Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but, to live until I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. (William Ellery Channing)

The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. (Benjamin Franklin)

Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but, of moments. (Rose Kennedy)

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. (Max DuPree)

Size matters not. (Yoda, from The Empire Strikes Back)

Think where man’s glory most begins and ends. And say my glory was I had such friends. (William Butler Yeats)

There is no distance too far between friends, for friendship gives wings to the heart. (Kathy Kay Benudiz)

hima Ubani died in a car crash in Potiskum, Yobe State on September 21, 2005, during a nationwide sensitisation tour of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to protest fuel price increase. Chima Ubani died alongside a photo journalist, Tunji Oyeleru of Vanguard newspapers and three others, the driver, an NLC staff and a policeman, as they were travelling in the official jeep of the NLC president, Mr Adams Oshiomhole. They were on their way to Abuja to connect a flight to Lagos after an anti-fuel price hike rally in Maiduguri, Borno State. Chima Ubani, 43, was a leading human rights activist and mobiliser. Until his death, he was the Executive Director of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO). He was the brain behind Campaign for Democracy.

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It is now two years since that tragedy, but, what surprised me most was that on September 21, 2007, the second anniversary of his death; no word was said about it, at least not to my knowledge. Please correct me, if, I am wrong. I saw no article about the tragedy in the newspapers, the Nigeria Labour Congress he went fighting for before he met his untimely death did nothing for him that day. I am wondering if Nigeria is forgetting Chima Ubani so soon. Maybe I missed something somewhere.

The only thing I read about Ubani and his death was months away, when Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) called for a probe into his death (Guardian July 11, 2007). The CLO alleged that there was more to the death of the renowned activist than meet the eyes. CLO alleged that its report of a preliminary investigation into the death indicated that the car crash was not natural. That the right front tyre of the jeep in which Chima Ubani was killed may have had an explosive device attached to it and which subsequently exploded, causing the vehicle to somersault several times. Alternatively, the group said, the tyre may have been shot at by local intelligence operatives with the aid of a high-tech weaponry and global positioning system (GPS). These allegations might have atoms of truth in them. In Nigeria, nothing is being ruled out completely. But, how Chima Ubani and others died is no longer important, because, nothing said or done now can ever bring them back. What is important now is his legacy and how to keep the flame he lighted burning. Chima Ubani is gone for ever, but, the problems he went down fighting against are all there and in bigger dimensions too.

It was only Governor Tinunbu of Lagos State, when he was the governor, that gave Chima Ubani´s widow and her twins a house at one of the Lagos State Low Cost Housing Estates, Tinubu also gave the twins scholarship up to university level and even named a building after this late renowned human rights fighter at the Lagos State Government Secretariat, Alausa, Lagos. I think an endowment fund should be instituted on Chima Ubani´s name, if, there has been none at this point in time.

Chima Ubani was a brother, he was a fellow Ngwa man, we belonged together to the Federation of Ngwa Students (FNS) during our University days at UNN. Infact I came to know Ubani first at UNN. He was a year ahead of me. When I entered UNN, I met a campus electrified by Ubani´s fiery zeal. He changed the political climate of UNN. Before he came on the scene, UNN was experiencing a bitter power tussle between the widely loved Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Frank Ndili; and a group of eight professors led by Prof. Nwoga. Prof. Ndili´s sin was that he stood his grounds against the calculated attempts by the powers that be through the then Education Minister, Prof. Jubril Aminu, to water down the academic excellence UNN was then known for ( The federal civil service commission conducted employment exam for Nigerian graduates in the early 1980s, UNN graduates then took the first to the eleventh positions, University of Ife graduate took the twelfth position and UNN graduates picked up again from thirteenth to sixteenth positions before others followed).

The hatred for Prof. Ndili was borne out of jealousness for the academic heights UNN achieved those days despite the fact that the powers that be did everything to make UNN an academic dwarf. The powers that be then turned to the eight professors and bought their consciences and they had to dance to the tune of those that paid them by alleging that Prof. Ndili was corrupt, all was just fictitious charges that was not substantiated. Prof. Ndili once dressed Jubril Aminu down when he was the minister for education and on a visit to UNN. There, Aminu while addressing the staff and students of UNN called the university “University of Nsukka” deliberately omitting the “Nigeria” in between. Prof. Ndili stood up immediately and interrupted the honourable minister’s speech by asking him to add the “Nigeria” in between before continuing his speech, which the minister did and that drew an ovation for the then amiable and beloved vice-chancellor.

The students then loved Prof. Ndili and stood by him throughout, because, they saw what he did for the university, but, at a point, Prof. Ndili was toasted by the powers that be at the Ministry of Education and in his place came their stooge, Prof. Chimere Ikokwu. Prof. Ndili was an intellectual colossus, the first nuclear physicist in Africa, just a day after he was removed as the Vice-Chancellor; one of the Ivy League Universities in the United States that trained him took him away and gave him a befitting appointment. The exit of Prof. Ndili threw the university community into a kind of mourning as he was loved by both the staff and students.

Chima Ubani rose from the dejection created by the exit of Prof. Ndili. He changed the atmosphere then at the university as he was out to fight the IBB´s government to a standstill for meddling into the running of the university. I remembered seeing some “students” during some of my lectures that never graduated, they were there year in and year out, they were SSS agents sent to keep tabs on the students and lecturers. Chima Ubani made the students politics to be a passion that every student developed interest for. No student then would like to miss the “manifesto night” as there were lots to hear, learn and laugh about. I remember Olu Oguibe who was Chima Ubani´s friend and fellow comrade (I wonder where he might be now). Chima Ubani took students’ politics at UNN to a new height, thereby making posts to be rigorously contested for, just like the elective political positions in the wider society itself. Ubani won the presidency of the students union then by a landslide and he became a force to reckon with. That was why the SSS through some compromised students attacked and wanted to kill him, after their efforts in bribing him out failed, because, he was a thorn in the flesh of the ruling cabals then.

Chima Ubani´s era was the beginning of IBB´s draconian era, when universities were closed on flimsy excuses, there were detentions without trials, democratic organizations were flattened out either by coercive means or through bribing their top hierarchies, making them to compromise on their activities, but, only the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) stood its ground and was at the forefront of the battle against the SAP and other ill-conceived policies of the Babangida´s era. Chima Ubani played a prominent role in NANS. Chima Ubani was the encouragement for some of us that took to students politics after the expiration of his tenure. I was elected the Director of Socials (DOS) of the Students Union in 1987, I served with Geo-Jackson Egbo as President and Chinelo Umeh as Vice-President, although our own era was in no way to be compared to that of Chima Ubani as nobody could match his firebrand tendencies and “his shoes” were too big for any other person to fit into them.

Chima Ubani took after his mother who has leadership traits in her blood, his mother is a born natural leader, she was a women leader of her area for a long stretch of time and she has the oratory prowess which she used and is still using in organising and leading the women of her community. All these she passed on to Chima Ubani. If you haven’t met Ubani before when he was alive, after hearing all that he did, you might think that he was more than two feet tall, but, on seeing him, you will be surprised that Ubani was so thin and had a frail frame. He had difficulties walking as one of his legs was a bit deformed, but, that mild handicap never deterred him. He had the heart of a giant and was spitting fire against the injustices of those in power like a mighty dragon. Even the four-star generals feared him and the people held him in awe. You never can believe he was a son of a preacher (seventh day Adventist church pastor). He was an orator. Ubani, when he was alive, could make anybody do what he or she never intended to do through the power of the words.

Chima Ubani had the opportunity to be a very rich man as the military governments of IBB and Abacha respectively promised him everything, but, he decided to be on the side of the poor instead. He was even given ministerial appointment on many occasions, which he refused to take. Abacha even imprisoned him many times and the security agents were always on his trail. He read Agricultural Economics and despite the fact that he was so busy with democratic movements and students’ politics, he made first class honours (if I’m not mistaken), when the making of first class honours at UNN was like landing on the moon and coming back. He was extremely brainy and intelligent.

I call on the Civil Liberties Organisation, the human rights groups, the Nigeria Labour Congress and Nigerians as a whole not to forget Chima Ubani and what he stood for. He might be dead, but, let’s not allow what he fought for to die. Let’s not allow the fire of his soul to quench. Nigeria needs the ilk of Ubani right now. With a government now that is made up of liars, we need another Chima Ubani. With a government that will say one thing and do anything, we need a new Chima Ubani. For an Attorney General and Minister of justice that will write a letter to Ibori´s attorney in London (making Ibori to win a temporary reprieve in London court), but, turns around and deny that he never wrote any letter even when the said letter is in public domain, we need people like Chima Ubani. For the opposition (Action Congress (AC)) that is so selfish and doesn’t know their left from their right, today supporting the AGF in his bid to usurp the powers of ICPC and EFCC and tomorrow calling for the AGF’s head for surreptitiously writing a letter to Ibori´s lawyers in London, we need the likes of Chima Ubani now. For ANPP that abandoned its presidential candidate alone in the court to join the government in forming the so-called Government of National Unity, thereby compromising on their opposition role, we need another Chima Ubani. For the president that will not want his friends to face the law because they bankrolled his campaign, hiding under “rule of law” and “servant-leader”, we need another Chima Ubani. For a government that has been hijacked by vested interests, we need another Chima Ubani. In Nigeria, where the Speaker of the House of Representatives is entangled in N628 Million scandal and she is still walking tall and talking tough, we need a person like Chima Ubani. In a country where a national chairman of a political party is threatening the federal legislatures with a recall to be initiated by him personally, if, they impeach the wayward speaker, a person of Chima Ubani´s zeal and courage is highly needed.

The question is whether the civil rights groups have the ability to fight effectively against the injustices of our time? Do they have the capacity and the men to put up a good fight for the downtrodden, the poor, the weak, the meek and the gentle? There is no more an arrowhead. The human rights groups are in disarray. It is saddening that the ranks of the civil rights groups have been seriously depleted by the death of Chima Ubani, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and others. Nigeria is hopelessly looking for those to fill in the gap. Will you take up that role?

We can all see what pressure can do. This government is feeling an intense heat right now from the pressures we all are putting on it due to its bad policies and is showing signs of buckling up. YarÁdua is saying that he is not protecting Ibori or any corrupt politician. YarÁdua now ordered the Attorney General to co-operate with the London Court as regards to the Ibori´s case. The EFCC and the AGF agree now to work together in prosecuting Orji Uzoh Kalu. These are the kind of things that will please Chima Ubani in his grave. We all need to be Chima Ubani in our different ways, so as to keep this flip-flopping and vacillating government on its toes. The pressures must be intensified and sustained.

I call on all the human rights organisations and activists to wake up from their slumbers, Chima Ubani is dead, but, the things he died fighting against are still here with us, Chima Ubani came, fought gallantly, paid his dues and is gone. He left the fight for us to continue with, let’s not disappoint him even in his grave, let’s tell him that he didn’t die for nothing by championing the cause of those that can´t speak or fight for themselves, that, we owe to Chima Ubani and other human rights activists that went down fighting for the masses.

May the untiring soul of Chima Ubani rest in perfect peace! I am sure that the soul that laboured so much and so hard for the poor masses has finally found rest in eternity. Chima Ubani loved his fellow Nigerians a lot and laid down his life for them. No love is greater than that.