One-time Speaker of the House of Representatives, Agunwa Anaekwe, has died.
He died on Saturday at the age of 69.
Writing about Chief Anaekwe in 2021, Eleojo Idachaba, in an article published in Blueprint Newspaper, had this to say:
Chief Agunwa Anaekwe was the speaker of the House of Representatives between 1992 and 1993, during the aborted Third Republic. This was just before the June 12 presidential election was annulled. He managed the affairs of the House through the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan before the Late Gen Sani Abacha terminated the life of that republic in November 1993. After that Chief Anaekwe from Anambra state went out of political reckoning for a long time until a few years ago when it was reported that he was said to have joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).
While writing about this ex-lawmaker, Okeke Okeke, a newspaper columnist, said, “Agunwa Anaekwe was elected speaker of the House of Representatives at the youthful age of 36 and in that capacity played a pivotal role in steering the transition process away from the mines laid by reactionary forces. Anaekwe largely succeeded in this mission, surviving as speaker up till November17, 1993 when Abacha brought down democratic structures, despite well-funded campaigns by anti-democratic agents to oust him.
“The National Assembly under him found itself walking a very tight rope. Because the military government headed by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was hesitant about relinquishing power, it sought to castrate the National Assembly with Decree 52 of 1992. The decree divested the parliament of meaningful legislative powers whilst the junta continued with its manoeuvres around the transition programme. To further put the assembly in a bind, it was persistently starved of funds all through its one year life.
“The financial squeeze was so serious that what would have been the speaker’s second foreign trip in that period was aborted at the last minute. This was an African Parliamentary Conference which was held in Botswana in 1993.
“Rather than be cowed by these deliberate pressures, Agunwa Anaekwe decided to stand on the side of public interest and make the assembly the voice of the people. He therefore opposed the agitation for creation of more local governments at the time which though a legitimate aspiration, was likely to be exploited to further elongate the transition process.”
Just before the 2015 general elections, Chief Anaekwe in an interview said, “I know that under Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the president, Nigeria would change in the area of corruption. This is because corruption has done a lot of damage in this country for a very long time and the PDP-led government has shown that it does not have the will to fight it. But from his antecedent and determination, I believe that General Buhari has the capacity to fight corruption.
“What Nigeria needs at the moment is a man of discipline in this country because a lot of things have gone wrong. So, he would bring to bear his personal attributes of discipline and honesty to change the situation.”
“RIP Chief Agunwa Anaekwe! His leadership during the Third Republic, though short-lived, will always be a part of Nigeria’s history. May his memory inspire future generations of leaders.”