ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that societal building is not the exclusive reserve of those occupying high offices in the country but the general duty of everybody.
Jonathan spoke on Monday at the funeral of the late Chief Daniel Rex-Ogbuku, an elder-statesman, educationist and former Commissioner for Electricity and Water Supply in old Rivers State.
Other personalities who joined the ex-President to pay their last respects to the late octogenarian, described as the pillar of Ogbia Kingdom, were the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo (Bayelsa East Senatorial District); Senator Clever Ikisikpo; Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Konbowei Benson, among others.
Jonathan, who was accompanied by his wife, Nigeria’s former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to the ceremony, said that the only thing people could be remembered for is the good things they did while alive.
The former president said because of the deceased’s selfless service to humanity and the love he had for Ogbia people, he resigned from his lucrative job in 1972 as a senior engineer with Shell and opted to be a principal in a secondary school in the bush.
He said: “I don’t think any of our people here will want to do that. Maybe they will say the spirit of poverty is following you. But then, he was committed, paid his dues and made sacrifices for the people.
“These attributes depict the life and times of our chief, our brother, our father and our uncle, but most importantly, the father and the pillar of the Ogbia people. One doesn’t need to be too high to play one’s role in building society. Everybody has a role to play in the societal building. We will all live and we will all die, but what one did while alive is what one will be remembered for.”
Jonathan lamented that the present generation of Ogbia people had not shown the commitment exhibited by their late heroes in carrying on Ogbia activities and called for a change of heart by emulating our past leaders to move the area forward.
Also speaking, Senator Omo-Agege commiserated with the Rex-Ogbuku family and the people of Ayakoro community over the demise of their icon.
The Deputy Senate President noted that the deceased worked tirelessly for the welfare of his people throughout his political career, serving as commissioner in old Rivers State and later chairman of Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa.
The first son of the deceased, Jude, a lawyer, while presenting the biography of his late father described him as a great man, an accomplished educationist, engineer, philanthropist and a frontline politician of note.