Ditto for Dr Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme. Many encomiums have been poured on the late Nigerian Vice President in the last few days that it would equate to a drop of water in an ocean if I add more. But suffice it to say that he deserves much more than tributes. Ekwueme was no ordinary man. He was a legend and a saint combined. He was a different kind of politician who eschewed bitterness and was a party loyalist to the core. I will not bore you with all his credentials and achievements as you may probably have heard them already, but will just point out a few for us the youths and citizenry of today’s Nigeria to emulate.
Born in Oko, Aguata area of Anambra State in October 21 1932, Ekwueme rose to become an accomplished Architect and urban planner in Lagos, obtaining a Masters Degree and a PhD from a London University even before actively joining politics. As a matter of fact, his business Ekwueme Associates: Architects and Town Planners (first indigenous architectural firm in Nigeria), was already well established before he was elected Vice President in 1979. This is marked departure from what we have in politics in today’s Nigeria. You will see a man turn from poverty and joblessness with no future ambition, to a multibillionaire in just a few years of holding a political office. Ekwueme was not hungry prior to joining politics. Rather he was a reputed to be a philanthropist who set up an education trust fund for Aguata people from which several hundreds benefited.
Incidentally Ekwueme didn’t really know Shagari before 1979. He met him only once in the early 1970s when Shagari was still the Federal Commissioner of Finance. According to an interview, Ekwueme revealed that he had gone to see Shagari because the military in Port Harcourt was occupying some of his houses and owed arrears of rent. After all explanations, Shagari asked for papers backing his claims which Ekwueme produced. He then directed that files relating to his matter be brought and the claims were found to be true. The payments were then made and Ekwueme recalled calling Shagari later to thank him. Their paths would cross again years later when Shagari won the Presidential nomination and was shopping for a running mate. The VP slot had been zoned to the East and Shagari came to Enugu, lodged in Hotel Presidential and asked Imo and Anambra to nominate one person each and submit their CVs to him. Anambra nominated Ekwueme while Imo nominated Macaulay Nwankwo who worked in Shell BP. Interestingly, Ekwueme had just lost the Governorship primaries to Chief C C Onoh who vigorously campaigned that the slot be given to the ‘’Enugwu’’ area of Anambra. God indeed works in mysterious ways because Ekwueme would have lost to Jim Nwobodo of NPP (Zik’s party) if he had won the primaries. God had bigger plans for him as Shagari, impressed by his credentials eventually chose him as running mate.
What many do not also know was that Ekwueme despite being a nationalist was committed to the Igbo cause and stood by his people throughout the locust years of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. Ekwueme’s ingenuity was key to saving millions of Biafran lives in the face of air blockade imposed the rogue Gowon junta, ably assisted by the British and Russians. As head of planning in the then newly formed Biafran Airport Authority, Ekwueme led the building of airstrips at Uli. The Uli airport was the major airport in Biafra at the time, for flying in military and relief goods. According to Chinua Achebe in his book, There Was A Country, ‘’it was one of the busiest in Africa, with more than 50 flights a night!’’
After the war, Ekwueme returned to Lagos, embracing the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) when the then head of state Olusegun Obasanjo lifted the ban on politics in 1978. Despite having a PhD, he remained humble in serving a much less educated but enlightened Shehu Shagari after their election the following year. I was listening to a radio program the other day where an old politician recalled the first federal executive council meeting chaired by President Shagari. It was said that the memo for the meeting was riddled with grammatical errors. Ekwueme in his usual unassuming style, had to wait till the end of deliberations before he called Shagari’s attention to it. Shagari asked him why he didn’t raise the matter earlier and he replied that he didn’t want to disrupt the inaugural FEC meeting. Such was the kind of man he was. When Brigadier Muhammadu Buhari and his band of coupists struck in December 1983, Ekwueme was hauled off to the Kirikiri prisons where he spent the next 20 months. Remarkably, the military tribunal which acquitted him found him innocent of all charges, even adding that he left government poorer! Indeed I sometimes wonder the type of President Ekwueme would have made if Buhari had not suddenly torpedoed the second republic in the twilight of Shagari’s first term.
He had another shot at the Presidency in the run up to the fourth republic. But before then, Ekwueme risked certain death by leading a group of concerned Nigerians to form the G-34 in 1998, a move meant to put pressure on the then military dictator General Sani Abacha to abandon his self-succession bid and give way for true democracy. Eventually, fate smiled on Nigeria and with the abrupt death of Abacha, the G-34 metamorphosed to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). There was at last hope and light at the end of the tunnel. But that flicker of hope was quickly extinguished when the military hegemonists hijacked the 1998 PDP primaries in Jos. Obasanjo who was just released from prison penniless and his business in ruins, mysteriously found N130million to donate to the party. The convention was heavily monetized with delegates receiving bribes from contestants. Ekwueme in his usual uprightness refused to give even 1 kobo to any delegate. Eventually he lost to Obasanjo, his former G-34 colleagues like Abubakar Rimi and Solomon Lar abandoning him in the 11th hour. These setbacks didn’t deter Ekwueme as he stood by the party even till death.
Unlike the average Nigerian politician with their penchant for stupendous wealth gained mostly by looting our national patrimony, Ekwueme lived a modest life which can only be equated to a saint considering the environment we live in today. He owned an average house in Enugu where he lived till his accidental fall which led to his medical tourism to London where he breathed his last. You would not see a single policeman guarding his house as it was always open to well meaning Nigerians. There was this word that my late grandmother often used: Eziafakaego (which translates into, A Good Name Is Better than Wealth). Indeed, nothing epitomizes this than the life Ekwueme lived. I remember that Ikemba Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu failed to win a Senatorial election in Anambra state in the 1980s. But after his death, Ojukwu’s posters and effigies are now winning Governorship elections in his home state and even beyond. This is a big lesson to us all that mere accumulation of wealth will not make people remember you after you pass away. Your works and achievements are what will speak for you.
As Dr Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (Ide Aguata) is laid to rest today in his homeland, we earnestly pray to God to accept his humble soul into his bosom and grant him eternal rest. I would strongly recommend national monuments to be named after this political colossus. Anambra State can take the lead by naming the upcoming cargo airport after him. He even deserves more for being a shining light in the midst of darkness. I will end by quoting this writing by St. Paul: ‘’I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.’’ (2 Timothy 7-8)
A great Iroko has fallen.
Jee nke oma, Ide Aguata.
©️Nonso Ndibe 2018
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
