Sunday 1 June 2003 marks the one-year anniversary of Major-General Joseph Nanven Garba’s death. His absence from the Nigerian political, leadership and diplomatic landscape left a great void.  Even his most trenchant critics and non-admirers still acknowledge, if only grudgingly, that Joe Garba was a good Nigerian, a patriot and a selfless public servant.   

Since his demise, I have read with ardent interest most of the eulogies and tributes to him. While many contain a surfeit of Joe Garba’s accomplishments, most skirted around the man Joe Garba.  Indeed, the General, in death remained an enigma – and to many, an iconoclast. The facade many saw in Joe Garba was rarely broken and as one individual had put it, he was a “misunderstood man”. Of all the tributes to Garba I have read, a few stand out for cracking the surface and revealing the real Joe Garba.  

President Obasanjo who knew Garba up close and personally noted that Garba “will be recorded by history as a Nigerian who embodied all the high points of our national achievements, and one of the very rare breed of citizens who combined total dedication, commitment and excellence in all national endeavours they were engaged in.” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan encapsulated it all, when he said, “Death took Joseph Garba too soon; but we are all fortunate in what he was able to accomplish here.”  The refrain that followed reechoed similar endearing words and sentiment:  

Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi:  “Joe meant different things to different people. Something was however consistent about him in his life-time. He always sought to make a positive difference wherever he found himself. He was an uncommon and determined man.” 

Dr. Onukaba Adoniyi-Ojo: “He never hid his feelings on any issue and he was known to hold strong opinions. He could look anyone – except Abacha- straight in the face and tell you exactly how he felt.  He was bright, sociable and charming.  He was a cosmopolitan, lively detribalized Nigerian.” 

Professor Jean Herskovits: “He had enduring faith in the possibility of solving intractable problems, whether in Nigeria or Africa or beyond.  In seeking to solve some of the problems of his country, of his continent, of his and our world, many will have reason to mourn his loss, including many who won’t even know it.”   

Chief Arthur Mbanefo: “Those who did not know Joe well or who did from a distance had the tendency to misread or misunderstand him. On the contrary, Joe was a compassionate, courageous, energetic, respectful, warm and caring person. He bonhomie was always genuine. He was also a shy person who possessed the uncanny ability to laugh at himself, his shortcomings – and even his own mortality.” 

Prof. Ibrahim Gambari: “As a soldier, he was an officer and a gentleman, as a Nigerian citizen, he was a dedicated patriot who espoused the virtues of civic responsibility; and as an international public servant, he gave substance and meaning to the promotion and protection of human dignity as a universal value.” 

Ambassador Jonathan Moore: “Joe was tenacious, courageous, energetic and respectful, combining high intelligence with intense effort and sure vision. He was one of the a number of figures in history who have marvelously combined military, political, academic and diplomatic expertise for the better understanding and the better lives of people throughout the world.... For me, most of all, he was a loyal, laughing and loving friend of sensitivity and endurance. His idealism and vision were not marred by superficiality or illusion, but armed and emboldened by full realism, by scar tissue, by sensitivities to the foibles and weaknesses of his adversaries and allies, our human species, himself….. So, my feelings are certainly and profoundly of loss  -- so early, so sudden  -- but more of gratitude to have been close to this remarkable man with so much faith and energy and love, as he pushed us and himself to make things more fair and peaceful  -- to make life better.” 

Dr. Ugorji O. Ugorji: “For a man of his status, he was uncommonly simple, preferring to refer to himself as a simple soldier. In the privacy of his home or the office or at lunch, he was at ease, devoid of the air of opulence. He laughed easily and joked readily. He took risks and accepted the consequences of his risks. He was all about excellence - he demanded it, he respected it, and he aspired to it and rose to it always. He was quick with praise, and painfully blunt with criticism. He was full of hope for Nigeria, particularly for the youth of Nigeria.” 

Kaye Whiteman: “In maturity, he retained his brusque forthrightness, but remained a valued member of his country’s foreign policy establishment” 

In the Shakespearean parlance, we have already buried Joe Garba; this piece, therefore, is not to praise him.  But yes, as we have gleaned above he deserved to be praised. I knew Joe well enough to call him friend without being presumptuous, for first and foremost he was my boss. But beyond being a boss and a friend, he was a brother, mentor and my son’s Godfather. I was his Special Assistant from 1987 to 1990. Since then and until his death, we remained close friends that it seemed like I had known him for a lifetime.   

One year after his departure, it is still hard to speak of Joe in the past tense. Many months later I am yet to fully come to grips with his death. Even my presence at his graveside in Langtang on 15 July 2002 did not bring the desired closure.  Despite the plethora of posthumous accolades heaped on Joe Garba, he really transcended adjectival qualifications. For where does one start.  Joe Garba was a balanced human being, but to some, this meant that he had a chip on his shoulders. Those who did not know him well enough or those who envied his accomplishments would readily call him arrogant, brash, overbearing, ambitious, etc. But then, there is the counter-balance: others saw him as frank, compassionate, cosmopolitan, erudite, diligent, patriotic, etc.  In truth, if one individual could elicit these broad and sweeping qualifications that person must be special. And Joe was certainly special. He was always intense in his convictions and not given to vacillations. 

In all the years I worked with Garba he operated primarily on two key maxims. The first was “Never complain never explain”.  The second related to conventional wisdom and his problem solving approach to even the thorniest issues. His response was always,  “And this too shall come to pass.”   Because Joe Garba was a very blunt man, he had many detractors. Many, I came to realize, were just plain envious of his accomplishments.  In response to his detractors, he had in the true Christian mode sought and found refuge in the Bible. Of all the passages in the Bible, one of his favorites was a passage in Micah, 7:8. “Rejoice not over me, oh my enemy; when I fall I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord would be a light to me”.  This was his fortress, his shield. Joe Garba was, and will eternally remain different things to different people, but he was in the main, a man of faith. 

After one year of mourning his untimely passing, we should also celebrate his life -- a life of royalty, love, trust and abiding friendship. Some who knew Joe from a distance saw his demeanour as bravado; but they failed to see beyond the facade, which masked his humility, compassion, gentility and fear of God. Only those who came close enough got to know and experience first hand his gentleness and devotion to his family. Joe Garba was a dreamer in the most positive sense of the word. He dreamt of great things for his family, friends and for Nigeria. Unceasingly he agonized about our nation and its Fractured History! In the end he committed his thoughts and vision to paper for posterity.  

Joe Garba was an able and selfless public servant. He served with aplomb whenever called upon to do so, turning the world into his playing stage. For this, they called him the peripatetic diplomat. No one less than Nelson Mandela called Joe a giant. Yes, he was a giant in size and at heart. Joe gave willingly of his time, experience, self, rising always above the mundane and frivolities of life and politics. Joe Garba also defended the weak, the poor and the dispossessed, never once taking public credit for such ennobling acts. His candour, ever so brutal ruffled some --perhaps many feathers.  But such candour was never once offered with an iota of malice aforethought. Joe’s life was never a bed of roses. Being human, he had his ups and downs -- and had been deep in the valley of despair and then rose to the mountaintop. For me, as a friend, one of Joe’s greatest attributes was that in times of comfort and controversy his friends and detractors always knew where he stood.  

Contrary to popularly held beliefs, Joe Garba was fiercely polite and an easily contrite person. This was an attribute he held very dear.  Garba had the uncanny ability to laugh at himself.  In moments of ease with his friends, while discussing the vagaries of Nigerian politics, he would recall how his elementary school teacher, an Igbo man - always reminded him that he came “from the interior north”. His ability to readily apologize when he erred or crossed others – a process he always referred to as “eating crow” or “eating humble pie,” was ennobling But when he was convinced of his views Garba rarely resiled from a position. Garba, however, did not suffer fools gladly and had no compunction about telling people off.   

One of Joe Garba greatest strength was as a policy or decision maker.  He placed high valued on good and sound advice. You gave him the options he would give you almost instant decisions. He believed that he had no lesson to learn from charlatans who hid behind warped analysis of Nigerian history, politics or policy to wreak havoc on the country. As an administrator he also deemed insincere those who never took a stand on issues or hid behind certain buzzwords to mask their real position. He also found wanting those who would first respond to a question with the sentence, “I don’t know...” and then proceed to say  “.... But I think or I believe that....” He saw the second part as an insincere attempt to proffer an answer one had already acknowledged he or she was not competent to give.   

The Joe Garba I knew, carried with him until his death the burden of his role in the 29 July 1975 coup that ousted his kinsman General Yakubu Gowon. That he eventually paid the price for such alleged mistrust with his premature retirement from the Nigerian army did not assuage those who saw him as ambitious, and even some of those who benefited from the change of government.  Surely, and naturally Garba was ambitious, but his, was not a self-consuming blind ambition. He pushed himself and those around him hard. He was energetic and an avaricious reader. He educated, groomed, polished and honed his skills as a diplomat. Most importantly he had learned to think on his feet, but was not shy about seeking advice. He had a good eye for talent and tapped such talents without apologies. Because Garba hade been accused of disloyalty to General Gowon, he took great pains and passion to underscore and show loyalty to his friends, and in turn elicited such loyalty in reciprocity.  

For many years before his death, Garba was tormented by trenchant criticisms and jibes from his fellow Middle-Belters for partaking in the ousting of General Gowon. They won’t let him live its down. In the summer of 1988 or thereabout, conscious of his torment over the Gowon affair, I told him he should publicly lay the speculation about his continued estrangement with General Gowon to rest. “Henry how?”, he asked. (He preferred calling me Henry. Even though I never liked it, he saw it as his privilege and a General’s prerogative). I suggested that he should host a reception for General and Mrs Gowon who were visiting the New York. He did. I had the honour of recording that memorable historical event for posterity in photographs. Some months later Dan Agbese eventually published a photo from that event in NewsWatch. The ghost of the July 29 1975 coup was laid to rest, but not the pain and cost to Joe Garba, of not being able to retire from the Nigerian Army on his own terms; and certainly, not the notion held in some quarters, that his ascendancy to fame came through the betrayal of a kith and kin.  

I am not privy to how Garba and Gowon reconciled, and if he did apologize to General Gowon. I will not be surprised if he did. I know that 14 June 2002 General Gowon and his wife Victoria, were at Garba’s 7 Niven Road residence in Jos to sympathise with the Garba family. They were also in Langtang at Joe Garba’s graveside when he was committed to mother earth. General Gowon’s magnanimity towards Joe Garba and his true value as a Christian has been recorded for posterity. But I suspect that there are still some out there, who even in death still cannot find it in themselves to forgive Joe Garba’s sins, whatever they may be.  

Dr. Adoniyi-Ojo recalled in his tribute to Garba, how on February 13 2000, Garba publicly during the annual Murtala Muhammed Lecture in Abuja, told his listeners how he had been criticized by Adoniyi-Ojo for his involvement in the Abacha transition and openly wished he had listened to him. For that Ojo wrote, “I was stunned. Not many people of his stature would admit their mistake. He did just that, publicly. For that, I will forever respect him.” 

 I recall also how on the 29^th of August 1995, Garba had committed a faux pas during the launching of his book “Fractured History”. He had jibed at Nigerian journalists, calling them “hungry”, in a moment of ill-informed attempt to make a joke. He was stunned by the response and reaction he received from the Nigerian media. He had called me from Lagos to share his dilemma. I told him an apology was in order. On his return to New York, he handed me a draft text of his written apology to critique. It was vintage Joe Garba. While I did not fully like the language, I felt it would suffice. Garba, for his part, accepted that it was yet time again to “eat humble pie”. His Attorneys sent the written apology to the various Nigerian media houses. In return, Joe Garba received various resounding editorial applauses. I vividly recall, the Daily Times editorial of Thursday November 2 1995 titled  “Salute To Gallantry”.  The Vanguard editorial titled “A Soldier And Gentleman” was even more heartwarming. It read, “ We find it refreshing that Joe Garba behaved not like a soldier (which he was) but like a gentleman which he is supposed to be. ... The apology Joe Garba offers has not diminished him in our sight. Rather we think it has enhanced his dignity.” 

Garba’s diplomatic achievements are already recorded in the public domain. I will not attempt a rehash here. Suffice it to say that they did not come easy and were not without deep personal sacrifice and pains. One fact remains uncontested; Garba’s stint and accomplishment as Nigeria’s foreign minister remains unparalleled, nine foreign ministers and almost twenty five years later. Also, of all those who have held leadership positions in Nigeria, I do not know of any that has, like Garba, seven published books to their credit.  

Nigeria’s presidency of the 44^th UN General Assembly and Joe Garba’s accomplishments at the United Nations belong to history and are well documented in his third book, The Honour To Serve. What is not known by many Nigerians, is how that top brass in the Nigerian Foreign Ministry then, attempted at every corner to scuttle Garba’s UN General Assembly presidency. It was in this context that Garba once noted that he received less moral and financial support than was given to Chief Emeka Anyaoku for his campaign of the Commonwealth Secretary-Generalship. Likewise, when Garba was tapped in 1990 to become Nigeria’s first Ambassador to Namibia, with a view that Nigeria should become the doyen of the diplomatic corps there, the same recidivist forces within the government thwarted the appointment under the pretext that his outspokenness made the Namibians nervous.  

Garba never hid his desire to rule Nigeria. It was a task he firmly believed he could undertake. And he had said so publicly, which led to an article in The News of 27 February 1995 titled,  “I want to Rule Nigeria”.  Nothing in his fifty-eight years did more damage to Joe Garba’s image than his dalliance with the Abacha regime. He recognized this long before his death. With return to democracy in 1998, Garba toyed with the idea of joining the ruling PDP party but stayed with APP, as a way of retaining his already slightly tarnished political credibility. Cross carpeting, he fully understood, would have politically finished him. He ran again for the senate as an APP candidate and lost. He accepted his loss with equanimity.  

For avoidance of doubt, Garba did speak up against the Abacha regime on many occasions. An article in The Champion of 23 November 1994 titled, “Garba Warns Against the Lingering Crisis” bears out this fact.  He said, “ I look around with profound anger and concern that people in Nigeria thus far have never in actual sense of the word been involved in the democratic process in this country”.  He regretted that Nigerians had contributed to this reality through the culture of silence and helplessness.  

I saw Joe last on 3 March 2003 in New York, when we visited Chief Arthur Mbanefo. We spent the rest of that evening over dinner that lasted five-hours. We talked of the old and new, the challenges ahead and his planned visit to China. We last spoke again by telephone on 13 May 2003. I vividly recall his asking me to get some books for the NIPSS library.  The books were Richard Neustradt’s "Thinking In Time: The Uses of History For Decision Makers.  That was the last we spoke. I was in Tokyo for the 2002 Final World Cup when I got the fateful message of Joe’s passing on 1 June; the loss was surreal and far too great to contemplate and the disbelief paralyzing. Mine was the sad duty of breaking the sad news members of the Nigerian World Cup delegation, which included Brig. Oneya, Gov. Niyi Adebayo, Gov. Lucky Igbenedion, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia and others.  

Joe Garba for those who may care to know was human. As such he had his frailties.  He was no saint, but he was not a devil either, and certainly not a manipulative evil genius. He strived to serve his country to the best of his ability, and had he been given an opportunity would have been an exceptional national leader.  His service to Nigeria placed an awesome burden on him, and in the end he paid an incalculable price for it in terms of his family and matrimonial situation. Like a real trooper, he soldiered on, making the necessary adjustments as the situation warranted. There is more that could be and should be said of Joe Garba, but that will be for another place and time. In summation, had I been privileged to write his epitaph, it would have read thus:

“Here lies Joe Garba, an honest and caring man. He fully understood the imperative

duty, honour and country. Until the end, hard work was a habit he never lost.” 

Joe Garba will always be remembered, for he left his large footprints on Nigeria’s diplomatic sand through his written words.  The challenge for Nigerians is to keep his name, legacy and memory alive. Personally, after all is said and done, Joe is and will be always and forever remembered as a faithful friend. On the visible plane and as a compatriot, I, like many Nigerians lost a national icon, a patriot, and detribalized Nigerian and a man who was head and shoulder above his peers and who arrived in Nigeria well before his time.

*Mr. Obaze writes from New Jersey, USA. He was Gen. Garba’s Special Assistant from 1987-1990.