Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, born 17 September 1932, was a Nigerian former army officer and politician. He was military Governor (1967–1975) of the Mid-West State, later renamed Bendel State, part of which in turn became Edo State.
Early years
Samuel Ogbemudia was born in Benin City. As a youth he lived with his elder cousin, Mr. FS Uwaifo, a Benin-based businessman. He attended Benin Baptist School (1941–1945), and then the government school, Victoria, in the Cameroons (1945–1947). His secondary education was at the Western Boy’s High School, Benin City (1947–1949).
He joined the Nigeria army in 1957, training at Teshie, Ghana and at Netheravon and Salisbury Plain in England (1957). He attended the officer cadet school at Aldershot, England in 1960, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1961. He attended the United States army special welfare school at Fort Bragg, South Carolina in 1962. Ogbemudia served with the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Congo for 16 months, and served in Tanzania in 1964. He was appointed as an instructor to the Nigerian Military School, Zaria in 1964.
Military rule
In January, 1966, a coup d’état overthrew the civilian government of Nigeria. In July 1966 the military ruler Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi was deposed and killed in the so-called Nigerian Counter-Coup of 1966 led by Lieutenant Colonel Murtala Mohammed. Ironsi’s chief of staff Yakubu Gowon became head of state. Major Samuel Ogbemudia played an important role in the counter-coup by disarming his troops in Kaduna at the suggestion of artillery commander Lt-Colonel Alex Madiebo. During the counter-coup/mutiny, an attempt on Major Ogbemudia’s life was also made by then Lt-Colonel Buka Suka Dimka but Major Ogbemudia escaped because of a tip from Colonel Hassan Katsina and Major Abba Kyari. In August that year he was transferred to the area command, Benin City, fighting with government forces in the Nigerian Civil War.
Ogbemudia was appointed Military administrator of Mid-West state in September, 1967 following the liberation of state from the secessionist Biafran forces. Promoted to Lt. Colonel, Ogbemudia was appointed Military Governor of the state on 26 October 1967. A populist, dedicated to reconstruction after the war, he initiated improvements in the areas of sports, urban development, education, public transportation, housing and commerce. He built the Ogbe sports stadium, now named the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, and in August 1973 he commissioned the three-story National Museum in Benin City.
He embarked on a process of reconciliation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation aimed at ameliorating the ill-feeling and mistrust that had been sown amongst the non-Igbo of the state by the secessionist invasion. This policy of reconstruction, reconciliation, and rehabilitation help greatly to restore confidence and trust between the Igbos and non-Igbos of the region.
With three months of his administration, much was already, being achieved in the restoration of mutual confidence and understanding between the various ethnic groups. Houses and other landed property left behind by fleeing persons, during or after the occupation of the state, were enumerated and accorded necessary protection in the interest of their rightful owners. Not only did the rightful owner repossess this property, but they were also paid the rents, which had accrued on them. Igbo-speaking civil servants who had fled their posts on the approach of the federal troops were reinstated on their return.
Ogdemudia Administration also emphasized the problem of reconstruction in the rehabilitation process. According to him: ”It is much easier to win a war than to undertake reconstruction after the war.The roads, bridges and buildings destroyed must be reconstructed if life is to return to normal and if people are to go about their social, business activities in an atmosphere of calm and mutual confidence.” He also believed that the economic and social life of the state needed to be revitalized. The period immediately after the civil war in January 1970 saw the massive expansion of the road network in the state and the provision of all necessary infrastructure for its industrial take-off as well. The Agbede Mechanized Farm, the Warrake farms, the Rural Electrification Board, The Bendel Steel Structures, the Bendel Brewery, Bendel Pharmaceuticals, Bendel Boatyard, Bendel Library, Ethiope Publishing Corporation, the University of Benin,The Institute of Continuing Education, NTA Benin, the Bendel Line, etc came into existence at the time.
In July 1975, when Murtala Mohammed became head of state, he retired the twelve military governors who had served under Yakubu Gowon. The retirement of the governors found guilty of corruption was converted to dismissal. Among these was Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia, whom Murtala had appointed eight years earlier, and whom he replaced by Colonel George Agbazika Innih. Ogbemudia was tried for abuses while in office, but acquitted.
During a brief return to civil rule, Samuel Ogbemudia was elected governor of Bendel State in Oct 1983 as candidate for the National Party of Nigeria, replacing Ambrose Alli of the Unity Party of Nigeria. However, he lost his position in December that year when Muhammadu Buhari became military ruler after a coup d’état that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari.
General Sani Abacha, military head of state from November, 1993 until his death in June, 1998, appointed Ogbemudia as minister for Labor and Productivity.
Democratic period
After the restoration of democracy in 1998/1999, Ogbemudia was one of the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state, and a member of the party’s Board of Trustees. Ogbemudia and Chief Anthony Anenih between them controlled PDP politics in Edo State for the next decade.
Dr. Osaibovo Ogbemudia won several national honours of some Africa countries, including member of order of the republic of Sudan, officer of the order of Ethiopia and order of the republic of Togo. He was also awarded an honorary degree of doctor of laws of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and doctor of science, honoraria causa, university of Benin, Benin City etc.
Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia died on 10 March 2017.
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Compiled by Amadasun Ese
