The renowned economist was said to have died in Abuja on Thursday, December 14, after battling an undisclosed illness.

Here are 12 things to know about former Anambra governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife

1. Ezeife was born at Igbo-Ukwu, Anambra state on November 20, 1937.

2. He was 84.

3. He did not attend secondary school, but taught himself through correspondence courses, qualifying for university admission.

4. He gained a BSc in Economics from the University College Ibadan and then attended Harvard University on a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship where he obtained a Masters and then a PhD degree in 1972.

5. He became a School Headmaster, a lecturer at Makarare University College, Kampala, Uganda, a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, and a Consultant with Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

6. Ezeife joined the civil service as an Administrative Officer and rose to the position of Permanent Secretary.

7. Ezeife was elected governor of Anambra State on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) platform, holding office from 2 January 1992 to 17 November 1993, when General Sani Abacha took power after a military coup.

8. He transferred Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Federal Polytechnic, Oko to the federal government, which helped ensure that they survived in the ensuing military regime.

9. During the Nigerian Fourth Republic Ezeife, who described himself as a social democrat, was appointed presidential Adviser on Political Matters to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

10. In February 2006 the Federal Capital Development Authority bulldozed his house in Abuja because the plot of land and those of adjacent houses had been acquired improperly.

11. In January 2010 he was among thousands who demonstrated in Awka calling for credible and violence-free governorship elections on February 6.

12. In April 2010 one of Ezeife’s wives, Onyedi, was kidnapped by hoodlums who had earlier killed four policemen. The kidnappers demanded a high ransom. (The Nation)

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