Sam Mbakwe

Samuel "Sam" Onunaka Mbakwe (1929 – 5 January 2004) also known as Dee Sam, was an Igbo politician and first democratic governor of Imo State, south east Nigeria, from 1 October 1979

Early life and education

Mbakwe began his education in 1937 at St Peter's Primary School, Umulogho. His contemporaries include The Reverend Canon Jeremiah Anyanwu, the first Anglican priest in the old Etiti Local Government Area of Imo State, who was born at about the same time with him in Avutu. He studied at the Teachers Training College, Oleh, Isoko, from 1946 to 1947, and at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone in 1952. for crying while trying to convince the federal government to pay more attention to his state; the first occasion of his famed tears was the Ndiegoro flood in Aba, which was then a part of Imo State. In 1981, Sam Mbakwe set up Imo State University. The campus was located in a territory that was ceded to Abia State in 1991 and was re-christened Abia State University. However, Imo State University acquired a new campus in Owerri and still exists.

Legacy Mbakwe is remembered for patriotism and notable contributions to the state's socio-economic development. Some of the projects recorded under his watch are the Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri, and the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri. Major efforts were also made in industrialization, road development, agriculture (he built a large poultry farm in Obowo), establishment of a paper mill where books and toilet paper were made,and provision of potable water. Older generations of the state's indigenes often express disappointment with the performance of the state's later governors compared with Mbakwe's. In the context of poor governance and worsening insecurity and a plethora of other challenges they look back to a period in which their governor worked hard to attract development to the state.

Death On 6 January 2004, Mbakwe died at his home in Avutu.