By Emeka Obasi
Amaigbo once again hit global news headlines with the appointment of Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu as Assistant Director- General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is the same Amaigbo of Dick Tiger Ihetu and King Jaja of Opobo.
Ihekweazu, 50, is a tested Epidemiologist who was recognised at home as Director General National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and called to serve after distinguishing himself in Germany, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
He comes from a loaded background as his mother, Professor Edith Ihekweazu was the first female Professor of Languages at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. She was also the first female Dean, Faculty of Arts at the same institution.
His Doctor dad was in Germany during the Nigerian Civil War but hurried home at the end of the crisis to help rebuild the East. His German wife was glad to live in Nsukka. She made the hilly town a second home. Unfortunately, she died in a car crash on her way back to the same Nsukka after an official assignment.
Chikwe grew up in Nigeria and has remained a home boy ever since. From the Federal Government College, Enugu he walked into the Medical School of UNN. While he worked in Germany, his maternal home, his heart was beating Nigeria.
The young man proved himself in the United Kingdom. He sure knows how to demystify diseases. When Cornwall was plagued by Escherichia Coli, Chikwe discovered that children who suffered from it were those who had contact with cow dung in the river.
The Brits did not feel so comfortable with him before that. Chikwe was prepared for such doubts. It did not take him long to show that someone from King Jaja’s town could affect the United Kingdom positively as a free man.
The doctor apparently remembered that an Amaigbo man had lived in Liverpool and reigned as Commonwealth boxing champion. In 1958,Richard Ihetu, better known as Dick Tiger, defeated Pat McAteer in Birkinhead to win the Commonwealth Middleweight boxing title.
Another Amaigbo son, Celestine Babayaro Iwuoha had played good football and won trophies playing for Chelsea in the English Premiership. He also moved to Newcastle United from Stamford Bridge.
Dr. Ihekweazu is not a politician and credit should for once go to President Muhammadu Buhari for rewarding merit. Although the NCDC was set up in 2011, it was not until 2018 that the bill for an act establishing it was passed into law by the National Assembly and signed by Mr. President.
The Ihekweazu family can also play politics. Chikwe’s uncle, Chief Simeon ( SMC) Ihekweazu was a member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic. He was a lawyer and policeman. The nephew did not apply that.
Chikwe had eyes on Nigeria and was recognised by Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin in his years as Health minister. Buhari went a step further by giving the Amaigbo man the NCDC job.
It is celebrations galore in Amaigbo. The people claim that Ndigbo dispersed from there. To them, Ihekweazu’s new job further confirms that dispersal. And they expect him to affect the world in a big way.
The people may be right. The man we all know today as King Jaja of Opobo was born as Mbanaso, son of Duruoshimiri Ozurumba. He was sent to pluck pumpkin leaves in their Umuduruoha village, Amaigbo when two young men abducted him.
Mbanaso was just 12 years old. His abductors took him to Ohambele( the hometown of former Senate President Adolphus Wabara). He was sold into slavery and spent quite some time there before moving to Bonny. That was a blessing in disguise.
Mbanaso, by dint of hardwork rose to prominence in Bonny and when dispute arose between two ruling houses, he simply walked away to found Opobo in 1869. The former slave boy became King Jaja of Opobo and a powerful trader.
British Imperialism was not going to stomach any rivalry in their trade with the hinterland. Jaja was wise and also wanted some concessions in the nascent international trade. Trouble arose and with superior fire power, the African King was caged.
Dick Tiger flew to the the US from Britain and did not stay long before becoming a world Middleweight champion in 1962. He also climbed to the Light heavy weight in 1966 and won the title. The first African to hold two global titles.
Celestine Babayaro and his brother Emmanuel, won Olympic Games soccer gold at Atlanta ’96. It was in the same US that Walter Ofonagoro, a former Information minister found an Indian wife from Mumbai and brought her back to Amaigbo.
Ihekweazu is following the footsteps of Prof. Adeoye Lambo, who was Deputy Director- General of WHO. He also has something with Dick Tiger. The year the boxer died, 1971, the doctor was born. Exactly 13 years after Dick Tiger’s wife, Abigail departed, Ihekweazu got this new job.
The post Ihekweazu, Dick Tiger and Jaja appeared first on Vanguard News.
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