By REUBEN ONYISHI (Ugoachataberu)

Those days of yore when Jim wrought uncommon deliverables and the people drank to the lees the fountain he had stirred; those days when the incandescent rays shone and reflected the very essence of a superlative governance; those days when beauty met with excellence, and the ululating masses chorused the praise of the man of glory. That was when Jim Nwobodo was at his hay days of unmatched performance in governance. The people would hail Jiiim and he would wave the white immaculate handkerchief in acknowledgment of the people’s eccomiums organically poured in genuine appreciation.

Jim was ubiquitous in multi-sectoral delivery, a master on the chessboard, who knew his onions, a charismatic leader with all the trappings of elegance and elan. Jim was a governor of a kind, adroit in leadership skills and maverick in politics. He was a charismatic leader who commanded the acceptance and legitimacy of the people.

There was no area he would not touch, be it agriculture, electricity, energy and mining, commerce and industry, education, health, just name it. It was those days that leaders dedicated themselves to leadership in every sense of it. When we look back to the excellence Jim Nwobodo brought to governance, we can only but thank the Almighty God for the gift of an uncommon leader, the such as has remained ever green, a leader whose legacies have remained indelible and rarely unrivaled. Jim built a legacy of leadership that transcends his generation. He was a transcendental and transgenerational leader who had a peep into tomorrow and built assets that would transcend the tomorrow he saw. As a matter of fact, the legacy projects he built are still monumental to posterity.

Jim founded and built Anambra State University of Science and Technology, ASUTECH, now Enugu State University of Science and Technology; he founded and built Anambra State Beoadcasting Service (ABS); many road projects and rural electrification. To his credit, the following were built: AVOP, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Sunrise Flour Mill,

Ezillo Building Material Manufacturing Company, Trans Ekulu Housing Estate, Nike Lake Resort Hotel, Ikenga Hotels Ltd – Awka, Enugu and Nsukka, Ebonyi State University, Eha-Amufu College of Education, Anambra State Television, Abakaliki Water Scheme, Rural Electrification for over 400 communities, over 33 Housing Estates, Greater Enugu Water Scheme, Nsugbe College of Education, to mention no more. Alas! All these were done with four years and this is akin to what his living ‘reincarnation’, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, has done in less than three year. As J. F. Kennedy was a mythical ‘reincarnation’ of Abraham Lincoln, so is Mbah a ‘reincarnation’ of the living Jim. They are two of a kind.

Today, we celebrate the living Jim, an epitome of excellence in governance, a man of God’s glory, the very light that shone in our darkness, Anyanwu-na-awar’ora, the living legend. We bless the Almighty God for Chief Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, former Minister of Youth and Sports and Senator representing Enugu East in the hallowed chambers of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

As Jim clocks 86, we thank God for long life, even as we believed God for the centenary anniversary of the living legend. God bless Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo.