The President-General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, is dead.
Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday after a brief illness.
He was 82 years old.
The deceased’s son, Jide, confirmed his death in a statement.
The statement read: “The Iwuanyanwu family of Umuohii Atta, in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, announces the demise of our patriarch, Engr Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu-Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo.
“Chief Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday, July 25, 2024, after a brief illness. “He was aged 82.”
On a parting shot, Naomisophyblog compiled a few things the citizens, especially the younger generations may not know about the departed elder statesman.
– The Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970 interrupted Iwuanyanwu’s studies. During the war, he was drafted into the Biafra Research and Production (RaP) Directorate headed by a nuclear physicist, Prof. Benjamin Chukwuka Nwosu
– He graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as an engineer and became a member of the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria on April 12, 1972.
– The deceased was the chairman of a conglomerate of over 20 companies namely Hardel and Enic Construction Company, Enic Advertising Limited, Magil Industries Limited; National Post Newspapers; Sunrise Insurance Brokers; Oriental Shipping Lines Limited; Paradise City Hotel, Calabar and Oriental Airlines and Daily Champion Newspapers.
– Iwuanyanwu was the National Chairman of the Nigeria National Congress (NNC) which later fused into the National Republican Convention (NRC) when former military president Ibrahim Babangida lifted the ban on politics in 1990.
– He vied for the country’s presidency three times in the past. First under the NRC in 1991. He later emerged as running mate to the late Adamu Ciroma. However, the presidential primaries of NRC and the rival Social Democratic Party (SDP) were annulled by the then Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) over allegations of fraud in 1992. The other times were in 1995 and when the country returned to civil rule in 1999.
– The elder statesman founded one of the biggest football clubs in Nigeria’s history, Iwuanyawu National (now Heartland of Owerri).
– The club dominated the Nigerian soccer scene in the mid-80s and early ’90s alongside the now-defunct Leventis United of Ibadan and Abiola Babes of Abeokuta.
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