By IKE ABONYI

I am taking this elegy on Dr Joe Nnabuchi Nwodo, the Agadagbachiruzo of Ukehe who will be committed to Mother Earth on June 5, 2021 to answer a question put to me by a young Nigerian journalist. He asked: Who is this Dr Joe Nwodo they are talking about? Given his age, in his early 30s, he was under five years when Dr Nwodo took the nation's political space by storm in 1993.

Their generation never heard of any other Nwodo outside the two brothers whose name and image have continued to create problems in news production, because of the frequent mix-up in names and pictures. Here, I mean Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, former governor of old Enugu State who was also the pioneer national secretary and former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and his junior brother, two-time federal minister of Aviation, and Information respectively and, lately, the immediate past president of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo.

Ahead of the duo, in the great Nwodo family, is their elder brother, a constitutional lawyer per excellence who rewrote the history of electioneering in Nigeria during the military-midwived Third Republic.

His political journey is intriguing and stimulating in many ways. When he wanted to be governor of old Enugu State that comprised parts of today’s Ebonyi State, he met a strong challenger in one Rev Hyde Onuaguluchi, another strong political character who roped himself in the controversy of breaking the cross, the church’s symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Nwodo was actually cruising to victory having mesmerised the electorates with his oratory and virtuosity when the military authorities banned him and Onuaguluchi.

Nwodo's campaign team in a rare fast-thinking political strategy moved to tap on his already existing goodwill with the people by drafting his hitherto apolitical brother, a medical doctor, Okwesilieze, to “his shirt let brother take.”

The rest is now history as Okwesilieze eventually became the first civilian governor of Enugu State and the first Nsukka person to occupy the position.

Dr Joe Nwodo was to return to the political space again, this time at a high pedestal, to run for the presidency of the country. He became a frontline presidential aspirant of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC).

Nwodo’s history-making in Nigerian politics became manifest when the party arrived Port Harcourt-Civic Centre venue of the national convention in 1992 for the election of the presidential standard-bearer. The few minutes given to each aspirant to address the delegates was all Dr Nwodo needed to implant himself not only in the minds of the delegates at the convention but even that of other Nigerians who had watched the master show-piece on national television. In that legendary speech, Nwodo amazed the crowd with his all-inclusive political style, filled with several punch-lines for eradicating poverty, and developing a new wealth-base in Nigeria, based on agriculture.

The impact of Nwodo’s presentation so much that when he was not picked eventually as the candidate, angry Nigerian voters revolted, dumping NRC for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the other of the two parties created then by the military.

That was how Chief Moshood Abiola, standard-bearer of the SDP defeated the Kano-born Bashir Tofa, the NRC candidate whom Nwodo was a runner-up in Port Harcourt. As a young journalist Port Harcourt then, being Nwodo’s kinsman from Nsukka, I couldn’t have been prouder in life.

The 1993 presidential election was one that ethnic, religious and geo-political interests were relegated to the background. That was catalysed by Nwodo who had used his brilliance and disarming oratory to sway the electorate.

But during the final return to democracy in 1999, Joe Nwodo had retired to his first love, law.

His health could not support his versatility as he remained in the background until March 10, 2021 when he joined his ancestors. This denied the young ones, the Internet age generation, the opportunity of knowing him.

Below is, therefore, the profile of the political iroko of the third republic.

He was born in Nsukka, Eastern Nigeria, on January19, 1944. Joe, as he is fondly called, was born into the prominent political family of Chief Dr Igwe & Mrs J U Nwodo, a former minister of works Eastern Nigeria, 1957-1958 and minister of commerce and industry, 1959-1961. He was the first male child and the second born of the family, filled with several prominent and accomplished personalities, including politicians, medical doctors, lawyers, etc.

From 1955 to 1957, Joe attended St Joseph’s School, Nsukka; St Patrick’s School, Iva Valley, Enugu and St Patrick’s School, Ogbete-Enugu, Eastern Nigeria for his primary education.

From 1958 to 1963, he attended College of the Immaculate Conception (CIC) Enugu for his secondary education and completed his O-Level with flying colours in November 1963.

Son of a Regional minister, Joe Nwodo was only 19 years old in September 1963, when he travelled to the United Kingdom for his tertiary education.

He completed his GCE, Advanced Level in economics, history and British constitution in a record three months at Woodnewton Tutorial Establishment, Hanwell Castle, Banbury, Oxfordshire in 1963. He enjoyed reading, mainly legal and political books. Mr Browne, his principal at Oxford made the following remark: “Nwodo is a very hardworking and diligent student...He is genuinely interested in world problems, both political and legal....He is also a prefect and he can be always relied on to treat people wise and firmly.” At Oxfordshire, Joe held several positions of responsibility.

After his A-Levels, Joe Nwodo moved to London and began a Bachelor of Law degree programme at the London School of Economics in September 1964. His father had wanted him to study medicine but he wanted to build on his innate literary prowess and went on to study law. He studied at the London School of Economics until 1974, completing a Bachelor of Law degree (1967), a Master of Law degree (1968) and a PhD (in 1974).

In addition to his studies, Joe Nwodo also worked in various companies in London, including the BBC, a tax office in South East London and also as a teacher at the South East London Technical College.

In 1974, Dr Nwodo returned to Nigeria, where he remained and also met his dashing bride, and they got married; they are blessed with six children and four grandchildren. His children, famously referred to as the first class squad of 6 as they all graduated with first class honours in their various disciplines, are:

Mrs Nkiruka Genevieve Wakeley-Jones, a lawyer and management consultant;
Mr Chukwuemeka Agunechibe Nwodo, software engineer and banker;
Mr Joseph Nnabuchi Nwodo (jnr), a lawyer at Dr J N Nwodo & Co Chambers;
Mrs Chinenye Nwodo Zakariyau, a lawyer;
Miss Obiageli Lorraine Nwodo, a chartered accountant (Fellow), MBA;
Dr (Miss) Odinaka Nwodo, a surgeon.

His grandchildren: Master Daniel Chinemeze Iwu, Miss Amelia Ope Zakariyu, Miss Jayden Zakariyu and Miss Adaeze Nwodo.

On return to Nigeria, Dr Nwodo established his own legal practice where he specialised in commercial law.

We was the legal adviser to several German companies, including Fichtel And Sachs AG, a leading manufacturer of motor vehicle clutches and transmission systems in Germany, and Wayss And Freytag AG, (sister company to Julius Berger AG).

He was also legal adviser to Machinery and Plant Limited. M.A.N AG - a popular German mechanical engineering group and conglomerate that specialised in the distribution of mechanical utilities in Nigeria. Through this retainership, he penetrated into the industrial heartland of Germany, as several other German companies engaged his services.

Perhaps, his most challenging legal brief was his appointment as legal adviser to a German-Austrian consortium of 17 companies that built the Aladja Steel Plant. The project was to use the most modern technology known as the middrex system to produce the steel. It was at that time the most integrated steel plant in Sub-Saharan Africa and was built at a total cost of 1.8 billion USD. For the consortium, he secured the exemption from registering a new company or companies under the Companies and Allied Matters Act. He applied and obtained expatriate quotas (i.e. work permits) to enable employees of the consortium to execute the project.

Dr. Nwodo will later on become a member of the Board of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

During his time at WRPC, he facilitated the development of several laws guiding the petroleum industry, and contributed towards resolution of several complex legal disputes.

Nwodo, popularly called Ochendo Umu-ogbenye (the protector of the poor), was intent on developing a robust agricultural programme. His legacy is summarised by his ability to create lasting memories across any social circle/demography, simply because of his love for people, particularly the poor.

He was a man of peace.

*Abonyi, a journalist, wrote from Abuja.

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