By UZOMA ISIAKPU
The posthumous centennial of the 32nd President of the United States (US), Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR for short, was in 1982. The longest serving American President (1933 – 1945), Roosevelt who died at 63, was born on January 20, 1882.
Roosevelt had an admirer in Peter Koyler, a former Congressional and Commerce Department aide in the United States Congress. When Peter Koyler, born seven years after the death of Roosevelt was told that it would soon be the centennial of his hero, he asked what celebrations were being planned? To his consternation, Peter Koyler learnt that nothing was virtually in the offing to celebrate the former president. He bemoaned the the situation and said that the US seemed to be suffering from what he termed “collective amnesia.”.
Peter Koyler deployed his contacts to empanel a nationwide committee that celebrated the centennial of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal for America.
Americans are not alone in suffering from collective amnesia. Nigerians do and on larger scale too. The level of forgetfulness by Nigerians of their heroes past is very alarming. It thus seem that once our statesmen and patriots pass on, everything is consigned to oblivion.
Twenty eight years after his demise at 78, the first Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku who posthumously will be 107 in 2025, has not been properly celebrated. Worst still, unlike what obtain in other spheres, no book has been written about the political colossus, fine diplomat, statesman, Pan-Africanist, erudite lawyer and renowned philanthropist.
Perhaps, except for a few recognitions – a street in his name in Abuja, a Special Golden Jubilee Independence Award (2010), Hero of the Struggle for Nigeria’s Independence (2014) and a Prominent Portrait Award by his Alma Mater, Trinity College Dublin (2020), the exploits of Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku in politics, international relations and law are relatively unknown.
Gladly, the Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, like Peter Koyler is out to ensure that RT. Honourable and Distinguished Senator Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku is accorded due honour and the recognition he rightly deserve. The Governor in his address at the flagg-off of the 11:5 kilometre Ntigha – Nbawsi -Umuala Road reconstruction on Monday, November 25, 2024, made it public that he has been interacting with the children of Jaja Wachuku to in his words; “honour our departed leader and former Senator and first Speaker of the House of Representatives who brought recognition to this community -Nbawsi.”
Sequel to the planned posthumous celebration next year, the reformer and champion of a New Abia, Dr. Alex Otti has already given the greenlight for the renovation of the homestead and mausoleum of the late Elder statesman as well as the reconstruction of the road leading to his house. Situating Senator Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku in proper perspective is highly commendable of Governor Alex Otti and his New Abia. The good people of Nsulu Clan, Ngwa nation and indeed well meaning Nigerians appreciate the Governor for this gesture.
While we duff our hats for the Abia State Governor for remembering to give honour the man who lowered the British Union Jack and hoisted the Green -White -Green Flag of Nigeria at independence in 1960, it will not be misplaced for the Federal Government to name any of these institutions – the National Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) after Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku, the man with streaks of first.
UZOMA ISIAKPU is a Media/PR Consultant.
