Billionaire Igbo Muslim, Abdulazeez Ude is dead, buried
A billionaire Igbo Muslim and renowned philanthropist, Chief Abdulazeez Ude is dead.
Ude, until his death, was the Ebube Ndi Muslim of Igbo Land, the Boroji of Lagos, and the Bowashuwa of Ikorodu.
The deceased businessman who hailed from Abor, in Udi LGA of Enugu State, made his wealth when billionaires of today had perhaps not even dreamt that they’ll make it and some of them perhaps were still toddlers, Infoeastmedia reports.
Ude was renowned for hosting lofty end-of-year parties in his Mekuwen home, off Queens Drive, Ikoyi and in his Abor, Udi residence.
His office on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi always teemed with all kinds of people asking for assistance to revive their failed businesses, scale up their businesses, pay school fees, sort out accommodation challenges and pay rents.
His funds were always available for intellectual concerns. He was the financial chest behind the classy Chic Magazine published by Chief Eddie Iroh out of London, England.
He was a director of Newswatch magazine and many other publications besides.
Born 30 September 1940, Chief Abdulazeez Ude was a distinguished alumnus of the esteemed College of Immaculate Conception (CIC), Enugu.
A man of impeccable bonafides, he was educated at Oxford in England and Columbia in the United States.
He was a top editor with the renowned American book publishing company Doubleday, publishers of Anchor Books.
He rubbed shoulders with Toni Morrison as book editor before she branched out to write novels such as Songs of Solomon, Beloved etc and winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.
His support for popular culture is remarkable, and the celebrated highlife musician Oliver de Coque waxed lyrical in song in praise of his many achievements.
One of Oliver de Coque’s highlife lyrics on Ude translated from Igbo thus: “When the big masquerade appears in the square, the non-initiates run away as the praise-singer lauds the radiance of the king. Alhaji Abdulazeez Chibuzo Ude is a mighty masquerade.”
The late Ude was the brain behind companies like Tanhigh Holdings Ltd, Tanhigh Finance Ltd, 150 Estates Nigeria Ltd, Trans-Sahel Airlines Ltd, among others.
The deceased was also renowned for leading from the frontline. He for instance played a founding role in the African Business Roundtable and the African Development Bank.
He was understated in many of his undertakings, preferring to operate from the background as it always required painstaking inquiry to learn that he was the brain and the war chest behind many ventures that did not bear his name in any way. His association with excellence was nonpareil.
The business colossus was buried this weekend at his home town Abor, Udi LGA, Enugu State about two weeks to his 81st birthday.
He was married with children and enjoyed tennis, reading,walking and meditating.
