The death of Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina, after two months of celebrating his 70th birthday on August 1, 2024, did not come to me as a rude surprise. After the birthday bash that featured a thanksgiving service at the First Baptist Church in Garki and a reception at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, the remainder of his days were spent more in the hospital, with his dedicated wife, Dr Christy Zwingina, and other members of the family constantly by his bedside till he breathed his last on October 2, 2024.
A Telephone Call
On April 30, 2024, my phone rang. A voice at the other end asked if I was Simon Reef and I answered in the affirmative.
“My name is Senator Jonathan Zwingina. Your name came up during a discussion and you were highly recommended,” he said.
“It’s my pleasure, Distinguished,” I responded.
“Can we see tomorrow, if you are free? You may come to my residence, if it is okay by you?”
I agreed to meet him the following day, May 1, being my birthday.
When I arrived, I met his amiable wife who was attending to some guests. After telling her I had an appointment with Senator Zwingina, she told me he would soon join me.
When he showed up, it was the first time I would meet him in person. Though meeting him for the first time, his brilliance was indisputable and his intelligence was on display as he recalled stories of his past. On my path I attempted to give him a trajectory of my media voyage. Of course, he threw certain public issues for discussion. As we spoke for a long time, it seemed we had known ourselves for too long.
Finally, he opened up on why he invited me.
“You were highly recommended for a book project and I have no doubt you can deliver. I have seen what you have done and without any form of hesitation, I am convinced you are capable of the task,” he explained.
We discussed the deadlines and I categorically told him it was impossible to deliver the project within four months. As the chairman of the project, he requested that I represent him at the committee’s next meeting that was slated to discuss the matter. I later presented concept notes for the project and the committee was convinced to provide for at least a year to complete the project.
June 12 Debacle And Biography
Zwingina, who was popularly referred to as the Cicero of the Senate, told me of a planned book on the June 12 polls. As the director-general of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Hope 1993 Presidential Organisation, he had always wished to pen down his memoir on the matter, but his tight schedules proved an albatross. Even when a British publisher, according to him, offered him an apartment in the UK to write the book on the annulled polls, he could not accept the offer as he was always engaged in one job the other.
I was excited with the June 12 story, and for no less than two weeks, Zwingina recalled his roles and certain events that shaped the dialectics of June 12 polls. The late Zwingina left no vacuum in reminiscing the intricate ploys and dynamics behind the cancelled June 12 presidential poll by the military regime of former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
I have compared some of the Zwingina narrations with that of former chairman of the SDP, Chief Tony Anenih, and unionist Chief Frank Kokori and discovered that the senator’s narration remains incisive and truthful. I got interested in Zwingina’s June 12 book. After writing three chapters of the book, and forwarding the same to him for review, he said, “Simon, I enjoyed your language and narrative style. I can now understand why I was waiting for you to show up. You have lifted from me a burden I have carried all along,”
A week after we first met, he made available to me all necessary documents for the June 12 book project, including an unfinished manuscript for his planned biography written by Michael Obi whom I learned had passed on. Some of his writings, including his PhD dissertation turned into a book, were all included and carefully packaged in a small Ghana-Must-Go bag.
Discharging A Burden
Ahead of his 70th birthday thanksgiving service, attended by the former minister of information, Prof Jerry Gana, and former governor of Adamawa State, Barr James Ngilari, among others, we had set timelines for the completion of the June 12 book, including a quick work on his biography. The interactions we had with him covered areas not covered by Obi’s manuscript. The service of songs at the First Baptist Church Garki unveiled Zwingina as a committed patriot and a deep adherent of the Christian faith who stopped at nothing to provide the cause of justice as shown in his footprints as a Senator. At the Night of Tributes that was held at the Armed Forces Officers’ Mess and Suites, Asokoro, where speaker after speaker spoke on the inspiring footprints of an intellectual and politician who left nothing undone in serving God and country
All former Senate Presidents from Senator Anyim Pius Anyim to Adophus Wabara and Ken Nnamani, the trio described the former political science teacher as the Cicero of the Senate that was unrivalled in the knowledge of the Senate rules and proceedings. Eyes became teary when a video clip of Zwingina, during a short documentary, called for forgiveness from those he had offended in the course of life, stressing that he had forgiven all those who wronged him.
For me, there’s no greater honour to Senator Zwingina’s memory than completing these books and presenting them to the public in 2025. So, help me God!
