THE eulogies and tributes poured in, in torrents, all united in wishing the late Igbo leader, Eze Igbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, bon voyage on his final passage into history. With Ojukwu's burial, a chapter, and a controversial one, closes in Igbo history and the story of Nigeria as the 'Biafra' warlord takes the final bow.It is an irony that at Ojukwu's terminal state, insecurity that precipitated the civil war pervades the Nigerian space and his Igbo kinsfolk in the North have, again, become targets of a new violent and murderous onslaught necessitating another forced return to Igboland. Sometimes, history mocks us.But if the Igbo in the North are again under threat, 42 years after the end of the civil war, it diminishes the value of that so-called war of unity. Today, the reality for Nigeria is that of a country in a state of permanent attrition ' of neither peace nor war. 42 years on, the question remains germane: Was the war completely unavoidable' It would have been illuminating, if there had been a deep, probing interview of Ojukwu. Were there troubling, doubting moments for him as he ratchet up war drums, eyes blazing, with those thunderous, evocative phrases in mesmerising Queen's English which practically turned Igbo men into fighting machines in the 'Biafra' enclave ' Was the 'Biafra' adventure a courageous defence of patrimony' Some say there is a thin line between courage and foolhardiness. Meanwhile, all the flattering eulogies of the erstwhile rebel warlord deftly dodge the poser: What were the tangible legacies of Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu' Sam Omatseye in his column in THE NATION of Monday, March 5, captioned 'Born Nigerian, died Nigerian' was uncharacteristically generous as he joined the encomium chorus. But how Sam laboured, futilely, to rationalise Ojukwu's senatorial election defeat by a little known Dr. Onwudiwe, in his first foray into politics in 1983, under the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN)! The Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), led by redoubtable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, had walloped the warlord at the polls. That loss should have signaled the dimming of Dim Ojukwu's light, but then myth makers are bent on sustaining the myth, even in death. Sam, apparently one of such myth makers, excused Ojukwu's loss as attributable to his 'broad mind' in bucking his people in NPP to join the NPN. Some broad-mindedness, indeed. Of course, I am not saying that Sam Omatseye, an award-winning columnist, is a revisionist. Tunde Fagbenle, in his back page column in The Punch of March 4, 2012 captioned 'Ojukwu's state burial' waxed lyrical in celebrating his 'hero'. To him, the Eze Igbo Gburugburu was a man without blemish. I thought such superlative accolade is only reserved for our lord Jesus Christ. However, the issue of legacy cannot be wished away. Sam, got into a straddle when he described Ojukwu as a 'static hero' after the civil war and went on to assert that 'the cause he fought has taken on a number of incarnations from the Niger Delta militants to Boko Haram insurgency.' So, how can someone whose legacy is reflected in murderous militancy and insurgency be lionised as a positive force' Such is the contradiction that results when a writer loses detachment and becomes enamoured about his subject. Alive and in death, Odumegwu Ojukwu had been lucky with historians who have variously projected him as someone with mythical charisma, a courageous charmer and a populist warrior. But beyond rhetoric, what can we point to, developmental wise, as the Ikemba's gift to his people, except an emotional fillip to an ethnic group in search of a Hero' The 'Biafra' war was touted as a uniting, rallying point for the Igbos. But are Igbos more united today than the pre-civil war period ' Can we, or rather, can they, honestly answer that question in the affirmative' Ebonyi State governor, Martin Elechi, is a candid man and provides us an insight into the state of the Igbo nation today. Reacting to the ill-digested agitation for the dissolution of the Nigerian State, a euphemism for everyone to his ethnic tent, Elechi had pointed to the situation in his state where indigenes of two communities in the same local government area had been engaged in intractable, murderous communal conflict to indicate that ethnicity does not automatically guarantee peaceful relations on the grounds of cultural affinity. Since the civil war, the South-Eastern states have experienced horrendous communal conflicts on the scale of a major war, a classic example being the devastating Umeleri-Aguleri war in Anambra State. So, what is Eze Gburugburu's legacy in unity and peace among his Igbo kinsmen' I am in accord with Governor Elechi in debunking the myth of untrammeled ethnic unity, going by escalating intra-ethnic battles across the country. Even the sophisticated Yorubas had a horrific experience when Modakeke settlers took on Ile-Ife indigenes, their hosts, in a mindless slaughter. The need to band together in a bigger Nigeria is the one major balm calming vicious, intra communal conflicts. On Igbo leadership, before Ojukwu, there was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Iconoclastic Olakunle Abimbola in his 'Republican Ripples' column in THE NATION of March 6, 2012 captioned 'Zik, Ojukwu and Ndigbo' had observed 'Zik carved a niche for himself with his stupendous oratory and profound learning,' at a time 'when Awo was still doing newspaper reporting,' describing Dr. Azikiwe as 'The Great Zik.' It was, however, a manifestation of the Igbo penchant for self-destruct that while the Ojukwu myth survives as a deliberate construct, the Igbos shot themselves in the foot when they attempted to demystify Dr. Azikiwe, the first Premier of Eastern region, and the greatest Igbo man to date. His cardinal sin, to a misinformed rabble, was that he saw the 'Biafra' adventure was turning a doomed venture and wanted the Igbos to seek an end to the war and cut their losses. For being realistic, the rabble dubbed him a sell-out. But then, someone later cut and ran into exile to count his own personal loss! Yet, the Ojukwu myth endures, making him a 'Goodluck'.Today, in another seeming repeat of tragic history, the Igbo leadership is being bestowed on a personality who is not only an ethnic irredentist, but another secessionist, Chief Ralph Uwazurike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). What lessons are we learning from history' MASSOB had spearheaded another homecall of the Igbo, reminiscent of 1966/67, following the spate of the Boko Haram bombings in the North. Wise counsel is prevailing on the Igbos to stay put. Ojukwu played his part in the history of Nigeria, for good or bad or a combination of both. But with the benefit of hindsight, can another secessionist 'Biafra' agenda, represented by Uwazurike, be to Igbos' advantage' Let the Biafra dream be interred with Ojukwu, the Eze Igbo Gburugburu with his burial at his hometown, Nnewi, on Friday, March 2, 2012. After all, as noted by Sam Omatseye, Ojukwu was born a Nigerian and died a Nigerian. 'Biafra' was a tragic interlude.Olawunmi, a former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), wrote in from Iwo, Osun State.
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