The past two weeks have been celebratory for former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka. First, he fulfilled his father’s long-held dream of seeing him become a lawyer. Then, he marked his 54th birthday. While both milestones are remarkable, what resonated most with many was the story behind his decision
to return to school – to make his father proud. Vanessa Obioha writes
B
y now, many would have seen Chidoka’s Facebook post from July 10, where he announced that he had been called to the bar. But the post wasn’t just about the accomplishment, there was a message of motivation behind it. Nearly 30 years after earning a degree in Business Management, Chidoka returned to the classroom, driven by a dream that had been previously abandoned.
It was his 98-year-old father who fueled that dream. For years, he had longed to see his son become a lawyer. Like many fathers, he had a vision for his child’s future, one he held onto with unwavering belief. Whether through gentle encouragement or quiet persistence, he nurtured that dream and waited patiently to see it come to life. And he did.
That dream was once Chidoka’s too. In his secondary school days at Union Secondary School Awkunanaw, Enugu, he was known as one of the best Arts students. English, Literature, and Government were his favourites.
“I proudly carried our school’s banner in quizzes and debates, earning trophies and, more importantly, the joy of wielding words—spoken, argued, written,” he shared on Facebook.
With his eloquence and intellect, many saw him as a future lawyer. He himself was inspired by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s journey from journalism to law, and began to imagine a similar path. His father, a devoted admirer of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, shared in that dream and did everything possible to nurture it.
“From SS1 through university, he gave me money daily for The Guardian, Newswatch, later Time magazine. He wanted me to be like Zik—a philosopher and politician—but also a lawyer like Awo. Thanks to him, I grew up reading far beyond any syllabus.”
However, destiny had a different plan.
In 1988, confident in Literature, Chidoka sat for WAEC. To his shock, he failed the subject—despite excelling in others. Though he was initially admitted to study Mass Communication, his parents insisted on Law. He passed JAMB after attending a top tutorial college in Ebute Metta, Lagos.
Around 1989, new rules from the Council of Legal Education made Literature compulsory for studying Law, which he hadn’t met at admission. At UNN, despite registering for GCE, he was denied entry into Law because the requirement had to be fulfilled beforehand. Devastated, he was redirected to study Business Management.
“I was crushed. My father’s eyes held disappointment he tried to hide. My mother promised we’d switch after my GCE.” Though he later passed Literature with an A2, switching back to Law would have meant starting over—a price too high to pay.
“That night I lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Maybe I was not meant to be a lawyer after all. Maybe my father’s pride was misplaced. I felt small, ashamed, like I had failed not just myself but everyone who believed in me.”
While Chidoka gradually let go of the dream, his father quietly held on to it.
In his July 10 post, the former minister shared the kind of relationship he had with his father. It is a rare kind, the type that speaks volumes of compassionate love, care and deep mutual respect. It was not a relationship forged by chance but nurtured from childhood. It was his father who bought books for him to spark curiosity and open his mind to the wider world. Whenever he travelled, he returned with stacks of foreign newspapers for his son, subtle tools preparing him for a life of relevance and impact. A life that would lead him to corridors of power and make him an exemplary icon for his generation. His father’s efforts were not in vain.
Chidoka recounted a vivid memory of his father’s dedication to his education.
“When President [Olusegun] Obasanjo wrote ‘Nzeogwu’ and held a signing session at Choice Bookshop in Ikeja, my father took me by the hand to buy a copy, to meet the General, to collect his autograph.”
Moments like these were seeds planted early, with the hope they would someday bloom. “He dreamed of me as a lawyer and politician and invested in that dream with the dedication only a father knows,” he added.
At the time of his appointment as Minister of Aviation by former President Goodluck Jonathan, law was far from his mind. “When I finally walked into the Federal Executive Council Chambers in 2014 to take the Oath of Office, my parents stood proud, their hearts full,” he recalled.
But for his father, that pride was not yet complete. He still believed that his son was meant to be a lawyer and he would boldly be referred to as the “lawyer’s father.”
“After the day’s celebration, my father still found space to ask if I might someday return to the study of law. He was happy for me, yet somewhere in his spirit, he felt something remained unfinished.”
Chidoka didn’t immediately heed that call. Understandably so. He never imagined that the young man who graduated with a degree in Business Management and joined the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1995 would one day walk the halls of power. Or that just a year later, he would be among the select few offered automatic employment with the Federal Capital Development Authority by the then Minister of the FCT, the late General Jeremiah Useni.
“That single moment would set my life on a trajectory I could never have plotted on my own.”
Indeed, it did. His public service journey saw him contribute to national development in various roles including serving as Secretary to the National Committee for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998, which earned him a papal commendation.
That visit, he wrote on his Facebook piece, established a sense of clarity that his career trajectory is a divine orchestration:
“In March 1998, aboard the ADC flight that carried Pope John Paul II from Abuja to Enugu,” he wrote, “a moment of astonishing clarity came over me. As the aircraft lifted off and I gazed out over the sparse skyline of Abuja, a silent prayer rose from deep within: How did a 26-year-old boy from Achara Layout, Enugu and Akowonjo, Lagos come to share airspace with His Holiness? How did I end up here?
“In that instant, I grasped that my graduation year in 1996 was no accident. My path to that plane seat was not engineered by my own hand. I was merely an arrow, drawn back and released by God.” Chidoka was a member of the Committee for the Review of the Abuja Master Plan and led the Drafting Committee for Nigeria’s National Policy on Non-Motorised Transportation.
He worked as Personal Assistant to both the Minister of State for Works and Housing and the Minister of Transport, and later served as Special Assistant to the Senior Adviser to the President on Legal Matters.
He would go on to work in the private sector, joining Mobil Producing Nigeria, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, as Senior Adviser on Government and Business Relations. But even then, public service called. In 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), making him the youngest person to hold that position at age 35.
Before he was appointed a federal minister, he chaired the Presidential Committee on Nigeria’s Centenary’s Transportation Subcommittee and was later appointed Chairman of the Transportation Committee for the World Economic Forum, which was held in Nigeria in May 2014.
“Then came 2015. The PDP lost the presidential election. I found myself in unexpected early retirement, with a rich menu of options before me. But one path stood out. My life to that point had been full beyond my imagination; politics still beckoned.”
Eventually, Chidoka responded to the call—both literal and spiritual—to return to school. “Yet I felt a tug, to honour my father’s investment in his hope of being a lawyer’s father. And so I enrolled at Baze University to study law.”
But in 2017, he left his studies to run for governor of Anambra State, in southeast Nigeria, as a member of the United Progressive Party, but lost to Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In 2021, he graduated with an LLB Second Class Upper from Baze University.
“Today, he will receive my certificates,” he continued, “watch me don my wig and gown, and witness my Call to the Bar.”
“Despite all I have done, despite my age and offices held, I still yearn for that glint of pride in his eye.”
That longing captures who Chidoka is: a man who understands the power of honouring one’s parents, a man who respects the wisdom of elders and their hopes for the next generation. He shared photos and videos from his Call to Bar ceremony—moments rich in emotion and fulfilment. For Ogbueshi Ben Chidoka, the father who held onto a dream for more than 30 years, it was a moment of divine satisfaction
He wasn’t, however, the only one who saw this legal journey in Chidoka’s future. Mr. Rob Iweka, former Attorney General of old Anambra State and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also believed in it.
“After each of our long, searching conversations, Uncle Rob would invariably say, ‘Osita, you must still study law.’ Even when I wore the uniform of Corps Marshal or sat in the high councils of state as Minister, he held fast to that gentle admonition.”
As Chidoka turned 54 on July 18, the celebration was more than just a birthday. It was the fulfilment of a lifelong promise. A son had made his father proud. And in doing so, he reminded us all that it’s never too late to pursue purpose, and never too old to honour the dreams that shaped us.
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