Why Pres. TINUBU Made BIANCA OJUKWU Minister

• Why Many IGBO People Are Angry

These are the best of times for Bianca Odinakachukwu Olivia Odumegwu-Ojukwu (née Onoh) the 56 year old pretty widow of Ikemba Nnewi. She is politician, diplomat, lawyer, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder.

She is the widow of former Biafra President Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.  She is a multiple international pageant titleholder, having won Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Miss Africa, and Miss Intercontinental. Formerly a presidential advisor, she was the country’s ambassador to Ghana and became Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain in 2012.

The big news now is that this stunning beauty has just been made a Minister. The happy news came as a rude shock to many Igbo people who see it as a masterstroke of a move by Pres. Bola Tinubu.

They were caught unawares with the appointment of Bianca. With this appointment, the ranks of Igbo have been divided. There are those who see nothing wrong with the move. There are others who see it as a political more to neutralise Peter Obi and the Obedient Group. The appointment  is meant to give Pres. Tinubu some political capital in the East.

The Obedients are also not happy. Some of them will have no option but to rally round her.

Many of the Igbo Leaders see it as a Welcome development because it is another step to bring in more Igbo politicians into his cabinet. What makes the appointment difficult to fault is because Bianca is not a rookie in politics, revealed a source. She has always remained relevant politically in the scheme of things.

What many cannot take away from her is that she is a true daughter of Ndigbo who was also married to one of the greatest Igbo Leaders.

Lets tell you a little about her. She is the sixth child of former Anambra State Governor, Christian Onoh and his wife Carol, a college principal, Bianca  Odumegwu-Ojukwu spent most of her childhood in rural Ngwo with her siblings Lilian, Josephine, Nuzo, Gabriel, Stella, Christian and Josef. She attended Ackworth School, Pontefract, St Andrews College, Cambridge, and Cambridge Tutorial College where she obtained her A-levels. She soon began a combined honours degree in Politics, Economics and Law at the University of Buckingham, but transferred to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka after her father, a lawyer by profession, insisted she concentrated solely on Law and join the family business. upon her graduation, Bianca attended the Nigerian Law School which eventually led to her call to the bar.

After Law School, she briefly practised the profession before quitting to divide her time between her home, her cosmetics business Bianca Blend and her interior decorating outfit Mirabella. Despite her reservations regarding modelling, Bianca Ojukwu fronted print commercials for her brand. She also established the non-government organisation Hope House Trust, centred towards rehabilitating juvenile offenders in Enugu.

In December 1988, Bianca  who had previously emerged winner at Miss Martini, was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, but reigned through most of 1989. She also won the Miss Africa 1989 pageant held in Gambia before representing Nigeria at both Miss World in Hong Kong and Miss Universe in Mexico. She achieved greater success when she became the first African to win Miss Intercontinental that same year, and was named Miss Congeniality at the now defunct Miss Charm International in Russia where she was also a semi-finalist.

In 2011, she was appointed Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Affairs by President Goodluck Jonathan; in 2012 she became Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ghana and later Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain. In 2016, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu received a master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Alfonso X el Sabio University in Spain.  She is now Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. On 23 October 2024 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reshuffled his cabinet and appointed Bianca, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Her sister, Lilian Onoh was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia.

In 1989, halfway through her reign as MBGN, Bianca, began a relationship with the former Biafran Head of State Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, a political associate of her father who was over 30 years her senior. Their controversial romance was a national talking point in the early 1990s. The immense pressure of being under the public eye became increasingly unbearable, causing her to resign as Miss Intercontinental as her main concern was completing her education as a Law Student. In 1994, having finally obtained her degree, she married the former Biafran President at a lavish wedding ceremony held in Abuja, the federal capital territory of Nigeria.

In 2012, following the death of her husband, his Will, which left most of his assets to her, generated a great deal of controversy and disaffection among several family members. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu appealed to her critics to allow Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu to “rest in peace”, describing him as a man of honour and integrity whose legacy should not be obscured by rancour over inheritance issues and stating that the will was drafted in 2005, registered and placed in the custody of the State Probate Registry with the legal witnesses and executors, who were present at the time it was prepared, still living. In 2023, she won her legal battle over the Ojukwu Estate.

On 17 March 2022, during the inaugural ceremony of governor Chukwuma Soludo, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, delivered what has now been widely dubbed a ‘valedictory slap’ to a visibly inebriated Ebelechukwu Obiano, the outgoing first lady of Anambra State, who had physically attacked her at the state function.

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was married to Ikemba Nnewi Odumegwu-Ojukwu, until his death in 2011; the couple had 3 children together. Of her marriage, she admits that while she was happy to have found her husband, she would not encourage her daughter to make a similar choice of marital engagement. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, holds many traditional titles in her native land as well as the highest chieftaincy title conferred on women in her region.

She was honoured with the Certificate of Merit by El Mundo Diplomatico for her efforts towards providing effective platforms for constructive engagement between Nigeria and Spain, and was voted Africa’s Outstanding Ambassador by Dutch magazine The Voice in 2014. She was also honored with the “Ambassador of Excellence” Award by the Government of Anambra State, Nigeria at its Silver Jubilee commemoration in 2016. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the Political Party that was founded by her late husband Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and which has maintained political power in Anambra State for over a decade. Her bid to represent her senatorial district in 2018 was stalled as a result of irregularities which occurred during her party’s primary elections. She is presently the Secretary of the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission set up in 2022 to investigate the root causes of violence, insecurity and separatist agitations in South-Eastern Nigeria.