Ambassador Lilian Onoh
In 2017, whilst heading the Nigerian High Commission in Jamaica, I was designated to be Nigeria’s first female High Commissioner to the Republic of Namibia.
To my surprise, I was amongst the first of the designated ambassadors to receive my Agreement from my host country and within short shrift, I was assigned a date to present my Letter of Credence to the late president, Dr. Hage G. Geingob, even before I set foot in Namibia. I literally had five days between arriving in Namibia and presenting my Letter of Credence – supersonic speed by any standard.
On entering the hall for presentation, the imposing figure of His Excellency dominated the room and he dwarfed everyone around him. During the long march with the State Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Ipumba, to present my letter, his face remained as stern as a headmaster’s and I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t being dragged to the principal for disobeying school rules.
But on reaching him and handing over my Letter of Credence, the kindness behind the stern expression was clearly evident and no sooner had the formalities been dispensed with than the real, jovial man behind the foreboding mask broke through and I immediately felt I had come home to be received by family. He laughed easily and genuinely from the heart.
After a lifetime of dealing with men (and women) in high political office, most of whom felt the only way to reinforce their power was to be totally miserable and unapproachable, this was such a joy for me. Any ambassador will tell you that president Geingob’s welcome was not the norm. Dr Geingob related with us in a manner that most other Heads of State and Government do not.
He was accessible. He was straightforward. He was totally authentic. We never had to wonder at the meaning behind his words and even if one did not agree with him on a particular issue, you recognised that he spoke from a place of conviction. And in a world where lies, double-speak and false facades are the norm, this was a whole new ball game – the very best anyone could wish for.
Unlike many Heads of State and Government, he did not need handlers to guide him in discussions with ambassadors – he was fully abreast of all our individual issues and was aware of all our areas of challenges.
Behind the scenes, he did everything possible to sort out things, no matter which side he deemed was at fault. It was his personal intervention behind the scenes that ended the visa impasse between Nigeria and Namibia in 2019. But he was large enough to give the glory of that achievement to others.
In July 2018, he visited Nigeria for the funeral of Professor Adebayo Adedeji, whom he called his “mentor and outstanding friend of the United Nations’ Institute for Namibia (UNIN) and Namibia”, making the arduous journey by road from Lagos to the professor’s home town in Ogun State and paying his late friend the ultimate tribute. It was an outstanding act of remembrance by a serving Head of Government who could easily have sent a representative and that would have still been wonderful. It spoke to the essence of who Dr. Geingob was. He never forgot any good thing anybody had ever done, no matter how long ago and didn’t wear his status on his head.
In Namibia, the female ambassadors met the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at a lunch held for her by the late president. In her moving tribute to president Geingob at the UN, Ambassador Thomas Greenfield narrated how His Excellency kept his promise to receive her in Namibia when he became president many years after the promise was made. That was who President Geingob was – he never forgot and he always kept his word.
The one outstanding quality of the late president was his expansiveness. He was the only statesman I knew who understood the true cost of ethnic divisions both within his own country and across Africa. He never understood the parochial mentality of so many, who could not stand others simply because of their nationality and their ethnicity despite all of us coming from one continent and separated only by borders created by others who had nothing to do with us. He was a Pan-African statesman to the core of his being.
Over and over again, he repeated that the immigration restrictions imposed on fellow African travellers were unwarranted. He repeatedly and publicly lamented the fact that his own Immigration officials had continually dragged their feet on coming up with a plan and framework to ease movement between Africans along the same lines as was available to Western tourists coming to Namibia. Without it, he, as president had nothing to present to Parliament to approve – a recognition of the democratic limits within which presidents had to operate and a superb example of his preference to adhere to the Rule of Law.
In death, president Geingob left his mortal life with the same authenticity and transparency with which he lived. He made his cancer diagnosis public knowledge within a day of the doctors confirming his diagnosis – an almost unheard-of transparency in a continent where leaders routinely hide their health condition from the citizens that elected them. And in the honesty and transparency with which he handled his very short 18-day march from diagnosis to death, the president transitioned from merely great to one of the great immortals and that which he could not achieve in life became an instant reality. The tribal and racial lines in Namibia seemed to evaporate in a split second as the whole nation collapsed in unified grief, coming together with the unique clarity that occurs when the scales of familiar security are suddenly yanked away and children suddenly find themselves without the parent they took for granted. For him, almost everyone he met was viewed through the prism of a parent rooting for their child and wanting the best for them.
In particular, he viewed all Namibians as his children – something that has echoed in almost every single tribute to him during the last three weeks.
Even as a representative of another country, I felt secure in the fact that my host president was genuinely rooting for my success and that of all ambassadors, for in our success lay greater dividends for Namibia. He genuinely had a global vision far ahead of his time and forged networks so vast that in death, he has been mourned like no other Head of Government in recent times have perhaps, the late Queen Elizabeth II. The assemblage of so many Heads of State and Government for a funeral on African soil is to the best of my knowledge, second only to that of the great Nelson Mandela and speaks volumes of what a great man Africa lost.
The global outpouring of grief was probably a great shock to many Namibians, especially the youth, who did not fully understand how great he was until he died. This was when many of the younger generation, often disconnected from history, learnt that this man was the chief architect of the Constitution that gave them the freedom to insult him on social media; and demand rights and privileges that many in other countries can only dream of. In death, they discovered how incredibly respected he was across the globe and saw how Namibia, a country with less than two and a half million people, produced a son that commanded the global outpouring of grief that was all due to his personal, incredible ability to forge alliances around the globe.
In all our interactions with the late president, the one constant was the former first lady Monica Geingos, who was one of the most down-to-earth persons on the earth, despite her awesome intellectual and personal achievements. Her ease of interaction complemented His Excellency’s own and as an ambassador, it was a true privilege and joy to have had a host head of government and first lady that were not only available but with whom we could relate as real human beings and simply be, without pretence.
Her grief can only be imagined and from experience, I know that no words of comfort can assuage her pain. That can only come from the Living God of Hosts, our Father and Owner of Life, Jehovah, who gave his only Son Jesus Christ for our redemption. He alone understands the full gamut of pain and loss and grief she feels, and it is to him that I raise a prayer to comfort her and the children of His Excellency during this terrible time.
May she and the entire family take solace in the fact that His Excellency is in the arms of God our Father, in whom he believed. For all the actions of His Excellency spoke of his true belief in God, a belief that guided his actions towards all he met and what he did.
He could not have been the Hage Geingob he was without an abiding faith and obedience to God. And in death, God has honoured him even more than in life. In death, he has entered eternal life and on earth, he achieved the true immortality that comes when generations present and future reference the great President Hage Gottfried Geingob whenever Namibia’s greatness is mentioned.
For I believe that God has already welcomed his good and faithful servant, Dr. Hage Geingob, who completed the task God gave him on earth with distinction.
But I dare say that the president’s concept of resting might not be the one most expect. I imagine he landed in Heaven with an updated Harambe plan in hand and as I look at the unity of Namibia and the incredible change that has come over the nation since the exit of the legendary Hage Geingob, God has answered his long-held prayer for his people.
He gave his entire life for Namibia and in death, his sacrifice yielded the fruit of unifying Namibia. In that instant, Dr. Hage Geingob joined the pantheon of the true immortals who will never be forgotten by generations yet to come.
Go well, Mr. President.
* Ambassador Lilian Onoh is a former High Commissioner of Nigeria to the Republic of Namibia.