By the time Chief Audu Innocent Ogbeh died peacefully at his Abuja residence on August 9, 2025, aged 78, Nigeria had lost not just a politician, but a statesman who spent nearly five decades navigating the shifting sands of public service with an unflinching devotion to principle.
He was a man who could walk away from the seat of power rather than watch its values decay; a leader equally at home in the corridors of Aso Rock as on the quiet fields of his Efugo Farms in Makurdi.
President Bola Tinubu described him as “a man of strong convictions who spoke the truth as he saw it,” adding that “the nation will sorely miss his insightful perspectives and wealth of experience.”
Born on July 28, 1947, in Otukpo, Benue State, Ogbeh’s journey began in a modest Idoma household. His early education at St. Francis Primary School and King’s College, Lagos, set him on a path of academic excellence that continued through Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Toulouse in France. By his early 30s, he was heading the Language, Arts and Social Sciences Department at Murtala College of Arts, Science and Technology in Makurdi.
But politics called early. In 1979, at just 32, Ogbeh was elected Deputy Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly. By 1982, President Shehu Shagari had appointed him Minister of Communications, and later Minister of Steel Development—roles cut short by the December 1983 military coup.
The years that followed saw him shaping Nigeria’s democratic framework, serving on the National Constitutional Conference Commission in 1993 and the National Reconciliation Committee in 1995. He became a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), rising to its National Chairmanship in 2001.
It was from that powerful position that Ogbeh made one of the defining moves of his career - resigning in 2005 after a clash with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo. “You cannot stay in a party to witness its death,” he explained, choosing principle over political survival.
Former President Obasanjo, despite their political differences, mourned him as “a peace-loving, unassuming, committed patriot and a firm believer in democracy and participatory governance.”
For many, Ogbeh’s greatest legacy came not in the smoke-filled rooms of party politics, but in the sunlit fields of Nigeria’s farms. A passionate agriculturist, he turned Efugo Farms into a model of large-scale, diversified farming - producing rice, cashew, pineapples, and poultry. His deep knowledge of agriculture brought him back to government in 2015 as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development under President Muhammadu Buhari.
During his tenure, he championed mechanisation, youth participation in farming, and revival of grazing reserves, overseeing a sharp rise in local rice production. “We import food at the cost of billions of dollars,” he warned in 2018. “Every import is an export of jobs from Nigeria. Hunger is a very bad political adviser.”
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called his passing “a rude shock and the loss of a patriot and principled politician… a quintessential gentleman, affable and amiable friend, and reliable political ally.”
Dr. Bukola Saraki, former Senate President, remembered him as “a public figure whose words were always guided by integrity and whose service was rooted in genuine concern for the people.”
From the North, tributes flowed freely. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) described him as “a nationalist and committed son of Arewa,” noting his service as its National Executive Council Chairman from 2020 to 2023. ACF spokesperson Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba called him “one of the biggest farmers in Nigeria… a life well led in the service of Nigeria, nay, humanity.”
The Northern Governors’ Forum, through Chairman Inuwa Yahaya, hailed him as “a towering political figure, a statesman of uncommon intellect, and an iconic son of Northern Nigeria.”
In Benue, the loss felt deeply personal. Governor Hyacinth Alia called him “a distinguished leader and patriot who committed his life to his people and the nation in various capacities.” Senator David Mark, a long-time ally, confessed he was “moved to tears… I lost a dependable brother and friend.”
Even in death, Ogbeh’s story cannot be told without mention of his literary side. A lesser-known fact is that he was also a playwright—his work The Epitaph of Simon Kisulu staged in 2002 at the Muson Centre revealed a contemplative thinker, concerned with justice, community, and humanity.
The Labour Party’s tribute perhaps captured the broader sentiment across political divides, describing him as “a principled and patriotic statesman whose contributions to Nigeria’s political and socio-economic development remain indelible.”
Ogbeh’s life was a study in contrasts: a man who could debate fiscal policy one moment and inspect cassava fields the next; a leader who thrived in the heat of politics but was never seduced by its trappings; a patriot who believed in Nigeria’s potential but never shied away from pointing out its failings.
In the end, his was a legacy not just of the offices he held, but of the way he held them - firmly, honestly, and always with an eye on the bigger picture. As his family noted in announcing his passing, funeral details will be shared in due course.
Until then, Nigeria remembers Audu Ogbeh not merely as a politician or minister, but as a man who planted seeds - in the soil, in policy, and in the national conscience -that will bear fruit for years to come.
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