 Published
December 23rd, 2010
Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro was an icon of Nigerian
politics. He belonged to the truly left of centre few in the
arena of political practice dominated by a large crowd of
comprador self-seekers who serve their own pockets and the
international predators but never the people of Nigeria.
Anthony Enahoro was one of the few who had genuine
intentions to serve the people. Tony shone brilliantly as a
star, one of the few in a long-standing cloud of national
hopelessness for development. In his early days, Tony
emerged as Editor of The Comet, one of the fiery
newspapers in the stable that the reading public knew as
Zik’s Group of newspapers. He also worked as a reporter
on the Southern Nigerian Defender. These were the
authentic mouthpieces of the campaign for the decolonisation
of Nigeria. Tony caught his public teeth in that stable. He
was a golden donation from journalism to politics. Most
unfortunately, the emergence of two narrow interest
political parties in 1950 derailed the oldest surviving
party that started as clarion call for the socialist
development of Nigeria into their ranks of tribally focused
political machines. The twin emergence of the Yoruba
interest Action Group AG and the Northern interest Northern
People’s Congress NPC pushed the erstwhile socialist
propagating National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon NCNC to
become the Igbo tribal political platform. With the
consolidation of the three parties as the government
business controllers in the three antagonistic regions, Tony
Enahoro became one of the leading thinkers in the Action
Group, the ruling party in his region. The conversion of the
pro NCNC Mid-West area to an Action Group territory was
partly due to Tony’s political work in the area. Although he
worked in the Action Group, his political character was akin
to that of the radical leaders of the Zikist Movement, the
firebrand wing of the anti-colonial struggle. The leaders of
that movement, Raji Abdallah, Osita Agwuna, Mokugwo Okoye
and Zana Bukar Dipcharima were older than Enahoro who never
joined the Zikist movement, but his political thoughts were
similar and to the radical stand of the Zikists. Indeed,
many thought he was of the group. Tony once made a public
statement that he was never a member of the Zikist Movement.
Political deftness on the part of the Action Group saw Tony
emerging as a spokesperson of the opposition Action Group in
the House of Representatives. A study of the Hansard,
the official records of the debates in the House confirms
Anthony Enahoro as one of the very best debaters and
informed parliamentarians that this country, possibly the
British Commonwealth has ever seen. Parliamentarians of his
calibre in the house included the likes of Maitama Sule of
the NPC and indeed, I cannot now recall another! As
undergraduates and avid readers of the newspapers of those
days that were indeed newspapers, we usually browsed the
papers every morning to search, first for the headlines that
would lead us to read reports on debaters of the calibre of
Enahoro and Maitama Sule. Certainly, standards have gone
down today virtually everywhere! Parliamentary debates! News
reporting! Politics and politicking! Political campaigns!
Government programmes! I believe that Enahoro would not
recognise what is on the ground in the public affairs of
this country today, in the Nigeria for which he applied
beautifully his intellect and political sagacity.
Arguably, Tony probably lost track of his political direction
when he worked in the despicable autocratic military
governments that derailed the political and economic
development of Nigeria. I am sure he later recognised the
futility of being an accomplice to military dictators,
particularly autocrats who had no idea of how to promote
development in a backward neocolonial country.
It was to his credit and a proof of the uselessness of his
years with dictators that Tony became a leader of the
movement that fought the dictators to pack their filthy
baggage and get out of government. Tony was a leader of the
National Democratic Coalition NADECO that rubbed the
noses of the dictators in the mud. Tony went further to lead
the Sovereign National Conference that came out with a
Draft Constitution for Nigeria in 2006. This writer has
proposed to the Democratic Alternative and other political
parties that believe sincerely in the development of Nigeria
to adopt the Draft Constitution as a party document
and propagate it among the people of Nigeria as the
authentic basic law for the development of our country. The
self-serving ruling politicians behave as if the document
does not exist. They prefer to tinkle the military imposed
1999 Constitution to perpetuate them in power. Only parties
like the DA, NCP and PRP can promote the Draft
Constitution that emerged from the Sovereign National
Conference. Only when such parties get into power can we use
the Draft to reconfigure the constitutional structure of
Nigeria. Only thereafter will this country have any hope for
authentic development that will improve the quality of
living of 150 million Nigerians. The Draft is qualitatively
superior to the current 1999 Constitution in use. It is much
more consistent with an arrangement for the rapid economic
development of Nigeria as against the one that serves narrow
interests of the ruling right wing politicians and
international capitalism.
Members of the Democratic Alternative console the
family of the departed icon, Anthony Eromosele Enahoro for
the loss of a close and loved one. Your family gives us
excellent human materials particularly journalism. Tony was
the greatest. You must take solace in the undisputed
historical fact that Tony remains one of the few historic
giants in the history of our country. Aside from his records
in the Hansard, his book Fugitive Offender remains
one of the eternal political treatises that will determine
the political and economic progress of the African
continent. That is when we are ready to develop! Although
he is physically gone, we congratulate your family for
giving such a worthy son to this beleaguered country. We
pray that his work will not be in vain.
Adieu! Tony Enahoro!
This battered country needs many more of people with your
leadership quality.
Dr Abayomi
Ferreira
President
Democratic
Alternative |
