I used to call him Alagidi Ekiti (the stubborn man from Ekiti) - an appellation which brought fraternal smiles to the lips of both of us. My dearly beloved Egbon was simply that: stubborn, principled, consistent, blunt, trustworthy and dependable. He was firm but fair, strict but compassionate, frugal but generous. A private, sometimes self-effacing person with a deep passion for accountability and good governance, Egbon invested a tremendous amount of his physical energy and intellectual acumen in the struggle for a sane, humane socio-economic and political order. A believer in the efficacy of public discourse in the molding of public opinion and actualisation of social change, he was a frequent contributor to op-ed articles in various Nigerian newspapers and an avid patron and analyst of the mass media.
We remember his pungent, elegantly articulated contributions to the discourse against military dictatorship in Nigeria as well as his expression of unequivocal disenchantment with the 'nascent democracy' that came in its wake. Equally relevant and consistent was his relentless exposition and criticism of the role of religion in the seemingly perpetual underdevelopment of Nigeria. Egbon's cerebral and essentially scientific attitude and approach constantly railed against the mulish ease with which Nigerians have substituted science with superstition and surrendered their reasoning faculty to the devious theologies of self-proclaimed 'evangelists', predatory 'pastors' and mumbo-jumbo mullahs. A half-completed book on this spiritual anomy sits on his writing desk as we celebrate the passing of this supremely rational man and his unmistakably renaissance propensity.
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