Late Jaja Anucha Ndubuisi Wachuku, was a Pan-Africanist and a Nigerian statesman, lawyer, politician, diplomat and humanitarian.
He was the first Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives; as well as the first Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Also, Wachuku was the first Nigerian Minister for Foreign Affairs. Notably, Wachuku was a Royal Prince of Ngwaland, “descendant of 20 generations of African chiefs in the Igbo country of Eastern Nigeria”.
Wachuku, who was “widely respected” as Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria intervened with the South African government and helped save Nelson Mandela and others from the death penalty at the 1963–64 Rivonia Trial.In his 1962 diary, from Lagos: Nigeria, Nelson Mandela wrote: “Friday 18 May 1962: 1pm: We meet Mr. Jaja Wachuku and his staff and have a profitable discussion. Saturday 19 May 1962: We have lunch with Jaja Wachuku.”
On Thursday 30 September 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria conferred on Wachuku a posthumous special Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary Award for his outstanding contributions towards the development of Nigeria. Also, for the 1 January 2014 100-year anniversary of Nigeria, having been nominated for exceptional recognition by the Presidential Committee on the Centenary Celebrations, Wachuku was, on Friday 28 February 2014, honoured as a Hero of the Struggle for Nigeria’s Independence from Great Britain and a Pioneer Political Leader by President Goodluck Jonathan.
On Friday 6 March 2020, Ireland’s Trinity College Dublin honoured Wachuku with a prominent portrait placed within the university’s Historical Society; where Wachuku graduated in 1944 with first class honours degree in Legal Sciences; and was a member of College Historical Society.
Born in 1918, Wachuku was 78 years on his death at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu, during the late morning of Thursday, 7 November 1996. Wachuku’s nephew, author Ugonna Wachuku, wrote a poetic dedication to his uncle titled: Some Memories Never Die. On 20 October 1961, Time wrote an article and news report on Wachuku and his diplomatic activities at the United Nations entitled “Pride of Africa.”
Source: wikipedia.org
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
