The news of the death of Chief Ojo Maduekwe came like a thunderbolt to many considering the fact that he has of recent been in the public domain as one of the key actors in the unfolding drama of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
One had followed closely his political career and service to the nation but one’s close interaction with him dates back to 1999 when he was the pioneer Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was salutatory welcomed to the ministry as an outsider and nobody really gave him the chance to succeed regardless of his antecedents as an astute politician with a discernible sagacity and suave, very brilliant, cultured and a man of letters with some level of philosophical and literary bent.
The fact remained that he was saddled with a difficult task, which was to bring together a most diverse elements of the nation’s intangible and tangible cultural and tourism properties. But did he achieved success for the about one year or so that he was in charge of the ministry?
Yes, I should say and quite creditably as well. For any critical followers of our ministry before it became defunct, you would agree with me that he laid a solid foundation for the ministry. In fact, he was cerebral and very analytical in the way he handled the affairs of the ministry.
He laid a roadmap for the ministry, which beside Chief Franklin Ogbuewu, who came some years after him tried to run with the vision of Maduekwe and even expanded on it, other ministers after them, about six, only chased shadows. In doing so, he was guided by his intellectualism and displayed to the amazement of many who encountered him in those earlier days, an understanding of the issues at stake.
He set up the tourism master plan committee, which comprised people of diverse backgrounds with assistance from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to produce a blue print for the industry. Sadly, that document never saw the light of day light till 2008 while its implementation has suffered a stillbirth and no wonder today that our tourism industry remains a beggarly one and rudderless because there is no roadmap guiding our engagements.
Among his many strides was the celebration of the national creativity day with the late literary icon and Iroko, Professor Chinue Achebe as the first recipient. He also gave vent to so many international treaties and ensured that the ministry, which was barely two months old then, celebrated the World Tourism Day.
He was quite humble, humane and just in his ways, thorough and detailed in his dealing with people and issues and ensured that his actions or words were not misconstrued. I recalled when we, the travel journalists (ANJET), had some differences with him over his sponsoring one of our colleagues to Addis Ababa for an official event.
Then I was the head of the group and when he learnt of our grouse on his return he put a call to me in the office to explain what informed his decision and gave assurances that he would always seek our inputs in such matters.
That was unbelievable that a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would condescend to such a level to explain his action to a ‘common’ reporter. But that was Ojo Maduekwe, who rightly fitted the description of a ‘Philosopher King’ for you. There was also a day the secretary of our association and I went to Abuja to see him.
We took the night bus from Lagos and arrived the next morning and were among the early birds in his office. We were kept in his waiting room all day. Tired, hungry and unkempt! We felt totally abandoned, frustrated and annoyed with ourselves for undertaking the journey. But to our surprise, at about 4pm or thereabout, the minister showed up at the crowded waiting room and said: “where are my two young travel journalist friends from Lagos?”
We were dumbfounded and struggled to get on our feet. Then he apologised for keeping us waiting all day and instructed one of his aides to take us to his car and then announced to the audience that he was going for lunch as he had not eaten all day and was tired and could not attend to anyone again till much later. At his residence then in Ministers’ Hill was a crowd of people waiting too to see him.
He exchanged pleasantries and banters with a number of them and invited everyone to the table to have brunch with him. Later he took us to his private room for discussion and in the middle of our talk a call came from the presidency and he excused himself with the promise to meet with us the next and then gave us some money for our hotel and ordered one of his aides, Kola Idonije, to look after us. In his calm and affable manners, he gave assurances that no one would witch hunt my friend if he was innocent.
Truly, months after my friend was acquitted and recalled but posted to another office. Perhaps one of the most important lessons in the seemingly sudden death of Maduekwe is that life is transient and we don’t have any control over it. As the Holy Bible admonished that ‘our times are in God’s hand.’
Therefore, his feuding party men who are all threatening fire and brimstone should take note of this and perhaps the greatest honour and respect that they can pay to his memory is to sheath their swords and quickly resolve their differences. Goodnight!
Andrew Iro Okungbowa is on the staff of New Telegraph
– New Telegraph
