Abdulaziz Chibuzor Ude, wealthy businessman and former acting chairman of the board of directors of Newswatch, is dead. He died at the age of 80 an
Abdulaziz Chibuzor Ude, wealthy businessman and former acting chairman of the board of directors of Newswatch, is dead.
He died at the age of 80 and would have been 81 in about two weeks time.
The elder statesman reportedly died on Thursday in Lagos and has been buried in his hometown of Abor, Udi LGA of Enugu State in line with Islamic rites.
Christened Bertrand at an early age Ude became the first senior prefect of the College of Immaculate Conception (CIC), Enugu.
He attended Oxford University where he read philosophy, economics and politics before proceeding to Columbia University in New York where he took a master’s degree in international relations.
Ude caught public attention when, while working as an editor at Random House in New York, the world’s biggest book publishing firm, he published Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart, in the United States during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70.
Unknown to most people because of his self-effacing nature, Chief Ude contributed significantly to the creation of Anambra, Enugu, Delta and Ebonyi states.
Apart from being one of the signatories to the petition for the creation of these states to the Ibrahim Babangida military regime, he donated not just cash but also his private jet to transport Igbo patriots like Dr Alex Ekwueme, Chike Edozie, Dr Akanu Ibiam, Chief CC Onoh and Dr Okadigbo to different cities who signed the petition.
He also donated part of his building at 59 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, to coordinate the campaign for the creation of Igbo states and paid the staff.
Ude’s Nok book publishing firm in Enugu, New York, London and Lagos, published such outstanding works as Chinweizu’s The West and the Rest of Us and Romanus Egudu’s Study of Four West Africans. He was, indeed, a pan Africanist of the finest hue.
Even after converting to Islam, a result of his deep friendship with founding Guinean President Sekou Toure, a pan Africanist in his own right, Ude remained a big contributor to the welfare of priests and the church in his community.
Talk of old money and Ude’s name finds a pride of place. He it was who late highlife maestro, Chief Oliver De Coque eulogized in some of his tracks particularly Biri Ka Mbiri.
A renowned philanthropist, Ude held chieftaincy titles such as Ebube Ndi Muslim of Igbo Land, Boroji of Lagos, Bowashuwa of Ikorodu.
Ude was renowned for hosting high end, end-of-year parties in his Mekuwen home, off Queens Drive, Ikoyi and in his Abor, Udi residence.
His office on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi always teemed with all kinds of people asking for assistance to revive their failed businesses, scale up their businesses, pay school fees, sort out accommodation challenges and pay rents.
He was the brain behind companies like Tanhigh Holdings Ltd, Tanhigh Finance Ltd, 150 Estates Nigeria Ltd, Trans-Sahel Airlines Ltd etc, Alhaji Ude led from the frontline. He played a founding role in the African Business Roundtable and the African Development Bank.
