Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku

Jaja Wachuku was a prominent Nigerian leader who played a key role in the country's independence movement and post-colonial development. He was born into a royal family of the Ngwa clan in the Igbo region of Eastern Nigeria. He attended various schools in Nigeria and Ghana before obtaining a first class honours degree in Legal Sciences from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 1944. He was called to the Bar in 1945 and became a successful lawyer and businessman. He joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), a major political party, in 1951 and was elected into the Eastern House of Representatives in 1952. He resigned from the NCNC in 1955 and became the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Federal House. He returned to the NCNC in 1957 and was appointed the Chairman of the Business Committee of the House of Representatives in 1958. He served in the Parliamentary Committee on the Nigerianisation of the Federal Public Service from 1958 to 1959. He was re-elected into Parliament in December 1959 and was sworn in as the first Nigerian Speaker of the House in 1960. He was instrumental in the negotiations for Nigeria's independence from Britain and the establishment of the First Republic. He was also the first Nigerian to address the United Nations General Assembly in 1960. He was appointed the first Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1960 and served until 1961. He was then appointed the first Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations in 1961 and served until 1965. He was widely respected as a diplomat and a champion of African unity and liberation. He intervened with the South African government and helped save Nelson Mandela and others from the death penalty at the 1963-64 Rivonia Trial. He also supported the independence movements of other African countries such as Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. He was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). He was also involved in the resolution of conflicts and crises in Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Algeria, and Cyprus. He left the NCNC in 1965 and formed the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) with other politicians. He was arrested and detained by the military regime that overthrew the First Republic in 1966. He was released in 1967 and retired from active politics. He returned to politics in 1979 and was elected as a Senator representing Aba Zone in the Second Republic. He served until 1983 when the military seized power again. He remained a respected elder statesman and a voice of wisdom and moderation in Nigerian politics. He was a devout Christian and a philanthropist who supported various causes and charities. He was married to Rhoda Idu Oona Onumonu, a nurse and social worker, and had no children. He died of heart failure in Enugu, Nigeria on 7 November 1996. He was honoured with various awards and recognitions, both nationally and internationally, for his contributions to Nigeria and Africa. He was conferred with a posthumous special Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary Award by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 and a Hero of the Struggle for Nigeria's Independence and a Pioneer Political Leader Award by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. He was also honoured with a prominent portrait by Trinity College Dublin in 2020.