Born on November 4, 1933 at Zungeru in northern Nigeria to one of Africa’s most affluent of the time, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is a typical example of a man born with a silver spoon. His father, Sir Louis Phillipe Odumegwu Ojukwu was a big time businessman of great repute majoring in transportation and a whole lot of other businesses that fetched him enormous fortunes. With such a noble background, one begins to wonder what influenced his decision to leave such an exalted and obviously comfortable zone to engage in a gory and life threatening venture like leading a civil war with almost all his inherited wealth. Yet, if there is one person so unappreciated and misunderstood by his own people, it is Ojukwu.
Ojukwu’s life and times have been characterized by lots of controversies. To ‘Nigerians’ (i.e other ethnic groups outside ‘Biafra’), he is a traitor, a rebel and so is to be dreaded and kept under surveillance every single minute (even on his sick bed) even after he had been granted amnesty by the Federal Government over thirty years ago. To his own people, the Biafrans, while some deify him as the liberator of his people (Ikemba Nnewi, Dikedioramma, Ezendigbo etc.), a hero and a born leader, others castigate him as a selfish and ambitious leader who never considered the views of others, a dictator, an egocentric leader, impatient and intransigent.
However, Ojukwu’s history appears to be an Irony of itself. Whereas he was born and bred in the north, he was fully a southerner of Eastern extraction. His status as an educated young man in one of the best Universities of his time stands him out among his peers. Rather than go after some kind of decent job befitting people of his class at that time, he chose to enlist in the army, a job that was then seen as a profession for dropouts and uneducated people, against his father’s wish. Once, he led the Biafrans in a secession bid from Nigeria and yet came out some years after to vie for the presidency of the state he wanted to secede from. For some people, Ojukwu is an unsung hero while to others, he was a colossal disaster to the entire Igbo race.
Critics of Ojukwu argue that the Nigerian civil war expedition was an unmitigated disaster because the Biafrans, as it were, stood no chance of winning that war in the first place. In the end, the Biafrans lost abysmally, wasting the lives of an estimated 1 million people. Though there was a public proclamation of “no victor, no vanquished”, the stigma of the war still hunt the Igbos till today leading to discrimination, deprivation and informal marginalization of the clearly ‘vanquished’ people of the South East.
The critics also reason that Ojukwu ought to have surrendered when it became clear that his people were dying, not necessarily by gunshots, but by hunger and starvation, yet he continued his ‘fool hardiness’. Again, despite his pledge never to abandon his people to the Nigerians who were believed to be out to wipe out the Igbos when they eventually win the war, Ojukwu fled the country to Cote d’Ivoire on political asylum leaving his deputy, Effiong to surrender. This to them amounted to betrayal of a people who gave him all the support while the war lasted.
Ojukwu has a rich history, one replete with uncommon feats and many firsts. He means different thing to different people. To some he is a rebel with a cause; to others he is just cocky while a greater majority sees him as an asset to his generation. Whichever way, Ojukwu remains an enigma, who is feared and liked with equal passion.
Friday, the 25th of November, 2011 would remain a day to remember, not only by Ndigbo, but by all Nigerians as the day a mighty Iroko fell down as the great philosopher and warrior took the final bow.
No comments:
Post a Comment