Onoh joins his ancestors at 82

When he celebrated his 80th birthday two years ago, Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh told the large and appreciative audience that rejoiced with him that his life was “quarter-to-going”.

On Tuesday May 5, 2009, Onoh’s final curtain fell. He was 82 years, born at Ngwo, Enugu on April 27, 1927. C. C., as he was fondly called by his contemporaries, was many things to many people. He was a philanthropist who awarded scholarships to promising but indigent students from his home state.

He was among the first generation of trained lawyers from Enugu. He was a church leader. More than any thing else, he was a controversial politician who did not care a hoot about voicing his position on any topic that came up at any given point in time.

Onoh was educated at the Ngwo Central School from 1934 to 1936, before he transfered to St. Peter’s Primary School in the metropolis of Enugu. He had his secondary education at the famous College of Immaculate Conception (CIC) Enugu between 1945 and 1948. After working for a few years in Enugu, he proceeded to the University College in Wales where he took a degree in Law in 1957, during which year he was also called to the Bar.

Back in Nigeria the young Onoh went straight into politics, winning election into the Federal House of Representatives in 1958. He was Chairman of the Nigerian Coal Corporation from 1959 to 1965, Chairman of the Enugu Market Authority in 1974 and Chairman of the Enugu Urban Council in 1975.

Chief Onoh got married in 1959 and had nine children, including the elfin Mrs. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu who won the 1988 edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, and Joe-Joe, the precocious young lady and doctoral degree holder that perished in the Nigeria Airways plane crash at the Enugu Airport in 1983.

When the Nigerian civil war began in 1967, Onoh pitched his camp with Biafra and supported the cause of the secessionist republic until it collapsed in January 1970. His credential as a church leader is underscored by the fact that he was for many years the Chancellor of the Anglican Church in Enugu. As a member of the Constituent Assembly of 1977-1978, he played a prominent in the creation of the Constitution of Nigeria’s Second Republic.

He joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) at the resumption of partisan politics. It was on this pedestal that he won the 1983 gubernatorial election of the old Anambra State, beating the incumbent Governor, Chief Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo of the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP)in controversial circumstances. Governor Onoh was in office for a spare three months when the military seized power on the last day of 1983 to introduce the Draconian regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

Onoh returned to partisan politics during the Fourth Republic but no longer ran for any elected office. Yet he was a thorn in the flesh of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, as he had been to Governor Nwobodo. He continued to identify with the cause of Ohanaeze Ndigbo right to the very end of his life, and professed support for the cause of an Igbo President of Nigeria.

Christian Onoh listed cycling, farming and walking as his hobbies in the Raph Uwechue-published Africa Who’s Who, forgetting to add “building houses” as he had done in a famous newspaper interview. Onoh probably had more landed properties in Enugu than any other human being living or dead. Indeed, there is an Onoh Estate in Enugu and his ownership of all the houses therein was undoubted.

Chief Onoh’s best legacy lies in the fact that he laboured more than most for the creation of Enugu State, which is why he is sometimes referred to as the father of the State. He was the most prominent politician to come out of Enugu State. He will be sadly missed.

Written by Chuks Iloegbunam (Courtesy Vanguard)
Wednesday, 06 May 2009