Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

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Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
South-Eastern State
)
Personal details
Born
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

(1933-11-04)4 November 1933
Zungeru, British Nigeria
Died26 November 2011(2011-11-26) (aged 78)
London, UK
NationalityNigerian, Biafran (1967–1970)
Political partyNigerian Military, Biafran military, later NPN, APGA
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Okoli
Njideka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
Stella Ojukwu
Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu
Children7
EducationCMS Grammar School, Lagos
King's College, Lagos
Epsom College
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (M.A. History)
Mons Officer Cadet School
ProfessionSoldier, politician
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service
Years of service1957–1967 (Nigerian Army)
1967–1970 (Biafran Army)
Rank
Battles/warsCongo Crisis
Nigerian Civil War

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) was a Nigerian

President of Biafra from 1967 to 1970. As the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which he declared as the independent state of Biafra, Ojukwu led the Biafran forces during the Nigerian Civil War
against the Nigerian government forces.

Born in

Nigerian army. Following the independence of Nigeria in 1960, a group of military officers overthrew Nigeria’s civilian government in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état and Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi became the head of state. Ironsi appointed Ojukwu as military governor of the Eastern Region mostly dominated by the Igbo tribe.[a]

In response to Igbo demands for secession, Ojukwu reorganised the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra, and he declared independence from Nigeria. Nigeria invaded Biafra, sparking the Nigerian Civil War. The Nigerian military, with support from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, blockaded Biafra and cut food supplies, which created a mass famine. Ojukwu made use of foreign media to highlight the plight of Biafran civilians and depict the war as genocide against Igbos.[1] The shocking images of starving Biafran civilians turned the war into an international media sensation, as this was one of the first globally televised wars alongside the Vietnam War.[2] Biafra received international humanitarian relief during the Biafran airlift.

Biafra eventually capitulated to Nigerian forces in 1970 after millions of Biafran civilians died. Ojukwu subsequently fled to Ivory Coast in exile, where President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who recognised Biafra as a sovereign and independent state, granted him political asylum. In 1981, newly democratically elected Nigerian president Shehu Shagari granted amnesty to Ojukwu, allowing him to return to Nigeria without facing political or legal consequences from the war. Ojukwu spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to return to Nigerian politics as a democratically elected politician rather than a military ruler.

He died in 2011 at the age of 78 in London, England.[3] His body was returned to Nigeria, where Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan arranged a state funeral. He was buried with full military honours, including a 21-gun salute from the Nigerian Army, and thousands of people attended his funeral. Ojukwu remains a contentious figure in the history of Nigeria. Many Igbo people regard him as a hero and a messianic figure who did what was necessary to ensure the survival of Nigeria's Eastern population while facing the possibility of a genocide after the 1966 coup. Other Nigerians have deemed Biafra's secession unnecessary, blaming Ojukwu for the events of the war and accusing him of oppressing Biafra's non-Igbo ethnic minorities.[4]

Early life and education

Ojukwu was born as the second son of Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu.[5][b] Loius is the son of a clan chief from Nnewi, Anambra State.[7] Louis married at the age of twenty five to a young wife and after a short union, they separated. Before then, the wife lived at Zungeru, a village in Northern Nigeria. After the birth of Ojukwu in November 1933, Louis visited from Lagos and reclaimed Chukwuemeka, his given name.[8]

The

modern history.[12] Between 1952 and 1955 he studied law and later switched to history.[13] He also joined the West African Students' Union in Oxford. During his final years, he joined Oxford Rugby Union as wing three quarter in Lincoln College's team.[14] Ojukwu graduated with a B.A in arts in 1955 and travelled back to Lagos. He would later return to Oxford to obtain his M.A.[15]

Early career

After informing his reluctant parents, Ojukwu joined the Nigerian Civil Service in Udi, as an Assistant District Officer.[16] He was posted to the East since local authorities mandated all young civil administrators to serve in the Eastern Region.[17] He hardly spoke Igbo since he was born in the north, raised in the west, and educated in England, hence, he could speak English and Yoruba fluently, and satisfactory Hausa.[18] Ojukwu started learning Igbo in order to communicate with the people.[19] Throughout his stay in Udi and other later postings in Umuahia and Aba from 1955-57, he stayed with people living in bushes.[20] From Aba, he was posted to Calabar. His father, believing the superstition that Efik women casts spell and bewitches young men, he called his friend, the then Governor-general, John Stuart Macpherson, to terminate the appointment, and he did.[21]

Ojukwu became angry about the termination, and he then applied to join the Nigerian Army in 1957.[21] His reason was to escape the influence of his father over his chosen career. [22] The Nigerian army was regarded as a small administration that people who held commissioned offices had their last degree from primary school. Seeing Ojukwu apply to join the military, surprised the Governor-general, high Army Commands, and his father.[23] Loius, through Macpherson, ensured that Ojukwu is denied officer cadetship, hence he would not enter as a private soldier, which is more difficult but Ojukwu still Joined as a private soldier at the Army Recruit Depot in Zaria.[24] During a recruit training by Sergeant Moussa Fort-Lamy, Ojukwu corrected his English speaking errors. Surprised by that, he sent Ojukwu to be interviewed by the Depot commander and subsequently apply for an officer commission-cadetship. It took a month for the paper to be out and during the waiting, Ojukwu was assigned the duty of escorting the wife and daughter of the Colonel in their horse ride and tennis parties.[25][c]

The application was successful, and from Zaria, Ojukwu first moved to

Nigerian Independence
but returned to Ghana to finish his work. He returned again to Nigeria before Christmas in 1960 and saw he was already promoted to the rank of a Captain. [28] From January 1961 to mid 1961, he worked as a staff of branch A of the new Nigerian army headquarters located within the building of the Defense ministry in Lagos.[29] After the independence, many British army officers were removed and there were more space for new administration. It was six months of Ojukwu's captaincy when he was promoted to the rank of a Major in the summer of 1961.[29]

Shortly after his promotion, Ojukwu was sent to Kaduna as a staff officer of the 1st Brigade.

Joint Service Command and Staff College (JSSC) course in 1962.[e]

1966 coups and events leading to the Nigerian Civil War

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,[32] where it had succeeded. Lt. Col. Odumegwu-Ojukwu supported the forces loyal to the Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi. Major Nzeogwu was in control of Kaduna, but the coup had failed in other parts of the country.[33]

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 the Eastern Region. Others were: Lt.-Cols

J. E. A. Wey, Head of Nigerian Navy, Lt. Col. George T. Kurubo, Head of Air Force, Col. Sittu Alao
.

By 29 May, the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom started. This presented problems for Odumegwu Ojukwu, as 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[34] 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 of Northern soldiers in a mutiny that later developed into a "Counter-Coup" or "July Rematch".[35] 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

Nigerian civil war.[37][38]

Biafra

Following the incessant killings of Igbos all over the nation as a result of tribal intolerance and fear of domination by Igbos with figures ranging from about 4000 to 30000 dead, maimed and missing, Ojukwu, being the southeastern general and Yakubu Gowon who was selected as the supreme general and head of state agreed to hold a peace conference at Aburi, Ghana hosted by General Joseph Ankrah. An agreement of autonomy was reached by the two parties where the southeastern region will become independent. However, on reaching Nigeria, Gen. Yakubu Gowon breached the agreement and failed to implement the system of autonomy and further declaring war against the agreed secession of southeastern Nigeria. On 30 May 1967, Ojukwu declared the independence of Biafra, after an official vote of secession conducted in the Eastern Region.[39]

Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria is a sovereign independent Republic, now, therefore I, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by the authority, and under 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.[40]

On 6 July 1967, Gowon declared war[41] and attacked Biafra.[42] In addition to the Aburi Accord that tried to avoid the war, there was also the Niamey Peace Conference under President Hamani Diori (1968) and the OAU-sponsored Addis Ababa Conference (1968) under the chairmanship of Emperor Haile Selassie. This was the final effort by Generals Ojukwu and Gowon to settle the conflict via diplomacy.[43]

During the war, in 1967, some members of the July 1966 alleged coup plot and Major Victor Banjo were executed for treason with the approval of Ojukwu, the Biafran Supreme commander. Major Ifeajuna was one of those executed. The defendants had argued that they sought a negotiated ceasefire with the federal government and were not guilty of treason.[44]

After two and a half years of fighting and starvation,[45] a hole appeared in the Biafran front lines, and the Nigerian military exploited this. As it became obvious that the war was lost, Ojukwu was convinced to leave the country to avoid prosecution, incarceration or even summary execution.[46] On 9 January 1970, he handed over power to his second in command, Chief of General Staff Major-General Philip Effiong, and left for Ivory Coast, where President Félix Houphouët-Boigny – who had recognised Biafra on 14 May 1968 – granted him political asylum.[47][48]

Return to Nigeria

In 1981, Ojukwu began campaigning to return to Nigeria. Nigerian president

1983 Nigerian coup d'état on 31 December. In early 1984, the Buhari regime jailed hundreds of political figures, including Ojukwu, who was held at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison.[51]
He was released later that year.

Ojukwu married Bianca Onoh (former Miss Intercontinental and future ambassador) in 1994, his third marriage. The couple had three children, Afamefuna, Chineme and Nwachukwu.[52] In the Fourth Republic era, Ojukwu unsuccessfully contested the presidency in 2003 and 2007.[46]

Death

On 26 November 2011, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu died in the

Dallas, Texas, United States.[53]

His funeral was attended by Goodluck Jonathan Former president of Nigeria and ex-President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana among other personalities.[54][55]

Notes

  1. ^ The Hausa and Yoruba army officers feared an Igbo-dominated government which resulted in the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup and subsequently, the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom
  2. British Crown before he changed back to his name through Emeka's suggestion; he was still known as Louis Ojukwu.[6]
  3. ^ During that time, only a few Igbo people could ride a horse. Ojukwu was able to ride a horse since he had learnt it while studying at Epsom College.[25]
  4. ^ During this period, Murtala Muhammed, a Lieutenant got into trouble and MacKenzie had court-martial him inorder to be dismissed from the Nigerian Army. Ojukwu pleaded to Mackenzie who disagreed. He sent a petition to Lagos and General Welty Everard, the general officer of the Nigerian Army accepted and overruled Mackenzie. The court martial was cancelled.[29]
  5. ^ The JSSC course was the hardest to pass and it was only open to officers who have already passed the Staff College course and have reached the rank of brigadiers.[31]

References

  1. ISSN 1462-3528
    .
  2. ISSN 1462-3528
    .
  3. ^ "Odumegwu-Ojukwu Dies At Age 78". Allafrica.com. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  4. ^ Ekpo, Charles (8 September 2021). "Who Was Ojukwu?". The Republic.
  5. ^ a b Nwakanma 2011.
  6. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 2.
  7. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 1.
  8. ^ a b Forsyth 1982, p. 4.
  9. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 5.
  10. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 7-8.
  11. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 11.
  12. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 11-12.
  13. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 12.
  14. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 13.
  15. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 14-15.
  16. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 16.
  17. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 17.
  18. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 18.
  19. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 18-19.
  20. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 21.
  21. ^ a b Forsyth 1982, p. 24.
  22. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 25.
  23. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 26.
  24. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 26-27.
  25. ^ a b Forsyth 1982, p. 28.
  26. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 29.
  27. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 31.
  28. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 32.
  29. ^ a b c d Forsyth 1982, p. 33.
  30. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 34.
  31. ^ Forsyth 1982, p. 36.
  32. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  33. ^ "1966 Countercoup".
  34. ISBN 978-1-349-95839-9
  35. ISBN 9780875867090
    .
  36. ^ "1966 Countercoup" (PDF).
  37. ^ "The Biafran War, Nigerian History, Nigerian Civil War". www.africamasterweb.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  38. ^ "Civil war in Nigeria - Jul 06, 1967 - HISTORY.com". HISTORY.com. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  39. ^ Elusoji 2020.
  40. ^ No Place To Hide – Crises And Conflicts Inside Biafra, Benard Odogwu, 1985, pp. 3, 4.
  41. ^ "Yakubu Gowon | head of state of Nigeria". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  42. ISBN 978-1-108-88774-8
    .
  43. ^ "A Befitting Monument for Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu". Archived from the original on 3 February 2012.
  44. ^ Oliver, Brian. "Emmanuel Ifeajuna: Commonwealth Games gold to facing a firing squad". Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  45. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  46. ^ a b "Odumegwu Ojukwu | Nigerian military leader and politician". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  47. ISBN 9789782460462
    .
  48. ^ "THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE NIGERIA-BIAFRA WAR". IPOB. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  49. ^ James, Raphael (18 June 2020). "18 June 1982: Ojukwu's return to Nigeria from exile". The News (Nigeria). Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  50. ^ "Biafran Hero Wins Nigerian Senate Seat". The New York Times. AP. 21 September 1983. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  51. ^ "NEW CHARGES IN NIGERIA CITE WIDE CORRUPTION". The New York Times. Reuters. 12 February 1984. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  52. ^ Shapiro, T. Rees (29 November 2011). "Odumegwu Ojukwu, 78: Rebel leader who broke the Republic of Biafra away from Nigeria". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  53. ^ "At Ojukwu memorial in Dallas, USAfrica's Chido Nwangwu challenges the Igbo nation to say "never again" like Jews". USAfrica. 6 February 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  54. ^ Isiguzo, Christopher; Osondu, Emeka (3 March 2012). "Goodnight Ikemba Ojukwu". THISDAY LIVE. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  55. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (26 November 2011). "Odumegwu Ojukwu, Leader of Breakaway Republic of Biafra, Dies at 78". New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2014.

Sources

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