It is no more news that Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku is dead. The fiery legislator who represented Benue North West senatorial district between 1999 and 2003 is already with his ancestors. Like a thief, death struck him in the thick of the night on Sunday, February 3,
The late vocal politician and Pro-Chancellor/Chairman, Governing Council of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, passed on at the age of 73.
According to family sources, he died at the National Hospital, Abuja after a brief illness. And for those who followed his activities, the demise of late Waku who was elected Senator on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has created a permanent vacuum in the community of politicians in Nigeria. Who will replace him? It will be difficult because throughout his lifetime, he never sat on the fence with regards to national issues.
Indeed, a great thinker, Hunter S. Thompson may have captured Waku’s odyssey when he said: “ “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
That represented the life and times of Waku. For instance, in 2000, he sparked a major controversy when he said it was better for the military to return through a coup than for former President Olusegun Obasanjo to continue as a dictator. The former senator said Obasanjo’s government was the worst Nigeria had ever produced. The statement led to a widespread condemnation and having stirred the hornets’ nest, he was immediately suspended from the upper chamber. But that did not stop the lawmaker from criticising the former president.
In 2016, he had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to probe Obasanjo if he really meant to fight corruption.
In an interview in the media, he had said: “I have access to authority. I have access to Mr. President. I told Mr. President that this corruption probe of past regimes, if you don’t probe Obasanjo, then you haven’t done anything yet. Corruption in Nigeria was introduced by Obasanjo.”
So, hate or like him, he was one man that spoke truth to power. Even though he was close to President Buhari, Waku did not mince words in condemning the killing of farmers by herdsmen even as he called for an end to open grazing.
He was quoted in the media: “I have been told that some states have adopted the policy of creating grazing areas but in Benue State, we are totally against grazing reserves; we are for ranches.”
“I’m in support of the Benue State government’s policy and I will continue to support any other state that adopts the same idea. In this 21st Century, grazing can no longer be fashionable because locations have been over grown; people have taken farmland and there are establishment of ministries, towns and villages.”
Also even as a card-carrying member of the APC, Waku moved against his own party during the Osun governorship poll which he described as a sham.
He had said: “The Osun election is a disgrace to nationhood. I don’t know whether the president has issued a congratulatory letter to the supposed winner of that election. If he did, then it is unfortunate for a man with integrity to accept that sham called election.
“I know there wasn’t election there. The said election in Osun was a broad daylight robbery and it should be condemned by all. I can never subscribe to that kind of victory because it is not a victory, but robbery and the person that assumed that office be it a Muslim or a Christian, must go for confession to ask God for forgiveness because God forgives no matter what crime you have committed.”
When asked also when he would retire in politics, he stated emphatically:
“If you are in politics for economic benefits and you can’t achieve that expectation, then you may retire. But when you go into politics to render services to the downtrodden, the less privileged in our society, speak for the voiceless people, you will never retire. You can take a back bench, but you will always comment on national issues.
“For me, politics is not all about staying in office. If you insist on office holding, you become not just a politician but a job seeker. So, there are two dimensions in this case. One is a job seeker politician that must always be in the office, the other is a seasoned politician that must speak for the less privileged people in the society. In and out of office, one can still render services to the nation. And that is what some of us have been doing. I am not going to fight for any elective office, but if I am called upon and the calling is genuine, then I may consider it.
“But I am not going to quit politics. Politics is in me. As I wake up in the morning, the first thing I say is ‘oh God, thank you for waking me up, give me the opportunity to speak for the less privileged.
“I don’t ask God what I will eat or enjoy for myself, but the opportunity to speak for the less privileged. So, it is not all about office because office is a privilege.”
Waku was not the typical Nigerian politician whose loyalty is totally to his party. His relationship to any politician is purely on merit and not on party affiliation. When Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue State, dumped the APC for the PDP, the deceased did not end his relationship with him.
Speaking on his relationship with the Benue State governor, he had said: “I have made it public that I am working for Ortom. I’m not PDP. In fact, as I speak to you, I’m a card-carrying member of APC, but that does not mean that the APC as a political party will blind my eyes and my brains and my thoughts. No way!”
“I’m too old to be following APC. No. I follow people, I believe in people. I trust in people and I work for that. So, I am not working for PDP, I’m not against APC, but I am working for Ortom; full stop. And no man born of a woman can stop me from doing what I’m doing. And I have no apologies to anybody.”
Late Waku was born on June 12, 1946 and hails from Guma local government area of Benue State. He attended Obid Primary School, Nassarawa State and London Institute of Public Relations. In 1979, he was director of research and publicity of the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). In 1980, he became a member of the board of directors of Plateau Publishing Company and was later elected member of Benue State House of assembly in 1983. Later, Waku was appointed Benue State coordinator of Moshood Abiola’s Campaign Organisation, tagged Hope 92’. Subsequently, he served as senator representing Benue North-West from 1999 to 2003 on the platform of the PDP to the APC.
Before his election into the Senate where he served on such committees as Senate Services, Works & Housing, Health, Establishment, Water Resources (Chairman) and Privatization, Waku was a prominent member (and Minority Leader) of the Benue State House of Assembly in the Second Republic on the ticket of the defunct Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
During the botched transition programme of the Abacha regime, Waku was elected Senator on the ticket of the defunct Congress for National consensus (CNC) but later joined the PDP right from inception of the party in 1998.
He was also an active member of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), a northern lobbying group, and served as its Vice Chairman for some time.
Waku, who held the traditional chieftaincy titles of Wanbegha –U- Tiv and the Orlu Saansaan of Mbasaan, among others, was a successful businessman and one of the founding members of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR). Among prominent Nigerians who extolled his virtues and expressed sadness over his death were President Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said the president recalled Waku’s contributions to the growth of education when he served as Pro-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure.
He urged the children, friends and political associates of the late elder statesman to keep alive his commitment to the unity, peace and stability of not only Benue, but the entire country.
ECOMEDIA 