Ojukwu: The Legend Lives On

By Chinweizu

sundoor999@gmail.com

Copyright © 2012 by Chinweizu

20 Feb 2012

“Ihe eji echeta ayi, n’elu uwa nke ayi no, bu olu, ayi luru”

“What we are remembered for on this Earth, is the work that we do.”

--Line from a song I heard often in my childhood.

In this world, most people are not famous at all.

Some people’s fame is ephemeral, some are famous for 5 minutes and are hardly remembered again. Most persons are not remembered at all a year after their corpse is interred. Remembrance becomes enduring only when one’s life’s work has relevance for many future generations.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu

Why do we mourn Ojukwu’s death? Why should we keep fresh our memory of him? Let us tell the world, as well as remind ourselves, of the man, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and of his struggles on our behalf, and let us note some of the brave services he rendered us in a period of more than 60 years; selfless services for which we are indebted to him and should hold him in highest esteem.

Ojukwu lived a life filled with such deeds as legends are made of. Here are some:

Consider the case of the Zulu hero, Shaka. When he was 13, Shaka attacked and killed a black Mamba snake that had killed a prize bull he was guarding. Like Shaka, Ojukwu as a boy exhibited the bravery and protectiveness that would win him fame as an adult.

Ojukwu: Anti-colonial Defender of the Racially Oppressed

In 1944, when he was 11, 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.

For a schoolboy to fight a teacher is unusual, and requires great courage. For any black person in a colonial society ruled by all-powerful whites, a society which practices racial discrimination, such behavior required extreme provocation or extreme folly. For an 11 year old black schoolboy in such a society to fight a teacher belonging to the master race required extraordinary audacity. And for him to do so in defence of another black person, and not of himself, showed a precocious race consciousness and a meritorious sense of racial solidarity. Marcus Garvey would have been proud of the lad and recognized him as one destined to do great deeds for the black race. Here was a boy to watch. And, when he grew up, Ojukwu did not disappoint such expectations.

Chukwemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu As Head Of State Of
The Republic Of Biafra Inspecting Troops In Biafra
In 1968

After this event, his father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a millionaire businessman and one of the richest men in Nigeria, packed him off to England to an elite boarding school. From there he proceeded to Oxford University. After earning his Master’s Degree in History, he returned to colonial Nigeria in 1956 and joined the colonial administration as a District Officer. After serving a year, he made an extraordinary career move. He resigned and enlisted in the Army in 1957, not as an officer cadet, but as an ordinary soldier. Nevertheless, he rose rapidly from the ranks and in 1964, became a Lieutenant Colonel, and was appointed the Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army. All this he achieved within 7 years in a peace-time army, not in a wartime army where a high attrition rate accelerates promotions.

Soon thereafter political events pushed Ojukwu into political leadership when the coup of January 1966 led to his appointment as the Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. That was the platform from where he performed the great deeds that have made him famous.

Ojukwu: Hero of Aburi 

The first of these deeds was his brilliant performance in the negotiations at the Conference of Nigeria’s military rulers that was held in Aburi, Ghana, in January1967. Beginning as a minority of one in a Supreme Military Council with eight other members in attendance, he prevailed on the SMC, first to renounce the use of force to resolve the crisis that had brought them to Aburi; and, secondly, to agree on a confederation arrangement for governing the country until a new constitution could be agreed.

Getting his colleagues to agree to the Aburi Accord was Ojukwu’s seminal contribution to Nigeria’s survival and to the security and progress of the entire population of Nigeria. However, the fruits of this fundamental contribution were not to be harvested. When the signatories returned to Nigeria, Gowon and his officials in Lagos refused to implement the terms of the Accord. This deepened the crisis and eventually provoked the secession of Eastern Nigeria and its quest for self-determination as the sovereign state of Biafra.



Late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu With His
 Wife, Bianca

Ojukwu: Founder and War Leader of Biafra

The next great deed that Ojukwu did was to proclaim the sovereign state of Biafra on 30 May 1967. Before the new state could find its feet, Gowon, in repudiation of yet another part of the Aburi Accord, resorted to force and sent the Nigerian army to invade Biafra to bring it back into Nigeria. When the Nigeria-Biafra War began in July 1967, Ojukwu became Biafra’s war leader. He led Biafra in a just war of self defence, a war of resistance to Nigeria’s aggression, a war to defend the Biafran People’s right to self-determination and to protect their very lives. With no resources to speak of, Ojukwu still managed to organize the Biafran people and the Biafran Army to resist the Nigerian invaders for 30 harrowing months until Biafra fell and surrendered in January 1970.

In those 30 months, Ojukwu did two other great deeds. To sustain the struggle, he mobilized the scientific manpower of Biafra into the Science and Technology Group (S&T Group) that achieved great things. Secondly he produced a Blueprint for a just Biafran society.

Ojukwu the war leader of Biafra: 

Organizer of Science and Technology

Finding itself blockaded by land, sea and air, Biafra had to be self-reliant to survive. Its Science and Technology Group (S&T Group) rose to the challenge and, among other things, conceived and produced a type of air defence dust mine for use against MIG jet fighters. In October 1967, when Biafran troops at the Ugwuoba Bridge, near Awka. fired it horizontally on advancing Nigerian troops, its devastating effect earned it the name Ogbunigwe (mass killer).

[See “Beef Was Right, Ogbunigwe Was An Anti Aircraft Missile (pic)” http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-803637.0.html#msg9558595

On March 31, 1968, a Biafran army unit ambushed and, using Ogbunigwe, destroyed a 96-vehicle column of Nigerian soldiers. The humiliating Abagana defeat to Nigerian soldiers prompted General Yakubu Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector.

--See -Abagana, wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abagana 

In addition, Biafran engineers built airports and roads; designed and built petroleum refineries; designed and built light and heavy equipment. Biafra’s Research and Production (RAP) unit did research on chemical weapons as well as rocket guidance systems. It invented new forms of explosives, and tried new forms of food processing technology. The Biafra coastline was lined with home-made shore batteries and with remote controlled weapons systems and bombs. Under Ojukwu’s leadership, and in less than three years, a Biafra that was being starved by blockade, achieved a great leap forward in black African science and technology.

[see Wikipedia article on Ojukwu]

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu Declaring The Republic
In May 1967 (AP)

This achievement remains unique in Black Africa. In their half century of “independence” thus far, no other state in Black Africa has created any Science & Technology organization, let alone one to compare with the one created in Biafra’s 31 months existence. This Biafran achievement remains an inspirational beacon for the Black World in this 21^st century. It shows that if Black African states are still not industrialized today, the fault is not in us the people, not in the stars, not in our race, but in our neo-colonialist leaders and their chronic misleadership.

Ojukwu: Proponent of a New Social Order

Even in the midst of war, Ojukwu encouraged the Biafran intelligentsia to investigate and articulate their people’s aspirations for their post-war society. This effort produced a document which Ojukwu presented to the nascent Biafran nation on June 1, 1969 at Ahiara village. It became known as The Ahiara Declaration .The document eloquently and totally rejected the Nigerian social order for its neo-colonialist iniquities and inequities, and outlined the principles on which a radically different and just society would be constructed in Biafra. Ojukwu’s Ahiara Declaration invites comparison with Nyerere’s Arusha Declaration as a blueprint for a just and egalitarian Black African society.

Unfortunately, despite these achievements, the proposed new society was not to be. A Biafran cartoon of the period, captioned “The Truth about the Nigeria-Biafra War”, gave an accurate picture of the war situation: it showed a trio consisting of President Lyndon Johnson of the USA, Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Britain and Premier Alexei Kosygin of the USSR holding Ojukwu immobilized for Nigeria’s Gowon to use as a punching bag. Given that fundamental situation, it was no wonder that Biafra collapsed, after 30 months of fighting a just war. And to save him from almost certain execution by vengeful Nigerian soldiers, Ojukwu’s followers packed him off to exile in Cote d’Ivoire in January 1970, in the expectation that he would live to fight for them another day.

Ojukwu : Champion of Ndi-Igbo Interest

Ojukwu, the war leader of a defeated Biafra, spent 12 years in exile before he was pardoned and allowed to return to Nigeria in 1982. He arrived to a tumultuous hero’s welcome by his people and he plunged into Nigerian politics to champion the struggle for improvement in the hard lot of his defeated people. Alleviating the condition of Ndi-Igbo within Nigeria became his mission until his death in 2011. To do that he joined the NPN, the governing party of that time, and contested for a seat in the Nigerian senate. However, after a vigorous election campaign, he was declared defeated. Undaunted, he continued to be a voice for Ndi-Igbo in Nigerian affairs despite a stint as a political detainee during the Buhari period.

In 1994-1995, at the Abacha Constitutional Conference in Abuja, the Ndi-Igbo contingent, led jointly by Ojukwu and a former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme, introduced and persuaded the Conference to adopt the concept of six geo-political zones in which the 36 states of Nigeria are now aggregated. In 2003, Ojukwu joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and became its Presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections. This was all in a further effort to give Ndi-Igbo a suitable presence in Nigerian politics and to promote the interests of Ndi-Igbo within Nigeria. 

Ojukwu and PRONACO

In the continuing search for a peaceful and better Nigeria, Ojukwu was among the leaders of thought who, in 2005-2006, in consultation with Chief Anthony Enahoro, initiated the Peoples’ National Conference through the platform of the Pro National Conference Organizations (PRONACO) –an alliance of 164 ethnic organizations that believed that a Sovereign National Conference ( SNC) had become imperative for transforming Nigeria and ending its people’s woes. That People’s National Conference, which was a comprehensive revalidation of the Aburi Accord by the ethnic nationalities, produced a Draft People’s Constitution which has been overwhelmingly endorsed across Nigeria as a credible path to a sustainable basis for Nigeria’s survival. As the conference rotated its sittings across various geo-political locations (including Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Jos and Kano) Ojukwu hosted that conference twice in Enugu, in February and in March 2006.



Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu

Upon the conclusion of the conference, Ojukwu actively mobilized for the informal referendum to which the Draft People’s Constitution was subjected, resulting in its endorsement by various ethnic blocs. As a part of the process for actualizing this written wish of the peoples of Nigeria, Ojukwu volunteered to be one of the plaintiffs, alongside Wole Soyinka, Anthony Enahoro and Bankole Oki, in a lawsuit before the Federal High Court, Lagos, challenging the legitimacy of the 1999 constitution. This is Suit No. FHC/L/CS/558/09. It is still in court till today. The suit is to dismantle the fraudulent and military-imposed constitution of 1999 and make space for a new order.

All of this shows that while Ojukwu contended for a place within the Nigerian political space, by joining the NPN and running for the senate in1983, by participating in Abacha’s Constitutional Conference in 1994-1995, and then by joining APGA and running twice for President on the APGA ticket, he devoted even more energy towards resolving the fundamental distortions that have brought Nigeria to the dark valley where it is languishing.

That, in brief, is an outline of the life and struggles of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Ojukwu: Unfinished business

No person dies or leaves office without leaving behind some unfinished business. Hero that he was, Ojukwu is no exception. There is the business of transforming Nigeria, a project which is being ably carried on by his younger PRONACO colleagues. While that project is for the benefit of all Nigerians, there is another unfinished business of his which concerns Ndi-Igbo exclusively. Let me now draw your attention to it.

Ojukwu did not finish the vital business of creating an institutional embodiment of the Ndi-Igbo nation, a paramount cultural-political institution for Ndi-Igbo, their counterpart of what the Ooni of Ife is for the Yoruba; and the Asentehene is for the Ashanti of Ghana; and the Kabaka is for the Baganda of Uganda; the Sultan of Sokoto is for Shariyaland, a.k.a. Nigeria’s Far North or Arewa. Or take the example of what the Dalai Lama institution is for the Tibetans, namely, a central focus of Tibetan cultural identity, a symbolic embodiment of the Tibetan national character. Such are the cultural and non-partisan institutions to which a people all give their allegiance and look to for decisive guidance in their affairs. By joining the NPN and entering partisan politics on his return from exile in 1982, Ojukwu skipped his chance to become the nucleus of a neutral institutional arbiter in the world of Ndi-Igbo.

However, he made a belated attempt to correct his error, but did not succeed. His Eze Igbo Gburugburu title, with its notion of monarchy, was probably in the wrong cultural idiom for Igbo republicanism to accept, and so it never gathered widespread or deep acquiescence.

With Ojukwu’s joining of the ancestors, the task of creating this sorely needed paramount institution, and in some effective and culturally appropriate form, is now left for the next generation of Ndi-Igbo, and especially for the leadership cadres that will emerge among them. And it is for the elders of today to guide them to accomplish that vital task.




Odumegwu-Ojukwu's Remains Carried By Nigerian
Soldiers At A Military Ceremony In Abuja

Ojukwu is physically dead, but for as long as we keep fresh our memories of his deeds, the legend lives on. Let me sum up:

At the age of 11, Ojukwu burst onto the scene as a defender of black people when he physically defended a black African woman from humiliation by a white colonial racist teacher. Then at age 33 he became the warrior defender of all Eastern Nigerians when they came under mass murderous attack by their fellow Nigerians. Then after the collapse of Biafra he settled into the role of political warrior defending Ndi-Igbo in the neocolonial dungeon called Nigeria. By the example of his deeds, the Ojukwu legend will live on wherever people, and black people especially, look for an inspiring role model of selfless defence of the humiliated and oppressed; or for a model of when an injured and defenceless people must say “enough is enough” and embark on a struggle for self determination; or for model leadership for scientific and technological advancement; or for a model of how to obtain a Blueprint for a just and equitable social order.

Ojukwu: The People’s Assessment

Let me end this assessment of Ojukwu’s life by quoting some excerpts from what ordinary Nigerians said of Ojukwu after his death, on a website discussing the seminal Aburi Accord:

“Aburi can again help us avoid another Biafra. MIDDLE BELT people are clearly being pushed & provoked without cause.” 

“Love him or hate him, he was one politician that stole no money- check the records.
Adieu, Lion of the Tribe of Biafra!”

“Ojukwu is gone but his life is full of lessons for us to learn: He stood for the truth, fought for the truth and in truth he died. He saw what others could not see - self determination of his people. It took another 40 years for Nigerians to latch on - clamouring for autonomy.”

“We will miss your courage and hatred for injustice. You gave your all for the emancipation of your people.”

“He was distinct, patriotic and fearless. He was synonymous with justice and equity. He distanced himself from the pandemic corruption that has ravaged prominent politicians of his time.”

“He was able to tell us that you can be rich and principled, you can be rich and honest, you can be rich and be a friend of the poor, you can be rich and be a friend of the needy, you can be rich and sacrifice for humanity, you can be rich and remain modest. The list is endless. Ojukwu used his money to pursue people’s course, while our present day thieves we call rulers use our money to persecute us, can you see the difference?”

“Though you are dead, your fighting spirit is still alive to actualise your dreams, and your children in their generation will immortalise and celebrate you in their new nation.”




Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Head Of State And                                                  Commander-In-Chief Of The Armed Forces, Republic Of Biafra
(codewit)

And to that, permit me to add my voice and say: 

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu!      Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu!

Ikemba Nnewi, Laa n’udo!                    Ikemba Nnewi, Go in peace!

Eze-agha Ndi Biafra                               War chief of Biafra

Dike n’aluru ndi ike adighi ogu                  Champion who fights for those without strength

Onye nchedo ndi an’emegbu emegbu            Protector of the exploited

Onye n’ebulite onodu onye an’eleli eleli      The one who raises the status of the despised

Laa n’udo, Ikemba, Laa n’udo!                    Go in peace, Ikemba, Go in peace!

==================

Rochas Okorocha Floors Ohakim At The Supreme Court

Emmanuel Uduaghan Wins Too...


The Supreme Court this morning (Friday, March 2, 2012), upheld the election of Owelle Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA ) as Governor of Imo State in the April 26 election.



In the judgment, the apex court cited Section 285 (7) of the constitution, which requires that judgment must be delivered within 60 days. 

 Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha


The Supreme Court also nullified the Appeals Court's judgment and upheld the ruling of the Imo State Governorship Election Tribunal, which had earlier declared Okorocha winner of the election.

In the view of the Supreme Court, despite the fact that the Court of Appeal had delivered its judgment within 60 days as required by law, it failed to provide reasons for its judgment within the stipulated time, and so that renders it invalid. 

The Court of Appeal had delivered its ruling on January 06, 2012, but had waited till January 24, 2012 before providing an explanation for its judgment.

The Supreme Court saw that as an act of infringement on the constitution and therefore nullified the judgment and upheld the ruling given earlier by the Imo state Governorship Election Tribunal.



Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan


Former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had taken his challenge against the declaration of Okorocha's as winner of the Imo State governorship election to the Supreme Court. But with this morning’s ruling, the matter has been laid to rest. 

Reacting to the judgment this afternoon, a political analyst described the judgment as a “great relief and heart-warming” to the mass of Imo people.  

“It was unimaginable for most Imo indigenes that the great transformation Okorocha is undertaking in Imo State should have been halted, and the old dark days of stagnation and decay reinstalled by a judicial pronouncement,” he said.  

Also Justice Tanko Mohammed who read the judgment on case between Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and his challenger, Great Ogboru,  gave the same reasons for dismissing Ogboru's petition and upholding the election of Uduaghan.
 

Bianca Ojukwu: Tribute To My Husband

Dim Oma!

By Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu

How do I sum up 23 years in one page? I don't know. How do I describe you? I cannot. Not in any depth. Not for anybody else - you were my husband, my brother, my friend, my child. I was your queen, and it was an honour to have served you.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu And His,
Wife, Bianca 

You were the lion of my history books, the leader of my nation when we faced extinction, the larger-than-life history come to my life - living, breathing legend. But unlike the history books, you defied all preconceptions. You made me cry from laughter with your jokes, many irreverent. You awed me with your wisdom. You melted my heart with your kindness. Your impeccable manners made Prince Charming a living reality. Your fearlessness made you the man I dreamt of all my life and your total lack of seeking public approval before speaking your mind separated you from mere mortals.

Every year that I spent with you was an adventure - no two days were the same. With you, I was finally able to soar on wings wider than the ocean. With you I was blessed with the best children God in heaven had to give. With you, I learnt to face the world without fear and learnt daily the things that matter most. Your disdain for money was novel - sometimes funny, other times quite alarming.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu 

With His Wife,Bianca And Their Children

It mattered not a whit to you. Your total dedication to your people - Ndi-Igbo - was so absolute that really, very little else mattered. You never craved anybody's praise as long as you believed that you were doing right and even in the face of utmost danger, you never relented from speaking truth to power - to you, what after all, was power? It was not that conferred by the gun, nor that stolen from the ballot box. No. You understood that power transcended all that. Power is the freedom to be true to yourself and to God, no matter the cost.

It is freedom from fear. It is freedom from bondage. It is freedom to seek the wellbeing of your people just because you love them. It is the ability to move a whole nation without a penny as inducement nor a gun to force them. When an entire nation can rise up for one person for no other reason than that they love him and know he is their leader - sans gun, money, official title or any strange paraphernalia - that is power.


To try to contain you in words is futile. You span the breadth of human experience - full of laughter, joy, kindness and sometimes, almost childlike in your ability to find something good in almost everyone and every situation. You could flare up at any injustice and in the next instant, sing military songs to the children. You could analyse a situation with incredible swiftness and accuracy. In any generation, there can only be one like you. You were that one star. You were a child of destiny, born for no other time than the one you found yourself in.

Destined to lead your people at the time total extinction was staring us in the face. There was no one else. You gained nothing from it. You used all the resources you had just to wage a war of survival. You fought to keep us alive when we were being slaughtered like rams for no reason. Today, we find ourselves in the same situation but you are not here. You fought that we might live. The truth is finally coming out and even those who fought you now acknowledge that you had no choice. For your faithfulness, God kept you and brought you home to your people.

You loved Nigeria. You spent so much of your waking moments devising ways through which Nigeria could progress to Tai-Two!!! You were the eternal optimist, always hoping that one day, God will touch His people and give us one Vision and the diligence to work towards the dream. It never came to pass in your lifetime. Instead, the disaster you predicted if we continued on the same path has come home to roost. You always saw so clearly. Your words are indelibly preserved for this generation to read and learn and perhaps heed and turn. You always said the dry bones will rise again. But you always hoped we would not become the dry bones by our actions. Above all, you feared for your own people, crying out against the relentless oppression that has not ceased since the end of the war and saddened by the acceptance of this position by your own people. In death, you have awakened the spirit that we thought had died. Your people are finally waking up.

At home, you were the father any child would dream of having. At no point did our children have to wonder where you were. You were ever at their disposal, playing with them, teaching them of a bygone era, teaching them of the world they live in and giving them the total security of knowing you were always present.

In mercy, God gave me a year to prepare for the inevitable. I could never have survived an instant departure. In mercy, God ensured that your final week on earth was spent only with me and that on your last day, you were back to your old self. I cannot but thank God for the joy of that final day - the jokes, the laughter, the songs. It was a lifetime packed into a few hours, filled with hope that many tomorrows would follow and that we would be home for Christmas. You deceived me. You were so emphatic that we would be going home. I did not know you meant a different home.

 The swiftness of your departure remains shocking to me. You left on the day I least expected. But I cannot fight God. He owns your life and mine. I know that God called you home because every other time it seemed you were at death's door, you fought like the lion that God made you and always prevailed. In my eyes, even death was no match for you. But who can say 'no' to the Almighty God? You walked away with Him, going away with such peace that I can only bow to God's sovereignty. Your people have remembered. The warrior of our land has gone. The flags are lowered in your honour. Our hearts are laden with grief.

But I will trust that the living God who gave you to me will look after me and our children. Through my sadness, the memories will always shine bright and beautiful.

Adieu, my love,
My husband,
My lion,
 Ikemba,
Amuma na Egbe Igwe,
Odenigbo Ngwo.
Eze-Igbo Gburugburu,
Ibu dike.
Chukwu gozie gi,
Chukwu debe gi.
Anyi ga afu na omesia.
________________________
Bianca Ojukwu Is The Widow Of Late Dim Chukwuemka Odumegwu-Ojukwu

-----------------------------------------
This tribute was widely circulated by the author. This copy was however culled from Daily SUN

--------------------------

Have You Read This Masterpiece on Nigeria?

Nigeria: Why Looting May Not Stop

James Iroha, 'Giringory' Of New Masquerade Dies At 70

Famous comedian, broadcaster, writer and producer of New Masquerade, one of Nigeria’s most popular Television Comedy Series, Mr. James Iroha, known to his numerous fans as Giringory Akabuogu, is dead. He died peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of yesterday (Tuesday, February 28, 2012) in Item, Bende Local Government Area, Abia State. He was 70.  

Giringory At 70 (January 2012 picture)

News of his death was confirmed yesterday to Daily SUN by the traditional ruler of Amaokwe Item, Eze Clement Offiah Chukwu, the Ngidimoah 1 of Amaokwe Item. 

“Yes, I can confirm that Giringory died this morning at home. His first son called me to inform me after which he deposited his fathers’ remains in the mortuary. You know he [belonged to] my age grade. It is a very painful and sad development,” Eze Chukwu said.    

Giringory's son, Uche, however, told PUNCH yesterday evening that his father had died in a private hospital in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Hale And Hearty Here

Although widely admired and celebrated because of his acting prowess,  Giringory was, before his death in abject poverty. Only last month, he granted an interview to Saturday SUN where he lamented his very unfortunate condition. 

Reacting to his death in Lagos today, a public affairs analyst frowned at the “unpardonable hypocrisy” of many Nigerians and the government that had abandoned Giringory at a time he needed them most, but who would fill newspaper pages tomorrow with massive eulogies which he would neither be around to read nor be in a position to appreciate.  

“In this country, they use you when you are most productive. They would fall at your feet praises and commendation. But when you are past your prime, they dump you like a bad habit. No nation ever makes progress like this. In fact what such attitude does is that it kills patriotism,” he lamented.        

Giringory was one of the pioneer students of the Theatre Arts Department, University of Ibadan.
In an interview some time ago, he said: "I joined Theatre Arts in 1966 to make sure that people got entertained with what my mother was doing unknowingly. The passion to act was there, so I could not imagine myself doing something else. Even when I was doing a big administrative job in an office."

---------------------------

Odumegwu-Ojukwu: President Jonathan's Unforgettable Tribute

As Head of State of the Republic of Biafra,
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu Inspects
Biafran Troops in 1968

----------------------

President Goodluck Jonathan Pays Tribute In Abuja on Febraury 28, 2012

After describing the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu as as an advocate of a united Nigeria whose exceptional qualities no words can adequately capture, he said that “the legacy [Ojukwu] bequeathed to the Nigerian Army and the innovations he instituted ... are now the hallmark of military processes and procedures”.



•Nigerian Soldiers Bearing Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s
Body during a Special Military Ceremony in Abuja on February 28, 2012,
 Shortly after His Body Arrived from London 


...And Then President Jonathan Dropped The Winner... Hear Him:

“Let it not be said that Ojukwu died when the country needed his services most. Let it rather be said that Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu lived and served with all his might when the Igbo and Nigerians needed him most. He stood up and fought for what he believed. He stood for justice. He refused to compromise. He challenged man’s inhumanity to man.
“Faced with the pogrom of his kith and kin, he stood his ground and fought until the last plane left Biafra. His bravery, courage and sacrifices live after him. Whatever perceived mistakes he made, or people think he made, will for forever be interred with his bones.”



The Ikemba Himself

President Goodluck Jonathan spoke through the Vice-President, Mr. Namadi Sambo. The ceremony took place at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, and was witnessed by several public officers that included Senate President David Mark, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Pius Anyim, Anambra State Governor Peter Obi Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako and several others.





In her own tribute, wife of the president, Mrs. Patience Jonathan who also attended the ceremony said:
“Here lies the remains of a great man, recorded in history for his humility, simplicity, decency and superior intellect, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. The Ikemba will always command a place of pride in the records of our country, as one who sacrificed his comfort and privileges to identify with the poor and the voiceless. For him, his liberty and privileges were without values, if his folks remained in chains. For him, selective liberty was unacceptable.

 He was a true patriot, committed to the defence of the dignity of man ... The best that can be given to the dead is to ensure that his legacies live on. Let us continue to pursue peace with all men and be our brothers’ keepers. We must continue to be patient and tolerant, as no meaningful development can take place without peace and security of lives and property. I call on you today to form a vanguard of a new world, build on love and patriotism, always leading the advocacy for peaceful resolution of our differences. This is the surest way to immortalize this uncommon Nigerian, and dignify his memory.” 

-----------------------------

Chinua Achebe Receives His 41st Honorary Degree From Ebonyi State University

Professor Chinua Achebe, author of the classic, Things Fall Apart, and other best-selling titles, has accepted the AWARD OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LITERATURE, HONORIS CAUSA from Ebonyi State University.

Chinua Achebe 

The confernment will take place on Saturday April 14, 2012 at the Abakiliki campus of the university. Professor Achebe was contacted by the institution's President - Engr. Professor F. I. Idike fnse, fniae, pe OON; Vice Chancellor, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki - and the eminent writer accepted the honor with gratitude.

This is Professor Chinua Achebe's 41st honorary degree.

Achebe is the recipient of over 40 honorary degrees from universities in England, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States, including Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, Cape Town University, University of Toronto, Stirling University, and the Open University of Great Britain.

He has been awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, an Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1982), a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002),^[the Nigerian National Order of Merit (Nigeria's highest honour for academic work), the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels) ; The Man Booker International Prize 2007 and The 2010 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. He has twice refused the Nigerian honour Commander of the Federal Republic - in 2004 and 2011.

In September, 2012 his long awaited new book, a semi autobiography There Was A Country: A Personal History Of Biafra will be available from Penguin publishers.

Achebe who was 81 on November 16 2011 is David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

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National Honours Controversy: Chinua Achebe's Reaction...

The Return of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

When President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Finance Minister and also named her the “Coordinating Minister of the Economy (CME),” I was greatly surprised that several Nigerians appeared to share the president’s rather lofty expectations that she was coming with fresh, workable ideas to turn the country’s ailing economy around.

*Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's Minister of Finance
and Coordinating Minister of the Economy (CME)

If it were in 2003 when most Nigerians who were encountering her for the first time were unduly tantalized by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s lavish stress on her impressive credentials as a brilliant World Bank expert who had accepted to make the “great sacrifice” of coming here to salvage our country’s economy, their naivety and misplaced enthusiasm could easily have been forgiven.  

But what would ever remain inconceivable is how any person or group of persons could stretch optimism far beyond its malleable limits to invest such high hopes in the capabilities of a person who had served as finance minister and head of the Economic Team in a regime under which unprecedented earnings from crude oil exports had translated to further deterioration of the economy and untold suffering among the populace.  

Rolling Strike Amendment-A Proposal To The Nigerian People

By Chinweizu

It is very good that labor and civil society organizations called this strike and that the Nigerian people have responded splendidly. However, at the end of a week, the need has arisen to change it to a rolling strike (i.e. strike for a few days, rest and go to work a few days and then resume the strike, and repeat indefinitely for as long as it takes for the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, to obey the demonstrated will of the people).

Chinweizu

The FGN can win, and seems to count on winning, simply by hanging tough for a month; by which time hunger would have killed the strike. After all, how many people have stored enough food to last another week? How many can go another week without earning money or taking money from their bank? That is the Achilles heel of this strike. And if it is not eliminated this weekend, the strike will collapse and the anti-people system will triumph and survive. That is a hard fact of life we must accept, and adjust our tactics accordingly.

We must bear in mind that, as Prof. Tam David West, a former Petroleum Minister, and others have exposed on TV, this fuel subsidy thing is simply a racket to fleece the public, a kind of 419. And the FGN seems determined to keep emptying the pockets of the poor millions into the fat bank accounts of a few rich racketeers. If the people want to win, (and why not?) this indefinite strike has to be amended into a rolling strike so it can go on for as long as it takes to achieve the people’s victory.

I urge the strike leaders to take note. This strike should be made truly indefinite by amending it into a rolling strike so it can go on for even a year if the FGN remains hard hearted, anti-people and unreasonable.

The administration would do well to ponder the principle that a government which refuses to submit to the will of the people, its sovereign, is a rebel government and, by its own rebellion, legitimizes and invites upon itself the rebellion of the people.

Chinweizu

Lagos, Nigeria

12 January 2012

Chinua Achebe, 37 Other Nigerian Writers Speak On The State Of The Nation

We are troubled by the turn of events in Nigeria, and hereby call on President Goodluck Jonathan and the rest of the country’s political leadership to take immediate steps to tackle the state of lawlessness in certain parts of the nation and address the trepidation and rage that has reached dangerous levels within the Nigerian populace.

Chinua Achebe

Nigeria is witnessing a new escalation of sectarian violence, culminating in explosions that have killed or seriously wounded scores of people at churches and other centers of worship and local businesses.

As a people who lost two million citizens in a civil war, Nigerians must bring an urgent sense of history to the gloomy events. The country’s leadership should not view the incessant attacks as mere temporary misfortune with which the citizenry must learn to live; they are precursors to events that could destabilize the entire country.

We applaud President Jonathan’s declaration of a state of emergency in certain local government areas in four states. However, we have seen little indication that the country’s security and law enforcement agents are up to the task of protecting the lives and property of citizens in all parts of Nigeria.



Okey Ndibe

Clearly, the sophistication and deadly impact of the terrorist attacks suggest an agenda to create widespread fear and, possibly, to foment anarchy or war. President Jonathan has no greater duty than to ensure that Nigerians are safe wherever they live or visit within the country. He should demonstrate his recognition of that solemn duty, in our view, by doing the following:

(a) Outline both short and long term plans to comprehensively address the scourge of terror,

(b) Appoint competent and committed officials to head the various security agencies, and

(c) Serve as an agent to heal the many divisions plaguing Nigeria, and persuade all well-meaning people to enlist in the fight against festering violence.



Tess Onwueme

President Jonathan’s decision to remove fuel subsidies in the country at this time was ill-advised. Coming at the advent of the New Year, and barely a week after the gruesome Christmas Day attacks on worshippers, the policy has forced many Nigerian citizens to perceive his leadership as one that is both insensitive and possibly contemptuous of the mood of its people.

We stand with the Nigerian people who are protesting the removal of oil subsidy which has placed an unbearable economic weight on their lives. This action has clearly imposed an untenable and unfair burden on those segments of Nigerians who are already impoverished - subsisting on less than $2 a day. We call on President Jonathan to immediately change course. By reverting to the old prices of petroleum products, President Jonathan can work to diffuse tension in the country and exemplify the true servant leader who not only serves but also listens to his people. To insist on having his way, and to deploy state security and legal apparati to crush growing popular uprisings is to stamp on a highly valued tenet of democracy – the right to peaceful assembly – and to inadvertently promote greater violence in the country.



Isidore Okpewho

President Jonathan’s administration has made a persuasive case that a few highly connected Nigerians have corruptly profited from fuel subsidy. The government should swiftly bring to justice those corrupt profiteers as well as the bureaucrats who aid and abet their unconscionable parasitic activities and economic sabotage.

We acknowledge President Jonathan’s recent announcement of 25% cut in the basic salaries of political office holders.

But we believe that the move merely scratches the indefensible bloated salaries and allowances paid to Nigerian political officials. The president should also champion significant cuts in the huge cost of running the various tiers of government and the luxuries that have become the signature of those who ought to protect the commonwealth, serve the people, and not exploit them.



Besides, the culture of corruption and impunity in official quarters constitutes a grave threat to national security and to the country’s effort to establish a democratic culture and meaningful economic development.

Nigeria needs a return to relative calm to enable its people, and the Jonathan administration in particular, to focus on the task of combating the incubus of corruption, poverty and home-grown terrorism.

Signed by:
Chinua Achebe,  Okey Ndibe, Nduka Otiono, Helon Habila, Akin Adesokan, Pius Adesanmi, Tess Onwueme, Obiora Udechukwu, Yinka Tella,  Richard Ali, Chiji Akoma, Paul Ugor, Tolu Ogunlesi, Samantha Iwowo, Idowu Ohioze, Offiong Bassey, Chido Onumah, Bunmi Aborisade, Omolade Adunbi, Mahmud Obeamata, Mahmud Aminu, Nasr Kura, Gimba Kakanda, Obioma Nnaemeka, Sonala Olumhense, Ikhide Ikheola, Isidore Okpewho, E.C. Osondu, Ogaga Ifowodo, Mike Nwosu, Herbert Ekwe Ekwe, Chimalum Nwankwo, Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Ebenezer Obadare, Ahmed Maiwada, Madina Shehu, Hussein Abdu, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani