By Louis Achi
Elder statesman and venerable nationalist, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, CON, Okwadike, is dead. He was also a former governor of Anambra State in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. He was aged 85.
Ezeife died at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, on Thursday around 6 pm, according to a statement issued by his family.
A statement signed by Rob Ezeife reads: “On behalf of the Ezeife Dynasty of Igbo-Ukwu, I wish to announce the promotion to glory of our most distinguished son, Okwadike, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, CON, a former federal permanent secretary, the first executive governor of Anambra state, a former political adviser to the president and former presidential aspirant.
“This sad event took place yesterday at 6pm at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja. More details about the deceased and the arrangements for his state burial will be announced later.”
Dr. Ezeife was born at Igbo-Ukwu, Anambra State on 20 November 1939. He did not attend secondary school, but taught himself through correspondence courses, qualifying for university admission. He gained a BSc in Economics from the University College Ibadan, then attended Harvard University on a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship where he obtain a masters and then PhD degree in 1972.
He became a School Headmaster, a lecturer at Makarare University College, Kampala, Uganda, a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, and a Consultant with Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ezeife joined the civil service as an Administrative Officer and rose to the position of Permanent Secretary.
He was elected governor of Anambra State on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform, holding office from 2 January 1992 to 17 November 1993, when General Sani Abacha took power after a military coup.
He transferred Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Federal Polytechnic, Oko to the federal government, which helped ensure that they survived in the ensuing military regime.
During Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, Ezeife, who describes himself as a social democrat, was appointed presidential Adviser on Political Matters to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was appointed a member of the board of the Center for Development & Empowerment.
In February 2006 the Federal Capital development Authority bulldozed his house in Abuja on the grounds that the plot of land and those of adjacent houses had been acquired improperly.
In January 2010 he was among thousands who demonstrated in Awka calling for credible and violence-free governorship elections on February 6.
A deep thinker and progressive politician, Ezeife strove for a new Nigeria for much of his life, having been exposed to Western Civilisation and thoughts in his formative years. He saw the key challenges that have hobbled the nation’s journey as purely that of leadership and accordingly exerted himself to contribute to pointing the way forward and by personal example.
Ezeife was married in unions blessed by several children and grandchildren. His death at 85 indeed spells the end of an era.
