Chris Anyanwu

Anyanwu was born in Mbaise, Imo State. She attended Owerri Girls Secondary School before moving to the US, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a master's degree in Mass Communication from Florida State University.

After graduating, she returned to Nigeria, and worked for the NTA and the Imo Broadcasting Corporation as a news reader and reporter. In 1987, she was appointed Imo State commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports, Culture and Social Welfare under Imo governor Amadi Ikwechegh.{{cite web|url=http://www.newswatchngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1540&Itemid=48 |title=Amadi Ikwechegh is Dead |first=Augustine |last=Adah |date=22 November 2009 |work=Newswatch |access-date=8 June 2010 |archive-date=27 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727104941/http://www.newswatchngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1540&Itemid=48 |url-status=dead }}

Following her tenure as commissioner, Anyanwu became publisher/editor-in-chief of TSM (The Sunday Magazine), a weekly publication focused on political issues.{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/abujareports/2007/aug/13/abujaroport-13-08-2007-002.htm |title=I didn't get to the Senate with bottom power, declares Senator Chris Anyanwu |first=Ismail |last=Omipidan |date=13 August 2007 |work=Daily Sun |access-date=8 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229190434/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/abujareports/2007/aug/13/abujaroport-13-08-2007-002.htm |archive-date=29 February 2008 |url-status=dead }}

In May 1995 Anyanwu was arrested following the publication of a story about a failed coup d'état against the government of Sani Abacha, whom she had refused to endorse as president; she and several Nigerian journalists were accused of being "accessory after the fact of treason".{{cite web|url=http://iwmf.org/archive/articletype/articleview/articleid/394/fifteen-years-of-courage-chris-anyanwu.aspx |title=Fifteen Years of Courage: Chris Anyanwu |first=Peggy |last=Simpson |publisher=International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809111055/http://www.iwmf.org/archive/articletype/articleview/articleid/394/fifteen-years-of-courage-chris-anyanwu.aspx |archive-date=9 August 2011 |access-date=27 August 2012 |url-status=dead }} Anyanwu was prosecuted in camera by a military court and sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 July 1995, later reduced to 15 years in October 1995 following pressure from national and international human rights groups.{{Cite book|last=Anyanwu, Chris Ngozi.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50662318|title=The days of terror : a journalist's eye-witness account of Nigeria in the hands of its worst tyrant|date=2002|publisher=Spectrum Books|isbn=978-029-327-2|location=Ibadan, Nigeria|oclc=50662318}} While being held in Gombe prison, she went partially blind. Doctors warned that she was in danger of losing her sight completely if she failed to receive medical attention.

Shortly after her imprisonment, she received the International Women's Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, making news around the world. Anyanwu, then held in solitary confinement, was passed a note that read, "Some women in America are giving you a prize. The world is watching". Anyanwu later told the IWMF that receiving the award had buoyed her spirits while in prison: "Yes! Somebody must understand or else they wouldn’t just give out an award like this ... I was very much encouraged and strengthened by it. And it made me confident and determined not to cave into pressure."{{cite web|url=http://www.iwmf.org/archive/articletype/articleview/articleid/585/chris-anyanwu-nigeria.aspx |title=Chris Anyanwu, Nigeria |work=International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) |access-date=8 June 2010 |archive-date=9 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809111107/http://www.iwmf.org/archive/articletype/articleview/articleid/585/chris-anyanwu-nigeria.aspx |url-status=dead }} Two years later, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Anyanwu winner of the CPJ International Press Freedom Award,{{cite web |url=http://cpj.org/awards/1997/christin.php |title=Christine Anyanwu |date=27 August 2012 |publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903172946/http://cpj.org/awards/1997/christin.php |access-date=26 August 2012 }} and in May 1998 she was awarded UNESCO's Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/redirect/messages/erc.html |title=Nigeria at UNESCO / UNESCO Awards to Nigerians |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=8 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818074528/http://www.unesco.org/redirect/messages/erc.html |archive-date=18 August 2010 }} Because of her imprisonment, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Wole Soyinka attended the ceremony to accept the latter on her behalf.{{cite web |url=http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/98-176e.htm |title=Nigerian Christina Anyanwu Receives the UNESCO and Reporters Sans Frontieres Press Prizes |date=2 September 1998 |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-date=26 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150126052144/http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/98-176e.htm }}

In June 1998, following the death of President Abacha and several protests from human rights groups worldwide, Anyanwu was released by Abacha's successor General Abdulsalam Abubakar on health grounds. She spent two years in Virginia, during which she wrote the book Days of Terror about Nigeria's struggle during the dictatorship. Returning to Nigeria after her book's release, she testified to her experiences in prison and confronted her former jailers, publicly forgiving one after he apologized to her.

A televised version of her now-defunct publication TSM Show was aired in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.chrisanyanwu.org/pages/profile.html |title=Profile |publisher=Chris Anyanwu |access-date=8 June 2010 |archive-date=28 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628001557/http://www.chrisanyanwu.org/pages/profile.html |url-status=dead }}

In 2005, Anyanwu opened her radio station Hot 98.3 FM, based in Abuja.

Anyanwu was featured in the PBS Frontline production titled Nigeria: The Road North in 2003.{{cite web |date=January 2003 |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/nigeria/voice02.html |title=NIGERIA - The Road North |publisher=PBS |access-date=27 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112152116/http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/nigeria/voice02.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 November 2012 }}

During the Nigerian general election, 2007 Anyanwu was elected to the Senate on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) as a representative of Owerri Zone, Imo State, Nigeria.{{cite web|url=http://www.chrisanyanwu.org/ |work=chrisanyanwu.org |title=2007 senatorial campaign web site |access-date=8 June 2010 |archive-date=2 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602205523/http://www.chrisanyanwu.org/ |url-status=dead }} In describing her change in careers, she stated, "I felt I could do more than observe and moan the things that were not going right ... With my years of reporting government, politics, social issues, oil and diplomacy, I had come to understand governance issues well. I felt I could be more useful in helping find solutions to the problems."{{cite web|url=http://iwmf.org/honoring-courage/chris-anyanwu.aspx |title=Chris Anyanwu: Journalist turned Senator Works to Strengthen Democracy in Nigeria |first=Hillary |last=Gyuaras |date=16 August 2012 |publisher=International Women's Media Foundation |archive-date=30 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830031314/http://iwmf.org/honoring-courage/chris-anyanwu.aspx |access-date=26 August 2012 |url-status=dead }}

After taking her seat in the Senate she was appointed to committees on Women and Youth, States & Local Government, Millennium Development Goals, Health, Environment and Defence & Army.

In a mid-term evaluation of Senators in May 2009, ThisDay reported that she had sponsored bills on Occupational Health and Safety and to Criminalise and Punish Discrimination and Segregation against Nigerians, and had sponsored seven motions. The report described her as an engaging contributor to debates in plenary who was active in the committees.{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200905250350.html?viewall=1|title=An Improved Senate, But Some Uninspiring Senators...|work=ThisDay|date=24 May 2009|access-date=8 June 2010|archive-date=15 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015122956/http://allafrica.com/stories/200905250350.html?viewall=1|url-status=live}}

Anyanwu was a successful contender to be reelected as Senator for Imo East on the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) platform in the April 2011 elections. The PDP declared that they would contest the result, claiming that voting was marred by violence.{{cite web|url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/04/pdp-rejects-nass-election-results-in-imo/|work=Vanguard|title=PDP rejects NASS election results in Imo|date=12 April 2011|access-date=21 April 2011|archive-date=16 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416090945/http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/04/pdp-rejects-nass-election-results-in-imo/|url-status=live}}

Anyanwu is married to Casmir Anyanwu, with whom she has a daughter, Ihuoma, and a son, Nduwueze, who live in the US.{{cite web|url=http://www.fsu.edu/~fstime/FS-Times/Volume4/aug98web/8aug98.html |title=Journalist Spent 3 Years in Prison |first=Dana |last=Peck |date=August 1998 |work=Florida States Times |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607225832/http://www.fsu.edu/~fstime/FS-Times/Volume4/aug98web/8aug98.html |access-date=26 August 2012 |url-status=dead }} She is a devout Christian.

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• [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/fed/temp/communication_democracy/anyanwu.htm UNESCO Citation]

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Category:1951 births

Category:21st-century Nigerian women writers

Category:Florida State University alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Nigerian Christians

Category:Nigerian television journalists

Category:People from Imo State

Category:Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria)

Category:Senators of the 6th National Assembly (Nigeria)

Category:Senators of the 7th National Assembly (Nigeria)

Category:University of Missouri alumni