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Chief Audu Ogbe in Retrospect

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Author: Aririesike Jude
Posted to the web: 6/3/2006 1:32:26 PM

What I have learnt in the political rise and the seeming denouement of Chief Audu Ogbe is that for you to talk and be heard in Nigeria you must have a WILL and for you to have a Will you must have a MEANS and for you to have the MEANS often times you have to compromise the WILL.

 

Sometime in 2001, I sat in the same pew in a church in Asokoro Abuja with this urbane gentleman, Chief Innocent Audu Ogbe. No doubt he is humilty personified. Without the risk of sounding presumptuous I can say that some of us who sat in the same pew that day would hardly believe that this man was a second republic Minister in the Ministry of Communication and later Ministry of Steel Development under Shehu Shagari gorvernment before the khaki boys struck.

 

When Chief Audu Ogbe was made the chairman of Peoples’ Democratic Party, I became quite interested in him, who wouldn’t, considering he is a member of my church. I tried to gather every piece of information I could get on him both past and present. Simply put, he became a star and I also became his favourite fan.

I can recall in one of the services, when our Reverend gentleman happily informed us of the elevated political position of one of our church members. In a homily which was almost dedicated to Chief Audu Ogbe and his new found position, the priest highlighted some of the ills in the government and hoped that this exemplary member of our church would make good use of this exalted position in correcting some of them. I doubt if this Reverend gentleman would again devote attention to such spiritual exercise even if a member of his flock is made the president of this country! I stand to be corrected.

 

To be fair to Chief Audu Ogbe, we should appreciate the sensitivity of the situation he found himself in. He was handed the poisoned chalice and he ironically accepted it. How can one dip his hand in a container full of red oil to remove a coin without actually staining the same hands?

Chief Audu Ogbe, from the little I gathered about him, is reputed for his excellent and uncompromissing views when it comes to sensitive national issues. He is a very transparent man whose principles thrive on the basic ethics of fairplay, equity and justice. He is believed to be conservatively progressive, whatever that means!

I was reliably informed (this writer was a little above six years of age during the Shagari regime) that his first popular romance in government as a cabinet minister 1982 was marked with high-level economic frugality and financial prudence. There was this ugly rumour making rounds then that he left the governement poorer than when he came in!

 

No doubt, when the altercations between the eltswhile chairman of People’s Democratic Party, Chief Ogbe and the president led to his resignation or forceful removal, the question that refused to leave the lips of die-hard fans of this Idoma high chief (Ochagwu of Idomaland), who preferred to be modestly called Mr Audu Ogbe, is why would a man like Chief Ogbe with such unarguably impeccable and transparent political credentials agree to serve in that government? This question remains a challenge for political scholars and intellectual scholarship.

 

One thing is certain, Chief Audu took that position with the belief that he will make good use of the MEANS as the chairman of People’s Democratic Party that goes by the appellation: the largest political party in Africa!

He compromised his WILL to attain the MEANS. But did he use the MEANS to espouse his WILL? This will be a matter of political discourse and a topic for another day.

 

Aririesike Jude

aririesikejude@yahoo.ca

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