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In his lifetime Anthony Eromosele Enahoro (1923-2010) was larger than life. As a journalist, he was unsparing of opponents, as a politician, he was a great debater, and as a leading light of reasoned contributions to public discourse, even in his old age, he stood out.
As a journalist he was part of hard-hitting crew that elevated anti British rhetoric to journalistic art, bombarding British colonial policies on newspaper pages. For his trouble, the Brits imprisoned him thrice on sedition charges.
Undaunted, he continued his pugilistic approach to politics, cutting down to size many an opponent in parliamentary debates. He shredded cant in official policies, endearing himself in the process into the hearts of grateful citizens.
He was elected into the Western Region House of Assembly in 1951, from where he also served in the House of Representatives. It was while he was a member of the latter that he moved the famous motion calling of Britain to grant Nigeria independence from 1956. Although Nigeria as a country did not win her independence as Enahoro wished, he began an agitation, which granted the regional governments a phased self government. Consequently, the West earned her self government status in 1956, followed by the East in 1957 and the North later.
While in the West, he served as minister for Home Affairs and Information, 1954 to 59. It was during his tenure that television broadcasting was born in Africa. When he moved to the centre in 1959 as a federal legislator, he served as the Opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs and Legislative Affairs from 1959-63. He attended all Constitutional Talks preceding Independence in 1960, and his voice was loud in the call for freedom and development.
When his voice proved too irritating to the ears and his actions too hot to handle, the federal government of Tafawa Balewa, in 1963, dragged him alongside many Action Group faithful to the law court on charges of treasonable felony. He had fled to the United Kingdom, but the government had him extradited, tried, and jailed for thirteen years.
While in prison, he published his well-received memoir, The Fugitive Offender in 1965. In 1966, when the military in a coup d'etat seized power for the second time, he was one of the people released by an administration that was desperate for recognition and desirous of finding peace.
Faced with the reality of civil war, the new government invited Enahoro to participate in the new government. After initial hesitation because of his principled opposition to military rule, he eventually caved in, serving at various times as federal commissioner for information, labour and culture. He was effectively the government spokesman during the War years, 1967-1970.
When Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1979, Chief Enahoro joined the National Party of Nigeria, and was elected its Bendel state chapter chairman. It was a curious move because the NPN was principally rightist in orientation, quite different from Enahoro's leftist sympathies. It's been argued that his search for a broad-based party took him there.
With the fall of the Second Republic, Enahoro tried his hands at publishing again, establishing the following titles: Sunday World, Weekender and Woman's Vista under the stable of World Publications, operating from Benin. The newspapers did not fit the times and could not break through.
In the heady days of military's reluctance to leave office in the 90s, Chief Enahoro through the Movement for National Reformation provided a rallying point to postulate a different approach to the politics of the day. He called for a restructuring of the country along ethnic nationality lines. It was a cause to which he was devoted till his last breath on December 15, 2010.
In this edition, Media Review publishes two essays on Enahoro's legacies for the media and the polity by Lanre Idowu and Edwin Madunagu.
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