AGOZINO AGOZINO recalls the Life and Times of the one-time Information Minister, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije who died last Sunday in Abuja.
AS William James captures in his epic poem, “the greatest use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life.”
In life, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije, the cerebral information strategist, Marxist thinker and lawmaker who represented Abia North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, passed on in the Turkish Hospital, Abuja last Sunday April 19.
Roundly remarkable and enigmatic, Comrade Uche featured in the Nigerian political scene with his radical posture and remarkable interventions.
Aged 75, Chukwumerije bowed out after a long battle with lung cancer
Since the news of his passage last Sunday, a common theme ran through dignitaries’ condolences. Chukwumerije was information strategist and erudite lawmaker who used his intellectual prowess to fight for social justice and equity. Among lawmakers, Chukwumerije stood tall, not just for his incisive arguments in the hallow chambers but for his commitment to a masses-oriented ideology. Testimonies of his outstanding stature as a revolutionary thinker and social engineer have continued to trail the news of his death.
Raised in Igboland tradition and customs, Chukwumerije’s quest for Western education which took him through Europe and America did not change his passion for his cultural root. His uncommon passion for the struggle for social justice which made him an ideological socialist during the Nigerian civil war despite being an alumnus of University of Ibadan (UI) surprised many.
This was evidenced during the Nigerian civil war where he served as the director of the Biafra directorate of propaganda and later Biafran minister of information.
Similarly, he was a key strategist in the regime of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, where he served as Minister of Information and under the interim national government of Ernest Shonekan. Chukwumeije was in the 2000 National Political Reform Conference (NPRC), Oputa panel, in which he, along with other delegates from the South East took the shine when argument for the marginalization of South East came to the table.
Chukwumereije’s activism was dedicated to an avid quest for more egalitarian society as he regularly urged that justice and fair play be the foundation of the Nigerian nationhood. This agitation, though adjusted largely to fit the props of the recent President Jonathan organised National Conference, made Uche more popular.
Believing that the solution to the Nigerian problem should not come from one part of the country dominating others, the avid lover of his Igbo root once said: “To use force and arms against the people’s rights have never worked in history because no power can win people’s freewill.”
Hence, his death at a critical time when a clarion call for the restructuring of Nigeria is ill timed; his germane ideology will be missed. This is evident in the glowing tributes that Senators David Mark, Ike Ekweremadu, Enyinaya Abaribe and Ndigbo (Lagos) among others have paid to him since death.
To Senator Mark, ‘‘the death of the erudite lawmaker was a big loss, not only for the Senate but for the entire nation.”
Mark noted that Chukwumerije was one of the brightest and fertile minds in the Senate. He regretted that Chukwumerije did not live long to reap the benefits of his labour. ‘‘He radiated intelligence, exemplary conduct in both public and private life. He was a team player who brought meaning to hard work. He was focused and determined to make positive difference,” Mark said, stressing also that the late lawmaker was never indicted for any negative interests throughout his life in the Senate. “We shall miss him. No doubt, he left a vacuum that would be too hard to fill. He was a consummate and passionate Nigerian who believed in the sanctity of the peace and unity of the nation,” the Senate President said.
Mark’s deputy, Senator Ekweremadu, described the late senator as a fearless politician who fought for the interest of the common man and his people.
Ekweremadu also described Chukwumerije as “a patriot who gave his best for the peace, unity, and development of Nigeria”.
The statement read in part: “I am most saddened by the news of the passage of Distinguished Senator Chukwumerije, but it is the exit of a lion senator, brother, friend, brave comrade, seasoned journalist, credible mobiliser, social critic, pro-poor politician, and a legislator per excellence that sadden me most.
“Comrade was a highly principled patriot who detested political excesses and injustice of any form to any people. He was a most detribalised Nigerian who believed that every part of the country deserved the respect, opportunities, and rights intrinsic in their membership of the Nigerian commonwealth.
“Chukwumerije loved his people, Ndigbo, and gave his very best towards protecting their interest and working for the development of the region.”
Ekweremadu said Senator Chukwumerije would be sorely missed by the Senate and the entire nation and prayed for the peaceful repose of his soul and inner strength for his family and the entire nation to bear the irreparable loss.
Senate spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, described the deceased as a political giant and one of the nation’s finest legislators.
“The Senate will surely miss his erudite contributions on the floor of the chamber and his painstaking approach to committee work. Chukwumerije was indeed an embodiment of legislative tradition and consummate activist and democrat who loved his people passionately,” he said.
Also, the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation led by George Ashiru has expressed deep regrets over the passing on of the late Senator Chukwumerije.
Ashiru, who recalled the giant strides the late Chukwumerije made for the growth of the sport, said it is a huge loss for all taekwondoins who knew his commitment to the game.
“Senator Uche Chukwumerije was a former president of the Black Belt College and he practiced and contributed immensely to the development of the sport in Nigeria,” Ashiru said.
Born November 1939, in the present day Abia State, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije was an avid organiser and leader of movements. As far back as 1960, he was Founder-President of the Pan-African Volunteers for Protection of Lumumba, the Congolese patriot who was betrayed and murdered by the likes of Tshombe, Kasavubu, and Joseph Mobutu, later known as Mobutu Sese Seko, etc.
Chukwumerije has founded or led various other bodies, among which are: Movement for African Union 1962 – 1965, Socialist Agit-Prop Group 1964 – 1966, Progressive Thinkers Forum 1965 – 1966 and Christian Unity Band 1991 among others.
In 1961, his socialist vision inspired him to join the Socialist Workers and Farmers Party (SWAFP), led by Dr. Otegbeye.
At the end of the war in 1970, he founded AFRISCOPE magazine, the first Continental mouthpiece of the African Continent with circulation all over Anglophone Africa. By 1983 when the magazine folded up because of his heavy commitments to what he cherished as a superior cause, namely the fight for the masses in Aminu Kano’s PRP, Chukwumerije has emerged the first journalist to interview Presidents or heads of states of all Independent African states. He spearheaded a successful media campaign for Nigeria’s recognition of the regime of Dr. Augustinho Neto in war-torn Angola. For three years, as PRP laboured against odds to win seats in Nigeria’s two national elections, Chukwumerije rose from the post of Publicity Secretary to Secretary General. Till his death, he valued Aminu Kano and PRP as the role model for Nigeria’s political class.
Details of his funeral will be disclosed by his family.
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