Senator Arthur Nzeribe, a multi-billionaire investment mogul who called for the impeachment of President Olusegun Obasanjo in April 2000 is dead.
He died on Sunday after age-related sickness for over a decade.
Born in Oguta, Imo State on 2 November 1938 to Oyimba Nzeribe, a lawyer and former state counsel.
Nzeribe lost his mother when he was a primary school student, while his father was away in Great Britain studying law.
His care was taken over by Catholic priests who were involved in furthering his education.
He attended Bishop Shanahan College, Orlu and Holy Ghost College, Owerri. In 1957, he traveled to Lagos where he obtained employment with Nigeria’s port authority as an engineering cadet, and a year later, he received a scholarship from the NPA to study marine engineering.
He took courses at Portsmouth College of Technology and later attended Chesterfield College of Technology in England.By 1960 he was selling life insurance to black immigrants in Britain. Returning to Nigeria in 1961 he was briefly an employee of Shell, then for a few months an Air Force cadet. Thereafter, he worked for Gulf Oil at the firm’s Escravos facility.
Nzeribe soon left Gulf Oil and returned to London, where he opened Jeafan, a public relations firm, with one Ghanaian and two English partners. The firm worked with a number of African diplomatic missions in London including the Ghana High Commission. The well dressed and mannered Nzeribe was able to gain the confidence of a few notable clients.
Through the Ghana Commission, he met Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and started to work for him in public relations. Nkrumah also introduced him to other African leaders.
In 1966, when the National Liberation Council (NLC) overthrew Nkrumah, Nzeribe and Jeafan briefly lost influence in Ghana but the NLC leadership soon turned to Jeafan to help improve the public image of their administration. Nzeribe developed a working relationship with Joseph Arthur Ankrah, head of the liberation council, but when Ankrah left office in April 1969, Nzeribe lost influence in Ghana.
In 1969, Nzeribe started up the Fanz Organization based in London, dealing in heavy construction, arms, oil brokerage, publishing and property investment, with much business in the Middle East and Gulf states.
By 1979, Fanz had an annual trading turnover of £70 million. He is believed to be worth over 1.5 billion dollars as of 2018.
In Nigeria, Nzeribe built up Sentinel Assurance and other companies. His country home in Oguta is called Heaven of Peace, an estate that contains multiple mansions.
In 1983, he won a Senatorial seat in Orlu. Ten years later, he was a prominent supporter of the Association for a Better Nigeria, which backed General Ibrahim Babangida.
In April 2000, Nzeribe circulated a petition citing 15 reasons why Obasanjo should be forced to step down.
Also among the reasons stated were discrimination against northern Hausas and disregard of legal democratic process.
The move was greeted with overwhelming condemnation.
Nzeribe faced with the unpalatable prospect of suspension from the Senate, withdrew the petition. But in an interview a month later, the politician said the withdrawal of the petition was only tactical.
He added that he was exploring other options to see through his goal of impeaching Obasanjo and that he owes his friend, family and nation this duty.
