In August, 2008, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, renowned businessman, politician, publisher and Igbo leader, attended the World Igbo Congress, WIC, in Detroit, Michigan, in the USA. He was one of invited distinguished speakers. Shortly after delivering his address, news made the round that he had passed on from a sudden diabetic crisis.

Fortunately, he fully recovered and went on to live for another 16 years. Iwuanyanwu was one of the movers and shakers of post-Civil War Nigeria. Like most educated Nigerians of his age, the war essentially defined him.

He had gained admission to study Civil Engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, in 1963. When the war broke out, his education was truncated as he was drafted to the Rocket Unit of the Research and Production Directorate, RaP, which played leading roles in manufacturing much of the explosives and hardware that the defunct Republic of Biafra used to prosecute its 30-month secession war.

Iwuanyanwu was later to embrace combatant field duties, where he met other young intellectuals such as Dr A.B.C. Nwosu, late Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Dr Peter Odili, Dr Emeka Enejere and others who later helped shape the future of Nigeria in politics and academics.

Iwuanyanwu shot into limelight as the Chairman of Hardel and Enic Construction Company Ltd, one of the indigenous companies which tried to give the likes of Julius Berger a run for their money but fell short because of inadequate support. At the height of his business glory, Iwuanyanwu forayed into shipping, industrialisation, hotels, publishing, football proprietorship and aviation.

He signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Imo State Government to bankroll and run the Spartans Football Club of Owerri, which he renamed Iwuanyanwu Nationale (The Naze Billionaires), a multiple title winner and continental giant. He also founded the Champion Newspapers, a front-line national daily which published from Isolo, Lagos.

Iwuanyanwu, a major financial pillar behind the Imo People’s Airport (now Imo Airport, Owerri built through Igbo people’s public donations) later ran for president on the platform of the National Republican Convention, NRC. He was one of the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Iwuanyanwu had a strong passion for the internal affairs of Ndi Igbo and their place in Nigerian politics. He fronted by example the Aku Ruo Ulo campaign for Igbo business owners and industrialists to move their headquarters to the South-East. It was not surprising when he accepted to lead the Igbo nation as the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo Worldwide on April 30, 2023.

Born on September 4, 1942, Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu (OFR), lived an enviable, fulfilled life, except for the unfinished struggles of his Igbo people in Nigeria. As we await his funeral programme as announced by the family, we are grateful for his contributions to Nigeria’s nation building.