These Nigerians in their various vocations were held in high esteem by the citizens, but in recent times, only their records now speak for them. They are former Minister of Information Alex Akinyele; former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alloma Mukhtar and the pastor of Zoe Ministries Worldwide, Patrick Anwuzia. SUNNY ELEOJO IDACHABA in this report seeks to know where they are now.
Alex Akinyele
Chief Alex Akinyele is a former minister of information under ex-military president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. However, not many people know that he was once in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) having failed in his bid to join the Nigeria Police Force just before the civil war in 1970. A graduate of English from then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), he began his journey into the world of public relations while in the service of NCS as its first spokesperson. Chief Akinyele is described by many as flamboyant because of his dress style. In his days as information minister, he brought professional carriage to bear as government spokesperson without the unusual avalanche of propaganda often associated with the position in recent times. He is perceived as a man of many parts; a communication expert, industrialist, executive director of many functional companies and above all a philanthropist. This Ondo state-born former minister was also a former sports administrator as IBB rewarded him with the position of chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), when he left office as minister. An online medium writing about him said, “As former president of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), he was very vocal and actually changed the face of public relations in Nigeria. In fact, he injected panache into the body. Ebullient, good-looking and entertaining, Alex is truly an image maker who is ready to contribute meaningfully to any healthy discussion that bothers on the upliftment of the Nigeria polity.”
Sometime in 2018, rumours were rife that he was dead from an undisclosed illness; a rumour carried by a Lagos soft sell magazine, CITI PEOPLE, Akinyele was, however, quick to dispel the wild rumour saying he was alive. According to him, “Thank you all for your show of love and prayer. At 80 plus, I may not jump around like before but I am certainly fine and I thank God Almighty.” At over 80, Chief Akinyele, even though he is a lively person, still intends to pick another wife. In an interview he once granted to some journalists, he talked about how his Indian wife left him for which he needed to marry another woman in order to solve the problem of loneliness. According to him, “In the last two years, I have felt very lonely. All my life, I have been used to being cared for by one woman or the other, but for the past two years, I have been without a wife. All my children are grown up and working and hardly have time to come and sit with me. So, for the purpose of personal care, I decided to take another wife. It is not for ‘jolly- jolly.’ It is clearly for the fact that I really need somebody to look after me. I am weak now.” He is one Nigerian that has been missing from the public spce for some time now.
Patrick Anwuzia
Pastor Anwuzia, as he was popularly called in the 90s, is one Nigerian cleric who mesmerised his members and adherents of his styled preaching with miracles of prosperity when his church, Zoe Ministries Worldwide, was very popular in the country, especially in Lagos. This Delta state-born charismatic preacher was a toast of many Christians and non-Christians alike. The headquarters of his church located on Jimoh Odutola Street in Iganmu, Lagos, was usually a beehive of activities in the 90s, as there were several miracle programmes almost on a daily basis leading to heavy vehicular and human traffic that stretched from the Eric Moore end of the street up to Orile Iganmu. Pastor Anwuzia was not particularly sound in verbosity, but the acrobatic style of his preaching was an attraction in itself. To this end, the sea of human heads that adorned his programmes in the days that televangelism was not popular was great. He was said to have returned to limelight sometime in the not too recent past, but not much has been heard about him. According to a popular newspaper in 2016, “The Zoe Ministries pastor made no pretence about his predilection for prosperity and he truly practised what he preached as he cruised about town in exotic cars with customised number plates of Zoe 1, Zoe 2, Zoe 50, but like a forgotten Shea butter in the sun, Anwuzia disappeared suddenly from the scene with his ministry.” His disappearance was trailed to a series of scandals and rumours revealed unavoidable impoverishment as the reason for his sudden disappearance. However, the Zoe Ministries pastor seemed to have regained his voice in recent times. A few months back, he staged what seemed like a come-back telling everyone that he was back and better. Many months down the line, however, Anwuzia is yet to live up to his words as a preacher that he was in the 90s, thereby promoting the question of where he could be at a time like this when the prosperity sermon the likes of him and others started has taken over the entire space.
Rumour has it that he now lives in the US, especially after the attempt on his life in 1998; an attempt allegedly linked to the fallout of a fraudulent business deal involving him and the assailants, an allegation he, however, denied.
Alloma Mukhtar
Honourable Justice Alloma Mukhtar remains the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria. She got elevated to that position under the leadership of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012, until her tenure expired and she left in 2014. However, what is remarkable about her is that she opened the vista to what is today the fight against the rot in the judiciary. For example, in a keynote address she presented at a workshop for judges at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in 2012, she said, “Let me quickly add that the fight against corruption in the judiciary is not only targeted at judicial officers but also against members and staff of the judiciary who find luxury or convenience in engaging in corrupt practice or in any unwholesome conduct. It is a notorious fact that this category of workers has in the past caused leakages of judgement written by judges which were yet to be delivered.”
In an interview she granted months after she left office, she said about the rot in the bench, “After my assumption of office as Chief Justice, 198 fresh cases were filed, of this number, 150 were found to be frivolous, 15 were awaiting responses from judges and 20 were slated for consideration.”
To prove her determination to stamp out corruption in the system, two judges were sacked. They were Justice Charles Archibong of the Federal High Court in Lagos and Justice T D Naron of the High Court of Plateau state. Acting in consonance with the National Judicial Council (NJC), she also set up a fact-finding committee on the allegations of corruption against Justice Abubakar Talba of the FCT who was eventually given a one-year suspension.
