Follow Us on Google
By Chido Nwangwu
“To honour him whom we have made is far from honouring him that hath made us.” It was Michel de Montaigne, the 16th Century French philosopher and writer who wrote those magnificent words. I think and know Dr. Alex Ekwueme as one of those who hath made us.
Those were my first response and words of acceptance of the request to me that I serve as keynote speaker at the August 24, 2012, international event celebrating 80 years of a great, impactful and purposeful life.
Ide Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, born October 21, 1932, is both philosopher and king; visionary and practician; philanthropist and resourceful role model for millions.
It remains a great privilege for me to appreciate Dr. Ekwueme — respectfully, to his face and esteemed presence.
It is a continuation of my trans-generational commitment to appreciate and honour outstanding leaders and persons who continue to make a difference and inspire our commitments.
What do I say when the man is old enough to be my father?
What do I say to a gentle giant whose signature humble personality and mild speaking style stand in contradistinction to the towering strings of Olympian, concrete achievements.
Yes, I do know that Dr. Ekwueme, recipient of Nigeria’s high national award of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), lived a quintessential embodiment of public service and living example of an individual — working in cooperation with his wife Mrs. Beatrice Ekwueme, engaged in strategic generosity for almost 45 years!!
He established the first indigenous architectural firm in Nigeria, Ekwueme Associates, Architects and Town Planners, and improved the face of Nigeria.
In the arena of politics, he will forever be remembered as the man who formally led, through his democratic election in 1979 as Vice President of Nigeria, the most comprehensive reintegration of the Igbo into the geo-political and socio-economic pillars of power in the country.
Set aside other fanciful claims of that period. I do know that VP Ekwueme used his appointment of Mark Okoye as Nigeria’s Minister for the Abuja Federal Capital (with the city then under construction) to empower thousands of the Igbo and other easterners who, today, have become key economic factors in Abuja. Remarkably, Ekwueme does not cite or brag about this critical role. He will not talk about it but I will.
Again, he is one of those who made us.
Ekwueme’s philanthropy, relatively and in terms of community impact, compares to the Carnegies, the Mellons, the Gates, Mohameds, Bank-Anthonys, the Buffets, Annenbergs, Mosingers, Ilodibes and many other cheerful givers. Moreso, for me to capture the modest totality of Ide Alex Ekwueme’s meaningful life will require a special book.
Dr. Ekwueme was, by no means perfect; he also had issues where some disagreed strongly with him.
Permit me to note that our Igbo and Yoruba nativist refuseniks and hardliners dismissed Ekwueme and others such as my mentor the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo who worked politically with the Sokoto caliphate, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the Kaduna ‘mafia’ and the northern Nigeria conservative leadership as “sell-outs.” Such arguments still feed some quarters as they did in 1979 through the 1980s.
As a matter of fact, in the early 1980s, while I was a very young staff of the Electronic News Gathering unit of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 6, Aba, I joined in covering VP Ekwueme and President Shehu Shagari’s news events in our broadcast area, which included the old Imo, Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa states.
Let me note that Nigeria’s incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari toppled the democratically elected presidency of Shehu Shagari and VP Ekwueme on December 31, 1983, when Buhari was an Army General; Buhari kept Ekwueme in jail and held Shagari in cordial house arrest.
Ide Alex Ekwueme values education; got the best, and gave hundreds of scholarships. His own primary school started at St. John’s Anglican Central School, at Ekwulobia, a few miles from his hometown of Oko; attended the prestigious King’s College, Lagos; showed such excellence that he was given the U.S. Fulbright Scholarship; 1955, admitted to the University of Washington, where he bagged a bachelor’s degree in architecture and city planning; a master’s degree in urban planning; from the University of London, he excelled with degrees in sociology, history, philosophy and law; from the University of Strathclyde, his Ph.D. in architecture. A well-rounded intellectual, he continued to earn the Bachelor of Law degree from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos.
At his 80th birthday, I said during my keynote presentation that: “Dr. Alex Ekwueme, you have planted human seeds through large-scale scholarships and empowerment of Oko persons and other communities; many will thank you; maybe a few will scorn you with their violent ingratitude that the sun and moon you showed them were not bright enough. No matter what, Ide, your name and legacies are greater.”
As a chronicler of history, ancient and modern, of current affairs and the business of power for the past 35 years of the Igbo nation, of Nigeria, of Africans and Americans, I can state without any concerns of contradiction that Dr. Alex Ekwueme is among the top 50 greatest Africans of the 20th century!
Finally, I offer you the gift of the wise words of my Aro elders: Ide, may your lineage endure!!
•Dr. Nwangwu, founder and publisher of USAfrica Multimedia Networks, wrote from Houston, Texas, USA.
