Accolades, Encomiums As Odili Marks Birthday Anniversary
Political associates of Dr. Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers State celebrated his birthday anniversary on Sunday at his residence in Port Harcourt, and speaking on the sidelines of that event, Barr. Emeh Glory Emeh, who served in the administration of former Governor Odili described the experience of working with him as amazing.
His words:
“I am happy that many people remembered that August 15, is Dr. Peter Odili’s birthday anniversary. A group of us were actually in his house, and we also took out adverts in National newspapers and radio to appreciate a man that all of us have come to appreciate as a father, a figure father in Rivers state, and who has continued to provide leadership, and continued to guide, particularly those of us who worked with him.
“I first started as senior special assistant to Governor Peter Odili on media, special duties and strategy. Then I became commissioner for special duties, media and strategy.
Then became commissioner for commerce and industry for a short while, when he moved me to the ministry of transport and aviation.
I can tell you that, for the eight but impressive years of working with Odili, I beat my chest to say that I am grateful to God for an opportunity he gave me to encounter such an amazing man.
“What we learnt under Odili is not quantifiable. If you are not trained, you can get trained under Odili. If you trained, you can get super training under Odili. As we were in his house this afternoon, we all reminiscence on the days of Odili as Governor; the golden Governor of Nigeria.
And I am specially privileged to be part of that important episode of his being crowned the Golden Governor of Nigeria, being in charge of media, at that time.
“Prof. Jerry Gana was the Minister of Information, so he came into Port Harcourt with a retinue of journalists to look at what can qualify Odili as Golden Governor, just as they went to other 36 states of the federation, including the FCT, Abuja.
“And they found him worthy of that very important award, and so we are grateful to God. We thank God also that Odili is strong, healthy and living to clock 73, and we, his children are available to be part of that ceremony. The mass which was celebrated by Father Kii was part of his life.
Throughout his stay in government, he never missed going for either a morning mass, or after noon mass, or evening mass, or a combination of them And some of us who were born Baptists became Catholics by association.
“I can remember Larry Pepple, being his chief security officer, would tell me, Uncle G, you know that you cannot go home for Christmas and New Year because you are one of those selected to join Oga to go for First of January Mass. And we did that for that number of years that we worked with him.
“I am also grateful to God that I am still strong and alive, and Odili is also alive. We can recall when he attempted to become the president of Nigeria. I can tell you, and this is verifiable:
That I don’t know where Governor Odili went during that period that I was not part of it. And so, my experience about national politics came from there.
And if I have any contact outside Rivers State in politics, it also came from there. The reason was because, most of the people who worked for him , we worked together.
“In fact, Odili is like a school: I can recall when Omehia became Governor, one of the things he wanted to do was to establish Odili School of Politics.
It was to be located around where you have the Greater Port Harcourt today. But his government was short lived. He could not achieve that but we still need a school of politics where people can learn about politics, and we will still name it ‘Odili Institute of Politics’.
“Some of us worked with Governor Odili at the most critical period when the opposition was very deadly; when the Mafias were ravaging the state. However, with commitment and dedication we triumphed.
It is easy to identify Odili’s political student by his performance. Governor Nyesom Wike is a living example. Odili himself acknowledged this and we can attest to it.
“I think we cannot thank God enough. I also thank his wife for support, and for the organizers for putting the event together”, Glory Emeh summed.