Ojukwu: In The Eyes Of The People

The first week of February 2012 in Nigeria will witness, amongst many other significant events, the burial of late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (1933-2011), the Biafran Warlord.

Ojukwu undisputed occupies a central position in the history of Nigeria throughout the period of the four exact years from 15 January 1966 when Nigeria’s first coup d’etat occurred to 15 January, 1970 when Nigerians unfortaunate Civil War ended. It is estimated that over two million Nigerians lost their lives in the 30 month brutal war that broke out on July 6, 1967.

Although, there was no Nuremberg Trials in Nigeria at the end of the war, Ojukwu has been on trial since the end of the war, mainly on the pages of newspapers, news magazines and books. The trial is likely to continue for another century.

Ojukwu means different things to different persons till he breathed the last on November 26, 2011.

Amanyanabo Opubo Daminabo dug into his archive to extract some of the opinions expressed about late Chief Ojukwu between 1970 when the Biafrans surrendered to the Federal Government under “No victor, no vanguished” arrangement and 1983 when Nigeria experienced a civil rule.

Compiled in 1983, these divergent views extracted from the Appendix of Daminabo’s book entitled IBOS Are Not Biafrans (Port Harcourt Hanging Publishers) border on Ojukwu’s personality, his pardon by the Federal Government and his intention to contest the 1983 presidential election.

‘Nigeria never was and can never be a united country’.

General Emeka Ojukwu, Opening sentence of Biafra: Selected Speeches of  C. Odumegwu Ojukwu New York, 1969, p.1

‘He was no devil. Everybody admired his personal courage, his ability for hard work. But he had one weakness – he did not know when to apply the brakes. But it’s purely because he was ambitious. He was a very capable chap.’

Major General Philip Effiong  Chief of Staff, Biafran Army, ‘Drum’, April, 1970.

‘A natural actor, Colonel Ojukwu had the enviable quality of controlling and concealing unpleasant emotions, a quality which he exploited to the full in inspiring false confidence even in the bleakest hours of the civil war’.

Chief N. U. Akpan  Biafra’s Chief Scribe, London, 1972, The Struggle for Secession, p.175.

‘We were both agreed on this one point, that for all we cared this particular civil war could be fought with bows and arrows. I phoned up some friends at the United Nations Organization and they joined in the discussion’.

Professor Wole Soyinka London, 1972, The Man Died, p. 52.

‘Suddenly, here were black men, intelligent, well-educated, charming black men, standing virtually alone and successfully defying an enemy four times their size backed by the world’s super powers … The Biafrans were everywhere, it seemed, eloquently putting their case in excellent English, quoting neat European or American parallels, pointing out, with obvious truth and conviction that they were the most “westernized” of all Africans, indeed, perhaps, of all Third World peoples’.

John de St. Jorre London, 1972, The Nigerian Civil War, pp. 359-360 .

‘This strange, complex, fascinating man is now sharing the lonely fate of  Nkrumah and Obote, Africa’s other fallen giants. A statesman without a state, a leader without a people, an orator without a platform, an actor without a stage; for a man such as Ojukwu, exile must be a living death.

John de St. Jorre London, 1972, The Nigerian Civil War, p.413.

‘Ojukwu’s resistance was really an experiment in human misery’.

Captain Elechi Amadi London, 1973, Sunset in Blofra, p.48

‘In Nigeria, theft by rulers and officials is regrettably frequent. Some end up stealing money, others minor items; Ojukwu is the only one who tried to steal a country!’

Ken Saro-Wiwa  Lagos, Sunday Times  27/6/82

‘He was perhaps the only man who ever held power in West Africa who came out without a private nest-egg of money embezzled from public funds.

Not only had he not milked the till, he had spent every penny of his private fortune on his people. He was penniless … He was and is a remarkable man.

He could have had everything, if he had bowed the knee to Gowon. Instead he lost many things: his fortune, his homeland, his passport. But he never lost the loyalty of his people; and he never lost any man’s respect. Even his worst enemies respect him. Knowing him, he would say that he had still had the best of the bargain.

Frederick Forsyth, Dublin, 1976, The Making of An African Legend: The Bia/ra Story, pp. 285 – 286.

‘The desperate nature of this operation and the fact that it simply had to succeed earned for it the name “Operation Do or Die” …. Viewed from any angle, that operation was indeed an “Operation Do or Die”, for many did and many died’.

Major General Alexander A. Madiebo, Commander of Biafran Army, Enugu, 1980, The Nigerian Revolution and TheBiafran War, pp. 343 & 348.

‘…Biafra was the first ship of state to sail the sea of nationhood on a completely indigenous motor. Biafra was run from top to bottom by blacks … the first black nation to be taken seriously in a world dominated by white people … ‘

Arthur Nwankwo, Enugu, 1980, Nigerian: The Challenge of Biafra, pp. 81-82

‘What follows in this book is … the story of how the arrogant and conceited Ojukwu, who wanted to rule an independent nation at all costs, deceived the people he claimed to love and left them in the lurch at their desperate hour of need, and fled “Biafra” under the guise of seeking peace’.

General Olusegun Obasanjo, GOC, 3MCDO, Nigerian Army, London, 1980, My Command, p. xiii.

‘Later on, after I had been released to join in the struggle, I realized that Ojukwu knew what he was talking about whenever he assured Biafrans that they would fight to the last man. He knew that he was ill-prepared for the fight and that if it came, he had nothing to send against the enemy except the bodies of his own citizens – no guns, no armour, no planes, no ships – only flesh and flesh and flesh – what a suicide plot, or was it a reverse pogrom? … Surely, history will not forgive him’.

Major Adewale Ademoyega, Ibadan, 1981, Why We Struck, pp. 141 and 174.

‘In fact, if anything, the counter-coup was a complete flot. Significantly, it was the failure of the Northern dissidents to topple Lieutenant Colonel Ojukwu’s Enugu-based Government – and not the shortcomings of the January coup – that eventually paved the way for secession, and in time, the barbaric civil war’.

Captain Ben Gbulie  Onitsha, 1981, Nigeria’s Five Majors, p. 154.

‘History will say of Victor Banjo, Emmanuel lfeajuna, Philip Alale and Samuel Agbam just as history had said of Hitler’s enemies that they brilliantly anticipated the end of the road along which Ojukwu, with fourteen million highly intelligent people on the tow, was walking, but that when it came to the crunch, they clumsily and pathetically bungled their chance to stop him from traversing the road to its bloody end’ .

Nelson Ottah, London, 1981, Rebels Against Rebels, p.l0.

‘On the 5th of January, 1967, the historic Aburi meeting of the military leaders was called to resolve accumulating differences, but Ojukwu went there to manufacture a confederal constitution. Later, Decree No. 8 was passed to satisfy his ends, yet he would not let the Ibos alone. All he wanted was secession’ .

Major Isaac Boro, Benin-City, 1982, The Twelve – Day Revolution, p. 157.

‘When the war Ojukwu and his group said was to defend their homeland came, they made it a war of conquest. Whose “homeland” is the Midwest?  When did Ibadan and Lagos become part of the East?’

Major General Joe Garba London, 1982, Revolution in Nigeria: Another View, p. 115.

‘What most people are saying is lithe Ibo leader is back” and I share that view. What political party Ojukwu will join is immaterial. If he stands on a tree, we will all stand on the tree with him’.

Cyprian Ekwensi, Lagos 1982, ‘Sunday Times’ (27/6/82).

‘Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the former leader of Biafra, is a man of  history in the most serious sense of the term, not because he is a graduate of history, but for the reasons that he probably decided to study history.

Singled minded, deliberate and totally shorn of any emotional inclinations, Odumegwu Ojukwu is a man who doesn’t believe in the force of destiny, but a man who believes that strong men can shape the destiny of weaker men and cause a part for nations’.

Dele Giwa Lagos, 1982, ‘Sunday Concord’ (27/6/82).

‘Has anyone cared to ask why this son of a millionaire and History graduate, this material and intellectual aristocrat branched off into the Army at a time that many people thought the Army wa a dumping ground for street brawlers and the like? I suggest that he knew that power resides in the barrel of a gun… Calcualting, rational, never known to shed tears, Ojukwu, according to those who claim to know him well, has a rugged disposition that borders on demonism, and is inclined to have things his own way or not at lall… I cannot say whether Ojukwu does have the Ibo tribe in his pocket, but it seems to me that the Ibo tribe would not mind having Ojukwu in its pocket.’

Ray Ekpu, Lagos 1982, ‘Sunday Times’ (1/8/82)

‘As far as the Ibos are concerned, the name Biafra is a stolen property. How the Ibo nation stole the name is fully explained in this book. The eealier Ibos stop the use of the name, Biafra, as a symbol of Iboland, Ibo nation and Ibo culture, the better for all Nigerians. There are several Igbo names of Igbo-related names for major physical features and other man-made features (especially rivers, towns and cities and even caves) in Iboland that can serve as an appropriate substitute for the stolen Biafra name. A few examples of such Ibo names or Igbo-related names include Nri (the cradle, now a town, of Ibos), Anambra and Imo (major rivers in Iboland), Abia, Enugu, Onitsha, Owerri and Umuahia (major cities in Iboland) and Ogbunike (an important town with a famous cave). Any of these names is an appropriate substitute for the Ibo nation to bear or use as her symbol than the stolen Biafra name.’

Opubo Daminabo, Port Harcourt, Ibos Are Not Biafrans 1983, p 1.

‘Until today Ojukwu has not explained why he was a counter-revolutionary in January 1966, whether it was because he would not yield to junior officers or because he did not agree that change was desirable at the time. What we do know, however, from what the little Forsyth has disclosed is that Ojukwu did not, because of rank-related concerns, want to serve under Yakubu Gowon following the counter-coup of July 1966. Ibo massacres and persecution were just incidental in Ojukwu’s posturing during the crisis of July 1966- May 1967. We do know also that the only reason Ojukwu was appointed military Governor of the Eastern Region in January 1966 was for being a conspirator against the patriotic majors.’

Fidel Odum Enugu, 1983, ‘Sunday Satellite’ (20/2/83).

His ambition was to achieve the Biafran victory and to go down in history as its first “Head of State.” His genius was instrumental, not creative; he excelled in manipulation, not in construction… Emeka’s return to Nigeria and his dramatic entry into partisan politics is a clear manifestation of his inordinate ambition to grab power that eluded him in Biafra… He confused popular acclaim for popular support.’

Obiora Egbunike, Ibandan, 1983, ‘Sunday Tribune’ (20/3/83).

Ojukwu’s pardon in conception and execution contradicts all the laws of the Medes and Persians. Nemesis will surely act… Ojukwu gsmbled with lives of millions of people without caring a hoot. Once a gambler, always a gambler. He is at it again and he is ready to spill blood without remorse.’

Professor Chike Obi, Enugu 1983, ‘Satellite’ (20/3/83 and 2/8/83).

‘What one finds so difficult to understand, however, is why all the top military officers of Biafra allowed Ojukwu so much dictatorship, especially since sociologically this is very much UN-IBO. Perhaps, this intriguing gap in the history of the secession would be filled one day, and to me, it is even far more crucial than the charge that Chief Awolowo goaded Ojukwu into secession and war.’

Sina Adedipe, Lagos 1983, ‘Sunday Concord’ (3/7/83).

Emeka Ojukwu has proved that he is one of those rare fingers in history that will continue to be an object of scholarly rendition. Psychologists, philosophers, historians and political scientists would have much to put down about the man who has held his destiny in his own hands and spuriously dares to pit battles even against malevolent and capricious gods.’

Anthony Ejiochi, Enugu, 1983, ‘Sunday Satellite’ (9/10/1983).

‘The man has enormous courage in him’ which sometimes impresses me; the trouble is, this posture is often turned into that of bravado, it is carried beyond logical limits, beyond the threshold of reason.’

Don Adinuba, Enugu, 1983, ‘Sunday Satellite’ (13/11/83).

Daminator wrote from Port Harcourt

Opubo Daminabo