His life story

Christopher Ritzy Ukanwa Odom was born on 24 September 1941 to the late Ezeji Ignatius Nmuonaka and Ezenwanyi Ede Lucy Odom of Umuawada, Onicha. His early years began in the village before he accompanied the family’s senior cousin, D.C. Agbamoroh, to Onitsha.

He completed his primary education in Onitsha in 1955 and entered Junior Seminary College, Okpala in January 1956, preparing for the Catholic priesthood. When he did not proceed to Bigard Memorial Senior Seminary, Enugu, the school rector helped arrange an auxiliary teaching position at Imerienwe Grammar School, Owerri.

He later moved to St. John’s Primary School, Gboko and registered with the Rapid Results Correspondence College, London. He passed four arts subjects at GCE Advanced Level and was awarded a Federal Government scholarship to study Sociology in Russia in 1962. At the urging of the same senior cousin, he did not take up that offer because of issues concerning communism.

By then at Bishop Shanahan College Orlu where he was a teacher, he again studied through Rapid Results Correspondence College, this time taking Maths and Geography at GCE Advanced Level. Those results led to another Federal Government Scholarship and admission to study Architecture at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU), in 1965.

After spending two years at ABU, the Civil War forced him to transfer to the University of Nigeria Nsukka, where he graduated with a M.Arch. in 1973, after the war.

In 1968, he married Bernadette Adaocha, née Osueke. They had five children — four daughters and a son: Ifeyinwa, Chinasa, Onyema, Anayo, and late Obinna Ibeawuchi Odom.

On graduation, he moved to Lagos and joined architectural firms to develop his managerial and technical skills before establishing his own practice — CODO Design Consult, which brought him into limelight.

He was a capable social mobilizer and organizer who was unafraid to take risks. In the 1960s he served as President of the Onicha Amairi Students Union; in the 1980s as President of the Onicha Town Union, Lagos Branch; and in the 1990s as Town Union President of Onicha Amairi, Home and Abroad.

These responsibilities reflected the trust and respect he commanded in his community and beyond.