The President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Amb. Ralph Uwechue, has described the death of Biafran warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as the “passing of an age in the chequered history of the Igbo nation’’.
Uwechue said in a telephone interview in Enugu on Saturday that the Ikemba Nnewi had left a most significant stamp in the defence of the Igbo race.
“As a leader, he has left a most significant stamp in the courageous defence of the Igbo nation,’’ he said.
While praying for the repose of his soul, Uwechue said Odumegwu-Ojukwu would be missed by Igbos, the country and Africa in general.
In his reaction, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Chief Ayogu Eze, said the Igbo nation had lost one of its major leaders.
“After the unfortunate civil war, he subordinated as a peacemaker, nation-builder, opinion leader, defender of history and stood with the Igbo people till his last breath,’’ Eze said.
The senator, however, said that he deserved a national burial.
The President of the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Mr Okechukwu Nwadinobi, said Ojukwu was an Igbo icon and a Nigerian hero.
According to him, the Ikemba lived an active and eventful life and history will obviously put him in his rightful place.
“He was an active political player,” he added.
Meanwhile, A cross section of Enugu residents have expressed shock over the death of the Biafrian warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Ikemba Nnewi) in a London Hospital.
A correspondent, who sought the reaction of the residents, reports that while some doubted the news, others described his demise as a great loss to the Igbos in particular, and Nigeria and Africa at large.
Mr Chimezie Iloka, who hails from Nnewi, the home town of Odumegwu-Ojukwu, described the death as “one death too many’’ which has created a big vaccum in Nnewi.
“If this is true, you know that Ndigbo have lost their uniting figure, a hero and a man who until his death had continued to champion the cause of the Igbo man.
“Ojukwu is a detribalised Nigerian, who believed in equal right, fair play, justice and respect for the rule of law,’’ Iloka said.
Mrs Chinelo Ezenekwe, a legal practioner, said that with the death of Ojukwu, the nation had lost a rare gem that used his wealth of knowledge to fight injustice.
“She described him as an institution that needed to be under-studied to tap his vast knowledge and experience with which he sustained the Igbos during the civil war.
“There is no two Ojukwu in Igboland. He was a man of many parts whose death means the close of an era,’’ Ezenekwe said.
She lamented that he died when his service was needed most.
When the news of Ojukwu’s death was broken at Mayor Market, on Agbani Road, Enugu, market women, motorcyclists and passers-by gathered in groups to discuss the incident.
Mr Kenneth Iwujiaku, a motorcyclist, called on state governments in the South East to immortalise Ojukwu by naming public places of interest after him.
According to him, the governors should join hand to give him a befitting burial because `Ojukwu is a colossus’ and a very courageous man that wanted to sacrifice his life for others.
Mr Eric Mbamalu, a businessman, said Ojukwu’s death came at the wrong time, adding that he was a hero who fought for the sustenance of Igboland with his wealth and energy.
“Ojukwu deserves to be immortalised in Igboland,’’ he said.
Mr Raphael Eze, a retired civil servant, described his death as a total loss to the nation, saying that the country needed such a hero at this particular time when the country was witnessing its ups and downs.
Mrs Helen Ume, a nursing mother, said Ojukwu’s death had created a vacuum that could not be filled in Igboland.
According her, Ojukwu is an institution, who demonstrated his calibre during the war.
She added that Ojukwu should be given national honours and a fitting burial.
Nwobodo, Okiro, Kalu, Islamic cleric others mourn Ojukwu
Dateline: Lagos
Meanwhile, prominent Igbo leaders, including Chief Jim Nwobodo, Chief Mike Okiro, Chief Maxi Okwu and Dr Orji Kalu on Saturday described the death of Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu as the “ fall of an Iroko tree’’.
Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi, and the leader of defunct Biafra died on Saturday morning in a London Hospital at the age of 78.
In a telephone interview Sen. Nwobodo, a former governor of old Anambra and ex-minister of sports said: “A great Iroko has fallen’’.
“The Igbos have lost an Iroko tree. Ojukwu’s death is a loss to Nigeria and to Ndigbo.’’
Nwobodo said that the death came as a shock, because in spite of his illness, one expected that he would have recovered.
He prayed to God to give the family and Ndi Igbo the fortitude to bear the loss.
In his reaction, Chief Maxi Okwu, the presidential candidate of the Citizens Popular Party in 2007, said: “Like a comet that streaks through the sky”, Ikemba came and blazed the trail for justice, equality and emancipation.
“Okeosisi Adago, the great Iroko has fallen.”
Okwu lamented that there would not be another person like the Ikemba, who staked all he had including his life for the Igbos.
“I served as a boy-soldier in the Biafran Army. Ikemba was a Peoples General who led from the front and the rear.”
Also speaking, Chief Mike Okiro, a former Inspector General of Police, described Ojukwu’s death as a great loss to the Igbos.
“Ojukwu was a symbol of Igboland and a symbol of struggle against marginalisation’’ Okiro said in a telephone interview.
In his reaction, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia, said that “Ojukwu’s death extinguishes a great light for the Igbos.’’
Kalu, who spoke through his Director of Media, Mr Emeka Obasi, said that Ojukwu’s death was a very sad moment for Nigeria.
“Ojukwu was born a Nigerian, he died a Nigerian and the Igbos would never forget his contributions to their well- being”.
Alhaji Fuad Adeyemi, Chief Imam, Al-Habibiyyah Mosque, Abuja, described as shocking the death of ex-Biafran warlord, Chief Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
Ojukwu, 78, died in the early hours of Saturday in a United Kingdom hospital.
Adeyemi said in an interview on Saturday that his death should serve as a lesson to Nigerians, especially the leaders.
The Imam described Ojukwu as a hero who contributed to the development of the nation notwithstanding some of his flaws.
“This is a very shocking development and this shows that God can take our lives at any time he desires.
Ojukwu was a hero who contributed to national development not withstanding some of his flaws,” he said.
He urged Nigerian leaders to use his death to re dedicate themselves to peace and national development.
He said this was very instructive at a time like this when Nigerians are craving for peace and development.
Gov. Sullivan Chime of Enugu expressed shock and sorrow over the death of former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
In a statement signed by Mr Chukwudi Achife, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, in Enugu on Saturday, Chime said Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s passage had robbed the country of one its most notable historical and political figures.
The governor described Ojukwu as a foremost nationalist and activist whose contributions to the political and constitutional development of the country were not only indelible but in some ways inimitable.
He further described the deceased as a symbol of the struggle against injustice, segregation and oppression against any group of people in the country.
Chime added that his epic efforts had helped to lay the foundation for national integration and the sense of equality and unity that prevailed in the country.
He noted that as a politician, Ojukwu had fought fearlessly for the survival and sustenance of democracy in the country, waging a relentless war against electoral fraud and insisting on the establishment of a level playground for all participants in the electoral processes.
He said Ojukwu was an icon, who, in spite of his affluent background, was never afraid to speak out on critical national issues or challenge policies that tended to infringe upon the rights of the people.
Chime said that the disposition had helped Odumegwu-Ojukwu to remain a highly influential and charismatic political figure in his lifetime.
“The history of this country cannot be complete without a profound mention being made of the contributions of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
“He was a vocal and forceful advocate against injustice and oppression, an activist who was prepared to risk all, including his life, to ensure that everyone was accorded his rightful place and due.
“He was a friend to all who believed in national integration and equality of all races. Nigeria will certainly miss him,” Chime said.
He commiserated with the family of the late statesman and assured them that the people of Enugu and the entire country stood with them in this period of grief.
Also, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), on Saturday called on Ndigbo to brace themselves for Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s ideals following his demise in a London hospital.
Ojukwu, whose 78th birthday was celebrated early this month, led the proscribed Biafra in the Nigerian civil war from July 6, 1967 to Jan.12, 1970.
Uwazuruike said in a telephone conversation in Aba, Abia, on Saturday that Ojukwu had died, but the Igbo must prepare for the challenges of unity and resilience.
“He has died, Ndigbo have to brace for the challenges of unity and resilience. They should imbibe the Ojukwu spirit of welfare for the Igbo.
“The spirit of saying and thinking of what is good for the Igbo; what the Igbo should do to please Ojukwu is to see that the ideals are kept.
“More than anyother thing, the Igbo should continue to ask for their rights because Ojukwu gave them the strength to ask for their rights,’’ Uwazuruike said.
Uwazuruike said that he was on line with Ojukwu’s wife in London and she told him that Ojukwu’s life was critical.
“From that moment, we started communicating until 3.15 a.m. when he passed on,’’ he said.
He urged the Igbo to remain calm and wait for further developments.
“I know what it is when someone’s father dies, our dear father is dead, we will live to remember him all our lives,’’ he said.
“With his death, our efforts to actualise his dreams will be redoubled because this is what I think we shall do to make him happy in the grave,’’ he added.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was born on Nov. 4, 1933 at Zungeru in northern Nigeria to Sir Louis Phillippe Odumegwu Ojukwu, a businessman from Nnewi in south-eastern Nigeria.
A Colonel in the Nigerian Army who later went into politics, e announced the establishment of Biafra, a secessionist state in southeastern Nigeria, an event that sparked the Nigerian Civil War.
Emeka began his educational career in Lagos, southwestern Nigeria. In 1944, Emeka 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.
At 13, his father sent him overseas to study in Britain, first at Epsom College, in Surrey and later earned a Masters degree in history at Lincoln College, Oxford University. He returned to colonial Nigeria in 1956.
He joined the civil service in Eastern Nigeria as an Administrative Officer at Udi, in present-day Enugu State.
Ojukwu’s background and education guaranteed his promotion to higher ranks. At that time, the Nigerian Military Forces had 250 officers and only 15 were Nigerians.
After serving in the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in the Congo, under Major General Johnson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, Ojukwu was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1964 and posted to Kano, where he was in charge of the 5th Battalion of the Nigerian Army.
Lt.-Col.Ojukwu was in Kano, northern Nigeria, when Maj. Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu on Jan. 15, 1966 executed and announced the bloody military coup in Kaduna, also in northern Nigeria.
It is to his 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, Maj-Gen Aguiyi-Ironisi.
Nzeogwu was in control of Kaduna, but the coup had flopped in other parts of the country. He surrendered.
Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi took over the leadership of the country and thus became the first military head of state. On Monday, 17 Jan. 17,1966, 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).
On July 29, 1966, a group of officers of Northern origin, notably Majors Murtala Ramat Rufai Muhammed, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, and Martin Adamu, led the majority Northern soldiers in a mutiny that was later tagged “counter-coup.” The Supreme Commander General Aguiyi-Ironsi and his host Col. Fajuyi were abducted and killed in Ibadan.
First, he insisted that the military hierarchy must be preserved; in which case, Brig. Ogundipe should take over leadership, not Col.Gowon.
But Ogundipe no longer had the stomach to deal with the army; he was easily convinced to step aside and was posted to the Nigerian High Commission in London.
In January 1967, the Nigerian military leadership went to Aburi, Ghana for a peace conference hosted by Gen. Joseph Ankrah. The implementation of the agreements reached at Aburi fell apart upon the leaderships return to Nigeria and on May 30, 1967, Col. 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.”
On July 6, 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 was overwhelming.
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 Jan. 9, 1970, Gen. Odumegwu-Ojukwu handed over power to his second in command, Chief of General Staff Maj-Gen Philip Effiong, and left for Côte d’Ivoire, where President Felix Houphöet-Biogny—who had recognized Biafra on 14 May 1968—granted him political asylum.
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 (Power of the people), while the entire Igbo nation took to calling him Dikedioramma (or beloved hero).
His foray into politics was disappointing to many, who wanted him to stay above the fray. Afraid of his supposedly overbearing and enigmatic influence, the ruling party, NPN, rigged him out of the senate seat, which was purportedly lost to a relatively little known state commissioner in then Gov.Jim Nwobodo’s cabinet called Dr Edwin Onwudiwe.
The second Republic was truncated on Dec. 30,1983 by Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, supported by Generals Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and Sani Abacha. The junta proceeded to arrest and to keep Ojukwu in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, Lagos.
In 1985, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida overthrew Gen. Buhari and reviewed Ojukuw’s prison term. The charges were reviewed and many were dismissed or drastically revised.