I never felt threatened by him. He was a beautiful person.
This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma Nnama, The Owelle of Nibo!, 68, born on June 14, 1945 and passed away on March 27, 2014. We will remember him forever.
Tributes
Leave a tributeI never felt threatened by him. He was a beautiful person.
You would be so proud of your kids who i spent time with gisting and laughing and it was like i was back laughing with you...
You can never be forgotten.....
#KingAmongstMen
I remember you today as always for your love, kindness and generosity - three words that still perfectly describe you. 2 yrs after you left us, i found a piece of fabric in your room and made a dress out of it. My giving uncle, you would have let me have it had you but caught me briefly glancing at it. You remain very much alive in my heart and i am much richer for having known you. Thanks for showing us a more excellent way. Rest in peace Ichie Owelle!
Nibo can't be the same without you.
Miss you much much.
I will miss you Big Uncle! "The memory of the righteous is blessed"- Prvbs 10:7. We shall always remember your exemplary lifestyle especially your spirit of "Nwanne".
I will not forget the first day I met you through my friend and sister Lommy. It was such joy and fun for us to listen as you told us the story of how were are cousins! You were a father to even the friends of your children. You had a special way of making those around you smile!
I shed tears like a baby when I saw the email of your demise. "How could this be?" I asked myself!
May you continue to rest in the Lord's bosom, till we meet to part no more.
Adieu Owelle of Nibo!
I was touched just being at your wake. I now know it is fine to have a vision and strive hard to make it work no matter the obstacles or what people say.
It is said that Nibo has lost a great son but I say, Nigeria has lost a great gem. May your murders and generations of theirs yet unborn, never find peace. Sleep on Doc.
retirement date. The factory recall for my man - the one and only OWELLE Nibo, the Grand Prince of the Nibo ancient kingdom of the Achebe King with 63 wives, the war dynamo man, the Okigwe bush crude oil refining miracle worker that rode on the Thermodynamic laws of entropy to produce win the war petroleum without water cooling, the pathfinder who sowed the seed for the liberalization of the radio and TV monopoly that birthed private Radio and TV Broadcasting in Nigeria via the papers at the Information, Telecommunications and Media Policy Retreat at ASCON Badagry, the prophet who cancelled the cheeky idea that telefone is not for the poor and in 1999 December revealed in the NCC Millenium Calendar the GSM revolution
and assured Nigerians that the fisherman, the palm wine tapper, the okada rider, the market woman, the cocoa farmer, the groundnut pyramid porter will use a hand held phone very soon, the man who shelled the NITEL godfathers and mafia to submission via the Nigerian Stakeholders meeting of the Muson Center that birthed the people's Magna Carta that liberated the Nigerian Telecoms industry and had NITEL register as ONE of the service providers instead of the holding funnel for all telecom service providers in a Nigeria. That is the dividends of the gsm and liberated Telecoms you enjoy today. He suffered personal losses for it but did not care having achieved his objectives and produced the first draft of the Convergence Law for Information - Radio, TV and Telecoms. The ebullient and vivacious OWELLE ndi Uwa - Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma Nnama, KSC, Mr.
Telecoms has been recalled to the factory to rest and watch us complete the dreams of the Great Nigeria we have dreamed and talked about. Cut down in cold blood by the bullets of an assassin or armed robber in within the walls of his ancestral maternal home in Nibo. The loss is colossal but will not be all in vain. In life, he was a giant of a man. In revolutionary ideas, he was a pace setter and pathfinder, his name opened doors here and there. A man of the people. He will never die to be forgotten soon. He lives on now in glory and in our great memories. Adieu, my friend and partner. On a day like this, all dins are forgiven and all wrongs erased. Our dreams and efforts at national development were not on vain. Ideas ruled the world. Ideas were shared, visions were evangelized and some takers did run with them. For that we praised God. We did have fatigues of expectation. Yes but alas now, Your ultimate rewards awaits your great soul. Do have a good rest. You deserve to rest from your many labours. Good night brother Emma!!! Catch you later later. Owerri 0600 hrs. 290314
The hefty fines on the none performing and poor quality service telecom operators paid to and enjoyed by NCC is an injustice and dis service to the consumers who lost time and money suffering the poor or even non existing services. NCC has remained a regulator and policeman who will not police or protect consumers from thieving fraud infested Telecom service providers. Nigeria has the highest tariffs for voice, data and multimedia services and yet the poorest quality of service and no one to protect the consumer or make the providers sit up. NCC must monitor the grade of services, promotions, rip offs, low bandwidth provisions, the high tariffs, the charges for no service rendered or consumed because of unavailability of service etc. each service provider must have clear mapings of their areas of signal strengths which they should advice the consumers of so they can limit themselves to the zones of good reception and service. The over subscriptions that leave people with crippling slow speeds or no service is a fraud and dis service to the economy as so much executive and prime work time is wasted waiting for sluggish internet
services as downloads take ages and your stress and frustrations take
their toll on your health and purse. There must be a way to repay the
consumers for services paid for and not consumed because of poor services and over stretching of the networks. The spurious and fraud infested advertising gimmicks is another area NCC and the consumer protection agencies must take urgent action. This raping of Nigerians by all comers has to stop. If those given regulatory functions to carry out cannot do their work, try others.
Righteousness exalts a nation and people but sin is reproach any society.How and why has Israel survived till date since Abraham?
The race often does not go to the swiftest or the most intelligent or most hardworking. There is a grace factor and an element of Divine mercy that paves way for one not to get what he deserves but in place gets to have what he/she did not deserve or earn by self effort. The will of God flying the flags of divine mercy and Favour and riding on divine grace calls the results.
Yes! There may be queries, anger, doubts and shakings. Dere duooo. Atamu kwala. God knows best. Can God be late to a crime scene?
No! Only God knows why He allows certain things to happen for reasons best known to Him. In our pain at this time, let us submit and accept that God knows best and was not unmindful of us. Then you will bear, nerves rudely Jared 'll be calmed and you get to survive the loss of physical presence and fellowship. As for ever forgetting the OWELLE, that's not possible. He will be alive and dancing his ijele in our hearts and dreams. Onye obula
jisike. Amara zuru gi di.
Echi Nwogu 0600 hrs 290314
On Thursday, April 3, 2014 5:13 AM, Echi wrote:
The OWELLE Recall.
http://scannewsnigeria.com/news/former-ncc-boss-assassinated-by-gun-men-in-anambra/
It was a sad sad" Thursday night. Obu otua ka dimkpa Nwoke madu si na nmuoo?.? Eligwe na uwa na aju ajuju.
Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma Nnama, the OWELLE Nibo, the grand Prince and don of the great Igbo King with 63 wives in Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The King that ceded to the colonial government much of the crown and government land in Amawbia and Awka. The OWELLE ndi uwa that as an Umuahian was the toast of the Hockey and cricket teams at GCU and ABU as well as the outstanding scout and navy cadet in the 60s. A versatile Electrical Engineering student at ABU, a civil war veteran with inventions and win the war innovations especially in the revolution of domestic refining of crude oil in air cooled systems by deploying the thermodynamics law of entropy. He revolutionized the NPA communications between Apapa and Marina HQ, changed the NPA earnings from Naira to Dollar under Gen Haladu, a vocal and well known delegate on the Nigerian delegation to the ITU for more than 3 decades since 1974. He it was who stopped the ITU meeting proceedings till the ITU parliament accepted to allocate GSM frequencies to Nigeria and other yet to develop nations that were to be bypassed more than 2 decades before the arrival and deployment of the GSM technology worldwide. At the NCC, he stood his ground against the obnoxious un patriotic rogue IT policy that would have ruined the liberalization drive and scared away the investors. It required that all service providers to go through the Funnel of The NITEL international gateway. The feat of that is in the realms of a James Bond classic. The Owelle's 6 months stint at the NCC laid the foundation for the GSM auction and the first ever draft of the ICT convergence law. His prophetic Millennium calendar put paid to the cheeky philosophy that telephone is not for the poor. The OWELLE laughed last on the unbelieving Thomases who in late 1999 could not believe him that Nigeria could in 6 months jump from under 4,000 functional telephone lines go up to 10,000 lines. The rest is history today. He opened the way. He was an altruistic incorruptible public servant. Though proud and articulate, he was never anyone's push over. A socialite and an uncommon man of charity and un surpassing humaneness. Like able, entertaining and positive spirit wherever his presence blessed. Owelle's rude recall at the hands of miscreants of the day is a colossal and inestimable loss. This is an uncommon man who sacrificed and suffered so much to spread national development ideas to all and Sundry without caring for reward or acknowledgement. He goes back to God at this time to receive his heavenly rewards for a life that touched and impacted people and nation. I do sympathies with those who were unfair to him (your case with him will now be decided in the upstairs chambers of the Ultimate Judge) and with those who did not know him closely. The OWELLE lives on in the hearts of those who knew and cherished his great soul. The OWELLE Nibo now rests from his labours. Adieu OWELLE
The OWELLE was an International Telecoms regulator per excellence having been at nearly all ITU conferences on policy and regulations for more than 3 decades from 1974. The continued poor services of the Nigerian telecom Service Providers have been a great concern yo him. The absence of effective policing of the Nigerian a Telecoms industry pained OWELLE so much. This below is how he would usually feel on such issues.
http://www.humanipo.com/news/41793/painful-sanctions-will-make-telecoms-improve-their-qos-ncc/
The hefty fines on the none performing and poor quality service telecom operators paid to and enjoyed by NCC is an injustice and dis service to the consumers who lost time and money suffering the poor or even non existing services. NCC has remained a regulator and policeman who will not police or protect consumers from thieving fraud infested Telecom service providers. Nigeria has the highest tariffs for voice, data and multimedia services and yet the poorest quality of service and no one to protect the consumer or make the providers sit up. NCC must monitor the grade of services, promotions, rip offs, low bandwidth provisions, the high tariffs, the charges for no service rendered or consumed because of un availability of service etc. each service provider must have clear mapings of their areas of signal strengths which they should advice the consumers of so they can limit themselves to the zones of good reception and service. The over subscriptions that leave people with crippling slow speeds or no service is a fraud and dis service to the economy as so much executive and prime work time is wasted waiting for sluggish internet services as downloads take ages and your stress and frustrations take their toll on your health and purse. There must be a way to repay the consumers for services paid for and not consumed because of poor services and over stretching of the networks. The spurious and fraud infested advertising gimmicks is another area NCC and the consumer protection agencies must take urgent action. This raping of Nigerians by all comers has to stop. If those given regulatory functions to carry out cannot do their work, try others.
Yes! There may be queries, anger, doubts and shakings. Dere duooo. Atamu kwala. God knows best. Can God be late to a crime scene? No! Only God knows why He allows certain things to happen for reasons best known to Him. In our pain at this time, let us submit and accept that God knows best and was not unmindful of us. Then you will bear, nerves rudely Jared 'll be calmed and you get to survive the loss of physical presence and fellowship. As for ever forgetting the OWELLE, that's not possible. He will be alive and dancing his ijele in our hearts and dreams. Onye obula jisike. Amara zuru gi di.
Uncle Emma Nnama,
The news of your sudden demise was one filled with questions----Why?, How?,Where?,What? and Who?
The answers were not forth coming, but the thoughts of you filled my mind, asking...is this how you have gone to the land of no-return?.
Memories of you flooded my mind knowing that we will never see you again.
I could still remember it as if it was just yesterday, when my phone rang one night.I answered not knowing who was calling until you spoke, you jokingly told me you were coming to my house but after discussing over the phone, you told me you were in London but had to call as you would be travelling back to Nigeria the next day.
As jovial and witty as you were, you told me you will be coming back and that my wife and I should make room for you, we were actually waiting for your visit only to hear of your sudden demise at a young age of 68.
Uncle Emma, you will be highly missed but we know that we should not mourn or sorrow like those who do not have hope( 1 Thessalonian 4:13).
We will meet to part no more, Adieu Uncle Emma Nnama. .
Your demise was a shocking news that brought tears to my eyes. And you made me remember what it was like to cry like a baby. On that dreadful day, God decided it was your time, your time to go, so He took your life away. It's harder than I ever thought life could be without you. So the family will always think of you, and we will always know that you'll be looking down on us keeping us safe making sure everything is okay in our lives, making sure that we live an exemplary life just like you did.
To me you're more than an Uncle, you’re truly a great friend. Someone I could pour my thoughts out to knowing you'll cherish them to the end.
You've made me laugh, when I wanted to cry. You’ve made me stronger, when I felt so weak.
Day by day I think of you, how can all of this be true? can't believe you're really gone,
I still can't accept it, even after so long.Just the thought of you makes me cry,
I never even got the chance to say goodbye. I never imagined you'd ever be so far away.
You were my brother, and I loved you like no other. In my heart you'll always be,
I’ll never forget your kind voice and your selfless generosity.
So now I guess this is my goodbye...
Rest in Peace ICHIE OWELLE NIBO. A GREAT ICON.
Written by Prince Uche Nnama and Family.
May his soul rest in eternal peace.
May the all Almighty grant you eternal rest . Sleep well.
Ichie Owelle, my Ichie Gbam-Gbam Dum-Dum, I lack words to express the excruciatingly painful sense of loss and heartbreak I feel as a result of your shocking demise. Words truly fail me.
In my early years of marriage, the worry and anxiety that usually greet most new wives were doused because of your love and wise counsel to me. I experienced acceptance from you like none other. You, in your very own subtle, sweet and unique way always trivialised all those turbulence that came my way, assuring me always that all would be well. I trusted you, and trust me, all indeed truly became well, to God’s Glory.
Owelle, you were much older than me, but in you I found true friendship. In a land that appeared foreign to me at the time, you became my brother and father with your genuine show of undiluted love and care. You made me feel so much at home. You single-handedly made it much easier that it actually was.
Everyone who knows me well knew about you and how very dear you were to me, because I talked about you with so much pride, love and appreciation. I am deeply saddened and heartbroken that I was not able to reciprocate this love in a way that would have given me great joy before this cruelty befell you. However, I would do my very best to honour you by upholding everything good that you taught me and stood for. The vacuum that your demise has created, no one can fill; we can only try. You have gone to be with the Lord, that is right, but I know that you will always be with us in spirit.
Rest in the bossom of the Almighty, my dearest Brother, Father and Friend, until we reunite to part no more.
TOCHI ORJI–NNAMA (Your Tochy)
Ichie Owelle my uncle, my father and my brother what can I say, there is no word or sentence good enough to describe Owelle the man of the people, every one that new you or came across you have great things to say, you where ahead of your generation, you where always the pace setter in all you do, they only killed your flesh but you’re spirit and footprints on earth will live forever. You inspired generations after you owelle we are going to miss you because there can never be another Engr. Dr. E.C NNAMA ICHIE OWELLE OF NIBO THE COME ONCE IN a LIFE TIME.
They said is not how long you lived but how great you lived, do we are not happy how the men of evil snatched you away from us but as Christian we are thought not to ask question.
OWELLE NNAM WITH DEEP SORROW IN MY HEART AND TEARS IN MY EYES I SAY REST WELL IN THE BOSSOM OF THE LORD UNTIL WE SEE TO PART NO MORE.
I SAY ADIEU TO THE LORD ANOINTED.
Uncle Emma was the first action hero i ever had the good fortune of meeting. While there is a void that can never be filled following his passing, the memories he has left in all our hearts are bound to become legendary.
From a hard childhood, loss, and separation from family, he managed to carve out a meaningful life for himself. He was academically astute (a trait passed on to all his kids), athletic, energetic, very wise (even in his youth) and full of life. Despite several lows, he managed to come back from the abyss several times. In one lifetime, its almost impossible to achieve.
While we may all still be seething with anger in the manner of his passing, i am thankful that we all managed to meet an extraordinary individual. There are very few who he hadn't helped or left a lasting impression on. I am also thankful that he managed to see his grand kids and they got to spend time with their grandfather. It does still anger me though that future grand kids have been denied the opportunity of meeting an incredible man.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 116:15).
So when my last breath
Shall rend the veil in twain
By death I shall escape from death
And life eternal gain. —Montgomery
It is with heavy heart I write a tribute in respect of our own Eze Omenka of Okwelle. You were several things to so many people. You were an institution moving on a very fast lane and miles ahead of several of your contemporaries. You left without a sign that you were embarking on a journey of no return.
The sudden passing of Dr E. C Nnama will remain one of my greatest personal losses of a loving, unassuming and brilliant brother and friend. You were, of a truth, a real friend!
Your untimely exits will no doubt, a great tragedy to all the good people of Nibo and institutions where you had your sway like NPA, NCC and the Telecomms world at large.
I am deeply distressed by the demise of this erudite scholar who has become my close associate and brother for several decades. You were a solution in the defunct Biafra, in NPA, you piloted the dollar scheme, in NCC, you brought CDMA cum GSM at a time when others perceived that telephone was for the rich only. You were an innovator to our generation.
I condole with my aunt, Nene, for the huge pains your exit will cause her. You were indeed her closest friend. And to his children, we have lost a great man; whose companionship had made a remarkable impact on various people.
Sleep in the bosom of the Lord.
Leave a Tribute
I never felt threatened by him. He was a beautiful person.
One of many benevolence of my oga, I Ichie Owelle of Africa, Engr Dr. E.C. Nnama(of blessed memory)
Thank God he left such legacy as displayed
by his children. God bless Owelle plenty plenty. If life could be repeated, I would like to meet him again and again
Imela Owelle Imela
The news of Owelle's sudden passing came as a very big shock to me, especially after hearing how it had happened. As I sat and reminisced of the relationship I had with owelle it occurred to me how much of an influence he had in most our (Akwiwu's) lives. From my first vacation in Lagos, first speed boat ride, first bar beach visit (where fortunately he saved me from drowning). My first trip to the US was also from Owelle's house.
Owelle's brings joy and happiness to every enviroment he steps into, His generosity knew no bounds for two years while I lived with my aunty in Enugu the only other person I looked forward to visiting besides my parents was Owelle because of his attitude and all the goodies he brought along including pocket money.
Our first "iti mmuo" experience was courtesy of Owelle and his "igba and Ogene drummers from Nibo when they descended on us in the early 80's in Abba, this also happens to be my first encounter money spraying. Owelle is also responsible for bringing us the first life band that I enjoyed to Abba (Eddy Okonta) growing up. I can go on and on about all the first's Owelle made happen because he was just that kind of guy.
Owelle without a doubt is first among his pears in a lot of endeavours as you must have read in his biography.A jolly good fellow who has impacted the entire Akwiwu family positively. You shall remain in our memories and will be forever missed. Owelle 2,Owelle Ndi Igbo. Ime la.
Okem M. O Akwiwu
AkuAbba