Says ‘Nigeria Has Lost One of Its Last Detribalised Souls’
Nigeria has been thrown into mourning as Josef Onoh, son of the late former Governor C.C. Onoh, released an emotionally charged tribute to his late friend and brother, Segun Awolowo—one he described as “the quiet closing of an era where tribe was never the lens through which we saw one another.”
In a deeply personal lament, Onoh said the Awolowo name carries a weight far greater than heritage, stressing that “the name Awolowo is not merely a name; it is a covenant with Nigeria—a promise that public service must be selfless, that leadership is sacrifice, and that a nation is built brick by brick with integrity.”
Onoh reminisced about their unique bond, one that tore through ethnic lines.
“You were Yoruba. I am Igbo. And yet, in all the years I knew you, those words never once entered the room before we did,” he wrote. “You called me ‘Denge’ with the same warmth you reserved for your own blood, and I called you ‘Egbon’ as if you came from my father’s compound in Enugu-Ngwo.”
He mourned Segun not just as a friend, but as a symbol of unity in a country increasingly torn apart by division.
“A Brother, A Bridge-Builder, A Last Breed”
Onoh described Segun Awolowo as a rare Nigerian—one who chose justice over tribe and principles over personal gain.
“You carried the burden of your grandparents’ legacy lightly, but I know how heavy it truly was,” he said, recalling Segun’s humility despite the towering history of Chief Obafemi and Mama HID Awolowo.
He also revealed Segun’s role in encouraging political tolerance across ethnic lines.
According to Onoh, “you were the unseen angel who convinced me to promote the candidacy of President Tinubu in the South-East… you said ‘he contributed in the struggle for the democracy we enjoy today…let’s give him a chance.’”
A Love for Nigeria Beyond Tribe
Onoh recounted long midnight conversations in which Segun expressed deep concern for Igbo youth, even more than some leaders from the region.
“You worried more about the future of Igbo apprentices in Lagos than many south-eastern governors ever did,” he wrote. “That is the Segun Awolowo I knew—the one who judged men not by their tribe but by their character.”
He listed prominent Nigerians he considers among the fast-disappearing “detribalised souls”—from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the Ooni of Ife and Peter Obi—lamenting that “the list grows shorter with each funeral.”
“Men Like You Do Not Die”
The tribute climaxed with a deeply emotional farewell.
“I will miss your voice at odd hours: ‘Josef, how now?’ I will miss your counsel, your humour, the way you disarmed tension with a joke and slipped in the truth like a knife. But I will not say you are gone. Men like you become the conscience of a nation that keeps trying to forget it has one.”
Onoh ended by declaring that Segun’s legacy will not die with him:
“The name Awolowo remains priceless. And because you lived, the idea of a detribalised, selfless Nigeria remains possible.”
He signed the tribute simply and painfully:
“Rest well, Egbon mi.
Your brother always,
Denge Josef Onoh.”
