| Surviving founding
fathers of Nigeria
By CHIDI OBINECHE
Monday, November
30, 2009
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•Photo:
Sun News Publishing
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They toiled and tended the nation, laying good precepts and
a foundation that has been brushed by years of unmitigated
calumny and strains.
They envisioned the cradle, rocked its rubrics with soothing
lullabies, and jealously guarded its formative unsteady steps.
They built a potentially great nation on the cradle of unity
in diversity.
They nurtured the burgeoning state with masterpiece statecraft,
filial love, and selfless care.
Today, only sex of them are alive. They are, Alhaji Shehu
Shagari, Alhaji Inuwa Wada, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, Alhaji
Shettima Ali Monguno, Ambassador (Dr M.T Mbu, and Chief Mbazulike
Amaechi. They are now advanced in age, but are not constrained
by it. Indeed, they are the emerald kings. Recently, Mbu celebrated
his 80th birthday anniversary and there was no government
presence, a sure reminder of their current status and government
perception of their role.
Mbazulike Amaechi, who also doubles as one of the few surviving
Zikists who executed quasi guerilla warfare for the nation’s
independence recently in Kaduna lamented that “Nigeria
has ignored and neglected the founding fathers and great nationalists
who sacrificed their lives, suffered in imprisonment and other
forms of deprivation and degradation in the hands of colonial
powers in the struggle to secure sovereignty for our country.”
Although they have been roundly upstaged by the new leaders,
and chased into reticent retirement, their shrill voices of
caution and wisdom occasionally rings.
Shehu Shagari
Politically astute, and strategic. He first landed on the
political scene in 1954 when he was elected a member of the
federal House of Representatives for Sokoto West. He remained
there till 1958 when he was appointed the parliamentary secretary
to the Prime Minister, the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
In 1959, Shagari became the acting Minister of Commerce and
Industry. This lasted for a few months before he became the
substantive minister of Economic Development.
In 1960, he became the Minister of Pensions and Establishment.
From 1962 to 1965, he was the nation’s Minister of Internal
Affairs, and later Minister of Works from 1965 to 1966.
After the military intervention in 1966, he returned to the
North and was made Commissioner for Establishment, North Western
(now Sokoto State) He later returned to the national stage
in 1969, when he became the Federal Commissioner (Minister)
for Economic Development, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction.
From 1971 to 1975, he was Federal Commissioner for Finance,
before he went to the constituent Assembly in 1977.
He capped a glorious career in service for the nation when
he was elected the first Executive President in October 1979.
After his government was toppled in a military coup d’etat
on December 31, 1983, he was banned by the rampaging military
authorities from Partisan politics, and holding public office;
engaging in farming and writing.
One of his books “Wakar Nigeria (Song of Nigeria), remains
an undying testimony of his views and vision for Nigeria,
a country, he spent more than three decades serving at various
levels.
Yusuf Maitama Sule
Born in 1929 in Kano, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule came into
the Federal House of Representatives in 1954 and later became
the Chief Whip from 1955 to 1956. Between 1959 and 1966, he
was the Federal Minister of Mines and Power. He returned to
Kano after the military coup in 1966 to become the commissioner
for local government, in 1967 upto 1974. He was the chairman
National Council for Arts and Culture, and became the nation’s
Chief Complaints Commissioner from 1975 to 1978 Maitama Sule
was the leader of Delegates to the Conference of Independent
African States, in Addis Ababa which proposed the resolution
that led to the creation of Organization of African Unity,
OAU, (1960) and member first Nigerian Delegation to the United
Nations (1960). He was the president’s representative,
Lancaster House talks on Zimbabwe, London in 1979, and Nigeria’s
Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1981 –
83 before becoming the Minister of National Guidance from
1983 – 84. He currently lives in Kano.
Chief Matthew Mbu
By 1952, Mbu was already a member of the Eastern House of
Assembly and in 1954 he became a member of the Federal House
of Representatives for Ogoja. From 1954 to 1955 he was the
Federal Minister of Labour and later acting Minister of Transport.
He traversed the Ministries of Commerce and Industry, Works
and later Minister of State, office of the Prime Minister.
Between 1960 and 1966, he was member of Parliament for Ogoja,
combining it with the Ministry of Defence (Navy). He became
the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs,
and later Federal Minister of Transport and Aviation. Mbu
was the first Nigerian high commissioner to the United Kingdom
from 1955 to 1959. In 1959, he became the first Nigerian Chief
representative in the United Nations. In 1960, he was the
Chief delegate to the International Parliamentary Union Conference
in Brussels, Belgium and in several other European cities.
He also played critical diplomatic roles at the United Nations,
(UN) Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) now (AU). He currently
lives in Lagos, and has been a prime mover of the South-South
Peoples Assembly.
Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno
He was a member of the Federal parliament from 1959 to 1966,
and became the Minister of Defence (Air force) in 1965. From
1965 to 1966 he was the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs
and later Federal Commissioner for trade during the period.
He lives in Maiduguri, Borno State. Since he went into retirement,
he has shunned all forms of partisan politics and interests.
Inuwa Wada
He was first elected in 1951 as a member of the Northern House
of Assembly. He was subsequently nominated to the Federal
House of Representatives. For 15 years, culminating in 1966,
when the military struck, he served as minister covering various
portfolios. As Minister of Works and Survey under the Administration
of the late Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa he cut the figure
of a quiet, yet effective administrator, in contrast to his
hectic schedule as the nation moved through major developmental
projects as part of a 6 year plan during the early 1960’s.
Indeed, he launched into politics in 1945 as a founding member
of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). He served the party
at various levels including secretary and national organizer.
In 1965, after the death of Muhammadu Ribadu, he was appointed
Minister of Defence to replace him.
He currently lives in Kano, running a num of business concerns.
He is also the oldest of the Nationalists, having been born
in 1917.
Mbazulike Amaechi (The boy is good)
Before he became Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation after
independence, he had a chequered political career holding
positions in the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC).
He was also a kingpin of the Zikist movement that waged endless
battles against the colonialists.
The military intervention in the nation’s political
affairs short circuited an illustrious political leadership
career. Although he was in politics in the second republic,
he did not hold any visible leadership position. Now, in retirement
in his native Mkpor town in Anambra State, he still lends
his voice to burning domestic and national issues.
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