Nigeria Former Minister of Education and a constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze has died.
According to his son, Eni Nwabueze, MD in a statement, the renowned lawyer died on Sunday at the age of 94,
Hailed from Atani in Ogbaru local government area of Anambra State, he was the pioneer Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The statement read: “With great sadness, we announce the passing on to celestial glory of our patriarch, Professor B. O. Nwabueze SAN, NNOM, CON, pioneer Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Oduah Afo-na-isagba of Atani, Anambra State, on Sunday, October 29, 2023, aged 94.
“He lived an exemplary life of consequence. Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.”
Considered to be of the leading experts on constitutional law in Africa, Nwabueze studied in London and became a lecturer in 1962, first at the University of Lagos and later at the University of Nigeria.
From November 1970, he was a professor at the law faculty of the University of Zambia. In 1976 he became a board member of the United Bank for Africa.
Nwabueze, who is also author of several books was also involved in drafting Nigeria’s 1979 constitution. The following year he received the Nigerian National Merit Award.
In the 1990s he supported Ibrahim Babangida and was Minister of Education in his interim government in 1993