Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu
Reminiscences on sacrifices of Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, By Johnson Ugwu
The significance of history for all of us is the invaluable guidance it gives to us even when circumstances tend to obfuscate the truth. With the benefit of hindsight, we see that truth is never hidden for anyone who seeks it.
It beats all imaginations that some individuals who have benefited bogusly from the political vicariousness and sagacity of the former Governor of Abia State and immediate past Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, especially from his immediate political domain of South-East Nigeria are playing the ostrich as though they are suffering a collective amnesia.
Arguing the political relevance and contributions of Dr. Onu in the whole of Nigeria and in particular, the South-East geopolitical zone is simply a symptom of amnesia or just a plain treacherousness and savagery. and there is no justification for robbing Peter to be able to pay Paul. The law of social justice and good conscience presupposes that you give every man his due.
If Dr. Onu desires to retire politically today, there is no doubt that he would be at peace with himself and his creator because he has run the race and has been crowned with glory. But such decision will be at the detriment of his numerous followers who still depend on his political guidance. That is why people keep persuading him to express interest in certain political positions, which he sometimes refused.
Just a reminder: Today, Nigeria is celebrating Change and Next-Level but not everyone knows the difficult route taken by pathfinders like Ogbonnaya Onu, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Lai Mohammed, Bisi Akande among others to birth the Change. But Onu particularly is not the one to blow his trumpet.
Throughout the federation, even in the far North, Dr. Onu is respected as one of the souls of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Like President Muhammadu Buhari, Onu is not a political jobber or laced with gluttony. He has his eyes on the bigger picture and never traded his discipline and dignity for political porridge. When he left office as the first Executive Governor of Abia State, Onu did not jump from one political party to the other, like some of his traducers did, in search of cheap political appointment. He remained resolute and steadfast in search of true political alternative to the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Onu’s effort yielded result when stakeholders heeded his advice and formed the APC. The result is what we are enjoying today in Nigeria.
No political office is too much for a man who has sacrificed so much for his people. But it is not all political appointments that Onu would want to take. He would vicariously consider political exigencies of the country before accepting any position. It calls to question that some political neophytes and severely hungry politicians would out of their selfish interest tend to drag a name like Onu, to the muds.
It is disheartening to read that Dr. Onu, is at the centre of bitter political infighting among four factions of Ebonyi State chapter of APC over who occupies the state’s federal cabinet slot.
Analysts say the infighting is because of the current power structure of the PDP in the state which favours Onu’s senatorial zone. As a result of that, some APC chieftains in other parts of the state want Onu to be stripped of his rights in APC because of the PDP power structure. This reasoning is at its best pedestrian. The PDP and APC are different political parties and they have their different histories. Nobody should seek to create confusion to gain a political gain. It is wrong and should not see the light of the day.
It is heart-warming that President Muhammadu Buhari and other key stakeholders in the APC know the history of Nigeria’s political development especially in the APC more than Onu’s political traducers in the South-East, particularly in Ebonyi State. It is a common truth that you cannot rob Peter to be able to pay Paul. And the Holy injunction remains that you give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God.
Johnson Ugwu, a public affairs analyst sent this piece from Abuja, Nigeria.
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