IKEMBA: THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW

By Fr. Clement Muozoba Awka, Nigeria

okochacm@yahoo.com

Michel de Nostradame, otherwise known as Nostradamus, the man who saw tomorrow and his predictions are well known. He was said to have predicted many events that came to pass such as the World Wars I and II and the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. He was also believed to have predicted the end of the world this year, 2012. By these predictions of his, he is believed to have lived and died great. I don't wish to go into the authenticity or otherwise of his predictions. However, I believe in the age old saying that "Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness entrusted upon them". Nostradamus might not have been born great. His predictions might not be as a result of his personal achievement. It was believed that a greater being entrusted such greatness on him and that what he prophesied was through some divine machination.

There was another man who saw tomorrow. He also lived and died great. His own greatness met the three categories of greatness. By the circumstances of his birth, he was the son of the first Nigerian millionaire, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu. By this fact of being born with a golden spoon in his mouth, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was born great. Then jettisoning his father's opulence and influence to join the Nigerian Army from the rank and file with his Masters degree obtained from the prestigious Oxford University, London and rose to the rank of colonel and later the Commander of the 5th Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Kano and then, the governor of the old Eastern Region, he achieved greatness. When his people were threatened with extinction, he bore their fate on his shoulders. To save them, he followed their mandate to declare the Independent Sovereign State of Biafra as the last resort and became the General of the Biafran Army. When the Federal Government of Nigeria led by General Yakubu Gowon declared a three-day police action on Ojukwu's new republic, he led his people to war and fought.

For three years, Ojukwu held on till it became clear that the Nigerian Army heavily backed by the British government with professionally trained Egyptian pilots providing aerial coverage would overwhelm Ojukwu's Biafra with its hurriedly assembled soldiers, he fled into exile in Ivory Coast where he was for 12 years. But his people never forgot him. When the government of President Shehu Shagari granted him a state pardon, he returned to his fatherland and was treated to a heroic welcome. That was back in 1982. He was given a litany of titles in appreciation of the leadership role he played during the war. He was recognized by all Igbos as the indisputable leader who could stand anytime and anywhere to speak for his people. His personality became iconic and he always showed that the canon in him had not been expended. Whenever his people were threatened, he roared and the aggressors retreated. He saved his people many times more. It's not every great man that is so recognized by his people. For one to be recognized as such speaks volumes. The Igbo is a race known to recognize no kings, hence the popular saying, "Igbo enwe eze". This means that an average Igbo man cannot just sit idly and submit his will to another man who feeds him in return and dictates for him. The Igbo man is industrious. But in spite of this popular conception, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was accepted as the Eze Igbo Gburugburu (The King of the Igbos Worldwide). He did not campaign for it. This is the greatness God and his people entrusted on him. In his characteristic way, Ojukwu rejected 'Chief' as a prefix to his title name for the reason that it is a homonym of 'thief'. He rather adopted 'Dim'.

It has not ceased to baffle me how the politics of crowning a new Eze Igbo Gburugburu even before the interment of Ojukwu suddenly erupted. This amounts to a total disrespect for the dead and lack of knowledge of the tradition of our people. It could be a part of what Ojukwu saw in his life time; that chiefs are fast degenerating to thieves. If anybody seeks to know why Ikemba is acknowledged as Eze Igbo, he definitely has to look back. He sacrificed everything he had for the Igbos. His millionaire father died shortly before the outbreak of the Nigeria-Biafran War partly because he failed to convince his son not to go to the war. Again, Ojukwu fought with his father's wealth and lost whatever remained of it to the Nigerian government. It took him series of legal battles to reclaim some of his father's property.

Ikemba was seen from different perspectives. Some called him a rebel; others called him a revolutionary while others called him a hero. Some even called him a villain. But to the Igbo man, he was a hero. Even during the heated 2010 Anambra Gubernatorial Election campaigns, none of the aspirants on the opposition had the courage to make any negative comment publicly about Ikemba. Any person who would try that would have been quite certain of losing the election before it was conducted. Gov. Peter Obi, who was very wise to cling to Ikemba as his mentor and founder of APGA, rode on his back and won the election landslide. Ikemba was a god in Igbo land.

Whatever happens in Nigeria today reminds us of what Ikemba stood for. The ethnic cracks in the walls that make up Nigeria shows that Ikemba did not hate Nigeria. He loved Nigeria and wanted the best for it. That was why he was not a part of the January 15, 1966 Coup which was largely misunderstood to be an Igbo coup. When Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi was killed in the counter-coup of July 29, 1966, Ikemba insisted that the most senior army officer, Brigadier B. A. O. Ogundipe was to become the head of state and not Colonel Yakubu Gowon. Though his position was subverted and Gowon became the head of state, Ojukwu showed himself as a man of principle and intelligence. These sharp contrasts between him and Gowon, his course mate seem to be the genesis of their problem. The greatest tribute Gowon paid to Ojukwu at his death was that he is happy Ojukwu died a Nigerian. Many Igbos felt so much insulted by that sarcasm and battered Gowon in both electronic and print media. Those who know Gowon just stopped with the simple comment that he could not be wiser than that which he vomited.

When Gen. Ankrah of Ghana summoned a peace conference in Aburi, Ghana to seek a solution to the looming war in 1967, it was agreed that the best system of government for Nigeria due to its peculiar nature would be a loose confederation. But back home in Nigeria, different interpretations were given to it especially when the import of being a confederation was explained to Gowon. He rejected the whole Aburi Peace Accord whereas Ojukwu stood by the agreement firmly, punctuating his speech with the words, "On Aburi we stand!" Gowon went on the offensive and Ikemba defended his people. There was an unprecedented genocide on the Igbos. Today, Gowon's home state of Plateau has been reduced to a theatre of war between the Hausa/Fulani (settlers) and the Berom indigenes. Can Gowon still thump his chest for being used to prosecute the war to keep Nigeria one?

The Boko Haram Islamic sect has asked all the southerners in the north and the northerners in the south to leave for their various states immediately. The devilish Islamic sect had gone on killing spree in which thousands have lost their lives and many more maimed. This is because they never believed in One Nigeria in which a northerner is not the ruler and in which the Sharia is not the supreme rule in spite of the freedom of religion and worship enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. Everybody watches as Nigeria collapses under the intense pressure from Boko Haram. Can people like Gowon still 'go on with one Nigeria'? This is what the rare breed, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu saw many years ago and was criticized as ambitious. In the words of Shakespeare, "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff". It was at his death that Nigeria recognized that what he saw and canvassed for years ago is a fact and that "divided we stand". Even if the country is not completely divided as being pushed by Boko Haram, it is time to sit together and discuss the bases of our existence, co-existence and survival as a country, and may be, correct the Lugard mistake of 1914. Never had we talked about these and that is why we have been groping in the dark.

It is not a surprise that the Great Ikemba will not be given a state burial. That is not even necessary because state burials don't define people. However that would have been fitting for him as the man who opened Nigeria's eyes to its problems. Be that as it may, the regional burial Ikemba will be given takes the place of a state burial. This is because the old eastern region was the area he ruled and where he is loved and idolized especially in the present south-east. He remains the indisputable leader of his people, greater than which none can be found for now. Though his vision of a weak centre was discarded, like Nostradamus, Ojukwu lived beyond his time and peers. See what a strong centre with weak federating units has done to Nigeria. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Eze Igbo Gburugburu truly saw tomorrow.