How time flies! This Thursday, May 22nd, will be ten years when the mortal remains of the pan-Africanist and elder statesman, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije was lowered to mother earth in his hometown, Ngodo, Isuochi, Abia State. His 86th birthday would have been celebrated on January 11, 2025.
There were two things in his early childhood that left him with a lasting psychological injury. First, a man in his village who had a superficial burn in the whole outermost layer of the skin died of severe pains while the relatives waited for a tottering wooden lorry, the only means of transportation to the General Hospital at Okigwe, about ten miles from Isuochi. Second, the bleating of his pet goat as it was being slaughtered for Christmas celebration made him to develop dislike for meat. Hence, he became a vegetarian till death.
Comrade’s social conscience manifested in his primary school days when he periodically mobilized other children for the cleaning of village streams and manual maintenance of the sandy roads in his community. But his flair for social activism got fired up in 1952 when he entered secondary school. He became inspired by the works of two African leaders, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Col. Abdul Nasser of Egypt. In fact, Col. Nasser’s opposition to the British in Suez Canal in 1956 emboldened his fighting spirit against all forms of oppression and domination by colonial masters. Comrade was so engrossed in Nasser’s ideals that the title of his essay paper in English Language in the West African School Certificate Examination was: ‘My Hero, Abdul Nasser’.
As such, when he got direct admission to the University College, Ibadan, he came under “cross currents of intellectual influences and ideological persuasions.” The Marxist school of thought which Nkrumah and Nasser belonged became his ideological leaning. Comrade was part of the students that protested the botched Anglo-Nigeria defence pact. He was also in open solidarity with Pa Michael Imoudu, Nigeria’s foremost labour leader.
Though he earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics, his first career choice was to enlist in the army and organize a revolution. He was however, dissuaded by a lecturer, Rev Father Dr. Tames O’Connell, who convinced him that the military was a conservative institution. He later took to journalism and honed his exceptional writing firepower as a features writer in Daily Times and after three months, he moved to Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), now (FRCN), as news talk writer. He was also a member of the Socialist Workers and Farmers Party (SWAFP) led by Dr. Tunji Otegbeye, Eskor Toyo, and Femi Okunnu.
When the Nigeria civil war broke out in 1967, he was compelled to return to the Eastern region and worked as a Director of Propaganda, a triumvirate that comprised Dr. Ifegun Eke, John Ekwere and Comrade himself. The fearsome broadcaster, Okokon Ndem worked under this team, and it was obvious that the fireworks were more unnerving than bombs and bullets. After the war and out of principle, Comrade refused to return to NBC. He became the founding editor and publisher of the magazine, AFRISCOPE, the most reliable voice of the then progressives in the continent. The magazine was so authoritative on issues around Africa that it was made a compulsory reading by most secondary and tertiary schools. However, according to Obi Nwakamma, “the magazine suffered from the tyranny of the Lagos advertising cartel that squeezed it out of what is now known as the “Lagos-Ibadan press.”
The lifting of ban on political activities in 1978 attracted Comrade and other progressive elements like Chinua Achebe, S.G. Ikoku, and Arthur Nwankwo to the Aminu Kano-led Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). Comrade was the national publicity secretary till 1983 when the military proscribed all political parties in the country.
Years later, his appointment as the Information Secretary (Minister) after the controversial annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election, and which brought him a series of onslaughts from the Southwest-controlled media, almost gave him away as a bigot who wanted to cut a pound of flesh for the mistreatment of Igbos during the civil war.
Comrade helped to reposition Ohanaeze Ndigbo as the Igbo’s mouthpiece. He was at his best during the grueling defence of Ohanaeze Ndigbo petition at the Oputa panel in 1999. Although an unapologetic Igbo irredentist, Comrade did not consider place of origin in friendship or in hiring personal staff. Competence was his cherished benchmark. His spartan-like discipline tinctured him with perfectionism and his children, whom he inculcated ethical values, are all holding out on their own in his absence.
Comrade’s 12-year tenure in the Nigerian Senate was eventful. He fought against the attempted imposition of state of emergency in Anambra State under Governor Chris Ngige in 2003. His bills and motions were largely in support of the workers, the downtrodden, the marginalized, students, and in strengthening the country’s constitutional democracy. He was a leading light of the opposition against Obasanjo’s third term agenda in 2006. Today, the country is missing him because of the sickening number of ‘o-yes men’ who cannot speak truth to power.
Senator Chukwumerije loved his people. It was through his intervention that NDDC constructed the Leru-Mbato-Amuda-Mbala Road. He also attracted the Isuochi power substation at Nkwoagu which the former M/D of Rural Electrification Agency of Nigeria and son of the soil, Engr. Ken Achugbu completed and brought over 20 transformers. Comrade made efforts towards attracting a tertiary institution to his area, just as constructing the Mmam bridge at Abia-Enugu boundary and Igu River dam in Bende were in part, his last wishes.
Our open disagreement when political interests were at cross-purposes was not out of disrespect but on conviction. And sagacity, not necessarily age, has shown that it would have been managed better if it were to be today. Despite Comrade’s eclectic and eccentric personae, he was charitable to admit his shortcomings. He was noted for bowing to superior argument. We will continue to draw inspiration from his modesty and speaking out for the voiceless and the oppressed. Keep resting, the people’s comrade!