Icha-Ituma: further insights

The life and times of the quintessence of integrity and service, His Excellency, Dr Icha Emmanuel Ituma, is still unfolding. As preparations for the Icha Ituma Memorial Lecture being put together by the Icha Ituma Foundation gather steam, those snippets of his life that made him stand out in a motley crowd have continued to come to limelight.

Dr Ituma, by the way, was an emeritus Secretary to the State Government who served three different administrations in that capacity, beginning with the old Anambra State. He also held the same position in old Enugu State as well as in Ebonyi State. As I noted in my earlier recollections about Ituma in this column, the man was also the deputy governor of old Enugu State. I also pointed out that he was, “at some point in his public service career, the Sole Administrator of Enugu Local Government Council. As a technocrat of note, Ituma, deservedly, rose to the rank of a Permanent Secretary in the Civil Service of old Enugu State. He did not end his glorious march without a trophy. This came through his appointment as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Australia and the Pacific”.

Beyond these familiar representations of the man, I had a one-on-one encounter with the graceful Ituma in those days that Sam Egwu was in the saddle as the governor of Ebonyi State. But that memory appeared to have receded, 22 years after. But I was lucky that someone refreshed my memory.

Just the other day, John Otu, my friend and intellectual soulmate, and I were sharing some thoughts on the forthcoming Icha Ituma Memorial Lecture. I had all the while thought that I knew Dr Ituma only from a distance. But John reminded me that he was one of the persons that I interviewed when we were preparing the ground for the biography of Dr Sam Egwu. That was most revealing. Following John’s reminder, I have since gone into the archives to unearth aspects of the man that I inadvertently left out in my earlier recollections. Perhaps, the passage of time took a toll on my memory. Otherwise, how could I have forgotten that I knew more about Dr Ituma than I could readily recollect.

When Sam Egwu turned 50 in 2004, I played more than a passing role in the activities leading to the birthday celebration. One of the actionable outcomes of the birthday event was the need to begin to put together some vital literature that could, in the long run, become good resource materials for a biography. In the course of laying the groundwork for a Sam Egwu biography, there was need for the team, which I led, to have a chat with a few individuals who could provide us with rare insights about the man Sam Egwu. Icha-Ituma’s name featured prominently in that compilation. In fact, he was about the first person that we sat with for an interview on Sam Egwu.

Dr Icha Emmanuel Ituma, who was simply presented then as one-time Nigeria’s ambassador to Australia and a prominent citizen of Ebonyi State, provided us with rich insights on Sam Egwu that truly served our purpose. He reminisced on how Egwu became the governor of Ebonyi State and how his leadership lifted the state out of the cesspool of backwardness. But it was not the race for the governorship of Ebonyi State that brought Egwu and Ituma together. Both men met in 1981 as students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Ituma took his time to study the Egwu personality and became convinced that the man was humble and honest.

But a 1983 incident was deeply etched in the grateful heart of Ituma. It was the year that Ituma came face to face with the selflessness that embodies the Egwu personality. That year, Ituma was to conduct practical examinations in Agriculture at Mbieri, Imo State, for WAEC candidates. Ituma had a fairly new Volvo car while Egwu had a Peugeot 305 car. But for fear of his new Volvo being snatched by armed robbers on the road between Abakaliki and Mbieri, Ituma decided to borrow Egwu’s Peugeot 305 for the journey. Surprisingly to Ituma, an Egwu who should have declined to surrender his car for the same fear of armed robbery attack willingly gave it out to Ituma. He took the risk on behalf of his friend. Ituma travelled with the car and came back safely.

Since then, one circumstance or the other has knit both men closely. But no opportunity presented itself better than in March 1998 when Egwu formally made known to Ituma his plans to vie for the governorship position in Ebonyi State. Owing to what he already knew about Egwu, Ituma entertained no doubts about Egwu’s ability to weather the storm. To give his blessings to Egwu’s ambition, Ituma invited his wife over and both prayed for the friend who was nursing a tall ambition to lead the newly created Ebonyi State. Despite his support for Egwu, Ituma, characteristically, sought the face of God over Egwu’s governorship drive. Perhaps, he received divine revelation that he was looking for. So, when it mattered most, he stepped out with assured gaits to identify with Egwu just weeks to the elections. He gave his blessings and the project worked. Egwu won the election decisively. As Ambassador Ituma was to tell us in the course of the interview, , Egwu won not because he was rich or influential. His victory was divine. This divine ordination ran through the entire gamut of Egwu’s leadership in the state.

Having observed Egwu take charge of affairs in the state, Ituma was satisfied that Egwu as governor played politics of love, tolerance, negotiation, consultation and accommodation. The result of that style of governance was the peace that reigned in the state. For Ituma, Egwu’s administration was focused on God. That was why he was more forgiving than the father of the biblical prodigal son.

Ituma rated the Egwu administration a success for the simple reason that it was anchored on God. This rating is at the heart of his outlook which is effectively anchored on the fear of God. Ituma, was the moral conscience of the people. When the need for guardian angels who will show the way for others to follow arose, Ituma was always there to play that messianic role. He was never known to have compromised on good standards all through his public life. In a clime like ours where values are hardly celebrated, and are even shunned, the life of service and integrity led by Ituma could, forever, have remained unsung. But the saving grace here is that the man raised a family that imbibed the noble philosophy of their progenitor. That is why the larger Icha-Ituma cannot afford to forget. They are projecting to the world the legacy of service and integrity that their patron saint epitomized. The forthcoming Memorial Lecture promises to paint the picture of the Dr Icha Emmanuel Ituma we probably do not know with bold strokes.