who was three years old when his father was killed, also reflected over the burial of the fallen hero: “What I do remember is that the funeral scene, with a lot of music and loud sounds. It made an impression on me. My younger sister was a year old at that time and somebody held her, but I was standing by, and I kept picking up her feeding bottle and giving it back to her each time it fell.  But, I didn’t understand what was going on, but I knew that something was going on, and there were military men there and they were well-dressed.

    “But, I did not know what was going on as nobody told me anything. Most of the things I got to know I read about; until I reached out to my brothers, and got answers to many questions. They probably thought they were protecting me, but I wasn’t told much, until I became an adult.”

    To immortalise their father, Olajuyigbe said the family instituted an education trust to offer support and welfare to the children of soldiers who died in the battle field. She said the Adekunle Fajuyi Education Trust regularly organises entrepreneurship and scholarship programme from donations received.

     

    His profile

    Fajuyi was born on June 26, 1926 to the late Pa Isaiah and Felicia Osundunke Fajuyi of Ado-Ekiti, in the present day Ekiti State. He attended St. George’s Catholic School, Ado–Ekiti. He joined the army on November 16, 1943.

    After the basic military training in Zaria, he proceeded to the Army Clerks Training School, Yaba, Lagos. The late Fajuyi also attended courses in Teshi, Ghana and the Officers Cadet School in the United Kingdom, where he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1954.

    He served as Military Adviser, Headquarters ONUC, Congo (August to December, 1961; Officer-in-charge, Third Battalion, Nigerian Army, Kaduna; Commanding Officer, First Battalion, Enugu and Commander, Abeokuta Garrison. He served in Germany on attachment to the British Army. In 1957, he attended the Platoon Commanders course in England. He also trained as an officer in Pakistan in 1964.

  • Ode to Elechi Amadi: Officer, gentleman

    Ode to Elechi Amadi: Officer, gentleman

    Founder, Rainbow Book Club and Project Manager, UNESCO World Book Capital 2014, Mrs Koko Kalango, writes on the life and times of one of Nigeria’s notable writers and novelists, Captain Elechi Amadi, who died on June 29. In his honour, the Rainbow Book Club is reading his last book, When God Came, as Book-of-the-Month for July.

    In the 70s, when Port Harcourt could have claimed its title of Garden City, my late father, Justice P.O.E. Bassey, would take us to the theatre in the old township of the oil city to watch plays. There, one grew aware of, and enjoyed the city’s rich literary heritage to which writers, like Elechi Amadi, Gabriel Okara, Ola Rotimi and Ken Saro-Wiwa, had contributed immensely. Their words were enacted on stage by the likes of Barbara Soky, Doye Agama and Comish Ekiye.

    Over two decades later, when I returned to Port Harcourt, divided between study life, work life and marriage, I wanted to recreate the Port Harcourt I grew up in and that was one of the inspirations behind the ‘Get Nigerian Reading again!’ campaign which the Rainbow Book Club launched from this city in 2005. As we prepared to kick off I went in search of our Port Harcourt writers, to enlist their support and participation. I traced Elechi Amadi to his home town of Aluu, shared the vision with him and invited him as a Guest of honour. He was gracious enough to not just respond but to let me know that he appreciated the work we had embarked on and we could count on his help anytime. This was an invitation I would fully exploit and he would always oblige me.

    Elechi Amadi was born in Aluu, near Port Harcourt, in 1934. He was a product of the famous Government College Umuahia (GCU) where other renowned authors such as Chinua Achebe, Chukwuemeka Ike, Gabriel Okara, Christopher Okigbo, Chike Moma, INC Aniebo and Ken Saro-Wiwa also schooled.

    In Achebe’s last book, Home and Abroad, he told of how two of their teachers at GCU, Revd Robert Fisher and W.C. Simpson, introduced and encouraged, respectively, the ‘textbook act’ which was a period between 4 and 6pm daily where all the students had to drop their text books and read fiction books. Achebe and Amadi both agreed that this habit played a definitive role in the emergence of notable writers amongst the students from Government College, Umuahia. Although he studied Physics and Mathematics, Amadi went on to become a prolific writer, publishing 15 books of various genre; fiction, non-fiction, poetry, play and essays.

    Amadi, who attended the University College, Ibadan, was an intriguing storyteller, whose colourful and detailed descriptions of the village life of his Ikwerre people (the setting of his early books), reflected the beliefs, customs and religions of Africans prior to Western influence. His renowned trilogy, The Concubine, The Great Ponds and The Slave are loved by readers the world over.

    Even though he had attained global acclaim by the power of his pen, Amadi remained a ‘Port Harcourt boy’. When I interviewed him in 2014 he explained that the city had been the inspiration of much of his writing. He reminisced some of his fondest memories such as the yearly Accra Dance, described on page 75 of his fourth novel, Enstrangement,  when several hundreds of youths, dressed in colourful clothing with frills, wearing masks and  brandishing koboko whips danced wildly while the drums beat. His plays Pepper Soup and Dancer of Johannesburg were both based in Port Harcourt.

    But Amadi also experienced the pain of some of the city’s most trying times such as when he was kidnapped in 2009 and the tragedy of the ‘Aluu 4’ (where four young men were bludgeoned and burnt in his home town of Aluu in 2012). Amadi used the platform of the Garden City Literary Festival 2012 to speak out against this hideous act.

    An officer, he served in the 3rd Marine Commandos of the Nigerian Army during the Civil war. This experience formed the content of one his biographical works; Sunset in Biafra.

    A gentleman, he had the temperament of a diplomat. I recall a time when there was a misunderstanding between the state chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the Rainbow Book Club. I asked him to preside over a meeting of both parties to resolve the knotty issues.  His towering moral standing, as well as his dispassionate and objective nature made him the perfect mediator.

    For over 11 years I have had the privilege of relating personally with Elechi Amadi in the course of the work of the Rainbow Book Club including the ‘Get Nigeria Reading again!’ campaign (since 2005), the Garden City Literary Festival, now the Port Harcourt Book Festival, (since 2008) and the Port Harcourt World Book Capital project (2014/2015).  Over the years I have been touched by his simplicity, his deep humanity and his encouragement for education, literature and the general wellbeing of his people.

    When we were putting in the bid for Port Harcourt to be World Book Capital I informed him and he encouraged us to go ahead. Amadi expressed to a trustee of Rainbow Book Club that he had full confidence in the club’s ability to deliver on the World Book Capital project but his only concern was the government. He was speaking prophetically!

    Today, we are proud we had the best of him through Port Harcourt’s tenure as UNESCO World Book Capital 2014.

    We named each day of the week-long Port Harcourt World Book Capital (PHWBC) opening  after a notable Nigerian writer, kicking off with Amadi Day on April 22, 2014. On that day, we had Amadi in conversation over his works. The discussion was moderated by Victor Ehikhamenor and the panel who interviewed Amadi comprised  two much younger Port Harcourt authors, Kaine Agary and Ifeanyi Ajeabo, as well as Eghosa Imasuen.

    In May 2014, when he turned 80, his book, The Great Ponds, was the PHWBC book-of-the-month. As part of the effort to generate discussion over the book and make it popular for public consumption, we had it adapted for stage and performed (by students of the University of Port Harcourt, where Amadi was writer-in-residence).

    On this occasion, he was interviewed (this time by Daniella Menezor) and the audience of almost 100 literary enthusiasts engaged him in robust interaction.

    In his honour, the Rainbow Book Club is reading his last book, When God Came, as Book- of -the- Month for July 2016.

    When we were approached by the organisers of the UK-based Hay Festival to collaborate with them on the ‘Africa 39’ project to commemorate the PHWBC year, we reached out to Amadi, yet again.

    The ‘Africa 39’ programme selected and celebrated 39 African writers under the age of 40, and published an anthology of their writing, under this title. We needed three judges to whittle down the 243 entries that came from around the continent to a longlist of 120 and the final 39. Amadi agreed to chair the panel of judges. He was ably assisted by Tess Onwueme and Margaret Busby.

    I interviewed Amadi in 2014 for Port Harcourt By the Book, a publication Rainbow put together to commemorate the PHWBC year. My last question to him was ‘At 80 years, what do you know for sure?’ His answer came: “First, that Shakespeare was right when he said: ‘All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players. Secondly, that the most satisfactory life is one spent largely in the service of one’s society. Thirdly, on the accumulation of wealth and material possession, I can declare with certainty in agreement with the preacher that: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

    Amadi has served his society, played his part and left the stage of life. His footprints, particularly  the literary arts, would remain a treasure to Rivers State, Nigeria and Africa. He was, indeed, an officer and a gentleman.

  • A professional and a gentleman

    A professional and a gentleman

    • Engineer Vincent Ifeanyi Maduka, one of the thoroughbreds, turns 80

    Upon joining the exclusive class of octogenarians, his friends and associates who truly know him would be unanimous in echoing: deservedly so. It is not because good people are imbued with any special gift of longevity or deserve to live longer for that matter, but for the simple reason that he is a man of immense grace and gravitas. And because he is unobtrusively so, he is such comfortable company to all.

    A man without cant, he can be said to be among the last of Nigeria’s well-groomed and well-educated personages – the thoroughbreds, if you like. He turned 80 last Monday.

    He studied at King’s College, Lagos; Leeds University (B.Sc. Hons. Electrical Engineering, 1959) and University College of Dublin, Ireland. He took a Masters in Engineering Science (M. Eng. Sc.), specializing in Applied Acoustics. He joined the leading broadcast outfit in Africa then – Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) and Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service, (WNBS) as Broadcast Engineer in 1961. He rose to be Chief Engineer in 1969 and was appointed General Manager in 1973.

    The year 1977 must have marked the turning point in the career of Engr. Maduka (as he is known by all today) when he was made the pioneer Director-General of the newly restructured Nigerian Television Authority, (NTA). The military government led by General Olusegun Obasanjo had raised the status of the state television into a national network, comprising about 40 broadcasting stations and 21 production centres, spread across the states of the federation.

    It was this new television behemoth that Maduka was drafted to run. With staff strength in excess of 7000 spread across the country, NTA was bigger than many ministries and government agencies.

    That Maduka held sway at the helm of this new Federal Government information machine for about nine years unblemished, is a mark of his character and professional acumen.  That he survived the political dynamics of the time, riding the tide of regimes from military to civilian and military again, will provide materials for a pithy study in corporate brinksmanship.

    How did he manage these epochal eras in an illiberal age when government had almost absolute control of the major media of communication? In a period when heads of state and key government functionaries did not only wish to occupy the entire screen and space, but made decrees to protect public officials from scrutiny as well as control information flow.

    It was a time that running a media organization was akin to walking a landmine and required skilful balancing and utmost professionalism. It was in this delicate period of Nigeria’s nationhood (1977 to 1986) that Maduka held sway at a fledgling NTA.

    All who knew him, both contemporaries and subordinates, attest to Engr. Maduka’s rigour, equanimity and range. He was an inspirational leader who gave room for talent to flower. And not even this modern day of internet leveraging has surpassed the effusion of quality content of that era. It was a period that gave us such unforgettable programmes like Cock Crow at Dawn, Mirror in the Sun, Mind Bender and quality documentaries. Some shows like New Masquerade and New Village Headmaster were reintroduced. He arguably presided over the golden age of Nigerian television.

    A thorough and dexterious manager, he is said to have created special funds for special projects. A former staffer who around during Maduka’s time thinks there has never been another helmsman at the NTA: “He was a great engineer among engineers, he was a programmer among programmers; he knew well enough about every department which may explain why he ran NTA so well.”

    Some of his critics have however noted that he may have impugned the sanctity of news reporting through his commercialization policy of ‘let them pay’. It is a policy in which television stations charged fees for the coverage of commercial news events.

    After retiring voluntarily in 1986, he had returned quietly to his core profession, engineering helping to impact in its growth for nearly three decades. Apart from presiding over the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE (1993), he is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineers as well as playing important roles in the Council of Registered Engineers (COREN) and the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACEN).

    He was conferred the national honour of Officer of the Officer of the Niger, (OFR), in 2003.