Chuks Iloegbunam At 70

 By Chido Nwkanma 

18 May 2021 is an important day in the household of the Iloegbunams as the one and only Baba Ndidi, the brand and the person, clocks 70 years. Chuks Iloegbunam is a general of the writing fraternity. He has served this nation well as a journalist, book editor, publisher and technocrat in government. 

*Chuks Iloegunam 

He stands out for his craft as a writer with a fearless voice that wields a powerful pen. Chuks Iloegbunam is a writer in the best traditions of that craft. His pen roars in honesty and fluidity. 

Mr Iloegbunam wrote memorable essays in The Guardian, where he turned to after service at The Punch. He was passionate both in his writing and in his defense of rights, the worker, and humanity.

He was at Longmans Nigeria Limited as Humanities Editor. He edited Sonala Olumhense, No Second Chance, and Femi Osofisan, Morountodun and Other Stories. 

Iloegbunam has attained renown as a biographer. He spent years in London researching Ironside, the story of the first Nigerian head of the Nigerian Army, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. Much later, he reverted again to the research, deepened it and came out with a new edition, Ironsi: Nigeria, The Army, Power and Politics. 

He said concerning the famous Unification Decree of Aguiyi Ironsi, for which Ironsi’s traducers blame him. 

“There is something you need to know about this Unification Decree. If it was such a bad idea, why did General Yakubu Gowon retain it for all the nine years of his military administration? Why did subsequent military governments retain it? Why is it that it is still what we are practicing today because the Unification Decree was anti-federalism? That was why Ironsi became the head of state of the National Military Government after the decree, not Federal Military Government again. They went back to the Federal Military Government in the name [after he was killed], but the unitary system remained. 

“That is why, today, we have democracy in the Fourth Republic, but it is not real democracy, because you don’t have state police; you don’t have state autonomy, because power devolves just from Abuja. The centre controls everything, which is not supposed to be the case in a true federal establishment. For instance, when Dr M.I. Okpara was the Premier of Eastern Nigeria, he had an Agent-General in London representing Eastern Nigeria. He negotiated loans with foreign countries without clearance from anybody. He had his police, and everything was run on that basis. No state depended on appropriation from the Federal Government. But, today, the federal government comes to your place, takes your oil product, gives you 13 per cent out of it, and the rest is kept in Abuja. So, if Ironsi was wrong to promulgate Decree 34, why is it still active today?” 

Iloegbunam has tasted Nigerian politics first-hand as an administrator. He was Chief of Staff to Governor Peter Obi and served in President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Willie Obiano’s teams. 

He manfully steps aside each time he finds a divergence in principles between him and his employers. Cite The Guardian and Gov Peter Obi, among others. 

Mr Iloegbunam’s firm published the biographies of many eminent persons, including one time Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Allison Madueke, unfinished work on the biography of late Senator Uche Chukwumerije and others. 

Experts assert that the number 70 signifies contemplation, spirituality, rest and sensitivity. They add mysticism, mastery and sympathy. 

We pray that Baba Ndidi @70 continues to illuminate discourses with his interventions and a voice of sincerity in these days when even elders waffle in the face of the truth. 

Happy birthday to the publisher of Eminent Biographies Limited 

*Nwakanma, a Communication strategist, marketer, journalist and educator writes from Lagos