Chuba Ezekwesili, one of the twin sons of Nigeria’s former Minister of Education and ex-Vice President of the World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili, has opened up about how his last name has affected their family.
Speaking during an interview with PUNCH, Chuba said the thought that his mother’s name would open doors for them has been quite the opposite.
According to him, his mother, Oby is known to stand out in many interesting ways in society, especially protesting against bad governance especially in Nigeria where people are afraid to talk.
He said that regardless of her efforts and goodwill, his mother’s stance is certainly not to their advantage as they have lost job opportunities and have not experienced goodwill because of her name.
When asked in what ways has his mother’s name opened doors for him? Chuba said: “Ah! Error! I think, for the most part, it has been quite the opposite, and I would cite a lot of instances. In a place like Nigeria that is hostile to people who speak out when others don’t want to speak out, it is certainly not to our advantage.
“My mum is known to immediately stand out in many interesting ways. I have lost a lot of job opportunities because of my last name. When I say you want to work in a certain firm and they see your surname, they ask to be sure it is her. When I say yes, the employers would go, “Ah! I don’t want wahala o!” It is not as rosy as people think it is. It is not entirely true, too, that we have not experienced goodwill as a result of her name, but when one is in a system, that system determines the energy that comes to one, especially if one is a fighter that people don’t like.
“When we started our design company, we didn’t have our full names on our business cards. We just had Chine Ezeks and Chuba Ezeks. This is because having a full name just means we had to deal with much drama which was unnecessary.”
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