We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community....Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own. - Cesar Chavez.
Solomon Ogbuotaba Oguaba: Profile in Community Service.
Born in 1914(?) to Mr. and Mrs. Oguaba and Ihuaku Umenweke of Ikpa, Ozuakoli, Urualla, Ideato North LGA, Imo State, Nigeria, there were no comets blazing the sky nor meteors falling; as such, he was saddled with his humble beginning.
His formal education training did not exceed standard 3 owing to his illiterate parents’ reservations, or, better still, uninformed morbid aversion for any interaction with “white men”, a generally prevalent disposition among parents then. In his own case, Solomon Ogbuotaba Oguaba’s (Anunadike’s) stake of restraint was higher, because he was an only son, and it was the then loving parents inclination to protect their children from the enticements of white men and their ways of life.
In fact, his stint with formal education was a blatant act of positive stubbornness against the society’s ways, but which “stubbornness” is undeniably a clear case of decisive living and having the courage of one’s conviction. As brief as it was by today’s real standard, his was more all about the functionality of education, than with the quantum of literacy exposure. It was this pedigree that stood him out head and shoulders above peers and generations; that while his generation thumb-printed, he was writing letters and legal conveyances that stood the tests and buffetings of courtrooms and various informal dispute resolutions fora, and went ahead to type them out on his own typewriter, and followed through to the process of their legal perfection, to the letter. Of course, this trade as a licensed public letter writer was in his latter years.
Before setting out on the trade of a licensed public letter writer, it will be conceded as remarkable enough that with a standard 3 academics certificate, he took up teaching appointments for several years at Church Missionary Society schools in Adazi-Ani; and finally, Umuchu, Aguata LGA, all in Anambra State, Nigeria. It is worthy of note, that one of the products of his teaching expedition in Anambra State, Nigeria, among so many illustrious others, was Mr. D.C. Ofo, the then District Officer, Orlu. In current times, the Orlu District is akin or analogous to today’s Orlu Senatorial Zone.
When he wound up his teaching expedition, his bibliophilic disposition nudged him to the private venture of trading on textbooks at 88 Aggrey Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He was on the course of his private trading venture at Port Harcourt, when the Post Office, Urualla, – the very first in the entire old Ideato Local Government Area, was opened, and he became the first postmaster.
In 1955, he was appointed by Mr. Daniel Ofo, an Umuchu ex-student of his and then Orlu Administrative District Officer under the then Eastern Region, to be the Chairman, Mbanasaa Orlu North-East County Council – a position akin to today’s status of a Local Government Area Chairman, particularly that of Ideato North Local Government Area, to which the then Mbanasaa has transmuted to, administratively. It was in the saddle of this office as the chairman of Mbanasaa County Council that he built all the county schools in Urualla – that of Ozuakoli, and another in Alandu; Akokwa, Osina, Obodoukwu, Uzii, Akpulu, and others, all comprised in then Mbanasaa County Council, presently Ideato North Local Government Area. He did not only commission structures, he also headed the enrolment drives in these schools. Till date, these schools stand as glowing testaments and resounding legacies in community development strides; these schools have been breeding grounds for various persons who today stand tall, each in his own respect, in their respective chosen endeavours and various walks of life.
When he resigned his position as the chairman of Mbanasaa County Council; but not yet tired, between 1962 and 1963, he was appointed the Chairman of the Census Commission, Mbanasaa County Council.
He was a party stalwart of the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) with Barr. Victor Eze, who contested for the legislative seat of the then Eastern Region House of Assembly.
At his Urualla town level, between 1981 and 1984, he was the Chairman of the Building Committee of the Urualla Development Action Committee – the precursor of Urualla Progressive Union. It is noteworthy that it was his administration at the Urualla Development Action Committee that took over from the initiators, oversaw the fund drives, the building, the completion, the commissioning and the handing over of the foremost pristine pride and icon of Urualla’s unity and progress – the Urualla Civic Centre.
His galore of community services did not elude his Ikpa kindred of Ozuakoli village. From 1951 to 1957, he was the secretary of Ikpa kindred. Owing to his prime instrumentality in building the Ojenanwayo Hall of Ikpa kindred, a civic centre and till date the only one of its kind in Ikpa, his portrait conspicuously adorns the hall, till date. From 1957 to 1958, he was the Chairman of the home branch of Ikpa Kindred.
In all ramifications, this luminary, visionary and champion etched his name in characters of flame as a community leader. His leadership style was one that understood the dynamics of the responsibility corollary of leadership – responsibility to his God, to community, to humanity, to his family, and to himself.
A consummate orator, and traditional arbitration practitioner, his intrepid and disinterested advice helped resolve many issues that could have upset community’s dynamics. Owing to this penchant, he was a resource person to many formal and informal fora, even courts, especially where issues of traditional practices were involved. In fact, most conveyances the subject of litigations then, if any, were drafted by him, and he was always handy to give evidence about them. In fact, by his fearless and impartial disposition on issues, he unconsciously or consciously walked into, or chose, his fights, and never backed down on any.
Not niggardly with needed advice or truth, his advice was the impetus that saw T.O.C. Ndubizu, who eventually became a professor of Agronomy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and first vice-chancellor of Imo State University, go to school.
To dwell on his contributions to church here, would be albeit digressionary.
Mr. Solomon Ogbuotaba Oguaba, an elite of his time, was equally rewarded in life – the first block building with corrugated iron roof in the entirety of Ikpa, to be conservative, was built by him; and his the-ever-first-underground-water-tank, was visited particularly by the then Eze Urualla and some of his cabinet members, who were scandalized that “money was being buried underground”. These radically shifted the then trend of dwelling houses and their conveniences, and society, at least his immediate society, has been better for it.
Solomon Ogbuotaba Oguaba is fondly remembered always for his quintessential leadership skills and clear stand on issues, which gave fillip to giant community development strides; and it was this singular and paramount factor that made his demise in 1994 to turn out to be more of a celebration of life, exemplifying didactic Sophocles position that “One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been”.
