Tony Momoh, Nigeria’s former information minister, died Monday at the age of 81. Family sources say Momoh died in Abuja after a brief illness.
Momoh was a strong ally of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and had consistently spoken on the need to restructure the country. He was a strong advocate of democracy and good governance.
Speaking on the 60th anniversary of the country, Momoh said the country must strive to attain the democracy and sustain it, adding that democracy had no substitute.
“Democracy is a way you chose to grow the polity and it has to do with freedom. In our traditional society, freedom is earned, not donated. Even in developed countries, freedom is given as a function of growth. In other words, democracy, which is freedom, is the luxury of development. When you are developed, you enjoy it. That is so in our societies.
“In Igboland, it is what you do that makes you have a red cap chief; it is what you do that makes you have a feather on that red cap. It is also what you do that makes you Eze or Igwe. In other words, you work to be entitled to what you do,” he had said.
Momoh was born April 27, 1939 in Auchi, Edo State. He was the 165th child of King Momoh I of Auchi, and attended Government School Auchi (1949–1954) and Anglican School Okpe.
Momoh was pupil teacher at the Anglican School, Auchi, and headmaster at the Anglican School, Ubuneke, Ivbiaro, Owan Local Government.
The late journalist attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he earned a degree in Mass Communication, and then the University of Lagos, where he studied Law.
He attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, and was called to the bar in June 1975.
Momoh started his journalism career as a sub-editor at the Daily Times in October 1962, rising steadily through the ranks to become Editor and deputy general manager (June 1976 – May 1980).
He was chairman of the board of directors of Nigerian Airways from 1991 to 1993. He was appointed a member of the Edo State Economic Advisory Committee in 1991, and a member of the Nigerian Press Council in December 1992.
However, as of 1996, Momoh was one of the directors of the Newswatch Magazine, which was said to have a circulation of 150,000 copies in Africa, Europe and North America at that time.
Momoh served as minister of information and culture during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida between 1986 and 1990. He was a prominent figure across the country within the last few decades in the major political parties.
He served as director of the late Alex Ekwueme Presidential Campaign Organisation in 1999. He also chaired the screening and conduct of Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly primaries in the Kano chapter of the PDP for the 1999 general elections together with Abdullahi Sumaila and Senator Bala Tafidan Yauri.
He also chaired the media and publicity of the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) Campaign Organisation in the 2003 and 2007 elections.
He was also chairman of the Political Committee of the Muhammadu Buhari Organisation.
In January 2011, Momoh was appointed chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the lead-up to the April 2011 national elections, with Buba Galadima appointed the national secretary.
Soon after being appointed, Momoh said the CPC would bar any of its aspirants from becoming candidates if they were to engage in corrupt practices or thuggery during the primaries.
Following disappointing results in the April 2011 elections, Momoh asserted that massive rigging had taken place.
However, he described the CPC as a mass movement that was bound to grow and achieve the high goals of its founders.
In 2014, he joined prominent politicians in the country to form the All Progressives Congress.
