Ifesinachi: The Legend Of Igwe James Ogbonnaya Mamah

By Chuks OLUIGBO

June 1, 2011 marked one year that Igwe James Ogbonnaya Mamah, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Ifesinachi Group of Companies, passed on at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the United States of America. Today, he is fondly remembered by the Igbo race, especially the people of Umuozzi in Enugu State, for his immeasurable contributions to the development of the community in his lifetime.

Late Igwe J. O. Mamah (Ifesinachi)

Life And Times

As someone once wrote about the late great son of Igboland, business mogul and philanthropist of note, a peep into his life and times can be likened to “an intriguing enquiry into the ontology of human resilience; into the infinitude of the height and space available to every person for advancement and self-actualization, even in the absence of an ennobling pedigree. It may indeed be likened to an epistemological foray into the dialectics of the triumph of the human with over-daunting circumstances; into the boundless compass or horizon of progress for those who strive, who dare, and hence, venture into the certainty of victory.”

His Royal Majesty, Igwe James O. Mamah, Ekwueme 1 of Ugbaike, Ohabuenyi 1 of Umuozzi Autonomous Community, and traditional ruler of Umuozzi, Enugu State, was born in 1944, in the heat of World War II. His father, Mamah Apeh, died about a month before he was born. To mitigate the pain of his paternal loss, he was named Ogbonnaya, meaning “his father’s incarnate”, a name anchored on the belief that the late Mamah Apeh was back in the new born baby.

Knowing no father, the young Ogbonnaya was left to the care of a step-father, Ossai Ike. Unfortunately, and as if death was determined to keep him permanently on the ground, Ossai Ike died too, and that ended the dream of further Western education for James, even though he had successfully passed the entrance examination to St. Augustine ’s College, Onitsha.

So, he left school. But he would not join other youths of his time who made a vocation of farming and roaming the verdant forests of Enugu-Ezike hunting for nchi, igero, osa, and other animals. He had a dream: to ultimately conquest want, demystify affluence and influence, dominate the business firmament, and become a force to reckon with in black Africa. And he would grow, with time, from a lowly, deprived, obsequious runner of errands into a business mogul who would later bestride the business terrain like of colossus.

In 1960, Ogbonnaya moved to Onitsha, where he worked a houseboy in the house of a certain Mr Gabriel Broderick of No. 5B, Venn Road, Onitsha. But his sojourn there was not destined to last long. A sudden illness forced him to return home. When he recovered, he opted to join the Police Force. All the efforts of his elder brother to get him enlisted proved abortive.

In disappointment, Ogbonnaya travelled to Sapele in the then Mid-Western Region where he worked briefly as a lumberman. He did very well in the log business, aided by his height of over six feet and his well-developed muscles. In Sapele, he learnt the culture of saving, and in no time he had made a little savings with which he returned to Onitsha to try his hand in other things.

At Onitsha, he bought a truck and joined the truck pushing business. Within one year, 1961-1962, he had acquired six trucks and began to rent out trucks to fellow truck pushers. At the same time, he worked as a conductor on the side, apprenticed to one Chief Michael Okoh. He later sold all his trucks, then twelve in number, and on May 2, 1965, bought his first vehicle, a partly used mini-bus, at the price of one hundred and two pounds.

When it was time to name his business, Ogbonnaya, like a true Igbo son, after meditating over his life, his orphanhood, early struggles, and the penurious circumstances of his mother, circumstances that led to her death in utter misery, came up with the name, Ihe Uwa Si Na Chi, an acknowledgement of destiny as the determinant of human affairs. Thus, the Ifesinachi Transport business was born.

He then went into business partnership with Mr Martin Odo, a motor spare parts dealer. Between them, they had five vehicles but at the outbreak of Nigerian Civil War in 1967, they went their separate ways. At the end of the war in 1970, Ogbonnaya returned to Onitsha to pick up the pieces of his war-ravaged vehicles. Two years later, he bought a second-hand 911 Mercedes Benz lorry at 900 pounds. The vehicle was nicknamed Awala-Awala, a metonym for speed or easy locomotion. And he drove it by himself. As a driver, he was the travellers’ delight and, in the course of time, he was nicknamed “De Governor’s Benz”.

In 1974, Ogbonnaya bought another 911 lorry from Leventis Motors Ltd on hire purchase at the cost of 1500 pounds. By 1977, Ifesinachi Motors had ten lorries in its kitty. The emergent transport whiz-kid confounded business rivals and admirers when he bought a brand new, well appointed Mercedes Benz model 0364 (a.k.a. Brazil), bringing the total number of buses in the fleet to ten.

In spite of these accomplishments, Ogbonnaya still continued to drive, carrying passengers on the long, stressful, perilous journey to Lagos. It was not until his employees prevailed on him to cease carrying passengers that he let go and ascended to the more befitting and dignifying position of MD/CEO of Ifesinachi Transport Ltd, a company that has today acquired offices in two-thirds of the states of Nigeria, with three regional headquarters in Abuja, Lagos and Onitsha.

Igwe Mamah did not confine himself to the transport business alone. He also diversified into the areas of petroleum, vegetable oil production, courier services, and banking. His other businesses include Ifesinachi Petroleum (IFEPET) Ltd, Jamesongigye Vegetable Oil Nig. Ltd, Ifex Express Ltd, and so on.

The  introduction of community banking system by the then government of General Ibrahim Babangida inspired Igwe J. O. Mamah into community banking which he brought down to his people to encourage them to save and invest. On 25 February 1993, the Umuozzi Community Bank was commissioned. He also established Obollo Urban Community Bank at Obollo Afor. With the introduction of Microfinance Banking system by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Umuozzi and Obollo Urban Community Banks were issued with banking licences and began operations as microfinance banks.

In appreciation of the standard he set at Umuozzi Community Bank, Igwe Mamah was nominated as the patron of National Association of Community Banks in Nigeria.

The Royal Stool

James Ogbonnaya Mamah was very prominent among Nsukka indigenes living at Onitsha. He fought doggedly for the cause of the Nsukka man in particular, and of the Wawa man in general. He fought with courage and determination the stigma attached to the name “Wawa man”, “Nwa Nsukka”, and so on, with the result that the name became even more associated with success. And so, on December 22, 1988, in recognition of his contributions, he was crowned the Igwe of Umuozzi Community. His candidature for the stool was unanimously adopted.

In an effort to raise the standard of the traditional stool in Enugu State by the then military administrator, Colonel Mike Torey, Igwe J. O. Mamah was nominated as the first vice chairman of the Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers. His performance earned him the royal support of his colleagues who then nominated him as the state chairman in 2000. He reigned successfully throughout his tenure and, at the time of his death, he was the Patron of the Traditional Rulers Council of Enugu State.     

Family Life

Igwe Mamah was a very good family man. In 1970, he married Nnemuruoha (Mrs.) Grace Mamah (Nee Agbedo), and in 1984 he also got married to Mrs. Patricia Mamah. Both marriages were blessed with twelve children: six boys and six girls.

Philanthropic Works

Like St James, his patron saint, Igwe Mamah believed that faith without good work is dead. His philanthropic works cut across charity, education and human development. Some of these include the construction of a multi-million naira resort centre for the University of Nigeria Alumni Association in 1990; moral and financial support to the Faculties of Agriculture and Engineering at UNN and also the Faculty of Engineering at ESUT and IMT, respectively; founding and sustaining the Community High School (formerly Technical School), Ugbaike; drilling of a borehole for his community for water distribution, which was commissioned by the then military administrator, late Air Commodore Emeka Omeruah; single handed sponsorship of the rural electrification project of his village and his financial support to other communities in Enugu Ezike and beyond for rural electrification projects; sponsorship of sports activities by the donation of trophies and reasonable sum of money; and remarkable donation during the launching of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.

He was also a prime mover of Adada State creation, to which he contributed immeasurably, and a member of the Committee for the Actualization of the Creation of Adada State.

Honours And Awards

In his lifetime, he received numerous awards and honours, both local and international. They included Nigerian Road Safety Commission Safety Transporter of the Year Award (1990); Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Award (1990); Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCO) Award (1990); Nigerian Union of Journalists Life Patron Award (1991); Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Best Transporter of the Year Award (1992); Nigerian Union of Journalists Best Transporter of the Year Award (1992); First Patron, Center for American Studies, CAST, University of Nigeria Nsukka (1999); University of Nigeria Distinguished Alumni Development Award (2001); Justice of Peace, JP, (2001); National Merit Award of Member of Federal Republic, MFR (2002); and Doctor of Business Administration, DBA, (Honoris Causa), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2006).

Final Word
Continue to rest in peace, the great Ifesinachi, worthy son of Igboland. We miss you, but we are consoled that the legacy you left behind will continue to remind us that someone like you once passed through this land. Adieu!