The Enugu State government has been called upon to as a matter of urgency, initiate actions that would culminate in the immortalization of the former Governor of old Anambra state, Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh.
Speaking during the second C.C. Onoh Memorial Lectures, the President of Enugu Youths Movement, Mr. Chris Agu argued that “only such recognition would compensate for the late sage’s struggles for the political and economic emancipation of his ‘Wawa’ people.
The youth leader explained that Chief Onoh devoted his life and resources fighting the ‘Wawa’ cause and the injustices that pervaded the society till his death.
Agu lamented that since the demise of Onoh, the youths of the state have continued to suffer untold hardships and oppression in the hands of several federal government parastatals in the state, pointing out that Chief Onoh would have fought to end every form of marginalisation against Igbo youths by the federal government.
He emphasised that Chief Onowu, the Okaa-Omee and Aninefungwu of Ngwo, wouldn’t have been tolerated the marginalisation of his people as exhibited by the federal government, were he to be alive, and called on those that parade as leaders in the entire South-East and Enugu State in particular, to take a cue from the exemplary philosophical disposition of the former governor.
Mr. Agu berated the political class in Enugu state for not giving the desired leadership role expected of them, which had led to the marginalisation and oppression of the indigenes even in their own state and by the political class themselves, which Chief Onoh would not have tolerated.
The youth leader called on the governor of Enugu State, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to create a Ministry of Home or Internal Affairs “to carter for and forstall the further dehumanization of our peace loving people in our state.”
He however commended the governor for his strides in job creation and prompt payment of workers’ salaries, but stressed that the proposed ministry if it comes on stream, would sssist the group in pressing the federal government appointees in the state to offer jobs to the teeming unemployed youths parading about like sheep without sheph.
The guest lecturer, Prof. Onyema Ocheoha, extolled the legacies of Chief Onoh, whom he described as a “great patriot of inestimable value”, and called on the state government to name a tertiary educational institution in Enugu state after the late icon and cerebral lawyer.
This according to him will immortalize the name of the “great patriot and philanthropist who fought hard to leave a better world for us all”.
The second Memorial Lectures which was chaired by Prof. Emma Ome, attracted friends and associates of the late C.C Onoh as well as royal fathers and creme’ de la creme’ of the political class.
