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| Dr. Joe Nwodo |
Wordshot Amaechi Ugwele
I still remember the white NRC
conference bag I got from the National Republican Convention delegates
conference in Port Harcourt. I was not a delegate but was in good terms with
some young Turks working in the political office of Rufus Ada George who
eventually got elected as the governor of Rivers State where the convention
held. Then, as a year one student of the University of Port Harcourt who was
being led into activism and politics by the troika of Hippolytus Onah,
Ibuchukwu EgbuodikeNohebedim Ezike and Chris Ezugwu, all my well respected
seniors, such gatherings held endless appeals to me.
Dr. Joe Nwodo was phenomenal.
Some of us from our part of the state had barely known who he was until he
emerged. And when he came, he had come like a ruffle. But before one could form
any impression of what he was like, he had built up into a gale force wind that
soon swept out his boastful but very strong opponent, Dr. Hyde Onuaguluchi, like paper in a tornado. Dr. Joe Nwodo made
Hyde to hide, although after a fierce and very blistering intra party contest.
I still remember when he visited
Ohodo on a campaign stop over from his trail. I had not yet encountered him at
the Port Harcourt convention. I was just a lad who was privileged to have been
assigned to serve them at the high table. I remember I wore a white long
sleeved shirt with a tie that was particularly long, as it was the fashion
then. I had flipped it over my back as I bent to pick up the bowl of kola nut
to pass round. It suddenly came lose and dropped into the kola nut.
I froze in embarrassment. Dr. Joe
Nwodo looked at me, smiled and gently said, "young man don't worry. I
think your tie is both clean and beautiful! Just pass it round." I still
remember that reassuring, gentle nods of his head as he looked through his dark
rimmed thick specks as our eyes briefly met. Of course, he wore that his
characteristic dark safari suit, with the diagonal white strip across the
shoulder. He looked exactly as he appeared on his campaign posters, if not
better.
Apart from being struck by his
huge frame, I had also found his flawless skin and well groomed hair very
appealing. He looked aristocratic, healthy, very trustworthy and charismatic
that when he addressed the people, charm just issued forth. He spoke the Ukehe
dialect with perfect local cadences that rendered his oratorical prowess very
much wholesome to our ears. His few English language sentences of course gave
me some quotable quotes I had in my bag for years.
The other event that I will never
forget was the day of the NRC gubernatorial primary elections. I was visiting
an uncle at 9th Mile Corner. He had won. And as his victory party drove down
from Enugu to Ukehe House, I excitedly jumped onto one of the open vans that
conveyed supporters. As the long line of supporters got to Unity Hospital,
along the old road, he ordered it to a stop. He came down and went in to see
two young men on admission there. They had been attacked by Dr. Onuaguluchi
supporters during a campaign visit to Achi a few days back.
He offered his words of comfort
to them and also expressed his appreciation for their sacrifices and support,
pledging these would never be in vain. As I watched from the window where I had
crept up with a handful of others, to look at his huge figure protectively
loomed over the boys on the beds, I somehow wished I had been one of them!
Well, we saw how it all ended, in
the grossest deprivation and violation of one's political rights as was carried
out against him and some other Nigerians by the military junta of General Ibrahim Babangida. However, one
of the most beautiful moments of the time was seeing Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, his younger brother, rising from the ashes
of the premature termination of his quest to find his true calling in politics.
It was like Joe had given him some breath of life, in addition to the campaign
dress he wore to everyone's admiration and sentimental attraction.
Dr. Okwi, like from nowhere,
became the Governor of Enugu State. But before then, he was able to most
effectively upon replacing his brother, sell himself to Enugu people as he was
recognised to also possess the legendary Nwodo political savviness and
oratorical prowess with which he had smothered Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu on all the debates they had. We have come
to see how Okwi's political trajectory would go on to curve even higher up,
leading to his occupying many more high profile positions in his career that
has remained active to this day.
So, as Dr. Joe Nwodo's
heartbreaking disqualification had fortuitously opened the door of success to
his younger sibling to become a governor, he also made our people in Enugu
North Senatorial District to know that, yes, we can do it. A lot of our people
who are today doing well for themselves in politics are of that generation
whose Dr. Joe Nwodo's emergence into the scene had inspired to discover and
nurture themselves into different leadership positions.
Rest in peace Agadagbachriuzo!
Adieu the gentle giant who was a trail blazer!
By
Wordshot Amaechi Ugwele
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