Obi, Okafor: Vision Beyond Politics

Mr Peter Obi and Chief Ikenna Okafor

David-ChyddyEleke reports that Presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi and the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Keves Global Leasing, Chief Ikenna Okafor, are two brothers from Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State that have embarked on a silent revolution in the educational sector.

Ex-presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi and Chief Executive Officer of Keves Global Leasing, Chief Ikenna Okafor, have for sometime  embarked on philanthropic journey. What is heartwarming about it is how seriously they take this task, and how much they are achieving, even though silently, not minding that none of them is currently holding any political office, or running for one.

Early this year, there was a report that Mr Peter Obi had given out over N1.5billion in philanthropy in the previous year (2024). These funds were mostly donated to supporting health education. Mostly to Colleges of Nursing Sciences, Schools of Midwifery and University Teaching Hospitals.

Responding to a journalist’s question about his decision to commit over N1.5billion to humanitarian causes in 2024, during a visit to the Anglican Bishop of Nnewi, Rt. Rev. Ndubisi Obi, Obi stressed that his acts of giving are not about self-promotion but are driven by a genuine concern for humanity.

Obi explained that his philanthropy is motivated by the visible impact of such efforts and the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to people’s lives.

He said: “Even before my public life, I have always derived satisfaction from contributing to worthy causes that uplift humanity. For instance, I was in Haiti after the earthquake, where I contributed to its rebuilding. Similarly, even before I became Governor, I had extended help to places in need according to my capacity. When you witness such dedication to humanity, it is impossible not to contribute – not for personal recognition, but for the sake of humanity,” Obi remarked.

When asked if his philanthropy was an attempt to bolster his public image, Obi dismissed the notion, stating that giving back to society is his way of fulfilling not only his moral and spiritual obligations but also his duty to the society that nurtured him. He affirmed his commitment to continuing these efforts as long as God grants him the resources to do so.

This year alone, Obi has criss crossed the length and breadth of Nigeria, visiting over 50 health colleges, donating his hard earned money for the upgrade of facilities in such places. For each of the institutions he visited, he gave between N10million and N20 million each. The interventions are usually either after the management of such colleges complained about funds for generating plants, upgrade of students hostels, accreditation of new courses and so on and so forth.

What is amazing is that he is doing this, not in anticipation of any favour. He openly told management and students of the colleges he visited that he is not seeking any favour from him. He insisted that he stopped his visit during the 2023 election, so that it won’t seem as if he was engaging in such philanthropy for votes to boost his 2023 presidential bid. He only commenced again in 2024 after the election, and what was intriguing was that for some colleges, he issued double cheques, insisting that the first was one he wrote a year ago for the college, but couldn’t make it because of the election the previous year.

Signs that Obi isn’t in the philanthropy for any gains came during a visit to Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing and Midwifery, Ihiala, Anambra State in early November, when the management of the college, announced in excitement after receiving N15million cheque from Obi that it would name its new administrative building after him.

The Administrator of the College, Rev Fr ChidiebereUghaerumba said: “Considering your continued support to us, when the school’s administrative building (a five-floor edifice) is completed, we will name it after you. We thank you for always coming and always donating. You are always interested in helping to build humanity.”

When Obi protested the decision through a strong wave of both hands, Ughaerumba adjusted and went further: “Then we may have to consider naming it after your wife, but we need to appreciate what you have been doing here.”

This time, seeing that the management had made up its mind, Obi seized the microphone and protested the decision, saying it wasn’t right to name a building after him or his family, when he was only working to help humanity within his own conviction.

He said: “I’m against such plans. When I was governor, every community wanted to give me a chieftaincy title, but I rejected. Even the school where I passed through wanted to honour me with a honourary doctorate title. I was also given a national award and I said that would be after being governor. Even local government chairmen wanted to name a street against my name, but I said no. Any day I want to be addressed as doctor, I will go and read for a PhD. Whatever I need, God has always given me, so if there is anything one wants to give me as favour, I suggest you look for anyone who wants it and give it to them. This week alone I have been to five schools, and I have donated between N5million and N15million each. I can use the money I am giving to buy a new car for myself or throw a party, but I think it is better to use it to support you. It is an unpurposeful life for me if I use this money to throw a party, while a school in the somewhere needs just N10 million to buy a generating set.” that is vintage Obi for you.

If you think Obi is doing this because he has ambition to run for office in 2027, then you need to think of another silent revolutionary individual; Obi’s brother from same Anaocha in Anambra who has never held any political office and has no intention to hold one either. He is Chief Ikenna Okafor, a knight of the Catholic Church, a titled Chief from Akwaeze community, with the traditional title of Ide Akwaeze, who is the founder of Idi EzeaniNzekwuabuo Foundation.

Okafor is known for massive philanthropy and has the strong belief that every privileged person should help others to rise. Beyond his philanthropic gestures in other areas of life, his endeavours in helping educational institutions stand out. Like Obi, Okafor believes that education is the bedrock of success, and advocates strongly for good and sound educational sector in Nigeria.

From Port Harcourt in Rivers State where his companies are headquartered to Anambra where he hails, there are visible signatures of Okafor’s works in schools across.

For Chief Okafor, this is a man who is a strong lover of education and believes that his rise in life is as a result of the opportunity offered him because of the education he acquired through the sponsorship of his father. For that reason, Ide Akwaeze has an unspoken vow to not only develop schools in his community, but ensure that children in his community, Akwaeze and other neighbouring communities get the opportunity of not just going to school, but studying in comfortable environment. For this, he has several schools within his community and others which he has adopted, refurbished with state of the art facilities, and also taking up the scholarship of students in the schools.

A good example of this is his adoption of Community High School, Akwaeze. Last year December, Ide Akwaeze handed over a newly built administrative block, classroom blocks, refectory block and kitchen block to the school. As at the time, Idi EzeaniNzekwuabuo Foundation had over 60 students on its scholarship from the same school, just as it has 50 others in a primary school in the community, and 40 in various tertiary institutions across Nigeria, with several others giving testimonies of being graduates through the gesture of the foundation.

During the event: he said: “I’m intentional about what I want to do for this community, and we have started with education, health and agriculture. What my father gave me, which helped my foundation to this day was education. I want to do same for every child born in this community. We started by ensuring the community secondary school is up to date, so far, we spent N650million to donate three buildings and equipping them, and it’s is looking like a university today.

“We have also given scholarships to students of all cadre, and this year we added a medical mission. When we have education, good health and can meet our food needs, I wonder what else we should be asking for. We want to be the big shoulder that people in this community can lean on when they need succour.”

In the previous year, Ide Akwaeze had crossed over to Akpo community in Orumba South LGA, donating a multimillion-naira laboratory and ICT complex to St. Dominic Savio Seminary, Akpo, a faith-based institution. The complex was named Ide Akwaeze Laboratories and ICT Complex and handed over to the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia, His Eminence Peter Ebere Cardinal Okpaleke.

His donations are not only to secondary schools, as he has been known to donate to tertiary institutions, countless times.

Ide Akwaeze in 2023 performed the foundation laying ceremony of the UNIZIK Business School (UBS) ultra-modern building providing N100million for the take-off of the building, which has already been completed. He is also a pillar of Peter University, Onne/Achina in Anambra State, which is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Awka.

Like Obi, Ide Akwaeze; a successful businessman, technocrat, and entrepreneur, Managing Director and CEO of Keves Global Leasing Limited, Keves Inn and Suites, and Arthur Services Limited, among others, education is the key to success.

And just as Bishop Jonas-Benson Okoye, the Catholic Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, said during Obi’s cheque donation to his school; Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing Sciences, Ihiala, what Obi is sowing today in healthcare education will be massive when it germinates in the future. So too did his counterpart, Bishop PaulinusEzeokafor of the Awka Catholic Diocese echo at Akwaeze while receiving four gigantic buildings from Idi EzeaniNzekwuabuo Foundation, saying that the result of Ide Akwaeze’s contributions to education in the community and everywhere else will be massive.