Nigeria lost two of its remarkable citizens on same day; Ojo Maduekwe and Elechi Amadi. The duo were reported dead at different times on Wednesday. Both Maduekwe and Amadi served in the federal and state government levels respectively.
Ojo Maduekwe, popularly referred to as ‘Ojo oni keke’ (A term in Nigerian Yoruba language which means Ojo, a bicycle owner), was born on May 6, 1945 in Abia State, Nigeria. He attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he obtained a degree in Law in 1972. During Nigeria’s Second Republic, Maduekwe was a member of the National Assembly. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, a position he held between June 1999 – July 2000.
Maduekwe was later appointed Minister of Transport in 2001. In this position, he advocated for the greater use of bicycles, although critics said that the roads were unsafe for cyclists and reports had it that Maduekwe himself was pushed into a ditch by a bus while he was cycling to work. As the Transport minister, he was the first Cabinet Minister to design and create an Anti-Corruption Unit. Ojo Madueke was also Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2007. He left office in March 2010 when the acting president at the time, Goodluck Jonathan, dissolved his cabinet. Maduekwe was once the National Secretary of the current opposition political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Renowned Nigerian author, Elechi Amadi was best known for his novel, The Concubine, which was hailed as the “most accomplished first performance” and “an outstanding work of pure fiction” by veteran professors of literature. Amadi was born in 1934, in Aluu, Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State. He went on to obtain a degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Ibadan (1955 – 1959). He held various positions with the Rivers State government; Permanent Secretary (1973 – 1983), Commissioner for Education (1987 – 1988) and Commissioner for Lands and Housing (1989 – 1990). Before his time with the Rivers State government, Amadi served in the Nigerian army. He remained there during the Nigerian Civil War despite coming from the Niger Delta, which was part of the breakaway state of Biafra. He retired at the rank of Captain.
Some other popular published works of Elechi Amadi include: The Great Ponds (novel), Sunset in Biafra (war diary), The Slave (novel) and The Woman of Calabar (play).
