Tribute by the National Democratic Coalition to Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu at the Lagos Airport Hotel, October 12th 2021
How would the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO present to the public, the most outstanding and rear qualities of our departed but distinguished publicly spirited, humble but disciplined, impactful, indefatigable and difficult to replace National Chairman, a gentleman Naval topmost leader, a former member of both the Supreme Military Council (SMC) as well as the Armed Forces Ruling Council, AFRC, First Military Administrator of the Old Big Imo State (Abia and Imo States) and Military Governor of the Lagos State known as the Centre of Excellence and the Economic Nerve Centre of the geographical/political pace called Nigeria and above all a patriot and nationalist.
“Tribute to the dead is meaningless. Corpses are 3D – dead, deaf and dumb. Only the living can appreciate their tributes. If only we tell the living the sweet things we tell their corpses, some would have lived longer or happier. If you have swallowed pleasantries to your beloved ones, start vomiting them right away to avoid food poisoning or constipation. When do you prefer your tribute, dead or alive?”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu, Weighty ‘n’ Worthy African Proverbs – Volume 1
Admiral Kanu you were born on November 3, 1943 at Ovim, now Abia State which was part of the old Imo State which you later governed as its first Chief Executive and went through Methodist Primary School, Enugu and Central School, Ovim, (1949- 56) and Metropolitan College, Onitsha, 1957-61 for your primary and secondary education. At 21, you enlisted in to the Nigerian Navy. In 1962; you were a student at National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla, India; Naval Engineering and Electrical College, India; Indian Naval Ships, Venduruthy and Cochin, India, 1962-67; Defence Services Staff College, India and New Port War College, Rhodes Island, USA, 1985. You in fact earned a B.Sc. 1981 from the National Defence Academy and a Master of Science from University of Madras. For you brilliance and intellectual prowess, you were the Best All-Round Cadet in 1965, Best Midshipman (1st Class) Pass Staff College, Forces Service Star. You were in your retirement given an Honoris Causa by Abia State University.
In your professional career, you were at various times the Chief of Operations, (COOP), Naval Headquarters, and Chief of Administration and Logistics, Ministry of Defence, 1990 respectively. You retired voluntarily from the Nigerian Navy in 1990.
As a civilian, your public spiritedness was manifested in your love and desire to make life better for your people in particular and Nigeria which you have served meritoriously and patriotically. You were a member of Ime Obi (inner caucus) of Ohaneze Ndigbo.
You were an author of two books: The Nigerian Military and Civil War, 1993, The Military, Politics and Human Rights and the Economy; The Way forward: Sovereign National Conference, 1993.
As a gentleman soldier that you were, you got totally committed to the efforts being initiated for national reconciliation so that Nigeria could follow the right course desirable to reduce to the barest minimum, national mutual mistrust, political instability and the wrongly headed government policies that had resulted into unfairness, injustice, inequity, and wanton disregard for the defence and promotion of the rule of law.
The trajectory of your daily existence since you voluntarily resigned your commission from the Nigerian Navy gave indications that you understood your divine purpose in life and perhaps was conscious of the following philosophical sayings:
“No man can be ignorant that he must die, nor be sure that he may not this very day— Marcus Tullius Gcero, 106-43 BC, Roman statesman in” De Senoctute C. 78 BC
“How do you die is the most important thing you ever do. It’s the exit, the final scene of the glorious epic of your life. It’s the third act and, you know everything builds up to the third act.” Timothy Leary, 1920-96, American Psychologist — (In the Guardian December 2, 1995)
“I am always grieved when a man of real talent dies. The world needs such men more than Heaven does” Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742 -99, German Scientist and writer— (Aphorismen 1902 -8)
“Better a thousand times to die with glory than live without honour” Louis VI (Louis the Fat), 1078-1137, King of France. AND
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon Alder
NADECO is in a position to declare to all and sundry that no sooner than you hanged your Military Uniform that you immediately transited into a statesman, public opinion moulder and a dependable leader who was determined to make positive impact on the lives of people, your Igbo Nation and Nigeria generally, as the following historical facts confirm this assertion.
HANDSHAKE ACROSS THE NIGER
This effort initiated by the Igbo Nation for productive discussion with the Yoruba Nation was led by Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (Ochiagha Ochimba) ably assisted by your goodself. Chief Christian C. Onoh, former Governor of the Old Anambra State, Chief R. B. K. Okafor, Prof. Anya O. Anya, Alhaji Abdulazeez Chibuzor Ude and a host of other eminent Igbo Leaders became the most important result oriented event between 1991-1993.
After two meetings between the Igbo and Yoruba nations first in General Adeyinka Adebayo’s Ikeja GRA Residence and Chief Sunny Odogu’s Asaba residence respectively, the leadership reached out to and invited the Middle Belt to the group next meeting which held in the home of Alhaji S. O. G. Gbadamosi at Ikorodu. And the movement was then named as the Council for Unity and Understanding, C. U. U. The CUU became the most popular, respected, nation-wide platform, with retired most senior public officials, Military and Civilian, Professional groups, Civil Society Organizations, Women, Youth and Students, Traditional and Religious Leaders, Trade Unions etc. upon which the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO was constructed. The main objective of NADECO was for the purposes of being able to organize a credible campaign for the convocation of a sovereign National Conference to discuss and resolve the unanswered NATIONAL QUESTION and the DE-ANNULMENT of the Presidential victory of Chief M.K.O. Abiola at the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election which was provocatively, insensitively and contemptuously annulled by the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida led military dictatorship.
Admiral Kanu, you were one of the three ad hoc members that the larger meeting mandated to craft a name which eventually became the National Democratic Coalition with final impute from the erudite second National Leader, Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro. Again, you were one of the five ad hoc committee members that crafted the Communique, and Resolution with which NADECO was presented to the Nigerian public and the International Community in May 1994. Furthermore, at the first special meeting of the Steering Committee of NADECO, you were elected/appointed as the Chairman of the ALL PURPOSES WORKING COMMITTEE to act on behalf of the Steering Committee in between its meetings.
I can testify to all people that NADECO achieved so much because of your dedication, commitment and sacrifice. Your house and office were the epic centres and theatres of NADECO’s reknown great exploits which the Abacha Junta could not confront nor subverted.
For your patriotism and undisguised commitment to the pursuit of NADECO’s goals and objectives, you were humiliated, hounded, dehumanized by the Abacha junta in spite of your being very superior in military hierarchy to them, the upstarts, politicians in military uniform who for ignoble and selfish purposes consistently exploited the weak link of the politicized army to stage their various military insurrections against the sitting governments.
NADECO cannot but revealed to the public in this tribute that the Abacha security clique searched your Idowu Martins, Victoria Island home for arms but found nothing. Yet not contented with that effrontery, the security errand boys escorted you to Ovim, Abia State to equally search your home but equally found nothing incriminating. Furthermore, you were briefly detained for some hours at both the Kam Salem Police Headquarters Annex and Alagbon Intelligence and Investigation Centre before you were bailed out by your wife Mrs. Gladys Godwin Kanu; now your widow.
In spite of all the oppressive measures taken against you, you remained unperturbed and unbowed until this your sudden and difficult to manage departure to the other address. Eventually, at the death of Senator Abraham Adesanya, you were unanimously elected as the National Chairman of NADECO. You carried the burden and the trust of the organization with great dedication, consistency, dignity and sacrifice until you were recalled home suddenly by your maker, the Almighty God on January 13, 2021 after a brief illness. When most other colleagues of yours fell threatened by Abacha’s security misguided attacks and they either switched camp or kept to themselves, you exhibited courage to stand for the conviction of your heart.
Admiral Kanu, your life bore the hallmarks of those rare gems who understood their callings. For example, Percy Bysshe Shelley, 17 92-1822, English Poet declared that:
⎯ “Peace is in the grave. The grave hides all things beautiful and good. I am a God and cannot find it there. Death is the veil which those who live call life; They sleep, and it is lifted”
⎯ Edmund Spenser, C. 152 -99 English Poet says:
“Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, Ease after War, death after life, does greatly please
⎯ Elizabeth Barret Browning, 1806-61, English poet states
“A great man, leaves clean work behind him, and requires No sweeper up of the chips”.
As for your service to humanity, you were a friend to the high and to the low, you never got involved in the crude accumulation of wealth associated with most of your colleagues who hold political appointments.
Also, you were a practicing Christian who love the Lord and used your retirement benefit to build a Methodist Church in Ovim, your home town and you were an explanary father to your children and a devoted husband to your wife till death did you part.
Your position as the credible, impressive and irrepressible National Chairman will be difficult to fill, but we, whom you are living behind are resolved on the following among others: THAT
i. Nigeria must return to Federal Constitution Convenance as we had in the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions to save Nigeria from imminent but avoidable consequential balkanization and conflagration.
ii. Ethnic Nationalities who have been sidelined, discriminated against and treated as inferior citizens and whose legitimate agitations and campaign for restoration to federalism which was endorsed by NADECO will be more fortified to achieve their Self Determination pursuit as enshrined under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as well as the African Charter of Peoples Right adopted in 1998/1999 in Adisa Ababa.
iii. NADECO will intensify its credible, responsible and patriotic campaign through all legal and legitimate actions to ensure that the current unsustainable and unacceptable national structure which is warped, skewed and lopsided and had given undue and dubious advantage to a section of the country is restructured so that Nigeria can have a balanced, just and equitable economic and political pace for an all-inclusive society.
iv. NADECO will redouble its efforts at making the current political operators of the Nigerian State to stop their disgraceful and insensitive policies that continue to promote sectional interests of the current rulers to the detriment of all other ethnic nationalities when Nigeria is supposed to be an inheritance and joint project of all citizens.
v. NADECO will continue to support legitimate and legal agitations and campaign for self-determination by Ethnic Nationalities, Civil Societies and Credible opinion moulders because the current government policies through its centralized and unitarised governance had resulted to evidentially unjust, unfair, inequitable and discriminatory, policies on ethnic, religious, gender and other statuses in society. We will continue to resist the provocative violations of section 14(3) of the false document called 1999 Constitution brought into existence by Decree 29, of 1999 which provides that:
“The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.
To Her Excellency, Mrs. Gladys Kanu, the widow of Admiral Godwin Kanu, the children, family members, friends and colleagues, we are not mourning Admiral Kanu but celebrating a life excellently lived in service to God and humanity. You have a duty to keep clean the untainted and credible legacy, Admiral Kanu has left for you. Admiral Kanu’s honesty and transparency in life was anchored on the inspirational exhortation contained in 1Timothy 6:6-7 which says:
6“Godliness and contentment is great gain”
7“for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world”.
In accordance with this scriptural admonition, Admiral Kanu fitted into the following immortal sayings:
John Morley, list viscount Morley of Blackburn, 1838-1923, English politician says:
“The great business of life is to be, to do, to do without, and to depart”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-82, American Poet in (Ballads and other poeus: The Rainy Day 1842) says:
“Into each life some rain must fall.
Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul.
Our ingress into the world was naked and bare
Our progress through the world is trouble and care”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-82, American Poet in
A Psalm of Life, 1839 and the Ladder of Saint Augustine) says again:
“Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sand of time.
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night” AND
Abraham Lincoln, 1809-65, 16th President of the United States declares
“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty” (Address 1860).
Admiral Kanu has transited to the second address after an eventful and productive life. I heard him say to us “Don’t grieve for me, for now I am free. I am following the path God laid for me”.
Adieu, the perfect gentleman soldier of soldiers,
Adieu, the credible and committed nationalist and patriot,
Adieu, the incorruptible and ever transparent public office holder,
Adieu, the intellectual maritime officer and administrator,
Adieu, the exemplanary father of your children
Adieu, the courageous, bold, erudite, credible and excellent National Leader of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO
May your gentle soul rest in the bosom of the Lord and may God grant all of us you have left behind the fortitude to continue fighting until we won the battle that is just and fair.
Mr. Chairman Sir, you deserve your rest because as Stanisiaus (Leszczynski), 1677-1766, King of Poland says “He who fears death dies everytime he thinks of its” and as Tertullian, C, 160 –C. 230 Roman Christian theologian claims in [The testimony of the Christian Soul, C. 210] “It is a poor thing for anyone to fear that which is inevitable”.
NADECO wishes you farewell until we meet on the other terrestrial divide.
