By Chris Ngige
With the transition of Hon. Innocent Audu Ogbe, Nigeria has lost one of its finest…a patriot, statesman and an intellectual with a lot of integrity and, above all, one that can speak truth to power at all times. I had met him in 1982 when, as a very young man, Federal Minister, he was the bestman at a wedding of a mutual friend the late Engr. Mark Okoye, then Hon. Minister of the FCT (State), held in Enugu. We met again in 1998 after the formation of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Alex Ekwueme for President Campaign Organisation (ALEPCO) where he served as the pioneer director general, till the gruesome armed robbery attack that incapacitated him, removing him from the campaigns. By providence, he later became the National Chairman of the party, PDP, in 2002. With this position, he reinvigorated the party and ensured clean, free and fair primaries throughout the 36 states for the 2003 national elections.
In 2003, I benefited from this clean process and was, through the Lord’s doing, Governor of my state, Anambra.He was, therefore, the National Chairman of the PDP when some miscreants and roguish elements in the PDP from my state, in collaboration with the powers that be in Abuja, using the Nigeria Police, decided to kidnap me and fake my resignation from office. Audu and the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar refused to join my traducers on that fateful July 10, 2003. Instead, I was restored to my office on the instructions of the then VP to IGP Tafa Balogun. Audu Ogbeh and Atiku stood behind me like the Rock of Gibraltar, shielding me from unwanted harassment, especially within the party and in the Presidency. This precipitated his famous letter to the then President, Gen. O.O. Obasanjo, where he alerted and advised the President on the dangers and implications of his withdrawal of full security from me, a sitting Governor, whom the Constitution has designated as the Chief Security Officer of the state. He advised the President to call the traducers to order as they’re known and had comitted arson and destruction of government property, especially the the Governor Office and Lodge, which they had bombed with an intent to kill me. Obasanjo had replied the letter and declared the chairman as persona non grata and called for Ogbe’s resignation.
Audu did not mind tendering his resignation. He did so immediately, asserting that the PDP under his watch could not afford to attend the funeral of one of her Governors due to the party keeping quiet so that evil could triumph over good. He lost his seat and the replacement, Col. (Sen.) Ahmadu Ali, commenced the hatchet job process of my suspension and later expulsion from the PDP within three months!!
I and Audu again met during our formation of AC in 2006 and later ACN.We kept faith in the party till its fusion with others to amalgamate into the APC. We kept our friendship alive; we later found ourselves being appointed Ministers by our amiable late President Muhammadu Buhari in the first cabinet 2015-2019. Passionate about agriculture as a farmer, he put in his all as the Minister of Agriculture to change the face of agriculture in Nigeria, more so when the cabinet had ratified the policy of local content and Nigeria eating what we grow and growing what we eat, with no importation of food in order to protect our local farmers. At any of my meetings, Audu would regale me with stories on the success of his programmes in agriculture, especially the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme for rice and other crops.
We also found ourselves worshipping in the same parish in Church of Assumption, Asokoro, as ardent Catholics. So, opportunities for us to meet often were always there, even as he he didn’t come into the second Federal Executive Council, 2019-2023.
His death is, therefore, a personal loss to me, having enjoyed intimate contact and frienddhip with him from our ALEPCO days in 1998. Just recently, in April 2025, we attended in his Asokoro home the one-year memorial service and ceremony for his late daughter and we discussed death and all its pranks, not knowing it was also laying an ambush for Audu to snatch him on the 9th of August.
So, with the death of Audu Ogbeh, it’s the end of an era because the political class and the nation have lost a rare gem: a man of great integrity, with great vision and mission but whom the negative forces of retardation did not allow to release all his potential energy as a farmer and intellectual for the benefit of her country, Nigeria.
The void created by his exit will always be felt, for men of his quality are scarce in Nigeria. My condolences go to the family and the government and people of Benue State.
May God Almighty grant his soul eternal rest and comfort his family.
• HE, Sen. Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige, MD, OON, CON, sent in this piece
The post The death of Hon. Innocent Audu Ogbeh, 1947-2025: End of an era appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
