Since he called to tell me that he was diagnosed of cancer, I have been in prayers and some sort of panic. It worsened when I visited him a few months ago in his residence in Abuja. He had lost some weight and his skin became a bit darker. I could hardly recognize him from afar because he had lost so much hair probably as a result of the treatment he was undergoing. However, he was still his old self – calm, calculated and engaging. We spoke for a few hours and he offered thoughts about Nigeria. While I was leaving, he gave me so many books. It was obvious that his health was bad but I did not know that was going to be my last meeting with him. I wish I saw him again. I wish he lived a little longer and I will tell you why.
I met Dr. Emeka Enejere in the company of the former Governor of Rivers State and now Federal Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi some years ago. From our first day of meeting he took interest in me, my work and progress. Before me and behind me he always had good things to say. He always called me and offered guidance and suggestions whenever I approached him for such. When my father in-law died just after a few weeks after I met Dr. Enejere, he was one of those who supported me financially. He was a generous man although I cannot describe him as rich. He was probably too engrossed about intellectual wealth and the right way of doing things to bother unnecessarily about material accumulation. He was a contented man of class and style. He was always neatly dressed and had a taste for fashion that I consider uncommon for someone of his age. He was meticulous to a fault and cared about the remotest details of anything he is involved in.
A quintessential family man, the late political scientist was in many ways a moderator to me and a mentor. We did not always agree but he had a quiet way of offering me directions from his vast political experience and reservoir of wisdom. He regularly edited my articles and massacred them with suggestions until he could not do much due to ill health. Dr. Enejere was a modest man and a patriot. He was a dogged fighter for the interest of an Igbo man although he had a unique, inclusive and accommodating approach devoid of rancour. From the stories he shared with me in our last meeting, I realized that he had a burden of an unfinished assignment to reform the University of Nigeria Nsukka. His last appointment was that of a Pro-chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council before he was dubiously and unceremoniously removed by the then Minister for Education Mr. Nyesom Wike who replaced him with his lawyer, Mr. Emeka Ukala. Enejere shared his vision for that university with me as well as his experience before it was cut short. As he narrated the stories of the suspicious role of the former Minister in collaboration with the then Vice Chancellor Prof. Barth Okoro, I could notice a mixture of regret, anger and helplessness envelope his mood. He saw the appointment as an opportunity to instil transparency and accountability and set an example in university administration but the Minister thought otherwise. Of course his exit meant the return of the status quo where pilfering and meddlesomeness became the order of the day. The rest they say is history.
Before I left his house that day he gave me some of the lectures he delivered in that position and reports. He also informed me that the new Minister had constituted a panel of inquiry into the circumstances of his removal and suggested I make some inquiries about it. It was as if he knew we may not meet again. At the peak of the political offensive when I took several public positions against the wrongdoings of the former administration, it was Dr Enejere that always asked me to tone down my commentaries. He once requested me to buy a book – Letters on Tactics by Lenin. It is a compilation of letters written by the Russian revolutionary and political theorist Vladimir Lenin, to his fellow comrades during the communist struggles. Needless to say, I learnt so many things from that book which are useful to me till date.
Enejere was a perfect gentleman – quiet, unassuming, bold and full of wisdom. He was not just a scholar or rigorous political thinker but also a consummate analyst and indefatigable strategist. He was a pragmatic activist, tactician, principled man and above all a peace maker. He was an avid reader, intellectual paragon, social democrat and non-conformist. He was unusually humble about life, about what he knew, who he knew and was ever ready to share and guide. He was an honest man – sometimes honest to a fault and was an enviable example for young people. Whenever I get into any intellectual fix or ideological hiccup, I will usually called him up even at odd hours and get direction. I am still at loss why this illness came and snatched him a way at a time when I needed his wise counsel most but could not even do much to reciprocate his kindness to me. What shall I say to this great friend, teacher and comrade? Laa n’udo, O me udo. Ojemba Enw’ilo. May you find that peace you always preached in the bosom of the Lord and may God comfort your family.
The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. How to be happy is to make others so. Robert Green Ingersoll
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality. Dante Alighieri
Written by Uche Igwe, a Doctoral Researcher, Department of Politics School of Law, Politics and Sociology, Freeman Building, University of Sussex, Falmer Brighton BN1 9QE.
+447774905040
ucheigwe@sussex.ac.uk
