Posted by By PETRUS OBI, Enugu on
Eleven years after the death of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria, his widow, Professor (Mrs.) Uche Azikiwe, has accused the Federal Government of abandoning the family, maintaining that the government has not played its expected role.
Eleven years after the death of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria, his widow, Professor (Mrs.) Uche Azikiwe, has accused the Federal Government of abandoning the family, maintaining that the government has not played its expected role.
The wife of the former Nigerian leader who is currently a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also noted that the tomb of her husband was not befitting of the status of the late nationalist.
In an exclusive chat with Daily Sun at the Onuiyi Haven residence of the late Zik at Nsukka, Mrs. Azikiwe noted that 'this is eleven years he passed on, yet his resting place is not what any human being expected it would be."
'His mausoleum where he was buried in Onitsha, you better go there and see what it is, nothing has been done ten, eleven years. They could turn the place into a tourist centre; it is unfortunate he didn't build his library, he was planning to do that, but what stops the government now to put up something."
She continues: 'I know in the developed world you have everything, his bed, office, desk, dresses, everything put in place for people to come and see, and they pay and make money to maintain that complex, but I don't know, maybe when I am old they will start doing it, or when I have passed on, but I know they must do it because it is what they should do, we are not begging them to do it.
'I thank God that at the end of the month, I am able to have something to take care of myself; the government has not played its role; I know the 1999 law, or edict or decree, provides for the remuneration of past and former presidents, we are entitled to something to maintain this big compound. But I am maintaining this big complex on my own, nobody gives me a kobo.
'Let's forget about the Federal Government, what of the state government? He was the Eastern Region Governor that included the South-South, Rivers and Bayelsa, they have never asked what do we do to this pioneer premier; we can leave the Eastern Region and come to the South East, the Igbo, none of the states, not even Anambra State where he comes from or Enugu because people think he is from Enugu, he lived and paid taxes in Enugu all through and all his investments or whatever, were in Enugu, they have never done anything."
The widow noted that there should be, as in the developed world, a law that such and such a person, after he is no more there must be something for his family. 'This complex is a government place, that's why the flag is there, and the flag has been there since he became premier and then president; there must be a flag, a national flag in this compound. So, it is a government property, they should be maintaining it but nobody cares.
'I thank God I am working, I thank God he allowed me to go to school and I can work and make some income, I don't know how I would have been able to maintain here, just keeping the lawn, before you walk from the gate to the end here, you know the distance; maintaining it, I am not talking of the building or other structures in the compound, let's forget about Onitsha.
'So, I am not comfortable, I am not happy so far with the Federal Government, with the states, the South East or the former eastern region, I believe they should do something even if it is not done anywhere, you can start it. This is somebody who fought for the nation's independence, and if he had lined his pocket, maybe I won't be here, I would be in the United States, Paris or London or one of these good Caribbean Islands enjoying his loot, but he had nothing like that."
She said whether the government looks at the issue as a privilege or a right, 'whatever they want to call it, they should give it to us."