From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), a group of majorly statesmen and intellectuals, has said its late leader, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, worked assiduously for the development of Nigeria.
It added that the foremost legal icon who passed on Tuesday, thought and dreamt of Nigeria as a great and democratic entity.
A close ally of Nwabueze and Secretary of ILT, Prof. Elochukwu Amucheazi, who spoke on his demise in Enugu, recalled that at the threat of the ‘destruction’ and corruption of the country in the early 1960s, the eminent lawyer jumped into the stage, wrote and published almost on daily basis over 60-page documents of warning. “He would drive to the University of Ibadan in the morning and hand over the publications to me.”
According to him, Nwabueze, who convened and was the leader of ILT until his death, remained an authentic Igbo and Nigerian patriot.
Amucheazi used the opportunity to refute the story in some sections of the country that Nwabueze was responsible for the draft of the nation’s constitution which created the present imbalanced federal structure that the country currently has.
He stated that Nwabueze had warned that no single individual can write the constitution of any country, stating that there were many other legal luminaries from different parts of Northern and Southern Nigeria that were part of the drafting of the Nigerian Constitution.
Amucheazi said he worked with Nwabueze as the founding Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, a position that the later held for more that 20 years, and continued to work with him in Igbo Leaders of Thought.
“In fact, it’s right to style him President/Secretary of Ohanaeze. He founded Igbo Leaders of Thought, of eminent Igbo scholars, thinkers, statesmen. And he took over from FRA Williams in The Patriots, which was an organization of eminent leaders of this country. A lot have been accomplished by these organisations, even though the democratic order is yet to be achieved. We bid goodbye to Prof Nwabueze and promise to continue the struggle,” Amucheazi mourned.
He said that the late constitutional lawyer wrote nearly 50 fundamental books from research. Ten of packages were volumes in Africa and three on his biography, stressing that these books clearly revealed Nwabueze’s identify as a foremost intellectual.