Mention Victor Okafor and no one will bat an eyelid. But mention EZEGO, the King of Money, and you will see many Nigerians’ eyes light up with excitement. He would be one of Africa’s billionaires. He was relatively young, but given his age, he was well known and respected in the Nigerian business community at the time.
This is the story of a man of many faces, Chief Victor Nnamdi Okafor, Eze Ego (Money King) I of ihiala, also known as Udu Bunch, also known as Young Millionaire, an Igbo tycoon who died tragically as it should be his birthday.
Late Ezego, first son, a native of Uzoakwa, Ihiala, Anambra State, was born on December 25, 1964. Ezego’s story is often touted as one of Nigeria’s classic rags-to-riches stories. He attended Uzoakwa Primary School but had to leave Abbot Boys Secondary School in Ihiala and eventually set up his own business. His childhood was very traumatic and at some point, he was disowned by his father when he was arrested for being part of a gang of thieves that showed the traders of Onitsha a living hell. While some of his fellow gangsters were arrested and punished, Ezego fled to the village of Unumeni, where he was driven away by his angry father. From there he went to Umuduru, his mother’s village. However, things were not going well for him in Umuduru and in 1989 he decided to move to Lagos where he joined his mentor. What happened many years later is still a mystery, but the next time the world hears of Ezego, he will be a multi-millionaire, one of the best in Lagos.
In Lagos he founded the Ezego Shopping Complex on Allen Avenue (there was also a branch in Abuja) and the Ezego Plaza on Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road. From these locations, he managed and controlled one of the largest electronics stores in Nigeria. His other companies include Vic-Winners International Limited, Ezego Nigeria Limited, Ezego Holdings Limited, Vitex Zinc Co. Limited and Ezego Properties Limited. Ezego built houses, villas and palaces across the country, one of which was made of glass. His total holdings outside Ihiala were worth about half a billion naira in 1999.The huge villa that served as a country estate in Ihiala was worth $500 million thanks to marble imported from Italy for the walls.
During his lifetime, Ezego owned one of the largest private car repair shops in Africa. He loved cars and always bought the latest ones to fill his garage in Ihiala and Lagos. A lover of world class cars, his garage alone was worth almost a billion naira. He has already spent $14 million to buy just two luxury cars: a Lincoln Continental Mark 8 sedan and a Mercedes Benz R230 convertible from Moontrends, owned by Tayo Ayeni. In fact, at the time of his death, he left behind countless state-of-the-art cars, 70 houses across Nigeria and abroad and over US$10 billion in his bank account. He married the fair-skinned and beautiful Laurita Nkechi, a princess of Akata in Imo State, and they had eight children. After her husband’s death, Princess Nkechi moved to Lekki from Ajao Estate, in December 2013, Nigeria Business Guide reported that she would take her husband’s business empire to the next level as her children attended the best universities in the world.
By the way, Ezego’s first child is born to a Japanese woman. In addition to his wife, Nkechi also had children with other women.