Festus Samuel Okotie Eboh  (1912 - 1966)

 By

Willy Bozimo

If there was any colourful and most flamboyant politician in the First Republic, the person was, undoubtedly, the man they love to call Omimi-Ejoh, Ejoh bilele, which literally translated means-the man with long, long features, the flowing wrappers.

Admittedly, the First Republic had a handful of ministers  who seemed to enjoy the limelight, which Festus was noted for. For example, the likes of J. M. Johnson, TOS Benson, Dr. Kingsley Ozurumba Mbadiwe, were in various degrees noted for one thing or another. But in the 12 member Cabinet with Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Governor General, Sir James Robertson, The Omimi Ejoh was clearly in the lead when it came to political showmanship and flamboyance in dress style. That was the Cabinet in 1958, formed following the alliance between N. C. N. C. and the N. P. C. while The Action Group was in the opposition at the Federal Level. 

Chief Festus Okotie Eboh was born on July 18, 1912 to Prince Okotie Eboh at Benin River, in Warri division. He attended Sapele Baptist School - a Missionary School and in 1930 he took up appointment as an Assessment Clerk in Sapele Township Office. From 1931 to 1935, he taught briefly and later resigned to join the British Bata Shoe Company Limited, first as a Clerk and rose to the post of a Chief Clerk. From then on, his rise to fame and progress was phenomenal.

While with the Bata Shoe Company, he attended several courses abroad which earned him a Diploma in Business Administration and Organisation. Beyond this, apart from being the First Minister of Finance, he also qualified as the first Nigerian Chiropodist.

After his various courses in Britain, as a visionary, he decided to prepare himself for the future. He resolved to go into business on his own having learnt the first tentative steps in business under the Bata Shoe Company.

Omimi Ejoh, soon became a Rubber Merchant cum Timber Magnate and he started off by opening a chain of schools and enterprises: Amongst them Okotie Eboh Grammar School; Omimi Plastic and Shoe Factories, all of which laid his sound business foundation of his personal future before venturing into the public service and full blown politics. 

Political career

He actually entered political life in 1948 when he contested election and became a member of the Warri Divisional Council, the Warri Provincial Council, Sapele Township Advisory Board, Warri Provisional Ports Authority Committee and the Warri Divisional Education Committee. He was never defeated at any local election either in Warri or in Sapele. Chief Okotie Eboh, who has an Itsekiri father and an Urhobo mother, bestrode the political landscape of Warri and Sapele like a collosus and his political career climaxed as a top NCNC member when he was appointed a Chief Whip in the Western Regional House of Assembly dominated by Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group in 1954. His meteoric rise to the top did not stop there as he was appointed  a Federal Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in 1955.

In 1957, with the re-constitution of the Federal cabinet and the appointment of the Prime Minister of the Federation, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh became the first and longest serving Minister of Finance for the Federation for a period of ten years, until his death under unfortunate circumstances of January coup of 15, January, 1966. It will be recalled that he was the only Federal Cabinet Minister that was killed along with the Prime Minster, Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the West, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola in what was patently seen and described as Col. Ifeajuna inspired coup but was deftly executed by Major Nzeogwu Kaduna.

At the time of his death, Chief Okotie-Eboh, was survived by 14 children and a wife, most of the children were minors. His legacies and establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria; inauguration of the first national currency; the establishment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the creation of the first Nigeria Investment and Development bank in an era when such far reaching decisions were dreamed of and concretised in the 1950s and 1960s were seen as marks of great foresight on the part of Omimi Ejoh. It is only proper that such historical achievements are put in their proper perspective to give honour to the forerunner of the Nation’s foundation along the path of economic base and freedom. 

A Patriot's footprints

Since his assassination in the coup of 1966, January 15, his children had kept up his memory as a loving father and a patriot who ought not to have pay the supreme price for his country but yet died as a “victim of circumstance” as a loyal cabinet minister who served well throughout his tenure. To political opponents and critics at the time, they had wanted to justify the killings of the political leaders on framed up but unsubstantied grounds of corruption of the First Republic politicians.But with the passage of time, events have unfolded and most of the key players of the First Republic are now coming out to debunk the claims of corruption of the First Republic politicians, most especially, viewed against the backcloth of what had transpired between the Second Republic and subsequent military regimes to the present Fourth Republic.

At the 36th Memorial Service cum thanksgiving ceremony in honour of the Late Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh  held at the Okotie-Eboh Memorial Baptist Church, Sapele  another landmark was achieved was made by the children.

On that occasion, no less a personality than the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Commander of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo, came to unveil a statue of the Omimi.

President Obasanjo’s brief but epoch-making speech could be encapsulated thus: “The distinguished children of our father, who was one of the founding fathers of our independence, in the past 41 years, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, unwittingly or wittingly, we have made a host of mistakes, mostly of the heart as we continually accuse ourselves”.

The President went further “I believe the time has come when the healing and reconciling process can be hastened, not just to forget the past but to understand how we can move forward in unity and in brotherhood. If by unveiling this statue and whatever we have said in the past about our leaders, there is no one more angelic than your father, Festus Okotie Eboh.”

President Obasanjo asked rhetorically “Is it right for many of us to talk ill of the past and its leaders? We should try to put the past behind us, take our stand truly with the present, a new attitude and dedication to the service of Nigeria. May the soul of our dear Papa rest in perfect peace And if, the unveiling of this statue can heal the wounds of the past, so let it be.” 

The 36th memorial service and thanksgiving ceremony was attended by over a hundred thousand people from all walks of life, some former ministerial colleagues of the Omimi Ejoh and the traditional ruler of the Itsekiri kingdom of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II the Olu of Warri; the Executive Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori.

In his own testimony, Chief Richard Akinjide , then Minister of Education in the  First Republic  said: “Chief Okotie Eboh and myself were in the same cabinet of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Chief Okotie Eboh was my father and it is a great honour, to be here”.

In an ex tempore speech, Chief Akijide said “that those of them in the Cabinet were just in their thirties and people like Majekodunmi, TOS Benson, and most of the things I achieved were done with the help and support of your father”.

Chief Akinjide said that in the morning of the January 1966 coup, we were so confused and did not realise what had transpired but as we listened to the radio: “The Prime Minister is missing; Minister of Finance is missing; the Premier in Ibadan is missing. The Premier of the Northern region has been killed. There and then, Alhaji Bukar Dip Charima, then led us as the acting Prime Minister. Zik was away in the West Indies for medical check up and Dr. Taslim Elias, who was then the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, was still consulting with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

What happened was that in one of our meetings, Major General Aguiyi Ironsi came uninvited not once, not twice and before we knew what had happened, the announcement we heard was that we had handed over the government to the Army. That was not true and we did not. From that moment, the history of Nigeria was never the same.  Sir Tafawa Balewa was one of the finest statesmen Nigeria had and so was Samuel Festus Okotie Eboh- True Nigerians. I think all Nigerians should be proud of them”.

Chief Akinjide recounted all the achievements of Chief Okotie Eboh in these glowing terms “He was the founder of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the creator of the Nigerian Currency; founder of the NIDB (Nigerian Industrial Development Bank) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It was very convenient for the coup makers to play down the role of Chief Okotie-Eboh and play up the unsubstantiated charges of blanket corruption against the First Republic politicians.

Chief Akinjide averred that in the First Republic there was no money because when the federal government then thought of building the Eko bridge, Nigeria could not produce $80 million. The Minister of Finance, Chief Okotie Eboh, according to Chief Akinjide, went both to Britain and America to solicit their assistance but to no avail. It finally fell on the German government which promised to pay a German construction firm - Julius Berger to build the bridge. This, according to Chief Akinjide, was paid for by the German Government directly to the Julius Berger, saying “Our First Republic politicians were not corrupt and but for Chief Okotie Eboh’s support, the Eko bridge could not have been built, the greatest and first Minister of Finance in Nigeria”.

Chief Akinjide confessed that “in the NCNC days, Chief Okotie Eboh was richer than the Party and everybody. He was then a Minister because he had made his money before coming into politics and whenever  the party was broke, it was to him we went to collect some money for party activities. Nigerians should be grateful for having somebody like Chief Okotie Eboh, generous to a fault and did not discriminate against tribe or tongue”.

The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II had this to say “Chief Okotie Eboh was a victim of circumstances. The politics at that time began and ended in the palace of the Olu. I knew him as a Federal Minister and to him we owe the Federal Government College, Warri and the Inland Waterways in Warri and at Ode Itsekiri, he built a Wharf and a bridge but when the coup came he was just an unfortunate “victim of circumstance”. 

In her address of welcome  Obasanjo, one of the daughters of the late Chief Okotie Eboh, Mrs. Akele,said  “It is exactly 36 years when some members of the Nigerian Armed Forces propelled by misguided vision and vigour gunned down our father, Chief Festus Samuel Okotie Eboh, CMG, First Minister of Labour, first Minister of Finance, an illustrious son of Iwere Land and Orogun in Ughelli Local Government Area of Delta State”. Dr. Mrs. C. M. Akele went further “this singular act directly and indirectly led to many dire consequences that almost disintegrated our country, it become the lot on you, Mr. President, and many of your compatriots to repair these damages and hold the country together. And after fighting the civil war it was by divine providence you became the first military Head of State from 1976 to 1979. And by another divine providence you again became civilian President from 1999 to date and you have not discarded your role as a repairer and builder. In fact, this time around, you have come not only to rebuild the damages but to pave way for wounds to be healed and for people to be reconciled. We the children of Okotie Eboh salute you and thank God for your life.”

Mrs. Akele went rhetorical when she asked “what is in a statue that a whole President of Nigeria will come to unveil but the historian and the discerning mind will realise that this is all part of the role God has destined you to do for Nigeria, - a repairer of damages, a healer of wounds, and a peace maker. By this act, you have removed the injustice done to our father 36 years ago. By this symbolic act, our father is being remembered as one of the heroes of Nigeria. We are grateful, Mr. President. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our sight”.

For a man, who was already self made in terms of personal wealth, a good administrator and top flight politician, who was seen as a bridge builder between the North and South, and a member of the NCNC where Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was the National President while he, the Party Treasurer, it becomes obvious that there was envy in the air. In the NCNC alliance government with the NPC, Chief Okotie-Eboh who was a very close personal friend of Tafawa Balewa, then Prime Minister, anything or positions that the members of the NCNC wanted always fix it politically for his NCNC members.

Chief Okotie Eboh while alive, lived a fulfilled life though cut short in the midstream by evil forces that thought he was too powerful, influential and close to the source of power. He travelled widely as Federal Minister of Finance to the United States, United Kingdom where he met and became personal friend of the late US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the sixties, visited the Pope John XX111 twice in his life time as pictures revealed. Widely travelled to Italy and Israel and his picture with a great Israeli statesman, Mr. David Ben Gurion, is a testimony.

The real Okotie Eboh not known to members of the public comes with his private correspondence to his political associates, friends and opponents as published in a book “A Patriot’s contribution to National Unity” edited by Mr. Lindsay Barret, with a forward written by, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, paints the picture of the real businessman and politician, astitute communicator, a man who is loyal to this friends through thick and thin and a man who has character and charisma.

In Adamu Ciroma’s words “The assassination of Chief Festus Samuel Okotie Eboh, CMG, MP in Nigeria’s first military coup d'etat in 15 January 1966 robbed the nation of a genuine and colourful patriot as the country’s first Minister of Finance, his work in creating a stable foundation for the national economy has not been surpassed. His ability to serve for nearly a decade under the leadership of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, even though he was not a member of the Prime Minister’s party - the NPC set an example of harmony in public service that should be emulated in the politics of Nigeria today. In carrying out his assignment as the manager of the national economy, he sought to be fair to all and sundry, and to implement the government’s policies on behalf of the masses with prudence and high sense of discipline”.

In his contribution as the editor of the Okotie Eboh papers that gave birth to the Compendium - A Patriot’s Contribution to national unity, Mr. Lindsay Barret a versatile journalist, author and poet, a writer of no mean order and one I often described him a “restless spirit and creative person”. A man who is more Nigerian than a Jamaican, having spent over thirty years on the Nigerian soil has these touching remarks to make “one of the truly tragic effects of coups on the process of recording history like Nigeria is the fact that some of the leaders who die in them are soon forgotten by the very people whose welfare they championed, and for whose sake they may very well have been martyred. This has been the fate of the memory of one of the most colourful and important leaders in Nigeria’s First Republic - Chief Festus Samuel Okotie Eboh. He was the only Federal Minister, apart from the Prime Minister, who was killed on the January 15 coup in 1966. One of the real tragedies of modern Nigeria history has been the fact that Chief Okotie Eboh’s political detractors in spreading misinformed and false impressions about his abilities to a great extent without any effective defense being mounted on his behalf. The deeper significance of his position in the politics of the nation, especially, of his successful struggle, to raise the recognition of the contribution of the minority tribal groups to governance at the centre, has been overlooked, or devalued in modern day political discussions. The time has come for the re-assessment of his relevance to the nation and the former Midwest region (today Edo and Delta states) to be undertaken.

If truth and justice are to become hallmarks of Nigeria’s history in this period of renewed democratic fervor, Chief Okotie Eboh’s memory must be enshrined in appropriate ways in the nation’s record of service.”

I do agree in toto with  Lindsay Barret and it is out of place to award a posthumous national honours to the late Okotie Eboh for setting Nigeria’s economy on the path of greatness as the first Minister of Finance.

Apart from that, since Obasanjo has also referred to the late Omimi Ejoh “as one of the most angelic leaders of our times” in last year’s anniversary celebration of his death in Sapele at the unveiling of his STATUE, I think, it is time for the President to initiate a move to set in concrete terms the importalization of the first Minister of Finance by printing the largest denomination of Nigeria’s currency - a new ONE THOUSAND naira with Okotie Eboh’s picture in memory of his pioneering years as the Minister of Finance. That, to me, and most Nigerians would for all times remaining an everlasting tribute to the Omimi Ejoh, just like Balewa, Sardauna, Zik, and Awo.

As if Chief Okotie Eboh foresaw the dangers that lay ahead of the polity in the last days before his demise on page 138 of the book titled:- a record from history the final warning, there was a last official document generated from the office of Chief Okotie Eboh which sounded tragic and prophetic subtitled. A short brief for ministerial delegation to the Prime Minister, 14th January 1966. I quote in full thus:

1. The crisis in the Western Region has assumed alarming proportions. It is spreading into the Federal Territory and its repercussions are being felt throughout Nigeria. Innocent people not only from the Western Nigeria but also from Northern Nigeria, Eastern Nigeria and Midwestern Nigeria are being killed. People are being robbed assaulted and houses are being burnt on a large scale. What is more, foreign visitors are being attacked, robbed and maimed. Foreign investors are being scared away from Nigeria. Everybody who has the interest of Nigeria at heart is genuinely worried about the present situation. We are worried and believe you the Prime Minister, who has the overall responsibility for law and order is even more worried.

2. Although the maintenance of law and order in Western Nigeria is primarily the responsibility of the Western Region Government, the activities of the Nigeria Police, particularly those drafted to the West from other parts of the federation have brought the federal government more closely into th picture. In this respect,. The federal government is now involved. We do not want it to be said that the Nigeria Police, an arm of the federal government, are being used to molest innocent citizens. The Prime Minister has responsibility for the Police and will surely not allow the Police to be used to terrorist we and shoot down political opponents.

3. Something must be done immediately to bring peace to Western Nigeria. If immediate action is not taken good government in any part of Nigeria or the Republic will be endangered, fanatics, hooligans, highway robbers and all irresponsible elements will be given the opportunity to consolidate their position and remain a perpetual danger to all governments and particularly to the political leaders. Everybody’s life will be in danger.

4. We believe the Prime Minister is having serious thoughts on these grave issues. We would like him to take us into confidence issues after hearing the Prime Minister we have some suggestions to make.

5. a) Rhodesian crises, steps you took to resolve same

    b) The present government in the West is unable to govern effectively and cannot maintain law and order there. W leave the question of the way the Western elections we conducted. All of us are aware of all that happened. There is abundant evidence that the present government of Chief Accentually does not enjoy the confidence of the people of western Nigeria. The present wave of violence started as a spontaneous reaction of the Western electorate. They were later joined by highway robbers. There is no doubt that law and order have broken down in Western Nigeria. There is danger ahead. The killings, robberies and maimings may spread to other parts of the country unless a state of emergency is declared in Western Nigeria..”

These premonitions and forebodings of terrible danger ahead of the Western regional crisis arising from a massively rigged election dovetailed, as into were, to the January 15 coup in 1966.

As we approach another national general elections to pick presidents and governors and members of the state and national assemblies, one lesson the First Republic ought to teach the Fourth Republic is this, that in spite of the incumbency factors and their attendant terrorism, nobody or politicians should risk what happened in 1965 in the West.

The federal government should remember the Wetie days of yore, the Action Group, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s party was in power before the NPC got into an unholy alliance with the late Chief Accentually’s party, thoroughly rigged the elections and set the ball rolling for the arson and burings in the Western Nigeria, now South West Nigeria still led by Awolowo’s legacy - the Alliance for Democracy is very much in solide control there and perhaps, in the interest of peace, nobody should attempt what Chief Accentually did in the wild west.

It is agreed that you can rig where you are popular and accepted by the electorate.

The late Chief Okotie Eboh was cut down as “victim of circumstance” says the Olu of Warri, the Ogirame Atuwatse 11 in his tribute to the late Okotie Eboh, a fighter for the emancipation of the minorities of Midwest and a true lover of his Itsekiri people and since his death, Bendel or Delta has lost a rare gem of a philanthropist, political manipulator who used his immense wealth to advance the cause of the less privileged in the companies he set up, schools.

When comes such another Okotie Eboh in our times, a minority leader of immense means, who was not self seeking? None. He deserve a place in the Sun as a fighter, liberator and business whiz-kid. One day a thinking government will immortalise him out with building or airports, but with the highest denomination of our nation’s currency N1000 in democratic Nigeria.

Jan 2003