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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
His Royal Majesty, Igwe Ben Izuchukwu Emeka, is the traditional ruler of Umueri community, in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State. He is also the Chairman of New Idea Construction Company Ltd.
The Oke Ebo II of Umueri, in this interview with Saturday Sun, went down the memory lane on how he became the traditional ruler of his town, revealing that he had turned down the offer until an encounter he had in Jerusalem, Israel which made him change his mind.
He also spoke about his business life, narrating how he ventured into construction from other businesses he was doing.
Can you tell us a bit about your leadership background?
Well, how I started and how I got to this level is by God’s divine mercy because when I finished my school, I travelled to Sokoto where I was doing my business. That was in 1976. I never knew or dreamt of becoming the traditional ruler of Umueri but due to divine mercy and as God may have it, all of a sudden I decided that I will have to leave Sokoto and come down to Aba. I left Sokoto in 1999 and came down to Aba and continued with my business of caterpillar spare parts. It was when I got down to Aba that I realised that I had been wasting my time in Sokoto because the kind of business that I was doing in Sokoto was the same business I was doing in Aba and there were more business patronage in Aba than Sokoto. So from there I switched over to Port Harcourt. When I got to Port Harcourt, I started the same business as a branch, leaving the one in Aba as a main branch. As I was doing it, the business was doing very, very well. I started having investments, buildings here and there and all of a sudden, instead of the caterpillar spare parts which I was trading in, I looked at the people that usually come to buy caterpillar spare parts from me; they were into civil construction. I now said let me also diversify by venturing into equipment leasing. So, I started buying old caterpillars. When I buy them, I will use the spare parts I have in my office to repair them and start hiring or leasing them out. So, this thing became as if I was also wasting time with caterpillar spare parts; that this is where it is happening. So, I now became more serious with the caterpillar leasing and hiring. At a time I said, most of these people that are coming to hire from me, they are from construction companies; they own one construction company or the other. I now asked around, about what it costs to register a construction company; let me also own a construction company for those that own it have one head just like me. So I now ask and they told me the requirements for registering a construction company. So, I fulfilled all the obligations and now registered the New Idea Construction Company Ltd. So, that was the beginning of my growth.
So, after registering your own construction company, what happened next? How easy or difficult was it for you to secure contracts for road construction or related jobs?
After registering the New Idea Construction Company Ltd, the next thing was to start looking for work; and it was very difficult for me to get jobs because wherever I go, they will ask me for my company profile. And in profile, you have to state where and where you have worked. So, I went to Shell, it was very difficult. I went to Nigeria Agip Oil Company, it was difficult but at a time I broke the jinx. They gave me a two-kilometre job in Aga. Aga is in Rivers State. And they were paying in dual currency. They pay in naira and in dollars. So, they divided it, paid me mobilisation, partly naira, partly dollar. That was the first job I did as a construction person. So, my hiring business was still going on very, very well because people were coming to hire the machines. So, I started and began to build my profile because I now had something to present as what I had done. It didn’t take me up to one year before I finished that first job; that is, the two-kilometre road. I think it took me about six months. So, when I finished it, that became number one. Then, one time, in Imo State when Obasanjo was in power and Governor Achike Udenwa was also in power then, they were constructing Imo State Secretariat and one of the persons that they gave jobs hired my grader. So one day I travelled home to Anambra, and on my way back, I entered the place where the grader was working just to know how my operator was doing. So on getting there, I was supervising the work, then look at the governor coming. The governor knew me while he was in Port Harcourt. He was working with MCC while I was supplying them with spare parts and also leasing machines. So, he saw me and he was like ‘Ah! What are you doing here?’ I said ‘Your Excellency, I am now into construction.’ He said okay ‘are you the owner of this grader?’ I said yes. He said ‘would you be able to take any of the work in the secretariat?’ I said, ‘why not sir? So, he gave me two parking lots to construct and I finished it under record time. That became an additional profile to my company. Then immediately after I finished that one, he gave me 14 kilometres of road in Imo State. It was about N600 million then. And I was paid 30 per cent mobilisation. Money started coming in. When I looked into my account, I saw a lot of money. So, I now said, what can I do for God? I went to my place; our church was pulled down during the Umueri and Aguleri communal war. I now promised them that I would singlehandedly rebuild the church. Money was in my hand and it was still coming. So I started the church building singlehandedly. And I built it in less than one year. The then Primate, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, The Most Reverend Jasper Akinola came to my community, Umueri, and dedicated that church. To the glory of God, that church that I built later became the cathedral headquarters in my community and had its own first bishop, Rt. Revd. Prof. Nkwoka, who became the pioneer bishop in that diocese, the Diocese of Niger West with headquarters at St. Gabriel’s Anglican Church, Umueri. So, that was how it began. And remember, I was in Sokoto for 19 years; and came down to Aba. I never dreamt of becoming an Igwe.
So why did you return to Anambra? Was it because of the traditional stool of your people or something else?
The same thing that brought me down from Sokoto to Aba, took me to Port Harcourt and down to Owerri, from Owerri to Umuahia, from Umuahia back to Anambra during the time of Peter Obi as governor of Anambra State. He gave me road work. The road work was in Nsugbe. It was seven kilometres of road. So, I started working. The day Peter Obi came for inspection, he marvelled because of the kind of commitment, speed, and accuracy that I was using in doing the work. He now asked the Commissioner for Works then, Arc. Ilozumba, to give me other roads. So, he now awarded other roads to my company. Remember, this was a man that just registered a construction company and was looking for jobs; no profile. So, you can see, there are a lot of profiles now; there are a lot of stories to tell, that this is what I have done; you can go there and verify. So, I was in Anambra. It was not up to three months I came to Anambra, I was kidnapped. That was in 2012. I was released four days later after paying a ransom. So, I now said that it was an opportunity for me to come and showcase to my people, the Anambra people, the kind of business that I am doing. You know, nowadays, if you are doing a business, you are getting wealthy, and your people don’t know what you are doing, that’s also incomplete because it may look as if you’re doing yahoo yahoo or 419. So, I now said it’s an opportunity to come back to Anambra and stay. So, when he now gave me jobs; Peter Obi gave me a lot of jobs and he was paying. When he gave me jobs, he paid. I now said, ‘well there’s no need of going to the township again. Let me settle down in my place’. I now settled down in my community, Umueri. And I was doing this road construction work, shuttling between Umueri and Awka and all the places I got my sites. So, I was doing them and I was kind of relaxed. With all those developmental projects I was bringing to my people, they saw in me the only qualified and acceptable person that can be their traditional ruler. And they started pleading with me, begging me. I was begged for more than five years to become their traditional ruler. I refused. My wife refused. All my children refused; because everybody was thinking that once you become a traditional ruler, you will abandon your religious faith and people will kill you. So, they didn’t accept.
So at what point did you accept to be traditional ruler?
It was when I went for pilgrimage in Israel. We were doing morning devotion and the person conducting the morning prayers now said that he saw a crown on someone’s head. This was in faraway Jerusalem. I pretended as if I didn’t know what he was saying. I just kept quiet until he finished. The moment he finished, I followed him to his room with my wife. We went there and I said ‘reverend, you said something while you were praying; about a crown on somebody’s head. Could it be that it’s on my head that you saw that crown because by then, it was about two weeks for the sale of forms to close? So, the man said that he never wanted to embarrass me; because he didn’t know who I was. But the fact was that he saw the crown on my head. That was what changed the whole thing. Remember that for five years my people were begging me; I said no, I cannot. You people want to kill me. That was what changed the whole episode and scenario automatically. So, we now had to go back to our room and discussed. We said ‘well, if it is God, really, that showed this man that crown, let the will of God be done. So, we changed our stand. The moment we came back, people rushed and were jubilating that we had returned. Remember, it was remaining only two weeks for the sale of forms to expire. So, they now began again. I said well, something happened in Jerusalem. What I will tell you people is that I have handed it over to God, let the will of God be done; that if you want me to be your traditional ruler, you can go and purchase the form by yourself, then we see how it’s going. If it’s the will of God, everything will go seamlessly. But if it’s not the will of God, somewhere along the line something will happen, then I will withdraw. So my immediate village went and purchased the form. So, we started the process. To cut the long story short, every process of burying the first traditional ruler that died 22 years ago was completed. After about three days, there was an election that brought me in. And the crowning later took place. Then, after about three months of my crowning, the government gave me a certificate of recognition. So, that is it till today. So, I am about nine years old on the throne, going to 10 years. And I have nothing but to give God the glory because I have seen that it is the hand of God. That thing that that reverend said in Jerusalem was true; because if it were not to be true, something would have happened. But since then, the community loves me, people love me. I am ruling them without any problem and everybody is happy.
What was the experience like when you were kidnapped? And do you support calls that convicted kidnappers should get the death sentence?
Well, first and foremost, the experience was traumatic. That was in 2012. I was coming from one of my sites at Nsugbe. After the inspection, I was going. All of a sudden the Sienna that I was following at the back stopped and four men came out of the car and they were shooting. They came to the steering, because I was driving, came to the steering and took me off. I stayed for five days in their den. The experience was traumatic like I said. After the payment of ransom, they released me. I want to thank God and thank my wife. My wife tried so much to raise the ransom that they paid for me to come out. And clamouring for death sentence for kidnappers and criminals, anything that government deems necessary, that they need to do to curb this kidnapping, armed robbery and other social vices, it is well supported by me so that they can now let people know that evil is not good; bad thing is not good. Kidnapping your fellow human being and putting them under traumatic conditions is one of the worst experiences that you wouldn’t wish your enemy to have. So, I support that.
How would you rate Prof Soludo’s administration?
I have witnessed many administrations in Anambra. Let me start with Governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige. It was during his tenure that Anambra started seeing developments; seeing progress in their communities. Then after Ngige, Peter Obi came. Of course, Ngige had shown the stuff he was made of. He did a lot of jobs, quality jobs in Anambra. So, when Peter Obi came, he couldn’t have done less. He tried to surpass what Ngige had done. Peter Obi did wonderfully well. After his tenure, Obiano came. So, all these people I’m mentioning now, I worked under them as a construction company. So, Obiano came and did his best. He tried so much. In fact, each of them that come will always work to surpass what his predecessor did. We witnessed Obiano do the airport, do the International Convention Centre (ICC), did flyovers, did many roads and a lot of people were happy. And the moment he completed his tenure, the present governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, came in and I can tell you that Anambra has never seen it so good like we are seeing it now in the reign of Chukwuma Soludo, Oluatuegwu, Odenigbo Aguata. The man is a visionary leader, he knows what he wants to get and he goes straight for that and he’s been doing wonderfully well. Where will I start, is it the area of road construction? Is it in the area of health? Is it in the area of human capital development? Is it in the area of commerce and industry? And the most applauding thing he has done is looking at the internally generated revenue of Anambra. Because of his background in economics, he was able to block all the loopholes. Today in Anambra, if you want to pay any revenue to the government, you don’t pay cash to anybody. You pay through the bank and that is helping him, sustaining him to be doing all the work he is doing. I can tell you that an average Nigerian wouldn’t want to pay tax because they don’t believe that the government is working. But here in Anambra, because the people are seeing what Soludo is doing, everybody is eager to pay tax. People who never wanted to pay tax are now coming out to pay tax. So, I want to thank God for giving us Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. And I want to thank Soludo for the wonderful work he is doing in Anambra. If the first tenure has produced a lot of developmental projects, our expectation is that this second tenure will be better than the first because the man is on ground.
Can you tell us about your vision and future plans for your community?
My plan and vision for my community is that my community, which is already better than what it was when I became the traditional ruler in 2017, will continue to improve in all areas of development. A lot of developments have come into my community. It was during my reign that the government of Obiano built the Anambra International Passenger and Cargo Airport now Chinua Achebe International Passenger and Cargo Airport, Umueri. That is one of the developments. Then, before 2017, my community never had an asphaltic road but today, we have over 15 kilometres of asphaltic road in Umueri. And the road leading to the airport from Umueri side, the governor had promised to do that road this March. So, it is expected that that road construction he promised my people will take place. So, my vision for my people is that Umueri will be better than it was before I became the traditional ruler and more and more developmental projects will come in. And most importantly, my desire is that there will be peace among Umueri people and among other neighbouring communities like Aguleri, Umuoba Anam, Nsugbe, Nteje, Nando. These are the communities that surround Umueri; that we shall live in peace and harmony to enjoy all the developmental projects that will be coming to our area.
Under your leadership, we would like to know what your achievements have been so far.
Well, like I said, these 15 kilometres I mentioned were built by the government but they were not just built by the government; it was somebody that facilitated it; somebody that worked with the government before those roads were awarded and it was under my reign. And it was also my company, New Idea Construction Company, that they gave those roads. Some other persons would have been given the job and it will not be done until that administration ends. But I did my own; less than one year I completed it. That is one. Then, I have also built, singlehandedly, about 1.2 kilometres of road and donated to my people. It was the same governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who came to commission the road. And it was during the commissioning that he promised my people that he was going to construct the road that leads to the airport from Umueri. So, these are the achievements. I have built a hospital for my people; built a recreational centre, five classroom blocks for the children. So, there are so many things I have done but I don’t need to blow my trumpet. It is because you asked. Otherwise, I wouldn’t mention it.
Is there any project you are handling now that you would want the government to support or to partner with you?
I am building a very gigantic hostel for Virgin Mary Convent in Umueri. The deck will be completed and I am not asking the government to come and help me. I am saying that when I finish building it and equipping it, because it is not just to build an empty building and donate to the school, I would like to equip it with modern gadgets for the learning of the children. When I finish, I will call the government to come and commission it. And they will add it among other things I have done. And I want to call on the people of Anambra, the people of my community who are well to do, to find one thing or the other to do for Umueri community and to do for Anambra State and not what Umueri or Anambra will do for them.
