Emeka Anyaoku
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The Right Honourable Chief Emeka Anyaoku GCVO CFR CON |
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|---|---|
| 3rd Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations | |
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In office 1 July 1990 – 31 March 2000 |
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| Head | Elizabeth II |
| Chairperson | Thabo Mbeki (South Africa) |
| Preceded by | Sir Shridath Ramphal |
| Succeeded by | Don McKinnon |
| Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs | |
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In office 1983 – 1 July 1990 |
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| Head | Elizabeth II |
| Secretary-General | Sir Shridath Ramphal |
| Preceded by | M.A. Husain |
| Succeeded by | Vacancy |
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In office 1977–1983 |
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| Preceded by | Vacancy |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Siaguru |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 January 1933 |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Spouse(s) | Princess Bunmi Anyaoku (m. 1962) |
| Children | 4 |
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, GCVO, CFR, CON (born 18 January 1933) is a Nigerian politician of Igbo descent. He was the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. Born in Obosi, Anyaoku was educated at Merchants of Light School, Oba, and attended the University College of Ibadan, then a college of the University of London, from which he obtained an honours degree in Classics as a College Scholar. Aside from his international career, Chief Anyaoku continues to fulfill the duties of his office as Ichie Adazie of Obosi, a traditional Ndichie chieftainship.
Eleazar Chukwuemeka [Emeka] Anyaoku was born on 18 January 1933 to Emmanuel and Cecilia Anyaoku in Obosi, then a very large village in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Anyaoku had been educated to the middle school level after his primary education at the CMS school in Onitsha under the guardianship of Reverend William Blackett a Christian Missionary. After his education he worked first with the railways and later in the hospital in Kaduna in the Northern part of Nigeria before becoming a catechist. After serving for a number of years, he went back to his village to farm. He became Ononukpo (Head) of Okpuno Ire, a quarter in Ire, the largest village in Obosi.
Cecilia, née Adiba Ogbogu, was married as second wife by Emmanuel when he returned from Kaduna after following the death of his first wife. Cecilia hailed from a family in Ugamuma quarter of Obosi. She grew up at the home of Rev. Ekpunobi, her guardian, who was the first Obosi citizen to be ordained as an Anglican Priest. He was regarded as one of the most enlightened and educated in the community then. Cecilia stayed with the Ekpunobi family as a ward. Rev. Ekpunobi, on learning of the death of Emmanuel’s wife, invited him to his home and subsequently convinced Emmanuel and Adiba to marry each other. Their first child, a girl, did not survive. Thereafter, Emeka was born and he has five siblings.
Emeka Anyaoku at the age of seven was sent to live with his father’s only brother, Egwuenu Anyaoku, at Umuahia to start schooling in a very rural school. The highest class then at the school was standard four. The colonial dispensation then generally did not encourage pupils to go beyond standard four or standard six. At the age of 10, in 1943, Emeka was sent to stay with his father’s cousin, Nathaniel Enwezor who was Headmaster at CMS Central School at Agbor, 75 km from Obosi.
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Wikipedia