A Tribute To The late Cyprian Ekwensi
I was devastated when I read the news of the death of Cyprian Ekwensi in the morning hours of Sunday, November 4, 2007, at Enugu in Anambra State.I left St. john’s College, Kaduna, now Rimi College,early in December 1958 and by January 1959, I had joined the federal Ministry of Information, Lagos, with a little help from my friends
My father had had a stroke when I was at Kaduna and had died soon after I left School, so I could not go on to do my Higher School Certificate, (HSC) which would have enabled me to do my “A Level” papers with a view to going to the University.
I joined the Information Service (later, Federal Ministry of Information), with a view to cutting my journalistic teeth, and with luck, try to juggle work with studies in order to move ahead in life. The experience would also enable me to work with the new fleet of Information officers who would portray the image of the newly independent country, to the comity of nations
The three regions, Northern, Eastern and western Nigeria, had had their self-independence and preparations were agog for the nation’s proclamation of Independence. It soon came and the ceremony took place at the Race Course, (now Tafawa Balewa Square). Sir James Robertson stepped down as governor-General and the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (“Zik”) became Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General and Nigeria’s green and white flag replaced the Union Jack! It was a memorable occasion to be actually present when your country’s history is being written
John Stocker was Director of the Federal Information Service but soon left after Nigeria had attained its independence. The late Cyprian Ekwensi was the first Nigerian Director of Information in the early Nineteen Sixties. He was a Pharmacist and a renowned Writer but my young mind could not fathom why he had been made a director since he was not known to have had some journalistic experience! It soon turned out that he would concentrate mainly on Administration and allowed the journalists to carry on with their work of publicity and information dissemination.
There was the late J.V.Clinton, Mr. Irvine, the late Aig-Imoukhuede, Lawrence Scot-Emuakpor, the eminent and distinguished Deputy Director, Mobolaji Odunewu, senior brother of Alade Odunewu of the Daily Times fame.I was then a pupil assistant to the writer, A.G.S. Momodu, Editor of “Federal Nigeria”, when I first met Cyprian Ekwensi; he had such high opinion of A.G.S.Momodu and I guess the feeling was mutual as they were both writers!
To my surprise, I was asked one day, to go to the director’s office as he had asked to see me! I was practically beside myself with trepidation as I did not know why the Director should ask to me when there were scores of other senior officers around who could have been asked to take a disciplinary action against me if I had done something wrong!
The Director soon put me at ease by telling me that there was a trip to Benin Republic where Nigeria was going to sign a Bilateral Trade Agreement with the Republic of Benin and the Federal Minister of Finance, the late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, aka “Omimi Ejoh”, was going to lead the Nigerian delegation. He was inviting me to join him to visit Benin! It was my first time of meeting the Finance minister who was dressed in his trade-mark traditional dress with flowing wrapper and straw hat!
Benin Republic had Porto Novo as one of its major coastal cities followed by Cotonou. I did not keep a diary at the time but suffice it to say that the Bilateral Agreement was duly signed, followed by a sumptuous official lunch and a tour of the City in our motor-cade. However, I noticed that white French nationals were running “corner shops”, selling cigarettes, tobacco, matches and bottled water and beer as opposed to the practice in Nigeria where the indigenes dominated the retail trade!
I rode in the late Cyprian Ekwensi’s official car and we discussed his books, ideas and the joy of living in the former geographical part of the country known as northern Nigeria; I had been born at Kano and had schooled at Jos and Kaduna. His use of Fulani custom and way of life in his writing, was very fascinating As a young Information Assistant in the ministry, he encouraged me to work hard so I could merit being sent on an In-Service Training to study Journalism abroad; when the opportunity came, I was sent to the Polytechnic in Regent Street, London, (now Westminster University) where other Nigerians like Otumba Adekunle Ojora,the late Victor Osakue, Fazil Ope-agbe, Abiola Joseph, the late Edward Okoh-Esene, Rose Odeh and Ben Eke had studied.
While in London, he gave my name to the “Reader’s Digest” magazine in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, as a Journalist who could help them in editorial work on their new production,”Reader’s Digest: Nigerian Edition.” I earned quite a few guineas working for them at the time and I was able to do a grand tour of Europe, beginning with Rome, the Eternal City
The late Cyprian Ekwensi loved cars and was passionate for his car, a Borgward Isabella. He wrote about it in some Nigerian Sunday papers and was proud to have had it. The car was named after Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward who was born in Hamburg on November 10, 1890. Its largest success came in 1954 (when I entered St. John’s College) as it was reputed to have been built with the first automatic transmission called “hansamatic”. He shared this passion for cars with A.G.S. Momodu who was immensely proud of his Citroen, a French up-market brand of cars
After the Nigerian civil War, Ekwensi returned to Lagos and moved to his private house at Ojuelegba Street in Surulere, Lagos. He used to come to the Offices of the Federal Ministry of Information at Ikoyi Road, to see his boys and to see how they were getting on in the official hierarchy. He would usually leave the premises with loads of new publications, calendars and diaries under his arm! He could sometimes be rather blunt if not brutal as on the occasion when a student wanted to know what he had in mind when he wrote certain lines in one of his novels; he took an exception to the question and retorted:” have you ever asked Shakespeare what he wrote in Macbeth or Henry.”
He was a good man and my deepest condolences go to his widow, Chinwe and the rest of the family.
“Requiescat in pace!”
Philip C.M. Ideh
Deputy Director of Information (rtd)
Email:pipcmideh@yahoo.co.uk
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