A Nigerian born businessman who rose from the deep to the peak.
HRM. EZE AMB. DR. CHUKWUDI IHENETU (Eze Ohazurume 1) Eze Ndigbo Ghana is a true blood of Ozurumba family of Amaigbo in Nwangele LGA, Imo State in Nigeria. His Majesty, the late Great king Jaja of Opobo was immediate elder brother to his great grandfather, Ezeala Okwara Ozurumba. Royalty greatness in leadership run in his bloodline.
EARLY BACKGROUND
Eze Dr. Ambassador Chukwudi Jude Ihenetu Eze-ohazurume 1, the Eze-Igbo of Ghana. He, like his other eight siblings that are children of his parents Late Nze Emmanuel and Lolo Eugenia Ihenetu, had a humble background.
His father was a primary school teacher, late now and so, there were difficulties giving him and his siblings’ quality life and advanced education given his father’s meager salary. Hence, while in school back in Nigeria, Chukwudi indulged in trading, as a typical young Igbo man. Thence did he develop his business and entrepreneurial skills.
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In 1995, Chukwudi began his international business exploit to Ghana. He started by moving goods like auto spare parts and other related ones from Nigeria to Ghana where he would sell and return to Nigeria after a few days. After a while, he decided to settle in Ghana following the counsel of some business tycoon he had come across and consulted with.
Since then, Chukwudi moved from moving goods in small scales from Nigeria to Ghana to importing in larger quantity directly into Ghana.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT: CONGLOMERATE OF COMPANIES
HRM Amb Dr Chuwudi Jude Iheanetu now owns a conglomerate of companies collectively called “CHI-BERT GROUP OF COMPANIES”, a name, which he coiled from his name and that of his amiable wife.
Under Chi-bert Group Companies Are:
Chi-bert Transport.
Chi-bert Mother Care,
Chi-bert Farms,
Chi-bert Aluminum
West Coast Entertainment.
Chi-bert Oil West Africa.
Spakwest.
Towers and High tension
This last group deals in Telecommunication.
Through these conglomerate of companies, he has provided a lot of jobs for the teaming number of youths particularlly Nigerians both those living in and outside Ghana.
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HIS VIRTUE AND CHARISMA
HRM, Ambassador Dr Chukwudi Jude Ihenetu is a complete gentle man whose guiding mantra is ‘trust’, whether it in his personal life or business life. This rare virtue leaves many people with much to wonder. Some others, however, attribute his possession of such rare virtues to the fact that he is a royal, from the lineage of the historical great king Jaja of Opobo.
He is married to an amiable wife, Ugoeze Liberty Chukwudi Ihenetu, a woman he eulogizes as the backbone of his success. They have five admirable, lovely and promising kids.
(1) Princess Angel Ogechi Ihenetu
(2) Princess Emmanuella Chioma Ihenetu
(3) Prince Jude Chinameze Ihenetu
(4) Princess Michelle Onyinyechi Ihenetu
(5) Prince Michael Onyedikachukwu Ihenetu
He empowers young Nigerians by giving them goods to sell and they pay him afterwards. They make profit from the sale of the goods and make profits for themselves.
Furthermore, HRM, Eze Dr Chukwudi recognizes the importance of thrones, not only to the Igbo people but to all Africans, stressing that even the modern government structures emanate from traditional thrones. The president comes from a village and that village must have village leaders by way of kings and chiefs and so on. He said that governments go and come, but the traditional thrones hardly change.
HIS ROYAL CALL BY DIVINE & HUMAN
The exceptional good virtues of Ambassador Chukwudi, coupled with the kind gestures that he exhibits towards Nigerians living here in Ghana paved the way to the throne for him. Little did he know that his good deeds were being noticed and recognized by God and his fellow Nigerians living in Ghana.
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Consequently, he was singled out and approached by his people, including some prominent Nigerians outside Ghana, like His Excellency, Rochas Okorocha, the Executive Governor of Imo state then and others, to become the king of his people in the foreign land.
He was hesitant at first, but following the pressure that mounted, he submitted himself to the service of his people in Ghana
Hence, Dr Ihenetu was crowned the Eze-Igbo on 30th August, 2012 at his East Legon Accra residence by President of Presidents of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo in Diaspora, Chief (Sir) Oliver Akubueze amid great fanfare.
THE NUMEROUS ACHIEVEMENTS OF HIS REIGN AS EZE IGBO IN GHANA
Since his coronation as HRM, Eze-Igbo Ghana, he has recorded many remarkable achievements.
1. He has used his throne to unite particularly the people of Igbo extraction and by extension, all the Nigerian people living in Ghana. Some other prominent achievements of the palace include the teaching of core values and the need to respect the laws of their host country. This is done with a view to helping Nigerian children know and understand the laws of the country so that they do not violate them in ignorance and run into trouble with the authorities, as had been the case hitherto.
2. The establishment of Igbo schools where Nigerian children are taught about our culture and traditions right here in Ghana.
3. He has also set up a committee structure through which is organized transportation and other logistics for some Nigerians to travel home during Christmas time and celebrate the Yule-tide with their families. This need arose when, through the town hall meetings, HRM, Eze-Igbo Ghana alongside his cabinet members, discovered that some of his people had lived in Ghana for as long as fourty to fifty years and had not visited home.
Now, when these fellows go home, they integrate so well that even their family members at home often ask them how it was possible that they still remembered their culture and traditions so well. They tell that their King in Ghana has established an Igbo teaching school there where they learn about their culture and traditions away from home.
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4. Another remarkable achievement that the reign of Eze-Igbo Ghana has recorded is the establishment of convenient facilities like nine public toilets, five for men, four for women, as well as seventeen boreholes as his contribution to the infrastructural development of the country they live in.
5. The Eze has really brought the Igbo people in Ghana quite close to the government, not because they participate in the country’s politics, but because it helps them to work in harmony with the government of the country.
As intimated, the palace of HRM, Eze-Igbo Ghana, has also set up town hall meetings in various regions across Ghana where our people are being taught about their culture and traditions as well as the laws of their host country.
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This, he said, has helped in no small deal, because, the truth is that most of the Igbo people living in Ghana, as everywhere else, are more interested in their businesses than education. Therefore, they hardly find time to read and learn about the laws of the country. Because of this, many of them violate the laws of their host country without actually knowing that they do.
That often led to clashes between our people and the authorities of our host country. But through the orientation that we are giving our people at our town hall meetings, there is drastic reduction in such clashes between our people and the authorities of the country in recent times. If not for that, there would have been clashes now in the wake of the recent incident where the authorities locked up the shops of many of the Igbo traders in the country and it could have led to the loss of lives already by now. Now, the palace of HRM, Eze-Igbo Ghana is addressing the problem in a peaceful and mature manner with the authorities.
