Chief arthur mbanefo biography of abraham lincoln

Few people remind me of the proud, old generation of men and women of substance that is fast fading away in Nigeria as Arthur Mbanefo, widely known at home and abroad as “the Chief” or “Odu” (the traditional title he took in his hometown of Onitsha nearly 30 years ago).

As he turns 90, I thought it appropriate to reflect not just on his accomplished life of impact and consequence in domains from the accountancy profession to top-tier corporate boardrooms, from independent government commissions and university councils to the world of international diplomacy, but, through that prism, on what he proudly and unapologetically represents.

To see Arthur Mbanefo just as a leading “elder-stateman” personality is to miss the point.

To my mind, he is, beyond himself as an individual, a symbol of a generational distinction between Nigeria’s hopeful contemporary past, a decidedly dreary present, and a future with several scenarios that some stakeholders remai