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Elder statesman, Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro was penultimate week reported to have died quietly and peacefully in his sleep at his Benin City, Edo State residence.
Though the foremost nationalist had earlier been rumoured to have been very sick, his death still came as a rude shock to the nation as his sudden demise was never contemplated now. More so, when a public statement issued earlier by the family disclosed that he was recuperating after he had been discharged from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

We were at a meeting of the National Stakeholders' Forum in Abuja when the news of his death came like a thunderbolt from the blues. As soon as the information filtered in, an announcement was made to that effect and one minute silence was observed by the gathering which included the likes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

That incident was very significant. It was clearly an indication of the highest esteem in which the old political warrior was held by his fellow countrymen and women. In death, Pa Enahoro even loomed larger than life. With his death, the nation has lost the last of its foremost political icons.
It is therefore not surprising that he had been receiving accolades and encomiums since he passed on from several quarters, with many calling for his immortalization by the Federal Government.

One of such tributes came from the National Assembly where the Senate adopted a motion calling on the Federal Government to accord him adequate recognition in view of his enviable contributions to the political emancipation of Nigeria and nation building. All the Senators who spoke on the motion paid glowing tributes to the politician and parliamentarian reputed as being the person who moved the historic independence motion first in 1953 and later in 1957 asking the British colonial authorities to grant self-government status to Nigeria which at that time was still under political bondage.

At that point in the political history of the country, it was a most dangerous thing to do, more so when a section of the nation had declared that it was not yet ready for self rule. For Enahoro to have gone ahead with the independence motion in defiance of the powerful colonial authorities showed the kind of stuff he was made: courageous, bold and non-conformist.
A nation builder and committed nationalist who believed fervently in the unity of Nigeria as a true federal State, Enahoro remained faithful to the struggle till the very end. He was a distinguished national political leader who fought alongside such founding fathers of Nigeria like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Ahmadu Bello to free the country from colonial domination.
He was very active in the nationalist struggles. His association with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, a frontline journalist and scholar who led the nationalist movement, marked a turning point in the political career of Enahoro.

The Great Zik of Africa as Azikiwe was fondly called and admired had a great influence on the polity, particularly the young radical elements who wanted an immediate end to colonial rule. Through his chain of newspapers and his trenchant columns, he was able to win over the likes of Enahoro who became a foremost member of the Zikist Movement. The Movement was a collection of fiery young radicals and intellectuals who were calling for a revolution in their demand for self rule.

At the tender age of 21, Enahoro was appointed the Editor of the Southern Nigeria Defender, one of the chains of newspapers owned by Zik. He also edited other newspapers in the stable including the Comet and West African Pilot which was the flagship of the Zik Group of newspapers. Enahoro used those newspapers as a veritable intellectual platform to wage relentless battles against British colonialism and imperialism.
His radical stance naturally brought him into collision with the might of the colonial powers. He suffered several incarcerations and detentions in the hands of the British colonial authorities who hated his guts.
Even as a young man, he participated in all the constitutional conferences in London and Ibadan where the independence of Nigeria was successfully negotiated.

In the immediate years preceding independence, he was to team up with Chief Awolowo to found the Action Group which formed the government in the defunct Western Region. In course of his glorious political career, he served variously as Regional and Federal Minister in charge of different portfolios.

During the national political crises of 1966 which resulted in the military take-over of the civilian government, Enahoro was among the few statesmen who made strenuous efforts to prevent the country from sliding into a civil war. When all the efforts failed, he served in the military government of General Yakubu Gowon as the Federal Commissioner for Information and Labour.
He remained politically active till his death. He will be greatly remembered for the frontline role he played in the revalidation of the annulled pan-Nigerian mandate given to Bashorun MKO Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He was the chairman of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which battled both the military regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha to a standstill.
He was forced into self-exile in Canada by the brutal and murderous regime of Abacha. With the death of Abacha and the return to civil rule in 1999, Enahoro returned to Nigeria where he had been actively engaged in the struggle for the enthronement of true federalism in which all the ethnic nationalities in the country would enjoy self determination.
In pursuit of this agenda, he with other compatriots formed the Movement for National Reformation (MNR) to advance the interests of the various ethnic groups in a truly federated Nigeria. He also pushed for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) for the purpose of renegotiating the basis of Nigeria's federalism which he firmly believed had been seriously subverted by decades of military involvement in politics.
The fact that at the age of 87, Enahoro was still crusading for a true federal State shows that the current federal structure of Nigeria can no longer satisfy the aspirations of the constituent units. The best tribute that the government can pay to him is to see to it that the inequity and injustices in our present political set-up be satisfactorily addressed with the enthronement of true federalism.