Iwuanyanwu: Life and times of an octopus

Without a doubt, Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu was a model and premier Igbo-Nigerian leader, patriot, and Igboist. Being an Igboist and a Nigerian defender at the same time is an extremely difficult combination to maintain. He had affection for both of them, but Ndigbo was his priority for obvious reasons.

It is more than thirty years since I first met Iwuanyanwu. The two-party system for Nigeria was being experimented with by General Ibrahim Babangida who established the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP). Iwuanyanwu was a presidential aspirant under the banner of the NRC. At the time, I was a student at the University of Jos.

At the University of Jos, I ran for the position of students’ union president and therefore was a leader in the students’ union in my own right. Therefore, when IBB announced the two parties and political gladiators like Iwuanyanwu fought to carry the flag of their respective parties as their presidential candidates, politically astute students like me showed interest and looked for ways to get involved. Student activists, or perhaps better described as aspiring politicians on campus, naturally found a constituency in the student body.

Thus, my clique and I prepared a plan and laid ambush when we learnt that the Iwuanyanwu campaign train, headed by Dr. Josiah Odunna, was coming to Jos. He was happy to meet with us with the full complement of his campaign team. I was really in my element that day, speaking for the group like a self-assured prophet. Iwuanyanwu was definitely impressed, but when I was done, he looked both amused and perplexed. My presentation was overly ambitious in its audacity. I had made an effort to persuade Iwuanyanwu and his elite campaign team that we could mobilise Nigeria’s whole student body.

His scepticism was reasonable given that, at the time, there was no social media as we know it today to link all the campuses, despite the fact that Barristers Gabriel Egbule and Mike Nnalue (may the good Lord rest his soul) and I were publishing the Campus Flash newspaper and could be considered campus journalists. It implied that manual campus visits were required throughout Nigeria. Iwuanyanwu concurred with us that all Nigerian universities needed to be mobilised, but he begged me and my colleagues to focus only on the University of Jos and maybe one or two others nearby.

Iwuanyanwu gave fatherly advice, saying: “You still have your books to read and exams to pass and pass excellently.” He was against our education suffering in favour of politics. Surely, everything has its time.

Iwuanyanwu gave the order to take care of us while details would be worked out. My group and I made the same visit to Iwuanyanwu’s base at Owerri, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I continued to have friendly encounters with Iwuanyanwu, but nothing really noteworthy until the Igbo Leadership Development Foundation (ILDF), an organisation I served as spokesperson, started planning the campaign for the election of an Igbo (south-east) as president for Nigeria. Around the same time also was when I buried my dear mother and Iwuanyanwu and some other elders banded together to help me and lessen the burden of my mother’s funeral.

Iwuanyanwu gave his significant support and blessing to the campaign of the ILDF for the Igbo Nigerian president project. The group paid him visits to convey the guiding ideas and philosophy behind the main program we had in the works as well as the self-imposed effort to rescue Ndigbo from Nigeria’s political obscurity.

Pursuant to this, the Igbo Leadership Development Foundation (ILDF) organised a national dialogue in Abuja with Gregory University Uturu in 2021. Iwuanyanwu gave us his whole support and participated in the event. Leaders from all over Nigeria as well as representatives of the country’s major cultural blocks attended the national discourse, which took place at the Sheraton Hotel Abuja. Chief Nnia Nwodo, the then president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, was present, as was Iwuanyanwu.

I provided this history to demonstrate that, even as a student, I had a close acquaintance with the great leader and therefore had the chance to form an opinion about his life and times. The fact that Iwuanyanwu was an activist is one of his qualities that is most frequently downplayed. It matters so much to me, probably for the reason that I belong to the human rights community. It’s not easy being an activist in a ruthless country like Nigeria.

Furthermore, Iwuanyanwu—a University of Nigeria-trained civil engineer and a private practitioner—would have undoubtedly had his business ventures, some of which depended on government patronage, suffer as a result of his firm stance against the marginalisation of his Igbo people in Nigeria.

He was a true leader, as they rarely come! He put the needs of his people before his own, even if doing so meant sacrificing his happiness, safety, and growth of his wide business concerns. Even as an activist myself, I was afraid for his life every time he fiercely talked about the condition of the Ndigbo in Nigeria. He took no prisoners.

Iwuanyanwu, like his compatriots and great Igbo leaders, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije and Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, did not give much thought to his own safety or business when he championed the rights of Ndigbo, a practice that began with his participation in the Biafra war as an army captain.

The life of the Ikeduru Imo state-born Iwuanyanwu resembled an octopus. It spread and had an impact on nearly everything important, including politics, sociocultural issues, business, construction, sports, the media, and even banking. You dare call him a jack of all trades and master of all! For the younger ones’ sake, it is important to emphasise a few of his impacts.

The areas where Iwuanyanwu made profound contributions include the following: sports (Iwuanyanwu Nationale), aviation (Oriental Airlines), media (Champion Newspapers), road construction (Hardel & Enic), health (Iwuanyanwu Ambulance), banking (ABC Merchant Bank), education (Iwuanyanwu Foundation), philanthropy, food security (Magil Bread, etc.), and housing (he owned several estates across the country).

In politics and the nation’s quest for democracy, democratic rule, and purposeful national leadership, Iwuanyanwu was a leading member of the NNC, NRC, UNCP, APP, ANPP, PDP, etc. He was a statesman par excellence. He left his footprints on each and every one of these great endeavours. His legacy will live on for future generations, providing a clear pathway for those who genuinely want to succeed and make their life meaningful through perseverance, hard work, and self-belief, so they too can leave their mark on the sands of time.

Serving as the 11th president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, preceded by George Obiozor, was Chief Iwuanyanwu’s final act of service to Ndigbo, Nigeria, and mankind, where he inspired and repositioned the Igbo people in Nigeria and global context.

By the grace of God, he crossed both biblical rubicon for humans—three scores and ten and eighty for those who are still strong. He passed away a happy man at 82.

At eighty-two, Iwuanyanwu walked off this route to meet his maker—the final destination for all mortals. As renowned poet John Donne once said…
“Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”

Chief Dr. Eng. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu has finished his earthly race and left his mark on history. How about you? The bell tolls for you too!

Good night, great Igboist, nationalist, and leader. In both the Igbo nation and Nigeria, you were undoubtedly the zenith and emblem of Igbo possibilities and Nigerian nationalism. You have left a void that will be difficult to fill, but there’s God, and in Him we trust.

Dr Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought. You can contact him via [email protected] and on Twitter: @Drlawsonmefor.