2nd February, 2021
By Jethro Ibileke/Benin
Former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has described the late former Information and Culture Minister, Prince Tony Momoh, as a man of peace, a bridge builder and a trailblazer.
Oshiomhole stated this in his tribute to the late Yerima of Auchi Kingdom, who died on Monday at a private hospital in Abuja, at 81.
He noted that the late veteran journalist’s impressive career mentored a whole new generation of present day leaders in the media, public service and academia.
“I received with disbelief and shock, the passing of Prince Tony Momoh, the Yerima of Auchi Kingdom.
“He played politics without bitterness, but with exceptional maturity and a unique ability to accommodate diverse opinions even when they were against his own beliefs.
“As Minister of Information & Culture at a very critical moment in Nigeria political history, he introduced a novel channel of communication with the people in his acclaimed ‘Letters To My Countrymen’ series, through which he periodically explained policies of government to the governed while they too had the opportunity to react to the letters, which ultimately served as a feedback to government,” he said.
The former Edo State governor added that Tony Momoh “stamped his feet in the sands of time as a journalist, administrator, public commentator, and conscience of the political elite, who will ever be remembered as one of the very few principled, loyal and conscience-driven politicians in Nigeria.
“His unique brand of unwavering loyalty and commitment to ideals is manifest in his political engagements as Director of Media and Publicity for the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the critical role he played in the emergence of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“I have lost an elder brother, counsellor, political ally and a dear friend.
“My sincere condolences goes to his wife, children, the great Momoh Family, particularly our Royal Father, Alh. H. A. Momoh, Ikelebe III, the Otaru of Auchi, the entire people of Auchi Sacred Kingdom and the All Progressives Congress, for this irreplaceable loss.”
Born on 27 April, 1939 in Auchi, Edo state, Prince Tony Momoh served as Information and Culture Minister during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, from 1986 to 1990.
He was the 165th child of King Momoh I of Auchi.