A lot of behind the scenes argument went on between a Federal Government delegation and the ex-Biafran warlord Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu at the Ivorian city of Yamoussoukro in 1982 before he was granted a pardon by President Shehu Shagari which enabled him to return home from exile, former Director General of the Nigeria Security Organisation [NSO] Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi told Daily Trust last night.Shinkafi, who spoke on telephone from Kano, said even though the president had the constitutional power to grant a pardon, Ojukwu strenuously objected to the word 'pardon' because he had not been tried or convicted by a court. In the end, he said, a compromise was reached where the Federal Government 'noted' the technicality that there cannot be a pardon without conviction.The top security officer of the Second Republic said granting Ojukwu a pardon was very difficult for President Shagari, but he did it under intense pressure from Easterners led by his vice president, Dr. Alex Ekwueme. He said at that time, General Yakubu Gowon was also in exile due to events of the 1976 Dimka coup, so Shagari decided to handle the two issues together 'to give it a sort of federal character.'Shinkafi said once the political decision was taken to grant the pardon, it fell on him to implement it. First, he said, the government had to consult the military. This was very sensitive at the time, he said, because the officers who commanded Federal troops during the Civil War still dominated the General Staff of the armed forces. They gave the president a reluctant go-ahead to proceed, he said. The National Assembly also agreed, as did the leading opposition party then, UPN.Shinkafi said the late Police Affairs Minister Ali Baba and himself then flew to Yamoussoukro and met with Ojukwu in the presence of the then Ivorian president Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Apart from the dispute over the word 'pardon,' he said they spent the whole day working out the details of his return.Shinkafi added that Ali Baba and himself then went to London and were joined by the then National Security Adviser to the President Dr. Bukar Sha'ib to meet with General Yakubu Gowon. Gowon, he said, was even more vehement than Ojukwu in his objection to use of the word 'pardon' since he had neither been tried in court nor convicted. In the end, both men returned to the country from exile.Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi said the return of Ojukwu from exile cemented President Shagari's relationship with the Igbos and improved the political stature of Vice President Alex Ekwueme. He however said Ojukwu violated one of the 'understandings' of his pardon when he rushed to join a political party, NPN. Asked if that was not the plan all along, Shinkafi said, 'I do not know about Ekwueme, but it was certainly not President Shagari's wish. He didn't want Ojukwu to get involved in party politics, even in NPN.'Asked if Ojukwu's subsequent formation of the Ikemba Front political militia wasn't another violation, Shinkafi said, 'Even before Ojukwu returned, Ekwueme and Governor Jim Nwobodo were having a running battle in the area. NPP already had a militia. Ojukwu only reacted by forming his own militia. Several times I went to the East and urged Nwobodo to respect the office of the vice president. However, in responding to NPP and forming his own militia, Ojukwu went beyond expectation.'Shinkafi also recalled his sojourn in Enugu as head of the police Special Branch during and immediately after the Civil War. He said, 'We were part of the security system, together with the Administrator Mr. Ukpabi Asika and the GOCs of the One Division, Generals Muhammadu Shuwa, Iliya Bisalla and T.Y. Danjuma. We were responsible for vetting returnees and preventing those who played overzealous roles in Biafra. It was not easy at all for Asika and Gowon but was even worse for us.'Shinkafi then paid tribute to Ojukwu, who passed away at the weekend. He said, 'He was a very well educated and very sophisticated person and his belief in the unity of Nigeria was genuine. His resorting to secession, with the benefit of hindsight, was understandable. But as we moved away from the Civil War era, he regained his belief in Nigeria, though Ojukwu was often given to drama. He often shouted on behalf of the Igbos and it had an effect. But I believe he never meant to revive Biafra. He only did it to entrench his standing in current national politics.
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