Events later proved that the exclusion of Ojukwu was a tactical error. In a matter of days, Ojukwu who insisted on the sanctity of army hierarchy, helped to see to the end of the attempted coup and transfer of power to Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi. In appreciation of the role played by Ojukwu, Aguiyi-Ironsi's junta appointed him Governor of Eastern Nigeria.Barely six months after the January 15 coup attempt, a Northern officers' mutiny on the 29th of July 1966 led to the death of Aguiyi-Ironsi and Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the Governor of Western Region. As a result, there was elimination of Igbo officers and civilians in the North, including the west. Most of those who could escape the North pogrom abandoned all they had and fled back home to the East. Painfully, Ojukwu received them. Another painful thing to him was the imposition of Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Emeka in his usual characteristic ways, refused to accept the leadership of Gowon over and above other senior military officers from other parts of the country. He also demanded an official explanation (even though he knew) of what happened to Ironsi but Gowon refused to give up his position. Claiming the superior mandate of the people, Ojukwu on the 30th of May 1967, proclaimed Eastern Nigeria, the Republic of Biafra. Gowon dismissed him and ordered for police action, to quell the rebellion. Many that worked with Ojukwu on the Biafran agenda said that the rebel republic should have surrendered long before January 15, 1970. Ojukwu who later admitted that throughout the three years of the civil war, he was out-gunned by at least one to 10,000, would not hear of it. However, on the 10th of January 1970 with federal troops only about 24 hours away from his last stronghold, Uli, Ojukwu boarded a plane and left for Cote d'Ivoire after informing his compatriots that he was going 'in search of peace'. Chief Sam Mbakwe (of blessed memory), a close friend and participant in the Biafran agenda, who wore a nominal rank of Colonel of the Biafran Army, said later: 'We knew it was a gimmick'. Phillip Effiong, General of the Biafran Army, to whom Ojukwu relinquished command, reacting to Ojukwu's insistence that there was no justification for capitulation at that point said: 'The truth was that the man was escaping. He took his relations, and vast luggage. Is that how you go to search for peace''For the next 12 years, Ojukwu remained in Coite d'Ivoire, engaging in business for financial gains. In 1982, he was granted State pardon by the Alhaji Shehu Shagari civilian government. In 1989, Ojukwu said: 'There is a general conspiracy to cast me as an Igbo leader and possibly an African leader. My passion is to be a black leader'. In 1998, he said: 'I am the Champion of the Igbo. I am Pope among the Igbo. I rule in their hearts'.Finally, death is inevitable omen. It will come, when it will come according to William Shakespeare on the eve of his death that was, 16th February 1616. Although a philosopher said that death is a whip waiting for everybody by the roadside, but the date is not known by anybody unless God because He giveth and He taketh.Adieu, the ex-Biafran Warlord, the Gburuburu one, the Ikemba of Nnewi, the fearless and dogged fighter.Soeze, fhnr, fcida, fcai, cpae, son, emba, is Chief Officer (Administration)/Head, Academic and Physical Planning of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State. charlessoeze@yahoo.ca
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