He was an ardent Christian and knew the scripture enviably well. He used this knowledge to back his arguments at all times. He once quarreled with the lack of political vision amongst young people in our country and concluded that they had to change their attitude in order to prevent a bleak future for the country. He referred me to a passage from PROVERBS containing the prophecy of Joel in the Bible that: “Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And “where there is no vision the people perish.” For all the promise he showed on earth, he fulfilled some of his dreams and did not live long enough to realize the others. As Shakespeare himself said: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he news of the transition to eternal life of Hon. Independence Ogunewe came to me like a bolt from the blue. It was the phone call of revolutionary Senator Dino Melaye that broke the news to me while preparing an Appellate Brief in Chambers.I quickly put a phone call to the leader of the community of former federal lawmakers, the legendary Halims Agoda. From the end of Agoda’s phone conversation came the confirmation that I really did not wish for: “West, it is true. Independence is no more.”
It is correct that we met in our sojourn as federal lawmakers, but we became comrades and brothers in the pursuit of an egalitarian society for our dear country. He was not a man to be ignored by any means.
With an imposing physical structure in white attire, he was extraordinarily mentally endowed and a master of communication. A man full of confidence and a genius in predicting the political behavior of office holders and the electorate.
He was frontal in the pursuit of justice for all and a man who left nothing to chance. He was an apostle of William Shakespeare, the immortal English poet and playwright.
Many of his colleagues in his time at the House of Representatives called him Caesar after one of his breathtaking admonition to a Presiding Officer of the House in an executive session to do justice to all manner of Members or face the wrath of his colleagues.
He warned that officer to heed his advice and not be like Caesar, who after being warned to stay away from the CAPITOL (Rome) went there in defiance of the warning and met his untimely death in the hands of his friends, BRUTUS and CASSIUS.
He had a commanding hand on all assignments given to him and discharged same with great candor, diligence, competence, dexterity and finality. He usually left you in no doubt with the method of delivering his assignments. Many of his colleagues truly know this.
His debating skills were rare. His arguments were silky and full of authority. Even if you didn’t agree with him, the strength of his logic would not elude you.
On one occasion when I disagreed with him on the appropriate strategy to confront the House Leadership at the time, he argued that the issue could not be left to the discretion of the leadership and that we had to be the masters of our fate. He quoted the following from Shakespeare:
“Men at some time are the masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
Since September 2017, Ogunewe regularly visited my law firm in Gwarinpa for strategic meetings on the political environment in Nigeria. The others who attended such meetings were more than impressed with his rich armor of national statistics on various sectors of the economy and other spheres of life within and outside Nigeria.
A prolific Accountant/ Economist, he would have made a very efficient Minister of National Planning or Finance. He was an ardent Christian and knew the scripture enviably well. He used this knowledge to back his arguments at all times.
He once quarreled with the lack of political vision amongst young people in our country and concluded that they had to change their attitude in order to prevent a bleak future for the country. He referred me to a passage from PROVERBS containing the prophecy of Joel in the Bible that: “Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And “where there is no vision the people perish.”
For all the promise he showed on earth, he fulfilled some of his dreams and did not live long enough to realize the others. As Shakespeare himself said: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
Indeed, as the scriptures confirm there is a time for everything. A time to be born and a time to die. Today, Independence has answered the call of God.
He continues his journey to eternal life where the deeds of men would be rewarded or punished by the Almighty Creator according to their story on earth. May the SOUL of our brother, friend and comrade, HON. INDEPENDENCE OGUNEWEther, the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Finally, in the words of Shakespeare: “Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
Dr. Ehiogie West-Idahosa is a Lawyer and former member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives (1999-2011).
