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Chris Anyanwu’s bold leap

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2024

Whirlwindnews

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On December 2, 2024, Nigerians will converge at the main auditorium of the National Universities Commission for the public presentation of Senator Chris Anyanwu’s autobiography, Bold Leap.

To be sure, this is her third book. She wrote the first, The Law Makers, Federal Republic of Nigeria, while she was NTA correspondent at the National Assembly in the Second Republic. The second, The Days of Terror, came after her release from General Sani Abacha’s gulag in 1998.

But Bold Leap is significantly different and, no doubt, will stir up the hornets’ nest for the very reason that she pulled no punches in the 612-page tome.

An autobiography can be tricky because of the tendency of the author to remember only what is convenient, which most times creates the faux pas of presenting opinions as facts. But Bold Leap is refreshingly different because the author remembered everything, and left out no details no matter how inconvenient. That makes the book truly “an inspirational story of a woman of exceptional talent and indomitable spirit.”

Born on October 28, 1951, nine years before Nigeria’s independence, the frightening life trajectory of C-Gal, as she was fondly called, encapsulates Nigeria’s story. Like many other Igbo children her age, the years of innocence and comfort of her upper middle class family were brusquely shattered in the late 1960s when Nigeria decelerated to the Hobbesian state of nature, and life suddenly became “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Her father, Hon. Nicholas Diala Ukah, popularly called N.D. Ukah, who started off as a primary school teacher after passing the First School Leaving Certificate Examination with distinction quickly climbed the academic ladder, culminating in a University of London degree in British Economic History.

In the late 1940s, he joined the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC), and just as he did in academia, he also rose rapidly in politics – first Council Chairman for Mbaise District Council and in 1959, he won election to represent Owerri North-East Federal constituency in the House of Representatives.

Then the fratricidal war broke and her blissful world vanished. She was already at the reputable Owerri Girls Secondary School, comely and elegant, with the world at her feet, when the mayhem ensued.

Even when the guns were silenced, nothing was ever the same again. She and her younger sisters lived in the bush for nearly a month to escape Nigerian soldiers who were going from door to door in search of girls to take away as war booty.

When eventually school resumed, the world as the hitherto tarry-eyed girls knew it had changed. “Draw the line. The civil war brought an end to life as it used to be. It was the end of innocence in my generation and the beginning of the harsh realities that began as overt and covert retribution for the secession of Biafra, retributions and realities which have persisted decades after the war till today,” she wrote.

But little did she realize that the worst was yet to come – the ultimate tragedy. Her father was arrested and taken to a detention camp in Port Harcourt where he was starved and brutalised for three months by the Nigerian Army for no reason other than that he was a member of the Federal House of Representatives.

“The ill-treatment at the camp obviously took a heavy toll on his health. He was looking very thin, unwell and quiet… During the detention, he developed kidney problem,” Chris wrote.

She recalled going to see him on his death bed at the Emekuku Hospital and still remembers his plea. “With tubes in his nose and mouth, all he could tell me was to go home and take care of my siblings. I have obeyed that injunction ever since.”

She had no choice. Her father was only 51 years when he died in August 1971, leaving behind 13 children, the eldest was Chris who was only 20 years and a widow, a fulltime housewife without any source of income.

“My dad’s death automatically turned me into head of the family working hand in hand with my mom,” she further stated.

Chris Anyanwu said she was told by “a former Inspector General of Police that the camp where they kept and starved my father and other leaders arrested at the end of the war was managed by Chief A.K. Horsfall, a Rivers State man who later became head of the National Intelligence Service.”

After supervising the liquidation of her innocent father, the same forces seized his properties in Port Harcourt and not even the pitiable condition of their late friend’s widow could convince them to let go even when she came begging.

Chris Anyanwu writes about these gross injustices without bitterness. And the perspicacious former President Olusegun Obasanjo, her mate at Jos Prisons, applauds: “Chris was able to render otherwise tear-inducing details in a manner that removed the sting from the bitter experience to allow the reader enjoy accounts of unfair experiences without the revulsion that such stories ordinarily should have elicited.”

But, come to think of it, why should she be bitter when, despite all odds, she is a real “walking miracle” whose life has been so blessed and full of richness?

Bold Leap is a breath-taking chronicle of her enthralling life experiences. Obasanjo said if he was to propose an alternative title for the book, he would have called it “Triumph of Courage.” This is an incredible story of a woman with a never-say-die spirit.

Hers is a charmed life. She became an idol at the NTA where she was National Assembly, Diplomatic and OPEC correspondent. About eight years into her phenomenal career, she went to her home state of Imo to serve as Commissioner for Information. She later became the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Magazine (TSM), a weekly newsmagazine. Today, she owns a chain of radio stations – Hot FM.

Not even the three-year incarceration on the trumped-up charge of “accessory after the fact of treason” at Kirikiri, Jos, Gombe and Kaduna Prisons could break her spirit. Before Abacha suddenly dropped dead on June 8, 1998, the government had castrated her economically but there is no killing the beetle. Like the phoenix, she rose from the ashes of despair.

Bold Leap is the life story of a phenomenal go-getter, who plunged headlong into the murky waters of Nigerian politics and came out triumphant, serving two terms as a senator. In the Senate she scored a treble firsts – first senator to be elected on the platform of a small regional party (APGA), first female elected to the Senate from Imo State and first senator from the State to be re-elected. In her first term she served as vice chairman of the Senate Committee for Defence and Army and in her second term she was the chairman, Committee on Navy.

The account of her political odyssey in Imo State will generate enough heat in the coming days, no doubt. But the book is a treasure-trove on Nigerian politics.

“Everything is bought. You buy votes to be nominated. You buy votes to be elected to office. And then you must pay to defend yourself from frivolous court cases and bad judgments. It is an all-round corrupting, wearying and spirit-crushing experience,” she explains.

Bold Leap is the story of the grit of a young woman who rather than allowing the tragedy of her father’s untimely death derail her, soldiered on, first by acquiring solid education from choice U.S. universities and coming back home to build a fairytale career in journalism.

The book chronicles major socio-economic and political developments in the country in the last four decades and the major players. Chris Anyanwu had a relationship with most, if not all of them, which makes her one of the most consequential Nigerian journalists, ever.

But the book is not only about Chris Anyanwu and her incredible exploits in journalism and politics. It is also about Nigeria. She hinted that in a short note she sent to me: “Appendix 1 – 2, etc. is a goldmine. I would like you to go through and possibly ask: what is it about? Why?”

The two appendixes dealt with the lingering National Question. On February 22, 1994, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Odumegwu, Ikemba Nnewi, delivered the second TSM Diamond Lecture – “Nigeria: The truths which are self-evident.”

Ever charismatic, Ojukwu brought down the roof down, literally. In the March 6, 1994 edition of TSM, Chris Anyanwu wrote: “As he spoke, many cried. Young people, old people, they all had tears in their eyes. I see this picture of Chuba Okadigbo raising his horse whip in the air, his face overtaken by excitement and in the foreground a vastness of people hanging both hands in the air.”

What did Ojukwu say? “Nigeria is sick. It is our duty, each and everyone one of us, to help cure it.”

According to the Ikemba Nnewi, the country was sick because “the sovereign people of Nigeria have never succeeded in designing for themselves their own society.” The implication he further elucidated was that, “Nigeria cannot be a nation unless its fundamental law is articulated and is accepted by Nigerians for universal application.”

It is pertinent to quote Ojukwu’s speech in some detail: “For those who enjoy the executive control of Nigeria, for those who enjoy almost exclusively the resources of this country, the term “One Nigeria” is like music to their ears. They love it, they want it to remain forever and if it is necessary to maintain One Nigeria by force, they would do so. If it became necessary to hold their partners in the Nigerian enterprise hostage, indeed captive in the corporation, all the better. For fear of being misunderstood or misrepresented, let me repeat. One Nigeria is a good idea but my objection lies in the idea that One Nigeria cannot and must not be questioned.”

Thirty years thence, Nigeria is still at the crossroads. By including Ojukwu’s speech in the Bold Leap, Senator Chris Anyanwu is simply pointing Nigerians to where the rain started beating them, a proof of her continuing service to fatherland. It is one book that Nigerians who seek knowledge must read!

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ADC spits fire! Demands arrest of Lifu *Says, Abuja judge, playing with fire!

Published

1 day ago

June 16, 2026

Whirlwindnews

“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.

A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.

Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.

Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement

“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.

“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”

Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.

He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.

“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”

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Deregistration of ADC: Don’t destroy democracy, Obi warns judiciary

Published

1 day ago

June 16, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2027 presidential election, is peeved at the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering the de-registration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), saying the move is a heavy blow and dangerous to Nigeria’s democracy.

Justice Peter Lifu, who made the order, based on an action brought by National Forum of Former Legislators, agreed that the parties, including Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), failed to meet the requirement for continued existence in Nigeria.

But Obi, who left the ADC coalition to join the NDC, incidentally, based on what he explained resulted from the multiple court cases hanging on its neck, expressed his disenchantment, in a statement by the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), on Monday.

Signed by Ibrahim Umar, its spokesman, the group quoted the former Governor of Anambra State as decrying the growing damage to the nation’s sacred institutions on the altar of politics.

Stressing that the rise of nations depended on stronger institutions devoid of political influences, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, wrote on his X platform: “When the controversy surrounding the removal of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, unfolded, I expressed a concern to a friend: that the greatest damage might not be immediate, but the message it sends about the sanctity and independence of our institutions to the world.

“Strong economies are built on trust. Investors can manage security risks, policy risks, and even market risks. What they fear most is uncertainty in the rule of law and a judiciary that is perceived to be vulnerable to political pressure.

“Today, many Nigerians have lost confidence in systems that should protect them. Businesses increasingly request that their contracts be governed by foreign jurisdictions because they have greater confidence in those institutions than in our own. That should concern every patriot.

“We must never sacrifice our sacred institutions on the altar of politics. Nations rise when institutions are stronger than individuals. The Federal High Court judgment ordering the deregistration of the ADC and other political parties is just one of those activities that further reduces the common man’s trust in our legal systems. It should be reversed.

“I pledge that we will restore the dignity, independence, and integrity of the judiciary. The common man must have a voice. The business community must be protected from legal uncertainty and intimidation. Justice must be impartial, accessible, and respected by all. To our judges, legal luminaries, senior advocates, and lawyers: this is your moment. Rise, defend the rule of law, take back your country! A new Nigeria is POssible.”

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Cape Verde stuns global pundits with barren draw against Spain

Published

1 day ago

June 16, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Not even Lamine Yamal’s second half introduction could help Spain break through the defence of debutants, Cape Verde, in their first ever meeting, as the ongoing World Cup event produced another one of the stunning results on Monday.

Yamal, the Barcelona superstar just recovering from a near two-month hamstring injury, was brought into the game in the second half to zest up the one-time world champion, but failed to break down the Cape Verde’s dogged defence.

Spain’s in the game played in Atlanta, one of the cities hosting the three-nation Mundial, displayed the same dismal outing, which saw them offering far less than the quality, which saw them lifting the trophy for the first time in 2010.

The European champions, which have not won a knockout game ever since, failed to dominate the African side, replicating their less than impressing outings and their eventual exit in 2018 and 2022 editions, even with the claims of coach Luis de la Fuente that the squad was the best in the competition, Spain were considered among the pre-tournament.

Neither Yamal nor Nico Williams, who also was hit by an injury-disrupted season at Athletic Bilbao and was not introduced until the 87th minute, were able to rise to the occasion against the 500,000 people African side, ranked 67 in the world, which is making their debut on the global stage.

In stark contrast to the searing temperatures faced by some other sides, Atlanta’s state-of-the-art air conditioned stadium meant there was no excuses for the slow tempo of Spain’s build-up.

Indeed the mid-half hydration break was met by boos with fans frustrated at the break in play despite the cool conditions.

The only serious move from the European champions only came at the sixth minute to half-time, when Marc Cucurella, fresh for sealing his move from Chelsea to Real Madrid, sent over a teasing cross that Ferran Torres turned onto the crossbar and Cabo Verde goalkeeper Vozinha got back on his feet to turn Mikel Oyarzabal’s looping header over the bar.

Even after the break, the Blue Sharks, were also able to hold back from the onslaught as they did in the first half, where Vozinho, managed to make another superlative save against Aymeric Laporte’s header just before half-time.

Despite the excitement from the crowd after he was introduced, Yamal, billed as one of the stars of the tournament, failed to create any magic with his first touch being the set-up of a decent opening for fellow substitute Mikel Merino which was too close to Vozinha.

In fact, Cabo Verde billed to take on Uruguay in Miami, nearly snatched a famous victory in the final minute of the 90 when Dani Borges planted a header too close to Unai Simon, who saved the occasion, to prevent the former world champions, billed to face Saudi Arabia in Atlanta on Sunday from humiliation.

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