One of the winners of The Sun’s Lifetime Achievement Award and First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, has said the award means more to him than the prestigious Nigeria National Honour Awards.
Amaechi, who spoke at his Ukpor country home, in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, when the letter notifying him of the award was delivered to him by the representatives of The Sun Publishing Limited Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Mr Eric Osagie, led by Assistant Editor/Head, South-East Bureau, Mr Chidi Nnadi, said the award was of great and immense value to him.
He said: “I am deeply grateful to The Sun group of newspapers, the Board of Directors, the Board of Editors and the entire management of The Sun group for remembering me and kindly recognising my humble contributions to the development of my country.
“I honestly value this award very highly. Indeed, it is one award that makes me feel proud again in the humble role we played in our youth, and we played in our time of politics for the freedom and good of the country. I happen to be one of the very few surviving nationalists and founding fathers of this federation called Nigeria still alive, specifically in this part of the country.
“Like you said in the letter you just read to me, I was elected a member of Parliament in December 1959 and when we convened in January 1960, I was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Information, then I became minister in 1961 and was given assignment for responsibility for Aviation. I went to the port in acting capacity but the ministry, which I held substantively was Aviation for a longer period.”
The famous Zikist praised The Sun for revolutionising the newspaper industry in Nigeria and for keeping the pace and remaining on top since its inception 14 years ago.
Putting The Sun Award above all others he had garnered over the years, Amaechi said he would not even accept the Nigeria National Honour, as he could not reconcile himself sharing honours with those he described as criminals.
His words: “I valued this more than any award, even the ones governments would have given to me, but I happen to fall within the category of the heroes of Nigeria, which the governments of the country have chosen to ignore and not recognised. With the humble role I played and as the only surviving one in this part of the country, for example, in the whole southern Nigeria East or West, I am the only surviving minister alive. All my other colleagues have gone, East and West. No government recognises me, neither the federal nor the state government.
“But I don’t care because if even they gave me any of the national honours, I’m not sure I would have accepted such an honour because I can’t be sharing honours with rogues and vagabonds. There are many decent men who have received their national honours, but there are also a preponderance of rotten and corrupt people and outright criminals.
“Neither could I have accepted any honour handed over to me by somebody who has committed treason and he is working free on the streets of Nigeria. Treason by a military taking over a legitimate and democratically elected government of the country, taking it over by force, is an act of treason, whether the person is punished or not and I’m not sure I would have accepted an honour from the hands of such people. Or ordinary civilian presidents I’m not sure I would have accepted an honour when it’s a mixture of rotten eggs and clean eggs.
“So, I value this honour so highly and I am grateful to you, to the management of The Sun, to the board and everybody, I thank you very much.”
Earlier in the presentation of the letter to Amaechi, Osagie said: “The Sun Board of Editors voted you in recognition of your distinguished service to national development and enviable track record as an eminent nationalist, businessman, colourful politician and elder statesman.
“You are one of the lucky few surviving Nigerian nationalists that recount with nostalgia the political struggle for independence as well as the aborted dreams of the nation’s founding fathers.
“In fact, any documentation on the nation’s political history and the march to socio-economic independence and freedom from colonial bondage will never be complete without your name being allocated ample space,” he said.
Tracing the exploits of Amaechi in politics and business, beginning with when he was Secretary-General of the Zikist Movement in the 1960s, Osagie said that the nationalist has “seen it all in Nigeria’s political evolution through independence struggle, a civil war, military rule and back to civil rule.”
He therefore, noted that his immense sterling contributions to the evolution of the nation’s politics and its overall economic development, was worthy of commendation, saying: “You are a deserving recipient of the 2015 edition of The Sun Lifetime Achievement Award.”
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