Daily Times to immortalise Chuba Okadigbo

…Names Institute for Civil Affairs after him

…’We see it as a duty to recast Okadigbo’s brilliance, intellectual excellence, and colours his style of politics shone’

Bonaventure Melah

The management of Daily Times of Nigeria is to immortalise Nigeria’s foremost politician and former Senate President, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, by inaugurating the Chuba Okadigbo Institute for Civil Affairs (COICA) which will take place soon.

The Chairman of Folio Media Group (FMG) and Publisher of Daily Times of Nigeria, Dr. Fidelis Anosike, stated this in a statement over the weekend.

He said being the nation’s heritage newspaper which has in the past 93 years published news and other materials on most Nigerian leaders, the paper considers Okadigbo’s intellectual prowess and speech delivery capacity, worthy of immortalisation.

Anosike, who once served as Special Assistant to Okadigbo, said the present generation of leaders and Nigerian youths in particular, have a lot to emulate from Dr. Okadigbo’s eloquence, scholarliness, broad mind, patriotism and statesmanship, as well as his style of politics, qualities he said are rare in the nation’s current polity.

“We at Daily Times, have concluded plans to launch the Chuba Okadigbo Institute for Civil Affairs as a way to immortialise the great statesman and one of Nigeria’s finest politicians.

“We see it as a duty to recast Okadigbo’s brilliance, intellectual excellence and the colours his style of politics shone on Nigeria’s political landscape for decades.

We believe that by launching the Institute of Civil Affairs after his name, we would have provided a veritable platform for current and future leaders to learn about his rich thought-lines, his accommodating and forgiving spirit which combined to make him the ideal politician.

“Apart from immortalising him, the Chuba Okadigbo Institute for Civil Affairs would serve as a centre for the study of citizenship, nationalism, leadership, law, politics and governance in Nigeria,” Dr. Anosike stated.

Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo hails from Umueri, Ogbunike town in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State. He was born on December 17, 1941 and died September, 25, 2003.

After his initial primary and secondary education in Nigeria, Chuba earned a Masters Degree in Political Science from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C before proceeding to acquire two doctorate degrees in Philosophy and Political Science,

then became Assistant professor, followed by Adjunct Associate Professor of philosophy at the University of the District of Columbia, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Politics, Howard University, all these at the age of 34.

Between 1975 and 1978, he became Director-General, Centre for Interdisciplinary and Political Studies, and a lecturer in Philosophy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

He also became a Professor of Philosophy, Bigard Memorial Senior Seminary (Roman Catholic Mission) in Enugu.

In 1979, at the age of 37, Dr. Okadigbo was appointed as the Political Adviser and Strategist to then president and was elected into the National Assembly to represent Anambra North senatorial district.

He was favoured to be the Senate President at the commencement of the democratic government.

However, due to his disagreement with President Olusegun Obasanjo, Evans Enwerem was elected to the position. Okadigbo later became President of the Nigerian Senate, after the impeachment of Evan Enwerem.

In 2002, Okadigbo decamped to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and was running mate to the party’s presidential flag-bearer, Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2003 Presidential elections, but they lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He died in September that same 2003 after inhaling substances suspected to be poisoned teargas during a peaceful protest led by Buhari against the result of the presidential election.