Iwuanyanwu: Legacy of achievements amid controversy, confusion

The late Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu, Ahiaejiagamba of Ndigbo, was a man of great accomplishments. Yet, this greatness was achieved not without crisis, controversy, confusion, and trouble. Every one of his profound feats – and it was in multiple numbers – came almost with the same number of controversies. 

Remarkably, what engraved Iwuanyanwu’s name on the national and global map was his Iwuanyanwu Nationale Football Club of Owners which came into being in December 1985. But that, Iwuanyanwu had established himself as a man of immense greatness following his tremendous success with construction giants, Hadel and Enic.

Iwuanyanwu Nationale, managed by the duo of Prince Lemmy Akakem and the late Uche Ejimofor, recorded amazing, heroic, and historic feats while they lasted. Within the first three years of its formation, the Owerri-based side, in 1988, lifted both the Premier League and Federation Cup titles as well as played in the final of the then elusive CAF Champions League final where it lost to Setif of Algeria.

Also, Nationale represented Nigeria in the 1988 Pre-Olympic Soccer Championship in Seoul. At the height of their glory and reign, Iwuanyanwu Nationale produced a galaxy of fantastic footballers who contributed to the development of the national team, Super Eagles. Some of them included Kanu Nwankwo, Okey Uche, Ben Iroha, Mobi Oparaku, Thompson Oliha, Law Ukaegbu,  and a few others.

As it turned out to be, Iwuanyanwu Nationale was a team shrouded in secrecy. The team was later buffeted by a couple of crises. “Let me ask you, at the time of taking over Spartans which were a state-owned team in 1985, how much did Chief pay to the Imo State Government? I can tell you that he got the team for nothing and converted it to his personal property as it ceased to be known as Spartans to be addressed as Iwuanyanwu Nationale.

“As a team, Iwuanyanwu Nationale attained great accomplishments even as they were huge image makers for the state and South East as a region. I am also aware of the huge empowerment the team played in terms of employment. However, I am saying that Iwuanyanwu got the team for nothing as I was aware that no kobo was remitted into the Imo State coffers before or after he took over the team. We asked questions but never got any answers to that effect”, Ogenaka Ibeabughichi, a sports enthusiast submitted.

It was not only the takeover crisis that hit Iwuanyanwu Nationale. In 1987, it was revealed that all the proprietors of the privately owned teams in the country, including Abiola Babes of Abeokuta, Flash Flamingos of Benin, Leventis United of Ibadan, Stationery Stores of Lagos and a few others, had agreed to boycott the 1988 football season by pulling their teams out of all the competitions in the country. It was Iwuanyanwu who reneged on that agreement. It caused confusion and controversy in the 1988 league season in the country so much so that other regions nicknamed the Igbo as betrayals.

Again, after 1998, there were insinuations that the Imo State Government under the headship of Governor Achike Udenwa, was picking the bills of Nationale, not Iwuanyanwu, the proprietor. “That act almost derailed the state’s vault as Udenwa never bargained for it. However, after a few years, Udenwa renamed the team Heartland FC and that was how Iwuanyanwu Nationale ceased to exist”, Ogenaka submitted.

It is on record that Iwuanyanwu contributed generously to the construction of the Sam Mbakwe International Airport, Owerri. He established the Champion newspapers that crusaded and fought for the reintegration of the Igbo into the socioeconomic and political mainstream of Nigeria. At a time when it appeared as if Ndigbo could not aspire for the presidency of Nigeria, Iwuanyanwu embraced that challenge.

Despite all these huge contributions, Iwuanyanwu was still being accused of being a part of the reason the South East is marginalized by successive governments in the country. According to Nwachukwu Obinnaya, it was a great man with a questionable pedigree. He said, “Let us face the fact. Iwuanyanwu was a great man. He was fantastic for Ndigbo particularly people from his Imo State. However, I can tell you that he was a great man with a questionable pedigree.

“This is what I mean. Iwuanyanwu was General Ibrahim Babangida’s right hand man. He was the late General Sani Abacha’s Man Friday. And he was equally too close to the late Ernest Shonekan. Can you point out to me what he leveraged on those relationships to bring to the South East?

“Please, don’t misunderstand me. Look at it again from this angle. Iwuanyanwu was the board chairman of FERMA, that is, the federal agency in charge of the maintenance of federal roads. Between 1990 and 2010, that is, two decades, all the federal roads in the South East were embarrassingly impassable. Where was Iwuanyanwu? I want you to mention one federal road that Iwuanyanwu used his contact or connection to attract for its reconstruction. Remember, I am not attacking the dead. I am only stating the facts and the obvious. I have established the fact that he was a great man who did beautiful jobs for his people. However, I want you to also understand that beyond that immaculate posturing was an odious spot”.

Probably, the viewpoint of Okechukwu Johnson may go down well with the majority of the South East people. According to him, “My point against Iwuanyanwu was his ever-readiness to join forces with any government in power which is commonly referred to as AGIP. At the national level, Iwuanyanwu never saw any reason to disagree with IBB. He agreed with Abacha and worked harmoniously with Shonekan, General Abdul Salami Abubakar, and President Olusegun Obasanjo. In spite of President Muhammad Buhari’s anti-Igbo policies and politics, Iwuanyanwu never for one day condemned or cautioned him.

“And, in Imo State, Iwuanyanwu was very comfortable with virtually all the governors that have turned Imo into bust bins and graveyards. They dinned and winned with them rather than calling them to order thereby providing a technical direction”.

The journalists in Imo State would tell you that Iwuanyanwu was a very difficult person to interview. Somebody who spoke on the grounds of anonymity stated that Iwuanyanwu would support the Biafra agitation for the reason that Ndigbo have for so long been marginalized. When the story item hits the newspaper stands the following morning, he would deny it.

Even in death, Iwuanyanwu still courted controversy. Unsubstantiated reports had it that Iwuanyanwu died due to the failure of security agencies in Abuja correctional center where Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was held, to provide him with a taxi to lift him from the gate to the spot where MNK was. He was told that vehicular moments were not allowed beyond the main gate’s vicinity. He trekked and never lived to tell the story. But, many of Iwuanyanwu’s close associates dismissed this story as “fake news”.

They equally highlighted that though Iwuanyanwu was not a saint, insisting he did his best given the circumstances he faced at any particular time in his business, political, and social life