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Ezeife’s metaphor: How Igbo elders died in futile chase for Kanu’s freedom
By Sunny Igboanugo
They beseeched, they pleaded, they remonstrated, they begged, they argued, they were snubbed, they were denied and then – they died! They died hoping and believing that it might happen before their own eyes and in their lifetimes.
These were great men of the South East. They were sons of Igboland. They grew, lived and achieved great things for their people and their country. Yet, the common denominator is that they all died with apparent broken hearts.
This is the story of Mbazuiluike Amaechi, Ben Nwabueze and now, Chukwuemeka Ezeife. They died in that order. Amaechi, a veteran in Nigerian independence struggle, who as a member of the Zikist Movement, a group that was in the forefront of that struggle, joined other individuals and groups to liberate Nigeria from the shackles of colonialism.
Having risen the ashes of the struggle to the position of the first Nigerian Minister of Aviation, the late nationalist from Ukpo, in Nnewi South Local Government Area, had contributed his own quota to the galloping development, which the first republic, known as the golden era of Nigeria achieved. Yet, he died a broken man, his one wish at his last days and hours denied him.
Leading a group of Igbo leaders to Muhammadu Buhari, then President, on November 19, 2021, he had specifically pleaded that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who had remained in detention since he was forcefully brought back from Kenya in July of the same year be released to him personally.
He even went further to plead with the President, that if released to him, he would personally leash the IPOB leader to ensure that he would refrain from his utterances and personal attacks on the former President, not only because he was in support of his campaign, but because he wanted to see peace reign in Nigeria as his last wish.
Hear him: “I don’t want to leave this planet without peace returning to my country. I believe in one big, united Nigeria, a force in Africa. President, I want you to be remembered as a person who saw Nigeria burning, and you quenched the fire.” Yet, in vain, he waited. Buhari, who during his eight years ran his infamous 95-5 per cent government against Ndigbo, never acceded to the request.
Before he died on November 1, 2022, the following year, Amaechi, whose profile rose beyond Nigeria, as he was said to have hidden Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa in his house in Nigeria for six months to prevent the Apartheid authorities in his country from arresting him made another pitch for the same IPOB leader, saying: “There is only one key to the solution to killings in Igbo land now, and that is the release of Nnamdi Kanu.
“If that young man is released, you will see all these criminals who spring up claiming to be agitating for the release of Nnamdi Kanu while their real intention is to rob innocent and unsuspecting people, will go into hiding because they will have nothing as a reason to come out.
“IPOB has disowned them and has even taken measures to apprehend them but as you know, criminals will have their ways of operating and claiming one fake thing or the other, but they are simple criminals operating one way or the other.” Again, he was rebuffed and his plea fell on deaf ears.
Foremost constitutional lawyer and by then the oldest Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was no less enthusiastic. He told Buhari that whatever difficulty he could be having releasing Kanu, the gesture would be a good one and the outcome would also be positive. Buhari, was quoted as telling the delegation: “You’ve made an extremely difficult demand on me as leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious. In the last six years, since I became President, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the Judiciary. God has spared you, and given you a clear head at this age, with very sharp memory. A lot of people half your age are confused already. But the demand you made is heavy. I will consider it.”
Nwabueze, who applauded the President for even giving the request a thought, said: “I applaud your decision to consider the release of Nnamdi Kanu, notwithstanding as you said in your statement, that granting the request will have great consequences.” On October 30, 2023, Nwabueze died, not witnessing Kanu’s release.
Enter Ezeife! He was one of the most virulent and consistent voices in the push for the release of the IPOB boss. In fact immediately the news broke that the Court of Appeal had ordered the release of the IPOB leader, he practically rolled out the drums to celebrate, as it signified the removal of the barrier the former President spoke about.
Hear him: “The hearts of kings are in the hand of God. We pray to move Buhari to do justice, to respect the court – his own court. The ASUU people have gone back to school in obedience to court order even though they were not happy with it,” he said.
“Now let our government lead by example and comply with court order. What I heard was that Nnamdi Kanu was discharged and acquitted. But the government can put words in the Court’s mouth that he was only discharged.
“But even at that, if he was discharged of the heinous crimes accused of, that’s even enough reason to free him by the Court’s decision. When we went to the President, we got a very good response from him about releasing Nnamdi Kanu. [Later, I got personal] information that the President wants to release Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho.
“And [later] I heard only of Igboho being set free from charges against him while Nnamdi Kanu is still there. May God make it that the President will look at the state of the nation and release Nnamdi Kanu. God has created a situation in Nigeria where all eyes are not opened where nobody can say my religion, my tribe, etc.”
But he was wrong. Of course, Buhari dug in. After days ran into weeks without obeying the court order, he finally dashed the hope of the Igbo and other Nigerians, who had joined in the campaign by appealing the appellate court’s judgement. Today, more than one year after, Kanu has remained in detention. If anything, those who took that historic journey to the Presidential Villa, Abuja are going one after the other.
The most ironic is that of Ezeife, who chose the eve of the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the matter to depart. May be his spirit had forewarned him of a greater blow from the court and he decided to depart rather to wait to feel the impact alive. Alas, against all odds and expectations of many, the apex court, toed the line of the hardliners, who believe continued incarceration of the IPOB boss is the way to go.
“The Court of Appeal was wrong to say that the Federal High Court can no longer try Mr Kanu. The appeal is allowed and the cross-appeal is dismissed,” the apex court, held in the judgement prepared by Justice Garba Mohammed, but read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, adding: “Our law is that evidence illegality obtained is valid before the court. A violation of Mr Kanu’s right should have been by way of civil proceedings. That is not our law for now.”
With this pronouncement, it is back to the starting point. The matter is probably returning to the Federal High Court, where it was seated before Justice Binta Murtala Nyako, before the intervention of the appeal court. Many had hoped that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would do what his predecessor did not.
Since he had no dog in the fight as was the case between Kanu and Buhari, he might exert the influence which a Nigerian President wields to end the entire macabre dance, many had thought. But as it were, they were wrong. For one, there is no indication that the President, who had promised to continue the legacy of the former President, may not have inherited his obvious and time-tested hatred for Ndigbo. And for good reason(s) too!
If anything, is it not obvious that the people and their area are being excluded under Tinubu? In fact, did it not even gain more verve? And if the hindsight could be the guide, it might not be far from same reason of being rejected in the polls. Tinubu’s fate 2023 presidential election was even worse that Buhari’s over the years.
Were this the case, then, the soul of Ezeife, just like Nwabueze and Amaechi, would have to find other reasons to rest in peace or in the alternative, remain restless. For surely, the prospect of Kanu coming out of that dungeon soon, appears quite faint. In fact, Ndigbo should hope the situation would not be grimmer!
The kids bulldozed into the room at exactly 12 midnight today, April 21st, with the birthday song dancing and thanking God for the gift of another year for the Mummy General of the House.
A woman who holds my breadth and who has changed my life for good. She is organised, creative and a manager of repute. She has kept the House on course throughout this last 25 years of our union and seven years after my mum decided to travel.
I respect her intelligence and commitment to the growth of the union. I can’t thank God enough for the privilege to have her as my soul mate. In my several times of crisis of direction and choice, she has come handy with rich counsel and worthy advice.
Not once, not twice, has she saved the House from disgrace and ridicule. I salute her commitment to a flourishing marital life, her love for my children and relations, and her leadership qualities. A viteous woman, prayer warrior, and counsellor.
On behalf of the House of Louis of Umuozoke, Umufele, Ibute Amaeke Ngwo of Enugu State which I presently head, I pray that God will continue to bless and honour this woman of inestimable value, the support base and motivating spirit behind our success story.
Ebuka, Dera, Chigo, Chinwe, Ebube and I celebrate and honour you today and always. Rise and shine for your God is alive and will continue to be there for you. Pls spare a prayer for her and thank God for her life.
As you are reading this, the undertakers would either be lowering their bodies into the six feet under the ground or must have finished their job and be heading home to allow the grief-stricken families, friends and well-wishers to bewail their ugly fate and bear the indelible mark of such a telling loss.
For what remains of Dozie Okoye, a staff of Zenith Bank, Ladipo branch in Lagos and Joan Gusiora, his beautiful wife, a nurse with a promising career in the United States would have been closed finally in the bowels of the red earth, a final story that awaits all mortals.
Just a month ago, on Saturday, February 22, the atmosphere at the Momoh Gardens, 18, Wole Olateju Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, was virtually on fire with celebration as the same families, friends and well-wishers gathered to add colour to their wedding reception, shortly after exchanging rings and marriage vows at the Saint Jude’s Anglican Church on Ademola Ajasa Street, Omole Phase 1, Ikeja.
But now, on this same Saturday, March 22, it would be another kind of music at the Okoye family, Agulu Village, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State where both hailed. That where the two bodies would be sealed, after that of the young lady, who would have returned to her duty post in the US last week Friday, would have visited her own home in her father’s compound at Enugu-Ukwu, Njikoka Local Government.
How did this happen? Only the couple who are no more could have given the full details. But from what could be pieced together by family members and friends, it indicate that they were two out of the four fatal victims of the Otedola Bridge gas explosion and subsequent fire of March 11.
They were said to be returning home when they were caught in the inferno, having been completely trapped as the car in which they were travelling was right behind the tanker that exploded and therefore had no chance of escaping as the incident must have happened in split seconds.
Otedola Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, has since become notorious for such accidents, having hosted similar gas or petroleum tanker explosions at different occasions in recent years, with multiple fatalities recorded.
The little account suggest that the couples’ phones suddenly went off and nobody could reach them, setting off apprehension amongst their friends who eventually tracked them at the at the Burns Center in Gbagada and Yaba Mortuary, where their charred remains were finally found on the evening of Wednesday February 25 after days of frantic searching.
In fact, it was said that the first and only means of identification that eventually gave a clue to what must have happened to the couple, was when the search party finally discovered their car, which was found among the burnt vehicles at the scene of the incident, through the registration number.
“The wife was due to go back to her base (USA) last Friday. I don’t have much details. Dozie started work that particular Tuesday after his wedding. The wife left her father’s house at about 4.00pm to meet him, that is for Dozie to pick her on his way back from work. That was the last anybody heard from them.
“Until next morning when Dozie could not report at office as he normally comes on time, that was when his colleagues started calling his line without success. At this point they got in contact with his relation to know if there was any information about him. That was how the search started. With news of the tanker explosion the previous day, they extended the search to scene of the explosion where his burnt car was found,” a family member told WhirlwindNews.
Expectedly, family, friends and close associates of the couple have remained in mourning ever since, with the parents totally inconsolable as they contemplate how a life which began on a promising note for the youngsters who looked into their future with such great hope on that February 22, when they took their vow before the world could end on such a sad note in a swift, sudden and painful way. See how some of the grieving friends captured it.
MC the young wrote: “My classmate who i attend her wedding last 3 weeks died in a gas explosion caused by a tanker at Otedola bridge Lagos. Joan ur village people who did this to you will never know peace. My heart is heavy. I love you so much. You are supposed to go back to your base at USA on Friday.
Nelly Kelly: “Outbreak at Otedola Bridge. Otedola bridge took a vibrant soul away from Ladipo Oluwole Zenith Bank. Please come back to us. Two weeks you did your wedding and resumed yesterday and same yesterday you said goodnight to us along with your wife? Otedola bridge took a newly couple from us.”
Again, the story brings to the fore the contradictions in life. Dotun Oladipo, versatile journalist and Publisher of The Eagle Online, one of Nigeria’s leading online newspapers, had last week penned down how he and his wife and daughter escaped the same fate by a stroke of chance, having headed in the same direction only to divert towards a different road minutes before the explosion.
But while the media guru was lucky, Rotimi Adeleye, his mechanic who had fixed one of his cars was not as he was caught in the inferno, before he could escape. Devastated and distraught, Oladipo had prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims. But, how easy would it be for the family members of these victims, especially the Okoyes? Tragic!
By Sunny Igboanugo
“The purest treasure mortal times afford is a spotless reputation. That away, men are but gilded loam or painted clay…My honour is my life both grow in one. Take honour from me and my life is done.”
This was Shakespear, writing in King Richard 11, in 1597. It was one of the scenes where two nobles, Henry Bolingbroke Duke of Lancaster squared up against Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. The subject matter was that rare item – honour. Bolingbroke had accused Mowbray of high treason in an alleged attempt to overthrow King Richard – accusation that amounted the highest crime in the land.
For that Mowbray, who pled his innocence, swore that the only remedy that would cleanse and cure the dishonour was the blood of the man from which the treasonable word issued. The two hot-bloods would not listen to their elders.
Hear Mowbray’s retort to his father, when he tried to persuade him not to fight:
My king, I throw myself at your feet. You have power over my life, but not my honor: it’s my duty to obey you, but my good name, even if you take my life, will not be dishonored by you in death. I am disgraced, insulted, and slandered here, my soul pierced with the venomous spear of lies, which no medicine can cure except the blood of the man who has poisoned me.
It even got sharper when the king threatened Bolingbroke with his authority. King Richard’s staff was made of a lion’s head while that of the Duke, his cousin was made of a leopard. So, he commanded – give up the fight I command you – lions make leopards tame. But listen to Bolingbroke, still emphasising his honour even over his life said in reply:
Yes, but the lions notwithstanding its powers cannot make leopard change its spots. To take that gage from me is to take my honour. A brave spirit in a loyal person is like a jewel in a chest protected by ten locks. Then, my dear liege, let me prove my integrity in combat: I live for my honor and will die for it.
What does all this say? Simple! Without honour, a man is no more than a moulded sand or painted clay – completely lifeless! Therefore men who know the value of honour do everything to protect it. Like the British nobles who were prepared to kill themselves to preserve their honour, every man is supposed to prefer death over dishonour. In other words, not even the entire world or pain of death would make them trade this rare virtue.
Bola Ige, former Governor of Oyo State and Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, months before he was assassinated in December 2001, at the main auditorium of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), Enugu gave a local impetus to the idea. There, he spoke so eloquently and profoundly to accentuate the meaning of honour that his audience became clearly roused to why individuals must fight or die for it.
The essence of that event in the court of King Richard 11, more than 400 years ago and its reenactment by Ige two decades ago, remain as profound and true then as they represent the true spirit of man in the import of creation today. Men are still ready to die today to preserve their honour and integrity as they were in those eras.
Even with the thinning down of their numbers across the world, due to many years of sustained corruption and the interplay of personal interests, some men still manage to see honour and integrity as the main credo for existence of man. The name, Samuel Ayodele Adebanjo, foremost Yoruba leader and exemplary nationalist would certainly find itself in that fast-diminishing list.
Until his passing on Friday, February 14, 2025, Pa Adebanjo, gave a grand performance like a principal character in an opera accentuating that concept of humanity. The stage was the Nigerian politics. Just two years earlier, in 2023, men of integrity were called to that stage. The nonagenarian led the pack. As the Leader of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, he had every reason to benumb his conscience and bury the truth as he knew it.
After all, how could he abandon the people he led when one of their own was in the arena for a contest? Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Yoruba son and one of his subjects as the alter ego and numero uno of the Yoruba people by virtue of his leadership of the Afenifere, was one of the contestants for the presidential election of that year.
It was therefore not only expected to stand behind the Jagaban Borgu, the Asiwaju of Lagos, but imperative. He could have given that excuse to his colleagues in Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), or the Middle Belt Forum with whom there was a previous agreement for the Igbo to produce the next President. Of course, in the Nigerian context, it would have sufficed as an excuse.
But that was where Adebanjo’s quality stood out. The Yoruba, is also inured in the doctrine of Omoluabi – the unique value expressed in a well-behaved person and stressed only in the principle of doing the right thing at all times – which also includes upholding the doctrine of equity, justice and fair-play – the essence of man in a plural and divergent world.
That was the pitch! That was how instead of Tinubu, Adebanjo, led the Yoruba support for Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, an Igbo man. Reason: “The Yoruba will not take its turn and take the turn of another person just because it has the advantage or power to do so.”
For his compatriots who argued otherwise, he had this to say to them, in an Arise News Television interview: “Why are we supporting Obi? The constitutional, logical, and equitable reasons for it, I have stated. Those are the issues they should address. They should tell us that the rotation system which showed that Yoruba have had their slot and automatically disqualifies Tinubu now is false.
“None of them can claim to love the Yoruba people more than me, Ayo Adebanjo; no Yoruba man living. I am challenging them to come out if there is any organisation in existence that surpasses Afenifere in protecting Yoruba interest.
“This is not a Yoruba matter; it’s not a contest between Yoruba and Igbo. It is about who are the best champions of the people. This is an equitable thing for the unity of the country. That is what we should address. We should first decide whether we should have a second chance when one of us has not had a chance.
“Those are facts of the issue. We are not only opposed to the issue of Tinubu; we are also opposed to Atiku. How can a Fulani man rule for eight years and another Fulani man is going back there? Those are the issues. Let us base this election on issues, not on sentiments.
“And if you read that statement where I first announced our support for the South East, I didn’t even know who was going to be the candidate then; it was principle and certain ideals. It is that ideal they should challenge.
“They should not bring in any price line or sentimental attachment. I won’t accuse them of any other ulterior motive; that’s their affair, but that is our own case; it is the case that they should address; address the message, forget the messenger.
“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalise and exclude them from the power dynamics. Peter Obi is the person of Igbo extraction that Afenifere has decided to support and back. He is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office.
“We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity, and inclusiveness because one of our own, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is a frontline candidate. It is on this same principle we condemn the People’s Democratic Party for sponsoring Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Fulani Muslim, to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari, another Fulani Muslim.
“The current President is a Fulani from the Northwest, and by virtue of the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is supposed to return to the south imminently. The southwest, as I have pointed out, has produced a president and currently sits as VP; the South-South has spent a total of six years in the Presidency, but the Igbo people of the South-East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.”
Even after Tinubu grabbed, snatched and ran away with the trophy, Adebanjo was neither any less relentless, nor perturbed. Like the father, whose recalcitrant and wayward son brought back a stolen item, he refused to be part of it in spite its seemingly resplendent beauty and inviting allure. He knew that the magnificence of that item, was superficial and beneath it, just like a tomb, was rottenness and fetidness.
So, as punishment, he might not have received some freshly-minted state of the art exotic cars into his home, deservedly as an Afenifere leader. His house might not have been renovated and decorated with the latest designs of ornamental furniture. No! He might not have received hefty amounts in his bank account as allowance or gifts during festive periods. No streets or monuments were named after him either as some people who took a different road are getting today.
But did it bother him? Did he care? Certainly no! Ostensibly, he knew what he had was far more valuable than silver and gold. Just like the biblical reenactment, he saw the riches of the world shown to him with the prospect of owning them if only he could bow down and serve mammon. But he screamed with a loud voice – away with you!
Bola Ige, in that Enugu outing, while describing the beauty of honour, had told his audience that in that assemblage at the auditorium, were people, whose entire life bore the imprimatur of official sleaze – who from the brooms in their kitchens to the slew of exotic automobiles in their garages were the proceeds of corruption. Amid the enthusiasm and loud ovation his words generated, were registered countenances of discomfiture as with thieves whenever stolen items are mentioned.
Clearly, Samuel Ayo Adebanjo, would hardly be counted in that group of established villains to whom integrity and honour are alien, having sold their souls to the devil. He did not want to gain the entire world and lose his soul. So, he chose the uncommon path.
Like the noblemen in the court of King Richard 11, 400 years ago, he went into a duel with the renegades and reprobates of the world. In the end, at the age of 96, he closed his eyes in his modest house in Lekki Lagos. On that Friday, he breathed his last, clutching in his bosom the biggest trophy his traducers yearn for but would never have – the purest treasure mortal times afford – a spotless reputation!
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