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Tag: Omoruyi

  • Battle for Omoruyi’s estate gets messier

    Battle for Omoruyi’s estate gets messier

    If the late Prof Omo Omoruyi is looking down from heavens, he will surely be unimpressed that his family members and his children are fighting over his estate. The reading of his Will, rather than lay the debate over his last wishes to rest, has polarised his family and torn his children further apart, reports Osagie Otabor

    For the late former Director-General of the Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), Prof Omo Omoruyi, it is yet to be a peaceful rest. Over three months after his death his children and family are still squabbling over his legacy and properties.

    Barely one week after Niger Delta Report told the tale of the bitter fight between his children, the head of the family, Owere Dickson Imasogie, said the late academic’s children were yet to perform the full funeral rites according to Bini tradition.

    The remains of the late Prof Omoruyi was buried in November last year at the family residence he inherited from his late father, but disagreement among his four children have ensured that the traditional rites are yet to be concluded.

    Prof. Omoruyi had four children; two sons, Osarenren and Karl, who were adopted from Guayana, a Caribbean country where his wife, Joan, hails and two daughters – Ivie and Amenze – which he had outside wedlock with a Bini woman.   There is a no-love lost relationship between the two sets of children.

    Our checks showed that his family members are divided, not only over whether the funeral rites have been performed or not, but which of the children to accept as legitimate members of the family.

    Those backing the two daughters reasoned that but for the girls, their late brother would have been taken for a eunuch and moreover the girls have their DNA irrespective of whether they were born outside wedlock.

    Other members are insisting that the mother of the girls was never married to Prof. Omoruyi and such only Joan should be recognised as the legitimate wife. They said Karl and Osarenren grew up with them, respect elders and truly manifest the character of their father.

    The contents of the will supposedly left by Prof. Omoruyi has further deepened the rift between the family members. Some family members claimed the will is authentic while others alleged that the it was manipulated by some interested parties to claim properties willed to his wife and adopted boys because they (wife and children) may not return to Nigeria.

    A cursory look at the Will showed that it was signed by late Omoruyi two weeks to his death and was registered on November 25, 2013, many days after the death of Prof. Omoruyi. Two witnesses to the will, Dr. Festus Imuetiyan and Nehikhare Iduozee were also beneficiaries apart from the children.

    The two witnesses got plots of land along Sapele road, cars and all personal effects including publications of Prof. Omoruyi. Other beneficiaries are his wife, children and nephew identified as Eddy.

    According to the Will in parts, Eddy got a building Omoruyi built for his mother, the daughters got a landed property acquired in 1977 and cash, his wife was said to own the building at GRA and his eldest son, Osarenren was given the building where Omoruyi was buried.

    Owere Imasogie told the Nation in an interview that the wife was yet to be questioned by the family on the issues late Omoruyi raised in his book, “My Journey back to Life”.

    Imasogie said late Omoruyi was only interred and yet to be given proper funeral rites according to the family pattern of burial in line with Bini custom.

    He said a committee was set-up for the burial of Prof. Omoruyi against the advice of Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban of Benin Kingdom that he (Imasogie) should preside over the family meetings before the burial.

    According to him, “I read through the Nation newspaper on the fight for Prof. Omo Omoruyi property. I am not aware that the family met to discuss. It is possible for some of his younger brothers to dialogue but that is not the view of the family.  Because of the controversy, they have only done the interment, the final burial ceremony has not been done.

    “I am the head of Imasogie/Omoruyi family and I am occupying the family house. During the burial preparation, I called Dr. Festus who is the son of a woman in the family that I will not want Prof. Omoruyi to be buried in the family compound because of the controversy. Dr. Festus is not supposed to be heard in this family matter because he is related through a woman.”

    On the Igiogbe given to Osarenren, Imasogie said the Igiogbe will not be given to somebody whose DNA does not correspond to the family. “It means he is an outsider. I am not quarreling with the adoption. If my cousin did not have children and he decided to adopt, fair, it is recognise. For a family property, an Igiogbe for that matter is for the family but held in trust by the first son.

    “As far as I am concern, Karl or Osarenren  adopted from Guayana cannot come and occupy a family property here. This we will leave to the court of law. They are trying to insult the Asuen family whose daughter gave birth to the two children we are now relying on. If the Asuen family has not given us their daughter maybe today, Prof. Omoruyi would have been taken for a eunuch. Happily before his death, he acknowledged those children.”

    “Here is a paper he disown his wife and the children. If you read My Journey back to Life, it will buttress his marriage to Joan. He told us in the book that he did not rely on Joan and that the marriage broke down. Those fighting for the Guayana people to inherit the property of my late cousin are doing it for their own interest because they know Joan and the boys will never come back. Osarenren who is supposed to be the first son has not been to Nigeria for the past 25 years.”

    “My brother told me he disown him and arrested him at the Heathrow Airport and (he) went back to the original parents. Karl is the child of the wife’s cousin. Those are things the law court will determine. If you were to be me, will you allow a foreigner to inherit the Igiogbe? They know what they collected from well-wishers for that burial. At the appropriate time, the family will ask them. We don’t drive people from the Igiogbe. That house belongs to Edo-Imasogie and the one I am staying. The first son is holding it in trust. The house is not Prof. Omoruyi’s. If he feels it is his, he cannot give it to a Guayana.

    “That question on whether an adopted son can perform a burial rite for the father, if it were to be a Bini and we know where he comes from, we can allow him. We don’t bury by proxy. Osarenren that is supposed to be the first son did not come. Karl only followed the mother here. If you read through My Journey Back to Life, the family has questions for the wife. We have not had the opportunity of asking. With all these writings and the letter, somebody is telling me they settled. We have a right to know what happened. This we have not done. We will ask these question during the final burial rites. The case is in the court. He admitted those two children are his sons and the two solid ones are the daughters.”

    Speaking on Prof. Omoruyi’s will, Imasogie who is one of those joined in the  suit challenging its authenticity, said somebody who would benefit from a will could never be a witness to the will.

    He said, “The will has defect. It was registered weeks after his death. I don’t know which lawyer filed it. Was it a dead person that spoke to the lawyer?  We don’t hear from the dead. Have you heard from the dead? I don’t know what will happen to that will. That is not the will of my cousin. It is the writings of interested parties.”

    Younger brother to late Omoruyi, Courage, said the daughters frowned at the committee set-up for their father’s burial and insisted that they have the money to bury their father.

    Courage said there was a deliberate attempt to exclude the two biological daughters from participating in the burial despite arguments that the status of the marriage with their mother should not be an issue for discussion since the girls have their DNA.

    According to him, “Imasogie is the current head of the Omoruyi family. This issue was dragged before the Esogban and he directed them to come to Imasogie for the burial plan. Along the line, a self-appointed burial committee emerged and an account was open for donation.  Dr. Festus Imuetiyan appointed Nosa Omoruyi to preside over the burial. The daughters frowned at the attitude of begging money to bury their father. The children said they have money to bury their father. Whatever was paid into the account was not disclosed.”

    Mr. Sunny Omoruyi however said they obeyed Omoruyi’s wish to be given a simple burial to be conducted by the Baptist Church where he (Omoruyi) was baptised.

    Sunny challenged the girls to show proof of their mother’s marriage to late Omoruyi and displayed documents showing financial commitment of the adopted sons towards the burial.

    He said Owere Imasogie was not the head of the family adding that the family already took a decision.

    ”Prof. said he should be buried in a Christian way. The family was present at the burial. I don’t know if there is other burial somebody else want to do. Professor has been buried.

    “Before his demise, he said he has four children. He mentioned it based on seniority category. The daughters came up that they don’t have brothers. After the Will was read, the girls went to Professor house and carted away properties including cars. Police is on their trail now. I don’t know the reason they vandalised the properties. These are children that their mother was not legally or traditionally married.”

    “I don’t know those saying they will not allow Osarenren to claim Igiogbe. They are not members of our family”, Sunny said, adding that the family’s decision is for the girls to accept the will.

    Meanwhile, the family has petitioned Commissioner of Police, Foluso Adebanjo on the properties of late Omoruyi allegedly carted away by the two girls.

     

     

  • Dirty fight for Omoruyi’s estate

    Dirty fight for Omoruyi’s estate

    At the funeral service for the late former Director-General of the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies, Prof. Omo Omoruyi, which was held last November, the no-love relationship between his biological and adopted children was glaring.

    Only one of the two adopted children, Karl, was present and he sat apart from the two daughters of Omoruyi – Ivie and Amenze.

    There were no exchanges of pleasantries and an empty chair stood between them. The marriage between the late Omoruyi and his wife, Joan, which was consumated in 1969, did not produce any children, hence they opted for adoption of Karl and Osarenren. Prof. Omoruyi however had the two girls from a Bini woman named Magdalene. Before the burial was fixed, the two daughters had kicked against insistence by family members that the two sons be present – in line with Bini customs.

    They were not allowed to see the body until top Benin chiefs intervened. The Will left by Omoruyi has further deepened the sour relationship among the children. The two girls, according to family sources, are alleging that the Will was cooked up after their father’s death. It was learnt that late Omoruyi gave his houses in America and the family house where he was buried in Benin City to the two boys. The house where he lived before his death at the Government Reservation Area was given to his wife, Joan while his house at Uwasota was given to the girls. Angered by the contents of the Will, the two girls- Amenze Omoruyi-Okungbowa and Ivie Omoruyi- Ideh – dragged the executors, Prof. Union Edebiri and Mr. Donald Omorodion before an Edo State High Court.

    Other defendants in the case are Dr. Imuetiyan Festus, Mr. Iduoze Nehikhare, Owere Dickson Imansogie, Mr. Sunday Omoruyi, Mr. Eghosa Omoruyi, Mr. Courage Omoruyi and the Probate Registrar. The late Omoruyi daughters through their counsel, Mr. N. Osifo, are asking the court to declare the Will null and void, as being contrary to Bini Native Law and Customs.

    They want a declaration that the 3rd and 4th defendants being witnesses to the said Will, cannot under the Will’s Act be beneficiaries under same. The claimants also want the court to declare that the concepts of adopted male children are unknown to Bini Native Laws and Customs and therefore, not entitled to inherit properties from their adopted father. They also seek “A declaration that the signature purported to be signature of the claimants’ father on the Will dated September 28, 2013, is not his signature.

    “A declaration that a Will that was lodged with the Probate Section of the High Court after the death of the Testator is not the Will of the Testator.’ “A declaration that the Will dated September 28, 2013 which was lodged in November 2013, is open to serious doubt as to its correctness and actual custody particularly when the Testator had died before it was lodged.” The family members in a press statement after a meeting held on January 16 said their late brother married only one wife, Joan and challenged the children to show evidences of their father’s marriage to their mother. They said late Omoruyi declared before his death that he has four children and listed them in order of seniority in his last testament. The Omoruyi family said they would not succumb to blackmail by the two women and alleged that the two daughters carted away three vehicles, valuables and documents immediately after the will was read.

    They said the two adopted sons have manifested the character of their father while growing up among the family.

    In an article, a close confidant of the late Omoruyi, said: “Cancer sufferers need their families to be with them to console them and give them hope particularly during rehabilitation. But was Prof’s immediate family there for him?

    “In his book-“My Journey Back to Life”- which manuscript I helped to edit, Prof. Omoruyi said: “The rehabilitation that was to be a family affair turned out to be something else. To set the record straight, I did not live with a family who is able to assist but with care givers at various times who saw me as a helpless person in search of care they gave me”. He, however, survived all that and was given a new life before the cancer later relapsed.

    “But because the friends he had laboured for in the past and the authorities he had appealed to for assistance all abandoned him, and lacking the required money to continue his treatment abroad, Omoruyi returned home, to Benin, to die. I think Prof. had a premonition his time was up. He arranged that he should be brought back home in order not to complicate things for his family who might want to bring back his remains from the US in the event of death in that country. Omoruyi was a very considerate man. As he returned, he knew doctors here could hardly do anything to help his case.

    “He was only getting one or two doctors to help him manage the pains. He quickly put together his family and other things as one doctor had once advised him five years ago. But because doctors are not God, Prof. lived for five years more. His estranged wife, a foreigner from Guyana, who had abandoned him during rehabilitation in the US following their disagreement, eventually came back and reconciled with him.”

  • Omoruyi buried as Akhigbe’s remains arrive Benin

    Omoruyi buried as Akhigbe’s remains arrive Benin

    Former Director General of the defunct Centre for Democratic Change, Prof. Omo Omoruyi, was yesterday interred at his Benin City residence.

    Omoruyi died on October 13 this year after a prolonged battle with cancer.

    His interment followed a commendation service at the University of Benin and funeral service at the Central Baptist Church.

    At the church service were his wife, Joan, children, Deputy Governor of Edo State, Dr. Pius Odubu and Prof. Union Edebiri among others.

    Officiating priest, Rev. Olu Aibimuomo, told the congregation not to give up but to believe in God.

    Rev. Olu, who referred to a book by Prof. Omoruyi, My Journey Back to Life, said God gave the late Omoruyi six years to live a fulfilled life.

    He said it was the late Omoruyi’s desire to do things for God in his last days.

    Rev. Olu said Omoruyi died a happy and a contended father.

    Also, the remains of former Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, arrived Benin City aboard a military aircraft, NAF 031 yesterday.

    The body arrived the Benin Airport at 11:45 am and was received by Edo State Government officials.

    There was a lying-in-state of the former naval chief at the Edo Government House.

    Oshiomhole in his eulogy said Akhigbe made it possible for someone like him to become the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress through the removal of obnoxious extant laws.

    The body of Akhigbe was taken to his hometown, Fugar, Etsako Central Local Government Area, for the final burial rites slated for today. He will buried beside his late mother.

    In a tribute, former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, described Aikhigbe’s death as a painful loss 5to the nation.

    Babangida said: “It hurts me very pointedly to know that Nigeria has lost such a brilliant gentleman officer, passionately committed to the unity of our dear country and incurably optimistic about its vision and future. Okhai was not only down-to-earth on anything he laid his hands on; he was an extraordinary officer amongst his compatriots in Course 3, some of whom I had the rare privilege of working with both as an officer of the Nigerian Army and later as Military President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    He said the late Aikhigbe would be sorely missed, not only by the Nigerian military but by every Nigerian who understands and appreciates the capacity of the human intellect to contend with situations.

    “Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe represents one of the intellectual dimensions of the Nigerian military, and typical of his calling and training, he brought finesse and class to bear throughout his service years. Members of his Course 3 preciously referred to him as NNS FEARLESS, judging by his indubitable sense of courage, fearlessness, boldness and matter-of-fact disposition to issues.

    “In spite of his training as a gentleman officer, who understood military doctrines of obeying rules before offering any complaint, he was not one to kowtow to instructions without inquisition.

    “Once convinced about the motive of an action, one could be rest assured of his total loyalty and commitment to the cause without looking back. These and some others were the qualities he brought to bear when I had the rare opportunity to appoint him as Military Administrator to Ondo and Lagos states during our administration’s intervention in the politico-economy of Nigeria.”

  • Akhigbe and Omoruyi: Two deaths too many

    SIR: The month of October will certainly go down in the annals of history as when heaven gained at the expense of Edo State.

    First, it was Nigeria’s foremost Professor of Political Science; someone who combined the finest principles of politics with its volatile practices in the management of Nigeria’s public affairs.

    Prof. Omo Omoruyi as a scholar sympathized with late Mallam Aminu Kano’s NEPU and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC in the first republic.

    As a politician in the second republic, he pitched his tent with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigerian People Party (NPP) and became its gubernatorial candidate for Bendel State in 1983. NPP was a welfarist party, which was in line with Prof. Omoruyi’s inclinations.

    Thereafter, Prof. Omoruyi did not fully return to partisan politics as he was appointed Director of the Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS) under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s Transition Programme, in the build-up to the 1993 presidential elections.

    In the twilight of this national assignment, Prof. Omoruyi suffered a ghastly and near fatal attack which, on hindsight, can be said to be the remote cause of the ailment that crept into his ebullient and buoyant health, which eventually led to his death.

    Even with his ill health, Prof. Omoruyi continued to bother about his Edo people and the Nigerians state. In his many publications, writings and interviews, he pre-occupied himself with the progress and stability of Nigeria, and the advancement of democracy. He was a consistent advocate and two-party system as a vehicle for national unity. Yet he remained an unrepentant Bini man, carrying aloft our revered tradition and culture together with his academic scholarship and political activism.

    He will be missed by everyone especially his elitist club of Nigerian Political Science Association, his populist class of Nigerian politicians, his enviable group of prolific writers, his respected Bini people and his beloved family.

    The dust raised by the death of Prof. Omoruyi had not settled when the news of the passage of Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe reached me. I have followed Mike’s career both in the military where he rose to become an Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff, as well as in public office where he served not only as military governor but also as number two citizen of our country. But perhaps we became much closer after he left office and joined politics. As a member and leader of the People Democratic Party, he was a trusted ally, dependable friend and worthy compatriot.

    Although he was a key player in the volatile field of politics, his Spartan military training and discipline defined his thoughts and patterned his actions. Thus, it was not difficult for me to tell where Akhigbe’s loyalty mostly lied between his earlier military profession and his latter political vocation. However, his loyalty to his profession did not subtract from him, the love for his people of Etsako and Edo State, for whom he was very passionate.

    That Admiral Akhigbe believed much in the rule of law, civility and democratic ethics was underscored not just by his conduct in office but also by his decision to study law after leaving office. His desire to further exercise this belief as a civilian and extend it to the larger society led to his aspiration to lead Nigeria as a civilian President, which office he vied for. It must be recalled that he was the second in command in Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar’s regime that gave birth to the current civilian government. Therefore, the success of our present democratic dispensation will be to the eternal glory of his memory.

    At 68, Mike died two years shy of the biblical three scores and 10. But his activities within those speedy years are worth many generations. When combined with the enormous accomplishments of Prof. Omoruyi, the contributions of these two foremost Edo sons become legendary. That is why I agree with the English man, James Bailey, when he wrote in 1902 that:

    “We live in deeds, not in years;

    In thoughts, not in breaths;

    In feelings, not in figures…

    He most lives who thinks most,

    Feels the noblest and acts the best”

    Prof. Omoruyi, the great patriot and nationalist, and Admiral Akhigbe, GCON, mni, our gentle General and leader, will in death continue to think, feel and act for their people, state, country and humanity, through the legacies they left behind.

    I send my heartfelt condolence to their immediate families, to the Bini and Etsako communities, to the Government and good people of Edo State and Nigeria, and to all persons who their selfless services touched in diverse ways.

     

    •Dr. S.O. Ogbemudia.

    Benin City

  • I’ll miss Omoruyi, says wife

    I’ll miss Omoruyi, says wife

    • Uduaghan, others mourn

    Widow of the late Prof. Omo Omoruyi, Joan, has described the death of her husband as a rude shock, saying: “I will miss everything about him.”

    Omoruyi, the former Director-General of the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), died in a private hospital in Benin, Edo State on Sunday night after a protracted battle with prostate cancer.

    Mrs Omoruyi said: “He came back from the United States some weeks ago; we know his medical condition but we were hoping for the best.’’

    Omoruyi’s nephew, Dr Festus Imuentinyan described the late Omoruyi as his mentor, saying: “He had been carrying everybody in the family.”

    “It was a great loss but we also thank God; it is to God’s glory for a man to live for 75 years with that kind of ailment; he was still very active even up till the point that he died.’’

    Mr. Sunny Omoruyi, the immediate younger brother of the deceased, said: “We were all talking in the morning (Sunday) up till the later part of the evening.

    “We never knew he was leaving us but suddenly, my nephew called me that daddy couldn’t make it and I was confused and shocked,’’ he said.

    Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan described the late Omoruyi as a patriot and nationalist who had a burning passion for the unity and improvement of democracy in Nigeria.

    In a statement by his Press Secretary Felix Ofou, Uduaghan said Nigeria will forever remember Omoruyi as an advocate of good governance in the country.

    Uduaghan said the academic community, Edo State and Nigeria in General will be affected by the painful exit of a man who at great risk to personal safety and love for the common man would always want to speak the truth at all times.

    “Even while he was on the sick bed. when he should be thinking only about his health, he never stopped talking. He was more concerned about deepening democracy and the distribution of the dividends to the grassroots”, he said.

    The governor urged all lovers of democracy, including the academia to see this moment of his death to honour the late Omoruyi by seeking to actualise the values and ethos for which he lived and was willing to sacrifice his live, particularly in service of the nation.

    He moreover prayed God to grant the family of the deceased, the Edo State Government and people, as well as Nigerians in general, the fortitude to bear the loss, especially at a time when Prof Omoruyi’s voice and wisdom were most needed.

    In a statement, Dr Osahon Enabulele, the National President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), commiserated with the family of the deceased and the Edo Government.

    “The NMA is appreciative of the fact that not only did Prof. Omo Omoruyi leave behind indelible footprints in the sands of time; he showed uncommon courage in his inspirational struggle against prostate cancer.

    “We note the fact that till his death he was resolute in his determination to demystify the dreaded prostate cancer which is currently the leading cancer afflicting men.

    “Prof. Omo Omoruyi’s death once again reinforces the NMA’s call on Nigerians and the governments to collaborate with the association in its pursuit of healthy living, while undergoing regular health check,’’ Enabulele said

     

  • Jonathan, Oshiomhole mourn Omoruyi

    •I’ve lost a confidant, says Edo governor

    President Goodluck Jonathan has received with sadness, news of the death of renowned political scientist and former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Prof. Omo Omoruyi.

    A statement by Dr. Reuben Abati, the special adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), said President Jonathan commiserated with the deceased’s family and the government and people of Edo State on the loss of the distinguished academic and illustrious citizen, whose contributions to the nation’s political development would be remembered.

    The President said he believed that Nigerians would acknowledge and honour the late professor’s contributions towards laying a foundation for the democratic dispensation through the work of the Centre for Democratic Studies, where he served as the pioneer director-general.

    He prayed for the repose of his soul.

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State described the death of Prof. Omoruyi as a personal loss, a loss to Edo State and the nation.

    The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Peter Okhiria, said: “Prof. Omoruyi’s death is painful because he was a friend and a confidant.

    “I will always remember his contributions to my governorship campaign in 2007 as the director-general of my campaign organisation. As a governor, I tapped from his wealth of experience.

    “His death has robbed Edo State and Nigeria of a forthright man, an intellectual, a man who gave his all in his service to the nation. His contributions to the development of our democracy will remain indelible.

    “We feel pained that death has robbed us of Prof. Omoruyi at this time his voice and contributions to burning national issues are needed.

    “Even as we mourn, the people and government of Edo State are proud of his contributions to the nation, as he was one of our greatest gifts to Nigeria.

    “I pray God to grant the deceased eternal rest and the family the fortitude to bear the loss.”

  • Omoruyi: A scholar’s lament

    Omoruyi: A scholar’s lament

    Every crusader, every committed protagonist, I suspect, is haunted at one time or another by this thought: When the battle is over, when the cause he served with great dedication and conviction has been won — or lost as the case may be— will his contributions be reciprocated when he falls on hard times, or will he be driven to lament, as Professor David Omo Omoruyi did the other day, that he had been “used and dumped”?

    Omoruyi’s political roots go back to the Constituent Assembly that shaped Nigeria’s 1979 Constitution, where he took a leading part in moving the body to insert in the document a clause that would have, in effect, eliminated Chief Obafemi Awolowo from the presidential race.

    There was great jubilation in the Constituent Assembly the day that amendment was passed, and Omoruyi was not in the least reticent in claiming a share of the credit. He later entered party politics, on the platform of the National People’s Party. His bid for elective office failed.

    But he is probably best known as the director-general of the Centre for Democratic Studies, one of the many institutions the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, set up to execute a transition programme that the political scientist Richard Joseph has called “one of the most sustained exercises in political chicanery ever visited upon a people.”

    Omoruyi can justly claim to be the “father” – in an intellectual sense, that is— of the institution. He had outlined the mandate of such a body in a speech he wrote for Babangida’s delivery as Guest of Honour during the 1989 Guardian Lecture. He and Babangida had been contemporaries in the inaugural Senior Executive Course (1978/79) at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, in Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State.

    The two had forged a thriving friendship, and when Babangida seized power in 1985, he had drafted Omoruyi, then a professor at the University of Benin, into the conclave of political scientists that would wield such enormous influence during the transition and ultimately give political science a bad name.

    Omoruyi, I recall, was a prominent presence at the Lecture, and could hardly conceal his delight at hearing his thoughts presented by the President, no less, before the Nigerian policy elite, at what was then perhaps the most significant event on Nigeria’s intellectual calendar.

    It was a combative speech. Babangida used the forum to berate those he called “victims of the dogma of varieties of Marxist/Socialist orientation alternating cynically between half-truths and the sparing use of truth.” How many of them, he sniggered, could translate “ideology” into the indigenous languages? How many of these agitators operating from Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Enugu and Benin – curiously, he omitted Ile Ife — know their communities?

    As if to warn that such an option was not entirely foreclosed, he invoked a former colonial governor who once threatened to “deport” the “urban agitators” of that era to their villages so they could learn from their roots.

    From my vantage position on the dais of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs – I was the master of ceremonies — I could see the radical Ife historian, Dr Segun Osoba, literally squirm in his seat as Babangida took his war against “extremists” to a new level.

    So, it came as no surprise when, shortly after the Lecture, Babangida announced that the Federal Government was setting up a Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, with Omoruyi as its director-general. Somewhere along the line, it morphed into Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS).

    It went to work in earnest, along the way making accommodation for the turns, the labyrinthine trajectory of the transition programme. Omoruyi doubled as a strategist, advising on policy and writing speeches. By his account, the CDS trained more than 400,000 members of Nigeria’s political class, through a “unique” political education programme it pioneered.

    The capstone of the transition was of course the Presidential election of June 12, 1993 which, for reasons he still has not been able to explain 19 years later, Babangida decided to annul.

    The CDS had invited and accredited international observers for the election. They had all certified it free and fair and credible. Based on their reports and the reports of the CDS’s field officers, Omoruyi stood resolutely by what was already widely known – that the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Moshood Abiola, had won decisively.

    In vain, and with a growing sense of personal danger, did Omoruyi urge Babangida again and again to accept and abide by the election result. In the encircling gloom, he fled Abuja to his home in Benin City, where unidentified gunmen with murder on their minds attacked him.

    He survived the attack, and was evacuated to the United States for treatment. On recovering, he took fellowships at Harvard and Lincoln, and wrote his revealing book, “The Tale of June 12:

    The Betrayal of the Democratic Rights of Nigerians (1993).” It was during his sojourn that he was diagnosed with cancer.

    The book is unsparing of those Omoruyi called “enemies” of June 12, but it is especially so of Babangida. The entire transition was a ruse. Everything Babangida said in his June 21 1993 broadcast justifying the annulment was false through and through, Babangida knew it.

    Arthur Nzeribe and his Association for a Better Nigeria were Babangida’s proxies. The bizarre rulings of the Abuja courts on the election were given with the full knowledge and endorsement of the military president and the Federal Ministry of Justice.

    As the scheme unraveled, Omoruyi wrote, Babangida was “more concerned with saving his life and the lives of his family members than with his office and, by extension, the country. There was absolutely no doubt that he was prepared to sacrifice anything, including the transition programme and the country, so long as he saved his life.”

    Weighed down by the mental strain the crisis was taking on him, Babangida had said during one anguished moment: “I wish I can see a psychiatrist to examine me. I think something is wrong with me”

    And so on and so forth.

    After the book’s publication, Omoruyi seemed to have reconciled with Babangida. Omoruyi celebrated the rapprochement, which his son was instrumental in bringing about. If Babangida’s quixotic bid to return to power had not collapsed before it began, Omoruyi would most likely have been in his corner again.

    All had been forgiven even if not forgotten, it seemed.

    Then, Omoruyi’s cancer returned. Lacking the resources to travel abroad to seek the aggressive medical intervention it demanded, he turned to Babangida for help. Despite his famed large-heartedness, Babangida was not forthcoming. Neither were those friends on whose help Omoruyi thought he could stake a claim. In the end, it was Governor Adams Oshiomhole of his home state, Edo, who came to the rescue.

    This sense of abandonment was what provoked Omoruyi’s pained lament that he had been “used and dumped.”

    I think he did himself a great injustice by that statement.

    They thought they were using him, as they had used and wasted so many of the intellectual courtiers of the era. They did not reckon that he has a mind of his own. Only those who have no minds of their own, those who cannot speak truth to power, get used and dumped.

    The reader must judge for himself or herself whether Omoruyi should have returned to Babangida’s camp after what he went through, and after the excoriation of the former military president that perfuses “The Tale of June 12.” Whatever the judgment, we must in this season of goodwill wish him a speedy recovery.

    It will certainly be said of David Omo Omoruyi that he served Nigeria devotedly with his learning and organisational ability at a crucial time in the nation’s history and, at great risk to his life, stood firm on principle when he found – rather late in the day, some might say – that those who recruited him into what he believed was a noble enterprise had all along been actuated by base motives.

     

  • Omoruyi’s second journey

    Omoruyi’s second journey

    No one should ever again have to cry so plaintively for help as the former Director-General, Centre for Democratic Studies, Prof. Omo Omoruyi, did two days ago before he was flown abroad a second time to treat his recurring cancer. For someone who served his country well at a fairly high level, it was heartrending to see him bemoan his state of utter abandonment. He singled out his former boss and ex-head of state, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and some of his friends for being indifferent to his plight. They didn’t contribute to his first journey to the United States to treat the cancer that ravaged his body, he said, and they were again uninterested in assuaging his misery as he embarked on what he described as the second journey. Speaking in Benin City shortly before his departure, he also revealed that he had unsuccessfully asked President Goodluck Jonathan for help through Chief Edwin Clark.

    Hear the professor in his own words: “I have been used and dumped, especially by Babangida. Some politicians who don’t like me were also preventing the President from giving me assistance, after I sent a message about my health predicament to him. My cancer is back and I don’t know how it will end. Governor Adams Oshiomhole has graciously come to my aid again. He is the one making it possible for me to commence my second journey. In my book, My journey Back To Life, that is journey number one. It will appear I am starting a second journey, and how this second journey will end, I don’t know. I am going to hospital in the United States to commence a new treatment plan and that treatment plan, how it will end, I do not know… I am going back to the hospital. President Goodluck Jonathan should help me. I cried to him through Chief Edwin Clark. There is vindictiveness in the land. I have paid my dues to this country and the country is unfair to me. What did I not do?”

    There are yet many people who appreciate the erudite professor’s contributions to nation-building, and who hope he would make it back alive and still enjoy life for many more years. But if he does not return, his parting words should haunt Nigeria for some time. In a tone heavy with anguish and despair, Professor Omoruyi had asked this rhetorical question: “What did I not do?” The problem is not what he didn’t do, or what anyone else needed to do. The problem is that it rarely matters what anyone does in Nigeria. After all, he would not be the first top Nigerian to be abandoned to his fate. Many sportsmen, artists and intellectuals have also suffered untold privations, sometimes directly at the hands of the government and its agents, and at other times indirectly as a result of unavailability of facilities. The shocking truth about living in Nigeria is that every citizen is on his own. Professor Omoruyi does not need more education to know how alone the Nigerian is. What worried him instead was the undependability of his friends, which his very desperate circumstances made him to appreciate anew.

    It is possible the friends the professor said gave him cold shoulder would have something to say in their defence. But even if he exaggerated a little, he should be forgiven, for the parting words of this distraughtly sick patriot described such pathos that only someone with a heart of stone could fail to yield to.