By Ikedi Ohakim
It is said that there is never a better time to die but the passing unto eternal glory of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu (Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo) a few days ago is an appropriate illustration of a brilliant actor quitting the stage while the spectators are still standing in loud ovation. Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu had for over forty decades been in national and international lime light, bestriding politics, business, sports etc but the last few years of his life were apparently the most significant.
The reason is simple. Chief Iwuanyanwu lived the last stage of his life serving his own people–Ndigbo – after playing a dominant role in national politics and as an entrepreneur of international repute. It is a rare thing, something everybody hankers for: to return home at the twilight of life is to be and serve ones people.
Many in his caliber get stuck while seeking for more recognition and relevance outside. Although a national icon, Chief Iwuanyanwu got wisdom and harkened to the call by his kinsmen to lead them at a most auspicious time both in their collective existence as a people and in their relationship with fellow compatriots across the country.
As it is, what Ndigbo lost in Chief Iwuanyanwu’s unsuccessful bid to become the president of Nigeria they seem to have gained in the brief period he headed the Igbo nation’s apex socio-cultural body – the Ohanaeze Ndigbo. His road map as President-General of the body was headed for an unprecedented transformation of Igboland.
Under his leadership of the body, Ndigbo saw, for the first time, a pan-Igbo Blue Print that would have brought together every facet of the Igbo race – from Owerri to Anioma, from Ikwere land to Ikot Abasi,from Ohaozara to Orokam, all over Igbo land. He mapped out a strategy for a deliberate pursuit of a development programme in all the sectors – agriculture, education, health, power, road infrastructure, security etc. For each sector, he set up committees headed by individuals with cognate experience in the area.
The period was marked by a frenzy of activities that bellied his huge frame and put to rest earlier insinuations in some quarters that he was either too old for the job or did not possess the necessary physical fitness for it. And he carried this alacrity to the very last days before his death. He traversed all over Nigeria calming frayed nerves whenever hostilities arose between Ndigbo and their hosts. But more importantly, he set up a programme for the Igbo living outside Igbo land to look back home while admonishing them to live peacefully with hosts meanwhile.
To be sure, past President-Generals of Ohanaeze Ndigbo did quite creditably well but it would appear that providence was waiting for a time like this to throw up a fellow like Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu to lead Ndigbo. Yes, he made very robust attempts to become the president of Nigeria but with the benefits of hind sight, it would appear that the same providence thought it would be better to preserve his energy till such a critical period like now when Ndigbo needed a leader that would at once guide them towards self-actualization as a people and at the same time ensure that they remain good citizens of their country, Nigeria.
A practical opportunity for such a patriotic role came sometime last year when, following the heightening economic hardship in the country, some people decided to call out Nigerians to go to the streets in protest. Chief Iwuanyanwu demonstrated the patriot in him when he called on Ndigbo not to take part in the protest and they listened. It is on record that not a single protest took place in any of the core Igbo speaking states of Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra and Imo, to the benefit of the entire nation.
Even though his aspiration to provide leadership for the whole of Nigeria did not materialize, the experience he garnered in pursuit of that ambition became handy at a time when Nigeria is undergoing what could easily pass as its worst existential challenges minus the civil war. Only a fellow with a pan-Nigerian stature, and whose influence and acceptability cut across the entire nation of Nigeria, can give Ndigbo a sense of direction needed at a time like this. Agreed, there are some younger Igbo elements who have shown tremendous flair for national leadership but it will take quite some time for any of them to step into the shoes left behind by Chief Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu CFR, CON, OFR, MFR, Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo.
As a national player, Chief Iwuanyanwu showed tremendous capacity in business. He went into areas that were thought not to be meant for Ndigbo. After Zik, Iwuanyanwu was the first Igbo who went into newspaper publishing on a scale that put him in direct competition with the traditionalist in the industry. His Champion newspapers took the latter by surprise and before it suffered the inevitable vicissitudes that characterise the industry, it made a tremendous impact in providing career opportunities for young journalists from across the country.
To the surprise of many and perhaps to the chagrin of some of his kinsmen, the first chief executive of the publishing outfit was a Yoruba, Prince Henry Odukomaiya. The choice of a Yoruba for that top position at once made a good business sense and immediately marked the newspaper out as a national asset, acting as a bridge between the Igbo and other ethnic groups in Nigeria especially the Yoruba. As a matter of fact, Odukamaiya, a brilliant journalist, nationalist and now an elder statesmen, was once reported as saying that the reason he accepted the offer to serve as the pioneer Managing Director and Editor-In-Chief of the newspaper was because it offered him an opportunity to have a close relationship with the Igbo. He was further reported as saying that he had craved for that because the perennial rivalry between the Igbo and the Yoruba had created a wrong notion of whom the Igbo really are among his Yoruba kinsmen; and limited the potentials of a mutually beneficial relationship between the two.
Such were the type of things Iwuanyanwu did for the unity of his dear country but he didn’t stop there. He was also a pillar sports in Nigeria and Africa. His football club, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, which he devoted his air planes for their travels, not only ruled the soccer waves in Nigeria but also became a big name in continental tournaments. Iwuanyanwu also established a youths feeder academy known as the Iwuanyanwu Comets, which produced people like the legendary Kanu Nwankwo. Kanu came directly from the academy to become the captain of Nigeria’s Under-17 team and later starred as the captain of the senior national team–the Supper Eagles – which won the Olympic Gold medal in football in 1996. Along with Abiola Babes and Leventis United, Iwuanyanwu Nationale provided the starting point for most of the international soccer stars Nigeria gifted the rest of the world.
In politics, Chief Iwuanyanwu was an epitome of the “politics without bitterness” mantra. He pursued his presidential ambition with a pan-Nigerian zeal and never betrayed any clannish or parochial proclivities
Because of his uncommon calmness, comportment and forthrightness, Chief Iwuanyanwu was courted by every federal administration, including military, for support and for which he was branded “Any Government In Power (AGIP) by some critics. But what they failed to realise was that Chief Iwuanyanwu, having grown to become a statesman quite early in life, could no longer confined himself within partisan boundaries as far as national issues are concerned. Perhaps one of the most eloquent testimonies to that was the way he handled the situation in his then party, the All Peoples Party (APP), during the transition that led to the current Fourth Republic.
Chief Iwuanyanwu had lost the party’s presidential ticket at its national convention in Kaduna under controversial circumstances even though he was believed to be the most promising to emerge as its flag bearer. In spite of that,he left all that behind to play a major role in stabilizing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government that emerged after the transition. In a sense, therefore, Chief Iwuanyanwu can be credited as one of the heroes of the Fourth Republic. Had he grandstanded and used his enormous political and economic weight to resist that development, there could have arisen a crisis within the APP and which might have snowballed into a national scale and perhaps the transition, from the military to civilian government, might not have been as effortless as was witnessed.
Back home in Imo state, he helped in stabilizing every administration since the beginning of the current dispensation. He did it for the administration of Chief Achike Udanwa who, at a point, faced a very fierce opposition from some prominent politicians in the state leading to the dichotomy of ‘Onogono’ and ‘Abuja’ political battle. Unfortunately, Udenwa himself was to lead the biggest opposition against my own administration. But again, Chief Iwuanyanwu was handy in playing a stabilizing role despite the fact that he was a mentor to Senator Ifeanyi Araraume who was in cahoots with Udenwa in that fight against me. He continued with that role in the current administration in the state. He openly identified with the administration of Governor Hope Uzodimma as soon as it came into being despite the controversies that surrounded its emergence and regardless of the fact that he was a chieftain of the PDP from which Uzodimma wrestled power.
The Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo worked till the very end. His last official outing was just a few weeks before his hospitalization and during which he inaugurated the Ohanaeze Committee for the restructuring of Nigeria with me as a member and headed by former governor of Enugu state, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo. A few days later, I had a private meeting with him in his house in Abuja and he showed no sign of any thing that could have led to the type of thing we witnessed on Thursday, July 25 2024. Death, where is thy sting? Nigeria and Africa has lost a colossus. My entire family commiserates with his family, the government and people of Imo State, Ndigbo and millions of fellow compatriots across the country. Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo, gaa ijegi nke oma.
Ikedi Ohakim is a former Governor of Imo State.
