Emeka Enejere (1952-2016): Refined tactician, academic and quintessential leader

Dr. Emeka Enejere who has died was a man of many parts. As a renowned academic, he made his mark at Political Science Department, University Of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). This was attested to by one of his students and Director-General Voice Of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu.

Okechukwu in his tribute said: “Death they say is a universal destiny; which spares neither the intellectual nor the ignorant, the rich nor the poor, black nor white, old nor young and male or female. My dear lecturer, supervisor, mentor and visionary-Dr Emeka Enejere was almost hitting 72 years. For his successful life and demise, one takes it to God in prayers.

“Memories they say linger, yesterday seems a distance and today ruminates the past; so in cherished memory the thought of not sharing those thought-provoking intellectual debates with my eminent ideologue-Dr. Emeka Enejere-stares one in the face and seems a painful possibility.”

“My dilemma started when his son, Nnaemeka sent a text message to me and sorrowfully announced his exit and requested for my tribute with a deadline. A deadline consequent upon the wisdom of religious leaders in the South East to limit the time between death and time of burial was where do I start. In the past some eminent persons were kept for more than three months before burial for lavish ceremony, no more especially in the major denominations-Catholic and Anglican.

“As stated my dilemma instantly was do I start with my reminiscences with him which commenced in 1979 when I was a fresh undergraduate at the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria Nsukka, or my last reminiscences with him in Abuja in 2016.

“In choosing between the commencement and end of the 37 years of close association, hence the reminiscences was like choosing between the glorious era and the pang of cancer of the famous President of Students Union, and Lecturer at the University of Nigeria, President Students Union of defunct Biafra, governorship Aspirant, Special Adviser to Minister of Industry, Political Consultant and Pro-Chancellor of his Alma Mater.”

Okechukwu said: “When he was assigned to me as my supervisor, one day I mustered the courage and strolled into his office. There were other students, mostly final year students he was supervising their final papers waiting. That was my first encounter with him. He was warm and asked how fast I was transiting to my new life as a student. He then gently asked, what was the matter? I narrated how worried I was over the way and manner the younger students among our class of 97 students dominated class sessions.

“My fear was that the younger students seem to be more advanced than we the older students, probably because they attended better secondary schools. He calmed me down and counseled that I should go and work harder. Reassuring me that if I work harder I will be able to meet up by latest in the 2nd year. He said I should feel free to seek audience any time.
“I was happy and was refreshed when I learnt that my fate was in my hand. I narrated my encounter with my club of older freshers. This was the commencement of my years of reminiscences with Enejere, which paid off as eleven of us, the older students made 2nd Class Upper Division out of 14 in the 1983 set.”

On Enejere’s foray into Nigerian politics, Okechukwu disclosed: “In 1982 when he joined partisan politics and pitched tent with the defunct National Party Nigeria (NPN), it was like my situation today in the South East; he didn’t garner much of our support, as our people were ethnically aligned with the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) and few of us aligned with the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).

“Automatically, our reminiscing then was on ideological polar of NPN as a conservative political party and the Zik-led NPP as little center of the left and right and Aminu Kano led PRP as socialist in the ideological spectrum.

“He received a lot of barbs each time he was back in the campus and his answer in league with Rt. Hon. Dr Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory was that they were going to transform the country. It is confounding that the corrupt ultra-conservative we branded NPN then fizzled out today in the midst of mind-boggling and pervasive corruption of the last decade.

“After the wedding of his son at Emerald Garden Abuja, my wife asked me whether I noticed how lean my lecturer was and I quipped that age was in action. Little did I know that the grave hands of cancer had touched our dear icon.

“Shortly, afterwards a classmate of mine, Okechukwu Ukekwe called from the United States and alerted me that he had been diagnosed of cancer. He obliged me of his U.S. phone and I immediately called. He accepted the illness, but admonished me not worry.

“On his return to Nigeria, he called me with his crisp voice and one heaved a sigh of relief. It was short-lived as his body lost the vim we know, but the voice remained crispy and the deep analytical resume unchallenged.

“The worry persisted, especially when he was taken to Turkish Hospital Abuja and later to Nuclear Hospital in India. The worry ended with the news of his demise, as death awaits all of us.
Emeka Enejere, born 1952, died in 2016 at the age of 71