In December 2018, I was in Enugu State, south-east Nigeria, to spend the Christmas holiday on the invitation of my good friend and big brother, Dr. Patrick Asadu, a prominent Enugu politician, who at the time was the member representing Igboeze South/Nsukka federal constituency in the Federal House of Representatives. A medical doctor by training with an additional degree in Law, Hon. Asadu, my host, is an extremely brilliant public administrator and astute politician who is a leading member Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani’s “Ebeano” political family that has dominated the politics of Enugu State since 1999. A taciturn strategist widely regarded as the brain box of the Ebeano political family, Asadu has had a long public service career, beginning in 1999, when he was first appointed commissioner in the government of Governor Nnamani. He would go on to serve as local government chairman before his first election into the federal House in 2007. Asadu was re-elected for a record four terms between 2007 and 2023.
Apart from being good friends, Asadu also considers me his brother as, according to him, his section of the Nsukka area of Enugu State shares an ancestral link with the Igala people of my home state of Kogi. In fact, on the occasion of my visit to Nsukka, the natives actually showed me the ancient route that links Nsukka and Idah, the seat of the Attah in Kogi State. But, most importantly, it was Asadu that created an inroad for me into the political leadership cycle of Enugu State, where I met Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu, one of Nigeria’s most phenomenal politicians of the Fourth Republic. Before my 2018 Christmas holiday in Enugu, I had made countless visits to Enugu from my base in Abuja to attend very important state functions and political activities, which strengthened my bond with the people and leadership of what has now become my second home state.
Meeting Senator Ekwerenmadu up close and personal resulted in a relationship that was characterized by respect, love, affection, concern and care for me. I had unfettered access to his home in Abuja and Enugu, as well as his high office of the Deputy Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at any time of the day. Coming close to Senator Ekwerenmadu revealed him as a first class patriot who was one of Nigeria’s greatest political thinkers of the Fourth Republic. A forthright man of high integrity, I have always maintained the Senator Ekwerenmadu was one of Nigeria’s most impactful legislators, whose quality legislative interventions redefined Nigeria’s constitutional democracy for the better. From being the architect of the “Doctrine of necessity,” which saved Nigeria from a major constitutional crisis, to his tireless efforts at constitution amendments in order to transform the 1999 Constitution from a “decree” to a truly “We-the-people” legal document, and his countless progressive legislative agenda for electoral reforms towards an improved electoral management system, Senator Ekwerenmadu can be considered Nigeria’s version of America’s Benjamin Franklin. As far back as 2008, Senator Ekwerenmadu had conversed the adoption of electronic voting and transmission of results as a means of tidying up Nigeria’s electoral management system.
Apart from delivery of quality legislations on the floor of the Senate, where he represented Enugu West Senatorial District for 20 years, between 2003 and 2023, Senator Ekwerenmadu has no equal when it comes to attracting physical infrastructural projects to his people. My 2018 Christmas holiday afforded me the opportunity of witnessing the infrastructural wonder that is Enugu West Senatorial District. On the morning of December 26, 2018, my host, Asadu, detailed one of his aides to convey me from Nsukka to Senator Ekwerenmadu’s country home in Ani Nri Local Government Area of Enugu State. As soon as we entered Enugu West Senatorial District, we started driving on an unending, clean, pothole-free asphalt nylon tarred road all the way to the senator’s country home.
Even when we got to our destination, the road continued right round the entire district. Along the way, we came across multiple bridges, irrigation projects, water facilities and many other social amenities. In fact, our driver told us that Enugu State governments don’t bother about Enugu West because Senator Ekwerenmadu had taken the burden of providing rural infrastructure off their shoulder. As a presiding officer, Senator Ekwerenmadu was able to make sense of the much-criticized constituency and regional intervention projects because, where others used their privileged position for self-service, Senator Ekwerenmadu converted his privileges to opportunities for selfless service to his people.
As I ruminated on the recent happenings in the Nigerian polity, especially on the concerns about Nigeria sliding into a one-party state and the demise of the main opposition PDP, I became emotional thinking about the void the absence of Senator Ekwerenmadu has left in the national politics of Nigeria. When PDP lost power in 2015 after 16 years in power, the lot fell on Senator Ekwerenmadu to provide leadership as the highest ranking member of the party in Nigeria. Through political dexterity, Senator Ekwerenmadu secured victory as the Deputy President of the Senate in an APC-majority Senate; a position he used to lead the PDP to full recovery before the 2019 general election. Sadly, while Nigeria still needs his services, Senator Ekwerenmadu, a political colossus, thinker, reformer, philosopher and patriot par excellence, is behind bars in the United Kingdom for a crime he did not commit. He was simply a victim of a viciously racist British judicial system that decided to use an African “Big man” as a Guinea pig to test a malicious law that is clearly non-justiciable in reality, as the Senator Ekwerenmadu I know cannot be remotely connected to human trafficking for the purpose of organ harvesting. The proof of evidence does not support such allegations. And that was why Nigeria should have intervened on his behalf but failed to do so.
Unfortunately, the Nigerian nation abandoned one of its greatest of all time to his fate. In fact, the Buhari government even went as low as to tie the hands and legs of Senator Ekwerenmadu during his moment of malicious trial in a foreign land, a vengeful move that was clearly politically motivated. Born on May 12, 1962, as Senator Ekwerenmadu turns 63, he has transcended the realm of statesmanship and out of sight will never be out of mind.