By Omoniyi P. Ibeitan
I note with gratitude to God and in deep appreciation of the true meaning of friendship which High Chief Nwagwu rekindles, to wish him happy birthday, a significant red-letter day. By all metrics, 60 is huge and we owe God that appreciation for what He’s done, doing and will do to glorify Himself in the life of this great man.
My path and Eze’s crossed in early 1990s. I had been detained by the regime of General Abacha, for campus and social rights activism, alongside some of my comrades at the University of Abuja, where I was one of the pioneer students. I was in detention for months before Eze was elected National Vice President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). After the new NANS’ Council was informed about our plight in Abuja, straight from the Ife Convention where he was elected, Eze tackled my incarceration and those of our colleagues headlong by leading a team of activists to Abuja to secure our release.
I was detained at the Police Force Headquarters adjacent to Agura Hotel (first Force Headquarters in Abuja before Louis Edet House was built). Eze also got detained on that ground and there began a long battle later resolved at the courts in Niyi IBIETAN & 44 Others Versus University of Abuja & 2 Others, a seminal case which ratio became a precedent cited by lawyers to reinstate many embattled student leaders and activists.
As Eze and others continued the struggle for the release of me and my colleagues, the advocacy became unbearable for the State, the Police charged me and my colleagues to court and got us further detained at Kuje Prison. But Eze was relentless, rallying students across the country to insist we must be set free from detention.
When I was eventually released, also via a court order, I was practically forced to leave Abuja. My mom had become so ill and was almost dying from my troubles. Our house had become an embassy of sort to cadres of NANS fleeing persecution and who needed to be in Abuja..
I agreed to an ‘asylum’ in Lagos and it would be the responsibility of Eze and others like Dele Farotimi, President of Students Union at Lagos State University, Taiwo Akinlami, Taiwo Adedeji, Segun Dosunmu, Balogun Bola, all of LASU, Omoyele Sowore, President of University of Lagos Students Union (later Malcolm Fabiyi), Baba Aye (whose birthday is also today), Tope Ajeigbe (AUTHORITY), all of UNILAG, and so many others, to keep me well and safe. I was so itinerant as I was hosted by practically all students union governments in Lagos and environs. Eze’s house was almost directly opposite LASU gate at Ojo. Whenever we were famished, we went to his place to eat anything edible, from Garri and fish to Boli (roasted plantain) and all sorts.
Shortly before I was appointed as Special Adviser on Media to Hon. Frank Nweke Jr (now Frank Nweke II), only Eze knew the appointment was coming. It was he who arranged for us to meet the Minister (whom I had met first at a national youth/student leaders conference) for a post-conference discussion and the conversation quickened Nweke’s decision on bringing me over to Radio House as his key media aide.
Besides my parents and siblings, Eze’s on record as the only person who calls me on phone to speak with me every 19th day of April to wish me happy birthday. He never missed it.
There are lots of moments in my life when I could have died or got terribly wounded but Eze’s and others’ presence saved the situation. So, he’s literally served as an angel. In practically all crises I have had that he knew about, Eze offered support, rescue or healing, even on those I had consciously allowed to fester.
A true brother Eze has been and God knows I am exceedingly grateful he’s always in my corner as he has been in many people’s corner purposively, protectively and constructively. His ecumenical, objective and egalitarian spirit is the reason many reckoned he is non-tribalistic, although most people convey the message erroneously, using the word ‘detribalised’ which means someone who’s lost his commitment to tribal identity, ethnic associationsim, and cultural connections. Eze is not ‘detribalised’.
He is a Nigerian patriot and unashamedly Igbo of Mbaise extraction. He’s a chieftaincy title holder in his place and therefore couldn’t have been ‘detribalised’. He’s very loving of his people as he is of every human, irrespective of circumstances of birth, religion and other metrics of differentiation.
Appropriately therefore, Eze is non-tribalistic, which means he does not allow prejudices of tribe, geographical origin, religious identity and all things that divide us to affect his relationship with people and his judgement in social relations. He is fair-minded, objective, libertarian and very accommodating.
Hence, today, we (though tribe and tongue may differ) will roll out the drums in Abuja, in a hybrid event, so our comrades all over the world can participate (they can serve themselves food and drinks wherever they are and merry) but right here in Abuja, we will eat, drink and dance in thanksgiving to our Lord, The Almighty, for his graces, blessings and preservation of our dear brother.
We will start with a colloquium because Eze is also a representation of the intellectual – a historical shaper of student movements, as well as an eternal ally of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the labour movements and many agencies in that sphere. And ever since leaving the ivory tower, he’s deployed his intellection, organisational skills and practical actions and associated dialects of the human agency (in alliance with other progressive elements), to deepen the quality of Nigeria’s democracy.
His work on eletoral reforms, especially since the Yar’Adua Presidency, beginning with the Mohammed Uwais’ Committee, was quite instrumental to the gains Nigeria’s democracy has recorded.
So, after the paper to be presented in his honour, we will have panel discussion as we did for Jaye Gaskia, his brother, friend and comrade, just weeks ago, where he (Eze) participated actively and including moderate a panel session.
Dede, Ezenwa Nwagwu, may your days be long and blissful and may you enjoy the coming decades joyously in Jesus’ name with your beloved wife, children and loved ones. One Love, Bro.
