Late minister, Ojo Madueke
We reported it here earlier today
that former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, who is a
stalwart of the opposition Peoples Democratic Patty, (PDP), passed away
at about 7:00pm on Wednesday at a hospital in Abuja.
A close source of the politician who was recently appointed the
secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees, revealed that Maduekwe was
returning to Nigeria from the U.S via Dubai when he fell ill. “He
fell ill while on air from Dubai and he was rushed to the hospital as
soon as the plane landed in Abuja, but he died before doctors could do
much,” he said.
Below are a list of things you might not know about the lawyer,
influential politician, non-career diplomat and was a controversial man
of wit, humility, and a public servant who served Nigeria religiously in
the last 17 years of his life.
1. It is Idiotic to talk of an Igbo President.
In the countdown to the 2003 presidential election, there was
sustained agitation from the south-east that Nigeria must produce an
Igbo president. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign
Staff of Biafra (MASSOB) had been formed by Ralph Uwazuruike, while the
All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) had also been founded by Chekwas
Okorie. While MASSOB wanted to revive Biafra, APGA sought to produce an
Igbo president.
However, Maduekwe, a PDP stalwart and a die-hard loyalist of
Obasanjo who was clearly planing to run for a second term, misfired when
he said it was “idiotic” to talk about an Igbo president. He was
saying, basically, that the campaign should be for a Nigerian president
of Igbo extraction and not “an Igbo president”, which would suggest the Igbo wanted to have a different president.
A lot of Igbo commentators descended on him, and he was accused of calling his fellow Igbo “idiotic”. Some started calling him “Mr. Idiotic”.
Every explanation that his words were misconstrued did not hit target,
and he must regret making the statement in the first place, no matter
his semantic sophistication.
2. We Defeated your Rag-tag Biafran Army.
As minister of foreign affairs under Yar’Adua, Maduekwe was caught
in the middle of a messy storm. Nigeria’s ambassador to the U.S at the
time, Oluwole Rotimi, a retired general, was recalled after writing a
stinging letter to Maduekwe in which he made racist remarks.
Maduekwe had written a letter to Rotimi and his deputy requesting
to be briefed on the preparation for the inauguration of Barack Obama as
US president in January 2009. Rotimi was said to have felt insulted to
be invited along with his deputy. He complained, although not to
Maduekwe. The next thing, he wrote a letter in which he said: “I, Rotimi, was Quarter Master General in the Nigeria Amy that saw to your defeat in Biafran Army”.
On getting to hear about the altercation, Yar’Adua recalled the
ambassador and appointed someone else in his stead. It was a sad episode
that reopened an old wound, but the furore was soon over.
3. The Bicycle Minister.
Maduekwe got a fair share of media bashing, and controversy never
departed from his doorsteps. As minister of transport under Obasanjo, he
had recommended that Nigeria should explore every means of
transportation, not just buses and cars. He suggested the use of
bicycles – which is very common in the advanced world and is considered
to be environment-friendly.
The headlines the following day were damaging: “Maduekwe says Nigerians should go back to using bicycle.” The general opinion was that he was taking Nigeria back to the Stone Age with this proposal. Some journalists nicknamed him “Ojo oni keke” (Ojo the cyclist) in jest.
But he nearly got himself killed while trying to lead the way. He
started the habit of riding bicycle to the weekly federal executive
council (FEC) meeting to create awareness (this was long before Boris
Johnson became mayor of London and popularised cycling to office). On
his second try, Maduekwe was knocked down by a commercial bus. He smelt a
rat and stopped cycling on the roads of Abuja!
4. PDP had Obesity.
In a recent interview, Maduekwe highlighted the problems of the PDP, which lost power after 16 years on the seat.
“The failure of PDP was that after it had managed to keep the
military out, it did not make the transition from being a ruling party
to being a governing party. The issues of ideologies were not addressed.
What is the philosophical, ideological glue that has brought together
this wonderful pragmatic coalition?” he said.
“The party became too large and obesity is a problem whether in
physical form or in politics and there was no strong opposition. I
think if it was an APC at the time when we were in government, we would
still have been in government by now. Because the APC would have held
the members accountable and we would have been a lot more disciplined.
But because there was no opposition at the time, the opposition had to
come from within the party. It was like a titanic that would never sink.
PDP was like an unsinkable ship and now the rest is history.”
5. Ojo is an Igbo Name.
For those who thought Ojo was an Igboman answering a Yoruba name, they are in for shock.
“The name ‘Ojo’ is Igbo because in my part of the Igbo area –
Ohafia in Abia State – it is a common name but the original name for the
person called Ojo is Mbila. What I have on my certificate is Mbila.
Mbila is the Igbo name for water yam. Water yam is highly revered in
Ohafia and Igbo culture because it is the yam that does well in the soil
when other yams are not able to,” he said in a recent interview with
ThisDay.
“The usual tradition was if a farmer wants to soften the soil
before planting other yams, he will plant water yam. Mbila can survive
under any condition and it also makes way for other yams. Those are the
qualities that were celebrated in the history of my family. The name is
Mbila but the celebration of the name is Ojo. Those who are from my
village still call me Mbila.”
6. A gap of Eight years between my elder sister and I.
Maduekwe often described himself as an “eagerly awaited child”
because his parents waited for long to have him. His parents had a boy
and two girls. They tried to have another child, and by the time Ojo
arrived on May 6, 1945, there was already a gap of eight years!
“My parents and other siblings were all excited when I arrived.
I was born in the year my father graduated from the theological
seminary in 1945. He had finished from Hope Waddell Training Institute
in 1928 where he was a contemporary of Nnamdi Azikiwe,” he said.
In one of the rags-to-riches stories, Maduekwe hawked bean cake
(akara) to keep the family together when his father became
incapacitated.
Credits: TheCable
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