LIVES
Oseloka Obaze*
Saturday 26 November 2011
A
Monody for Emeka Ojukwu
(Ikemba Nnewi and
Ezeigbo Gburugburu)
(4
November 1933 – 26 November 2011)
Tributes
in exaltation, inquisitiveness and in enigmatic fogginess, will flow for Dim
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu, who passed away on Saturday, 26 November 2011, in
London at the righteous age of 78 -- three scores and ten, plus eight.
Only two weeks ago his 78 birthday was
celebrated with fanfare.
Until his death, Emeka Ojukwu, as he was fondly called by his
peers and close friends, was an elder statesman, a point some may still dispute
as they do on whether he should be addressed as a General or a Colonel; but,
indisputably, he was the former Biafran leader, the leader of All Progressive
Grand Alliance (APGA) and a renowned Igbo leader.
Furthermore, he was to some a "warlord," with the adjectival
qualifications of a hero or a villain.
Conventional wisdom has it that some men are born great, some
achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
For Emeka Ojukwu, all three processes applied because he was involved
from the womb. Ojukwu was born great with the proverbial silver spoon in his
mouth; he achieved greatness, choosing his own career path to fame or infamy;
and he had greatness thrust upon him when, at the youthful age of 33, he led the
Biafran secession effort from Nigeria only to return many years to vie for the
Nigerian presidency.
Emeka Ojukwu was an iconoclast: cerebral, erudite, and
fearless. He was articulate and, undoubtedly, a skilled debater and negotiator,
a fact made manifest during his negotiation mission in Aburi, Ghana, in bid to
preempt a civil war. Ojukwu also
had pedigree, which most of his peers –both civilian and military --did not.
Although he was raised in the best schools in Nigeria and England, he was
well grounded in the traditional culture and meekness of his parents, who hail
from Umudim, Nnewi and Ochuche Ogbakuba, in the present Ogbaru LGA, Anambra
State, Nigeria.
Nonetheless, those who have encountered Ojukwu and brushed
his wrong side know fully well that he can be caustic and unwilling to suffer
fools. Hence, some have branded him
narcissistic, insensately ambitious, arrogant, and rebellious.
The latter characterization is traceable
to his involvement as a ten-year-old student in the famous King’s College Lagos
strike, during which he impetuously slapped an English school master, Mr.
Sleigh. The encounter landed him
and his fellow students in court, and their trial would become a
cause célèbre in the Nigerian media.
Nonetheless, Emeka Ojukwu was a patriot of the first-class
order. This would explain why he
elected to serve as District Officer upon his return from England, before
embarking on a career that he believed called for a greater order of patriotism,
diligence, and service, which was service in the Nigerian military. As a
civilian and a soldier, Emeka Ojukwu excelled. As a politician he lived up to
his personal mission: “Clearly I intend to use every ounce of energy to nudge
Nigeria into the right way.”
More often than not, Emeka Ojukwu will be best remembered by
his admirers and detractors for leading the Biafra-Nigeria War from 6 July 1967
to 12 January 1970, in which over one million lives were lost.
For his unapologetic leadership role, he
was forced into exile and lived in Cote d'Ivoire for 13 years, returning only
after receiving a full official pardon from President Shehu Shagari in 1982 in
the spirit of the “no victor, no vanquished” doctrine enunciated by General
Yakubu Gowon at the end of the civil war.
Unlike many ex-Biafran soldiers, Ojukwu was initially not remanded in
detention upon his return.
Being the political animal and tactician he was, Ojukwu entered partisan politics, hoping to use the process to personify the full reintegration of the Igbo into the Nigerian mainstream or, alternatively, prove that the Igbo remained marginalized despite the platitudes. His decision irked many – Igbo and non-Igbo alike - but Ojukwu, ever stubborn and determined, forged ahead. Those against him for different reasons conspired to ensure that he lost the Anambra senatorial seat, which he ran for under the ruling NPN ticket. The alternative choices for Ojukwu were to stay out of partisan politics or join an opposition party. Joining the ruling NPN gave quid pro quo coloration to his pardon, reportedly engineered by late Senator Chuba Okadigbo and his aide, Dr. George Obiozor, both of whom served in the political unit of President Shagari’s office. Unknown to many while in exile, he had been visited by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a presumed adversary and architect of the Biafran strangulation policy.
Several years after his return and following a military coup
in 1983, the leadership of the military regime, who were mostly junior Nigerian
officers and therefore subordinate to Ojukwu when the civil war broke out, got
their ways. Believing that Ojukwu
had committed treason and should have been tried both for his presumed inaction
during the January 1966 coup and his eventual action of leading Biafra, he was
clamped into detention for several months at the infamous Kirikiri Maximum
Security Prison, Lagos, largely on trumped up charges.
He regained his freedom in 1985.
Ojukwu until his death remained an outspoken person
both as a private citizen and when he served in several elected capacities. He
gave many pointed interviews during which he spoke on critical national issues
and often reminded his compatriots that the mistakes that lead the nation to a
civil war in 1967 should not be repeated.
He warned also that, if the mistakes reoccurred, the Igbo reserved the
right of defending themselves as they once did.
It was in this context that he made the controversial remark “Biafra
remains an option,” leading some to brand him a warmonger, unrepentant traitor,
and unpatriotic. Nonetheless, his credentials as an officer and a gentleman
remained intact as did his polish, unsullied manners, and cosmopolitanism.
Emeka Ojukwu’s role in partisan politics is unprecedented in
history for anyone who once took up arms against his country.
He was a member of the 1995
Constitutional Conference, which gave birth to the present geopolitical
structure. He even vied for the presidency of Nigeria and until his death led a
registered political party. Once when he was asked to reflect on his seemingly
unprecedented political role, he proclaimed: “As a committed democrat, every
single day under an unelected government hurts me. The citizens of this country
are mature enough to make their on choices, just as they have the right to make
their own mistakes." All said, Ojukwu
remains an epitome of a post-conflict reconciliation process, when nationally
owned.
Ojukwu will be missed for many reasons. An undisputed
newsmaker, he was also a reputed ladies’ man.
He was a great conversationalist and, as such, a great catch for an
interview. At any time, Emeka Ojukwu could wax philosophical bringing into full
play his background in history and classics.
He was not shy about his Socratic bent of turning his answers into
questions. When he turned 70, he
was asked to assess his place in time. He merely responded with the quip:
“Seventy for me means total liberation from myself …. At seventy, I am
not in competition with anybody. I am totally what I am.” For him, both the
foreboding title of a rebel and the noble title of a dissident had been earned
with the attending risks and sacrifices, not merely claimed.
Much has and much more will be written about Emeka Ojukwu. For his part, he wrote his memoir, Because I’m Involved, in which he offered sketchy insights into the whereof and why of the civil war, but more about his life, thinking, observations, and passions remain unwritten. It is believed that his complete memoir on the Nigerian civil war is done but yet to be published. If so, it would be published posthumously and would surely be revelatory. Nonetheless, Ojukwu gave a synoptic assessment of his role and conduct of the civil war.
His words:
Well, as I look back, I would say yes. I would
have for those battles I lost; but for the ones I won, I would not change
anything. One of the things that I would like to do since I came back from exile
is that I would like to hold a plebiscite, not that it would have changed much,
but that it would have shown it was the wish of the entire people of the
southeast.
Encomiums continue to pour in for Emeka Ojukwu.
None may be truer than that from General Olusegun Obasanjo, who said, “In
a way, his death marks the end of an era in Nigeria.”
Misunderstood as he was, it is to the greater tribute of the
Nigerian nation that General Yakubu Gowon, his erstwhile adversary, would
describe Ojukwu in death “as a great Nigerian who believed so much in the unity
of the country.” Whereas some
with a jaundiced perspective might see Ojukwu’s passing as mainly an Igbo loss
and therefore inconsequential, this is not so. In more ways than one, he was the
ubiquitous reminder to one and all that for the Nigerian project to be a
reality, the interest of every stakeholder must be respected and protected and
that the failure to do so was an invitation to internecine conflict.
Emeka Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, a legend in his lifetime, lives in history and posterity. His place in history is assured and will supplant a billion footnotes. Now that he has been called home to his maker, he will have a chance to implement these fateful words of his: “I will retire a few months after my death.”
Adieu Ikemba.
You remained unbowed and a valiant soul to the end!
------------
Mr.
Oseloka Obaze
is a co-founder of the
Kwenu.com Book Review Forum,
which is dedicated to the promotion of books with Igbo
and Afrocentric themes. He is also a supporting Member of the African Writers
Endowment (AWE). From 1999 to 2005, he served on the editorial board of
INYEAKA, the journal of Songhai Charities, Inc., a New Jersey
community-based charity founded and run by Nigerians based in New York Tri-state
area in the United States, first as its founding Publisher and later as the
Editor-At-Large. He is also on the editorial board of
The Amaka Gazette,
journal of the Christ the King College,
Onitsha Alumni Association in America. His collection of
poems, “Regarscent Past:
A Collection of Poems”
was second among the top three finalists in the poetry
category in the African Writers Endowment Publishing Grant Program for 2004.
He is working on a novel titled “Happy
Eulogy”.
He reviews books and arts strictly as a hobby.
© Copyright 26 November 2011.