K.O. Mbadiwe

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Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe (born 1915) was a Nigerian politician, statesman and former minister for Commerce and Industry. He was born in the Orlu division of present day Imo State and attended the Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar for primary education. He then proceeded to the Aggrey Memorial College, Igbobi College, Lagos and the Baptist Academy Lagos for further studies. He left the Nigerian shores and went to study at Columbia and the New York University for collegiate education. After returning from the U.S., he started his own business and also established a research institute on African Arts. He soon entered the Nigerian political scene and joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. In 1951, he was elected into the Eastern Region House of Assembly, he was re-elected in 1954, and made minister for Lands and National Resources. In 1957, he was made the minister for Commerce. However, his political success was to undergo a great challenge when he and Kola Balogun attempted to remove Nnamdi Azikiwe as the leader of N.C.N.C.. Both of them failed and were removed from the party. However, he re-joined the party in 1961 and was appointed as a special adviser to the prime minister.

[edit] References

• • Rosalynde Ainslie, Catherine Hoskyns, Ronald Segal; Frederick A. Praeger, Political Africa: A Who's Who of Personalities and Parties.