Over the years, the names of these former public servants are gradually being forgotten despite their active public service days. In the present dispensation, SUNNY IDACHABA writes on where they could presently be.
Walter Ofonagoro
Except for those born in the late 80s and mature enough in the 90s to recall incidents, otherwise no one would remember that once upon a time, there was a moment in the political history of Nigeria that there was someone who goes by that name.
Ofonagoro who is the former minister of information came fully into limelight in 1995, when the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, appointed him into the cabinet and deployed to manage the information bureau of that government. He was however in the public service before then.
His entrance in the cabinet was a move by the then government to ensure that it gets the right person for the position owing to the credibility problem of that regime among the comity of nations.
Ofonagoro who was before then a former director general of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) appeared suitable for the job and he played the role well. From the background of journalism and broadcasting, it was not difficult for him to rally support for the administration which was almost in a state of pariah, especially after the execution of Niger Delta environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa by Abacha’s government.
In those days, the daily evening network news of NTA and MINAJ Broadcasting Service which were the prominent broadcasting houses then cannot be complete without a statement from the desk of Ofonagoro. The daily tabloids were awash with screaming headlines and press statements from the minister’s office. In fact, he was more visible than the Head of State. While as minister, he signed on behalf of Nigeria several bilateral agreements with about 20 countries and organisations in the hope of facilitating a robust and meaningful relationship with the countries concerned. Such was the man, Walter Ofonagoro in that regime.
As DG of NTA, he ensured the development of the Television College in Jos in the form of commissioning the engineering and journalism facilities. It was also during his tenure that the National Films Institute, National Films Archives and the National Films Processing Laboratory were established in Jos, respectively. However, following the death of the maximum ruler in 1998, he has been away from all public offices especially since the return of democracy where everyone has been jostling to join politics. It seems he rather chose to remain quiet doing his private business and also maintaining a position as member of Imo state Elders Council, among other local positions.
He was reported to have given a public speech on restructuring at a private university in Awka recently when he said, “President Buhari came to power on the mantra of change and he should be amenable to change. We have to negotiate how to run a post-colonial government different from what our colonial masters left behind. They are opposed to restructuring and they feel they must keep it the way they inherited it so that their children can also inherit in the same way.”
Cecilia Ibru
Madam Cecilia, as she was fondly called, is the former managing director and chief executive officer of Oceanic Bank, one of the ‘happening’ banks in the country. She began her working career at the Ibru Organisation as project director in 1978. After two years in this role, she went on to serve as international finance coordinator, a position she held until 1990 when she began to work in Oceanic Bank as general manager.
After seven years, she was promoted to the position of managing director and CEO. The bank began as a small family-owned institution, but grew into one of the nation’s largest publicly quoted institutions during her stewardship despite allegations of financial recklessness against her. For instance, on 13 August 2009 she was among five bank CEOs who were dismissed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over financial scandals.
Writing about Ibru, Oladapo Sofowora said, “At her prime as the head of Oceanic Bank, Mrs Cecilia Ibru commanded immense respect from all and sundry. She was a socialite of high repute with a heavy financial war chest to fund her lifestyle. She was classy, highly cerebral, cosmopolitan, stylish and well-composed. She is well lettered in Finance and Economics. Her home was a Mecca of sorts for favour seekers who needed one financial help or the other. In fact, she was indeed generous to a fault. For instance, during her time in the bank, several businesses benefited from her milk of kindness until everything went awry. Despite all the allegations of financial impropriety levelled against her, Oceanic Bank still remains one of the banks dominating the industry in the country. Lately however, no one knows where this woman with a large heart is again.
James Ogebe
Justice James Ogebe, a retired Supreme Court judge, was also a one-time Chief Justice of Benue state. He was born on March 22, 1940, and went through primary school in Igumale and Katsina-Ala all in Benue between 1946 and 1955 respectively. Thereafter, the quest for secondary education took him to the famous Government College, Keffi, and thereafter to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1963 and 1967, where he studied Law. He was called to the bar on June 28, 1968.
He joined the civil service as a state counsel in the Ministry of Justice of the former Benue-Plateau in 1968 and began the long and steady progression through the ranks until he became the acting director of public prosecutions in 1971. Ogebe eventually climbed to the judicial arm of government in 1974 and held several positions, including the acting Chief Judge of the state in September, 1987.
On October 31, 1991, he was further elevated in the judicial hierarchy when he was appointed a justice of the Court of Appeal and sworn in on December 3, 1991. He was eventually elevated to the Supreme Court in 2008. While in that capacity, he spoke extensively against same sex marriage, capital punishment and others. However, his career almost got messed up because of the controversial ruling he gave about the 2007 presidential election which the winner himself, late Yar’Adua admitted was flawed. He was the chairman of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which accepted to validate the heavily-flawed April 2007 election of Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan ticket in return for alleged gratification.
Justice Ogebe, who led a pack of justices of the Court of Appeal to declare the election free and fair, could not attend the final session when the panel was to give its ruling because he was said to have compromised himself beyond redemption. He allegedly left the job to one Justice John Fabiyi, whose performance was according to analysts both ‘comical and hysterical.
