Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu (; 4 September 1942 – 25 July 2024) was a Nigerian politician and businessman. He was considered one of the richest Igbo men in Nigeria. Iwuanyanwu was until his death the 11th president-general of Ọhanaeze Ndigbo; preceded by George Obiozor.
Early life Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu was born on Friday, 4 September 1942 to Pa Bernard Iwuanyanwu and Madam Hulder Iwuanyanwu of Umuohii Atta in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State of Nigeria. His grandfather, Iwuanyanwu, was a war commander who led native warriors into battle. Though born into a very humble family, Chief Iwuanyanwu emerged as a politician, businessman and philanthropist to be reckoned with in Nigeria.
He attended St. Patrick's School, Nkpokwu (later renamed Rukpokwu), Port Harcourt, for his Standard one to four, from 1948 to 1952. For his Standard five and six, he was transferred to Holy Trinity Primary School in Holy Trinity Church, Umuapara (later renamed Rumuapara, now in Obiakpo Local Government Area, Rivers State). This was from 1953 to 1954. From 1955 to 1959, he attended New Bethel College, Onitsha, Anambra State. In 1960, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, along with a select brilliant few, were offered admission into the Federal school of Science, Lagos, where he studied Pure and Applied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
Education In 1963, he gained admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he studied Civil Engineering. Because of his notable feats in academics while in his early years in the university, Iwuanyanwu was awarded the prestigious German Academic Exchange Scholarship covering fees, boarding, holiday tickets and feeding, promptly facilitated by the Federal Republic of Germany. This award was for a few talented students of African descent.
Military experience The Nigerian Civil war fought from 1967 to 1970, interrupted Iwuanyanwu's studies. He was drafted into the Biafra Research and Production (RaP) Directorate headed by Professor Benjamin Chukwuka Nwosu, a nuclear physicist. Iwuanyanwu served in the Rocket Unit of RaP headed by Professor Gordian Ezekwe. With little access to armaments from the outside world, this group of researchers put on their thinking caps, including the nuclear physicist, Dr. Felix Oragwu, producing essential amenities and armaments, especially the dreaded Ogbunigwe. Desiring to see action, Iwuanyanwu later served as a soldier rising to captain of a unit of the secessionist forces of the breakaway Biafra and leading from the front at the war fronts. After treating a leg injury he sustained during the war, he was sent to study a course in advanced military intelligence at the Biafran School of Military Intelligence. After the course, he was transferred to the Biafran Combat Engineering Unit and appointed the Head of the Biafran Combat Engineering Military Intelligence. In this capacity, he worked directly under the office of the General Officer Commanding the Biafran Army, Major General Alexander Madiebo. Immediately after the Biafran war, Iwuanyanwu humanely volunteered to sweep the war-time mines for the Nigerian federal government. This was because he had all the intelligence maps as former Head of Biafran Combat Intelligence and he knew where the mines were.
Engineering and business career After the Nigerian civil war, Iwuanyanwu resumed studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, graduating later in 1971. Iwuanyanwu worked as a pupil engineer at the Nigerian Construction and Furniture Company, rising to become site agent after he contrived a novel design for producing a barge with a composite section of empty engine oil drums. He became a registered engineer of the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria on 12 April 1972. As a seasoned Engineer, Iwuanyanwu experimented on flexible pavement and parameters for concrete, producing a mixed design of asphaltic concrete which was approved by the Nigerian Ministry of Works for use in the construction of airport runways and highways in Nigeria. In 1976, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu began to work with two Americans, Messrs. Harper and Delano. The trio started a construction company whose name, Hardel, was coined from the name of the two foreigners. Iwuanyanwu later acquired the company from them and renamed it, Hardel and Enic Construction Company. His business grew into a conglomerate of over 20 companies, including Enic Advertising Ltd; Magil Industries Limited; National Post Newspapers; Sunrise Insurance Brokers; Oriental Shipping Lines Limited; Paradise City Hotel, Calabar and Oriental Airlines.
Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu also owns the Daily Champion newspapers.
Political career First Attempt at Presidency In June 1990, the then military president of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida, lifted the ban he had placed on political activities. Chief Iwuanyanwu emerged the National Chairman of the unregistered Nigeria National Congress (NNC) which later fused into the National Republican Convention (NRC) party. He contested for the post of president of Nigeria under the NRC. Incidentally, General Ibrahim Babangida also lifted ban on old politicians of the first and second republics, and Adamu Ciroma entered the contest. He won in the NRC presidential primaries and the party decided that Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu would be his running mate. The NRC's rival party was the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar'Adua won in the SDP's presidential primaries. Unfortunately, allegations of widespread electoral malpractices by aspirants in the two parties were made to the government. Thus, on 6 October 1992, the presidential primaries of the political parties were suspended. On 16 October 1992, the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) nullified the suspended results of the party primaries and dissolved both the NRC and SDP party executives.
The nullification of results and dissolution of the parties' executives practically threw Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and other politicians out of the contest, creating room for Alhaji Bashir Tofa to emerge as the NRC's presidential candidate. After the presidential election on 12 June 1993, Moshood Abiola of the SDP won as president. The military president of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the elections, citing widespread irregularities, but no evidence of fraud was offered to the Nigerian public.
Second Attempt at Presidency On 12 December 1995, the Nigerian military Government headed by General Sani Abacha, inaugurated a new eight-member National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON). The next day, the Government set up a Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) to supervise the transition-to-civil rule process.
The National Congress of Nigeria (NCN) (which Chief Iwuanyanwu was instrumental to its creation) merged with some other associations such as the All Nigerian Congress (ANC), Committee of National Consensus (CNC); and Southern Solidarity Forum (SSF) to form the United Nigeria Congress (UNC). The UNC merged with the United Nigeria Party (UNP) to metamorphose into the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP). On 30 September 1996, NECON registered five political parties. These were: Committee for National Consensus (CNC), United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). Aside Chief Iwuanyanwu, other prominent members of the UNCP were Dim C. Odumegwu Ojukwu and General Joseph Nanven Garba, who was the former President of the United Nations General Assembly. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu was the Chairman of the Finance Committee and the Contact and Mobilization Committee of the UNCP. He began to run for presidency under the UNCP. As at July 1997, within the UNCP, only Chief Iwuanyanwu had indicated interest to vie for presidency. Other politicians were hesitant to show interest because of the fear that General Sani Abacha may have the intention of becoming a civilian president using the party. In the 469-member national legislative assembly elections that took place on 25 April 1998, the UNCP won more than 70 per cent of the seats. Its closest rival, the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), won only 17 per cent of the seats. During the height of Chief Iwuanyanwu's presidential campaign, he flew on his private jet to the Republic of Chad to visit his political ally, the then Prime Minister of Chad, Koibla Djimastas. Upon his return, General Abacha considered arresting Chief Iwuanyanwu, on trumped-up allegation of plotting against his government, but Iwuanyanwu was later spared the arrest. On 21 December 1997, the government arrested top army officials including the Deputy Head of State, Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, Major General Tunji Olanrewaju, Major General Abdulkarim Adisa, and eight others for allegedly plotting to "violently" overthrow the government of General Sani Abacha. The circumstances in the country and the strain in the relationship between Iwuanyanwu and Abacha made Iwuanyanwu to step down from running for the president. Chief Iwuanyanwu made public his decision to run for senate at a UNCP meeting in Owerri on Monday, 19 January 1998. By this time, other presidential aspirants who had stepped down were Dr. Olusola Saraki and Chief Donald Etiebet. In April 1998, four of the political parties had adopted Abacha as their sole presidential candidate.
Suspecting that General Abacha was planning to detain him as he had done to Diya and others, Iwuanyanwu quickly planned a covert journey to exile. The sudden death of General Abacha on 8 June 1998 and the coming to power of General Abdulsalami Abubakar ended Iwuanyanwu's complications.
Third Attempt at Presidency