Matthew Ifeanyi Nwagwu is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

politician who was elected Senator for the Imo North constituency of

Imo State Imo () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo R ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in the April 2011 national elections. He ran on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform.

Background

In November 2001, Matthew Ifeanyi Nwagwu was Nigeria's deputy representative to the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

's General Council. He was highly critical of a draft treaty to be discussed at

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, saying "The text generally accommodates in total the interests of developed countries while disregarding the concerns of the developing and least developed countries". Speaking in July 2004 on behalf of the Africa Group, Nwagwu said the group expected an all-inclusive and transparent process in further work on the draft decision to be adopted at the WTO General Council meeting of 27–29 July.

Senate

In the January 2011 PDP primaries for the Okigwe senatorial zone, Matthew Nwagwu won with 2,128 votes, ahead of the previous Secretary to the Government of Imo State, Chief Cosmas Iwu, who gained 129 votes. Cosmas, younger brother of former

Independent National Electoral Commission Independent National Electoral Commission may refer to: *Independent National Electoral Commission (Burundi) *Independent National Electoral Commission (Democratic Republic of the Congo) *Independent National Electoral Commission (Guinea) The Inde ...

Chairman, Professor

Maurice Iwu Maurice Mmaduakolam Iwu (born 21 April 1950) is a Nigerian professor of pharmacognosy and the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from June 2005 to April 2010. Background Maurice Mmaduakolam Iwu was born on 21 April 1950 ...

, had resigned his appointment in order to compete. Nwagwu, who had a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree, was aged 67 at this time. In the 6 April 2011 election, former ambassador Nwagwu was elected as Senator of Imo North with 60,449 votes, ahead of runner up Chief Cosmas Nkemjika Iwu who had moved to the

Action Congress of Nigeria The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), formerly known as Action Congress (AC), was a Nigerian political party formed via the merger from the coming together of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of D ...

(ACN) and won 47,258 votes. In a 2011 interview, Nwagwu expressed desire to help with the image of Nigerians abroad, citing problems such as not paying their debts and being involved with drugs.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Senators of the 7th National Assembly (Nigeria) {{Imo-politician-stub