The former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, is dead.
Ezeife died at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, according to a short press release issued on Friday and signed by Chief Rob Ezeife, on behalf of the family.
The deceased, fondly called ‘Okwadike’, was governor of Anambra State between January 1992 and November 1993 during the aborted Third Republic.
The statement read, “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, a former governor of Anambra State, a former Political Adviser to the President and former Presidential aspirant.
“This sad event took place yesterday at 6 pm at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja.”
“More details about the deceased and the arrangements for his state burial will be announced later.”
Ezeife was born on November 20, 1938, in the Igbo-Ukwu, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.
He did not attend secondary school but taught himself through correspondence courses, qualifying for university admission.
Ezeife obtained a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University College Ibadan and then attended Harvard University on a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship where he obtained a master’s degree and then PhD degree in 1972.
He joined the civil service as an Administrative Officer and rose to the position of Permanent Secretary.
He was a school headmaster, and later a lecturer at Makarare University College in Kampala, Uganda.
He was also a teaching fellow at Harvard University, and a Consultant with Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
As a politician, he was elected governor of Anambra State on the platform of the Social Democratic Party from January 1992 to November 1993 during the aborted Third Republic.
He was a Presidential Adviser on Political Matters to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
As governor, he transferred Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Federal Polytechnic, Oko to the Federal Government, which helped ensure that they survived in the ensuing military regime.
He died on Thursday, December 14, 2023, at the age of 85.