A hospital for Chima Ubani, by Uzor Maxim Uzoatu – THIS END

In this sad season in Nigeria I was filled with so much joy when the news reached my end that the governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, has named the Obingwa General Hospital after my late brother and comrade, Chima.

This gesture is indeed reason to believe.

It is vital in this charged season that a good number of clowns in the name of politicians play with democracy in Nigeria that the deceased is remembered: Chima Ubani.

Crusader, organizer, activist, revolutionary, hero, strategist and, above all, a passionate human being, Chima Ubani died in the struggle for the consecration of true democracy in our dear country.

He was entrusted to Mother Earth on Thursday 27 October 2005.

It makes no sense at all to write about the Great in the sense of the past because he is destined to live forever.

The fact that the hospital was named after him clearly shows that Chima Ubani still reigns supreme in the hearts of committed Nigerians.

Chima died at just 42 years old, but recorded enough accomplishments to last for two more lifetimes.

He died in a problematic car accident around Potiskum, Yobe State, on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, along with Vanguard Newspapers Deputy Photo Editor, Tunde Oyeleru.

Chima was on his way to Yola from Maiduguri after a highly successful rally organized to protest fuel hikes by what most Nigerians then considered “the anti-people Obasanjo government of the time”.

He had the option of traveling by air but Chima, characteristically, selflessly gave up his seat to the then labor leader, Adams Oshiomhole, who would later become governor of Edo State and president of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and now a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Chima ended up traveling in the union leader’s marked jeep, only to spread stories that an accident had claimed the lives of the clerk and the photographer.

Suffice it to say, Chima did not die in vain because he put his heart and soul into the fight and died for others in the spirit of “what is not worth dying for, is not worth living for.”

Chima was without a doubt the greatest strategist of the league of Nigerian activists.

It was Chima who initiated the 5 million man march that overshadowed Daniel Kanu’s million man march for General Sani Abacha’s self-perpetuation in power.

Military era activists such as Olisa Agbakoba, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Alao Aka-Bashorun and so on have always been beholden to Chima in strategizing their struggle.

Chima actually studied Crop Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he revolutionized the student union movement.

He joined forces with comrades like Olu Oguibe and Emma Ezeazu to awaken the hitherto sleeping campus.

It gave revolutionary impetus to the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and various activist bodies.

He raised the stakes of the fight when he joined the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) and became the body’s executive director.

He combined eloquent theory with effective practice. He was of slight build, but what he carried inside him moved mountains.

He was a born leader that all followers were obliged to listen to.

He never disappointed in all his callings and his demise was a death blow to the fight for principles in the country.

If he were alive today, some of the clowns who parade themselves as Democratic leaders would have been running for their lives.

The disorderly assembly of pretenders cannot help but spend very sleepless nights in their pathetic upsurges.

Chima has never willingly put up with such nonsense in her life. General Ibrahim Babangida, for example, cannot forget the name of Chima Ubani in a hurry.

The SAP uprisings during his regime as military president owed all their success to the contribution of Chima Ubani who collaborated with several comrades across the nation to instill the fear of God in the very heart of the military dictator.

Not even being jailed by the Abacha junta could quench Chima Ubani’s fire. He was captured and thrown into prison but never betrayed his companions.

He came out to restart where he stopped. He lamented that the fight should not be limited to firing the military. His idea was that the opposition should organize itself to take power.

It was in his determination to take control of the power game that he formed the Democratic Alternative (DA).

He believed that it was the complacency of truly progressive revolutionary forces that let conservatives tango with the fate of the nation.

His Marxist roots informed his astute understanding of society, and his life’s ideal was to see labor overthrow capital.

He left behind a young wife and young children when a vile transition took away the light of struggle.

The naming of Obingwa General Hospital after Chima Ubani should indicate that the ideals of the deceased will eventually flourish.

There is little else for me to write other than to conclude with these beautiful words from Chima Ubani: “Revolution is inevitable in Nigeria.”