|
 By Eucharia Mbachu
Odimegwu Emeka Ojukwu was born on Novermber 4, 1933 in Zungeru. Today Emeka Ojukwu is one of the most widely known Nigerians of Ibo origins. His father was a wealthy man and his affluence put him and his children into the social elite group locally known as “Been tos” This is to say that he was affluent and Westernized. Socially allergic to such bourgeois pretensions and determined to identify with the poor, the lowly and the marginalized, Ojuku portrayed his Man of the People social consciousness by joining the military as a recruit in stead of an officer. This willingness to identify with and to serve the lowest rung of society did not go well with his father. Not only did he discourage the idea but he also whispered to his trainee officer to break his spirit through social humiliation in his rank as recruit. With a college degree, he was not inducted as a cadet but as a recruit. He faced lots of hardship because his father forced the officers to punish him in order to deter him from continuing the madness of the military. Ironically, his father’s insistence backfired when the young Ojuku corrected the trainee officer’s malapropisms and got himself punished for correcting his command’s errors. Fate worked in his favor when the White commander of his section of the military discovered his intellect and his more polished proficiency in English. To the dismay and lament of his Dad he became an officer and a gentleman. He was later promoted and he became the governor of the Eastern Nigeria. He did not have an escort, no conveyors, was taking community projects, he was the people’s governor, he leveled with the Ibos whether rich or poor.
Ojukwu’s woes in the Nigerian military did not stop with his father’s prangs; it was repeated by Ibrahim Babangida who denied him promotion as a general before the eruption of the Civil War. In later years, Ojukwu would joke about the fact that, though IBB denied him the glory of generalship, the Ibos conferred it upon him with great joy as the people’s general during the war for Biafran independence. Up to this moment he is the hero of the Ibo people and the living embodiment of Ibo culture. He could have lived and led a life of cultural inspiration to the Ibo by avoiding the political path. As one of my well informed brothers Anacletus Uche Mbachu puts it, “he should have been Eze Ndibo.” By not doing so Ojukwu became a politicized personality and image and this led to the present state of political marginality and cultural degeneration among the peoples of Iboland. He is loved by many and hated by lesser numbers because of the series of decisions he made since his return from exile and due to the propagandistic vituperations between him and Azikwe. Both men were elevated by the tide of history, but their personal circumstances ruled differently. Ojukwu is still remembered and honored widely among all age groups in Ibo circles, whereas Azikwe is a faded memory among what Americans would call Baby boomers, and an almost totally unknown in the generation of Ibo rappers who know almost little or nothing about him and the Ibo fascination with America.
Looking through the gallery of Ojukwu exhibits, many would see his biography as a part of the struggle of the Ibo people in colonial and post colonial Nigeria. Many wish for the good old days when Ibo unity meant a great deal politically because the organizing leaders such as Zik et all raised the consciousness of the Ibos through their Ibo Union before the Civil War. In retrospect, I feel that the political unity known to peoples melted like morning dew after the war and despite many efforts at unity, such schemes failed due to political bickering among so-called social engineers of Ibo unity. A recent case in point is the Ogele, the Ohanaeze which lacks political vision and unity. It seems to promote only the political errand boys and the 419s such as the likes of Orji Kanu and other political godfathers. Kanu gained his prominence during the Ohanaeze National conference when he gave an emotional speech that captured the hearts of Ibo youths, who in turn voted for him emotionally believing that the Expected Messiah of the Ibos has descended from heaven and was ready to lead the politically marginal Ibos after the Civil War. But unfortunately, Kanu proved to be one of the most dangerous political rogues ever known in our modern time.
Unlocking the mystery and the circumstances leading to the unexpected political performance of Ojukwu since his return from exile, some believed that he could not do much for the Ibos because the agreement he reached with the Federal government prohibited him from engaging in any assembly that promotes any form of tribalism. This political agreement restricted politics. His age- mates no long need him or sympathize with him any more. If they did not deny him, they spared little time to keep his stocks high. To them the war was Ojukwu’s war, it was his baby, and it was his sin. These men gave up their dignity, their honor, their personality, their culture, their people and their respect for federal appointments.
Given this state of affairs, the Ibo community found itself in a quandary. It had no cohesion. The so-called leaders and the led groped clumsily for political ropes to advance themselves and to hold tight to the greased pole of Nigerian politics. Crises came and went. In 1999 or 2000 there was a massacre and it led the politically conscious to take action. The Ohaneze was convened once and no more. Ojukwu and Alex Ekwueme.were the key players but because of the political jockeying within the emerging political landscape during the Shehu Shagari presidency, this bold attempt to restore Ibo unity collapsed in the quicksand of Ibo political rivalry. Ekwueme became vice president in a recently united Nigeria and Ojukwu became a wounded lion because of his political choice against Zik and his inability to make the best alignment of Ibo needs and Ibo interest as conceptualized by him.
It was indeed in this context that some have asked why Ojukwu aspired to be the Nigerian President instead of being the cultural and spiritual leader of the Ibos. Some have contended that he was defeated. Some others felt otherwise. To this second group his cause was suppressed but the idea still lives on in the hearts of many Ibos.
Such men and women found the thread of enlightenment about Ojukwu and the Nigerian political process in the elections of the 1980’s before the return of the military coup makers. The founding of the Nigerian People’s Party, founded originally by Waziri but later captured by Azikiwe when he defied Ekwueme and Ojukwu in the party of Shagari and rallied the Ibos to his new caravan. To those who sympathize with Ojukwu’s problems, this decision by Zik was the beginning of the collapse of Ibo solidarity and the loss of political assertiveness at the federal level. Ojukwu on his part did everything to frustrated NPP. It was believed that most people that followed Zik were illiterates who went by sentiments. According to this belief,only a few intellectuals were his supporters.
Zik is seen by most young people as a political prostitute whom any “tribe” that needed him could call upon on him, after using him, discarded and dumped him. Against this background one should now understand the state of politics in Iboland during this period. It is now known that political opportunism and corruption reigned supreme in the land. .The political Ibo business men, such as Emma Chike, Madekwe, talked about Ibos when they wanted political promotion or favors. Some have argued strongly that “there are no Ibo political figures since after the war.”
However, there were men such as Uche Chukwu Emereuche, the Biafrian Information Minister and propagandist during the Biafarian war, who became an Information Minister during the military junta under IBB. He was the propagandist of the Babangida administration. Next in line was Walter Chinoagoro who succeeded Emereuche as IBB’s Information Minister and finally Clement Okwumbo was the Justice Minister in IBB’s government too, he was also the justice minister during the Biafrain war. Now this is the real story; these three were with Ojukwu. One may ask the question about their association with IBB and his decision to make them ministers of state? There is the view that IBB knew that these Ibos had not forgiven the Yourubas on their betrayl during the war, and the Yoruba’s do not like the Hausas so we are told. So these guys are true Ibos and they score settlers too. Babaginda was able to use the law against Obasanjo and Abiola. These men were the lasting and tenacious vanguard of Ibo resistance at the federal level and many will remember them as men, that is, HE MEN and not yooyooes dancing to the music of their overlords.
Any Ibo man who had had a Federal appointment is de-Ibolized. The worst marginalization of the Ibos is to make them Ministers or high governmental positions. That is why when Obasanajo came to power all the Biafran soldiers could not be promoted beyond the rank of a Colonel. That was one reason Ebute Ukaiwe left the government. The only man that made it to General was Kevin Onwuchiorire. As it is, in the civilian world so also it is in the military world with the Ibos. We have the Uncle-Tom political errand boys, the Emma Chikes, Emmanuel Inuanyawu and several others. . Ukpabia Asika was the first governor of eastern Nigeria and through him the Nigerian government sized most of Ibo properties and took over Catholic schools. He was the worst traitor to the Ibo cause.
In 1993 IBB called for a national Constitution Conference. There Ekwueme revealed himself as a true Ibo son, he came out of hiding and as a result all the Northern political wings deserted him because he refused to continue serving them as a political errand boy. Among other things he proposed the restructuring of the military high command through the decentralization of powers in the Northern, Southern and Eastern regions of the country. He also wanted a constitutional referendum. These were most of the things that Ojukwu and his ranks demanded in Aburi conference before the Civil War ended. This was why he did not become the Nigerian President; instead the nominating party which included him and Obasanjo chose the latter.
In searching for the forces and factors inspiring the train of events in Ojukwu’s political fortune, one should argue here again that he should have maintained the Ibo spirit. He should have stayed on course as the Ibo life line and encourage Ibos culturally. This is why I am writing here to urge Ibos to go and revisit the pages of history so that they can change their lives and their destinies. Such an exercise could change the attitudes of the political leaders to step down and the young people take over the reign of political direction for the Ibos. Just an add up--- political morons are Arthur Nzerib, Emmanuel Iwuayanwu, Jim Nwaobobo, they are the political godfathers, who sponsor candidates as to control the candidate constituency. Ibos need something like the Aferefere of the Yoruba. There is a serious need for Ibo political Think-Thank, not those manned by people who think they are emperors without empires.
Ojukwu has made history and no assembly of deniers could rule otherwise. Yet, in stating this I should hasten to add that he was a victim of historical realities. Up till now he has not been able to translate wishes into realities. His ideal situation would have been an established Biafran state close to the African equator, but the forces and factors ranged against him were too much. He was neither successful as a secessionist nor an accomplished coup maker who seized the reins of government and became an IBB, an OBJ or a Murtala..
Let me state here that Ojukwu’s legacy resides in the consciousness of the young and the memories of the old. This is to say, the Ojukwu story will forever be inextricably linked to the future of the Ibo in Nigeria. Banking heavily on the intellectual and material sustenance of the youth, the leaders of the areas inhabited by Ibo could become a source of science and technology in the country if Ibos prove themselves serious and responsible. 419 scammers can only be poison to their cultural health and a deathly mosquito for their bloodlines. But in order for Ojukwu to be remembered and Ibodom to remain in the minds of all people at home and in the Diaspora, both Ojukwu and his supporters must remain faithful to the language, the culture and the history that unite all of us .. You can be a culturally conscious Ibo without being a bigot and a chauvinist in this global age.
Finally, Ojukwu from youth has demonstrated to be man of the people and will remain the people’s general at heart.
Happy Birthday Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu!
|
RSS Feeds | Podcasts
Posted by Robot| 07.11.2007 23:29