Prominent Nigerians

Full Name: Christiana "Chris" Anyanwu (MFR)
State of Origin: Imo.
Ethnicity: Igbo.
Date of Birth: 28 October 1951        
Nationality: Nigerian
Marriage status: Married.
Spouse(s): Dr Casmir Anyanwu
Children : Nduwueze (son)
Ihuoma (Daughter)
Parents: Christiana Ngozi Diala-Ukah
Residence: Abuja, Nigeria
Language: Igbo and English
Religion: Christian.
Alma mater: University of Missouri and Florida State University
Occupation: Journalist, publisher, author, and politician.
Position(S): Senator for the Imo East (Owerri) constituency in 2007,
The chairman of Senate Committee on Navy & Marine and member of many other committees Till date.
 Political Party: People's Democratic Party (PDP)
Facebook: Distinguished Senator Chris N. D. Anyanwu, MFR
Linked In: Senator Chris Anyanwu

INTRODUCTION
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. Following her tenure as commissioner, Anyanwu became publisher/editor-in-chief of TSM (The Sunday Magazine), a weekly publication which focused on political issues as they affected the country.

EDUCATION
She attended Owerri Girls Secondary School before and moved to the US, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in Journalism from University of Missouri and a master's degree in Mass Communication from Florida State University.

CAREER 
In May 1995, Chris 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 other Nigerian journalists were accused of being “accessories to facts of treason”. Anyanwu was prosecuted in camera by a military court and sentenced to life imprisonment, later reduced to 15 years in October 1995 following pressure from national and international human rights groups. While being held in deplorable conditions in Gombe prison, she went partially blind.
Shortly after her imprisonment, she received the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award, making news around the world. Anyanwu was released by Abacha’s successor General Abdulsalam Abubakar on health grounds. She embarked on a two-year break in Virginia where she wrote the book Days of Terror, based on Nigeria’s struggle during dictatorship. In 2005, Anyanwu opened her radio station and was featured in the PBSFrontline production titled NIGERIA – The Road North;
During the Nigerian general election, 2007 Chris Anyanwu was elected to the Senate on the platform of the People's Democratic Party as a representative of Owerri Zone, Imo State, Nigeria. 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 newspapers noted 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.

LOVE, MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN
After her degree in Florida State University, she returned to Nigeria, got married to Mr Casmir Anyanwu while she was working in NTA and the Imo Broadcasting Corporation as a news reader and reporter.
God blessed the union with two children, a boy and a girl Ihuoma and Nduwueze.

INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT CHRIS ANYANWU
Sen. Chris N. D. Anyanwu, MFR was a successfully re -elected as Senator for Imo East on the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) platform in the April 2011 elections, against the rigging and money politics of the ruing PDP in Imo State. She is currently the chairman of Senate Committee on Navy & Marine and member of many other committees.
In 2007, during the Nigerian general election, Anyanwu was elected to the Senate on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party as a representative of Owerri Zone, Imo State, Nigeria. 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 Defense & Army.

AWARDS, HONOURS, LAURELS AND RECOGNITIONS
Author of The days of terror
Courage in Journalism Award (1995)
Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize (1998)