By David-Chyddy Eleke
In 2013 when Senator Ifeanyi Ubah first joined politics and contested for the governorship seat in Anambra State, this journalist was among several others who were at his home in Nnewi for a press conference.
At the time, Ubah’s oil and gas business was at its very peak, and his company, Capital Oil was regarded as one of the most successful in the sector, in the country. During the press conference, this journalist asked Ubah why he was so keen on joining politics, when he can remain in business and become an Igbo icon in business, just as Alhaji Aliko Dangote is to the north and Otumba Mike Adenugu to the west.
In reply, Ubah said politics rules the economy, and just one policy by political leaders can ruin several years of hardwork by a businessman, as such, there was need for Ndigbo to seek to have voices in the corridors of power, and that was what he set out to do by joining politics. He added: “For me, I have nothing more to prove in the business world, I have seen it all, and this is the time to go into politics, so that I can touch more lives using government policies.”
True to his words, Ubah never gave up on his dream of holding public office. Even though it was not easy, Ubah continued to work for the realization of his dream, and even though he never made it to the governorship position of Anambra State, he was able to secure a seat in the Senate, and was already a second time Senator and still pursuing his dream of becoming the governor of Anambra State, before his death.
His politics
From All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and finally to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ifeanyi Ubah bestroded the entire gamut of the Anambra and Nigerian political space like a collossus.
It didn’t matter which political party he was in, what mattered more was that he was in a particular party, and one would see a huge cache of youths and women rallying around him. The youth was one of Ubah’s card in playing political game in Nigeria. In Anambra, he used his sponsorship of various sports to galvanize young people to himself, while also using his philanthropy to rake in women into his fold.
In 2018, Ubah created history as being the only private individual to sponsor the highest number of young people to Russia for the world cup. Several youths who never dreamt of having an international passport, were sponsored to the tournament. He was passionate about sports, and this could be seen in his investment in his football club, FC Ifeanyi Ubah. His stadium, Ifeanyi Ubah International Stadium can be described as the biggest single individual-owned stadium, and he had great plans of what he wanted to do with that project.
In philanthropy, using Ifeanyi Ubah Foundation, the late Senator touched several lives in uncommon way. If there was anything that aided Ubah’s political career so very well, it is his knack for giving. He gave without looking back to check what was remaining for him, and this endeared him to the heart of so many. On several occasions, Ubah has had to break protocol to visit poor families, making donations and even building houses for families who lived in places considered to be unbefitting. He has also given out scholarships to far too many students, such that many believe that his death is one singular death that has taken away the destiny of many people.
In his Umuanuka village in Nnewi, Ubah had over 10 years ago introduced the interlocking technology for building roads. All around the community, he used interlocking stones to build roads, and had once told journalists that besides being cheaper, the use of the stones for road construction creates jobs for local people. He promised that when he became the governor of Anambra State, he would deploy the technology in a larger scale.
He also has a large beneficiary base in his neighbours in his village, where he provides electricity for all homes and businesses within Umuanuka where his house is. Beyond providing electricity for home and businesses around his area, the patronage which the huge cache of people who troop to his home everyday creates for businesses will be largely missed with his demise. On a good weekend when Ubah comes back home, his house is usually a Mecca of sort, and this provides business boom for traders in the area.
Unfulfilled dreams
In February this year, Ubah reached out to this journalist, asking that a media team be assembled for his governorship aspiration. He was later to speak to the team of journalists, declaring his intention to run for the governorship of Anambra State. It would have been the third time that he is contesting for the position if he had made it.
The governorship position was one of his dreams, which is now still born. Ubah loved Anambra, and wished for a state which would have been a mini country, running all by itself and flourishing in its businesses, without recourse to happenings in the larger Nigeria.
During one of his tours to show journalists his preparedness for the 2025 governorship contest, Ubah took journalists into a room he called his security room. The large room had over 100 television set, all showing various areas of the Nnewi metropolis. He announced to journalists gleefully, “This is the room that secures the entire Nnewi. From this room, you can see virtually every street in this town. It is because of this room that anyone who kidnaps or steals in Nnewi is captured.”
Still speaking gleefully like an inventor showing off his latest invention, Ubah asked the technicians working in the room to call up several parts of Nnewi, which he showed journalists happenings in the area in real time. And he said: “If a kidnap incident happened in a particular area, all we need to do is to come here and view the cameras and know who is involved and how to go after them.”
Ubah concluded by telling journalists that: “This thing is not rocket science, and we can do it in a larger scale in the entire Anambra State. My wish is that Anambra will become a great place where people can come to learn how to better their own state. We can do it, and if Anambra people wish for a secure and booming Anambra State, they can count on me to make it happen, if they don’t, we will leave them the way they want to be.”
Beyond his love for Anambra State, Ubah loved his Nnewi far more. It was not uncommon for Ubah to receive an award in Awka the state capital and ask all guests to retire to his home in Nnewi, an over one hour journey for entertainment, even when it was already late in the day. He loved Nnewi and did all he could to showcase it to the world. Journalists who interacted with him once joked that if he made it to the governorship seat, the seat of power would be moved to Nnewi, and many people who wished to work closely with the governor may have no option than to relocate to Nnewi.
During that meeting, Ubah who took journalists on a tour of his project, Nnewi Height. A five Storey structure that overlooks the entire Nnewi town. The structure he said would upon completion house an international television station, a garment factory, a convention centre and many others.
At his Ifeanyi Ubah Stadium, he showed a five star hotel which he was building around the gallery of the stadium. He said when completed, he intends to start up a West African Tournament, where three West African nations will come to Nnewi every three months to slug it out in a football contest. “When we do that, we would have succeeded in selling Nnewi to the entire world, and our international television station will beam it live to the world,” Ubah had declared. This was how much he loved his town.
Sadly, all these will remain a mirage as Ubah had passed away a little over a week ago in London. The real details of his death have not been told as while others are saying that he died in a hotel room while making series of calls, others said he was engaging in a workout with his son, within the hotel when he slumped and died. His death has brought untold sadness to many of his beneficiaries across Nigeria and more in his state, Anambra. In Nnewi his town, it is a different ball game as the entire town was thrown into mourning. A three day morning was declared by the traditional ruler of Nnewi, Igwe Kenneth Orizu, and even after the end of the mourning period, more than a week after, people are yet to get over his death, and the atmosphere and faces of people of the town have been moody all along. He was 52 at the time of his death.
