{"id":14846,"date":"2017-03-09T18:45:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T17:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/?post_type=biography&#038;p=14846"},"modified":"2017-06-08T15:20:39","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T14:20:39","slug":"okafor-chief-raphael-ben-kechi","status":"publish","type":"biography","link":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/biography\/okafor-chief-raphael-ben-kechi\/","title":{"rendered":"OKAFOR, Chief Raphael Ben Kechi"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politician, businessman, born March 15, 1927, Nkwessi, Imo State; married Mercy Onyekwena 1955, Florence Ugwu 1963. Agnes Akaghan 1965. Theresa Ilukwe 1977. nine sons, twelve daughters; EDUCATION: CMS School. Egbu. Oguta and Owerri, Baptist College, attended courses at University of Los Angeles, USA;<br \/>\nCAREER: former President, Nigeria Civil Service Union; National Administrative Secretary, National Council of Nigerian Citizens, 1956; member, Nigerian Parliament, 1959; Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, federal Parliament, 1959; Parliamentary Secretary, 1960; Federal Ministry for Trade, 1965; Chairman\/Managing Director, Estate and Finance Corporation, 1966; Chairman, Nkalagu Cement Company, 1980; Managing Director, Continental Lines (Africa) Limited, since 1971;<br \/>\nPOLITICAL PATIES: member, defunct National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), 1944; member, defunct Zikist Movement. 1946; member, defunct Zikist National Vanguard, 1951; member, defunct NCNC&#8221; Youth Association, 1956; Political Adviser, defunct United Middle Belt Council, 1962; member, banned Nigeria People&#8217;s Party (NPP), National Deputy Chairman, NPP and Imo Stale Chairman. 1978-83; suffered political detention in 1948. 1953, 1956. 1966. 1984, 1985; life member. Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, 1960; African member, World Air Cargo Organisation; Deputy Governor, Institute of World Biographical Society;<br \/>\nTRADITIONAL TITLE: Onunekwuruoha of Nkwessi 1960; Cigozie Oririnzere of Oguta 1964; FOREIGN HONOURS: Holds 12 Keys of American Cities; Honorary Citizen of United States of America; PUBLICATION: History of Own Festival In Igboland, (Eko Publishers, 1957); History of Our Struggles for Independence (Pacific, 1963); HOBBIES: lawn tennis, swimming; Official Address: 24 Wharf Road, PMB 1073, Apapa; Telephone: (01) 877793; Home: 15 Ugali Street, Ire Akari Estate, Isolo, Lagos; Telephone: (01) 523403.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[209,166],"writer":[],"class_list":["post-14846","biography","type-biography","status-publish","hentry","category-business-person","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/biography\/14846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/biography"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/biography"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/biography\/14846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14846"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blerf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=14846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}