Fasina-Thomas: Goodnight, Tony Enahoro

CHIEF Anthony Eromosele Enahoro was an excellent newsmaker. That would have been sufficient for a prolific journalist that he was——except that Tony Enahoro was most times the news himself.  In his profession, he was a Rocky Marciano who came in with rip-roaring qualities that made the great Zik make him a newspaper editor at the incredible age of 21. In politics, his brilliant ideas won the heart of the remarkable Awo who made him Minister in the then Western Region and consequently member of the caucus of the pragmatic Action Group.

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A farewell to Enahoro

When Chief Anthony Enahoro died on 15 December 2010 at the age of 87 – he was born on 22 July 1923 – he could not have been a happy man. A foremost nationalist who first moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule in 1953 when he was just 30, he died with his vision of a strong, united and federalist country on the verge of disintegration after the long years of military rule and a Fourth Republic in which the dividends of democracy were to be enjoyed only by a venal political class.

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Oshisada: Enahoro, The Nation’s Beacon, Is Out

‘WE are starting a chain of events, the end of which nobody knows.’’ That was one of the prophetic statements by the late Chief Anthony Eronsele Enahoro. It was made on the floor of Nigerian Parliament. Tafawa Balewa Square (then, Race Course), Lagos. And the occasion was at the passing of motions on May 29, 1962, to declare a state of public emergency in the Western Region. He was supporting the Leader of Opposition, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to move an amendment that the then Federal Government’s action was a dangerous precedent and a travesty of democracy. This writer was at the Gallery watching the Parliamentary proceedings. Today, Chief Enahoro, the nation’s beacon, is no more. But the circumstances that led to his prophecy are still with us. In other words, the chain of events has not ended. Continue reading “Oshisada: Enahoro, The Nation’s Beacon, Is Out”

Akinola: Enahoro: The departure of a great leader

IT was with great sadness that I and the communities of Movement For National Reformation received the news of Chief Anthony (Tony) Enahoro’s death on December 15, 2010.  He was old enough to have died, he came and left many positive marks and as such his departure is a celebration of a life well spent. Nevertheless, it has been very difficult to accept the fact that we will never see him again. Despite the gap in our age, he was first a friend before he was a leader to me.  He was the most democratic Nigerian I have been privileged to associate with. He is one leader that will be greatly missed. Continue reading “Akinola: Enahoro: The departure of a great leader”