Late Professor George Obiozor , the immediate past President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group died on December 26,  2022. He was one of Nigeria’s best diplomats. An indigene of Awo-Omamma, Oru East Local Government of Imo State, he was elected President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo in January 2021.

He was a seasoned diplomat whose career spanned decades. His academic career took him to Institute of African Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, and the United States of America’s University of South Tacoma, Washington D.C. and Columbia University, New York, where he obtained degrees in Political Science, International  Law and Organization and International Affairs.

He was a consummate academic who taught at the Pratt Institute, New York and became an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York Medgar Evers College. He became Ralph Bunche research fellow in United Nations City University of New York Graduate Center from 1977 to 1978. A thorough academic, he had to his credit numerous seminal papers, journals and articles on international relations and Nigeria’s foreign and domestic policies.

His contributions to Nigeria’s foreign policy and diplomatic relations are as varied as they were valuable. He was Special Adviser to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Special Assistant to the President on International Affairs in 1990. He was Director-General of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. He was at one point Nigeria’s Envoy to Israel and Cyprus. He was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States between 2004 and 2008.

A renowned patriot and statesman, he was once conferred with the national honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). He was a Grantee of Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and Alice Stetten Fellowship, Columbia University School of International Affairs. His Orlu Community conferred on him the prestigious title of Ugwumba 1 (the Pride of his people) of Orlu in 1991.

The late Obiozor was celebrated for his commitment to unity and peace and he spent his life charting the course of peace and progress, both in his native Imo State, the South East and Nigeria in general. He was one who valued international relations and homeland pursuit of peace and development. He was immersed in the diplomatic community and preached the value regionally, nationally and globally.

His love for his homeland is rooted in the experiences he had as a foreign student, especially during the civil war. Stories had it that his love for his country fired his zeal to become a top diplomat who could use his learning to unite the diverse people in the country. He lived true to that as he came home from the United States to contribute his quota through the diplomatic sector.

Since his retirement, late Obiozor continued to be active both at the national and sub-regional levels. He was a strong believer in the power of unity and strength in diversity. His acceptance of the Ohaneze leadership was a sacrifice he was ready to make to bring his learning and experience to bear in the South Eastern Nigeria that has in the last few years become very volatile and destabilised due to the emergence of splinter self-determination groups that have seemingly been unleashing mayhem on Ndiigbo .

It is rather ironic that this noble offer to serve the people by offering to re-direct the agitations for equity and justice through viable diplomatic means like dialogue as he had done internationally became his albatross. Some politicians in the region decided to misinterpret his intentions, thereby setting some renegades against him. Since his election to the post, they had carried a lot of campaign of calumny against the leadership of Ohaneze, tagging them saboteurs.

The burning of the late Obiozor’s home in his village along with all his books, academic papers and all his certificates in 2021 was actually the first time the late Obiozor died. He had felt that his life of service and non-partisanship would insulate him from the mob attack but he was mortally wrong as he saw his library which, to him was safe in his ancestral home, burnt to ashes. He never really recovered till he passed on.

We regret that a man with such a distinguished career and sense of patriotism would get the treatment he got.That burnt library was not going to serve an Obiozor even if he lived to be a hundred years. The library was for posterity and the younger generation would have benefited from it. It is a loss to generations of Imo citizens and Nigeria as a whole. We pray he finds peace that he preached all his life.

(Source: thenationonlineng.net)