Edward Ikem Okeke (August 1, 1942 in British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria – July 2, 1995 in Anambra State, Federal Republic of Nigeria) was a Soviet educated, left wing Nigerian politician, academic, and trade union leader.
He served as Deputy President of the Nigerian People's Redemption Party during the Nigerian second republic[1] and as a member of the governing board for the University of Sokoto, now Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.
Okeke was born to Sir Edward Ikem Okeke of Nnewi, a powerful landed gentry from Nnewi in southeastern Nigeria and kinsman to Sir Louis Phillippe Odumegwu (father to Ojukwu Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who was President of the short lived Republic of Biafia).
[citation needed] Okeke was criticized by E.C Amuchie, in his book, ASIKA: An Intellectual in Government, for being part of the Nigerian intellectual social class, that acted as front men, for political parties, that were not interested in the plight of the average Nigerian, but interested in consolidating power and wealth within the Nigerian elite.
[2] The fact that all three men were childhood friends, members of the Igbo clan, and graduates of Nigerian-English styled prep schools, fueled the belief during Nigeria's second republic, that the Nigerian political system was geared towards the rich.