AT last, the death of Nigeria’s very active radical and pro-people lawyer Dr. Olu Onagoruwa, has come. Dr. Onagoruwa gave up the ghost at his Onike residence in Lagos. The news of his death was broken to me at dawn. People will remember Kwame Nkrumah’s dawn broadcasts in Ghana while he was the President of Ghana. Africans believe that the dawn is an important time of Africans communicating with themselves. It is believed that any transaction that takes place at dawn lasts longer in memory. One of the important documents left by Nkrumah in Ghana was the book that contained his Dawn Broadcasts to the people of Ghana.
I had just woken up in my residence at Ilesa when I received a text message from Mr. ‘SegunOlatunji, the Tribune Correspondent in Abuja, informing me of the death of Dr. Onagoruwa. I just said loudly to the hearing of people that were with me that morning that it was significant that Dr. Onagoruwa had died at dawn. He was a great mind – a patriot and a nationalist who used law to fight for the rights of the oppressed in Nigeria. Dr.Onagoruwa was bold. He took risks to advance the cause of the people. He never cared who suffered from his uncompromising battles for the poor and the needy. He was never bothered by dangers posed to his own safety and security by such battles and risks.
I had known Dr. Oluonagoruwa ever before the two of us became involved in the late General Sani Abacha military regime. He was the same person I had known throughout the period until he died.He was a journalist of the Babatunde Jose Daily Times. That was when the Daily Times ranked as the largely circulating daily newspaper in Africa of its times. The late AlhajiBabatunde Jose gave the Times group of newspapers such anintellectual leadership that got individuals managing the newspaper organization. Fine journalists like AreoyeOyebola, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Remi Akano, Dr. Olu Onagoruwa, fashionable JibadeFasina-thomas, DipoAjayi, Segun Osoba, Felix Adenaike, Chinaka Fine Country, Alade Odunewu, Aunty Agbeke and several others passed through the Times newspapers as editors, managers, etc. etc.Dr.Onagoruwa was then the head of the legal department of the paper.
Dr. Onagoruwa was in the Times Group when the military regime headed by the late General MurtalaMuhammed acquired sixty percent of the shares of the newspaper. It was the beginning of the end for Daily Times. The rest is another story told. Dr.Onagoruwa was appointed by the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria then under the leadership of AlhajiLateefKayodeJakande to go into the MinereAmakiri case in Rivers State. MinereAmakiri was the journalist from the Observer newspaper then published in Benin who had had his head shaved on the orders of the governor of Rivers State,Diete Spiff, for publishing a story in The Observer that the governor had claimed had embarrassed him on his birthday. Dr. Onagoruwa did a good job in the Amakiri affair. He (Onagoruwa) later published a book on the incident titled “Press Freedom in Chains – The MinereAmakiri Affair”.
Dr.Onagoruwa was also a one-time Secretaryof the late Chief Anthony Enahoro led MNR. It was the position he (Onogoruwa) held before being appointed a cabinet minister of the Abacha military regime. Dr. Onagoruwa featured very actively in many symposia and debates on the political and constitutional future of Nigeria. He was successful in all these activities. Never a functioning politician, Dr.Onagoruwa used his legal profession to persecute radical and progressive causes.
I remember with marked interest the role played by Dr. Onagoruwa in the Turner Ogboru case. Turner was the younger brother of Great Ogboru, the man that was said to have led the abortive coup that nearly destroyed the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. Great Ogboru fled the country and his brother Turner was immediately arrested and sent to prison by General SaniAbacha.
The late Alex Ibru heeded the legal advice of Dr. Onagoruwa and released Turner Ogboru from prison.When the matter was reported to General SaniAbacha, the next day, he (Abacha) immediately ordered the re-arrest of Turner Ogboru and ordered his return to prison. General SaniAbacha was quoted to have told Dr. OluOnagoruwa and Alex Ibru the following:-“What you people have done is worse than a coup.” Dr. Onagoruwa defended their action in releasing Turner Ogboru by responding that no responsible government would close its eyes to a court order. He was never apologetic for advising the late Alex Ibru to release Ogboru.
The greatest pain was inflicted on Dr. Onagoruwa when his son,Toyin Onagoruwa, was shot dead by security officers right in front of him and his wife. After the security agencies had fully come to a conclusion that it was going to be a useless exercise if Dr. Onagoruwa was silenced for his repeated attacks on the government, they decided that much longer pain can be inflicted on Dr.Onagoruwa if his biological son was killed in his stead.
The security agents had followed Toyin right from his fiancée’s residence and caught up with him in front of his father’s house at Onike, Yaba. Toyin Onagoruwa was immediately shot dead with his parents watching the dastardly scene Toyin was later taken to the hospital dead. Dr.Onagoruwa never recovered from the shock.Few days after the assassination of Toyin, Dr.Onagoruwa suffered a severe stroke attack which left him half paralyzed. He suffered a repeated attack some years later after his wife of many years died suddenly. Mrs. Onagoruwa was buried in Dr.Onagoruwa’s compound at Odogbolu in Ogun State. Dr.Onagoruwa still went ahead to publish his memoirs in government despite the severe damage done to his health.
Fellow countrymen and women, the above represents a skeletal presentation of the life and times of a man who fought forces of reaction in his country to the very end.All the above stories flashed through my mind when it was reported to me that Dr.Onagoruwa had died.
Dr. Onagoruwa, a patriot, believed till he died that everything must be done to make Nigeria a great country. Dr. Olu Onagoruwa has gone to rest in paradise. He will for long be remembered as we pray to our God to bless his memory.
May his soul rest in peace!
EBINO TOPSY – 0805-500-1735 (SMS ONLY PLEASE
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