PHOTOS:LATE EZEGO’S COUNTRY- HOME FALLS APART!

I Was a kid when the Late Ezeego held court as  a philanthropist and king of  money. Even as a child, I felt his impact and his influence before untimely death came knocking and that  was the end of Ezeego and his influence. The fear of Ezeego then was the beginning of wisdom.

However things have not been the same since the late King of Money went the ways of mortals. Yes International Magazine recently visited Uzokwa Ihiala, the ancestral Home of the late Ezego and their finding is shocking to say the least.

Read the report after the cut and share your thoughts with us!


The Uzoakwa, Ihiala, Anambra State country home of the late Chief Victor Nnamdi Okafor, popularly known as Ezego, is also falling apart.


YES International! was shocked at the level of neglect and collapse of infrastructure when we visited recently.

For instance, the flowers and street lights that hitherto beautified his popular Ezego Road have either been vandalized or over grown by weeds. Even some parts of the road have been washed away by erosion. The popular entrance to the inviting Ezego Crescent has also lost its beauty and glory, as the heavenly trees and flowers that used to welcome visitors are gradually dying off. His magnificent country home, 15 years after his death, is seriously crying for a new look. It is also fast falling apart and begging for attention. In fact, some parts of the glass house have started falling off and decaying.
Even the uncompleted duplexes inside are still the way he left them


Some indigenes of Uzoakwa who spoke to YES International! are of the view that if Ezego were to be alive, the entire Uzoakwa and its environs would have experienced a major transformation. One of them asked us: “If one man can construct this quality of road in the 1990s, what do you think would have happened now? But look at the road today, it is now so terrible.” For some, however, it was the Christmas gifts they got annually from him that they miss the most.  It was the tradition for him then to give out bags of rice, gallons of oil, wrappers, etc every yuletide. The youths of Uzoakwa are equally crying. This is because their beloved and budding Ezego United Football Club (which he sponsored) has become a thing of the past. One of the former players confided in YES International! that “he (Ezego) was already planning to get a slot in the Nigerian Premier League for us then. With his money and commitment, we would have been the second club in Nigeria to lift the CAF champions league trophy”.

Chief Victor Nnamdi Okafor (Ezego 1 of Ihiala), it would be recalled, died in 1998, with myraid stories and controversies surrounding his death. While some are of the opinion that he died as a result of injuries he sustained in an auto accident on his way to the village, others are saying that the dreaded and popular Ogwugwunmiri Okija killed him for allegedly reneging on a business transaction.


Loved by both the young and the old, the unabashed lover of cars and generous king of money was the chairman of Ezego Holdings. He spoilt the late king of high life music, Oliver de Coque with cash for singing his praises to high heavens in most of his albums. Married to Nkechi, a beautiful princess from Akata, Imo State; their union was blessed with six children.

Born on December 25, 1964 in Uzoakwa, he attended Uzoakwa Primary School and Abbot Boys’ Secondary School, both in Ihiala, before veering into business. Among his chieftaincy titles were Ezego Ndi Igbo, Udu Bunch, King of Money and The Young Millionaire.









Some of his known companies then were Vic-Winners International Ltd., Ezego Shopping Complex (with branches in Abuja and Lagos), Ezego Properties Ltd., Ezego Nigeria Ltd., Ezego Holdings Ltd., and Vitex Zinc Co. Ltd.

An unabashed car freak, he once doled out a whopping N14 million to acquire two exotic auto-mobiles – a Mercedes Benz R230 convertible and a Sedan Lincoln Continental Mark 8 from Moontrends, owned by Tayo Ayeni. Several other choice automobiles also littered his garages in Ihiala and Lagos.

Petite, stocky and fair-complexioned Ezego once revealed in an interview that he became a millionaire at 23. He was a philanthropist of the highest order. Single-handedly, he dualised the Ihiala carriage way – with street lights, transformers and boreholes; deposited N15 million at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala to alleviate the financial burdens of pregnant women in the area; instituted the Ezego scholarship scheme from which so many Uzoakwa indigenes benefitted. But now things are no longer at ease for the estate he left behind.