By Abdullahi Yelwa

My mentor, leader and publisher, Chief Dr. Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo, has added a new year to his exemplary and fulfilled life today. What a life! A globalist-nationalist, a radical with conscience, a socialist with wealth, Ichie Arthur Nwankwo is an intellectual colossus like no other. 

I first met Nwankwo when a one-time Military leader of this country recommended me to him when he was to set up the New Outlook Newspapers in Enugu. He was told about a Sokoto young man who had just returned from America with a lot of ideas. We met in his exquisite Sheraton Hotel suite and the rest is history.

Dr. Author Nwankwo is the founder of the Fourth Dimension Publishers Enugu. Through his outfit, he promoted Ndigbo scholarship in a way no one had done before or since. The works of Igbo scholars were published and circulated globally through which many of them became professors and attained national and global fame. Before then, academic works of Easterners were not being accorded the recognition they deserved by the Lagos-Ibadan press.

Fourth Dimension also spearheaded the publication of many books on the Nigeria- Biafran War. It allowed the Igbo’s to tell the story of the War through their own perspectives and experiences.

As the chairman of New Outlook Newspapers Enugu, he never stopped us from publishing any story or told us what to write. All he demanded from us is to know what we were working on so he can defend us when the need arose.

 
Nwankwo is a master of informal diplomacy. At the height of the Sino-Soviet diplomatic raw, Nwankwo had friends in high places in both Beijing and Moscow.
His politics is radical and nationalistic. He was a political associate of Mallam Aminu Kano, a radical politician who dedicated his life to the causes of the masses.

Nwankwo was also a chieftain of NADECO, via Eastern Mandate Union, he founded and led. It was his active participation that gave the campaign a national coloration and stopped it from being reduced to a Yoruba affair.

For me personally, my association with Nwankwo remains the most important professional development of my life. He turned my newspaper into a vibrant Ndigbo and national political institution. I had met conceivable every Igbo leader of thought through my association with him. He stood by me in all my personal and professional endeavours. When I was invited for a chat by General Sani Abacha, he was as worried as a father, even after I assured him there was nothing to fear. 

Happy Birthday to Dr. Nwankwo.