Paul Unongo
Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, commonly known as Wantaregh Paul Unongo among his kinsmen, the Tiv people, was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, statesman, teacher, and philanthropist. He founded the Community of Tiv Students and is regarded as one of the fathers of modern Tiv politics.
Unongo served as the Minister of Steel development during Nigeria's Second Republic. Before going into politics, he was a lecturer at the University of Lagos, where he played a key role in establishing and consolidating the Department of Psychology and its degree-awarding programs.
In 1975, he was selected as one of fifty distinguished Nigerians, often referred to as the 'Fifty Wise Men,' by General Murtala Muhammed to draft a constitution for modern Nigeria as the country transitioned to civilian rule. Unongo also participated in the 1994 Constitutional Conference, where he chaired the States Creation Committee.
Alongside notable figures like Tunji Otegbeye, Solomon Lar, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, and his role model, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Unongo helped form the Nigerian People's Party, becoming its inaugural secretary general. He was a devoted political admirer and student of Nnamdi Azikiwe and served as the official opposition leader to J.S. Tarkaa in Benue State.
Early life
Paul Iyorpuu Unongo was born on September 26, 1935, to Unongo Kwaghngise Anure Abera in Turan, Northern Nigeria Protectorate which is the present-day Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State and his wife Lante Kukwa, an Etulo lady from Adi, present-day Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State. His father, Kwaghngise, worked as a teacher for the Tiv Native Authority.Unongo spent much of his early life under the guidance of his uncle, Jato Aka, a magico-spiritualist.
In 1945, Unongo began his primary education at Gboko Central School, then known as Mbayion Clan Elementary School. There, he encountered Tarka Nachi, the headmaster and father of Senator Joseph Sarwuan Tarka, an advocate for minority rights in Nigeria. Paul also met other Tiv personalities, including Justin Iyorbee Tseayo, who later became the first Tiv professor, and Shima Gyoh, who became the second Tiv medical doctor and a close friend of Unongo.
In November 1958, Unongo secured a part-time position as an entries clerk at Barclays Bank, DCO. He was promoted to the rank of acting sub-accountant in 1959. Eventually, he received an admission offer to further his studies in Zaria, prompting him to leave the banking job.
Education
Unongo received his primary education at Gboko Central School from 1945 to 1948. From 1952 to 1956, Paul studied at Katsina-Ala Middle School. He then attended Government College, Keffi, from 1957 to 1959. In October 1959, he enrolled in the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria for Pre-Medicine. This program was essentially an Advanced Level GCE in Zoology, Physics, and Chemistry, and he completed his courses in 1960.In 1960, he gained admission to Canada to study experimental psychology at the University of Calgary. After two years in Calgary, he transferred to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he completed his B.Sc. in May 1966 and his M.Sc. in 1968, specializing in human experimental psychopathology. He was then awarded a six-year scholarship by the former Northern Regional Government of Nigeria to pursue a Ph.D. program in Psychology at the University of London. Although he began the program, he dropped out in the same year, 1968.
In 1968, Unongo began his career as a lecturer in psychology at the University of Lagos. He was instrumental in establishing the Department of Psychology at the institution, where he served for four academic years, from 1968 to 1972. Unongo became the first Tiv person to teach at a university.
Nigerian [civil war]
During the Nigerian Civil War, the Nigerian government enlisted the services of many technocrats including Paul Unongo. The president, Yakubu Gowon sent Dr. Adetoro Joseph Eyitayo to recruit technocrats to assist in the war. Unongo was among those selected. He provided an apologia that served as the theoretical basis for humane warfare. Additionally, he acted as an envoy for the government to the Americas and also attempted to negotiate with Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu through letters before the war broke out; however, none of his letters received a response from the Biafran government.At the time, Biafra was gaining international sympathy due to the perception that the Nigerian Civil War was a genocide perpetrated by northern Muslims against eastern Christians. To counter this narrative, Unongo was enlisted, along with a Catholic priest, Rev. Father Akor, in the Nigerian diplomatic effort against Biafran propaganda. The two traveled through Canada and the United States, working to dispel the myth of a northern Muslim war against eastern Christians, and they were successful in their mission. Both Paul Unongo and Rev. Father James Akor were northern Christians, and Unongo's effectiveness as a diplomat endeared him to the Yakubu Gowon's administration.
Political career
Paul Unongo had a passion for politics even during his secondary school years. According to an editorial in The Nation newspaper dated December 9, 2022, he admired Nnamdi Azikiwe as a teenager, which led him to register as a member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons shortly after graduating from secondary school in 1959.Unongo became actively involved in Nigerian politics in 1970 prior to the Second Nigerian Republic. Like his mentor, Nnamdi Azikiwe, his early political inclinations were shaped by his desire to see a unified Nigeria that transcended ethnic and religious divisions.
He began his transition from Lagos to Jos in 1971 and completely moved to Jos in 1972. He set up a company known as JULADACO Entreprises. His stay in Jos, businesses and the popularity of his book Where Do We Go From Here gave him a certain popularity in the country. He became close friends with the governor of Benue Plateau State, Joseph Gomwalk and propagated some of his ideas.. He influenced the creation of three more divisions out of the very large local government called the Tiv Native Authority. The outcome of this, was the beginning of partying of ways between Unongo and J S Tarka as both leaders had different views about the creation of divisions or local governments in Tivland. This apparent political and development stand appealed to a lot of Tiv people, especially the elite, and gave rise to the birth of the Unongo group as politically opposed to the Tarka group.
Second Nigerian Republic
Unongo joined the Nigerian Peoples Party, a political platform founded by Azikiwe. He became one of the key figures in the accord between the National Party of Nigeria and his party the NPP. He collaborated with Chuba Okadigbo of the NPN, which won the 1979 Nigerian presidential election, to finalize the agreement that allowed the NPN to take office. In the 95-member Senate, the ruling party had 36 seats, while Unongos party the NPP secured 16 seats. Chief Obafemi Awolowo's Unity Party of Nigeria held 28 seats, and Aminu Kano's People's Redemption Party and Waziri Ibrahim's Great Nigeria People's Party had eight and seven seats, respectively.Unongo and Okadigbo had little difficulty convincing their parties that the accord was essential for building a stable republic. However, the "accord concordiale," as the Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe described it, lasted only a short time.
During the Second Republic, Unongo was appointed as the minister of power and steel under President Shehu Shagari's administration and became a vital member of the Cabinet of Shehu Shagari. During his tenure, he pioneered the establishment of Ajaokuta Steel Mill and set up steel rolling Mills in Katsina, Jos, and Ajaokuta.
Third Nigerian Republic
He was a prominent member of the Social Democratic Party during the ill-fated Third Nigerian Republic and worked diligently for the victory of Chief MKO Abiola in the 1993 Nigerian presidential election. However, the transition to democracy was unsuccessful. Paul Unongo was actively involved.At the state level he managed to get Moses Adasu elected as the governor of Benue state on 2 January 1992. He later on played a prominent role at the 1994 Constitutional Conference, serving as the chairman of the States Creation Committee.
Fourth Nigerian Republic
At the beginning of the Fourth Nigerian Republic. He joined forces with notable Nigerians like Muhammadu Buhari, Chuba Okadigbo, to establish the All Peoples Party, which later became the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Once again, he was the gubernatorial candidate for his party, but he lost to a newcomer, George Akume of the Peoples Democratic Party, who had both Barnabas Gemade and Iyorchia Ayu's support.He contested again for the seat of the governor of Benue state in 2003. It became one of the most violent elections in Tiv history.
Tiv politics
Beside the love for politics and his kinsmen, Unongo saw the style of politics played by the Tiv people in the First Nigerian Republic as primitive and decided to bring brighter Tiv minds like Mvendaga Jibo, Paul Belabo and later Iyorchia Ayu onto the political stage. He began his political career by authoring a book published by Megida Books, Lagos, 1969 titled; Where Do We Go from Here? which quickly became popular among the educated Tiv people. The piece had made its way around Tiv lands even before Unongo arrived for his political campaigns, demonstrating that the ideas had spread.With the publication of Where Do We Go from Here? in 1969, Unongo illuminated the primitive lifestyle of the Tiv society, allowing both its leaders and readers to recognize their own realities. Consequently, the work became the most discussed publication of its time.
Mvendaga Jibo's insight on this treatise is worth quoting: Unongo's primary aim, as expressed in the publication, was to transition the Tiv people from a 'primitive lifestyle' to a modern one, accompanied by prosperity. He sought to deepen a participatory political culture in which the Tiv would have a more substantial voice in their governance, challenging the existing conditions where they had not fared well in the Nigerian political economy. In short, he called for a political break from the status quo. This represented a direct challenge to the type of politics the Tiv had experienced under Joseph Tarka. From every angle, the publication was a call for revolution in Tiv land.
When Unongo wrote the foreword to the significant volume Paul Unongo: The Intelligentsia and the Politics of Development, published by Aboki Publishers forty years later to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his earlier work, he expressed: The vision and impetus for 'Where Do We Go from Here?' were driven by the dire situation I found among my people in the then Benue-Plateau State, under the leadership of the governor Joseph Gomwalk. My quest was for sustainable poverty alleviation, empowerment, and the development of the Tiv people.
Unongo ran for the governorship of Benue State in the 1979 elections but lost to the National Party of Nigeria, to which Joseph Tarka belonged. Aper Aku, the candidate representing the NPN, won decisively. However, Unongo's struggles continued. He contested the governorship again in 1983 under the platform of the NPP but lost again to Aper Aku from the NPN.
He attempted again to be elected as Benue State governor in 1999 on the platform of the All Nigerian Peoples Party but lost to the Peoples Democratic Party who had Barnabas Gemade, David Mark and Iyorchia Ayu as the leaders in the state. He sought justice at the election tribunal in Makurdi but was unsuccessful at both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
He contested again to be the
governor of Benue state in 2003. It became one of the most violent elections in Tiv political history. This was completely against what Unongos political ideologies were. so, he decided to take a back seat in Tiv partisan politics.