Onyekachi Akuchukwu Onwenu MFR (January 31, 1952-2024), popularly known as Onyeka Onwenu, was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, into the family of Dixon Kanu Onwenu from Arondizuogu, Ideato North LGA in Imo State.
Onyeka Onwenu lived life to the brim. The Elegant Stallion, as she was dubbed, was subtly beautiful, strong and brilliant. Like a conqueror, she boldly galloped on many fields, drank from many fountains of life, and won many battles. She was an excellent broadcaster, singer, songwriter, actress, social critic and politician.
Onyeka’s father, an educationist and politician, died on December 10, 1956 when Onyeka was barely four years old, after his car crashed into an oil bean tree along the Port Harcourt-Aba Road. He had been nominated the Minister of Education and was to be sworn-in January 1957, one week before he died.
After his death, Onyeka’s mother, Hope Onwenu, was denied access to his estate by her husband’s family, leaving the widow to raise her five children all alone. By a curious twist of fate, Onyeka was to similarly shoulder the heavy burden of bringing up her own two children all by herself after she had problems with her husband, problems she succeeded in keeping private, until she opened up in her memoir, titled My Father’s Daughter, published in 2020.
Onyeka Onwenu got her primary education from St. Cyprian’s and St. Peter’s School, Port Harcourt, starting from 1957. Her education at Amumara was interrupted in 1967 by the Nigeria-Biafra war, but she continued at National High School Arondizuogu in 1969 and Zixton Memorial Grammar School Ozubulu (1970) after the civil war.
She gained admission to Bryn Mawr College, and Wellesley College in Massachusetts, United States from where she bagged a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Communication. Later, she earned Master of Arts in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research, New York.
She worked briefly for the United Nations as a tour guide before returning to Nigeria in 1980 for her National Youth Service with the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Lagos where she was later employed as a newsreader, reporter and TV presenter.
As an NTA employee, Onwenu made an impact as a newsreader and reporter. In 1984, she wrote and presented the internationally acclaimed BBC/NTA documentary Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches which became the definitive film about corruption in Nigeria, as well as the intractable Niger Delta agitation for resource control and campaign against environmental degradation in the oil rich region of Nigeria. She also worked as a TV presenter, hosting the shows Contact (1988) and Who’s On? (1993) both on NTA Network.
She later became a member of the MRA Board.
Although versatile, it was her musical talent, more than all other talents, that catapulted Onyeka Onwenu to international prominence and transformed her into a household name.
Originally a secular artist, and most of her songs are self-penned. She wrote and sang about issues such as health (HIV/AIDS), peace and mutual coexistence, respect for women’s rights, and the plight of children. Onwenu began her recording career on the EMI label in 1981 while still at NTA, with the album, “For the Love of You”.
Her songs still grace our airwaves decades later, and some of the popular ones include one love, ekwe, you and I, bia nulu, wait for me ( featuring King Sunny Ade)
Onwenu’s first movie role was as Joke, a childless woman who adopts an abandoned baby in Zik Zulu Okafor’s Nightmare. She later featured in numerous Nollywood movies, and in 2006 she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the movie “Widow’s Cot”. She was also nominated that same year for Africa Movie Academy Award for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” in the movie Rising Moon. She appeared in the movie Half of a Yellow Sun with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandiwe Newton, and Lion Heart.
Onwenu was a member of the People’s Democratic Party. She contested twice to become the Local Council Chairman of her Local Government, Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State and lost at both attempts, but was appointed Chairperson of Imo State Council for Arts and Culture by former governor Ikedi Ohakim. On 16 September 2013, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan appointed her the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Women Development.
Onwenu notably kept her personal life private and often refused to disclose private information regarding her ex-husband,. She was the mother of two children: Tijani Charles and Abraham.
She died at Reddington hospital, Ikejaon July 30, 2024 after singing at a friend’s birthday party in Lagos.
Onwenu was laid to rest at a private vault on August 30, 2024 after a funeral service had took place at the Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju, Lagos.
