Tonye Princewill @ 56: The Prince With A Will To Stand Out

OFONIME UMANAH

It was sometime in 2007. I had arrived Port Harcourt to resume work with Daily Independent as the newspaper’s south south bureau chief, having resigned from The Punch as chief correspondent.

Port Harcourt was not a strange terrain for me. I had covered Rivers State from my days as a rookie in journalism, working with The Tide and the defunct National Concord. But to help me function optimally and get the kind of news reports I desired, I needed to make new friends. I asked questions about latest news sources as I tried to get fresh contacts and renew old ones.

There was one name that kept coming up. Colleagues said he was a news maker. I was told to reach out to the man’s media aide. I did. The media aide turned out to be an enfant terrible. By the time we met face to face, I got to discover that Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze was a little lower than Osama Bin Laden. He knew about bombardments. He knew how to terrorise. He could churn out more than 10 press releases in a day and was not tired. When he smiles, the tables shake. When he laughs, the environment quakes.  

It was through him that I met his principal, a jolly good fellow, down to earth, principled, very intelligent, yet looking very young and innocent. If you had an interview appointment with him, you did not need to be in a hurry. He was and is still a mobile Wikipedia. He could talk for hours and it would appear as if he had not started. Since then, we have kept the relationship, even though he hardly accepts to talk in recent times, except it has to do with his innovative ideas and business discoveries.

His name is Prince Tonye Princewill. His friends and admirers call him the prince of the Niger, perhaps because he is of a royal Kalabari family and has contributed immensely towards the development of the Niger Delta.

I have sat with him a number of times. I have gisted with him a number of times. I have encountered him many times for various reasons. The more we met and spoke, the more it I would feel that I had not known anything about him.

Sometime last year, he sent a whatsapp message to me about a hospital he was bringing into Nigeria-the American Hospital Dubai-Nigeria. At first I thought he was reaching me on behalf of his friends. But no. He was actually one of the key drivers of the hospital project. Yet, he is not a medical doctor, neither has he any training in the medical field.

It was at that point that I reminded him that I knew him to be a petroleum engineer who did not only get his hands into the oil and gas industry, but had equally shown more than passing interest in projects management, ICT, aviation, haulage, entertainment, hospitality business and politics.

He chuckled. Then he began to speak about the hospital and how the people of Lagos and Abuja would begin to enjoy top notch medical services and how Nigeria would thenceforth become a medical tourism hub.

The more I thought about his latest investment, the more I asked, ‘what manner of man are you?’ Of course I had no answer. But I have come to the realisation that Prince Tonye Princewlll, son of the late famous king, Prof. Theophilus Jacob Tom Princewill, CFR, the Amachree XI, Amayanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, with whom he shared and would always celebrate birthdays on same day-January 4-is not a normal Nigerian.

Truly so. Princewill, the Prince with a will to be exceptional, does not think or behave like the Nigerian next door. If you are dealing with him, get ready to be detailed because that is how he is. If you must do anything with him, get ready to be prudent. If you must sustain a relationship with him, get ready to be transparently upright and consistently consistent in doing what is fair and just. He does not do, neither does he believe in half measures.

May be that is why he has not been able to get into the Government House to serve the people of Rivers State as governor, despite several attempts.

Eze, his bosom friend and media aide once quoted him as saying that “my political career is intact. Good people are becoming more and more critical to move Nigeria forward. When Nigerians realize we cannot continue like this, they will look for people like us or younger versions to exhibit excellence and toughness combined. I do not have to be the one running for office, but either way I will be involved.

“The dream was never to rule, it was to lead and lead by example. I do that every day in whatever capacity I find myself. It is not easy to engage with all kinds of politicians and come out clean. I believe I have done that. It is not easy to come from nowhere and make a name in state and national politics, I believe I have done that. It is not easy to join the Nollywood family and make an impact, I believe we have done that and it is not easy to develop the business contacts we did without politics, yet again, we have also done that.

“If politics has not allowed me show my capacity today, one day I will in whatever capacity. Maybe I am bigger than just Rivers state or politics. Maybe my dream is to be a statesman. The country is short of them.

“I am not prepared to kill, maim or sacrifice human life to achieve political goals. So my ambition and my dreams are measured by the price I am prepared to pay for them. The dark actors in Rivers state know that if I decide to go down the path of violence, neither of them would rest easy. They know I am not the one who would be afraid. But like the story of the two women and King Solomon, I am not prepared to kill my people in order to lead them. There has to be a line.

“Our leaders have let us down. History and God will not be too kind to us. Your only redemption is to show your track record. Corruption needs to be addressed head on but we must be able to talk and walk at the same time. Fiscal discipline, creating the environment for growth, security in the Niger Delta especially and the promotion of a positive identity are crucial if we want to crack the No 1 problem in Nigeria-jobs.”

From his body language, carriage and style, it is clear that Princewill is a prince with a will to stand out from the crowd and impact his generation. His birthday was on January 4. He turned 56. But death did not allow him to celebrate with his father and best friend. Fatherless big boy, that is.