In the first part of this review, we focused on the impact of Dr Nwosu’s early immersion in childhood into the culture, values and norms of his Igbo ethnic origin on his personal conduct as well as sense of discipline, responsibility and purpose in life. Engineer Professor Anthony N. Nzeako, who hails from the same village and clan as the author in his opening, prefatory testimonial, establishes a link between the values inculcated in Dr. Nwosu such as hard work, diligence and focus on his academic attainments as he evolved into adulthood.
In his words, “The culture of hard work, determination and self-confidence, which he imbibed from these drills, not only opened the gates for him into three of the most prestigious educational institutions in the land, Dennis Memorial Grammar School, (DMGS), Onitsha; University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN); and University of Lagos, (UNILAG), Akoka, Lagos, but also saw him through each of these institutions in flying colours, Grade One Distinction in West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE), B.Sc. Honours, Second Class Upper Division in Political Science and Master of Science Degree (M. Sc), in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management at DMGS, UNN and UNILAG respectively”.
It is a testimony to Emeka’s scholastic brilliance that he earned a Federal Government Scholarship based on academic excellence, which covered tuition fees, accommodation, feeding and pocket money, which he enjoyed from the first to the final year at UNN having maintained a cumulative grade point not below 2.1 grade throughout at the institution. Remarkably, his obvious studiousness did not prevent him from participating fully in students’ union politics on campus as he began to hone his leadership skills along with his academic pursuits.
The author recounts that the biographies of great African leaders he had read in secondary school such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Sekou Toure of Guinea among others fuelled his interest in politics and quest to play leadership roles. At UNN, he was at various times elected Representative of Hall D at the Zik’s Flats in his first year, elected Secretary of the Ohuhu Students’ Association, a grouping of students from the Ohuhu clan in Umuahia, elected Secretary General of the Political Science Students Association elected Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Student’s Union Government (SUG) and elected Public Relations Officer of Zone D of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) comprising universities in the old Eastern Region encompassing the South-East and South-South zones of today.
Although he was a child when such tragic incidents as the pogrom against Igbos in the North, which led to the mass migration of people of Igbo origin including his parents back to the East, as well as the three-year Nigerian civil war occurred, Emeka and his family were not spared the agony, pains and scars of these events. Some of the author’s recollections of the traumatic experiences he personally witnessed are deeply emotional and heart-rending.
For instance, he writes, “Like I noted earlier, one of the immediate consequences of the war on us as kids in my community and neighboring villages was the truncation of our schooling. Schools were closed down; and many of them converted into military camps or refugee centres…The village was overflowing with a lot of human beings having received many returnees who fled home from different parts of the country, particularly the North where they were being hunted down on the streets and slaughtered by rampaging mobs. My father was one of those that made a narrow escape from the North”.
One of the most moving parts of the narrative are the rendering of the unyielding ‘songs of freedom’ chanted by new Biafran conscripts on their way to the warfront, moving songs of patriotism and sacrificial commitment to their envisaged fatherland, which were translated from Igbo into English by the author. The deep emotional trauma of the war even on young, impressionable minds like Emeka offers clues as to why Biafran nationalism remains strong and passionate even over five decades after the war.
After his eventful National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) experience in Owo, Ondo State, which the author recalls in characteristically vivid detail, and his one year stint at UNILAG for his Master’s degree programme, Emeka was employed at the Daily Times of Nigeria, the country’s largest circulating and most successful media conglomerate at the time having passed a competitive examination. It was where he commenced his journalistic career and our paths crossed when we became colleagues on the Political Desk of the newspaper.
This was at a critical period in the political evolution of the country when the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida was implementing its ambitious and convoluted political transition programme to an envisaged democratic dispensation that never materialized. The Political Desk was central to the operations of the newspaper and political correspondents on the Desk strove to outdo one another in breaking news stories as well as writing features articles, opinion pieces and news analyses for the various publications in the expansive Daily Times stable in a healthy, competitive spirit. We worked exceedingly hard and had fun no less intensely. After a hard day’s work, the famous ‘White House’ Calabar Restaurant across the road at Agidinbgi was our favorite joint where we engaged in heated political and intellectual debates over drinks and assorted delicacies including ubiquitous exotic dishes of Isiewu and Nkwobi among others. The collegial spirit and professional camaraderie are unforgettable.
Dr. Nwosu’s book offers a concise and pungent history of the Babangida regime’s transition programme, which featured the banning and unbanning, severally, of so called ‘old breed’ politicians, the recruitment into politics of a new generation of supposedly ‘new breed’ political actors, the creation of the two government-created political parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), party primaries and elections into local government councils, state governorships and Houses of Assembly, the National Assembly elections and, ultimately, the historic June 12, 1993, presidential election, which was won by the late Chief MKO Abiola of the SDP but annulled by the regime.
Giving an incisive and surgical assessment of the transition programe, Emeka writes, “With the benefit of hindsight, it may be difficult to say whether Babangida actually meant well with the programme. But it must be quickly conceded that the transition package was rich in conception, elaborate in scope, deep in content and innovative in character. However, Babangida, the architect of the programme and his henchmen in the military like Abacha, were lacking in sincerity of purpose”.
In addition to being an active member and later National President of the National Association of Political Correspondents (NAPOC), an association to foster networking and continuously develop the professional skills of members, Dr. Nwosu was an active participant in the activities of the Lagos State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) attending several National Conferences of the NUJ as a delegate from Lagos. He was also a key member of the media and publicity committee headed by respected Editor, cerebral economist and accomplished administrator, Chief Onyeama Ugochukwu, to manage the communications and public relations of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in his successful bid for the presidency in 1999.
One fascinating aspect of this book is the author’s documentation of his exhaustive efforts in community service and leadership, which sees him playing active roles in seeking to add value to the life of his community in Umukabia.
For instance, he was elected Chairman of the youth wing of the Umukabia Progressive Movement (UPM) In Lagos in 1990. In 1996, he was voted as the Vice President of the body. He was appointed Executive Secretary of the innovative Umukabia Economic Summit, an inititive of Professor of Electronic Engineering, Anthony Nzeako, in 2017. The purpose of the Summit was to identify the sustainable development goals of the community and proffer strategies for their actualization.
The hugely successful Summit was held on 27th December, 2018, and came up with a well-articulated road map for the development and transformation of the community in diverse sectors including water security, security of lives and property, infrastructural development, health care, transportation, rural industrialization and agriculture.
Having served successfully in diverse capacities in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Abuja since 1999, including being Special Adviser on Media to a former President of the Senate, Chief Evan Enwerem, it is not surprising that the author made a bold bid in 2007 to represent the Ikwuano-Umuahia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives first on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and later the defunct Action Congress (AC).
That this aspiration failed for several reasons despite the author’s rich academic, professional, leadership and community service trajectory and credentials speaks to the pervasive dysfunctions and systemic failings of Nigeria’s politics and democratic practice. Yet, as Professor Nzeako writes, “These setbacks notwithstanding, he is not done yet because according to him, “this is politics for you”. For Dr. Emeka Nwosu and his political future, it is most certainly still ‘morning yet on creation day’. In addition to portraits of a remarkable family life, the author offers insights in this book on his perspectives on federalism, the national question, the dilemma of leadership and nation building in post-colonial Nigeria.
– Ayobolu is a respected columnist with The Nation