Anyim Epitomises Humility At 64 Birthday…Chidoka

Celebrates, Wines And Dines With Orphans

By Benard Akoma

Most birthdays in Nigeria particularly the ones involving high profile politicians are always celebrated with fanfares in a pomp of flaming colours. Such occasions often turn out an ostentatious display of affluence and a gesture of relevance for the political class.

 However that notion was redefined February, 19, 2025 by Anyim Pius Anyim, a former president of the senate, Federal Republic of Nigeria, a former secretary to the Government of the federation, SGF and a former Presidential aspirant in 2023 Presidential election as he marked his 64th birthday in Abuja.

From 2 pm, on a sunny Wednesday, February 19, the Abuja home of senator Anyim, at Asokoro was bubbling and bursting with the cream of the Nigeria political class. From the former president of the senate Adolphus Nwabara to the former governors of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and Emeka Ihedioha respectively to former ministers Osita Chidoka, Labaran Maku, Emeka Wogu and many former and serving senators among others, his expansive compound was struggling for a space to accommodate the very exotic cars that were meandering around.

But in the midst of all that, Anyim suddenly emerged to announce that guests should accompany him to the reception venue of the day’s event. That was a soothing relief as his compound was actually becoming too chocking for guests who were already swarming against one another. A reception venue for such high level celebration many guessed could not be anything less than the best place in Town.

But as the long convoy snaked out of Anyim’s compound, meandering through the web like roads of Asokoro, Anyim’s pilot vehicle headed towards Karu, a suburb Town at the far flung end of Abuja, to the amazement of many. At the end, the convoy vied off to Karu Orphanage Home and it dawned on the guests that this venue is actually not what they have in mind, as many would have considered Transcorp Hilten Hotel, African Continentel(Sheraton) Hotel or even the Yar’Adua Event Center as befitting reception venue for Senator Anyim’s 64th birthday but not an Orphanage Home in a rural part of Abuja.  

Meanwhile, the ambiance of the Orphanage Home as the reception venue of the event was very emotional as guests alighted from their vehicles, the sight of the orphans as they lined up to receive Anyim’s entourage was humbling and the joy on their faces apparently glowing for an opportunity of playing host to such exalted personalities was subduing.

 Osita Benjamin Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development in Nigeria summed up the event surrounding the celebration of Senator Anyim Pius Anyim 64th birthday, “as a dramatization of humility.” Chidoka noted that Anyim’s 64th birthday has highlighted the big gap between the leaders and the down trodden. “The event taking place in this orphanage home today,” he reiterated,” is a sad reminder of the neglect that leaders have visited on the down trodden.”

Chidoka reemphasized the fact that while the rich in the society send their children abroad for greener pastures, “the children of this orphanage which we are neglecting are the ones who will end up to be recruited into the Army and police, insisting that the care we take of them today will determine the relationship they will maintain with us tomorrow.”

Other speakers like Ifeanyi Ararume, Labaran Maku echoed same feelings. The conclusion is that Anyim’s 64th birthday is a lesson in leadership. Okorocha described Anyim’s birthday vision as a demonstration of leadership quality. On a lighter note he stated, “I wish other leaders, the oppressors who live in Asokoro and Maitama should occasionally emulate your gesture and take a convoy down to places like here, the remotest part of Abuja, indeed you are shining star,” he asserted.

Anyim in his remark said that he decided to celebrate his birthday in the Orphanage because, “I want my 64 birthday to be a turning point in the life of the inhabitants of this home.” He reminded his audience that though he was not confined to an Orphanage home as a child, “but I recalled that I experienced a similar life of deprivation and want while growing up just like the children of this home.” Relying on the biblical injunction of John 3.8 which states that no one knows where the wind is blowing from and where it is going to, he enjoined the Orphanage kids to release multitude of balloons into the air, saying, “as no one determines the destinations of these balloons, so are your destinations in life in the hand of God and no one can determine them if you believe,” he affirmed.