By Chris Paul Otaigbe
Eight decades, for so many, may not be a life that comes with testimonies that bring a rush to the heart, of moments many may only dream of.
In today’s Nigeria, rarely do you have an octogenarian tale that tells of eight decades that makes you a Chief, politician and to give it full life, color and character, give you power as the chief executive of your home State.
This is the story of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
Born 12 August 1939, John Odigie Oyegun is a Nigerian politician who served as the first national chairman of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He was also the Executive Governor of his home state, Edo, between 1992 and 1993, during the aborted Nigerian Third Republic.
Born in Warri, Delta State to an Edo father and Urhobo mother from Agbarha Ughelli., he attended St. Patrick’s College, Asaba, and then went to the University of Ibadan where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Economics. He then served in various capacities as a federal civil servant working as a development planner.
Against all the vicissitudes of life, Oyegun had the iron determination to succeed and he was not to be deterred by any obstacle on his way. Going by the standard of that time, when children were required to stretch their hand over their head to touch the opposite ear as a mark of eligibility for school enrollment, he went to the Sacred Heart Catholic School, Warri, at a tender age.
He later proceeded to Holy Cross Catholic School, Benin City. In 1952, Odigie went to St. Patrick’s College, Asaba for his secondary education. Thereafter, he attended the University College, Ibadan, where he graduated in 1963 with B.Sc. Honours in Economics.
Before venturing into career politics, the Benin Chief held several important positions of responsibility in which he distinguished himself as a prodigy, a man of excellence and an extremely humane individual. During his working career, he found himself in positions requiring superior intelligence and judgment.
He rendered service to humanity without counting the cost. All these gave his experience a richness that further prepared him for greater responsibilities and service to human kind. After his University education, he was in the employ of the Federal Government of Nigeria where after 13 years, he became Permanent Secretary at the age of 36 years, thus making him the youngest in his generation.
In 1985, he retired voluntarily from the Civil Service. He had a short sojourn in the business world, where after two years, he became the National Chairman of the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association. The huge successes he recorded in the Civil Service and the business world were foreshadowing his foray into politics.
Chief John Oyegun was elected as civilian governor of Edo State on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the transition to democracy launched by General Ibrahim Babangida and served from January 1992 to November 1993.
He was removed from office after General Sani Abacha seized power. Following the birth of the 4th Republic in 1999, Oyegun teamed up with and later became a leader of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He was one of the founding fathers of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and was elected its national chairman on 13 June, 2014.
The choice of Oyegun, from the mostly Christian south of the country, was calculated to win both Christian and Moslem voters in the challenge to President Goodluck Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections.
He would be the first National Chairman of an opposition Party to unseat an incumbent President in a democratic contest, in the history of Nigerian democracy.
Little wonder, his achievement has inspired so many accolades from his grateful Party members.
Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau has described the pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as an exceptional politician and a role model.
Lalong, in a statement said that Odigie-Oyegun, who clocked 80 years on Sunday, August 11, had always lived for others.
According to him, Oyegun was a unifying factor whose experience and candor provided the needed advantage that culminated in the APC defeating a sitting government in 2015. This feat, he maintained, remains the first in the Nigeria’s political history.
Some describe him as a purist; a true democrat of this generation; and one man in whom there is hope that Nigeria is still possible.
He is said to be one man who, in all respects and by all known standards, has distinguished himself in several ways and is already on top of history.
A man of stoic discipline, there is never a dull moment in his life with a Christian life that is worth emulating.
Among other things, he was an active member of St. Vincent De Paul, a Roman Catholic Church Organization for the upliftment of the poor and the down-trodden.
He grew up in a family where disgrace to the family was not tolerated; “so in all my life, this is the circumstance that has conditioned me. I do not do things that will make me not to sleep soundly at night. I do nothing that I will be afraid to read as headlines in any of the national dailies. Yes, I have been through several trials, but I have overcome them all. Why have I done so? Because at the end of the day, whether detailed or forensic examination, you will not find that your own Oyegun has done something dishonorable.”
It is not surprising then, that none of his political rivals or foes within his party and outside of his political base have come up with any dirt of corruption on the former APC National Chairman.
However, just as his walk, his life has been full of great moments, filled with controversies, especially on the political field.
Thus, for one knowing him for the first time, the grand reception held in his honor and in celebration of his glorious age, gives a bird’s eye view of depth of Oyegun’s open political sentiments and perhaps, temperament.
The Monday 12 August, 2019 occasion held to celebrate him had in attendance, among other top politicians from the APC, the creme de la creme and the leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while President Mohammadu Buhari, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the APC National Leader and his successor, Adams Oshiomole , who was his home State governor when he was the Party Chairman, were all conspicuously absent from an important event as that.
While the absence of Adams may not be entirely new, but the absence of the President, who he administered into power via a historic election that unseated an incumbent and the Party’s National Leader, who played a pivotal role in making him Chairman of the Party at the time speaks volume.
It is no news that his relationship with his successor is that of mutual dislike and distrust. However, the level of animosity between the two Edo great sons, who have and are making their marks on the national stage is what is putting a lie to the proverbial political adage ‘ in politics, there are no permanent enemies, but permanent interests…’ in this context, the over-arching interest of the two gladiators is the success of the APC, their political party. Meanwhile the enmity between the two political actors appear to be deepening by the day with no end in sight.
For the celebrant octogenarian, having a political foe and harboring an eternal hate for such an enemy may not be a story worthy of the beautiful book life is writing for him, especially in the twilight of his great existence on earth.
Although, the President, in his usual style of celebrating prominent Nigerians on their day of joy, felicitated with him, on his 80th birthday, describing him as true example of a patriot and democrat. Buhari’s absence from such a glorious moment in his life, may not be the kind of testimony the otherwise, fulfilled octogenarian would have loved to add to his series and strings of great strides in his career as a leader on the Nigerian political landscape.
All said and done, with or without political enemies as the case may be, the one point, Oyegun would continue to be grateful for, is the fact that no blemish of corruption has tainted the tale of the life he has lived despite the years of trials and turbulence that characterized most of its chapters.
When all the guests, praise singers, friends, local and foreign, when all the fanfare and euphoria of his birthday celebration are gone and the lights are out and he is all alone… these last developments of his life are the things that would occupy the mind of the now 80 years plus, John Odigie-Oyegun, as he lays his head gingerly, with a confident sigh, yet troubled heart.
