Biography Of Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (born November 4, 1933) was the President of the secessionist state of Biafra in Nigeria (1967–1970), during the Nigerian Civil War, and previously Military Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. He is usually referred to in news and other sources as simply Ojukwu, though he is also often called the Ikemba of Nnewi.

Education

He was born in Zungeru, the son of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu KBE, President of The African Continental Bank, first President of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and a business tycoon who was believed to be Nigeria's first multi-millionaire. Chukwuemeka's name meant "God has done well." He attracted media publicity at a young age. [citation needed] In 1944, the young Ojukwu was briefly imprisoned for assaulting a white British colonial teacher who was humiliating a black woman at King's College in Lagos, an event which generated widespread coverage in local newspapers. [citation needed] He then went on to study in Britain, first at Epsom College, in Surrey and later earned a Masters degree in history at Lincoln College, Oxford University.

Biafra

Ojukwu decided to enter the military over the objections of his father, who wanted him to study law. He joined the Nigerian Army and graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England. He later became a Lieutenant Colonel and Military Governor of the oil rich Eastern Region. Following an anti-Igbo genocidal pogrom in the Muslim Northern Region, Eastern chiefs met at Umuahia in the Eastern Region. They decided to declare the region consisting of the Igbo heartland, the Niger Delta (mostly Ijaw) and the Cross River basin (Efik and Ibibio areas) independent. Ojukwu was chosen by the Easterners to lead the new country named "Biafra" after the Bight of Biafra, and appointed Head of State & General of the Peoples Army. His egocentricity and ambition were the chief drivers of the Biafran secession[citation needed] and some historians believe that the war would have been averted if someone else was the governor of the Eastern Region. Despite some early Biafran successes, such as the Abagana ambush in which two divisions of the Nigerian Army were annihilated, the Nigerians slowly gained the upper hand, supported by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union and, tacitly, by the United States. Among the world's major nations, only France and Portugal offered some support to Biafra.

On June 1, 1969, he delivered the Ahiara Declaration, a patriotic speech, in the village of Ahiara. The speech condemned racism and imperialism, and asserted "our inalienable right to self determination". Ojukwu condemned as genocide the actions of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, for completely blockading Biafra without exception for children or other noncombatants. In a TV interview given in c.1969 he was asked to comment on the food aid sent by the UK to the malnourished children of Biafra. His response was words to the effect "We do not want food from Britain. They are simply trying to fatten us up then shoot us down". In saying this he was referring to the fact that the UK was supplying arms to Nigeria during the civil war.

After Biafra

Ojukwu left Biafra as it collapsed, intending to set up a government in exile. He subsequently lived in Côte d'Ivoire for 13 years. Seeking to bolster his support among Igbos, President Alhaji Shehu Shagari pardoned Ojukwu and allowed him to return to Nigeria in 1980. He joined Shagari's National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and contested the 1983 election for the Senate.

In February 1994 Ojukwu accepted an invitation to give a speech at the Lagos Law School.

As the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), he ran for President in the 2003 presidential election. He claimed to have won the election and filed a court challenge against what he said was the "massive fraud" that allegedly denied him the presidency.

Today Ojukwu lives a quiet life in Eastern Nigeria. In early December 2006 he was again chosen to be the APGA presidential candidate for the April 2007 election.[5] On January 14, 2008 he received his military pension from the Nigerian government, but on this occasion he complained that he was referred to as a lieutenant colonel and not as a general, his rank in the Biafran military.

In 1995, Ojukwu signed government documents identifying himself as a witness to the death of writer Mr. Ken Saro Wiwa, whom Ojukwu had counted as an enemy since the collapse of Biafra's secessionist movement.

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