Peter Enahoro: Reflections of a Patriot (2)

Peter Enahoro is one of the pioneers of Nigerian journalism and became editor of Daily Times at a very early age. He recently turned 80 but still retains his wit and wry humour that set him apart in a journalistic career that took him round the world. Enahoro attended the prestigious Government College, Ughelli (in present-day Delta State), and was a contemporary of the famous poet and Africa’s first professor of English, JP Clark. In this online interview with ANOTE AJELUOROU from his London base, Enahoro (aka Peter Pan) sheds light on some of the events that have shaped the country since independence, his involvement in the civil war on the side of Biafra and his fears for the coming elections. Excerpts:

Anthony Village in Lagos is reportedly named after your elder brother, late Chief Anthony Enahoro, Nigeria’s political titan, whereas you were the one who actually lived there. Could you give a background to the naming of that town?

It is true that I was the first to build a house on what is now Sylvia Crescent and that the so-called Anthony Village was all bush at the time, although behind my back garden were the Hollando Bungalows on Ikorodu Road. At the time, my home address had to be published daily in the imprint of the Daily Times in accordance with the law as the paper’s editor: Plot 5, Block 19, Extension to Shomolu Scheme, Ikeja. 

   The British colonial government had acquired the land and designated what is now Anthony Village to be a public park. That was still the expectation when I purchased my plot. It was directly opposite planned gates to the proposed park. I left Nigeria four years later. When I returned 13 years later, the peaceful environment had been vandalised under a new plan that abolished the idea of a park. I do not know at which point the area was named Anthony Village and why it was so named. But I’ve heard the story in your question. It’s fascinating. 

Peter Pan’s articles caused quite a stir in the early 1960s among the political class. Kindly share some of these experiences.

I began writing the Peter Pan Column in 1959 and it lasted until I left in 1966. I can say that I made no permanent enemies in the political class during those seven years. On the contrary, the leaderships in particular went out of their way to be courteous, even more than that in some cases. The Sardauna of Sokoto said in a statement, “Israel does not exist.” Peter Pan ridiculed the assertion, reminding the Sokoto Prince and Premier of the North that the Federal Government in which his NPC party was a senior partner had diplomatic relations with the state of Israel. It entertained the nation that Saturday. But what was the Sardauna’s response when I met him face-to-face? He invited me to tour the Northern Region as his official guest and received me in his hometown, where he took me to visit the graves of his ancestors. I was told this was an honour.

   President Nnamdi Azikiwe wrote private letters by hand in response to satirical Peter Pan pieces that touched his nerve. But at appropriate times I was his guest at State House, including an intimate family occasion. Premier of the Western Region, Ladoke Akintola, was a bitter enemy of my brother, Tony, but I was his frequent guest at lunch, perhaps with either of us hating the experience each time! Dr Michael Okpara, Premier of the Eastern Region, was a man I could not be at ease with, not his fault and not mine. On the rare occasions I met him, he was polite while I wanted to be done with it and be gone. Although I met him officially enough times, I never sat one-and-one with Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. However, this was a man I liked as much as I criticised him. I was genuinely saddened by his death and its manner. I had those I counted as friends among the second-echelon political class: Maitama Sule, M. T. Mbu, K. O. Mbadiwe, Jaja Nwachukwu, T.O.S. Benson, and Dambatta, whose full name I forget.  

Was there a time your writings brought you in conflict with your brother, Anthony, or his party, the Action Group, or its leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo?

I can truly say that at no time was there anything close to or resembling an altercation between my brother and me, probably because we never ever discussed politics. What would have been the point? I could not have convinced him against his will and neither would he have convinced me against mine. I would say that each respected the other’s territory. I’ve never held a party political card or even voted in a political election, but some people assumed that I was a supporter of the Action Group, because of my brother’s leadership position in the party. As for Chief Awolowo, I regarded him as my elder brother’s boss and accordingly kept a respectful distance. Isn’t that what a well brought up Nigerian would do?  

You had a brush with the military. Why were they looking for you?

I’ve answered this question over and over again. I’ve told the story of why, in the midst of the madness and dangers following the so-called counter-coup of 1966, I left my house in Anthony Village to take refuge in the anonymity of the crowded central Lagos; how six armed soldiers drove up to the house at midnight in a Land Rover, asking for me. What did they want me for? (Rtd) Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma’s hateful interview in your paper in 2008, a hatred for me and a falsification of evidence that had not left him more than 40 years after those terrible events, could be instructive. He was a captain at the time and very much in the thick of things.