*Pix below: Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu
President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, the South-East Socio-cultural group, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu is dead.
Iwuanyanwu was said to have died a few minutes after 11 am on Thursday, July 25, 2025, in Imo State.
A top member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance confirmed his death to our reporter.
Iwuanyawu, a business mogul and Chairman of the Champion Newspapers took over the reign of Ohaneze leadership from Amb George Obiozor, who also died, while serving in that capacity.
Iwuanyawu was a one-time Presidential candidate of a political party and contested the Presidential ticket of NRC and lost to the late Alhaji Bashir Tofa.
Confirming the development, Jude Iwuanyanwu, the son of the late Chief said the 82-year-old Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday after a brief illness.
“The Iwuanyanwu family of Umuohii Atta, in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, announces the demise of our patriarch, Engr Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu-Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo,” the statement read.
“Chief Iwuanyanwu died on Thursday, July 25, 2024, after a brief illness. He was aged 82. Chief Iwuanyanwu before his death was President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and President of Owerri Peoples Assembly.
“The late Iwuanyawu is from Nkeduru in Imo State,” the statement said.
*Ten things to know about Iwuanyanwu:
1. Iwuanyanwu died when preparation was on for his 82nd birthday in less than two months’ time.
2. He was a frontline businessman who ventured into vast array of businesses, including civil engineering and publishing before picking interest in politics.
3. He started publishing very colorful Champion Newspaper when majority of Nigerian newspapers were in utter black and white exposition.
4. Iwuanyanwu died when preparation was on for his 82nd birthday in less than two months’ time.
5. He hailed from Umuohii Atta, in Ikeduru Local Governmevnt Area of Imo State.
6. He contested the Presidential ticket of NRC and lost to the late Alhaji Bashir Tofa, in the widely publicized June 12, 1993 general election in which the late MKO Abiola purportedly won.
7. He held the traditional title of Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo and was the President of Owerri Peoples Assembly.
8. He established a frontline football team that performed excellently well in Nigerian Premier League, the Iwuanyanwu National.
9. He later became the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldide and vowed to transform it to a frontline socio-economic and political organization for the betterment of the entire Igbo race.
10. Iwuanyanwu, like his immediate predecessor, Amb George Obiozor, died in office of the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo when he was being looked onto for transformation of the socio-cultural group./ ###
