WEDNESDAY night in Enugu, tagged 'Night of Tributes' for Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu lived up to the billing.Organised by the Enugu Sports Club to bid farewell to their former member, it provided the opportunity for childhood friends, schoolmates and some former officers of the defunct Biafran Army to relieve their experiences.The roll call itself was an event. In the hall, were former President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwaechue, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and his wife, Chief Victor Umeh, one time Minister of Information, Nnia Nwodo, Ambassador Kingsley Ebenyi, Senator Ben Obi, Senator Emma Agboti and some member of the House of Representatives.Also present were, Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Nduka Eya, a former Judge of Court of Appeal, Justice Eugene Ubaezuonu, Chief Loretta Aniagolu, Dr. Joe Nworgu, Monsignor Obiora Ike, Nollywood actor Pete Edochie and the Head of the Mass Communication Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof Ike Ndolo.Many in the audience reached for their handkerchiefs to dab their eyes as ex-servicemen took turns to recollect their encounter with Odumegwu-Ojukwu. It was like the story of the 10 blind men with the elephant.The line up included Col. Emma Nwobosi, Odumegwu-Ojukwu's last Chief of Staff, Squadron Leader A.O Onowi, Col. Ben Obumselu, Col. Ben Gbulie, Col. Nsudo and Col. Joe Achuzia (Air Raid), among others.Uwaechue, while describing Odumegwu-Ojukwu as a man with impeccable character, said Ndigbo needed his fearless and bold spirit.He explained that despite prosecting the 30-month civil war, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, 'was a firm believer in the unity and development of the country, especially as it affects the emancipation of all segments of the country.'Rawlings, who said Odumegwu-Ojukwu stood for principles, equity, peace and justice, stressed that despite pursuing these virtues, he did not lose focus on giving an identity to the Igbo.According to Rawlings, 'his likes are rare in any generation of a country. Ojukwu's imprint touched the entire Africa.'Odumegwu-Ojukwu, he said came at a time when his people were directionless but he helped rediscover the identity of his race.'Odumegwu-Ojukwu happens to be one of those Nigerians who even in the next 100 years will not need an introduction. He was an icon, a crusader for justice. His influence and leadership will remain for a very long time,' he said.Rawlings added that the circumstances that led to the civil strife should not be allowed to repeat especially in the face of the serious leadership challenges, manifesting in Nigeria, but which require collective effort to overcome.Ukiwe pointed out that when those who fought in the war see some of the things that caused the war being repeated, they would have no regret fighting in the war.He said, 'what we have gathered here for is noble. Many people I am sure are beginning to see the trend of the events that brought the civil war. Odumegwu-Ojukwu did what he had to do as a soldier; he did what he had to do as a leader of his people; somebody had to take charge. This country needs leaders, the kind we have all enunciated, leaders with integrity, uncommon boldness, courage, principle and honour. If you have no honour you can't do anything.'Odumegwu-Ojukwu has done his beat. We are proud of him, we honour him and we ask the Almighty God to accept his soul.'Edochie, eased the pain and tedium in the hall when he said, 'a lot of people have come here to say Odumegwu-Ojukwu was a compendium of professional virtues. Nobody has observed that he was also a human being. Ojukwu was a torrid lover of women.'He recollected an incident 38 years ago, 'when I came into this Sports Council. I was offered a bottle of beer, which I sipped at a very modest pace, because there was no possibility of getting a second bottle. Then somebody touched me and asked, 'do you know that man who was sitting on a stool and drinking a beer and smoking'' When I said I didn't know the man, he said, 'that is C.C. Onoh.' I was meeting him for the first time and he engaged me. After that day, he became like a father to me and would come to look for me.'The relationship grew and one day, he asked me, 'Pete, are you married'' I said yes. He said, 'too bad. If you were not, I would have given you one of my daughters.' I never knew the daughters and when I finally met them, I wished I were not married. But, the one I think I appreciated a lot betrayed a fascination for bearded men. That was how I lost; Ojukwu got in before me.'Odumegwu-Ojukwu had been referred to as a rebel. Yes, he rebelled against injustice, inhumanity, and despotism. During the war, we were compelled to flee various parts of the country; adversity welded us together as a people with a common destiny and it became the lot of Odumegwu-Ojukwu to give a meaning to that destiny. This is why today we are all here to honour him. He told the late ken Saro Wiwa before he was executed that what he saw 25 years ago, was what he was just seeing.'In 1967, he said, Ojukwu advocated confederacy, and 45 years after, the political elite is experimenting with the idea.Achuzia, popularly called 'Air raid' during the civil war traced his relationship with Ojukwu to when they were in school in London. While Ojukwu joined the army in Nigeria, he joined the army in Britain.'Ojukwu gave us stability, made the Igbo man to live; made Igbo defend themselves when Nigeria, the Igbo race faced annihilation. He was called a rebel; one does not become a rebel when he did not rebel. It is not Ojukwu who should be called a rebel because he joined the army to save Nigeria but the country rebelled against him. What was his offence' He didn't let the Igbo, his people, be exterminated.'As he became ill and was flown to Britain, I remember the last message I sent to him. I told him, 'we will remain at our posts when you come back and tell us what next to do. We will know whether to let others relieve us.''He bequeathed Biafra to us and we swore to defend it, we will continue to defend it. Biafra is a spiritual ideology and we believe in it. Ojukwu did not want to South Eastern region to be called any other name other than Biafra, the reason being that the North is called Arewa; Awolowo gave the Yoruba name Oduduwa.'I was in detention for seven years and during that period, the then head of state, Yakubu Gowon banned the word Biafra but the day I was released, the headline in the papers were screaming, 'The Biafran warlord is now free. Biafra is free.' A journalist asked me, 'have you now known any remorse'' I said, 'I am not remorseful, if the same thing happens again, I will do the same thing all over again.' He left the podium amid shouts of 'Air Raid.'Obumselu said Ojukwu was a lecturer in military history in Accra, Ghana where he was an Assistant Registrar in the Military Academy. He said that this afforded them the opportunity to spend time together. He said that during the last days of the war, he went round all the military formations to document the war as a member of the military defence operation and the officially approved historian of the war.Obumselu said he brought the atrocities report at the Oputa panel, which had been in his brief case for more than 30 years.In what looked like an irony, he said that when Ojukwu was alive he was an action boy, and when he died, he died a statesman. When he was alive, he was a demagogue, when he died he became a great exemplar of patriotic virtues. He was a sinner and in his death he became a saint.The professor said it was very important that the gathering recognised the significance of the conflict, 'because it is somehow in the sense that a dead man cannot get up to ask for the praise you give him. In his life, particularly 1967, what Ojukwu saw that nobody could become head of state without going through the constitutional process was the main issue.'He said this constitutional process was the issue with the old Eastern Nigeria in the quest for Biafra, the same at the Aburi conference, as well as many others.Obumselu said that Ojukwu had known in 1967 that the crisis in Nigeria would end the day the North agreed to the sharing of power. He stressed that the problem of the acceptance of sharing of power was still alive today.'That is what Boko Haram is about, that is the issue that is bedeviling the public and it is the issue that many make nonsensical comments and commendations. Igbo people have a duty to document this sense of history,' he said.Several others who spoke gave vivid accounts of their association with Ikemba in various ways during the civil war as well as his other sacrifices to offer leadership, irrespective of the opposition that was prevalent at the time.As the remains of Odumegwu-Ojukwu is lowered to mother earth today, the Igbo, Nigeria and entire Africa really known that a figure has existed and should be remembered in a long time to come.
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