1966 Coups, Biafra, Asaba Massacre, Gowon: Adebayo Williams On Chuks Iloegbunam

 By Tony Eluemunor

“I prefer to be accused of nastiness than to join in the national pastime of consigning events of a few years ago into prehistory”.

Chinua Achebe wrote that in the preface of his book of essays, Morning  Yet On Creation Day, to explain why he had to include essays on the Biafran war in that book instead of pretending that the war never took place. Here and now, I second that “motion”.

Tatalo Alamu, in his offering titled Ninety Bouquets For Jack Gowon published in the Nation newspaper of November 3, 2024, poured encomiums on Gen. Yakubu Gowon, “as an exemplary Nigerian patriot, a soldier-statesman and shining moral exemplar for many of his compatriots”.

Jika Attoh: An Ovation!

 By Chuks Iloegbunam 

“From all indications,” said Jika Attöh. He was dark, and dapper. He spoke English with an uncommon fluency. We also communicated in Igbo, which made me wonder if he was of the ethnic group. It was in answer to my question that he said, “From all indications.” I failed to see the indications, for neither Jika nor Attöh was Igbo. The year was 1976. We were standing in line inside a hall at the Faculty of  Arts building of the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University), all freshmen, waiting to register for our courses in the English Department. Jika told me he was from Onitsha, which was about 15 kilometres from my hometown of Abatete. His full name was Ifejika Michael Elvis Attöh. Of the Attöh surname, he explained that the origin was Ghanaian. He warned that it wasn’t spelt correctly unless two dots hung over the ö in it!  Our friendship started on that day.

When on October 25, 2023, Ikeddy Isiguzo called for my confirmation of the terrible news, I instantly told him to perish the thought. “I tagged Jika to a WhatsApp message I posted this morning,” I said. Then I spoke more sensibly: “Who told you?” The story had appeared on a WhatsApp forum. I advised that he played no part in spreading it without confirmation. I dialled Jika’s number, expecting to hear the usual Babandidi or Misti Shooks, but it rang out. The prospect of calling his wife carpeted me. I tried a mutual friend’s number in Enugu without connecting. Less than ten minutes later, Oseloka Zikora called. “Terrible news,” he said in a subdued voice. He was in Namibia. Jika’s wife had got him by WhatsApp and, could he please pass the message on to Babandidi? Suddenly, calls started pouring in from all over, to ask if it was true, or to express condolences.

Professor Ben Nwabueze And Moses Oludele Idowu’s Apostasy

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

Ihechukwu Madubuike’s new book is entitled Aka Ekpuchi Onwa: Ndigbo Unbowed, (Eminent Biographies Limited; 2024). Professor Madubuike devoted the book’s Chapter Five to demolishing the infantile thesis of Moses Oludele Idowu, a poseur with claims to political punditry and Christian evangelism. Idowu posited a fallacy on Ndigbo by arguing that "The Igbo political culture of compromises is at the root of the lackluster, unenviable position of the Igbo as a people in the political process and equation rather than any conspiracy as their scholars and hagiographers have always maintained.”

*Prof Ben Nwabueze 

A sample of Dr. Madubuike’s rebuke

 

I am troubled that some of our Yoruba cousins keep drawing us backwards, because they believe the Igbo are their immortal political enemies. To make the above assertions about the Igbo without qualms by Moses Oludele Idowu in his Wages of Compromises: The Igbo Race As Object Lesson is pushing provocation and illogicality to the level of the absurd. The thesis is as unsustainable as it is otiose. If the article is intended to be seen as part of the continuing conversation to interrogate the Nigerian geopolitical space, to inquire into and understand the fundamentals of nation-building, and the overall importance of justice in determining the affairs of human beings, then it can be tolerated. But the write-up is about none of these.

Peter Obi Is Not A god

 By Chuks Iloegbunam 

(Chuks Iloegbunam uses the birthday of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate to celebrate him and the Obidient Movement) 

*Peter Obi

Yes! There’s nothing they haven’t said of Peter Obi. They have charged that he is not a god. They have said he is no more than a political opportunist. They have ridiculed his promise to change Nigeria from consumer to producer. They pooh-poohed as unfounded the statistics the man churned out on successes abroad that could be replicated back home. But the traducers wouldn’t reckon with reality. The subject of their insistent lambasting never ascribed divinity to himself. He did not circle his head with sanctity’s hallo. In the league of politicians, he didn’t claim to be more human. He only asked for the chance to lift a comatose country. 

The Governor of Enugu State

 By Chuks Iloegbunam 

There is this social media skit on democracy that is forever entertaining. In it, a teacher tells his students that, despite Abraham Lincoln’s classic definition, democracy was actually “the government of some people by some people and for some people.” Government, stressed the teacher, was for those with “bastard money.” 

*Peter Mbah

He soon proved the point, for the principal decrees the class must have a prefect. Two students vie for the position. The female student gets a majority of the votes. His male opponent receives a single vote. But he had boasted that his father was stupendously rich and had demonstrated it by giving the teacher a backhander. The teacher announces the briber, the class prefect. To the class’s protestations, he asks them to go to court and storms out. 

Promise Of A New Era: Peter Obi Unmasked

 BOOK REVIEW

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Even after the 2023 presidential elections scheduled for next Saturday (February 25, 2023) in which Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party has received widespread acclamation as the candidate to beat, I will advise many Nigerians to still look out for Chuks Iloegbunam’s book, The Promise Of A New Era, which was presented to the public a couple of months ago in Enugu. Younger people who might one day nurse the aspiration to occupy leadership positions in Nigeria will find this book especially rewarding.

One juicy take-away from the book is the need for young people to  school themselves to start very early to keep their paths clean because they have no way of knowing the amazing opportunities that might throw themselves on their laps tomorrow. Indeed, an action undertaken today by a youth which might appear very insignificant could shoot itself up tomorrow and undermine his ability to seize a very ripe opportunity to achieve an enviable elevation. This is one vital lesson Peter Obi’s life should teach many young people. Despite being the most fact-checked candidate in the presidential contest today, Obi has emerged without a dent.

Surprise Is The Shot Of Peter Obi

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The greatest surprise of the political season in Nigeria today is without question the almost overwhelming presence of Peter Obi. The man has teeming admirers and unappeasable antagonists, but either-or, he can hardly ever be ignored.

*Peter Obi arrives Ilorin Airport (February 6, 2023)

A journalist’s duty is to almost always wade into every subject in popular focus, no matter how controversial – whence my decision to write on the Peter Obi phenomenon. I am not interested in doing a piece on his political campaigns of today – I would rather go to the past, in 2008, when the man surprised me in no small measure.

Book Review: The Promise Of A New Era

 By Angela Agoawike

The use of biographies for election campaigns date back decades. 

Sometimes written in a hurry, a campaign biography gives highlights of the candidate’s life, introduces him to the voting public and so doing, gives an insight into his aspiration to the highest office in the land. 

The importance of a presidential campaign ‘biography’ is underlined by among others, the setting up of libraries to look for such books and store them for posterity, just like the Clarke Library of the Central Michigan University in the USA has done since the early 1960s. 

Many politicians, such as former American President Jimmy Carter released campaign biographies. As a little-known governor of the American State of Georgia, Why Not The Best? was published in 1976, during his quest for the American presidency. It was his introduction to Americans beyond Georgia. 

Peter Obi: As Tough As Nails

Excerpts from The Promise Of A New Era, a book on Mr. Peter Obi, written by Chuks Iloegbunam, which will be publicly presented at the Enugu Sports Club on Wednesday September 21, 2022...

Sitting inside his Apapa, Lagos, office, one day, just the two of us, and holding lighthearted conversation, Peter Obi suddenly said that he would forever be grateful to Onyechi Ikpeazu.

Why did he say that? I didn’t put the question to him. All the time the suit to claim his stolen electoral mandate was in the courts, there was no day we met without discussing it, at least tangentially. Sometimes we had a full house. At other times, half a full house. On certain occasions, just the two of us. In every shape or setting we had, the case came up for exhaustive or salutary examination. Not once did he talk of Dr. Ikpeazu being worthy of perpetual gratitude. So why did he raise it now? I looked at him intently, saying nothing.

He resumed: “When we were going to challenge INEC’s declaration of Dr. Ngige as the winner of the governorship election, our plan was to file the case in the name of APGA,” he said. “But Onyechi refused and said I must file the case in my own name. I didn’t immediately see his point because, apart from not being a lawyer, I assumed that since I contested the election on APGA’s platform, the party must file the case. Onyechi refused and said no. ‘If APGA filed the case, they might run out of steam during the proceedings and throw in the towel, even if you hold a contrary opinion. File the case in your name; you contested the election. Only you can legitimately dictate whether or not to go the whole hog.’”

Sam Omatseye’s Death Wish

 By Obi Nwakanma

What was Sam Omatseye thinking? That he could traduce an entire Igbo, and get resounding applause for his hackery? Everyone knows that Sam Omatseye does a hack job in contemporary Nigerian politics, and since he could not fit in properly at the Denver Post, where he did the last bit of real journalism inside him, he went to the dark side.

*Peter Obi

He came home to Nigeria to roost, and he became what the ‘Mad Maxim’ – mad only because like his kinsman ‘Jadum’ celebrated in the poetry of Okigbo, he tells prescient truth – called a “Kept Man.” Reckon with that, dear reader: Sam Omatseye as a “Kept Man.” The image is so very apt, if indeed it means that a kept man is one in whom and through whom a pervert patron relieves and performs all kinds of pervert fantasies. I’m still trying to discern some reason inside Omatseye’s death wish – his distinct form of professional self-immolation.

Everyone’s Obituary Is Inevitable

 Chuks Iloegbunam tells Sam Omatseye to cleanse his journalism 

*Peter Obi

 Some have called you foolish, dear Sam Omatseye. Others insist that you are plain stupid. There are those who hold you to be beneath contempt. Their howls of execration upon you are in reaction to your August 1, 2022 article entitled Obi-tuary. For me, however, you are a dear friend. Our friendship started in the 1980s at Newswatch magazine where both of us practiced journalism before you travelled to the United States for further studies.

 

It continued upon your return and strengthened to the point that, sometimes, you get the producers of your TV Continental programme to connect me to field questions live. Besides, living in different states, we often chat by telephone. I demonstrated our amity again last May when I was in Nigeria’s commercial capital for the Lagos International Book Fair. I phoned you and, within the hour, you were at my stand where we spent quality time reminiscing about the good old days and prognosticating on the future of our dear fatherland.

 

Armed with this handle of friendship, I have just the one advice for you: Be careful. It is in elaboration of this counsel that I write all that you read hereon. Please look back to the time of the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967 to 1970. You will find that, military or civilian, none of the political actors of that era is still in a position to fight elections today. The final curtain long fell for most of them. Of the lot that remains, some have become vegetables, or are propped up with a suffusion of drugs or would not find their way to the loo unless hired attendants or swearing relatives point it out. Together with the handful that is still blessed with something close to robust health, they have one thing in common. They are seated, restless or restive, in various existential departure halls, clutching fitfully at their boarding passes and waiting for that inevitable voice that cannot be disobeyed, to announce their flights into past tense. 

A Peter Obi Truth

 Today, Tuesday, July 19, 2022, is the birthday of former Anambra State Governor and Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi. 

We present here an excerpt from The Promise of a New Era, a book by Chuks Iloegbunam out in August 2022 

Until the run up to the 2003 general elections, I was unaware of Peter Obi’s existence. Our first meeting was in Asaba late in 2002, when Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu led an APGA delegation on a campaign trip to Delta State. I had travelled from Lagos to Asaba, to assist Prince Ned Nwoko, a friend from my London days, who was the APGA gubernatorial candidate for Delta State. 

Former Biafran Commando Colonel Joe “Air Raid” Achuzia led the Delta APGA reception team. With Ned exchanging pleasantries with some party supporters under a tree on the far side, I joined a handful of others who listened as Chief Achuzia stood by his car and delivered an impromptu lecture. This was happening on the grounds of the Grand Hotel, and while we waited for General Ojukwu’s team to arrive, Achuzia spoke on the need for everyone to always be on the alert for his or her safety. “If I got found today wielding an automatic rifle,” he said, “that would be trifling. I’ve gone past that age. But any of you young ones here with a job and salary for six consecutive months without acquiring an AK47 is foolish.” 

Looking back now, I wonder whether Achuzia spoke in that vein because he had foreseen the calamitous security situation that has now drowned Nigeria. Anyway, Ojukwu’s convoy soon swept into the Grand Hotel. With the visitors from Anambra State, we formed a sizable crowd that soon plunged into a brightly lit hall. 

Pastor Tunde Bakare And The Lies Of A Failed State

 By Chuks Iloegbunam 

Pastor Tunde Bakare of The Citadel Global Community Church recently spoke through his hat while preaching a sermon. He told his congregation that, during the January 15, 1966 military action that toppled the First Republic, the soldiers that took Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa removed his turban, poured wine on his head and force-fed him with the alcohol. For abominating him, Balewa, just before he was shot, pronounced a curse on Ndigbo, to the effect that no one from the ethnic group will ever bear rule over Nigeria. Mr. Bakare’s story, fanciful as it sounds, is a pack of lies. This article, therefore, is to educate Mr. Bakare and others of his misguided persuasion with the truth, of which Jesus, the Christ said in John 8: 32: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” 

*Awolowo, Azikiwe, Balewa

 

On the mundane level, no one removed any turban from Sir Abubakar’s head. The turban is a headdress. Soldiers invaded the Prime Minister’s official residence at around 3am, when the man was in bed. Did he sleep turbaned? Do people sleep in their headdresses? Apart from that picture in which presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari appeared in suit and tie, wearing a wan smile and looking almost comical with his receding hairline, there hardly is another photograph of the man in which a cap does not adorn his head. Would his traditional fondness for full dressing gear ever mean that he went to bed in a hat? Do women sleep with all those accessories they routinely assembled on their heads for public events? Tafawa Balewa’s turban was not removed because he wasn’t wearing one when his adversaries closed in on him.

Soludo’s Solemn Submission

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

The Governor’s promise to Ndi Anambra came in the 14^th of his 50-paragraph inaugural address of March 17, 2022: “I feel your pulse,” he intoned. “For your sake I keep awake at night, sometimes having palpitations about not letting you down. Well, since God is the Miracle Worker, I will look up to Him in prayer and faith as we all start the work ahead of us. I see and feel all the humungous challenges… But here’s my promise: I will give it my all. I will work very hard every day, with you, to make Anambra proud. Every kobo of your tax money will be deployed to provide you maximum value.”

*Prof Soludo being sworn in as Governor of Anambra State in Awka on March 17, 2022 (pix: Vanguard)

A cynical listener, whether via the electronic/social media or physically present at the Government House concourse in Awka, would have been forgiven for responding thus: “There’s nothing new in the sight of a bow and arrow carrying Hausa man.” That’s an Igbo way of saying that Nigeria’s politics is like a raft tossed about in an ocean of flowery promises. 

A Toast To Willie

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

 Chuks Iloegbunam contends that Chief Obiano has acquitted himself creditably as Governor of Anambra State... 

 

Governor Willie Obiano’s direction of Anambra’s affairs will end on March 17, 2022. But his imprint on the state for eight straight years will endure. Not only endure, but also assume legendary proportions with the passage of time. Historians will wax lyrical on his double tenure and ascribe to him the quotable, poetic words Julius Caesar uttered in celebration of one of his famous war victories: “Veni, vidi, vici.” Willie Obiano came. He saw. He conquered.  

                 *Chief Willie Obiano

The man’s story is the stuff of epic fiction. Born on August 8, 1955 to a catechist father (Philip Obiano), and a fish-seller mother, Christiana Obiano (Mama Willie), he took to banking after earning an honours degree in Accountancy in 1979, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Lagos. His banking career started at First Bank Plc in 1981. Leaving the bank, he joined Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc as an accountant and rose to become its Chief Internal Auditor. He returned to banking as the Deputy Manager in charge of the Audit Unit of Fidelity Bank in 1991. He rose to become an Executive Director of the bank before he retired, relocating to Houston, Texas, and determined to thoroughly enjoy his well-earned retirement. 

Anambra State In Nigerian Politics

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

Anambra is one of Nigeria’s 36 states. In size, it is the second smallest after Lagos, measuring only 4,844 km2. Lagos State is 3,577 km2. But Kaduna, Kano, Kogi States are 46,053 km2 , 20,131 km2  and 29,833 km2  respectively. Despite its tininess, however, Anambra’s motto of Light Of The Nation is true in many respects. 

Compared to all other states, Anambra people have shone the brightest in all positive forms of human endeavor – academics, business, politics, sports etc. Olaudah Equiano, the writer and abolitionist came from Esseke, in Anambra State. So did Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the doyen of Nigerian journalism and the first President of Nigeria who played a pivotal role in the attainment of political independence from Britain in 1960. Chinua Achebe was from Anambra as were countless other notable novelists, including Chukwuemeka Ike, Nkem Nwankwo, Onuorah Nzekwu. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is from Anambra.

Chuks Iloegbunam: Restless But Peaceful Soul

 By Tony Eluemunor

When I think about my big brother, Mazi Chuks Iloegbunam, what readily comes to mind is the timeless Abba song, “Move On”. Its opening lyrics truly capture the essential Chuks Iloegbunam.

*Iloegbunam 

Here we go: “They say a restless body can hide a peaceful soul. A voyager and a settler, they both have a distant goal. If I explore the heavens, or if I search inside. Well, it really doesn’t matter as long as I can tell myself I’ve always tried”. 

The Iloegbunam many know could be that one that never, never, repeat never, suffers fools gladly. As we all know, if you do not suffer fools gladly, you are not patient with people who you think are stupid. 

Encounter With Chuks Iloegbunam

By Dan Amor

In 2013, when yours sincerely was about leaving the Editorial Board of Daily Independent Newspapers, having served on the board for more than ten (10) years, Chief Nnanna Ochereome, Chairman of the Editorial Board of Vanguard Newspapers, recommended me to his friend and colleague, Chief Chuks Iloegbunam, then Media Adviser to Prof. Sylvester Monye. The latter was then Special Adviser to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Performance Monitoring & Evaluation at the Presidency in Abuja. The purpose of the recommendation was for yours sincerely to assist them in the writing and documentation of some procedures at that level of government as a consultant.

*Iloegbunam 

Before then, I had been reading and following Chuks Iloegbunam without having to meet with him face-to-face. He was already an established writer and one of the inimitable and quintessential pen rollers in Nigeria and Africa. Chuks Iloegbunam, for me, is simply a man who has been working hard to find words and images that capture the experience of Nigeria, from her first decade of independence or thereabouts to her first experience in violence as national pastime. 

An Open Letter To President Buhari On Police “Checkpoints”

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

Dear Mr. President,

Travelling from Lagos to Anambra State on November 9, 2019, I counted 67 “checkpoints” mostly manned by armed men of the Police Mobile Force along the 371 kilometre stretch from Sagamu to Asaba. Travelling the same route again on Thursday November 28, 2019, I counted 64 “checkpoints”. I was on each occasion behind the wheel, meaning that my calculations may have missed or added a number of “checkpoints”. 

On November 30, 2019, however, Chief Tony Onyima, a respected journalist travelling as a passenger, counted 60 checkpoints on the same tortuous stretch, noting the precise location of each and every roadblock. This means that, on average, there is a “checkpoint” every 6.28 kilometres of the way. It suggests that the notorious stretch boasts more “checkpoints” than Hanoi and Saigon combined ever did all through the 20 years of the Vietnam War. 

Ironsi: Nigeria, The Army, Power And Politics

BOOK REVIEW

Title: Ironsi: Nigeria, The Army, Power And Politics

Author: Chuks Iloegbunam 

Year Of Publication: 2019

Publishers: Eminent Biographies, Awka, Anambra State

Pagination: 300

Reviewer: DAN AMOR

"Life is terribly deficient in form.

Its catastrophes happen in the wrong way.

There is a grotesque horror about its comedies.

And its tragedies seem to culminate in farce."

– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).

How do we begin a critical review of a book on a personality such as Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi? Many writers have been devoted to investigations of great events and great leaders. Few have combined that devotion with the ability to write effectively, amusingly, even brilliantly about those events and people – about the great moments and the low moments, the great men and women and those who were only interesting, entertaining or absurd. Chuks Iloegbunam combines devotion to investigations with ability, as all who read this book will testify.