Audu Ogbeh: The man who ploughed both soil and power

Chief Audu Innocent Ogbeh, was a man who straddled the worlds of politics, literature, and agriculture with rare ease. Known for his intellect, candour, and refusal to bend to political intimidation, Ogbeh lived a life that defied easy categorisation — farmer, playwright, minister, party chairman, elder statesman.

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Born on July 28, 1947 in present-day Benue State to an Idoma family, Ogbeh’s early years were shaped by education and a taste for ideas. He attended King’s College, Lagos from 1967 to 1969, before studying at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1969–1972) and the University of Toulouse, France (1973–1974). His career began in academia, lecturing at Ahmadu Bello University and later heading the department of humanities at the Murtala College of Arts, Science and Technology.

From the classroom to the political arena

Ogbeh’s political break came in 1979, when he was elected Deputy Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). In 1982, President Shehu Shagari appointed him Minister of Communications — at just 33. He later oversaw the steel ministry, one of the country’s most strategic portfolios.

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But when the Buhari-led military coup swept Shagari from office in December 1983, Ogbeh returned to the soil, literally — farming rice, cashews, and pineapples, and running poultry operations. It was a retreat, but not an exile; over the next decades, he would advise governments, direct major agricultural projects, and build his own enterprise, Efugo Farms.

While fully engaged in agriculture, Ogbeh was called back to national service in 1993 as a member of the 19-man National Constitutional Conference Commission. Two years later, on December 28 1995, he was appointed to the eight-member National Reconciliation Committee, chaired by his former teacher, Chief Alexander Akinyele, the Loboshin of Ondo Kingdom. Inaugurated by General Sani Abacha to foster national unity, the committee was eventually dissolved before completing its work.

In 1998, Ogbeh directed the presidential campaign of Dr Alex Ekwueme under the banner of the newly formed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and subsequently became a full-time member. The party went on to win the 1999 presidential election. On November 11 2001, he succeeded his Benue State compatriot, Chief Barnabas Gemade, as PDP National Chairman — a position he held through a period of intense political turbulence.

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By 2009, Ogbeh was back in the private sector, serving as chairman and managing director of Efugo Farms, Makurdi, while also maintaining international links as a member of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships Incorporated, based in Philadelphia, United States.

The playwright in the party war room

Even as a farmer, Ogbeh kept another passion alive — writing plays. He penned five in total, three of them published, including The Epitaph of Simon Kisulu, staged at Lagos’ Muson Centre in 2002. But in 2001, he swapped the writer’s desk for the PDP war room, becoming National Chairman of the ruling party.

Under his watch, the PDP swept the 2003 elections. Yet his relationship with then-president Olusegun Obasanjo was never comfortable. Ogbeh valued the freedom to disagree; Obasanjo valued total loyalty. Their public rupture over the 2003 Anambra crisis led to his resignation in January 2005 — a move he insisted was to save the party from deeper division.

Read also: Audu Ogbeh’s devaluation message

Farming, politics, and hard truths

For a decade, Ogbeh returned to farming, until the APC’s formation drew him back in. In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, a post he held until 2019.

Throughout, he never lost the habit of calling things as he saw them. In interviews, he questioned why presidents repeatedly appointed military officers to govern states under emergency rule. “Do we miss military rule,” he asked, “or are we suggesting civilians are incapable of governing themselves?” He saw such appointments as “sending a funny signal that civilians can’t do the job themselves… That’s not a good one.”

On Northern Nigeria’s economic troubles, he was blunt: “Seventy-two percent of Nigeria’s currency circulates in Lagos… leaving 28 percent for the rest of the country. Unless northerners pay attention to economic problems, the danger facing us — the violence, the kidnappings — will persist. Politics should be the least important thing on our table.”

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Elder statesman in the village

Married to Justina Obehi from Ekpoma, Edo State, with whom he had five children, Ogbeh planned to spend his later years in his village, Efugu-Otukpa, taking “the back seat” while guiding younger leaders.
But even in semi-retirement, his voice was hard to ignore. To him, politics without economic strength was a hollow game. “The only industry in the North is politics,” he once said. “It will create problems.”

Ogbeh’s passing on August 9 2025  at the age of 78 marks the end of a career that bridged Nigeria’s political epochs — from the idealism of the Second Republic to the fractured realities of today. He leaves behind a legacy of ideas, courage, and conviction, rooted in the belief that leadership must serve people — not the other way around.