Yes, I Will Fight Again if… - Chukwuemeka Ojukwu

  ✍ Tell Magazine, Monday, 05 December 2011 12:22 

Sent by Nevbechi Nwoye Emma Anazövba

(Excerpts of interview the Ikemba granted TELL magazine in March, 1993, over 18 years ago, after he was disqualified to contest the presidential primary election of that year)

You have said that some people, cynical of your candidacy, accused you of going to only fight for the Igbo cause…?

 Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu 

Isn’t that bunkum? It is, it is. In 1966, when General Ironsi died, I opposed Gowon because I said the next person should take over, Ogundipe fled and moved to England. I continued opposing, saying that the next person should take over, Adebayo, a Yoruba. I moved on, we fought a war.  At the end of it, I went into exile. I came back. I am accused of having worked with a Hausa man, Shehu Shagari, in the NPN, a Hausa-Fulani. In this ongoing exercise, the first person I supported totally was Dr. Olusola Saraki, Yoruba of Kwara origin, Yoruba-Fulani. I came to the Island Club, Lagos, to talk about the East, and the West finding an understanding. This is the arch tribalist that really fights for the Igbos and nothing else? When (MKO) Abola gets up and he is considered a candidate, nobody says he is Yoruba. But when Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu gets up, he is a tribalist, he is always fighting for the Igbos. I am proud to fight for the Igbos because somebody must fight for them. I am as Igbo as you accused me of being. If you forget accusing me of my Igboness, I will be forgetfully a Nigerian completely. I cannot be intimidated out of this country. I have put in so much into this country, I cannot be intimidated. 

Do some people wish you were outside?

Oh yes, of course.

Can you give an example?

Wouldn’t you even consider 13 years exile enough punishment for anything? But there were Nigerians that went round barracks trying to mobilise troops to mount a coup d'état (against my return in 1982). There are people today who refuse that I should have opinion on anything Nigeria.  

You talk of mounting a coup d'état to prevent your return?

Oh yes, yes.  

You haven’t said anything about the politics against or about your return to the country. Could you seize this opportunity to do that?

I was in exile, there was a negotiation with my host, President Felix Houphouét-Boigny. I was invited at a certain stage, we discussed and we came back. On returning, I understood that there were very many movements, individual movements against my return… The fact is that it has been said in many, many publications that General (Theophilus) Danjuma opposed my return. You can take it over from there…  

How did you feel at that moment?

How did I feel? How would you feel? It was the highest point of one’s career. Exhilaration, so many emotions all crowded in. You saw but you didn’t see, you felt but you didn’t feel. You were sort of being transported on a sea of heads. And more than that, you found yourself floating on a bed of love. People who have come in to say to you, “Onye Ije Nnoo: welcome.”  

Did you feel it was the ultimate justification for whatever cause you have led in the past?

Sir Louis Ojukwu, facts.

 1. Sir Louis Ojukwu was a great man. He accomplished and made so much wealth before he died. All without Oil. 

He was so Rich he did not need official papers to visit the Britain.

Sir Ojukwu's Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith LWB

was used to chauffeur Queen Elizabeth during her 1956 visit. 

2. According to Forbes Africa, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, who founded the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), was the first Billionaire in Nigeria. 

He practically owned Victoria Garden, Lagos. 

3. Sir Ojukwu went to lagos with nothing in 1929 aged just 20 but 10 years later, he was already managing his own chain of businesses which included, Ojukwu Stores, Ojukwu textiles and Ojukwu transportation company.

4. By 1950, just Ojukwu Transportation company had over 200 trucks in its fleet. How did he do it?

Born Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu in Nnewi in 1909, the only boy and second of four children,Sir Ojukwu went to Government primary School Asaba.

5. In 1922, he proceeded to the only secondary School in the Eastern region at the time, Hope Waddell training institute, Calabar. After completing his secondary School education in 1928.

Sir Louis secured a job as a tyre sales clark with John Holt lagos in 1929.

6. It was working as a tyre clark the Sir Louis Ojukwu noticed that many Igbo traders who came to lagos to buy tyres also bought textiles as well. 

With his meagre saving, Sir Louis travelled down to Onitsha where he opened his first business venture called "Ojukwu stores"

1966 coup plotters planned to make Awolowo Head of State — Olutoye

 50 years after, Oba Olutoye, participant in Nigerian Civil War tells the world that Nzeogwu coup was meant to install Awolowo

1966 coup plotters planned to make Awolowo Head of State — Olutoye

The Owa of Ido-Ani, Oba Olufemi Olutoye, is a retired Major-General in the Nigerian Army. In this interview with PETER DADA, he shares his experiences as a soldier and his level of involvement in the 1966 military coup

Can you share your background with us?

My name is Olufemi Olutoye. I was born in Ido Ani town, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State. I spent the early part of my childhood days in Benin City, Edo State, when my father was the headmaster at St. James’ Primary School, Benin City. From there, I went to Government College Ibadan in 1945. I completed my secondary school education in 1949. I then gained admission to the University of Ibadan in 1950 and I graduated in June 1954. I also went to Cambridge University and concluded my course there in 1955. When I returned to Nigeria, I started teaching at the Olu-Iwa College, Ijebu Ode, (now Adeola Odutola College). Later, I left teaching to join the Nigerian Army in 1957 and I retired in 1977.

What informed your decision to join the army, when you were a university graduate?

I believed then that I had attained the height of the teaching profession because teaching then was different from what we have now. I worked in a private school and I believed I had already reached the limit and that there was nothing to look forward to again. Secondly, I wanted adventure.  I taught briefly in a public school in England where there was a Cadet Corps, where young boys were given uniforms. I asked myself then that why couldn’t we have such kind of school in Nigeria? I was the acting principal for a year, so I had to leave after that. That was when I got to the army where I rose through the ranks to become Major General before I eventually retired in 1977.

You were in the army when the first coup happened in Nigeria. Can you tell us about your experience?

I hope that I will have time to write more about that coup but I am doing something on it right now. The coup was led by Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. He was a Major in rank and of course, I was a Major then too but I was his senior. So I knew about that coup. I can say that now but I could not say that then because, in the army, the mere knowledge of a coup is a problem. We were together in India. So, he informed me about it and I enquired more about how he hoped to carry out the plot. When he told me that it would involve killings,  I told him to count me out. I told him that I did not join the Nigerian Army to kill Nigerians.

Was he the one that personally approached you to inform you about the plan?

Yes, he personally came to inform me about it in 1964 when we were in India and the coup was carried out in 1966. Few other things happened which we cannot say now until the time is ripe.

Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu wrote to Lt. Col. Victor Banjo

 BACK  TO  HISTORY :

 Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu wrote to Lt. Col. Victor Banjo commanding him to invade and liberate Western Nigeria (Yorubaland) from the “Hausa/Fulani dominated Nigeria”.

 From: The Military Governor,

Republic of Biafra,Enugu,

22nd August, 1967.

My dear Victor,

 1. For some time now, you and I have been discussing the circumstances that have led to the current and inevitable disintegration of what was the Federation of Nigeria. We have been fully convinced that the aim of the Hausa/Fulani complex has ever been, and will ever remain, the total domination of every other part of what was known as the Federation of Nigeria. It is impossible to forget that the crisis which led to the army take over in January 1966, the coup of the Northern soldiers led by Gowon in July 1966, the wholesale and indiscriminate massacre of the people of what is now Biafra- and, to a less degree,the people of the Mid-West and West, including the Yorubas, were all the direct result of Hausa/Fulani attempt to subjugate and use as tools,the gallant people of Western Nigeria namely the Yorubas. We do not need to remind ourselves of the heavy losses in life and property suffered by the Yoruba people in their fight for justice and freedom during 1965.

 2. Sharing our belief that the people of Yorubaland have a right to live a life of equality and self-respect and justice free of domination and dictatorship from any quarter, you have both identified with the cause of the Biafra struggle for survival and expressed your determination to see the people of Yorubaland freed from Hausa/Fulani domination.

We, the people of Biafra, for our part are willing and have decided to give you and the people of Yorubaland every assistance to achieve your aim.

 3. After clearing the whole question with my Executive Council, I, as the Commander in Chief of the Biafran Armed Forces, have decided to place at your disposal Biafran forces, for the liberation of

Yorubaland on the following clear conditions:-

 (i)You will have nothing to do with the Military Administrator in the Mid-West Territory during your sojourn there prior to your move to the West.

 (ii)The willingness and preparedness of Biafra to assist any part of the former Federation of Nigeria wishing and willing to liberate itself from the Hausa/Fulani domination, does not in anyway whatever

PROJECT MAYROCK : A PROMISE FULFILLED.

....

In the days following the stroke which would eventually take his life, one issue weighed heavily on Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s mind. That ‘issue’ was the immortalization of Bruce Mayrock, the 20 year old who set himself ablaze in front of the UN Building in New York on this day (29th Of May) in 1969 to draw attention to the plight of the Biafran people (a people whom he had never met, and whom he believed were at the brink of extermination, engaged in a desperate war for survival), who died in the early hours of 30th May, on the anniversary of the declaration of Biafra.

‘There is still time’, I had assured my anxious spouse.. ‘You will get through this, and then you will do it, as you planned’.

His response destabilized me. ‘I am a soldier..’ he said, looking straight into my eyes with all the equanimity of a man whose fate already lay before him; 

‘the only modes of death  I am conditioned to anticipate, happen to be death at the battlefield or by execution...I never expected to get this far. If I don’t make it, Do what you can...our people must never forget....’

Sadly, he did not survive....And steadily I embarked, stage by stage, upon Project Mayrock which, to the Glory of God, is nearing completion and slated for commissioning by the end of the year. It is our hope that the surviving brothers of Bruce Mayrock will attend the ceremony. The Mayrock is a three story edifice including a conference hall with Projectors ,an exhibition floor that will house artistic depictions, iconic photos and historic scenes of our 30 month long heroic battle for survival. Sculptures of Bruce Mayrock will adorn the landscape and memorial hall. Pupils from various schools will have an opportunity to visit and learn more about our struggle. The buildings and some of the artworks as shown here are still in process, however since this particular anniversary marks 50 years of the end of the Biafra War - a momentous milestone- I thought it timely to share this initiative. The only input you are required to make into this project is to pass on the story of this selfless sacrifice, and that of so many others to our struggle, to your children. ‘A nation which forgets it’s defenders will itself be forgotten’(Calvin Coolidge).

Ojukwu's 1967 speech that called for secession of Biafra

Source: From the archives: Declaration of Biafra.

~Vanguard Nigeria. Tuesday, May 30, 2017.

Late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Exactly a day like today, 30 May 1967, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the then Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria declared the sovereign state of Biafra in a speech that got Ndigbo fighting for self independence from Nigeria.

For three years, the defunct Country, Biafra, fought Nigeria in a civil war that claimed millions of lives.

Today, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB led by Nnamdi Kanu, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Biafra Independent Movement, BIM, and other pro-Biafra groups have declared a commemoration to mark Biafra Day.

However, below is the speech delivered by Ojukwu in 1967, urshering in the civil war.

By Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu:

Fellow countrymen and women, you, the people of Eastern Nigeria:

Conscious of the supreme authority of Almighty God over all mankind, of your duty to yourselves and posterity;

Aware that you can no longer be protected in your lives and in your property by any Government based outside Eastern Nigeria;

Believing that you are born free and have certain inalienable rights which can best be preserved by yourselves;

Unwilling to be unfree partners in any association of a political or economical nature;

Rejecting the authority of any person or persons other than the Military Government of Eastern Nigeria to make any imposition of whatever kind or nature upon you;

Determined to dissolve all political and other ties between you and the former Federal Republic of Nigeria;

Prepared to enter into such association, treaty or alliance with any sovereign state within the former Federal Republic of Nigeria and elsewhere on such terms and conditions as best to subserve your common good;

Affirming your trust and confidence in me;

Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign independent Republic,

Now, therefore, I, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles, recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of "The Republic of Biafra". And I do declare that-

1. all political ties between us and the Federal Republic of Nigeria are hereby totally dissolved;
2. all subsisting contractual obligations entered into by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or by any person, authority or organization or government acting on its behalf, with any person, authority or organization operating, or relating to any matter or thing, within the Republic of Biafra, shall henceforth be deemed to be entered into with the Military Governor of the Republic of Biafra for and on behalf of the Government and people of the republic of Biafra, and the covenants thereof shall, subject to this Declaration, be performed by the parties according to their tenor;

iii. all subsisting international treaties and obligations made on behalf of eastern Nigeria by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, shall be honored and respected;

1. Eastern Nigeria's due share of all subsisting international debits and obligations entered into by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on behalf of the Federation of Nigeria shall be honored and respected;
2. steps will be taken to open discussions of the question of Eastern Nigeria's due share of the assets of the Federation of Nigeria and personal properties of the citizens of Biafra throughout the Federation of Nigeria;
3. the rights, privileges, pensions, etc. of all personnel of the Public Services, the Armed Forces and the Police now serving in any capacity within the Republic of Biafra, are hereby guaranteed;

vii. we shall keep the door open for association with, and would welcome, any sovereign unit or units in the former Federation of Nigeria or in any other parts of Africa desirous of association with us for the purposes of running a common services organization and for the establishment of economic ties;
viii. we shall protect the lives and property of all foreigners residing in Biafra; we shall extend the hand of friendship to those nations who respect our sovereignty, and shall repel any interference in our internal affairs;

1. we shall faithfully adhere to the charter of the Organization of African Unity and of the United Nations Organization;
2. It is our intention to remain a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations in our right as a sovereign, independent nation.

Long live the Republic of Biafra! And may God protect all who live in her!

Aburi Accord: Listen to Dim Ikemba and Gowon

Bianca Odinakachukwu Odumegwu-Ojukwu

~The SUN Nigeria. Wednesday, August 10, 2016.

"I am no longer young and I have learned much along the way. The fortress of my manhood is not yet completed but, what I have built so far is strong. Yet the purpose of a fortress is to protect and hold safely those things that are precious. If during the building a man loses and expends those things which he wishes to protect, then the finished fortress is a mockery. "

- Wilbur Smith, South African novelist.

Helena's famed beauty was not the type that awaited the beholder's interpretation. So overwhelming was her poise that the greatest powers of her era, Greece and Troy, had to sacrifice thousands of their young men for her claim. Beauty is a great advantage in the world. Strangers are more likely to do favours for physically attractive people. Ugly people get high sentences in criminal cases and lower damage awards on civil law suits.

Bianca Odinakachukwu Odumegwu-Ojukwu, a mother of some teenage children, is like Helena of Troy, the type of beauty that causes civil war among nations and at her peak was recorded as Nigerian most beautiful girl, went to the world beauty pageant. With that Cleopatra gait, Venus overflowing hair, eyes like Elizabeth Taylor, Bianca stepping before the camera could cause international conflagration amongst nation powers. Yet Bianca was not the star daughter of his Excellency, C.C. Onoh. It was her elder sister, who was returning from the United States on a December Christmas when her plane crashed at the Enugu airport and turned into a fireball. Amongst the passengers roasted in the air, include the whole family of four of Senator Offia Nwali. The late Senator lost his vivacious wife, Uche, and all the Nwali children in that burning plane. The then Governor of Anambra State was destabilised for he had lost his most accomplished daughter, a PhD intellectual superstar of the family. His misery was not abated for very soon the Buhari military putsch dismissed the Shagari NPN democracy.

We did not hear much about this buffeted family until the gods in their fortune guess extended it and favoured the up and coming Bianca Odinakachukwu. This Helena of our time emerged and was ordained Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 1988. Bianca Odinakachukwu before then read Law at UNN and proceeded to London, Yorkshire University. In between those times, this extra ordinary beauty would involuntarily act the goddess. On one occasion, Bianca decided to take a walk from the Coal city on her high heels to her Ngwo residence up there in the hills. Approaching dusk and causing commotion on the road, as drivers and passengers were thunderstruck by a sudden appearance of a "spirit goddess," flaunting along the high way her long hair, glittering alamanda colours, Bianca held spell bound, drivers, passengers, who couldn't imagine their eyes. Behold, there was a simmering goddess like silhouette, cutting into the approaching dusk.

We can get Biafra in one week -Debe, Ojukwu's son

Written by CHIDI OBINECHE

~The SUN, Nigeria. Sunday, May 8, 2016

…Says Ikemba was an only son, his brothers were adopted

DEBE, first son of the late Biafran secessionist leader and Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Chukuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu opens up on the Biafra struggle, the crises in the family over the estate Ojukwu left behind, Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB leadership, among many other topical issues. Excerpts.

Fulani herdsmen are marauding; killing, maiming and raping people. What should be the permanent so­lution to it?

Personally, I don't think the grazing reserves bill on the floor of the National Assembly is the solution, because the reserves should be in the places where the herdsmen originate from, because we have different cultures, and different means of sus­tenance. People in the South-east and South-south are mainly farmers. You don't graze on their farms, because the farms are their means of sustenance, just like the herdsmen see the cattle as their own means of sustenance. You don't sacrifice one means of sustenance for another. If they feel, for instance, that their means of livelihood in Sokoto or Kano states is cattle rearing, they can set up graz­ing reserves there, which I think is okay. In France and Britain, they have ranches where they shepherd their cows. And they go out and get their feeds. They don't allow the cows to start roaming the streets of London because they need to eat grasses. I believe that grazing reserves should be done with the basic law in the siting of industries which is closeness to the source of raw materials. They should restrict the grazing reserves to the North, and they can come down to the South to buy the things they need to feed their cows, instead of trampling on yam and cassava farms.

Why did the president not react to the carnage in Enugu state the same way he has always reacted to those agitating for Biafra?

The most important thing is to first identify the people. There are various ways of committing crime, and the intelligence of these criminals var­ies from one person to another. You can say that the intelligence of the herdsmen and the collusion with the security agents are more sophisticated than that of the Biafra agitators. There are many Biafra agita­tors of which I am one. I am one, but I subscribe to the legal and diplomatic agitation; not the violent agitation.

What to do about Biafra

~TheGuardian, Nigeria.

WHEN Lt Col Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu declared the former Eastern Region the Republic of Biafra there were 18 military installations in the country before the 1966 coup, according to Major Abubakar A. Atofarati. They were 14 in Northern Nigeria, three in Western Nigeria and only one, the 1st Battalion, Enugu in Eastern Nigeria. So it was clear at the start of the war that the dice was heavily loaded against the Eastern Region.

Ojukwu probably thought that the big powers would support Biafra because of their revulsion against the pogrom that occurred in Northern Nigeria. The second reason was that the Eastern Region carried substantial crude oil in its bowels and the big powers would probably like to intervene on the side of oil. That did not happen. Only five countries, Gabon, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Zambia and Haita, all of them with nondescript credentials in the power game recognised Biafra. As we all know Biafra collapsed irretrievably after 30 bloody months.

So far there have been three still born republics in Nigeria; Isaac Adaka Boro started the Niger Delta Republic before the civil war. He took up arms and gathered his ragtag army and told them: "The war of liberation is on. A Niger Delta Republic is declared." His republic lived for 12 days only before the long arm of the bigger republic caught up with him. The second still born republic, Biafra, was declared by Ojukwu. It lasted for 30 months. The third still-born republic was declared by a brilliant medical doctor, Major Albert Okonkwo, who was in the Biafran Army. Even though the people of the Mid-West were not interested in being dragged into the war Okonkwo seized their territory and declared it the Republic of Benin. This republic, like the others before it, also crumbled like a cook-book cake.

Nigeria has not treated Igbo fairly -Ugwu-Oju …Launches book on Ojukwu's dad

By Chidi Nnadi, Enugu

Ugwu-Oju

Recently, the cream of Igbo entrepreneurs and elite gathered in Enugu for the presentation of a book: "In Quest of Perpetuity," a bio-sketch of the late Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was a foremost African entrepreneur.

The event tagged "Enugu 2015 Ndigbo and Entrepreneurship" anchored by the President of South-East, South-South Professionals, Mr Emeka Ugwu-Oju, was held at the Dome.

Ugwu-Oju took time after the launch to field questions from newsmen on the book presentation, the Igbo nation, the protests by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), and governance in Igbo land. Excerpt:

The book presentation

The book was launched in November but then we needed to do a bit more in terms of letting the entire country, especially the Igbo nation, know more about the late Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu because sometimes we don't seem to remember people in the past, but if you don't remember the past, you won't be able to figure your way out in the future.

So, that led to my desire to go beyond the book launch to give some presentations on his life. So, the leaders in various sectors should try and present the book to the general public so that we shall know more about the man.

Ahiara Declaration

PROUD AND COURAGEOUS BIAFRANS,

FELLOW COUNTRY MEN AND WOMEN,

I salute you. Today, as I look back over our two years as a sovereign and independent nation, I am overwhelmed with the feeling of pride and satisfaction in our performance and achievement as a people. Our indomitable will, our courage, our endurance of the severest privations, our resourcefulness and inventiveness in the face of tremendous odds and dangers, have become proverbial in a world so bereft of heroism, and have become a source of frustration to Nigeria and her foreign masters. For this and for the many miracles of our time, let us give thanks to Almighty God. I congratulate all Biafrans at home and abroad. I thank you all the part you have played and have continued to play in this struggle, for your devotion to the high ideals and principles on which this Republic was founded.

I thank you for your absolute commitment to the cause for which our youth are making daily, the supreme sacrifice, and a cause for which we all have been dispossessed, blockaded, bombarded, starved and massacred. I salute you for your tenacity of purpose and amazing steadfastness under siege.

I salute the memory of the many patriots who have laid down their lives in defence of our Fatherland. I salute the memory of all Biafrans - men, women and children - who died victims of the Nigerian crime of genocide. We shall never forget them. Please God, their sacrifice shall not be in vain. For the dead on the other side of this conflict, may their souls rest in peace. To our friends and well-wishers, to the growing band of men and women around the world who have, in spite of the vile propaganda mounted against us, identified themselves with the justice of our cause, in particular to our courageous friends, officers and staff of the Relief Agencies and humanitarian organisations, pilots who daily offer themselves in sacrifice that our people might be saved; to Governments, in particular Tanzania, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Zambia and Haiti. I give my warmest thanks and those of our entire people.

THE STRUGGLE

Fellow country men and women, for nearly two years we have been engaged in a war which threatens our people with total destruction. Our enemy has been unrelenting in his fury and has fought our defenceless people with a vast array of military hardware of a sophistication unknown to Africa. For two years we have withstood his assaults with nothing other than our stout hearts and bare hands.

OJUKWU AND THE TABLOID

Written by Temple Chima Ubochi, Bonn, Germany

Email: ubochit@yahoo.com

The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow (Ayn Rand)

Indifference may not wreck a man's life at any one turn, but it will destroy him with a kind of dry-rot in the long run. (William Bliss Carman)
There are some men formed with feelings so blunt that they can hardly be said to be awake during the whole course of their lives. (Edmund Burke)

When one becomes indifferent to women, to children, and young people, he may know that he is superannuated, and has withdrawn from whatsoever is sweetest and purest in human existence. (Amos Bronson Alcott)

Many journalists are always courting Ojukwu; trying to get his viewpoints on issues because they know that anything he (Ojukwu) says, becomes a sensation and helps them sell their newspapers. Any Newspaper House experiencing dwindling newspaper sales, starts looking for Ojukwu’s interview in order to boost its sales. When Ojukwu sneezes, the newspapers get frenzied and try to misquote or misrepresent his viewpoints, because, many Nigerians, for good or bad, see Ojukwu’s opinion, on any issue, as a must-read. So money is the bottom line why journalist would never allow Ojukwu to enjoy all the beauties of his old age in tranquillity; they’re always looking for him, for one interview or the other, in order to publish it for a good sales. Alvan Ewuzie, writing for Sun Newspapers, interviewed Ojukwu recently, but, for whatever reasons, decided to misrepresent what Ojukwu told him. The Paper’s edition of Wednesday, April 7, 2010 which published the said interview, misquoted Ojukwu as having said that: “IBB should return to power and should run for president in 2011”.

I’m not Ojukwu’s mouthpiece; it’s not my prerogative to defend what he did not say or what he said, but, I will not stand and watch from the sideline while people insult the Igbo leader based on misconstruction of his opinions by the tabloid. The interviewer started the publication by rabble rousing; he refused to be objective, he delved into some personal issues which had nothing to do with the rules of the game. In short, the publication was at its best jaundiced.

We’re not here to review the whole publication, let’s concentrate on some portions only. On IBB and his tall dreams of ruling Nigeria again, Ojukwu said: “I don’t know that he wants to come back. But Babangida happens to be the one I know a little bit about. If for nothing else I like his sense of humour and I believe that a man endowed with such openness might have something to offer. About whether he thinks that “if he (IBB) wants to come back, he is welcome”, Ojukwu said: “Oh yes why not. In fact any body who wants to have a shot at the Presidency is welcome, provided they go the right way. Don’t come back to office through the wrong way such as a coup d’état then I will tell you that you are cheating. But if you are going to go through the elections, campaigns, and get people to vote for you and they say you are the man, then that’s ok by me”. When reminded that IBB ruled for 8 years before, Ojukwu said. “I would even go further to say that if 16 years were possible, provided the man is healthy and his senses are still intact and his coordination is still alright, then he should offer himself for the job and if the people want him, so be it.”

Looking at the above excerpts, nothing suggests that Ojukwu ever said that IBB should return to power and should run for president in 2011 as the Sun Newspapers wrote in its caption of the interview. That was a misrepresentation of Ojukwu’s viewpoints. I will try to decipher what Ojukwu meant here. Ojukwu spoke hyperbolically, if you like, term it “in parables”; Ojukwu’s a leader, he’s a democrat, he has contested elections before, so there was no way he can prevent anybody, who wants, from going for elections as long as things are done the right ways. It would have amounted to dishonesty for him to suggest that IBB should not contest if he wants, afterall; we’re living in a supposedly free society where everybody’s free to say or do whatever he or she wants, as long as such is within the ambit of the law and so far the person has the wherewithal. Ojukwu cannot be contesting elections since 1983 and then turns around to wish something else for any other person.

Ojukwu saying that IBB has “sense of humour” has many meanings. IBB is ludicrous and humorous (indiscipline), if he still thinks he has something different to offer now, after ruling for eight years, and offering nothing to Nigeria and Nigerians other than corruption and hardship. I don’t know much about Fulani culture in this respect, but, I do know that in Alaigbo, when somebody looses the spouse, commonsense or love/respect for the deceased demands that such a person should at least wait out a year after the death (mourning period), before talking about whether he/she would contest an election. With “tears” still in his eyes, IBB has started planning how to rule Nigeria again. That’s humorous.

Encomiums as Ukiwe steps into Ojukwu's shoes

EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha

Encomiums flowed like rivers yesterday as former Chief of General Staff (CGS), Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (retd), was conferred with Ofo Ndigbo title, making him the fourth prominent Igbo son to be so honoured after the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

Eze Obidiegwu Onyesoh, while performing the traditional breaking of kolanut, eulogised the undying spirit of Ndigbowhich, he said, was embodied in Commodore Ukiwe, which he exhibited during his service to the country. He added that the choice of Ukiwe as the Ofo Ndigbo was due to his contributions towards Igbo unity.

According to him, as the custodian of Igbo culture and tradition, Ukiwe stepped into the shoes of prominent Igbo sons and daughters, who had in various areas touched the lives of the people and had contributed immensely to the sustenance of Igbo unity, culture, tradition and had held sacrosanct to the ethos of Ndigbo. Eze Onyesoh added that the Ofo title, which he gave to Ukiwe, is a solemn duty of Eze Nri as the custodian of Igbo culture and civilisation, adding that the Ofo in Igbo mythology simply meant the conscience of Ndigbo.

"The holder ofOfo Ndigbo, therefore, must be a role model from whose hands, the spirits ensure equitable decisions on all matters before him. He must be a good listener, make the affairs of Ndigbo his and must handle this great responsibility with wisdom," he said. Eze Nri also reminded the guests, especially friends of the Ukiwes, that the Ofo Ndigbo is not bestowed to individuals because of their deep pockets but purely was a meritorious honour given to any Igbo man who had distinguished and proven the 'Igboness' in him, adding that the choice of Ukiwe was apt at a time Ndigbo were in need of a good leader.

He stressed the need for perpetuation of Igbo culture, tradition and language, insisting that despite the effect that Westernisation and the mass media were having on the Igbo Language, the people of Nri ancient kingdom would stand tall and hold firm to the culture and tradition of Ndigbo as the custodian and leader of all Igbos.

Tribute to my husband – Dim Oma

By Bianca Ojukwu

How do I sum up 23 years in one page? I don't know. How do I describe you? I cannot. Not in any depth. Not for anybody else - you were my husband, my brother, my friend, my child. I was your queen, and it was an honour to have served you.

You were the lion of my history books, the leader of my nation when we faced extinction, the larger-than-life history come to my life - living, breathing legend. But unlike the history books, you defied all preconceptions. You made me cry from laughter with your jokes, many irreverent. You awed me with your wisdom. You melted my heart with your kindness. Your impeccable manners made Prince Charming a living reality. Your fearlessness made you the man I dreamt of all my life and your total lack of seeking public approval before speaking your mind separated you from mere mortals.

Every year that I spent with you was an adventure - no two days were the same. With you, I was finally able to soar on wings wider than the ocean. With you I was blessed with the best children God in heaven had to give. With you, I learnt to face the world without fear and learnt daily the things that matter most. Your disdain for money was novel - sometimes funny, other times quite alarming. It mattered not a whit to you. Your total dedication to your people - Ndi-Igbo - was so absolute that really, very little else mattered. You never craved anybody's praise as long as you believed that you were doing right and even in the face of utmost danger, you never relented from speaking truth to power - to you, what after all, was power? It was not that conferred by the gun, nor that stolen from the ballot box. No. You understood that power transcended all that. Power is the freedom to be true to yourself and to God, no matter the cost.

Ojukwu buried with gun salute

From CHIDI NNADI, GEOFFREY ANYANWU and IJEOMA ONUORAH. 

Nnewi - Nigeria
Saturday, March 3, 2012

• Thousands, dignitaries bid ex-warlord bye in Nnewi
• Bianca breaks down in tears
• I’ve never seen burial like this – President Jonathan

The remains of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu were yesterday interred in the marble mausoleum at his ancestral Umudim Nnewi home, in Anambra State at exactly 2:18 p.m, which overwhelmed his widow, Bianca and she broke down in tears.

 

The burial ceremony witnessed an unprecedented turn- out of people from all walks of life, with many of them extolling the virtues of the departed Igbo leader as his body was carried out of the church.

Ojukwu: Matters Arising...

Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu

Igbo nation without him
Culled from the Sun, Tuesday, November 29, 2011
It is very hard to contemplate an Igbo nation without Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi and Eze Gburugburu of Igboland.

But death, the great leveller, had made such contemplation not only a possibility but also a reality. After all, the Holy Book said that there is time for every thing; a time to be born and a time to die. For Ikemba, it is time to exit the secular stage. This is, indeed, the last Ofala for the people’s General and leader of men. The type of Ojukwu comes once in a while for a race. The possibility of another Ojukwu in our time is very remote.

How did Ojukwu describe himself?

“I am a Nigerian. But I am also an Igbo. It is my being Igbo that guarantees my Nigerianness as long as I live. Consequently, my Nigerianness shall not be at the expense of my Igboness. The Nigerian nation must therefore work for all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.”

Ojukwu, beyond the Civil War

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO, Chairman, Vanguard Editorial Board  

Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu

THERE is more to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu than the civil war and his leadership of Biafra. In the consistent prosecution of the war by other means, 41 years after it ended, pillorying Ojukwu has become a passion, almost a profession for some, who use it in the larger fight for group relevance in Nigeria.

Ojukwu had privileges only a few Nigerians of his days had. They were in his education in some of the best schools – King's College, Lagos; Epsom, and Oxford. His father, Sir Louis Philippe Odumegwu-Ojukwu was too wealthy that his son could have lived off his resources. Ojukwu would not. His decision to join the civil service after such education and later the Nigerian Army, were some of the initial shocks that Ojukwu served a society that was iron-cast in class-consciousness.

History tends to blame the other side. Ojukwu has enjoyed an unfair share of blames for the war. He has been dubbed ambitious, arrogant, power-hungry, and too young to appreciate the greater good when he announced the sovereignty of Biafra on May 27, 1967. Such positions suffer from distortions that are available weapons for justifying the unreasonableness of wars.

They are unhelpful too as they address neither the effects of the war nor the implications of muffling discussions of Nigeria's future. These are the facts. Discontent trailed results of the 1963 census, the general elections, and regional election in the West. The military stepped in with Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu's 10 January 1966 coup, accusing politicians of corruption. Top politicians from the North, including the Prime Minister Mallam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the Sadunna Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, died in that coup.

Major-General Thomas Nnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi became Head of State. Anti-Igbo riots started in the North. Igbo army officers were accused of staging the coup to further interest of their nationality.

General Aguiyi-Ironsi died in a counter coup of July 27, 1966. Gowon became Head of State and Ojukwu refused to recognise his leadership, demanding the whereabouts of General Aguiyi-Ironsi and why Gowon was promoted above his seniors, among them Brigadier A. O. Ogundipe, the most senior officer, who was shipped off to Britain as High Commissioner. Massacres of Igbos continued and Ojukwu asked them to return to the East since Nigeria would not protect them. Amazingly, Ojukwu saw to the peaceful evacuation of non-Igbos out of the East. Many peace talks, notably the one in Aburi, Ghana, failed to resolve the conflict.

In Aburi, Biafra wanted more powers for the regions, Nigeria insisted on a stronger central government. On May 27,1967, Ojukwu promulgated the Republic of Biafra, and the Federal Government on July 6, declared war against Biafra. The tragedies were particularly telling in Biafra where cases of malnutrition were acute.

Important issues on the Civil War remain stymied in the refusal of Nigerian leaders to address numerous agitations about Nigeria. They persist. Later day references to true federalism and devolution of powers are circuitous cravings for pre-Civil War federal and regional constitutions that provided more autonomy for the federating units.

Critics of Ojukwu are mainly jealous of his important contributions to the development of Nigeria. Some ignorantly join these criticisms, including some Ndigbo, whose state in Nigeria, if any, would have been worse without a resistance to the massacres that precipitated the war. The war remains the excuse for curious constitutions we have had since 1979. These contraptions constrict development, making every village to hinge its future on decisions made in Abuja far away in mind and mood from the people.

Legacy of service

Who remembers the legacy of service the Ojukwus provided for Nigeria? Sir Louis was co-founder of the Lagos Stock Exchange. Hundreds of his kinsmen in Nnewi benefited from apprenticeship under his businesses. The younger Ojukwu spent his life protesting injustices – from ordinary folks killed in the North because of their origin to Ogundipe who lost his seniority in the Nigerian arm again because of his origin.

Nigeria has not only given up on protecting the poor and the weak, the Constitution under nebulous provisions makes us less Nigerians and more of the things that will divide us. Ojukwu went to war in 1967 to protect his people. Who is protecting Nigerians today? How far is he willing to go? We cannot answer these questions without giving Ojukwu credit for his sense of service. The challenge his service presents is possibly the biggest source of the criticisms he faced. Nigerian leaders abhor sacrifice and service: Ojukwu is a reminder of the things they have failed to do or unwilling to attempt

Odumegwu Ojukwu: The last campaign of the Biafran General

By Emma Okocha 

"It matters not who the voter, what does matter is who counts the votes”-Russian Dictator Joseph Stalin.
"As far as we know there is one state in Africa that never had one king for all”.
That is my own state, the Ibo….most decentralized in our political and bureaucratic organization; since there is no salary for filling political posts, corruption is rare, since there is no Police, no party system, politicians are like priests, often very poor.”
- Eastern Nigerian Minister of Finance, Philosopher, Pioneer Nationalist, Mazi Mbonu Ojike.
”Only people who share worldviews can share dreams. The British created a political power configuration that would allow them ‘leave-and -stay’ in Nigeria.

This arrangement made sense through some worldviews within Nigeria and did not make sense through other worldviews within Nigeria. The duty of a great leadership is to synthesize a common worldview to reconcile the peoples within the polity. Nigeria did not have such leadership. And things fell apart.
Neither Emeka or Gowon went into the army to rise to the rank of Head of State. Their persons or roles were not the theme of the drama. Plays are independent of the actors. Actors, although, can contribute differences in style, and so, influence dramatic outcomes. Still if they are not available, other people will play the role better or worse.”
- Dr. Ben.Chidi Osuagwu, Keynote Address celebrating the 70th birthday of General Odumegwu Ojukwu, Owerri, November 1st, 2003.
”In three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention . During those three years of heroic bound , we leapt across the great chasm that separates knowledge from know-how. We built bombs, rockets, and we designed and built our own refinery and our own delivery systems and guided them far. For three years, blockaded without hope of import, we maintained all our vehicles.
The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens. We built and maintained our airports, maintained them under heavy bombardment, and after each raid we were able to recover and maintain the record as the busiest airport in Africa. We spoke to the world through a telecommunication system engineered by local ingenuity.
In three years we had broken the technological barrier, became the most advanced Black people on earth. We spurn nylon yarn, we developed new seeds for food and medicines.”
[Emeka Ojukwu,1998]

His father was the business emperor who traveled the United Kingdom without any traveling papers. He was in Kings College and therefore can be branded a Lagos boy. A graduate from Oxford he is the first Nigerian graduate to enlist and to command a Nigerian army formation, the fifth Battalion, Kano.
Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is the first African to appear on the front color cover of the world’s most influential documentary, the American Time magazine.
Kwame Nkrumah the late Ghananian President was actually the first black man to be featured on the Times black and white cover when that nation won its independence in 1957.[see Biafra Agony, TIME, August 23, 1968] Ojukwu was on the cover of the Times and for the last three years of the romantic decade of the ’60s was the headline, from the chilly landscape of the Scandinavians to the Siberia wastes of the Supreme Soviet.
His overthrowing charisma and his Biafra story held the front pages of the newspapers and on television screens, the blood curdling tragedy of the Biafran starving children, shocked the entire humanity. The Canadians with little bother for their own safety, rushed in food and medical supplies. Reverend Johnson founded the Jesus Line and for the first time the Christian west, ignored their lethargic governments, chartered their own aircraft and landed Biafra. They dropped food to the desperately hungry hinterland and took off with the kwashiorkor children.
The French doctors in revolution and on their own moved in to take care of the wounded, the victims of the incessant air bombardment; and that is the origin of the now world renowned humanitarian group, Medicine sans frontier- Doctors without borders.
There were other unforgettable Christian organizations like the Caritas, the World Council of Churches who braved the rocket infested skies to bring succor to Biafra. The Red Cross, in one of those savage contentions, had its plane brought down and into the Atlantic crashed the pilot, the heroic volunteers. Instead of going to the hungry children, donated tons of food and medical relief materials went to the fishes of the ocean.
The Russian Mig fighters responsible for all those Geneva contraventions were operating on the orders of the Supreme Soviet. The later regarded the survival of the young nation, as an unwarranted menace to the over all Russian interest in Africa.
Even though, the Russians had acknowledged Ojukwu’s socialist envoy, Justice P. K. Nwokedi, giving him the rare honor to address the Supreme Soviet Parliament, Leonid Brezhnev and the Communist leadership had made up their mind. Russian intelligence led by Romanov her Ambassador in Lagos had reported that the Biafran rocket had out distanced the latest of the red army’s artillery. It would therefore be in the interest of that Super Power to stop the Biafran revolution.
After three years of grit and blood, the war was over. As it is always with men of determined path, Emeka Ojukwu’s life has been a high voltage risk, full of dramas, a ballet, and also have featured on the edges, very rough Abariba head hunters’ dance contests with and against destiny.
Right from the day he slapped a colonial authority as a student in Kings College, to the day he declared Biafra; the day he passed the Midwest Command to Col. Banjo, on the day he personally directed field operations to ward off Federal land and sea assault on Oguta, and onwards to that final day of transferring Command to General Philip Effiong, before going into exile.
Indeed, it was a risk sending him to England to read. He attended tutorials driving a Rolls Royce to class and inviting his Professor to come riding with him. As a graduate it was a major risk joining the army from the ranks. A most risky undertaking was asking the escapee Easterners to return to the north, only to be slaughtered in September, 1966. Declaring Biafra no matter the justice of its cause was risky and returning from exile to join the NPN against the party of Zik, was a major risk.
His last campaign for the APGA gubernatorial quest was characteristically risky. Why would the Lion of Biafra be led and physically challenged as he lumbered from place to place, mounting one podium or the other, desperately campaigning for the Governor of Anambra , a state that provided two provinces of the former Biafran entity?
In his evening years, the risk of losing another election at home will definitely force the re rewriting of his legacy, and history is usually unkind to world actors who suffered humiliating exits, or stayed too long on the stage. The victory of Governor Peter Obi in the last Anambra elections was therefore in many ways a major triumph for the last Eastern titan.
A final salute by the Anambra people to their general for his former services and also a signal to the Onye Ije to say Goodbye from the stage. For if the big masquerade fails to retire in time from the village square, the children would be empowered to throw sands his direction.