*Photo: Nzeribe*
Francis Arthur Nzeribe, is dead.
Mostly remembered for Association for a Better Nigeria (ABN), a group he founded which backed General Ibrahim Babangida in scuttling the worldwide acknowledged June 12, 1993 Presidential election that would have brought in the billionaire, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, Nzeribe reportedly died on Sunday in a foreign hospital at the age of 83.
Nzeribe was a multi-billionaire investment mogul, born in Oguta, Imo State on 2nd November 1938. His father, Oyimba Nzeribe, was a lawyer and former state counsel, and his grandfather, Akpati Nzeribe, held the traditional title of Ogbuagu, Oshiji, Damanze Oyimba of Oguta.
His second wife is the sister of Hajia Asabe Yar’Adua, wife of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who was brother of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Nzeribe lost his mother when he was a primary school student, while his father was away in Great Britain studying Law and was hence taken care of by Catholic priests.
He attended Bishop Shanahan College, Orlu and Holy Ghost College, Owerri. Through the Ghana Commission, he met Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and started to work for him in public relations. Nkrumah also introduced him to other African leaders.
In 1969, Nzeribe started up the Fanz Organization based in London, dealing in heavy construction, arms, oil brokerage, publishing and property investment, with much business in the Middle East and Gulf states.
