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Ojukwu:
Tribute from Chinweizu
ON
FEBRUARY 26, 2012
IN this world, most people are not famous at all. Some people’s fame is ephemeral, some are famous for 5 minutes and are hardly remembered again. Most persons are not remembered at all a year after their corpse is interred. Remembrance becomes enduring only when one’s life’s work has relevance for many future generations.
Why do we mourn Ojukwu’s death? Why should we keep
fresh our memory of him? Let us tell the world, as well as remind ourselves, of
the man, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and of his struggles on our behalf, and
let us note some of the brave services he rendered us in a period of more than
60 years; selfless services for which we are indebted to him and should hold
him in highest esteem.
Ojukwu lived a life filled with such deeds as legends
are made of. Here are some: Consider the case of the Zulu hero, Shaka. When he
was 13, Shaka attacked and killed a black Mamba snake that had killed a prize
bull he was guarding. Like Shaka, Ojukwu as a boy exhibited the bravery and
protectiveness that would win him fame as an adult.
Ojukwu: Anti-colonial Defender of the Racially
Oppressed
In 1944, when he was 11, Ojukwu was briefly imprisoned
for assaulting a white British colonial teacher who was humiliating a black
woman at King’s College in Lagos, an event which generated widespread coverage
in local newspapers.
For a schoolboy to fight a teacher is unusual, and
requires great courage. For any black person in a colonial society ruled by
all-powerful whites, a society which practices racial discrimination, such
behavior required extreme provocation or extreme folly. For an 11 year old black
schoolboy in such a society to fight a teacher belonging to the master race
required extraordinary audacity.
And for him to do so in defence of another black
person, and not of himself, showed a precocious race consciousness and a
meritorious sense of racial solidarity. Marcus Garvey would have been proud of
the lad and recognized him as one destined to do great deeds for the black
race. Here was a boy to watch. And, when he grew up, Ojukwu did not disappoint
such expectations.
After this event, his father, Sir Louis Odumegwu
Ojukwu, a millionaire businessman and one of the richest men in Nigeria, packed
him off to England to an elite boarding school. From there he proceeded to
Oxford University. After earning his Master’s Degree in History, he returned to
colonial Nigeria in 1956 and joined the colonial administration as a District
Officer. After serving a year, he made an extraordinary career move.
He resigned and enlisted in the Army in 1957, not as an
officer cadet, but as an ordinary soldier. Nevertheless, he rose rapidly from
the ranks and in 1964, became a Lieutenant Colonel, and was appointed the
Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army. All this he achieved within 7 years
in a peace-time army, not in a wartime army where a high attrition rate accelerates
promotions.
Soon thereafter political events pushed Ojukwu into
political leadership when the coup of January 1966 led to his appointment as
the Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. That was the platform from where he
performed the great deeds that have made him famous.
Ojukwu: Hero of Aburi
Biafran leader, Lietenant Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu,
military governor of East Nigeria in this 1966 file photo. The first of these
deeds was his brilliant performance in the negotiations at the Conference of
Nigeria’s military rulers that was held in Aburi, Ghana, in January1967.
Beginning as a minority of one in a Supreme Military
Council with eight other members in attendance, he prevailed on the SMC, first
to renounce the use of force to resolve the crisis that had brought them to
Aburi; and, secondly, to agree on a confederation arrangement for governing the
country until a new constitution could be agreed.
Getting his colleagues to agree to the Aburi Accord was
Ojukwu’s seminal contribution to Nigeria’s survival and to the security and
progress of the entire population of Nigeria. However, the fruits of this
fundamental contribution were not to be harvested. When the signatories
returned to Nigeria, Gowon and his officials in Lagos refused to implement the
terms of the Accord. This deepened the crisis and eventually provoked the
secession of Eastern Nigeria and its quest for self-determination as the
sovereign state of Biafra.
Ojukwu: Founder and War Leader of Biafra
The next great deed that Ojukwu did was to proclaim the
sovereign state of Biafra on 30 May 1967. Before the new state could find its
feet, Gowon, in repudiation of yet another part of the Aburi Accord, resorted
to force and sent the Nigerian army to invade Biafra to bring it back into Nigeria.
When the Nigeria-Biafra War began in July 1967, Ojukwu became Biafra’s war
leader.
He led Biafra in a just war of self defence, a war of
resistance to Nigeria’s aggression, a war to defend the Biafran People’s right
to self-determination and to protect their very lives. With no resources to
speak of, Ojukwu still managed to organize the Biafran people and the Biafran
Army to resist the Nigerian invaders for 30 harrowing months until Biafra fell
and surrendered in January 1970.
In those 30 months, Ojukwu did two other great deeds.
To sustain the struggle, he mobilized the scientific manpower of Biafra into
the Science and Technology Group (S&T Group) that achieved great things.
Secondly he produced a Blueprint for a just Biafran society.
Ojukwu the war leader of Biafra:
Finding itself blockaded by land, sea and air, Biafra
had to be self-reliant to survive. Its Science and Technology Group (S&T
Group) rose to the challenge and, among other things, conceived and produced a
type of air defence dust mine for use against MIG jet fighters. In October
1967, when Biafran troops at the Ugwuoba Bridge, near Awka. fired it horizontally on advancing Nigerian
troops, its devastating effect earned it the name Ogbunigwe (mass killer).
On March 31, 1968, a Biafran army unit ambushed and,
using Ogbunigwe, destroyed a 96-vehicle
column of Nigerian soldiers. The humiliating Abagana defeat to Nigerian
soldiers prompted General Yakubu Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the
General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector.
In addition, Biafran engineers built airports and
roads; designed and built petroleum refineries; designed and built light and
heavy equipment. Biafra’s Research and Production (RAP) unit did research on
chemical weapons as well as rocket guidance systems. It invented new forms of
explosives, and tried new forms of food processing technology.
The Biafra coastline was lined with home-made shore
batteries and with remote controlled weapons systems and bombs. Under Ojukwu’s
leadership, and in less than three years, a Biafra that was being starved by
blockade, achieved a great leap forward in black African science and
technology. [see Wikipedia article on Ojukwu]
This achievement remains unique in Black Africa. In
their half century of “independence” thus far, no other state in Black Africa
has created any Science & Technology organization, let alone one to compare
with the one created in Biafra’s 31 months existence.
This Biafran achievement remains an inspirational
beacon for the Black World in this 21st century. It shows that if Black African
states are still not industrialized today, the fault is not in us the people,
not in the stars, not in our race, but in our neo-colonialist leaders and their
chronic misleadership.
Ojukwu: Proponent of a New Social Order
Even in the midst of war, Ojukwu encouraged the Biafran
intelligentsia to investigate and articulate their people’s aspirations for
their post-war society. This effort produced a document which Ojukwu presented
to the nascent Biafran nation on June 1, 1969 at Ahiara village.
It became known as The Ahiara Declaration .The document
eloquently and totally rejected the Nigerian social order for its
neo-colonialist iniquities and inequities, and outlined the principles on which
a radically different and just society would be constructed in Biafra.
Ojukwu’s Ahiara Declaration invites
comparison with Nyerere’s Arusha
Declaration as a blueprint for a just
and egalitarian Black African society.
Accurate picture
Unfortunately, despite these achievements, the proposed
new society was not to be. A Biafran
cartoon of the period, captioned “The Truth about the Nigeria-Biafra War”, gave
an accurate picture of the war situation: it showed a trio consisting of President Lyndon Johnson
of the USA, Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Britain and Premier Alexei
Kosygin of the USSR holding Ojukwu immobilized for Nigeria’s Gowon to use
as a punching bag.
Given that fundamental situation, it was no wonder that
Biafra collapsed, after 30 months of fighting a just war. And to save him from
almost certain execution by vengeful Nigerian soldiers, Ojukwu’s followers
packed him off to exile in Cote d’Ivoire
in January 1970, in the expectation that he would live to fight for them
another day.
Ojukwu, the war leader of a defeated Biafra, spent 12
years in exile before he was pardoned and allowed to return to Nigeria in 1982.
He arrived to a tumultuous hero’s welcome by his people and he plunged into
Nigerian politics to champion the struggle for improvement in the hard lot of
his defeated people.
Alleviating the condition of Ndi-Igbo within Nigeria
became his mission until his death in 2011. To do that he joined the NPN, the
governing party of that time, and contested for a seat in the Nigerian
senate. However, after a vigorous
election campaign, he was declared defeated. Undaunted, he continued to be a
voice for Ndi-Igbo in Nigerian affairs despite a stint as a political detainee
during the Buhari period.
In 1994-1995, at the Abacha Constitutional Conference
in Abuja, the Ndi-Igbo contingent, led jointly by Ojukwu and a former Vice
President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme, introduced and persuaded the Conference
to adopt the concept of six geo-political zones in which the 36 states of
Nigeria are now aggregated. In 2003,
Ojukwu joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and became its
Presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections. This was all in a
further effort to give Ndi-Igbo a suitable presence in Nigerian politics and to
promote the interests of Ndi-Igbo within Nigeria.
Ojukwu the APGA presidential candidate.
Former Biafra leader Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (L) who
emerged as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)’s presidential aspirant
for 2007 elections after their national convention in Enugu is pictured with
Chief Victor Ume, APGA Chairman and Mrs Virgy Etiaba, Deputy Governor of
Anambra State during the APGA convention held in Enugu, Nigeria, 04 December
2006. (Nwakamma/AFP/Getty Images)
Ojukwu and PRONACO
In the continuing search for a peaceful and better
Nigeria, Ojukwu was among the leaders of thought who, in 2005-2006, in
consultation with Chief Anthony Enahoro, initiated the Peoples’ National
Conference through the platform of the Pro National Conference Organizations
(PRONACO) –an alliance of 164 ethnic organizations that believed that a
Sovereign National Conference ( SNC) had become imperative for transforming
Nigeria and ending its people’s woes.
That People’s National Conference, which was a
comprehensive revalidation of the Aburi Accord by the ethnic nationalities,
produced a Draft People’s Constitution which has been overwhelmingly
endorsed across Nigeria as a credible
path to a sustainable basis for Nigeria’s survival. As the conference rotated
its sittings across various geo-political locations (including Lagos, Port
Harcourt, Enugu, Jos and Kano) Ojukwu hosted that conference twice in Enugu, in
February and in March 2006.
Upon the conclusion of the conference, Ojukwu actively
mobilized for the informal referendum to which the Draft People’s Constitution
was subjected, resulting in its endorsement by various ethnic blocs. As a part
of the process for actualizing this
written wish of the peoples of Nigeria, Ojukwu volunteered to be one of the
plaintiffs, alongside Wole Soyinka, Anthony Enahoro and Bankole Oki, in a
lawsuit before the Federal High Court, Lagos, challenging the legitimacy of the
1999 constitution. This is Suit No. FHC/L/CS/558/09. It is still in court till
today. The suit is to dismantle the fraudulent and military-imposed
constitution of 1999 and make space for a new order.
All of this shows that while Ojukwu contended for a
place within the Nigerian political space, by joining the NPN and running for
the senate in1983, by participating in Abacha’s Constitutional Conference in
1994-1995, and then by joining APGA and running twice for President on the APGA
ticket, he devoted even more energy towards resolving the fundamental
distortions that have brought Nigeria to the dark valley where it is
languishing. That, in brief, is an outline of the life and struggles of
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Ojukwu: Unfinished business
No person dies or leaves office without leaving behind
some unfinished business. Hero that he was, Ojukwu is no exception. There is the business of transforming
Nigeria, a project which is being ably carried on by his younger PRONACO
colleagues. While that project is for the benefit of all Nigerians, there is
another unfinished business of his which concerns Ndi-Igbo exclusively. Let me now draw your attention to it.
Ojukwu did not finish the vital business of creating an
institutional embodiment of the Ndi-Igbo nation, a paramount cultural-political
institution for Ndi-Igbo, their counterpart of what the Ooni of Ife is for the
Yoruba; and the Asentehene is for the Ashanti of Ghana; and the Kabaka is for
the Baganda of Uganda; the Sultan of Sokoto is for Shariyaland, a.k.a.
Nigeria’s Far North or Arewa.
Or take the example of what the Dalai Lama institution is for the
Tibetans, namely, a central focus of Tibetan cultural identity, a symbolic
embodiment of the Tibetan national character.
Such are the cultural and non-partisan institutions to which a people
all give their allegiance and look to for decisive guidance in their affairs.
By joining the NPN and entering partisan politics on his return from exile in
1982, Ojukwu skipped his chance to become the nucleus of a neutral
institutional arbiter in the world of Ndi-Igbo.
However, he made a belated attempt to correct his
error, but did not succeed. His Eze Igbo Gburugburu title, with its notion of
monarchy, was probably in the wrong cultural idiom for Igbo republicanism to
accept, and so it never gathered widespread or deep acquiescence.
With Ojukwu’s joining of the ancestors, the task of
creating this sorely needed paramount institution, and in some effective and
culturally appropriate form, is now left for the next generation of Ndi-Igbo,
and especially for the leadership cadres that will emerge among them. And it is
for the elders of today to guide them to accomplish that vital task.
Ojukwu is physically dead, but for as long as we keep
fresh our memories of his deeds, the legend lives on. Let me sum up:
At the age of 11, Ojukwu burst onto the scene as a
defender of black people when he physically defended a black African woman from
humiliation by a white colonial racist teacher.
Then at age 33 he became the warrior defender of all
Eastern Nigerians when they came under mass murderous attack by their fellow
Nigerians. Then after the collapse of Biafra he settled into the role of
political warrior defending Ndi-Igbo in the neocolonial dungeon called Nigeria.
By the example of his deeds, the Ojukwu legend will
live on wherever people, and black people especially, look for an inspiring
role model of selfless defence of the humiliated and oppressed; or for a model
of when an injured and defenceless people must say “enough is enough” and
embark on a struggle for self determination; or for model leadership for
scientific and technological advancement; or for a model of how to obtain a
Blueprint for a just and equitable social order.
Ojukwu: The People’s Assessment.
Let me end this assessment of Ojukwu’s life by quoting
some excerpts from what ordinary Nigerians said of Ojukwu after his death, on a
website discussing the seminal Aburi Accord:
“Aburi can again help us avoid another Biafra. MIDDLE
BELT people are clearly being pushed & provoked without cause.”
“Love him or hate him, he was one politician that stole
no money- check the records. Adieu, Lion of the Tribe of Biafra!”
“Ojukwu is gone but his life is full of lessons for us
to learn: He stood for the truth, fought for the truth and in truth he
died. He saw what others could not see –
self determination of his people. It
took another 40 years for Nigerians to latch on – clamouring for autonomy.”
“We will miss your courage and hatred for injustice.
You gave your all for the emancipation of your people.”
“He was distinct, patriotic and fearless. He was
synonymous with justice and equity. He distanced himself from the pandemic
corruption that has ravaged prominent politicians of his time.”
“He was able to tell us that you can be rich and
principled, you can be rich and honest, you can be rich and be a friend of the
poor, you can be rich and be a friend of the needy, you can be rich and
sacrifice for humanity, you can be rich and remain modest. The list is endless. Ojukwu used his money to pursue people’s
course, while our present day thieves we call rulers use our money to persecute
us, can you see the difference?”
“Though you are dead, your fighting spirit is still
alive to actualise your dreams, and your children in their generation will
immortalise and celebrate you in their new nation.”
And to that, permit me to add my voice and say:
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu!
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu!
Ikemba Nnewi, Laa n’udo!
Ikemba Nnewi, Go in peace!
Eze-agha Ndi Biafra
War chief of Biafra
Dike n’aluru ndi ike adighi ogu
Champion who fights for those without strength
Onye nchedo ndi an’emegbu emegbu
Protector of the exploited
Onye n’ebulite onodu onye an’eleli eleli
The one who raises the status of the despised
Laa n’udo, Ikemba, Laa n’udo!
Go in peace, Ikemba, Go in peace!
Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (4 November 1933[1] – 26
November 2011[2]) was a Nigerian military officer and politician. Ojukwu served
as the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966, the leader
of the breakaway Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970 and a Nigerian politician
from 1983 to 2011, when he died, aged 78.[3]
Ojukwu came into national prominence upon his
appointment as military governor in 1966 and his actions thereafter. A military
coup against the civilian Nigerian federal government in January 1966 and a
counter coup in July 1966 by different military factions, perceived to be
ethnic coups, resulted in pogroms in Northern Nigeria in which Igbos were
predominantly killed. Ojukwu who was not an active participant in either coup
was appointed the military governor of Nigeria's Eastern region in January 1966
by General Aguyi Ironsi.[4]
In 1967, great challenges confronted the Igbos of
Nigeria with the coup d’etat of 15 January 1966 led by Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu
who was widely considered to be an outstanding progressive and was buried with
full military honours when killed by those he fought against. His coup d’etat
was triggered by political lawlessness, and uncontrolled looting and lacing in
the streets of Western Nigeria. Unfortunately the Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir
Ahmadu Bello; the Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Tafawa Balewa; the Premier of
the Western Region,Chief Ladoke Akintola and the Finance Minister, Chief Festus
Okotie Eboh (among others including military officers) were killed in the
process. The pogrom of Igbos followed in Northern Nigeria beginning in July
1966.Eventually, then Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu declared Biafra's Independence
on 30 May 1967. (Biafra- 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970).[5]
He took part in talks to seek an end to the hostilities
by seeking peace with the then Nigerian military leadership, headed by General
Yakubu Gowon (Nigeria's head of state following the July 1966 counter coup).
The military leadership met in Aburi Ghana (the Aburi Accord), but the
agreement reached there was not implemented to all parties satisfaction upon
their return to Nigeria. The failure to reach a suitable agreement, the
decision of the Nigerian military leadership to establish new states in the
Eastern Region and the continued pogrom in Northern Nigeria led Ojukwu to
announce a breakaway of the Eastern Region under the new name Biafra republic
in 1967. These sequence of events sparked the Nigerian Civil War. Ojukwu led
the Biafran forces and on the defeat of Biafra in January 1970, and after he
had delegated instructions to Philip Effiong he went into exile for 13 years,
returning to Nigeria following a pardon.[6]
Lieutenant-Colonel Ojukwu was in Kano, northern
Nigeria, when Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu on 15 January 1966 executed
and announced the bloody military coup in Kaduna, also in northern Nigeria. It
is to Ojukwu's credit that the coup lost much steam in the north, where it had
succeeded. Lt. Col. Odumegwu-Ojukwu supported the forces loyal to the Supreme
Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Major-General Aguiyi-Ironisi. Major
Nzeogwu was in control of Kaduna, but the coup had failed in other parts of the
country.[9]
Aguiyi-Ironsi took over the leadership of the country
and thus became the first military head of state. On Monday, 17 January 1966,
he appointed military governors for the four regions. Lt. Col. Odumegwu-Ojukwu
was appointed Military Governor of Eastern Region. Others were: Lt.-Cols Hassan
Usman Katsina (North), Francis Adekunle Fajuyi (West), and David Akpode Ejoor
(Mid West). These men formed the Supreme Military Council with Brigadier B.A.O
Ogundipe, Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, Chief of
Staff Army HQ, Commodore J. E. A. Wey, Head of Nigerian Navy, Lt. Col. George
T. Kurubo, Head of Air Force. Template:Col. Sittu Alao
By 29 May 1966, there was a pogrom in northern Nigeria
during which Nigerians of southeastern Nigeria origin were targeted and killed.
This presented problems for Odumegwu Ojukwu. He did everything in his power to
prevent reprisals and even encouraged people to return, as assurances for their
safety had been given by his supposed colleagues up north and out west.
On 29 July 1966, a group of officers, including Majors
Murtala Muhammed, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, and Martin Adamu, led the majority
Northern soldiers in a mutiny that later developed into a
"counter-coup". The coup failed in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria
where Ojukwu was the military Governor, due to the effort of the brigade
commander and hesitation of northern officers stationed in the region (partly
due to the mutiny leaders in the East being Northern whilst being surrounded by
a large Eastern population).
The Supreme Commander General Aguiyi-Ironsi and his
host Colonel Fajuyi were abducted and killed in Ibadan. On acknowledging
Ironsi's death, Ojukwu insisted that the military hierarchy be preserved. In
that case, the most senior army officer after Ironsi was Brigadier Babafemi
Ogundipe, should take over leadership, not Colonel Gowon (the coup plotters
choice), however the leaders of the counter-coup insisted that Colonel Gowon be
made head of state. Both Gowon and Ojukwu were of the same rank in the Nigeria
Army then (Lt. Colonel). Ogundipe could not muster enough force in Lagos to
establish his authority as soldiers (Guard Battalion) available to him were
under Joseph Nanven Garba who was part of the coup, it was this realisation
that led Ogundipe to opt out. Thus, Ojukwu's insistence could not be enforced
by Ogundipe unless the coup ploters agreed (which they did not).[10] The fall
out from this led to a stand off between Ojukwu and Gowon leading to the
sequence of events that resulted in the Nigerian civil war.
In January 1967, the Nigerian military leadership went
to Aburi, Ghana for a peace conference hosted by General Joseph Ankrah. The
implementation of the agreements reached at Aburi fell apart upon the
leaderships return to Nigeria and on 30 May 1967,as a result of this, Colonel
Odumegwu-Ojukwu declared Eastern Nigeria a sovereign state to be known as
BIAFRA:
"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."
(No Place To Hide – Crises And Conflicts Inside Biafra,
Benard Odogwu, 1985, Pp. 3 & 4).
On 6 July 1967, Gowon declared war and attacked Biafra.
For 30 months, the war raged on. Now General Odumegwu-Ojukwu knew that the odds
against the new republic were overwhelming. Most European states recognised the
illegitimacy of the Nigerian military rule and banned all future supplies of
arms, but the UK government substantially increased its supplies, even sending
British Army and Royal Air Force advisors.
During the war in addition to the Aburi (Ghana) Accord
that tried to avoid the war, there was also the Niamey (Niger Republic) Peace
Conference under President Hamani Diori (1968) and the OAU sponsored Addis
Ababa (Ethiopia) Conference (1968) under the Chairmanship of Emperor Haile
Selassie. This was the final effort by General Ojukwu and General Gowon to
settle the conflict at the Conference Table. The rest is history and even
though General Gowon, a good man, promised "No Victor, No
Vanquished," the Igbos were not only defeated but felt vanquished.[5]
After three years of non-stop fighting and starvation,
a hole did appear in the Biafran front lines and this was exploited by the
Nigerian military. As it became obvious that all was lost, Ojukwu was convinced
to leave the country to avoid his certain assassination. On 9 January 1970,
General Odumegwu-Ojukwu handed over power to his second in command, Chief of
General Staff Major-General Philip Effiong, and left for Côte d'Ivoire, where
President Felix Houphöet-Biogny – who had recognised Biafra on 14 May 1968 –
granted him political asylum.
There was one controversial issue during the Biafra
war, the killing of some members of the July 1966 alleged coup plot and Major
Victor Banjo. They were executed for alleged treason with the approval of
Ojukwu, the Biafran Supreme commander. Major Ifejuna was one of those executed.
More or so, there was a mystery on how Nzeogwu died in Biafra enclaved while
doing a raid against Nigeria army on behalf of Biafra.
Blockaded by air, land and sea, Ojukwu and Biafra
refined enough fuel stored under the canopies of jungle trees in the town of
Obohia in Mbaise, Imo State Nigeria. These were the products of makeshift
Refineries that moved from place to place as the enclave receded. Facing deadly
air raids from Russian MIG jets piloted by Algerian and Egyptian mercenaries,
Ojukwu's Biafra and University scientists created "Ogbunigwe," what
Americans today would call a weapon of mass destruction. As the drums of war
were sounding, Ojukwu's Biafra was planning the establishment of the University
of Science and Technology in Port-Harcourt.
The young man, General Ojukwu, then thirty three years
old, had to rein in Biafran military officers some senior to him, others his
juniors. He had to get his father's age mates, or near age mates to work with
him and for Biafra. Some of these were larger in size than life itself, some
were more intelligent, a few were wiser – Nnamdi Azikiwe, Pius Okigbo, Sir
Louis Mbanefo, C. C. Mojekwu, Kenneth Dike, Eyo Ita, Jaja Nwachukwu, Dr. K. O.
Mbadiwe, Barrister Raymond Njoku, Chief Dennis Osadebay, Sir Francis Akanu
Ibiam, Inspector Boniface Ihekuna, Inspector General Okeke, Colonel Njoku,
Colonel Nwawo, Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, General Madiebo, General Philip
Effiong, Dr. A. A. Nwafor Orizu, M.C. K. Ajuluchukwu, Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe, G.C.M
Onyiuke, and so many others – diplomats like O. U. Ikpa (Portugal), Godwin
Onyegbula (Foreign Ministry), M. T. Mbu (Foreign Affairs), Emeka Anyaoku
(Commonwealth Secretary), Ralph Uwechue (Paris), Dr. Sebastian Okechukwu Mezu
(Abidjan), Ignatius Kogbara (London), Austin Okwu (Tanzania), Ugwu (Gabon), Dr.
Ifegwu Eke (information), Okoko Ndem (Propaganda), Sylvester Ugoh (Bank of
Biafra), N. U. Akpan, Dr. Otue (Canada) Aggrey K. Orji and Dr. Lemeh (New
York), Dr. Aaron Ogbonna (West Germany), etc.[11] If Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu was the head of so many "rebels" (a list that is not
exclusive), who then are the patriots?[5]
Starvation was used as a powerful weapon of war.
Undaunted, General Ojukwu and Biafra conceived and produced the Ogbunigwe, a
cone shaped, sometimes cylindrical cluster bomb that disperses shrapnel with
percussion. It was also used as a ground to ground and ground to air projectile
and was used with telling and destructive effect. Ojukwu and the Biafra RAP
built airports and roads, refined petroleum, chemicals and materials, designed
and built light and heavy equipment, researched on chemical and biological
weapons, rocketry and guidance systems, invented new forms of explosives, tried
new forms of food processing and technology. Biafra home-made armoured vehicle
the "Red Devil," celebrated also in the book by Sebastian Okechukwu
Mezu Behind The Rising Sun,[12] was a red terror in the battle field. The
Biafra shoreline was lined with home-made shore batteries and remote controlled
weapons systems propelling rockets and bombs. There was also the Biafran
Organization of Freedom Fighters [BOFF] led by Colonel Aghanya. These were the
"so-called" Biafran rebels who in a space of less than three years,
blockaded by land, air and sea, nearly pushed black African science and
rocketry into the space age.[5]
After 13 years in exile, the Federal Government of
Nigeria under President Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari granted an official pardon to
Odumegwu-Ojukwu and opened the road for a triumphant return in 1982. The people
of Nnewi gave him the now very famous chieftaincy title of Ikemba (Strength of
the Nation, while the entire Igbo nation took to calling him Dikedioramma
("beloved hero of the masses") during his living arrangement in his
family home in Nnewi, Anambra. His foray into politics was disappointing to
many, who wanted him to stay above the fray. The ruling party, NPN, rigged him
out of the senate seat, which was purportedly lost to a relatively little known
state commissioner in then Governor Jim Nwobodo's cabinet called Dr. Edwin
Onwudiwe. The second Republic was truncated on 31 December 1983 by
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, supported by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida
and Brigadier Sani Abacha. The junta proceeded to arrest and to keep Ojukwu in
Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, Lagos, alongside most prominent politicians
of that era. Without ever charged with any crimes, he was unconditionally
released from detention on 1 October 1984, alongside 249 other politicians of
that era—former Ministers Adamu Ciroma and Maitama Sule were also on that batch
of released politicians. In ordering his release, the Head of State, General
Buhari said inter alia: "While we will not hesitate to send those found
with cases to answer before the special military tribunal, no person will be
kept in detention a-day longer than necessary if investigations have not so far
incriminated him." (WEST AFRICA, 8 October 1984)
After the ordeal in Buhari's prisons, Dim
Odumegwu-Ojukwu continued to play major roles in the advancement of the Igbo
nation in a democracy because
"As a committed democrat, every single day under
an un-elected government hurts me. The citizens of this country are mature
enough to make their own choices, just as they have the right to make their own
mistakes".
Ojukwu had played a significant role in Nigeria's
return to democracy since 1999 (the fourth Republic). He had contested as
presidential candidate of his party, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)for
the last three of the four elections. Until his illness, he remained the party
leader. The party was in control of two states in and largely influential
amongst the igbo ethnic area of Nigeria.
On 26 November 2011, Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu died in the
United Kingdom after a brief illness, aged 78. The Nigerian army accorded him
the highest military accolade and conducted funeral parade for him in Abuja,
Nigeria on 27 February the day his body was flown back to Nigeria from London
before his burial on Friday, 2 March 2012. He was buried in a newly built
mausoleum in his compound at Nnewi. Before his final internment, he had about
the most unique and elaborate weeklong funeral ceremonies in Nigeria besides
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whereby his body was carried around the five Eastern
states, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, including the nation's capital,
Abuja. Memorial services and public events were also held in his honour in
several places across Nigeria, including Lagos and Niger state his birthplace.
