I have once mentioned to Comrade Austin Okai, when the topic of Chief James Ogwu Onoja, SAN came up at a certain conversation between us, that I love the man for two key things. These two are his humanitarian works and his affable nature. This piece will center on the two qualities. I do not want to derail.
In 2021, Chief Onoja had built a block of three ultra modern class rooms in my former secondary school , the Emomoka Community Secondary School, Adam Ogugu, free of charge. A few years back, he had built a gigantic bore hole in each of the communities making up his Ofante home town.
My paternal aunt lives in Ofante. That equips me to speak a little about the water problem of the community. Any time I visited my aunt, as a little boy, I’d have to go a long distance to get some not-too-clean water for her.
We could make several the trips to and from the stream to get a reasonable amount of water that’d last her a few days after we must have gone back to Ikem. Chief Onoja I haven’t ever met in person but his work I have seen. I have used the road he graded from to make the distance between Ogugu center and Ofante shorter and smoother.
These are community projects for which he makes to claims to any entitlement as politicians are wont to do. He is a technocrat, a leader in the legal profession.One on one, he has sponsored many on scholarships to all levels of education across Igala land without discrimination in gender, origin and other mundane considerations.
Recently, Dr Saidat Lammie, an icon of the Igala heritage, posted that chief Onoja had started a foundation for young men who want to marry but lack the funds.
Each about-to-be-married Igala young man would be assisted with a substantial sum of money in order to fulfil his conjugal desires.The erudite chief caught the attention of the Igala Royal Stool, occupied by the Atta of Igala Kingdom,with his generosity and patriotism.
He was crowned the Agenyi Attah by the 26th Attah of the Igala Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Alhaji Aliyu Obaje. He is so prominent that when a son of does anything worthwhile, he would be proud to invite the erudite lawyer and unrivalled humanitarian to be part of it.
For instance, when Mr Sunday Atata built his hotel at Ofante in 2020, the Agenyi Attah was the person to commission it. His humanitarian deeds are just too numerous to mention in one write up. I believe that Ogugu and indeed the entire Igala land should feel honoured that the much talked about Chief Onoja is from their midst.
Let us close this discussion by discussing his humility. In the midst of all his humanitarian deeds that has dwarfed the impact of grandstanding politicians across Igala land, he has never for once said he wanted to be even a political office holder.
He has humbly remained in the background and doing what he knows best; putting smiles on the faces of the despondent people. Perhaps that is what endeared him to many people in the just concluded poll on the Kogi
Humanitarian of the Year Award which he won with a land slide. With all due respect to the other nominees, his name has never been mentioned in any controversy, he is a man who has pursued his legal career rigorously with candour, dignity and integrity. He does not walk the streets with cameras in tow, a true humanitarian.