Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe (1915–1990) was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

nationalist, politician, statesman and government minister in the

Nigerian First Republic The First Republic was the republican government of Nigeria between 1963 and 1966 governed by the first republican constitution. The country's government was based on a federal form of the Westminster system. The period between 1 October 1960 ...

.and a Biafran Roving ambassador during th civil war.

Early life

Mbadiwe was born to the family of Mbadiwe Odum from Arondizuogu then under then Orlu division of present-day Imo State. His uncle,

Igwegbe Odum Eze Igwegbe Odum (sometimes called Chief Igwebe Odum) was an Aro Igbo politician born in the Nigerian town of Mbaukwu in present-day Awka South LGA in Anambra state. Igwegbe Odum, was not Aro by origin, but a migrant like many settlers in Arondiz ...

, was a warrant chief in the colonial era.

Education

He started primary education at St Mary's Catholic School, Port Harcourt, and finished it at a government school in Aba. He then attended the

Hope Waddell Training Institute The Hope Waddell Training Institution (HOWAD) is a school in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria founded by missionaries from the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1895. It is named after the Reverend Hope Masterton Waddell. Establishmen ...

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and c ...

, Aggrey Memorial College,

Arochukwu Arochukwu Local Government Area, sometimes referred to as Arochuku or Aro Oke-Igbo, is the third largest local government area in Abia State (after Aba and Umuahia) in southeastern Nigeria and homeland of the Igbo subgroup, Aro people. It is ...

, Igbobi College, Lagos and the Baptist Academy, Lagos. At Baptist Academy,

Samuel Akintola Chief Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá, otherwise known as ''S.L.A.'' (6 July 1910 – 15 January 1966), was a Yoruba politician, aristocrat , orator, and a Yoruba Lawyer. He was one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria, he served as O ...

and E.E. Esau were staff members, while some of his schoolmates at Igbobi were

Taslim Elias Taslim Olawale Elias (11 November 1914 – 14 August 1991) was a Nigerian jurist who served as minister of Justice and attorney-general of Nigeria from 1960 to 1966, Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1972 to 1975 and president of the International ...

, Horatio Thomas and Justice F.O. Coker. After his secondary education, he dabbled into trading by establishing Mbadiwe Produce Association in 1937. He left Nigeria to study at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

for a number of years. While in America, he helped to establish an African student's association, through which he gained the attention of the U.S. First Lady

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

, who received him and his organization in the White House.

Career

After returning from the U.S., he started another business and established a research institute on African Arts. He soon entered the Nigerian political scene and joined the

National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) later changed to the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, was a Nigerian nationalist political party from 1944 to 1966, during the period leading up to independence and immediately ...

. In 1951, he was elected into the Eastern Region House of Assembly. He was re-elected in 1954, and made minister for Lands and National Resources shortly thereafter. In 1957, he was made the Minister for Commerce. However, his political success was to undergo a great challenge when in mid-1958, he and Kola Balogun attempted to remove Dr.

Nnamdi Azikiwe Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as "Zik", was a Nigerian statesman and political leader who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966. Considered a driving force behind the ...

as the leader of

(NCNC). Mbadiwe set up his own newspaper, ''The Daily Telegraph'', as an organ of protest. He later re-joined the party and was appointed Minister for Trade and Communications and also served as a special adviser to the Prime Minister, advising on African affairs.After the succession of The Eastern Region he was Appointed as a Roving Ambassador by the Biafran president Odumegwu Ojukwu and held this post till the end of the civil war.

Personal life

Seeing the world in black & white, p16, Linus T. Ogbuji, Africa World Press, 2007
, 9781592214860 Mbadiwe had six children namely Betty, Greg, Paul, Chris, George, and Francis. His brother, James Green Mbadiwe was a businessman conducting on his account in the Northern Region, he owned the now defunct Green's Hotel on Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna built in 1939 and commissioned by Azikiwe. The property later became a shopping center, J. Green Mbadiwe died in 1980. He built and inhabited the landmark residence, The Palace of The People, at Ndianiche Uno. It was commissioned by Prime Minister Sir

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) was a Nigerian politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Nigeria upon independence. Early life Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was born in December 1912 in modern-day ...

in 1965.

Early life

Education

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading