Sunnewsonline Thursday, November 18, 2010

Second Republic vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme has described the move by members of the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act to make them automatic members of the National Executive Committees (NEC) of their various political parties as selfish. Ekwueme spoke yesterday in Enugu while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after he declared open the second Coal City Book Convention organized by Delta Book Club.

He said the move also totally negates the spirit and letters of true democracy, pointing out that if the bill was allowed to scale through, it would also put pressure on the nomination process of the various political parties for the 2011 general elections. He therefore urged the parties involved, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) to immediately checkmate the move by using the parties’ internal mechanisms.

Said he: “I think, it’s perhaps a mixture of ideas from the parliamentary system and the presidential system. In the parliamentary system, the legislature decides the running of the parties, but it’s not so in a presidential system which we are practicing today.

“The parties should be allowed to decide how candidates for elections are selected; if you allow every member of the legislature to become automatic members of the NEC of parties, what that means is that they would become the de-facto leaders of the parties considering their numbers. “What that means is that the legislators would not become judges in their own cases because they will now decide how the NEC selects candidates for elections which they are equally contesting. What now becomes the fate of the people who are equally contesting for party tickets in the same election they are contesting?” he asked.

The former vice president under President Shehu Shagari said there was nothing wrong in allowing the situation to remain as it is presently where some members of the National Assembly were still members of the NEC of the parties and therefore cautioned the people behind the bill to have a rethink. Earlier at the book launch, he said Nigerian youths should develop the habit of reading and writing books.

From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu News – National

FORMER Vice President Alex Ekwueme has described as self-serving, the move by members of the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act to make them automatic members of the National Executive Committees (NEC) of their various political parties.

Ekwueme stated that the move, if allowed, would put pressure on the nomination process of the various parties for the 2011 general elections.

Speaking with journalists in Enugu shortly after declaring open the Second Coal City Book Convention organised by Delta Book Club, he said the move totally negates the spirit and letters of true democracy, which the country strives to inculcate.

He, therefore, urged the parties involved, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) to immediately checkmate the move by using the parties’ internal mechanisms, which, according to him, guarantees fairness to all.

He said: “I think, it’s perhaps a mixture of ideas from the parliamentary system and the presidential system. In the parliamentary system, the legislature decides the running of the parties, but it’s not so in a presidential system which we are practicing today.

“The parties should be allowed to decide how candidates for elections are selected. If you allow every member of the legislature to become automatic members of the NEC of parties, what that means is that they would become the de facto leaders of the parties considering their numbers.

“What that means is that the legislators would now become judges in their own cases because they will now decide how the NEC selects candidates for elections which they are equally contesting. What now becomes the fate of the people who are equally contesting for party tickets in the same election they are contesting?” he added.

The Second Republic Vice President said there was nothing wrong in allowing the situation to remain, as it is currently where some members of the National Assembly are still members of the NEC of the parties. He, therefore, cautioned the people behind the bill to have a rethink.

While urging Nigerian youths to develop the habit of reading and writing books, he called on government at all levels to equally encourage the habit of writing and reading in order to protect and guarantee the future of intellectualism in the country.

Ekwueme, who said the promotion of reading and writing culture have become the missing link in the country, urged the Federal Government to encourage authors as a way of promoting writing. He said that democracy would not function effectively if majority of the populace would not read and write.

In his speech, the President of Delta Book Club, Dilibe Onyeama, expressed satisfaction at the large turnout of people at the event, stressing that the two-day celebration “promises to be no less frenetic and exciting as it will involve a celebration of the 80th birthday anniversary of a renowned literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe.”

From Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja , Thisday Newspaper 11.17.2010

Former Vice-President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, has asked the leading political parties to stop the move by federal lawmakers to become members of their parties’ National Executive Committee (NEC).

The 2010 Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which has already passed second reading in both chambers within days of introduction, seeks to make federal lawmakers automatic members of parties’ NECs – the highest decision-making organ.

The sheer number of National Assembly members is expected to overwhelm other members of NEC, effectively placing the control of parties under the legislators.
Ekwueme joined the widespread condemnation yesterday, urging the parties with members in the National Assembly to employ “internal mechanism” to stop the move which he described as “self-serving”.

He said it is not only self-serving but against the spirit and letters of presidential system of government.

Speaking with journalists in Enugu shortly after declaring open the second Coal City Book Convention organized by Delta Book Club, Ekwueme said the move also totally negates “the spirit and letters of true democracy”.

He said the bill, if allowed to scale through, would also put pressure on the nomination process of the various parties for the 2011 general election.

He urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and other parties to immediately checkmate the move by using the parties’ internal mechanisms.
Ekwueme said: “I think it’s perhaps a mixture of ideas from the parliamentary system and the presidential system. In the parliamentary system, the legislature decides the running of the parties, but it’s not so in a presidential system which we are practising today.
“The parties should be allowed to decide how candidates for elections are selected; if you allow every member of the legislature to become automatic members of the NEC of parties, what that means is that they would become the de facto leaders of the parties considering their numbers.
“What that means is that the legislators would become judges in their own cases because they will not decide how the NEC selects candidates for elections which they are equally contesting. What now becomes the fate of the people who are equally contesting for party tickets in the same election they are contesting?”

The Second Republic vice-president said there was nothing wrong in allowing the situation to remain as it is at present where some members of the National Assembly are still members of NEC and cautioned the people behind the bill to have a rethink.
THISDAY reported yesterday that PDP was already trying to persuade the lawmakers from going ahead with the controversial amendment next week.
PDP has the highest number of senators and members of the House of Representatives in the National Assembly, with 93 out of 109 senators and 258 out of 360 House members.

The National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Chief Olusola Oke, told THISDAY that the National Working Committee (NWC) would as soon as the Sallah break is over commence discussions with its members in the National Assembly through the use of “internal mechanism” of the party to see that the controversial bill is dropped.
A gale of condemnation has trailed the move since THISDAY broke the story last week, as the ACN has vowed to go to court to stop the law, describing it as “selfish”.
It also asked the civil society to organise mass protests against the National Assembly, just as former National Chairman of ANPP, Senator Saidu Kumo, said the legislation is “tyrannical”.

Elder statesman and former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, described the proposal as an assault on democracy.
House member, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, described the move by his colleagues as “legislative rascality”.

In the meantime, some opposition parties have begun moves to block any attempt by the National Assembly to introduce the controversial clause.
The parties under the umbrella of the Patriotic Alliance yesterday met to marshal an action plan aimed at frustrating the passage into law of the offensive electoral bill.
THISDAY gathered that the meeting which was convened in Abuja saw opposition leaders consulting on a wide range of other issues relating to the conduct of the 2011 general election.

It was also learnt that the group was planning to liaise with the various state Houses of Assembly, labour and civil society organisations to mobilise opposition against the proposed amendment in case the National Assembly goes ahead with it.
In a statement signed by the Acting Chairman of the  Alliance for Democracy (AD), Rev. Okechukwu Obiorah, the party strongly condemned the attempt by members of the National Assembly to foist themselves as NEC members of their respective political parties.

He said the exercise would amount to legislative recklessness, adding that it should be condemned by all lovers of democracy, good governance and rule of law.
“It is sad that members of the Senate and House of Representatives will start tinkering with the Electoral Act to boost their ego and acquire undue power and advantage over fellow compatriots.

“AD calls on Nigerians to strongly oppose this tyranny by our supposed representatives in the National Assembly. It is the exclusive right of a political party to determine members of its National Executive Committee. No organ of government can impose its members on any political party. It is illegal, unconstitutional and an abuse of power,” he said.

Also, the National Movement of Progressive Party (NMPP) NEC met at the party national secretariat Abuja yesterday to condemn the move.
In the communiqué signed by the National Chairman of NMPP, Dr. Lawrence Atuanya, the party enjoined eligible Nigerians to participate in the January 2011 voter registration as power resides in the people.
It expressed the hope that the outcome of the elections would reflect the wish of the electorate.

It also urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the minimum wage bill to avert further national strike by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
“NEC notes with dismay that the National Assembly members have applied delay tactic in handling crucial national issues and bills, contrary to the lightening speed in which they pass bills affecting them including their jumbo pay that made them the highest paid legislators in the world,” it said.

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor & Tony Edike

ENUGU -SECOND Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, yesterday, flayed the move by the National Assembly to integrate all its members into the National Executive Committees, NEC, of their various political parties, describing it as self serving.
While declaring the proposal as undemocratic he called for the bill now being fast-tracked through the two houses of the National Assembly to be dropped.
Meanwhile, leaders of the National Assembly are considering receiving the input of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, at a joint public hearing on the bill next week during which they expect to formally receive the input of other stakeholders many of whom have condemned the proposal.

Besides, it has emerged that the legislative proposal in the Senate was a popular decision among Senators. The 44 member Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitution Review, SCRC, Vanguard learnt, overwhelmingly over-ruled the initial decision of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, that the proposal be dropped from the bill.

Dr. Ekwueme, a pioneer Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, BOT, spoke with reporters shortly after declaring open the second Coal City Book Convention organised by Delta Book Club at the Nike Lake Resort Hotel, Enugu. He said the move by the lawmakers completely negates the spirit and letters of true democracy.
In the proposal in the Senate, all Senators and more than half of the members of the House of Representatives would become members of NEC of their political parties.
While the bill in the House proposes that all Senators and House members would become members of the NEC.

Flaying the move yesterday, Ekwueme said that if the bill scales through, it would also put pressure on the nomination process of the various parties for the 2011 general elections.

He, therefore, urged the parties involved, especially the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the Progressives Peoples Alliance, PPA to immediately checkmate the move by using the parties’ internal mechanisms.
He said: “I think, it’s perhaps a mixture of ideas from the parliamentary system and the presidential system. In the parliamentary system, the legislature decides the running of the parties, but it’s not so in a presidential system which we are practising today.
“The parties should be allowed to decide how candidates for elections are selected; if you allow every member of the legislature to become automatic members of the NEC of parties, what that means is that they would become the de-facto leaders of the parties considering their numbers.

“What that means is that the legislators would now become judges in their own cases because they will now decide how the NEC selects candidates for elections which they are equally contesting. What now becomes the fate of the people who are equally contesting for party tickets in the same election they are contesting.”
Dr. Ekwueme, who is a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, said there was nothing wrong in allowing the situation remain as it is presently where some members of the National Assembly are still members of the NEC of the parties and therefore cautioned the people behind the bill to have a rethink.

Earlier at the book launch, Dr. Ekwueme said Nigerian Youths should develop the habit of reading and writing books, while urging government at all levels to equally encourage the habit of writing and reading in order to protect and guarantee the future of intellectualism in the country.

President of Delta Book Club, Dilibe Onyeama expressed satisfaction at the large turn_out at the event stressing that the two_day celebration “promises to be no less frenetic and exciting as it will involve a celebration of the 80th birthday anniversary of a renowned literary icon, Prof Chinua Achebe.

Vanguard learnt yesterday that the bill in the Senate unlike the one in the House was introduced by the Senate Committee on Constitution of Review headed by Senator Ekweremadu. Committee sources told Vanguard yesterday that the proposal was equally controversial among some Senators, especially among the principal officers who are by status automatic members of the NEC of their politicial parties.
However, other Senators in the SCRC were said to have raised strong objections and in a vote Ekweremadu and those against the proposal were defeated.
The federal legislators it is learnt want to use the numerical strength that they could garner through the proposal to take control of the parties.
“It is because it is a proposal from the SCRC that is why the sponsorship of the bill in the Senate is coming in the name of Ekweremau the chairman of the Committee and other members of the Committee,” a source said yesterday.

Expressing the Senate’s readiness to adopt whatever input comes from the governors and other members of the public at the public hearing, one senior Senate official said yesterday:
“We will do a public hearing and if they want to come, fine and if they are coming it cant be anything before next week
“We are elected to represent the people and if we do public hearing and the people we are representing say that they don’t want the law we will look at the law and see the options that are available to us.”

Dear Ohawuenyi Ndi Igbo,

Since 1st June 2010, your mobile phone line has been dead. I gave consideration to the telecom sector and gave them kudos for their stride in Nigeria. But I still struggle to agree that the telecom operators should be absolved of all blame arising from poor network connectivity.

My friends in the industry blamed power failure for the abysmal connectivity. When I argued further that adequate provision should be made for alternative power supply, I was told that the two power generating sets for the masts was “spoilt” by “bad fuel” during the fuel scarcity and the vehicle that was supposed to bring the engineers was stuck in a ditch due to bad roads and the rainy season. I simply gave up.

Nigeria is a nation where nature and nurture have combined to turn a blessing into misery. The country boasts of a tropical weather where the sun is vertically overhead all year round. This simply means that the sun rises and set every day. The joy of this weather can only be contrasted with the misery of the winter months in the western hemisphere when the continents enjoys less than four hours of some brightness and cold wintery days for up to five months. The situation is even worse in the arctic poles where the inhabitants endure days of no sun shine or brightness at all.

In Nigeria, we take sun rise and sun set for granted but instead of reaping the benefit of this weather situation, it has become one of the things that created misery for us. The tropical rain forest is awash with infectious diseases arising from the humidity of the environment which provides a breeding ground for parasites and protozoan. While Western nations have developed structures and systems to circumvent their weather situation and even troop to Africa to enjoy a bit of sunshine, we in Nigerian have resigned ourselves to be beggars of the world and blame nature and man for our woes.

Enough of my preaching in this letter as I thought I was discussing contemporary Nigeria issues with you Igwe J.O Mamah as we used to do. This letter arose from the fact that I cannot get you on the phone. Now your driver has just told me that you travelled abroad for medical check-up. I remember your last trip to the United States of America for medical treatment. You were ill and unsteady in your feet but that did not distract you from telling me the story of your life, which I now see as a contradiction to the story of our country Nigeria.

While Nigerians blame juju and black magic for their illnesses and pray for Holy Ghost fire to ‘return juju back to sender’, they tend to forget the infrastructural decay in our hospitals and the nature of medical practice in Nigeria which have sent many to their early grave. I worry at the ‘jack of all trade’ medical practice in Nigeria where the patent medical dealer, the homeopathic medicine dealer, the pharmaceutical chemist dispensers, the medical laboratory assistants are all doctors while the general practice medical graduates are specialist in all aspects of medicine. Lately the ‘Tianshi’ Chinese herbal remedy dealers have also joined the body of doctors in Nigeria. Virtually everyone in Nigeria prescribes medicine of some sort including my mother who would prescribe “septrin” for my son’s cough even though he had seen our family doctor.

Dear Igwe, you travelled to the USA to get appropriate treatment for your medical condition because such luxury was meant only for our government functionaries and politicians. This is again in contradiction to what obtains in western society where basic health is a right and not a privilege. Again, your travel to USA was at your hard earned expense and not included in our appropriation bill for 2010. You did not have to leave the country in a hurry and forget to hand over the running of your establishment to a reliable deputy. You did not inherit the palm plantations, cocoa farms and groundnut pyramids but instead you rose from wheel barrow pushing street boy, fighting all vicissitudes of living in a metropolitan city of Onitsha after the Biafra war. You survived all the discrimination associated with your birth place (Nsukka). The ‘Nwa Nsukka’ that connotes low class peasants labourers in the 70′s has now become such a fashionable description of your people due to your energy, verve and dedication to your people.

You are known worldwide as Ifesinachi even when your given names were James Ogbonnaya. You were orphaned at a very young age but managed to get enough education to help you through life. You did not resort to armed robbery or kidnapping because of ‘lost opportunities’. You believe so much in hard work such that you insisted that your son, Emeka should get a “proper job” after graduating with honours in accountancy rather than join your business empire. You changed the world for your people and opened the floodgates for them to be domiciled in all parts of the world.

Our society has been turned into a den of wolves where everything is given patronage except hard work, learning and the truth. Praises are showered on worthless ideas, meaningless concepts are applauded and senseless thoughts extolled. Sadly enough, true knowledge is forsaken and condemned. Igwe J.O Mamah, you lived your life on the belief that irrespective of all consequences, a person should always uphold the voice of his conscience. You remained steadfast in the cause of truth and faced every adverse current of society with grit and endurance. The increase in the intensity of your opposition only increased your patience.

The more the going gets tough, the tougher you became – for you believed that expending even the last drop of your blood in the cause of truth would make your path easier for others to tread. Like a lighthouse, all your struggles and sacrifices have shined as a source of guidance for humanity. You redefine the meaning of courage and extend the frontiers of valour. You added new dimensions to dare and defiance. In the heavens, the angels prayed for your success and upon the earth, success waylaid you in all aspect of your life. Even in your larger than life status, you remained humble and gracious to a fault. Your life as a great man has reminded me that I can make my life sublime while your departing has left a big footprint on the sands of time.

His Royal Majesty, Igwe James Ogbonnaya Mamah JP, MFR was the former Chairman of Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe of Umuozzi in Enugu-Ezike area of Nsukka and Chairman of Ifesinachi Group of Industries Nigeria Limited. He died in New York USA on 1st June 2010.

•Dr Duke Igwilo is the Director General of Alex Ekwueme Foundation and writes from London, United Kingdom

Photo: Sun News publishing

The first executive Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme may have been celebrating birthdays, but the one of October 21, when he turned 78 was exceptional. On that appointed day, the Federal Polytechnic, Oko which he founded instituted an annual lecture award ceremony in his name.

Indeed, the occasion attracted eminent personalities such as the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo; former Minister of Petroleum and Energy and Chairman South-South Monarch Forum, His Royal Majesty, Dr. Edmund Daukoru; first Civilian Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, among others to the institution.

Daukoru who was the chairman of the occasion used glowing words to describe the former number two citizen.

Rector of the Polytechnic, Prof. Godwin Onu while describing the occasion as important and commemorative in the 30-year existence of the institution said:
“A time comes in the life of not only an individual, but also of an institution when it must shun the demands and challenges of everyday living, hustle and bustle of survival in order to profoundly reflect on yester years.

“It is upon that reflection that we are all gathered here today to celebrate a worthy son of Igbo land and Nigeria, a disciplined and focused leader, a multi-disciplinary scholar and former vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme – the man who saw tomorrow.

“To say that the chief celebrant is a very humble and unassuming academic, a sociologist, an architect, a political scientist and a lawyer is to say the obvious.

“It is my firm belief that the story of Dr Ekwueme can successfully extricate many young men and women from criminality if they understand how he emerged from grass to grace through diligence, hard work and dedication.

“For a man who lost his father at the age of ten and had to trek 16 kilometers to and from school, to later attend the famous Kings College Lagos and one of the first Nigerians to be awarded the Fulbright Scholarship for study in the United States is no mean feat.
“It is this gentle giant, unassuming, humble and quite personality that we are celebrating today; the polytechnic which he founded has instituted this event to be an annual affair”.

The occasion got to the climax when an expert in constitutional law and former Minister of Education, Prof Ben Nwabueze delivered the first Dr Alex Ekwueme Annual Lecture and opened the eyes of the audience to so many things they never knew about Ekwueme.

The lecture entitled, “The Legacies of Dr Alex Ekwueme to Governance and to Political and Social Development in Nigeria”, which was in a book form with eight chapters of 121 pages ex-rayed the contribution of the celebrant to nation building.

Nwabueze who was the former Secretary-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo briefly discussed eight legacies of Ekwueme.

On the first legacy, which is intellectualism and solid education, Nwabueze has this to say about Ekwueme, “The lack of presidential leadership possessed of the necessary intellectual and educational credentials provides the setting for Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s legacy to governance and political development in Nigeria. He is acknowledged by all who have interacted closely with him as a person of acute intellect, a man richly endowed with the power to think, to comprehend ideas and to exercise critical judgment, a power that has been greatly enhanced and sharpened by wide and solid education.

“He holds university degrees, not bachelor’s, master’s and PhD, in many areas of study – architecture and urban planning, sociology, history, philosophy and law – obtained from the University of Washington (Seattle), University of London and University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Remarkably, it was after his stint as Nigeria’s vice president that he went on to acquire a Master’s Degree in Law (LL.M) from the University of Nigeria and to be called to the Nigerian Bar.

“He worked for and acquired all these degrees not just for the love of having them but out of a desire to sharpen his already sharp intellect and to deepen his insights, believing that an intellect sharpened and deepened by such wide education especially the kind of education provided by studies in law, is necessary for understanding the complexities of governance in a country going through the process of decolonization and for presidential leadership. That in essence is the legacy of Dr Alex Ekwueme to intellectualism in governance and political development in Nigeria.

“It is the thesis of this lecture that, without the attributes of intellectualism and a solid education such as Dr. Ekwueme exemplified in ample measure, the problem of presidential leadership may continue to perplex us in Nigeria”.

Speaking of Ekwueme on firm belief in and commitment to democracy and strong party system, he said, the characterization of Dr. Alex Ekwueme as a politician is misconceived and more patently so because of the pejorative sense in which the word is understood in Nigeria.

“The epithet, a political activist, is perhaps more fitting, but only in the sense of an activist of political ideas and of principles of good governance. He is simply an intellectual drawn into politics, not for the purpose of making a profitable career in it, but by a firm belief, in and commitment to, the pursuit of political ideas and principles of good governance for the betterment of society.

“His is not in politics of opportunism or self-aggrandizement, but politics driven by a commitment to enthrone democracy and a strong party system as a necessary foundation for good governance. That, not an ambition to make a profitable career in it, is what drew Dr. Alex Ekwueme into politics. He was of course not an old hand in politics in 1979, but a fresh entrant into it.

“The characterization of Dr. Alex Ekwueme as a politician must therefore be rejected because it is a negation of the nationalistic aspirations and the issue-based political mission that brought him into politics, as set out above. Dr. Alex Ekwueme is truly, like the great French political philosopher and jurist, Alexis de Tocqueville, a political philosopher committed to the pursuit of political ideas and principles of good governance.”

Nwabueze further said that the nation owes Dr. Ekwueme for the innovative idea of re-structuring the federation based on six geo-political zones with three in the North (North-West, North-Central and North-East) and three in the South (South-West, South-South and South-East).

“When he first launched the idea, it aroused opposition from many quarters determined, for narrow ethnic reasons, to leave the existing North-South dichotomy undisturbed.

“Happily, the idea of re-structuring the federation along the lines he proposed is gaining acceptance and is being used for some political, even legal, purposes, a notable example being its use for the purposes of the Fiscal Responsibility Bill introduced by President Obasanjo in the National Assembly in 2005.”

Former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme is widely described as a perfect gentleman and an easygoing man who is always willing to set a mark in all his undertakings.

The 78th birthday of the number two citizen in the Second Republic was celebrated in a special way on Oct. 21.

On that day, the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra, organised the First Alex Ekwueme Annual Lecture/Awards ceremony to celebrate the astute politician who is widely recognised as a very cerebral man with degrees in many disciplines.

The theme of the lecture was “Politics and Nigeria’s Economic Development”, and the speakers and special guests used the occasion to examine the lifestyle of Ekwueme and the nature of Nigeria’s contemporary politics.

The Chairman of the occasion, Dr Edmund Daukoru, the traditional ruler of Nembe Kingdom in Bayelsa, described the former vice-president as a statesman worthy of emulation.

“When Dr Ekwueme served as the Vice-President of Nigeria from Oct. 1, 1979 to Dec. 31, 1983, he set a mark as an astute statesman, a public office holder and a politician per excellence,” he said.

Daukoru, who is a former presidential adviser on petroleum matters, urged the current crop of public office holders to emulate the virtues of the former vice-president in their chosen endeavours. “Dr Alex Ekwueme is an epitome of politics without bitterness. He was loyal to former President Shehu Shagari and they served the country diligently before their regime was terminated by the military,” he said.

Prof. Godwin Onu, the Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Oko, said that the annual lecture/awards ceremony was organized in recognition of Ekwueme’s worthy contributions to the institute’s establishment and to recognise his academic achievements.

“Dr Ekwueme holds degrees in law, architecture, sociology, urban planning, history, philosophy and capped it with a PHD in Architecture.

“With these intimidating academic credentials, it is worth remembering this eminent statesman through the annual lecture series and to also use the opportunity to give awards to deserving Nigerians,” Onu said.

The guest lecturer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, who is a former Minister of Education, recalled that as the country’s vice-president, Ekwueme had smooth and cordial relationship with his boss, former President Shehu Shagari.

“In spite of the disparity in intellectual endowment and educational qualifications between the vice-president and the president, Dr Alex Ekwueme accepted Alhaji Shehu Shagari as his boss and subordinated himself to his authority.

“Ekwueme never tried to outshine Shagari; he humbled himself and related with him strictly as his number two.

“Ekwueme remained united with Shagari as in a marriage, a kind of constitutional union based on the absolute loyalty of one to the other and that is the kind of relationship required by the system,” he said.

Nwabueze underscored Ekwueme’s loyalty to Shagari as “unique”; recalling that the relationship between some state governors and their deputies during the Second Republic had become very frosty by the time the soldiers took over power on Dec. 31, 1983.

Some students of the polytechnic also spoke on the lifestyle of Ekwueme and the lessons that could be learnt from it.

Ken Okoye of the Department of Public Administration described Ekwueme as a rare breed of politician and a virtuous man to the core.

“It is rare to see people with such qualifications humbling themselves to serve the country. In spite of his academic qualifications, Ekwueme played politics without bitterness,” he said.

“Honestly, if our present leaders can similarly humble themselves that way, Nigeria will be great,” he added.

Another student, Miss Kate Obi of the Department of Town Planning said that Ekwueme’s legacies as an academic and public office holder were worthy of emulation.

“Dr Alex Ekwueme’s virtues and attributes, though intimidating, could be adopted by our present leaders. If our leaders can play politics without bitterness and refrain from seeing it as a do-or-die affair, our country will make a significant progress.

“I also believe that if our leaders adopt Dr Ekwueme’s approach to issues, there will be less tension in the polity and we will be able to solve our problems internally without recourse to the outside world,” she said.

Prof. Israel Okoye, the former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, noted that Ekwueme had set a benchmark for the service delivery of the country’s contemporary leaders.

He stressed that the adoption of Ekwueme’s leadership qualities would aid the transformation of the society.

“The rare quality of this great statesman is that he went into politics already well established. After his detention and eventual clearance by the military, he came out even poorer,” said Okoye, who is also the Director of Alex Ekwueme Centre for Multi-Disciplinary Learning

Observers are of the view that the country’s leaders at all levels should strive to imbibe the leadership qualities of Ekwueme, particularly by playing politics that is devoid of any form of rancour. They urge the political leaders to always be magnanimous in victory, while tolerating defeat and respecting constituted authorities.

By so doing, Nigeria will soon be able to attain greatness, they add.

Decolonisation is commonly thought and spoken of as meaning simply political independence or liberation from colonial political rule, just as during the colonial period nationalism was regarded as being concerned with agitation for self-government – rightly in the latter case, for the nation was yet to be built. Decolonisation, however, has a meaning and purpose going far beyond liberation from colonial rule. Perhaps the widest definition of decolonisation is that it is “the process through which colonial rule is ended, colonial institutions dismantled and colonial values and styles abandoned.” UNESCO, General History of Africa, vol. viii (1993), page 7, n.4

A definition of decolonisation in such terms is open to objection if the “colonial institutions” to be dismantled are taken to include all institutions brought to Africa by colonialism, beginning with the state itself, other European-type political institutions and laws, the cash economy and other such institutions associated with the transplanted state. Such indiscriminate dismantling of colonial institutions cannot reasonably be what is meant by decolonisation. Africa would only be cutting its nose to spite its face were it to embark on any such thing. (The editor of the relevant volume of the UNESCO General History of Africa himself, Professor Ali Mazrui, aptly described the transplanted state as the “colonially invented state”. Professor Claude Ake too says that in pre-colonial times “in most Sub-Saharan Africa, unlike in East Asia, the state … is very rudimentary, if it can be said to exist at all.” Claude Ake, Democracy and Development in Africa (1996) p. 129. It certainly did not exist at all, and so had to be invented by colonialism.)

In addition to liberation from colonial rule, decolonisation connotes emancipation from continued economic domination by the former colonialists and other advanced countries; the domestication of the inherited alien economic ideology of capitalism; the legitimation of the transplanted state itself with its laws, institutions, procedures and processes, and the ideas underlying them, removing from them their manifold distortions and contradictions; the freeing of the mind of the African from the attitudes, complexes and psychological disorientation induced in it by colonialism; the Africanisation of the content of education imparted in the schools and colleges; the jettisoning of European values, norms and styles unsuited to the African personality and environment; cultural renaissance or the rebirth of African cultures and languages from the degradations inflicted on them by colonialism while at the same time trying to maintain the need for modernity; the restoration of the dignity of the African by the eradication of all the vestiges of colonialism, all the marks and scars left on the society and peoples of Africa by the violence, exploitation, oppression and humiliations of the colonial situation; the enhancement of the quality of life of the masses by liberating them from poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, disease and privation generally; the containment of the social violence and unrest inherent in the social constitution of the transplanted state, with their attendant instability and insecurity for both life and property; and, above all, the forging of a nation out of a mosaic of antagonistic groups comprised in the state. Finally, there is the question of devising a model or form of government for the transplanted state, which is truly autochthonous or authentic to Africa.

Decolonisation involves, then, the creation of a new society that would be everything the old colonial society was not – a free, just, democratic, stable, virile, self-reliant, prosperous and happy society (the colonial society was admittedly fairly stable), a society free of exploitation, oppression, repression, and other forms of “man’s inhumanity to man”; a society that would synthesize usable pre-colonial values with the inherited alien values that are suitable and adaptable to the African context and the personality of the African. The creation of such a new society would thus entail change of two types – a radical transformation of the material conditions of society and an “inner mutation”, i.e. a spiritual or mental transformation in the attitudes of the individual members of society. Such are the essential goals and purposes of decolonisation in Africa.

That is the context in which we should be speaking of leadership in Nigeria and of the lack or failure of it. It is apparently not the sense in which Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar understand and speak of it. Their understanding of it seems obviously superficial. The issue is as to the intellectual credentials, educational qualifications and other qualities required for leadership of the kind needed, and the lack or failure of which we talk about.

Undeniably, decolonisation in the sense defined above implies a social revolution to be initiated and led by the leadership. Clearly, the jettisoning of attitudes, habits, lifestyles, practices, mentality, and cultural values implanted in the peoples of Africa by a century of colonial rule, and their replacement by radically different behavioural patterns cannot be accomplished by propaganda and rhetoric alone. Nor can Africa’s state of backwardness and underdevelopment be transformed by slogans alone or by grandiose plans existing only on paper. Writing about Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah, Basil Davidson has pertinently observed that “the economic policies of 1964 and after were, in fact, another version of the old ‘policy of growth’ which argued that a mere adding to what already exists must in due course change what already exists. But countries without modern industry do not become industrialised countries merely by ‘growing’. Far from that, the process has always demanded more or less complete break with what ‘already exists’, just as during the industrial revolutions of England, France, or other technologically advanced countries… Merely adding to what already existed, in this situation, was only a way of piling frustration on confusion.” Black Star, A view of the Life and Times of Kwame Nkrumah (1973), pages 196-197.

We may therefore agree with President Samora Machel of Mozambique and his FRELIMO Party that “genuine liberation requires a social revolution and not merely a transfer of power”. Or, as Basil Davidson says, “the colonial state turned nation-state could not be usefully reformed, but must be revolutionalised…, only this kind of revolution … would be able to fulfil the promises of national freedom.” Africa in Modern History: the Search for a New Society (1978), p. 293. Frantz Fanon also says that post-colonial decolonization is inextricably bound up with the notion of a social revolution.

The word “social” has significance as defining the character of the revolution as one which transforms the society but more importantly as a revolution in which the society or at least a considerable portion of its members is involved as participants. A social revolution thus differs from a revolution by way of a coup d’etat staged and carried to fruition by a group of military men. In the latter case, the people are not mobilised, and are kept totally unaware of the plan for the revolution. Whilst the change brought about by a military coup d’etat is “circumscribed in the sphere of government and carries a minimum of unquiet to the people at large” yet it is a revolution by the military coup makers against the people and its constitution. After a successful coup d’etat, the military rulers may embark upon the mobilisation of the people for a social revolution, as happened in Somalia, Ethiopia and one or two other African countries.

There is next the question whether the social revolution required or implied by post-colonial decolonisation should be a violent or peaceful one. As with Marx himself, there is a certain ambivalence amongst commentators on the African political scene about the use of physical violence to try to effect the needed social revolution. A social revolution in Marx’s conception does not necessarily imply a civil war or violent revolt by the oppressed and exploited classes, although he does not also exclude the use of violence should it become necessary. In Africa the use of violence may turn on how bad and desperate the situation in a particular country is, the feasibility of a common violent action in a society divided by fundamental cultural or racial differences; it may also turn on whether the violent action is spontaneous or not, and the chances of success. The moral justification of violence itself as a means of bringing about radical social change, even in the fight for liberation from an oppressive colonial regime, is not free from disputation.

While it is not proposed to enter into a discussion of the issues raised by a violent revolution, I am not unmindful of its evil consequences. A violent revolution is too much of an ill wind that lumps all together, the good and the rotten, the selfless and the corrupt looters, for indiscriminate buffeting or liquidation. A peaceful revolution led by a ruler suitably fired by a revolutionary fervour is preferable; exceptionally, however, violence may be justifiable where the situation is so hopeless and rotten as can only be cleansed by blood.

Yet, it must be acknowledged that a violent revolution, especially the violence of a shooting war, is the quickest and the most effective way to bring about radical change in society. A war creates a necessity, and necessity is the mother of change; it dictates and compels certain ways of living; it faces people with situations which leave them no choice but to follow patterns of behaviour dictated by war conditions, and war conditions often overturn established habits, customs and relationships. It was the violence of the French Revolution in 1789 that transformed France’s aristocratic society, with its gross inequalities, social injustices and feudalistic values, into the democratic society that it eventually became, a change which, in the course of time, swept across the whole of Europe. It is fair to say that European society and polity are what they are today largely because of the French Revolution. There can be no doubt that, in a situation of pervasive massive rottenness and decadence in society, such as existed in France before the Revolution, and such as exists in Nigeria today, a violent social revolution can be effective and useful in cleaning the society of rottenness and in bringing forth a new, rejuvenated society.

“It was the French and not the American Revolution”, writes Hannah Arendt, “that set the world on fire”. By arousing in the masses the spirit of republicanism, equality, nationalism and revolutionary action, it marked the turning point in the history of human affairs not only in France but also in the whole of Europe and indeed the world at large. Ever since that momentous event, “it has been common to interpret every violent upheaval, be it revolutionary or counter-revolutionary, in terms of a continuation of the movement originally started in 1789, as though the times of quiet and restoration were only the pauses in which the current had gone underground to gather force to break up to the surface again in 1830 and 1832, in 1848 and 1851, in 1871, to mention only the more important nineteenth-century dates. Each time adherents and opponents of these revolutions understood the events as immediate consequences of 1789″: Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (1963), p. 55. In this view, therefore, the French Revolution is a permanent, perpetual, continent-wide (even world-wide) revolution which, with interludes of quiet, has continued up to the present day.

The type of leadership called for must be of the kind that enabled the United States to achieve the goals and purposes of decolonisation at a corresponding period of its history. The American Revolution was able to transform American government, society, ethic, values and culture in part because of the quality of the men who led it, the revolutionary leaders, otherwise called the Founding Fathers; men like George Washington, first president, John Adams, second president, Thomas Jefferson, third president, James Madison, fourth president, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, to name only the better known among them. Except George Washington, all three Presidents immediately after him were brilliant lawyers, outstanding intellectuals. The American revolutionary leaders have been described as “civic-minded philosopher statesmen”, an extraordinary galaxy of men of good character, good education, integrity, honesty and sincerity, with deep concern for the public good and a scorn for self-enrichment. They were able to implant in American society an enlightened ethic, ethos and values through the “brilliance of their thought, the creativity of their politics” and their extraordinary ability to combine “ideas and power, intellectualism and politics” without getting alienated from the people and without becoming obsessed with votes. Because they “saw themselves as part of an organic social community linked through strong personal connection to those below them”, they were also able to maintain with the people an intimate relationship devoid of any feelings of alienation.

They set themselves up in the role of educators of the people, “models or guides for citizens’ behaviour”. Through their prodigious literary output – in pamphlets, broadside, articles in periodicals and newspapers, letters and speeches – they tried to mould standards of opinions and behaviour.

In contrast to the intellectualism and high educational qualification of the American Founding Fathers which enabled them to provide the kind of leadership the country needed to create a new society in place of the old colonial society, the leadership in charge of the management of affairs at the federal level in Nigeria was characterised by intellectual poverty and educational inadequacy. Before the advent of Dr Alex Ekwueme as Vice-President in October 1979, no Head of Government or his vice at the federal level from independence in October 1960 to 2007 has a university degree (discounting the interim arrangement under which Chief Ernest Shonekan ruled for about three months). None had therefore been exposed to the mental orientation, intellectual insights and academic influence of a university degree programme. Unlike their American counterparts at the corresponding period of their country’s history, the Heads of Government and their vice at the federal level in Nigeria lacked the intellectual capacity, the educational qualification, the acuity of mind and the creativity of thought to combine “ideas and power, intellectualism and politics” demanded by the challenges of decolonisation after independence from colonial rule. They had little or no idea of the role which their leadership required of them.

Eight of the Heads of State / Head of Government in the period between January 1966 and May 1999 were military officers trained in good military schools or academies – Generals Aguiyi Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar. But, whilst training or education in military schools or academies is certainly adequate for the management of military affairs and relations among members of the military, it does not impart or inculcate the kind of knowledge, ideas, insights, orientation and perceptions needed for the government of society as a whole. Interestingly, one of them, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, on his ouster from power in 1975 after a nine-year rule, enrolled as a political science student at the University of Warwick, England, bagging a Ph.D at the end of it.

Nor do they have the intellectual power to understand the nature and processes of the sophisticated organism, the modern state, transplanted to Africa by European colonialism. The modern state is a foreign organism lodged by colonialism in the body of Africa. It is foreign, not just in the sense that it was the creation of alien powers, but more so because, not having existed before colonialisation (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia excepted), it has no root in the life, culture, traditions, habits and experience of the African peoples. It was forcibly imposed upon backward peoples lacking the necessary foundations of civilization, and unacquainted with its ideological or philosophical foundation and its ways, its organizing principles, institutions, procedures, its traditions of government administration, the habits of order, discipline, obedience to law, patriotism, and loyalty, the attitude of the responsibility and accountability of rulers to the whole mass of the people. In the nature and extent of its powers, in particular, the power to make law by legislation, the state transplanted to Africa by colonialism has nothing remotely corresponding to it in pre-colonial days.

There was nothing in the pre-colonial polity remotely like the alien-type state’s strong, formidable organisation of force, its enormous power, the array of patronages at its disposal, its vast business interests and pervasive control over the economy, its status as a subject of international law, entitled by virtue thereof to all the rights and powers bestowed by that law on states, and the way people are subjected, in many aspects of their lives and affairs, to coercion or compulsion by means of regulations of a legislative nature, judicial orders or decrees enforced by the organised coercive force of the state, and executive orders, all backed by an overwhelming force at once intimidating, irresistible and awesome in the form of a standing or full time army and police with all their weapons of violence, as well as other law enforcement apparatuses like prisons and prison warders, concentration camps, detention centres, security agents, road marshals, tax collectors, customs officers, forest guards and so on, a force made all the more awesome still because it is in the exclusive monopoly of the state.

It is not only that the state is totally different from the pre-colonial African polity in the nature of its power and force; the forms, institutions and principles involved in its administration were also unknown and without any basis in the pre-colonial African polity. Save only monarchy, which has become discredited in most parts of the world anyway, neither the democratic, representative form of government, with its institutions of free and fair elections based on universal adult suffrage and political parties, nor constitutional democracy, with its institution of a written constitution as supreme law enshrining a guarantee of human rights, separation of powers, the Rule of Law, nor the socialist form of state, with its institutions and principles of socialist ownership of the means of production and exchange, total rule, socialist legality and democratic centralism has any real basis in pre-colonial African political experience and culture.

Thus, the African rulers who took over the mantle of leadership from the departing colonisers came to their new roles with hardly anything from Africa’s past to prepare and guide them in those roles. Exceptional intellectualism and a solid educational qualification are therefore necessary credentials for effective performance in such roles. Leadership in the circumstances of Nigeria and other African countries faced with the challenges of decolonisation is not something for a presidential leader inadequately equipped intellectually and emotionally.

The lack of presidential leadership possessed of the necessary intellectual and educational credentials provides the setting for Dr Alex Ekwueme’s legacy to governance and political development in Nigeria. He is acknowledged by all who have interacted closely with him as a person of acute intellect, a man richly endowed with the power to think, to comprehend ideas and to exercise critical judgement, a power that has been greatly enhanced and sharpened by wide and solid education. He holds university degrees, both bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D, in many areas of study – architecture and urban planning, sociology, history, philosophy and law – obtained from the University of Washington (Seattle), University of London, and University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Remarkably, it was after his stint as Nigeria’s Vice President that he went on to acquire a Master’s Degree in law (LL.M) from the University of Nigeria and to be called to the Nigerian Bar. He worked for and acquired all these degrees not just for the love of having them but out of a desire to sharpen his already sharp intellect and to deepen his insights, believing that an intellect sharpened and deepened by such wide education, especially the kind of education provided by studies in law, is necessary for understanding the complexities of governance in a country going through the process of decolonization and for presidential leadership. That in essence is the legacy of Dr Alex Ekwueme to intellectualism in governance and political development in Nigeria.

His legacy in this connection helps to define for us the intellectual and educational credentials required for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and to emphasise that presidential leadership in Nigeria’s circumstances is a job, not for everybody, but only for persons who possess the requisite intellectualism, education and other credentials. It is the thesis of this Lecture that, without the attributes of intellectualism and a solid education, such as Dr Ekwueme exemplifies in ample measure, the problem of presidential leadership may continue to perplex us in Nigeria.

Lamentably, in the contest for the presidency in 1999 and 2003, he was played out in favour of an intellectual mediocrity, a man who thinks nothing at all of, who has such scornful disdain for a university degree as a necessary credential for the presidential office. Ironically, this same man, after eight years in office as civilian President (discounting his previous four years as military Head of State and Government) enrolled in the Open University for a diploma course (not degree course), not a course in Law, Political Science or Economics, but in Theology of all courses. What an irrelevance!! The whole thing is made all the more a frivolity, a triviality, by the fact that the Open University is a university existing in the open air with no walls and without the university atmosphere and environment that shapes ideas and perceptions and attitudes, and without the interaction among students and with staff that provides that atmosphere and environment. It may be that he was trying to follow in the footsteps of Dr Alex Ekwueme’s legacy.

The political process in Nigeria is not entirely to blame for the intellectual poverty and educational inadequacy of leadership at the level of the presidency. Part of the blame lies with the Constitution, section 131(d) of which prescribes education “up to chool certificate level or its equivalent” as minimum educational qualification for election to the presidential office. As if this is not too inadequate already, “school certificate or its equivalent” is defined in section 318(1) to mean:

“(a) a Secondary School Certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s
Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or
(b) education up to Secondary School Certificate level [i.e. without the certificate]; or
(c) Primary Six School Leaving Certificate or its equivalent and –
(i)    service in the public or private sector in the Federation in any capacity
acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a
minimum of ten years, and
(ii)    attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be
acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for
periods totalling up to a minimum of one year; and
(iii)    the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English
language to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral
Commission; and
(d) any other qualification acceptable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (emphasis supplied).

In these days of widespread “expo”, certificate faking and general degeneration in the standards of education in our schools and colleges, primary six school leaving certificate is really next door to illiteracy. A semi-literate President is what the prescription tantamounts to. What little literacy is acquired from the education system at the primary school level is soon lost owing to the lack of a reading culture that pervades our society, caused to a considerable extent by the enthronement of wealth as the determinant of social standing and the consequent inordinate pursuit of it and of other mundane, non-intellectual pursuits. No one with this kind of thoroughly inadequate educational background can be expected to read, with understanding, the Constitution of Nigeria, laden, and it is, with difficult and perplexing concepts, or the books on constitutional law, political science and sociology where the knowledge of these concepts can be found. And knowing that he cannot understand them, he would have no inclination or disposition to buy the books or to read them.

The desire to accommodate educationally backward areas, which no doubt is the reason underlying the provision, is no justification for prescribing such low level of educational qualification for election to the office of President or the National Assembly. There is no State in the country today that does not have a fair number of university graduates.

The effect of these provisions is, lamentably, to entrench in the Constitution the intellectual poverty and educational inadequacy which has characterised leadership at the level of the presidency since independence in 1960 right up to the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 (the first university graduate to hold the office of President discounting the interim arrangement under which Chief Ernest Shonekan ruled for four or so months) and the accession to the presidential office by Vice-President Dr Goodluck Jonathan on 5 May, 2010 after the death of Umaru Yar’Adua. The entrenchment also practically rubbishes the legacy of Dr Alex Ekwueme in this regard. His legacy deserves indeed to be maintained by prescribing in the Constitution, a university degree as the minimum educational qualification for election to the offices of President and Vice-President.

The change purportedly made by the National Assembly in its 2010 amendment to the Constitution falls short of prescribing a university degree as minimum educational qualification for election to the presidency. The amendment deletes the words “school certificate level or its equivalent” in section 131(d), and substitutes therefor “tertiary level and obtained the relevant certificates”, which it then goes on to define in section
318(1), as amended, to mean:
“(a) Ordinary National Diploma or its equivalent;
or
(b) Nigerian Certificate in Education or its equivalent; or
(c) Higher School Certificate or its equivalent; or
(d) Advanced School Certificate or its equivalent;
or
(e) Higher National Diploma or its equivalent.”

Each of the five qualifications is prescribed as an alternative minimum qualification on its own, and is not made any the less acceptable because of the inclusion of higher qualifications.

[Chapter 1 from Ben Nwabueze's The Legacies of Dr Alex Ekwueme to governance and to political and social development in Nigeria (being the first in the Dr Alex Ekwueme Annual Lecture Series, delivered at Oko Federal Polytechnic on 21st October 2010) published by SCOA HERITAGE NIG, LTD, (tel: 234-08037264195, 08036699505) Awka, Nigeria, 2010]

The institution of an annual lecture is in essence an invitation to people for enlightened critical discourse on issues of common interest. In advanced societies, the culture of public lectures geared toward harvesting the fruit of philosophical voyage and empirical surveys have become critical elements of their sustainable development mechanism. In developing societies like Nigeria, scholars, policy makers, administrators and other segments of the enlightened public are increasingly resorting to public lectures and dialogue in search of panacea for our myriad of national development challenges.

The maiden Dr Alex Ekwueme Annual Lecture and Award Ceremony which has attracted this esteemed gathering of eminent Nigerians is indicative of the determination of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, to contribute significantly to the quest for sustainable development in Nigeria. We commend their sense of direction and bold steps.

Of particular importance in the institution of a public lecture is the inspiring factor. Today, in this Federal Polytechnic that emerged from the womb of the College of Arts and Science, Oko, we have assembled to participate in the maiden annual lecture to be delivered by Professor Ben Nwabueze, SAN, a man who has built himself into a great institution for intellectual reawakening, knowledge dissemination and the redirection of those on the wrong lane of the rule of law.

An interesting question demanding an answer from us now is, why is Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme the man in whose name this frontline Polytechnic in Nigeria has instituted an annual lecture and meritorious award? I am constrained to state without equivocation that the answer is before us. Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme is a highly distinguished man whose growth and achievements are challenging and educative subjects worth studying in the interest of society at large.

By God’s grace, the genesis of this enigmatic personality started on 21 October 1932 when he was born to the family of the late Chief Lazarus and Mrs Agnes Nkwodinma Ekwueme of Oko in Anambra State of Nigeria. He had his primary school education at St John’s Anglican Central School, Ekwulobia. Between 1945 and 1991, he enrolled and studied at King’s College, Lagos; University of Washington in the United States of America; University of London; University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and Nigeria Law School, Lagos.

His academic pursuit is an encyclopaedic puzzle. All over the world, people are commended for acquiring a degree in an academic discipline. That of Dr Ekwueme defies the familiar words of commendation. It would appear abstract and abstruse presenting a picture of a Nigerian who in the bid to equip himself for meritorious services to God and humanity, registered and studied different disciplines in highly acclaimed academic institutions, and consistently graduated with excellent results.

He has to his credit outstanding academic certificates, including:

(a)    Cambridge School Certificate (Grade I) – June 1950
(b)    B.A (Hons) Sociology (August 1955)
(c)    B.Arch (June 1956)
(d)    B.A History, Philosophy and Constitutional Law (June 1956)
(e)    M.A Urban Planning (March 1957)
(f)    Ph.D Architecture (October 1978)
(g)    LL.B (Hons) – June 1978
(h)    B.L (July 1991)

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is interesting to note that his academic degrees clearly indicate that he has been certified as a properly and successfully trained sociologist, architect, historian, philosopher, urban planner and lawyer.

No wonder, therefore, he is globally recognised as a multipurpose personality. It is incontrovertible that people of his stuff are rare in human history. That largely explains why he was among the first batch of Nigerians that received the Fulbright Scholarship for university education in the United States of America.

His services to society attest to the fact that his academic and professional pursuits were geared toward equipping him for a creative and productive enhancement of the wellbeing of people. The positions he has held in the public service include:

(a)    Physics Teacher, Hussey College, Warri (1950)
(b)    Assistant Architect, Seattle Firm of Leo A Daly and Associates (1956-1957)
(c)    Architect ESSO OIL (1957)
(d)    Managing Director, Ekwueme Associates (1960-1979)
(e)    President, Nigerian Institute of Architects (1965)
(f)    Head of Planning, Biafran National Airports (1967)
(g)    Member, Adebo Salaries and Wages Commission (1970)
(h)    Elected Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (1970)
(i)    Elected President of Architects’ Registration Council of Nigeria (1975)

Of interest is his entrepreneurial dynamism and ingenuity which inspired him to register Ekwueme Associates, Architects and Town Planners on 2 June 1958. It was the first of such firms in Nigeria.

It would seem that of all the public service exploits of Dr Alex Ekwueme, his political adventures appear to have earned him a seat of honour in the annals of Nigerian history. In 1978, he contested election as the running mate of the National Party of Nigeria’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. They won the election and he was, accordingly, sworn in on 1 October, 1979 as the first Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In 1983, they were re-elected for a second term and were, accordingly, sworn in on 1 October 1983. Unfortunately, their second tenure was aborted as a result of the coup d’etat staged by some Nigeria soldiers.

As a result of the accusations of kleptocracy made against them, Dr Ekwueme and other key officers of the Alhaji Shehu Shagari administration were tried by a military tribunal. At the end of its investigation, the tribunal declared that he was poorer than he was before assuming office as the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His character was, therefore, vindicated.

The December 31 1983 coup d’etat could not destroy his commitment to serving the public meritoriously. In April 1994, he was elected by his Aguata constituency to represent the people in the 1994/95 National Constitutional Conference. While serving as a member of the Structures and Framework of the Constitution Committee of the Conference, he ingeniously proposed a power sharing framework based on six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The proposal elicited widespread public debates. Eventually, it was adopted and has remained an often cited basis of political office arrangement in Nigeria. By implication, Dr Alex Ekwueme has formulated an acclaimed political equation for equitable political power arrangement in Nigeria.

Although quiet, he is unassuming. Although economical in verbal interaction, he is courageous in action. Although not known to be inclined to parading his political disciples around him, he knows when to raise a socio-political work force that could work with him to achieve a defined goal.

The historic G-34 led by Dr Alex Ekwueme emerged on the Nigerian political scene at a time when it seemed that only men who had prepared their will and were also willing to liberate others with their blood were outspoken and freely walking on the streets of Nigeria. It is on record that in that sordid situation, the members of the G-34 led by him sent a boldly worded memorandum to the then military dictator, General Sani Abacha, urging him to desist from whatever game he had launched, aimed at enabling him to extend his tenure in office under whatever guise. It is also on record that the same G-34 engendered the formation of the ruling party in Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party.

Notwithstanding his sacrifices, qualifications and outstanding antecedents, he lost the nomination for the party’s presidential ticket to General Olusegun Obasanjo in February 1999 and January 2003. He was, however, elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Party.

His vision of society and some of his personal experiences in public service are skilfully encapsulated in two of his books titled From State House to Kirikiri and Whither Nigeria which were presented in October 2002 in a forum marking his 70th birthday. The books and his other public speeches and publications clearly speak volumes about his wealth of knowledge as a philosopher, sociologist, historian, lawyer, politician, development analyst and a builder of society.

Dr Ekwueme’s astuteness, visionary leadership and enterprising foresightedness have earned him some international appointments and meritorious awards. From 2000 to 2006, he served on the Board of a Canada based Forum of Federations. He has also served on a US Council of Foreign Relations Task Force on ‘Threats to Democracy’ chaired by Dr Madeleine Albright. In affirmation of the recognition of his meritorious services beyond the frontiers of Nigeria, the Guinean Government honoured him with their national award of Order of the Republic of Guinea.

Many Nigerian citadels of learning have placed their highly distinguished academic cap on the head of this illustrious son of Nigeria. He is a worthy recipient of the honorary doctorate degree of:

Abia State University, Uturu
Babcock University, Ileshan-Remo
Federal University of Technology, Owerri
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka
Bayero University, Kano
University of Nigeria, Nsukka

That inestimable academic award from Nigerian Universities located in different geopolitical zones clearly indicates that Dr Alex Ekwueme’s personality value has scaled through critical tests by eminent scholars and social critics and received positive affirmation and commendation.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the Government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar honoured him with the award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) in 1998, but could not administer the investiture of the award before the end of its short and tensed tenure. In 2000, the Government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo again honoured him with the award and, also, administered its investiture in a colourful ceremony.

After a detailed study of the multidimensional greatness of this icon, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, established a research centre in his honour and named it Ekwueme Centre for Multidisciplinary Research (ECMR). In order to enable the centre to achieve its desired international standard in research and the extension of the frontiers of knowledge, Dr Alex Ekwueme offered it an architectural masterpiece and is also sponsoring the construction of the building project which, God willing, is expected to be completed this month. He has also built and donated a similar gigantic structure to Paul University, Awka.

It is gratifying to note that many people who are holding posts of responsibility in Nigeria and abroad were fully sponsored for their university education by Dr Alex Ekwueme. His professional and financial investment toward the establishment of the College of Arts and Science, Oko, which has metamorphosed into the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, are today testifying to his foresightedness, sacrificial philanthropy, educational stewardship and commitment to multiplying his good self for the good of society. No wonder he was honoured with the title, Ide Aguata na Orumba.

He has a lovely family that provides him with a conducive environment for cogitation and visioning. That is one of the secrets of his successes in spite of the strains and stresses he encounters in his onerous social responsibilities. His stewardship in the Anglican Church and many other Christian bodies is monumental. His faith in God is, indeed, the pillar of his intimidating exploits.

Our highly revered Chairman and distinguished invitees, I am exceedingly delighted to present this citation on an illustrious son of Africa, an ambassador of peace and lover of politics without bitterness, born on the soil where we have assembled today; an individual whom God has blessed with rare qualities beyond what is expected of any outstanding individual alone. I am indeed most humbled to introduce to you a quiet, unassuming and globally revered individual who is a celebrated Gold Medalist of the Nigerian Institute of Architecture; an ingenious town planner; a disciplined and visionary politician; an astute administrator; a pragmatic sociologist; an insightful historian; an inspiring philanthropist; a cultured philosopher; and a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

We are, therefore, optimistic that the annual lecture instituted in his honour by the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, will consistently provide Nigeria and the rest of the world with a pragmatic path and inspiration toward making the best of society for all persons at all times.

Ven Prof Israel ‘Kelue Okoye (JP)
Kelue3@yahoo.com
Director, Ekwueme Centre for Multidisciplinary Research,
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, and the University Orator

In the widening class of contemporary Nigerian politicians who lay claims to democratic dispositions, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, stands out among the few with genuine convictions. Not known for banging his hands on the table in pushing his views, he is however known to have provided the guide light for the way forward in recent times when the nation’s journey to self actualization had hit the crossroads.

He was for instance, among the principled Nigerians who stuck out their necks in instituting the current civilian dispensation. And this was not without cost. By 1998, when the nation was literally convulsed with the maddening chorus of the late General Sani Abacha’s civilian transmogrification agenda, Ekwueme led other courageous Nigerians who called the bluff of the dark-goggled infantry officer. Abacha and his cheer leaders had manipulated the then five political parties in adopting him as their sole candidate in the 1998 presidential election.

However, Ekwueme and other compatriots  fired a well-worded letter to the military ruler in which he was bluntly told that his antics were bound to fail. The authorities of the time did not take kindly to Ekwueme’s audacity. But Ide Aguata, was hardly bothered. For him, the action of his group was motivated by the need to save the fatherland.

He had performed similar feat earlier. At the 1994-95 constitutional conference in Abuja, the former vice president had mobilized progressive members of the confab into arriving at an arrangement that resulted into the country’s current six geo-political structure. The initiative has provided a platform for addressing some of the fears hitherto entertained by certain component parts of the country.

Even with the onset of democracy, he has never rested in his quest for a just and egalitarian society.  Recently, while the controversy occasioned by divergent views on the PDP zoning arrangement almost took a turn for the unpredictable, Ekwueme, a foundation member of the party, offered an informed insight into the principle. Rising beyond the cacophonic voices of ill-informed or rented commentators on the topic, the former PDP Board of Trustees chairman, took the issue from its roots at the 1994 confab, proffering insight into how the arrangement came about.

“At that conference, it was agreed that there would be rotation between the South and North; and in the North between the three geo-political zones; and in the South, between the three geo-political zones. All this was contained in the 1995 constitution which General Sani Abacha was to promulgate before taking up the proposed civilian presidency in October 1998. As you well know, he died in June of that year. So, this constitution was not promulgated”, he said.

The constitution, he explained had envisioned a one-term five-year presidency. The agreement, Ekwueme added, was inherited by the facilitators of PDP at its formation but was violated when former President Obasanjo wanted to have a second term. He stressed that with the peculiarities of President Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence coupled with the fact that the South south geo-political zone from which he comes had not had a shot at the presidency, it may not be realistic insisting on the zoning principle. He however insisted that “those who are saying there was no agreement because the agreement was breached are also not being realistic because this was an understanding”.

None, among the contending camps in the party has faulted the position of the former Vice President. Informed minds rather saw his analysis of the issue as providing the clincher in the suffocating argument.

But Ekwueme, reputed for regularly falling back on the constitution and law as his guiding instruments in his engagements, is currently on the rough edge of the very same society he has sacrificed his intellect and material resources to put on standard practice.

Last Monday, in Owerri, Imo State capital, Ekwueme and other South East leaders, got what they did not bargain for as they were locked out of Sam Mbakwe Hall at Concorde Hotel, where the Igbo Political Forum (IPF) was to hold a meeting. Others that suffered the embarrassment with the former Vice President included Ken Nnamani, former Senate President, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Senator Jim Nwobodo and Dr. Chris Ngige, former Anambra State governors, Professor ABC Nwosu, former Health Minister, Achike Udenwa, former Imo state governor, Sam Egwu, former Ebonyi State governor, Senator Ben Obi and Chief Simeon Okeke, former Police Services Commission Chairman.

The forum was to set “new agenda for Ndigbo” in the unfolding political dispensation. Ekwueme amplified the object of the gathering. “We needed to talk to our selves and know the way forward for our people in the next dispensation”, he explained. No reason was given for the lock-out, except a claim by the chief security officer of the hotel that he was acting on “orders from above”. Yusuf Alli, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, however advises Ekwueme and his colleagues to seek judicial  redress against the management of Concorde Hotels over the treatment meted to them. “What they should do is to go to court and sue the hotel for breach of contract if actually they had paid to hold their meeting but were refused.

I do not like speculations. Nobody knows the reasons why the hotel took such action. It might even be for the interest of Alex Ekwueme and his group. May be a bomb has been planted there, nobody knows. Alex Ekwueme may be a big man, a former Vice President. We should forget calibre. The question is, should anybody be treated that way, even if they are cleaners that have paid their money to use a place? What we should fight against in this country is, anything that is wrong is wrong, regardless of whoever that is affected. The best Alex Ekwueme and others should do is to go to court and challenge the action of the management of the hotel. They have no business with whether there was an external force behind the action the hotel took or not”, he stressed.

Ekwueme, who parades over half a dozen degrees from various fields including History, Architecture and Law, hails from Oko, Anambra State. He was born on October 21, 1932. He was vice President between 1979 and 1983.