Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe (1915-1990) was a Nigerian nationalist, politician, statesman and former government minister. 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, Arochukwu, of present day Abia State 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. There, he helped to establish an African student's association,where he gained the attention of then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt,who received him and his organization in the White House.[1]
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,[2] 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 in mid-1958 he and Kola Balogun attempted to remove Nnamdi Azikiwe as the leader of N.C.N.C.[3] Both of them failed and were removed from the party. Mabadiwe then set up his own newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, as an organ of protest.[4] However, he later re-joined the party and was appointed Minister for Trade and Communications[5] and also served as a special adviser to the Prime Minister, advising on African affairs, though his actual role in foreign policy formation was limited.[6]
Mbadiwe styled himself as a "Man of timber and calibre."[7] He had six children namely Betty, Greg, Paul, Chris, George, and Francis.
He built and inhabited the landmark, The Palace of The People, at Ndianiche Uno commissioned by late Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in 1965.