Ohanaeze Ndigbo
Worldwide, Wednesday, described the late aviation minister Chief Mbazulike
Amechi as ‘a quintessential Igbo Titan, icon and trail blazer’. The late
minister died yesterday at 93.
Ohanaeze’s position was stated in a release by its national publicity secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, in Enugu. Ohanaeze recalled how the deceased, alongside other foremost nationalists, fought for Nigeria’s independence.
According to the
release, “On several occasions, he was arrested and detained by the colonial
authorities and in more than two occasions he preferred imprisonment instead of
bowing to the oppressors.
“Other courageous youths
who volunteered in that sacred obligation include Osita Agwuna, Nduka Eze,
Mokwugo Okoye, Raji Abdallah, Ikenna Nzimiro, and Anthony Enahoro.
“What really added to
the Amaechi mystique was that the more the incarceration, the more popular he
became. It is a tribute to an act of rare courage, uncompromising principle, sacrifice,
stoic heroism, patriotic dispositions, and extra-ordinary faith in the struggle
for Nigerian independence that earned Amaechi the Member of the Parliament at a
very young age of 29, parliamentary Secretary and subsequently the Minister of
Aviation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the First Republic.”
He said even at an old
age, Chief Amechi still had ‘those passionate, revolutionary, oratorical,
edifying zest and robust intellect that characterize freedom fighters.'
Ohanaeze, however,
regretted that President Muhammad Buhari failed to fulfill a wish that the
late Amechi requested from him.
Quoting the release, “It
is regrettable that the last wish Chief Amaechi presented to President
Muhammadu Buhari was rebuffed. Amaechi made his way to Aso Rock and pleaded
that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released to him on trust.
“Secondly, Amaechi, on
hearing that Buhari was to visit Ebonyi State, earlier this year, in spite of
his old age, reactivated his combative paws and reflexes to meet Mr. President.
“At Abakaliki, Chief
Amaechi in an uncommon oratorical skill spoke pointedly but passionately to
President Buhari on why Nnamdi Kanu should be released to him. Amaechi’s voice
waxed eloquent to the universal advocacy that it is the turn of the South East
to produce a president in Nigeria.”
The release recalled how
the late South-African president, Nelson Mandela, was housed at Amechi’s house
in the heat of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Ogbonnia wrote, “In
1963, when the obnoxious apartheid regime in South Africa was at its peak, in
connivance with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the freedom fighter, Dr Nelson Mandela,
escaped South Africa and the home of Chief Amaechi, in Ukpor, Nnewi South Local
Government Area, Anambra State, was considered the most suitable.
“Mandela stayed in Ukpor
for about six months. It was on departure from Lagos in 1963 that the apartheid
regime traced him and arrested him on arrival at Johannesburg.”
The president general of
Ohanaeze, Prof George Obiozor, in the statement, expressed pain over Amechi’s
death. He however added that “The life of Amaechi is a veritable lesson in
uprightness, selflessness, and heroism.”
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