With a bird’s eye view of Nigeria’s post-colonial current, AMBASSADOR MOSES IHONDE is a living embodiment of key thrusts in our contemporary history. MARY OGEDENGBE looks at General Yakubu Gowon’s Chief Press Secretary and Nigeria’s former Consul General in Atlanta who at 78 is still very much on the ball…
Prof. Moses Ihonde
The twists and turns of the changing scenes of life have not cooled Moses Ihonde’s ardour. The spritely, engagingly alert Ihonde has taken it all in his stride. This might be because, very early on came a defining moment. As a young lad, he was very much looking forward to writing his secondary school (Ordinary Level) examination when, inexplicably, his father died.
That experience at such a tender formative period would have knocked an average young person out of his or her stride. Ihonde characteristically swallowed a very bitter pill and took it in his stride. From the setback, he has marched through school, the University of Ibadan, and the subsequent composition of an enthralling curriculum vitae. The chapter is certainly not closed yet.
An odyssey
His trawl has been rather expansive. The odyssey is pan-Nigerian. His father, being a civil servant in the postal service, found himself being shuffled around the country on various postings. This is why although originating from somewhere around Ubiaja in today’s Edo State, he started his schooling in Kaduna. There, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzogwu, who was a key figure in the January 15, 1966 coup d’etat that terminated the life of the First Republic, was a class mate at St. Joseph’s school.
His father’s constant transfers saw Ihonde having parts of his primary education at Ikot Abasi, which was then a part of the defunct Eastern Region and is now a part of Akwa Ibom State. He also had bits and pieces of his education in Benin City (Edo State), Ijebu Ode (Ogun State) and later Ibadan (Oyo State). At a tender age, we could see how the outlook of a pan-Nigerian Ihonde very much at ease in any part of a diverse country was moulded. He has his secondary education at the Holy Trinity Grammar School, Sabongida Ora, in his state of origin.
The national question
It is hardly surprising that his odyssey through the various parts of the country has had an effect on his outlook. This is reflected in his interpretation of the country’s history. Very firmly, he points out that from the amalgamation in 1914 until 1954, a period spanning 40 years, the country was administered as a unitary state.
Federalism came later, “…And it was a British ploy intended to really keep Nigeria permanently divided.” For someone from what is termed a minority area, his interpretation is outside of the well-worn. Ihonde stresses that the uniqueness of Nigeria’s federalism stems from the fact that it was not a case of independent groups coming together. Consider, for example, the 13 colonies that came together to form the United States of America or in Canada where separate units were brought together.
In contradistinction, Nigeria’s federalism saw a unified group being split up into three units. This trend comes for Ihonde with a lacuna: “To my mind, it was a device to ensure that Nigeria’s potential was not actualised because if we had continued the growth as one country, the Nigerian force and power would have been enormous.”
This, from Ihonde’s perspective, has been a bugbear. A drawback from his prism has resulted from moving into federalism (from unitarism) which created a problem of loyalties. This is because “…we need to understand the centripetal factor in the unitary system. There, people look to the centre. The loyalty is to the centre. But you find that centrifugal character of federalism is such that residents or citizens tended not to look to the nation or central government; their loyalties were to the regional as against the central or federal government.”
Pan to the present, the solution to the national question is unambiguous. Pure federalism will not keep the country together, in his opinion. A meritocracy must also be re-enacted. Fundamentally also, “to put it very succinctly, unless Nigeria adopts secularism in this matter, Nigeria will self-destruct.” He is insistent that the freedoms generated under Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution must not be compromised. This includes, vitally, the freedom of worship and of association.
The CPS
Unlike today’s way of doing things, Ihonde became the president’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS) through the recommendation of a transparent selection panel, much like a “head-hunting” process in today’s parlance. It was selection by elimination; a meritocratic system. Decades later, he still holds General Gowon in esteem. He is also very much involved in the former head of state’s ‘Nigeria Prays’.
He gives kudos to Gowon for his tenacity of purpose and the courage he showed in keeping the country together. What impresses him most is not just the mission that was accomplished, but what was to follow. Or perhaps what, through fortuitous circumstances, did not follow. Regrettably, in his opinion, Gowon’s plan for the country’s subsequent economic development was truncated by the coup which terminated the life of his regime.
His period as CPS was clearly problematic for a man who is at heart a liberal democrat. On occasions, he had to take job-endangering risks to prevent editors being locked up. In this way, he intervened to save perceived troublesome editors such as Benedict Eke (Morning Post) and the irrepressible Chris Okole (New Breed) among others from being put in the slammer or worse. Even with, at the time, the Tribune newspaper, a liberal intervention was put into play. Ihonde gives great kudos in all of these to Gowon’s own liberal disposition. The General was not after all your run-of-the-mill Latin-American type caudillo or strongman.
When he was transferred to the Foreign Service, meritocracy still reigned. Today’s preponderance of political appointees was not yet in play. The training in the intricacies of the diplomatic process was also superb. Patriotism guided the outlook. He recalls that, “even when I was retired by telephone and I was to talk about Nigeria, I made excuses for Nigeria… you do not run down your own country”.
The remuneration in the service at the time was very attractive. For the family too, it was a fulfilling period. Later on in retirement, he was invited to preside over the Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce. He did so with typical aplomb. At a difficult time in the country’s history during the late Sani Abacha era, he led a 52-man delegation to the United States. Sanctions had been put in place and the U.S. did not like the idea of Abacha putting himself up as a candidate.
Ihonde’s retort was: “Look, we are trying to bite too much. Even if a majority of Nigerians do not like Abacha, we recognise that there are freedoms of association, election and so on. If Abacha as a citizen was interested in contesting, I think they should, as a democratic nation, allow and grant that anyone can arise. So, I said all those who do not want him should not vote for him. That was how I solved that. But then I also answered all the questions.
“You know, there was the job problem; it is a whole lot. I answered all of them. When we finished, then I said, on our part, we just told him we will impress on government that will have to change its style, so that there will be no imposition of a candidate on the nation. And I said we will do that. Then I said, if we did that, there are things we expect America to do. We said they will return Nigeria to the favoured nation status, and the ban on air travel will be lifted. We listed them out and they agreed. So, for me, that was the high point of the presidency of the American Chamber of Commerce.”
Seventy-eight years on, the ambassador is ageing not just with grace, but with elan. An endearing optimism propels the man in a country riven with cynicism and division. This is why the man who is actively involved in Gowon’s pet project, Nigeria Prays, should be allowed to summon it up for himself.
His words: “As a Christian, I believe that God knows everything about our journey in life. I am happy serving in the vineyard of the Lord. My life has been an eventful one. I also thank God that though my retirement came as a shock, it afforded me an opportunity to move closer to God. It was after my retirement that I had a divine encounter, and since then, there has been no looking back serving Christ.”