₦airaland Forum

wanimo:
Nnamdi Kanu called him a slave and he ended up reciting how many masters he has served in Lagos State. For the past 18 years, your servitude has been unbridled.

You served Tinubu for 8 years and today Tinubu is a national leader of a party. You went ahead to serve Fashola who also served Tinubu with you. That's another 8 years of servitude while others are progressing. Today Fashola is a minister and you are still serving Ambode.... Probably another 8 years of servitude. Osinbajo whom you served alongside with has progressed to become Acting President and you are still serving. When will your servant career end

ogawisdom:
Yes dts what brought him to lime light, he owes his fame to dullardino boooohari

Anyone dt can spend 18 months in prison to free his ppl is an uncommon human being. Ppl like dt comes once in a century got dt. Kanu is only 40yrs (1977) n did most of these in his late 30s.

Kanu is a Prince n was brought up in affluence just like great Ojukwu

higherpower:
Joe Igbokwe wrote

NNAMDI KANU CALLED ME A HUNGRY SLAVE RESIDING IN LAGOS AND I HAVE FOUND THE NEED TO TELL MY STORY AGAIN FOR RECORD PURPOSES. I WANT NNAMDI TO TELL HIS OWN STORY TOO. PLEASE READ THIS:

In 1971, after my primary school education, poverty drove me to Lagos to find something to do to help my poor mother and siblings. Civil War devastated my father’s thriving business in Onitsha and we all suffered from 1966 to 1970 when the war ended.

With four wives and 34 children, my parents could not cope any more. My brothers and sisters dropped out of school to learn a trade. Because I was a little ‘sharp’ in school, my father encouraged me to finish primary school. It is needless here to recall how I and few of my siblings survived to finish our primary education. Consequently when my mates were taking Common Entrance Examination, I did not because there was no need to do so. No money, no three square meals a day, no good clothing, just nothing.

My mother encouraged me to travel with friends to Lagos. We landed at Sawmill Ebute Metta where I worked as a sawdust carrier at seven Shilling, six Pence a day. My job was to pack sawdust from the Machines to the Lagoon from 7am to 5 pm daily. I did this for nearly two years and later I became a danfo conductor plying Idioro/Ajegunle axis. From there I joined my brother in a supermarket business at Ijesha Road, Surulere. I did this until I returned home during Christmas in December 1973. I came home to meet my friends I was beating academically in school trying to make me feel and look inferior. Again I also noticed while in Lagos that if I fail to go to school, I may end up doing menial jobs meant for illiterates till the end of age. I decided to go back to school to add values to my life. But where are the school fees? There was nothing. How I managed to get the first school fee to start and what happened thereafter will take a book to do the narrative.

In 1979 I left Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi with Division One and was the school Head Boy. I taught in the same school as an Auxiliary Teacher from 1979 – 1980. In 1980 I got admission to read Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and graduated in 1985. I did my Youth Service in Ogun State and thereafter I returned to Lagos in 1986 to begin a journey to where I am today. I walked the streets of Lagos from 1986 – 1988 until the then military government headed by Gen Ibrahim Babangida set up the National Directorate of Employment, (NDE) to encourage graduates to start their own businesses. I got a loan of N27,500, using my NYSC discharge Certificate and my Degree Certificate as collateral at 9% interest rate. I set up a Restaurant Business in Western Avenue, Lagos and hit an instant success. While doing this business, I spread my nets also to the auto spare parts market in Lawanson, Surulere where my brother thrives as a very successful importer. I opened a shop there and got a boy to take charge of the business. From there, I entered into Auto dealership in Western Avenue Surulere. I paid back that loan in full and collected back my certificates.

In 1995, I wrote my first book, Igbos: 25 Years After Biafra. I also established National Vision Newspapers in 1997. In 1999, I wrote my second book: Heroes of Democracy. In 2004 I co-authored 2007: The IBB Option with my good friend, Peter Claver Oparah. One thing led to another. I became an opinion molder, a public commentator, political analyst, writer and an advocate of the peoples’ cause. I bought my first car in 1990 and became a millionaire in 1995 after launching of my first book.

In 2006, the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made me the pioneer General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure & Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) and I was there for almost 10 years. I served Asiwaju’s government for the remainder of his days as Lagos Governor. I served His Excellency Governor Babatunde Fashola for 8years. In September 2015, His Excellency Governor Akinwunmi Ambode moved me to Wharf Landing Fees Collecting Authority Apapa as Chairman. I became the Publicity Secretary AC, ACN, and APC since late 2006 till date. By the grace of God I have been the Chairman of Conference of APC Publicity Secretaries (CAPS) in Nigeria since 2014.

These positions and exploits have put me in the limelight in Lagos and Nigeria since the early 90s, and God has been kind to me. These offices have opened the doors of the rich and poor to me. They have opened the inner ways,byways, subways, expressways and highways to the corridors of power in Nigeria. I have been connected to the pace setters, policy makers, the movers and shakers of blue chip companies, newsmakers and the powers that be in Lagos. The magic of Lagos, the beauty of Lagos, the dynamics of Lagos, the glory of Lagos, the momentum of Lagos, the capacity, capability and the strength of Lagos touched me in no uncertain terms since 1986 (32years ago) till date…..and still counting.

My sojourn in Lagos for 32 years has also opened my eyes as a historian as to what Lagos has done for my people from South East. Today as I write this Igbo do not have a quarter of what they have in Lagos in the South East in terms of investments. As I write this book, Igbo are the second most populous ethnic group in Lagos. Today, Igbo exert tremendous influence and capacity in Lagos and its success story. Few years back two prominent sons of Nnewi told me in confidence that they did not know they have been wasting their time in Nnewi until they came to Lagos. They said Lagos opened doors for limitless opportunities and endless possibilities. I have seen people come from other parts of Nigeria to hit gold mine in Lagos.

I got married in 1990 and all my five kids are all Lagosians and so are millions of Igbo kids born in Lagos. They have lived most of their lives in Lagos, schooled in Lagos, worked in Lagos, made friends in Lagos and have keyed to the Lagos success story. They know any other place except Lagos. Lagos is their home. This is not limited to Igbo alone but all other ethnic groups and of course Yoruba from outside Lagos. Lagos is a melting pot, a mega city, a cosmopolitan beehive. Lagos controls the heartbeat of Nigeria, its wealth, its influence and its strategic socio-economic and political hub. Lagos changed my thinking and original thoughts, Lagos emboldened me, Lagos motivated me, Lagos challenged me and Lagos made me. I can say no less. This is the story of Lagos, my Lagos. It is still unraveling, not for me alone but millions of other Nigerians, to the glory of God."

cjrane:


Hehehehe... lol.

if i read something like i came from humble beginings and later became a state governor or millionaire or anything useful, i could have understood the reason why this shameless Igbokwe published his embellished yet useless life history.

I had expected to read about some major achievement to point to in his life as examplary apart from going to Okongwu school, UNN and establishing a restaurant in Lagos. Who didn't do that? lol....

Go to Onitsha, Aba or Owerri and ask the owners of those 4 storey buildings how they managed to make money to build them between 1975 - 1985 from 20 pounds given to them and you will hear true stories of heroism and achievement.

An average Igboman born before 1970 can boast of better achievement from poverty to grace. Has anyone read about Innoson, Ibeto, Ekene dilichukwu, Prof ABC Nwosu, or Festus Nwakor just to mention a few.

Nnamdi Kanu from a humble beginning to becoming an undisputed leader of Ndigbo only surpassed by Ikemba Odimegwu Ojukwu or Nnamdi Azikiwe is a feat greater than owning a restaurant business in Lagos and later applying for APC spokesman of Lagos. For God's sake, Rochas Okorocha can boast of a greater pedigree of coming from poverty, broken family from different tribes (hausa & Igbo) to becoming a multi-millionaire and a state governor of an Igbo state for two terms.

Today Nnamdi Kanu is a legend known around the globe, yet he didn't steal anybody's 1 kobo unlike the useless Nigerian politicians.

Joe Igbokwe should have remained as a Molue conductor which he self admitted. It is the only job that fits his shameless persona

VIDEO: Ex-PRO Of Radio Biafra, Chioma Amaryllis Exposes Nnamdi Kanu, Says He’s A Fraudster

The former Public Relations coordinator of Radio Biafra, Chioma Amaryllis, has exposed the director of the pirate radio station, Nnamdi Kanu.

Miss Amaryllis, who said he was once a girlfriend of the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, said in a 16 minutes video that she quit the Bianfran struggle when she discovered that he was just using it to make money for himself.

Chioma, who is said to be resident in the Unites States said she made the discovery when she decided to visit Nigeria to see for herself, the claims of what Nnamdi Kanu said he has put in place in Igbo land to actualise the dream of Biafra.

Watch the video below:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRSvMyDMsQA

higherpower:
Joe Igbokwe wrote

NNAMDI KANU CALLED ME A HUNGRY SLAVE RESIDING IN LAGOS AND I HAVE FOUND THE NEED TO TELL MY STORY AGAIN FOR RECORD PURPOSES. I WANT NNAMDI TO TELL HIS OWN STORY TOO. PLEASE READ THIS:

In 1971, after my primary school education, poverty drove me to Lagos to find something to do to help my poor mother and siblings. Civil War devastated my father’s thriving business in Onitsha and we all suffered from 1966 to 1970 when the war ended.

With four wives and 34 children, my parents could not cope any more. My brothers and sisters dropped out of school to learn a trade. Because I was a little ‘sharp’ in school, my father encouraged me to finish primary school. It is needless here to recall how I and few of my siblings survived to finish our primary education. Consequently when my mates were taking Common Entrance Examination, I did not because there was no need to do so. No money, no three square meals a day, no good clothing, just nothing.

My mother encouraged me to travel with friends to Lagos. We landed at Sawmill Ebute Metta where I worked as a sawdust carrier at seven Shilling, six Pence a day. My job was to pack sawdust from the Machines to the Lagoon from 7am to 5 pm daily. I did this for nearly two years and later I became a danfo conductor plying Idioro/Ajegunle axis. From there I joined my brother in a supermarket business at Ijesha Road, Surulere. I did this until I returned home during Christmas in December 1973. I came home to meet my friends I was beating academically in school trying to make me feel and look inferior. Again I also noticed while in Lagos that if I fail to go to school, I may end up doing menial jobs meant for illiterates till the end of age. I decided to go back to school to add values to my life. But where are the school fees? There was nothing. How I managed to get the first school fee to start and what happened thereafter will take a book to do the narrative.

In 1979 I left Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi with Division One and was the school Head Boy. I taught in the same school as an Auxiliary Teacher from 1979 – 1980. In 1980 I got admission to read Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and graduated in 1985. I did my Youth Service in Ogun State and thereafter I returned to Lagos in 1986 to begin a journey to where I am today. I walked the streets of Lagos from 1986 – 1988 until the then military government headed by Gen Ibrahim Babangida set up the National Directorate of Employment, (NDE) to encourage graduates to start their own businesses. I got a loan of N27,500, using my NYSC discharge Certificate and my Degree Certificate as collateral at 9% interest rate. I set up a Restaurant Business in Western Avenue, Lagos and hit an instant success. While doing this business, I spread my nets also to the auto spare parts market in Lawanson, Surulere where my brother thrives as a very successful importer. I opened a shop there and got a boy to take charge of the business. From there, I entered into Auto dealership in Western Avenue Surulere. I paid back that loan in full and collected back my certificates.

In 1995, I wrote my first book, Igbos: 25 Years After Biafra. I also established National Vision Newspapers in 1997. In 1999, I wrote my second book: Heroes of Democracy. In 2004 I co-authored 2007: The IBB Option with my good friend, Peter Claver Oparah. One thing led to another. I became an opinion molder, a public commentator, political analyst, writer and an advocate of the peoples’ cause. I bought my first car in 1990 and became a millionaire in 1995 after launching of my first book.

In 2006, the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made me the pioneer General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure & Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) and I was there for almost 10 years. I served Asiwaju’s government for the remainder of his days as Lagos Governor. I served His Excellency Governor Babatunde Fashola for 8years. In September 2015, His Excellency Governor Akinwunmi Ambode moved me to Wharf Landing Fees Collecting Authority Apapa as Chairman. I became the Publicity Secretary AC, ACN, and APC since late 2006 till date. By the grace of God I have been the Chairman of Conference of APC Publicity Secretaries (CAPS) in Nigeria since 2014.

These positions and exploits have put me in the limelight in Lagos and Nigeria since the early 90s, and God has been kind to me. These offices have opened the doors of the rich and poor to me. They have opened the inner ways,byways, subways, expressways and highways to the corridors of power in Nigeria. I have been connected to the pace setters, policy makers, the movers and shakers of blue chip companies, newsmakers and the powers that be in Lagos. The magic of Lagos, the beauty of Lagos, the dynamics of Lagos, the glory of Lagos, the momentum of Lagos, the capacity, capability and the strength of Lagos touched me in no uncertain terms since 1986 (32years ago) till date…..and still counting.

My sojourn in Lagos for 32 years has also opened my eyes as a historian as to what Lagos has done for my people from South East. Today as I write this Igbo do not have a quarter of what they have in Lagos in the South East in terms of investments. As I write this book, Igbo are the second most populous ethnic group in Lagos. Today, Igbo exert tremendous influence and capacity in Lagos and its success story. Few years back two prominent sons of Nnewi told me in confidence that they did not know they have been wasting their time in Nnewi until they came to Lagos. They said Lagos opened doors for limitless opportunities and endless possibilities. I have seen people come from other parts of Nigeria to hit gold mine in Lagos.

I got married in 1990 and all my five kids are all Lagosians and so are millions of Igbo kids born in Lagos. They have lived most of their lives in Lagos, schooled in Lagos, worked in Lagos, made friends in Lagos and have keyed to the Lagos success story. They know any other place except Lagos. Lagos is their home. This is not limited to Igbo alone but all other ethnic groups and of course Yoruba from outside Lagos. Lagos is a melting pot, a mega city, a cosmopolitan beehive. Lagos controls the heartbeat of Nigeria, its wealth, its influence and its strategic socio-economic and political hub. Lagos changed my thinking and original thoughts, Lagos emboldened me, Lagos motivated me, Lagos challenged me and Lagos made me. I can say no less. This is the story of Lagos, my Lagos. It is still unraveling, not for me alone but millions of other Nigerians, to the glory of God."

knowledgeable:
Your life story is somewhat similar to those millions of Igbos whom you claim to be second largest population after Yorubas in Lagos. You went ahead to attest to the limitless possibilities, potential and opportunities that can be find in Lagos. You also qualify you and your children(Igbo children) as proud lagosians. You served under different Lagos state administrations and your eyes and ears become open to the by ways and high ways of power play and government on various levels in Nigeria.

Joe Igbokwe, you are among those Africans Europeans or whites in general refer as inferior Africans or niggers.

Most Africans/Igbos/Yorubas/Hausa Fulani naturally lack the ability to critical reasoning and analytical skills and this call for emergency establishment of think tanks societies in various levels of social strata.

Back to Joe Igbokwe. My brother, their are millions and millions of Igbos who have achieved and attained highiest level of success with their children in a more beautiful and infrastructurally developed environment than Lagos but are ready to give all that up in order to have a homeland with all those infrastructures and opportunities, possibilities and potentials etc. This is where Nnamdi kanu belongs. He is an idealist, you are not, he is a thinker, you are not and etc.

He is aware as a higher and uncommon conscious being the history behind the new world Igbo migratory patterns......remember the success he attained in radio Biafra came as a result of creating a platform for our people scattered all over the world including you and your children. Could the pull to Lagos and elsewhere by the Igbos including your self and your children as result of deeper conspiracy and age long marginalization, infrastructure, sea port/international airport denayal to Igbo population.

I personally believe(and I might still be wrong) that the Igbos as a population group have entered into the very first phase of extinction protocol regardless of their huge commercial prowess.

They are presently facing level 0 extinction because it is systemic in nature. You firstly have political extinction, economic extinction and finally demographic extinction and that's your level 0 and you are a prime agent of this evolution playing it self out.

*note millions of Igbos have died on their way to Lagos and Europe.

victorioushands:
Kanu has no story to tell except dubious ones full of hatred and his life of betrayal, immorality, usurping, arrogance birthed from frustration and, finally, how he turned many gullible people into his money milking machines. He ran from UNN and forced his gullible parents to send him to school in UK. After graduation, he still amounted to nothing and only squatted from one house to another - most of whom he still owe thousands of pounds. Then Biafra became a business. He tried first and failed when he squandered the money Uwazuruike gave him. Then people came from all over the countries abroad in support of Biafra cause and, because he had no job and was only living in somebody's house, he took it as his business - with people from all over contributing money that enters into his account alone. Then it became an opportunity to sleep with everything on skate and to travel like a fool, to curse anyone who has different opinion and to act like he is God - leading many astray - until he was irredeemably lost. That will be his story before his eventual downfall...but he would never tell it because he cannot. People will stone him to death if they knew him.
I don't care what his minions and urchins would comment in response.

pazienza:
Exactly. Going by Igbokwe brainless logic, because thousands If not millions of Igbos left Igboland with nothing and landed in USA, only to end up achieving their dreams, Igboland should therefore be fused with USA.

This line of thought can only come out of an irrational mind bereft of wisdom.

Igbos are in Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, USA, New Zealand, Australia ,UK, Poland, Germany, etc and making it big there , Igboland should therefore be fused with those countries?

If the only way the likes of Igbokwe can continue to thrive in Lagos is if Igboland remain fused in a retrogressive union with Arewa -Oduanistanis , then they must be prepared to lose all they have since built there, since its obvious they are not cut out for success. Because whether they like it or not, they remain insignificant minority, whose voice can only be heard, but who cannot have their way.

Your mates are making it in countries not sharing same Nationality with Igboland, you should be able to do same too, when Igboland stops sharing same nationality with Arewa Oduanistanis.

The majority of us must have our way, and Biafra must stand!

Ifeanyi4491:
Joe keep your mouth shut...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nnamdi_Kanu

wanimo:
Nnamdi Kanu called him a slave and he ended up reciting how many masters he has served in Lagos State. For the past 18 years, your servitude has been unbridled.

You served Tinubu for 8 years and today Tinubu is a national leader of a party. You went ahead to serve Fashola who also served Tinubu with you. That's another 8 years of servitude while others are progressing. Today Fashola is a minister and you are still serving Ambode.... Probably another 8 years of servitude. Osinbajo whom you served alongside with has progressed to become Acting President and you are still serving. When will your servant career end

wanimo:
Nnamdi Kanu called him a slave and he ended up reciting how many masters he has served in Lagos State. For the past 18 years, your servitude has been unbridled.

You served Tinubu for 8 years and today Tinubu is a national leader of a party. You went ahead to serve Fashola who also served Tinubu with you. That's another 8 years of servitude while others are progressing. Today Fashola is a minister and you are still serving Ambode.... Probably another 8 years of servitude. Osinbajo whom you served alongside with has progressed to become Acting President and you are still serving. When will your servant career end

higherpower:
That can only be because Mr Cownu doesn't even have a life talkless of history.

victorioushands:
Kanu has no story to tell except dubious ones full of hatred and his life of betrayal, immorality, usurping, arrogance birthed from frustration and, finally, how he turned many gullible people into his money milking machines. He ran from UNN and forced his gullible parents to send him to school in UK. After graduation, he still amounted to nothing and only squatted from one house to another - most of whom he still owe thousands of pounds. Then Biafra became a business. He tried first and failed when he squandered the money Uwazuruike gave him. Then people came from all over the countries abroad in support of Biafra cause and, because he had no job and was only living in somebody's house, he took it as his business - with people from all over contributing money that enters into his account alone. Then it became an opportunity to sleep with everything on skate and to travel like a fool, to curse anyone who has different opinion and to act like he is God - leading many astray - until he was irredeemably lost. That will be his story before his eventual downfall...but he would never tell it because he cannot. People will stone him to death if they knew him.
I don't care what his minions and urchins would comment in response.

adadike281:
Truly, d fight between your people and mine is getting out of hand and that's why I had a rethink and decided to back out. I don't want to see anybody as my enemy. I have lots of Yoruba and Hausa friends here in Anambra. I have decided to live a very simple life bringing happiness to peoples lives and that's what matters.

NetBizguy:
Nnamdi Kanu I think you shouldn't do for this man what Nigeria govt did for you, you paid so much for it (18 month in detention), please don't just give him that attention lest he becomes somebody from nobody because its obvious this selfish entity is trying to use your ladder to gain recognition..

Who your story epp and who doesn't have a story?

Just look at the Joe Igbokwe of a selfish being, so far it has been all about you and your little success in logos, your express way and high and low ways and useless connection with useless people.. so after all it was the fear of losing them? And you mean to tell me that the entire Igbo should sacrifice our future for whatever nonsence you have in logas today? Biafra will come you can decide to remain in Nigeria..

For your informaton Mr. Selfish Igbokwe of Igbo saboteur, Nnamdi Kanu is not as selfish as you're because whatever you claim to have in Logos today being the result of your 32 years accumulated efforts, Nnamdi Kanu outweighs it even before he came to lime light, he rejected an offer that would give him for his fifth generation more than a million times whatever wealth you would ever dream of even in your next life, yes he rejected on offer of an Oil well for exchange of Biafran freedom unlike you selfish being that wants to sacrifice our independent and future of our children for not even any significant offer other than your meagre wealth that cannot feed two families for six months, Nnamdi Kan is not telling his sad story because its not just about him and his immediate family, he's telling our story because its about us

For get the F' out of here, you're still stinkingly poor

Angeleena:
nonsense,butt licker...Joe Esau igbokwe,selling ur birthright for amala and red oil soup...soo silly...ur kids,eat amala,so we should stupidly clap and hail them? this is total nonsense.. telling us how,u became a wanderer, makes no point at all..

higherpower:
Joe Igbokwe wrote

NNAMDI KANU CALLED ME A HUNGRY SLAVE RESIDING IN LAGOS AND I HAVE FOUND THE NEED TO TELL MY STORY AGAIN FOR RECORD PURPOSES. I WANT NNAMDI TO TELL HIS OWN STORY TOO. PLEASE READ THIS:

In 1971, after my primary school education, poverty drove me to Lagos to find something to do to help my poor mother and siblings. Civil War devastated my father’s thriving business in Onitsha and we all suffered from 1966 to 1970 when the war ended.

With four wives and 34 children, my parents could not cope any more. My brothers and sisters dropped out of school to learn a trade. Because I was a little ‘sharp’ in school, my father encouraged me to finish primary school. It is needless here to recall how I and few of my siblings survived to finish our primary education. Consequently when my mates were taking Common Entrance Examination, I did not because there was no need to do so. No money, no three square meals a day, no good clothing, just nothing.

My mother encouraged me to travel with friends to Lagos. We landed at Sawmill Ebute Metta where I worked as a sawdust carrier at seven Shilling, six Pence a day. My job was to pack sawdust from the Machines to the Lagoon from 7am to 5 pm daily. I did this for nearly two years and later I became a danfo conductor plying Idioro/Ajegunle axis. From there I joined my brother in a supermarket business at Ijesha Road, Surulere. I did this until I returned home during Christmas in December 1973. I came home to meet my friends I was beating academically in school trying to make me feel and look inferior. Again I also noticed while in Lagos that if I fail to go to school, I may end up doing menial jobs meant for illiterates till the end of age. I decided to go back to school to add values to my life. But where are the school fees? There was nothing. How I managed to get the first school fee to start and what happened thereafter will take a book to do the narrative.

In 1979 I left Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi with Division One and was the school Head Boy. I taught in the same school as an Auxiliary Teacher from 1979 – 1980. In 1980 I got admission to read Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and graduated in 1985. I did my Youth Service in Ogun State and thereafter I returned to Lagos in 1986 to begin a journey to where I am today. I walked the streets of Lagos from 1986 – 1988 until the then military government headed by Gen Ibrahim Babangida set up the National Directorate of Employment, (NDE) to encourage graduates to start their own businesses. I got a loan of N27,500, using my NYSC discharge Certificate and my Degree Certificate as collateral at 9% interest rate. I set up a Restaurant Business in Western Avenue, Lagos and hit an instant success. While doing this business, I spread my nets also to the auto spare parts market in Lawanson, Surulere where my brother thrives as a very successful importer. I opened a shop there and got a boy to take charge of the business. From there, I entered into Auto dealership in Western Avenue Surulere. I paid back that loan in full and collected back my certificates.

In 1995, I wrote my first book, Igbos: 25 Years After Biafra. I also established National Vision Newspapers in 1997. In 1999, I wrote my second book: Heroes of Democracy. In 2004 I co-authored 2007: The IBB Option with my good friend, Peter Claver Oparah. One thing led to another. I became an opinion molder, a public commentator, political analyst, writer and an advocate of the peoples’ cause. I bought my first car in 1990 and became a millionaire in 1995 after launching of my first book.

In 2006, the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made me the pioneer General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure & Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) and I was there for almost 10 years. I served Asiwaju’s government for the remainder of his days as Lagos Governor. I served His Excellency Governor Babatunde Fashola for 8years. In September 2015, His Excellency Governor Akinwunmi Ambode moved me to Wharf Landing Fees Collecting Authority Apapa as Chairman. I became the Publicity Secretary AC, ACN, and APC since late 2006 till date. By the grace of God I have been the Chairman of Conference of APC Publicity Secretaries (CAPS) in Nigeria since 2014.

These positions and exploits have put me in the limelight in Lagos and Nigeria since the early 90s, and God has been kind to me. These offices have opened the doors of the rich and poor to me. They have opened the inner ways,byways, subways, expressways and highways to the corridors of power in Nigeria. I have been connected to the pace setters, policy makers, the movers and shakers of blue chip companies, newsmakers and the powers that be in Lagos. The magic of Lagos, the beauty of Lagos, the dynamics of Lagos, the glory of Lagos, the momentum of Lagos, the capacity, capability and the strength of Lagos touched me in no uncertain terms since 1986 (32years ago) till date…..and still counting.

My sojourn in Lagos for 32 years has also opened my eyes as a historian as to what Lagos has done for my people from South East. Today as I write this Igbo do not have a quarter of what they have in Lagos in the South East in terms of investments. As I write this book, Igbo are the second most populous ethnic group in Lagos. Today, Igbo exert tremendous influence and capacity in Lagos and its success story. Few years back two prominent sons of Nnewi told me in confidence that they did not know they have been wasting their time in Nnewi until they came to Lagos. They said Lagos opened doors for limitless opportunities and endless possibilities. I have seen people come from other parts of Nigeria to hit gold mine in Lagos.

I got married in 1990 and all my five kids are all Lagosians and so are millions of Igbo kids born in Lagos. They have lived most of their lives in Lagos, schooled in Lagos, worked in Lagos, made friends in Lagos and have keyed to the Lagos success story. They know any other place except Lagos. Lagos is their home. This is not limited to Igbo alone but all other ethnic groups and of course Yoruba from outside Lagos. Lagos is a melting pot, a mega city, a cosmopolitan beehive. Lagos controls the heartbeat of Nigeria, its wealth, its influence and its strategic socio-economic and political hub. Lagos changed my thinking and original thoughts, Lagos emboldened me, Lagos motivated me, Lagos challenged me and Lagos made me. I can say no less. This is the story of Lagos, my Lagos. It is still unraveling, not for me alone but millions of other Nigerians, to the glory of God."

Angeleena:
nonsense,butt licker...Joe Esau igbokwe,selling ur birthright for amala and red oil soup...soo silly...ur kids,eat amala,so we should stupidly clap and hail them? this is total nonsense.. telling us how,u became a wanderer, makes no point at all..

higherpower:
Please encourage your Cownu to also write his own.