ANNIE OKONKWO: The man and his mission

By Comrade Ufondu Ugochukwu

As an Igbo boy, growing up in the eastern hemisphere, right in the heart of Abia (Aba) the citadel of eastern industrialization, I grew up knowing and hearing my father speak highly of one Annie Okonkwo and his legacy of philanthropy and politics.

He so spoke highly of your name that I believed that the name Annie Okonkwo was synonymous with everything that good governance stood for.

Later as a young man, this same man, Annie Okonkwo would be announced as the Senator representing my senatorial zone and his name became more like that of a demigod to me.

Little did I know that one day I would come face to face to work with you, my Most Distinguished Senator, in realisation of your mandate @SAOCO and that of your son @UAO2019, which I am forever proud of promoting under the banner of the People’s Democratic Party PDP and Social Democratic Party SDP respectively.

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Those moments gave me an opportunity to view from a closer perspective, the man I had grown up hearing about his name and fame from afar.

And like every inquisitive bird that gets rewarded with a good meal after a long watch, I was not disappointed because the man I observed was better than the man I had only heard of from tell tales and that I had read about on the pages of daily publications.

I saw a man with a large heart for giving, for charity, a man to whom the Church could run to for support with a firm assurance that he would rise to the occasion. I saw a man who even though owned a fortune yet was very natural and had a tenacity for building bridges and for playing politics without rancor or desperation.

*Ufondu, an activist writes from Lagos

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