Senator (Dr.) Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, was simply amazing and ubiquitous; a man of diverse parts. He was a business mogul, a politician of unparalleled sagacity, community leader, philanthropist and religious leader.
When he established The AUTHORITY Newspaper Group among his several chain of companies in October 2015, the entire world was stunned that a man of such ubiquitous dimensions like Sen. Ubah was only 46 years old.
Before he transited to glory on 27th July, 2024, he had made a trajectory across every facet of life. Although he would have clocked exactly 52 years in 3rd September, Sen. Ubah had cascaded through several forays which stuns not just his age brackets, but the entire nation, as how such a young man could have mustered such energy, compunction, vigour and panache to achieve all that he had achieved within a short period of time, without the prompting or support of family, business or political mentor (god father) or anybody howsoever.
In his lifetime, Ifeanyi Ubah had packed into his kitty, achievements that several equally gifted people managed to garner in several decades. To several of his age mates, he remained an enigma; to the younger generation, a role model; to the political class, a cat with nine lives, having survived the highest form of what has been known as political Armageddon, political mines and mischief unparalleled number of times.
In spite of the misconceptions and often outright falsehood laced around his personality, he had surmounted all and emerged victorious, smiling as if it was mere tea party, and never a big deal. Several of his friends and family members say his tendency not to nurse grudges or place such on his face was why some mischief makers even tag him with some of the most dangerous allegations, which had remained unsubstantiated even as he took bold steps to repudiate such dangerous toga placed on his personality. But, Nigerians now know better, Sen. Ubah was merely being blackmailed by his political adversaries who feel so terribly bitter that he could turn stones to bread, riding on a relatively unknown Young Progressives Party (YPP) aagainst all odds to emerge a Senator in a cosmopolitan and highly educated Anambra South Senatorial Zone.
Even in death, there so many things to celebrate about Ifeanyi, Ebubechukwuzo Nnewi. Senator Ubah, to his close associates, was an enigma worthy of celebration anytime, any day.
Born on September 3rd, 1971 to the humble family of Mr. & Mrs. Alphonsus Ubah of Otolo Nnewi in Anambra State of Nigeria, it has become obvious he was never a silver, nor golden spoon child. He was born, with no spoons at all. His parents were mere village teachers, one of those colonially-trained knicker-wraring teachers, but worked tirelessly, with their meagre earnings, to cater for the upbringing of Ifeanyi and his six siblings, a daunting task, one must say.
It was while at Okongwu Memorial Grammar School, Nnewi, that his special talents first emerged. Following his fate, he opted to step out of school to go into business to supplement his parents’ meagre income so as to train his younger ones, a decision that almost broke his father’s heart.
Since then, there had been no stopping Ifeanyi, who started right from his years of apprenticeship to ascend swiftly up the ladders and outclass even his mentors.
With the apprenticeship knowledge gained, he had remained focused, determined and aimed higher at every point and turn. When it was an anathema to step outside the shores of Nigeria, he moved to Ghana as a tyre export merchant, where he established a thriving business at the age of 18! By 19, Ifeanyi had become a millionaire – a rare feat in those days.
The sectarian crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone created the opportunity for him to flee to Central Africa, the Congo DRC precisely, where as a key player in automobile parts business, he became both an economic and political force in that country. He was the president of the Nigerian community and an influential player whose voice was highly regarded by the government of Congo.
His influence were such that his intelligence, astuteness and other capabilities were soon recognized by the powers-that-be in the DRC. Consequently, he became the nation’s official envoy to several countries on the continent and beyond, where he negotiated intricate business and political deals.
His leadership qualities manifested eminently through his support for other Nigerian businessmen and women, and his decision to cater for Nigerians displaced in Congo Brazzaville and Gabon, during the sectarian crises in those countries.
It was the same daring dexterity that he put in to navigate one of his companies, Capital Oil SPRL, to become one of the mega dealers in the oil and gas sector which easily established him as a business mogul extraordinary.
Dr Ifeanyi Ubah established Capital Oil and Gas Industries Ltd in 2011 and it easily became a key player in the nation’s downstream petroleum industry. Having started as a mere haulage and retail of petroleum products, Capital Oil grew to a distribution and storage octopus, with four largest petroleum storage depots in the country, equipped with 32 loading arms and, a combined facility to berth three to six vessels simultaneously.
As a nationalist, he had deployed his assets in the industry to severally break the lingering and dangerous oligopoly in the oil sector which has bounced back and currently bugging the fortunes of Nigerians with their several shenanigan actions, seen by several Nigerians to be unpatriotic. Had Sen. Ubah lived longer, the lingering crises, unconscionable price increases, inability to repair national petroleum refineries, poor distribution system and terrible accountability process would have been broken; that’s his Hallmark and he would have done that as he did before, when the oven was even hotter.
The AUTHORITY recalls that during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Ifeanyi Ubah would single handedly deploy his assets in the Capital Oil to tear down the several oligopolistic induced crises in that sector, making the administration to breath.
As some mischief makers tried to taunt his fate-induced low educational background, but being a never-say-die personality, the late business mogul, decided to prove that he does not believe in impossiblities which is why bedore his transition, he had garnered degrees in different aspects of academics, including an LLB (Law) from the prestigious Base University.
Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah has proven that wealth without public empathy and positive public viva voce is worthless, which was why he diversified to sports and philanthropy. The story and fortunes of the Ifeanyi Ubah Football Club and Stadium, remains a big story on its own. His support to the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), his legendary annual football and sports fiesta and the huge infrastructural support to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University and the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where during the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic, Sen. Ubah mobilised over N500 million to put up befitting structures and purchased medical equipments, for the educational and health institution, have remained appreciated by the institutions.
Convinced that politics remains the real game changer to bringing life and circumstance to his people, he joined politics and as usual, would neither be a sombre member nor one who would not be impactful, he delved into it to the extent that the nation’s political history will remain incomplete without reasonable chapter devoted to the Ifeanyi Ubah phenomenon.
When he delved into politics in Anambra State to vie for governorship, it was the interest of the youths that was his propelling force and beacon. When he set up the Ifeanyi Ubah Football Club, which took Nigerian football by storm, winning championship laurel within few years of its debut into the Nigerian league. He had an agreement with the English premier league Westham Football Club in London, the first Nigerian club side to do so.
With Sen. Ubah’s Midas Touch, The AUTHORITY newspaper, made history as the second Nigerian newspaper to go daily on its first day of publication on October.
Sen. Ubah was a contented man especially as he enjoyed a very stable and happy family life in partnership co-anchored by his loving and ami- able wife, Mrs. Uchenna Ubah, an astute and smart graduate of Business Administration, and who, definitely, remained the very powerful anchor in Ifeanyi’s life time.
The Ebube-Chukwu-Uzo of Nnewi, is so sagacious that even if we devote this issue of our newspaper to his life and times, it might not be enough. But suffice it for us to say that at 52 Sen. Ubah came, saw, conquered and impacted with positive marks on the sand of time.
We join his political and business associates, the Nnewi Community, his friends and well wishes in wishing his family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
The late Ebube Chukwu-Uzo, a man who possessed immutable pedigree, jack of all trades who mastered all of them, a very memorable repose to your soul. May your soul rest in the blossom of God Almighty, amen.
QUOTES:
- Sen. Ubah to several of his age mates, remained an enigma; to the younger generation, a role model; to the political class, a cat with nine lives
- Ebube Chukwu-Uzo, a man who possessed immutable pedigree, jack of all trades who mastered all of them, a very memorable repose to your soul
