Here I am on my birthday and all I think about are memories of my late father ..... as i try to respond to every birthday wish made to me .... yeah ... he was a great guy ... sometime in the late 80s and 90s the re engineering of what the greater nigerian society knows as IJAW today started and it was championed by my dad alongside prof alagoa, late Dr deni fiberesima, Dr Egberipou, miss Williamson (a white american who spoke fluent ijaw language and took up nigerian citizenship as an ijaw woman from kaiama), King igbugburu, H R M KING E P OKOYA, and several others .... I cant remember now ..... I was only a teenager, but I knew what was going on as I read all my fathers documents ....... Back then, the kalabaris claimed they were not ijaws, for political reasons, the NEMBEs same, the Ogbia (GEJs clan) people too, infact I remember reading a document where chief melford okilo an ogbia said he wasnt an ijaw man in response to calls for him to do one term as governor of old rivers state and hand over to DR Egberipou from kaiama .... l also recall a meeting he had with my dad in the dead of the night in senator amatari zuofas house to try and convince my late father for his support ... we where all awake, because we knew my dad would say NO, and we worry if he was going to come back home The idea that people from okrika, andoni, opobo, bonny etc etc where ijaw people was a very alien one ... infact the struggle to create a new state out of the old rivers state was always killed by the kalabaris ... time and again, my dad alongside with others would sit down to work for state creation only to meet a brick wall even after getting the highest level of assurances from top military brass ... So when I hear people like Asari and co mouth ijaw ijaw ijaw all over the place, it makes me laugh and so so nauseating ... when I hear people call others traitors, I wonder if they have checked there own history ... people paid the price for what we are seeing today ... the history is lost to this generation, but we shall continue to remind those who took over the mantle of leadership from my fathers generation ... sometime in the 50s or 60s, my late father went to see his immediate younger brother (another great guy .. he was principal and mentor to GEJ, ALAMIESEIGHA, ENEGESI, TIMI ALAIBE, THE LIST IS ENDLESS) who was principal of BDGS yenagoa ... my dad was one of the first ijaw man to drive a car into yenagoa ... and it fascinated the students, as usual, people gathered around him as he told them stories and prepped them up for the future ...... he now generally described how to drive a car to them and asked if any of the students would want to try ... one student among the lot raised up his hands and he was able to pull the ride ... that student later turned out to be the first civilian governor of bayelsa state .... my dad told him he will be a great man .... he is still alive. So the re engineering culminated in the holding of the INC (IJAW NATIONAL CONGRESS ) congress in rivers state at the port harcourt civic centre ..... I cant remember exactly, but my late father was either the royal father of the day, chief host or chairman of the occassion ... but I remember chief ajuwa in attendance but in handcuffs excorted to the venue by soldiers just to witness what he tried to stop .... yes, some people didnt want the congress to hold ... for whatever reason ... So here was my dad a couple of days after the successful congress, putting his signature to about a hundred thank u for attending the congress letters to various persons including the then military governor ... back then, it was all type writers, no computer, no ipad, no printer ... ably assisted by FRED AGUGU of blessed memory ... a maestro in the typewriting business .... and I pondered at the cumbersome nature of the task .... he turned to me and advised me to always ... I mean ALWAYS respond with a PERSONAL Thank u note or letter to everyone who honors your invitation or wishes u well during your birthday or anniversary ..... even if they are over a hundred I asked ... yes, even if they are up to a thousand he retorted ..... hmmm!!!!! So here I am responding to over a thousand birthday greetings ... one after the other .... and am wondering if Id be able to keep to it .... thank u all for all your lovely messages .....
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 05:42:32 +0000
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