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| Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu |
The Igbos in Germany are set
to honour the departed leader of Igbo race in Frankfurt on June 23, 2012.
The mega
event will take place at Saalbau Griesheim, Schwarzerlenweg 57, 65933 Frankfurt
am Main. Time is 10:30 am prompt. (No African time)
In case you don’t know him
well, here is a brief autobiography of Ikemba of Nnewi.
Ojukwu was born on 4 November 1933 at
Zungeru in Northern Nigeria to Sir Louis Odumugwu Ojukwu, a businessman from
Nnewi in Anambra State of Nigeria. Sir Louis Ojukwu was one of the richest men
in Nigeria. Ojukwu died on 26 November
2011 at the age of 78.
He schooled at Kings College, Lagos and Epsom
College Surrey. Ojukwu Studied History at the at Lincoln College Oxford and
After his graduation in 1955, he returned to Nigeria and joined the Eastern
administrative Service. He joined the army two years later.
Ojukwu rose into prominence after his appointment
as the governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966 by late Head of State
of Nigeria, General Aguiyi Ironsi after the coup of 1966.
He proclaimed the “Independent and Sovereign State”
of Biafra as the massacre of Easterners, specially Igbos continued in various
parts of Nigeria unabated and the several peace talks in Aburi, Ghana in
January 1967 failed to achieve result. And again, the Igbos have gotten weary
of the killings and insecurity they were faced with at the time and yearned for
secession .
The civil war broke out few weeks later after the
declaration. The Igbos suffered an untold hardship and ravaged by famine and
diseases during the war. It is estimated that between 1million and 3.5 million
Easterners died in the war.
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Ojukwu, as
military governor of Biafra, inspecting some of his troops in 1968. Photograph:
Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy
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Igbos fought the war all alone with meagre
resources unlike the Nigerian side that enjoyed the support of some aligned forces of Britain, Russia and Egypt.
Igbos fought with honour and dignity. Their resistance was sustained by
Ojukwu’s ingenuity and charisma.
After the war ended in January 1970 with “No
victors, no vanquished, Ojukwu went on exile in Ivory Coast, which lasted for
13 years. And returned to Nigeria after his pardon by cilvilian President,
President Shehu Shagari in 1982.
His venture into politics was not successful. He
was one of the founding fathers and leader of All Progressive Grand Alliance
(APGA) until his death.
I wrote this piece about Ojukwu with a heavy heart.
Till now I’ve never dealt with the issue of the Nigerian Civil War. On my
research for Ojukwu’s autobiography I was confronted with the sufferings of the
Igbos of that time. And I remembered the stories my father told my sibblings and I about hunger, starvations
and diseases that ravaged my people during that war. From his narrations I
understood that some of my relatives died of hunger during the civil war, I
broke down and cried and cried and cried.
I cried for
these unknown relatives and all those that lost their lives in the war. I also
cried for Ojukwu, for the first time I could imagine what Emeka must have gone
through during the war and having to go into exile, which I feel is a kind of
defeat. I began to appreciate his courage, faith in the Igbo course and his
love for his people.
Even as he returned to Nigeria, he entered into
politics, may be his love for Igbos,
his people drove him into politics but unfortunately the corruption in
Nigeria denied him the chance to win any of the elections he contested for as
he was each time rigged out by the Northern oligarchy.
I want to use this opportunity to remember all
Biafran War veterans like Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, General Madiebo, General
Philip Effiong, Colonel Njoku, Colonel
Nwawo Colonel Aghanya, Dr. Ifegwu Eke,
Okoko Ndem, Sylvester Ugoh, N. U. Akpan, Dr. Otue and all men and women
that tried their best to make the dream of Biafra come true, all Biafran soldiers
that lost their lives and those that survived as disabled and so on. All of you
that survived the hunger and those that died of starvation, I salute you. You
are all heroes. Thank you so much.
Today, the Biafran War made sense to me.
Unfortunately those things that led to the war are still existing in
multi-faceted dimensions.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba of Nnewi and
Dikedioramma of Igbo land Thank you so much. May your soul rest in peace.
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