Kokori and his last days agony over Nigeria

Today, Thursday, March 7 marks exactly three months since Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, foremost unionist and former General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), passed after a month of fierce battle with kidney-related ailment that confined him to a private hospital in Warri, Delta State. Coincidentally, the day he passed, December 7, 2023, was the day he clocked 80! That’s symbolic!

Barely a month to his passing, he had cried to the world from his sick bed of his ailment on midnight of November 6, complaining about the unconducive state of the private hospital where he was receiving treatment. Suffice to say that prior to the night of his uproar, except for close family members, the world was hardly aware of his predicament, health-wise. And what was his pain? Having been admitted to the hospital for treatment the previous day, there was a power outage. The hospital, it was reported, ran out of diesel and the air conditioner, helping to ‘elongate’ the life span of the elder statesman, was off! The attendant heat was unbearable for the old man such that, according to him, he passed out intermittently with the ultimate fear that he might not last till daybreak.

So, the man of courage made a distress call, alerting this writer at about 12:40a.m of that Thursday to tell the world that he was dying in his sick bed in the hospital: “Ebenezer, tell the world that Kokori is ‘dead and risen.’ The only man in Warri that can handle kidney problems is Horeb Hospital Warri. But I’m facing other challenges. The Air Conditioner is not working. And AC can keep me alive till morning. What a country!

“Mobilise yourselves. I have something to tell this country, please. Please, do your best. Tell them that I can pay any amount, but let them switch on the AC for me because I’m dying. The AC went off. Please do your best. Flash it on Channels Television, AIT, TVC, everywhere. I can come alive again, but I just want the world to know that if I survive, I’ll shame the leaders of this country.

“Shame on them. How can Kokori be in a third-class hospital? The people are trying their best o, because I know it’s a Diesel issue. The AC is off. Two of my foster children are here with me. I’ve sent one to meet the hospital management that they should do everything that the AC is switched on, that when I’m out, I’ll pay. That I’m dying.

“I’ve called on NUPENG that this is what they’ve done to their leaders. That NUPENG could not even take care of me. It’s sad.
God bless everybody.”

If it is about courage, the Ovu-born Kokori had it in surplus. Imagine a dying man still advocating good governance on a sick bed! That’s the hero Nigeria has lost. That’s the spirit that has taken flight among our unionists and human rights activities.

Today, three months after his demise, electricity supply has worsened across the country courtesy of ineptitude and, of course, the usual culprit, corruption. These twin brothers will eventually sink an unthinking country like Nigeria. But where are the prophets who’ll put the stiff-necked crop of leaders our people put forward to govern us on their toes after Kokori whose name rang a clangorous bell on the pages of national dailies during my struggling days in Sagamu at the peak of the June 12: struggles?

The morning of that day, this writer summoned his colleagues: Jimitota from The Vanguard, Elo from The Nation, and Onyela from the Daily Sketch to the hospital in line with his midnight request. My heart was pacing to and from, wondering what the Abacha Nightmare got to tell the nation differently from his previous messages. Was he going to reveal some deep classified secrets that would rock the boat of the fragile nation? What are these secrets? Has he forgotten his beloved Ahmed Bola Tinubu is now the commander-in-chief? What would he say that would shame our leaders who cannot feed their citizens, whose medical personnel have been harvested in droves by the Western world? What other shame has Nigeria not suffered since its inception?

So, by 9:30a.m, we were at his bedside. My beloved Kokori was a shadow of himself. His voice was faint, but he could still recollect friendly faces even in his excruciating pains. Three of his aides, who have become his children, were at his bedside. They ushered us in. The hospital was neat, cosy with very amiable hospital personnel. No hindrance of any sort. So, we engaged the man who held the inhuman regime of the late maximum ruler, Sanni Abacha, to its knees on the insistence that the mandate given to Chief MKO Abiola on June 12, 1993, by 12 million Nigerians must be restored.

Interestingly by the time we got to Kokori’s bedside that morning, the story emanating from the distress call of the midnight had gone viral courtesy of the Tribune Online platform. In fact, the elder statesman had begun to receive a barrage of calls even from the likes of billionaire Femi Otedola and not long after the governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, who wasted no time visiting the ailing foremost unionist the following day on his bedside and offsetting his bills as well as those of other patients in the hospital.

After much exchange of pleasantries and appreciation of the viral news, Chief Kokori said, first of all, he never expected he would survive till that morning given the pains he was in during his midnight distress call. Looking much calmer and less agitated in his voice, he began his tale by reviewing his midnight travail owing to the power outage in the hospital. He simply said politicians had destroyed the country! Invariably rather than addressing his personal predicament as regards his failing health, his patriotic zeal, once again, got a better part of him as he began to plead with the organised labour, which had concluded to embark on a warning strike with a nationwide protest the following Monday, November 10, to sheathe their swords and give President Bola Tinubu ample time to address the ailing economy before deciding on embarking on strike.
According to him, the economy, having been badly managed by past leaders including the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu should be given, at least, a year to stabilise the economy.

He had said: “Our struggle was to build a country. The situation of the country…if I wanted billions, I’d have gotten it. Everybody, including me, stood to fight for democracy. I spent four solid years in prison. I did everything for democracy.

“There’s no freedom fighter in Nigeria like we have in South Africa. I used the instrument I had to restore democracy. You think I don’t mind money? I do, but I won’t take what’s not mine. I’m a patriot.

“The refineries are not working today. Because of my dedication to this country, I became the Tribune of this country. People like Beko Ransom-Kuti, Gani Fawehinmi, Kudirat Abiola, Bola Tinubu, I was underground for 10 weeks before I was arrested. The military junta sent a jet to bring me to Aso Rock, but I rejected the offer. I liberated the country. Tinubu ran abroad to continue the struggles.

“My point is how can a country like Nigeria, in the whole of Warri, the only hospital that can handle kidney issues is Mount Horeb Clinic? It got to a time that I couldn’t take a flight, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t have a flight.

“This hospital I am, Mount Horeb Clinic tried to put on a generating set for long hours despite the cost. And without the AC, I would have given up. I came out of coma and met unbearable heat. So, I have to beg the hospital to switch on the generator. There was only one doctor around with a poor girl struggling with many patients. I was going and coming.

“So, I summoned Ebenezer to help publish it, that even before I go, let the whole know what is happening. It’s a shame for our leaders. If I didn’t have the money, I’d have been wasted off.

“Past leaders have destroyed this country. The American Federation of Labour and the whole world trade unions, when I just came out of prison, took me to George Town University Medical Centre……the media did their best for this country.

“But here I am today in my village just struggling, happy that I’ve made my mark in Nigeria. But when I came to this hospital, I now realised that … they’ve been carrying out their tests…but at 12 midnight the poor man switched off his generator and I said ‘God, how much is diesel?’

“So, I now summoned the courage that even if I’m going to die, I asked my child to record me and I just remembered the name of Ebenezer Adurokiya of the Nigerian Tribune and Bolaji Ogundele of The Nation. I know them and I know they’d do their best to make Nigerians know how they’ve destroyed this country.

“I wasn’t in a coma when I came to the clinic. I went into a coma here. I came here Tuesday (November 4). But yesterday, it was too much. I’m 80 years old now. I spent 25 years struggling for this country. But how can a Warri that I know not having a functional hospital…I could have it this bad, what about the common people? Other arrowheads of democracy like Kuti, Fawehinmi are dead.

“I’ve managed to see Tinubu once. He gave me some funds, but then I wasn’t dying. I was able to meet him through Faleke (God bless him). He would do everything to ensure I see the president, before, during, and after elections.

“I’m sure you’re following the NLC debacle when the body wants to shut down the country. I’ve to educate labour that you don’t go on strike for two days without prior notice.

“People including labour should give Tinubu some time to remedy the country. I know I’ve discussed with him as president. I met him June 15. To tell him not to disgrace Nigeria that for the first time people who fought for democracy are in power. That I have to do my best to calm down the labour unions because I know the country cannot survive it.

“About 97 per cent of Nigeria’s income now goes to service loans. How do you think Tinubu can do magic overnight? I’m agitated because people are dying. You can’t blame them. Imagine if I didn’t have some funds, I’d have died last night just because of diesel.

“I’ll be taken abroad for treatment. Who will not agree? I used to refuse because I can’t hire an ambulance.

“At a stage, I felt NUPENG let me down because without me no NUPENG. Ngige who doesn’t know how democracy came about stopped my appointment during the Buhari regime.

“Nigerian media should do their best. They should move before I die. People who struggled for freedom were neglected and those who knew nothing found their way into government, especially Ngige and his cohorts.”

These were his words exactly one month to his 80th birthday which eventually became his deathday, too. His agonies stemmed not from his health challenges, but the perennial ones bedevilling the nation – dearth of infrastructure such as health facilities, electricity, and the like.

Chief Kokori longed for good governance; he wanted to see the Nigeria of his dream; a country at par with the first world, which he had severally said, was less endowed compared to Nigeria. That was why he was disappointed with former President Muhammadu Buhari in his wasteful eight years. Kokori had, in an interview with this writer in 2015, boasted that the Daura-born former army general would change the narrative of governance in the country. He had believed so strongly that Buhari would stamp out corruption, but also admitted that old age could pose some limitations.

“Truly, I must say I’m disappointed with the situation of the country. We expected more from Buhari, but he did not measure up to the standard we expected. He left so many things undone and I think he has not really committed himself too much to the country and that is why we are in this bad situation. I think he felt like he had done his best, but his best is not enough for the country.

“I’m actually one of those people who are terribly disappointed in his leadership in this country. I can’t pretend; the security situation in the country is so bad and without security, you can’t do anything. Without power energy, you can’t do anything and that is why poverty continues to go wild and uncontrollable. Buhari did not do much when it comes to security at all. He let us down in the aspect of corruption we thought he would fight. He has a cabal that is very ruthless. They only care for their interests and nothing more,” he had lamented while reviewing the Buhari government in 2021.

Undaunted still, he shifted his hope of a working Nigeria to the next regime after Buhari’s. He didn’t mind if any of former President Yemi Osinbajo or the current President Tinubu would emerge as president because, for him, either of the two would do well and perform better than Buhari. “And I know two people that will not mess up in the office – they are Tinubu and Osinbajo. Osinbajo will do better because age is telling on Tinubu. I’m not sure his (Tinubu) health status can handle the rigors of that office. But any of the two can reposition Nigeria,” he had submitted.

At a point in yet another interview with this writer ahead of Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary, Chief Kokori, while emotionally entrapped to the failings of the country, regretted being born in Nigeria vis a vis his dream for the country. When asked if his dream (of becoming president) was still intact, he declared emphatically: “Nothing happened to the dream; it’s just that I was born in the wrong country, that’s all. There’s too much corruption in this country. The little time I had in leadership, I had to rescue my country.”

If there’s a future for Nigeria, Kokori believes it lies in the youth. But he’s worried that these so-called Nigerian youths are bereft of history, demeaning past heroes on social media, too lackadaisical and shying away from taking risks. “The future lies with the present generation. Therefore, this generation should not now rely on people like Kokori or Wole Soyinka (for salvation). This generation doesn’t take risks. Nobody wants to take risks. Nigeria’s destiny in the hands of the youths. This generation should, themselves, believe in their country. I’m telling this generation that their destiny is in their own hands,” he told this writer.

Notable to recollect that the humane nature of the former general secretary of NUPENG welled up again before he eventually passed on December 7, 2023, at about 1:00 am. He had made his last demands – which were captured on video, pleading with powers that be, especially NUPENG, to execute on his behalf. Again, his plea was for the downtrodden. In the video footage obtained by this writer from Mr Barry Oke Atavwada, one of his aides, who was instructed to put it on record, Kokori also reiterated his mission on earth, saying: he was born a hero, lived as one, and died as one.

“I want you to record this for the world to know that I am not doing this for photoshopping. God bless Nigeria, God bless my people. I was born a hero, I have lived the life of a hero. Even in my death, that’s why I’m struggling to record all this.

“These four persons (Barry Oke Atavwada, Tobore Monday Ovumedia; the chef, Akpesiri Idemudia, and his driver, Ovie) and my children have been wonderful. This is my last saying made available to the world. I want to take a break. I struggle to talk, and because I’m a freedom fighter, I don’t want a situation where my children will be struggling over monetary things after my death. That’s my testament again. I want cool something, cool air… Argh!!! Amid his gasps for breath as he ebbed out, he averred, apparently referring to Governor Oborevwori who had shown him kindness: “… a good man, a good man….he cherished my life.”

When asked what he would love to be remembered for in my last interview with him at Ovu, his country home, the very modest, diminutive octogenarian simply said, with misty eyes: “I want to be remembered for being a good man. I’m a good man and I’m proud to say it; if you are oppressing somebody where I am, I will be emotional, tears will be coming out of my eyes and I will try to rescue that person.”

It’s obvious that Nigeria has lost an irrepressible voice of great repute. The country is in a dire strait. The country is in need of selfless and incorruptible heroes like Kokori.

The current toll of economic hardship is neck-breaking. What would have been Kokori’s attitude to the ongoing economic debacle if he were alive today? Eight months down the line since Tinubu came into power, is the Nigeria of Kokori’s dreams evolving? Is Tinubu, who struggled along with Kokori to revalidate the June 12 mandate and restore democracy, on the track of repositioning the country as expected? Will Kokori turn in his grave, as from Friday March 8 when he’d have been committed to mother earth, peep at Nigeria from the other side and nod his head in satisfaction? Or would the nationalist, who spent four years in Bama prison in Bornu State and only escaped the stranglehold of Abacha after the latter’s mysterious demise, continue to weep in his grave over Nigeria? Would Kokori’s soul be allowed to rest through good governance, restructuring, stamping out corruption and the like expected from President Tinubu, his fellow comrade-at-arms during the June 12 struggle? Time will tell!