Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme was one Nigerian that saw tomorrow, spoke about it, but no one listened. Today, the consequences of what he saw and spoke about are with us long after his death, SUNNY IDACHABA writes.
Perhaps, the most popular thing most people recall about Dr Alex Ekwueme is that he was Nigeria’s vice president under former President Shehu Shagari between 1979 and 1983. However, there is a dossier of this late elder statesman that many are not aware of probably because they were not publicly documented or because posterity merely choose to put them in ignominy.
To put the record straight, Dr Ekwueme, a trained architect, was the first Nigerian to establish an indigenous architectural firm, Ekwueme Associates, Architects and Town Planners, with 16 offices spread all over Nigeria. These offices, however, wound up in 1979 because of his preparation to assume office as the first executive vice president of the country in line with extant public service rule that forbids public servants from divesting their interests in any private enterprise or company.
Before then, his flourishing private architectural firm had designed the construction of many epic projects like airports, universities and public buildings that are still existing in the country today.
In the days of former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, Ekwueme was also a member of the Housing sub-Committee of Adebo Salaries and Wages Review Commission set up to look into the issue of workers’ salaries in what was famously known as ‘Udoji Award’.
Aside these, he contributed immensely to the drafting of 1979 Constitution which ushered in the Second Republic, maintained political stability during his tenure and supported policies that helped in sustaining economic growth/ development between 1979 and 1983. As part of contributions to his state of origin, he was behind the establishment of Anambra State University of Science and Technology existing in Ulli today.
Though gone into eternity, Ekwueme can still be remembered as a dedicated public servant who was noted for his integrity and incorruptibility because honesty and transparency were his watchwords. That was why his calm and gentle disposition in government even in the face of provocation earned him a nickname, ‘The Gentleman Statesman’. Even though he was from an opposition party, Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) as against Shagari’s ruling party, Nigeria People’s Party (NPN), his loyalty and submission for the sake of Nigeria was never in doubt. Such were the hallmarks which Ekwueme was noted for.
Up until his death around 10:00pm on November 19 2017 in a London hospital, Ekwueme never lost sight of his desire for an ideal Nigeria, as according to him, he would like to see Nigeria to be a nation and not just a country.
While alive, he started an Educational Trust Fund responsible for sponsoring the education of indigent students into higher institutions in Nigeria and abroad.
In 1995 during the administration of Gen Sani Abacha, he participated in the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) where he served actively on the Committee on Structure and Framework of the Constitution. Part of his recommendation for an equitable power sharing formula based on the six geopolitical zones is what has now become accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable polity.
In the height of Abacha misrule in Nigeria when those opposed to his government were either killed or imprisoned with impunity, Ekwueme mobilised a group of 34 eminent Nigerians who risked their lives to stand up against his dictatorship. The group metamorphosed from a pressure group into a political party and secured registration when the ban on political activities were eventually lifted. This led to the formation of what is today known as People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He became its founding chairman and later as chairman of its board of trustees.
As a team player, he did not grumble against the emergence of Olusegun Obasanjo as the party’s presidential flagbearer after PDP’s primary held at Jos in 1998 even though Obasanjo was not a member of the group when the struggle to ease the military out of power was intense. Since then, he had played the role of an elder statesman for his party and the country, settling party disputes and offering advice on national matters until death came calling.
As a way of recognising his immense contributions to the Nigerian project, former Federal University Ndufu Alike was named after him as Alex Ekwueme University, Abakiliki.
Just before he contested for the presidency on the platform of PDP in 1998, his almamater, the University of Washington Alumni Magazine wrote about him when it said, “In Nigeria, phone lines barely work, water and electricity are chronically in short supply, corruption and government mismanagement coupled with a drop in world oil prices has left Nigeria with a budget deficit in hundreds of millions of dollars. Ethnic divisions in the country are at a dangerous level with decades of military rule which has left people worn out and frustrated, but Africa’s most popular nation is trying to change its legacy by making the transition to democracy. One of its guiding forces is Alex Ekwueme who once served as vice president of his country during a period of civilian rule in the early 1980s and is considered one of Nigeria’s leading statesmen.”
While in that university in the late 50s, Ekwueme was president of the Cosmopolitan Club, a group of foreign students and he served as the head of another organisation of international students in the university. According to him,
“I enjoyed my University of Washington time very much. I was a real curiosity because I was the first student from Nigeria at the university, but I fit in well and people were very friendly.”
Continuing further, the alumni magazine wrote that, “Since his release from prison in 1989 following the military takeover of government six years earlier, he has worked tirelessly on behalf of peace and democracy in his native land where he has a reputation as a civilian with an impeccable record. Even the judicial tribunal that probed him after the coup publicly declared that, ‘Dr Ekwueme left office poorer than he was when he entered it and to ask more from him was to set a standard which even saints could not meet.'”
As the casket that bore his remains touched down in Nigeria following his death in London, former vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo who received the remains on behalf of the federal government said Ekwueme as vice president, sets an excellent example of loyalty, discipline, team spirit and fidelity to the nation.
Ha also said, “Despite being probably one of the most thoroughly educated persons anywhere in the world, with degrees in disciplines as distinct as Architecture, Philosophy, Sociology and Law, he possessed the profound humility that comes from understanding how much more there was to learn.
“As vice president, he worked tirelessly to build and maintain the bridges established across ethnic and religious lines by so many through the years. He never once doubted the validity of one indivisible Nigeria.”
Recalling with nostalgia, Osinbajo said, “His values, like himself, remain relevant in every age and time. Almost a year to the date of his sad passing, he graciously responded to my invitation to join other former Nigerian Heads of State and their deputies to record for broadcast the hymn, ‘O lord our help in ages past’ which was a sort of reawakening for all Nigerians,” Osinbajo said.
Perhaps, one person that probably understood the late elder statesman better is his former personal assistant, Handel Okoli who said Nigeria failed to reap from the bowels of the rich fountain that Ekwueme carried and was sadly buried with it. He said leaders are not known until they die. “Ekwueme is a true incarnation of the greatest philosophers of this existence, an embodiment of the finest qualities of purposeful public life, a Nigerian patriot of unquestionable and proven credentials and a somewhat extravagant philanthropist whose legacies are often underrated. Not even his party, the People’s Democratic Party has found time to honour their guiding light.”
According to Okoli, the position of Ekwueme on the restructuring of Nigeria which he championed during the 1994 –1995 constitutional conference remains the finest contribution to Nigeria’s journey towards nationhood, if they were implemented.
“In that famed constitutional conference chaired by late Justice Karibi Whyte, Nigeria was presented with a deliberate plan which recognises the proclivities of the African politician towards power.
“It prescribed a single term of five years for the presidency which would rotate among the six geopolitical zones such that in 30 years, each geopolitical zone would have produced a president.
This proposal by Ekwueme, he said did not sit well with the northern delegates; however it was accepted by General Abacha, but later discarded by General Abdulsalam Abubakar after Abacha died.
“Ekwueme had thoughtfully prescribed six vice presidents for the country such that each zone would produce a vice president that will oversee ministries, departments and agencies assigned to them by the president. It was also designed to ensure that if a president died in office, removed or resigned from his position, the vice president from his zone would succeed him.
“My humble submission is that had Nigeria considered this proposal, Umar Musa Yar’adua would probably have resigned as president when he knew that he could no longer continue on account of ill-health as his zone would have risen to the occasion. That way, the vice president from the North-west would have stepped into his shoes.
“I should submit too that had Ekwueme proposal been considered, President Muhammadu Buhari, who himself had admitted his under-performance due to age would have probably resigned to allow the vice president from his zone to complete his tenure.
“I also believe that if Ekwueme’s prescription was seriously countenanced, there would not have been “e mi lokan” after eight years of President Obasanjo and eight years of Osinbajo as vice president.
“In all, the beauty of his legacy is that Alex Ekwueme saw tomorrow and cried out when it mattered most. He saw the shenanigans of Nigerian politicians and once called for a code of conduct for politicians. What is left is for those who truly love this country to draw from this legacy and allow the country to thrive.
While alive, his desire had been, “Getting involved in my government was something I always wanted to do. I wanted to serve my people and help in the quest for independence. I would like to be remembered as someone who came into public office to render service and rendered that service selflessly.”
Although dead and gone, but the ideals of Alex Ekwueme live on.
Blueprint Newspapers on WhatsAp-Join now!