Uzokwe's Searchlight

Ojukwu was different things to different people. Some simply saw him as the bright and well-spoken oxford university graduate that exuded an immense amount of confidence at every turn. To others, especially those from the other side of the divide, during the war, he was a villain for his role in the Biafra-Nigeria war. To others, including this writer, inspite of his political missteps when he came back from exile in 1982, he was the epitome of courage, having mostly sacrificed his father's wealth as well as his own comfort, to attempt to beat back a barbaric north that was bent on total extermination of Ndigbo....

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011



Alfred Obiora Uzokwe, P.E

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OJUKWU: REVISIONISTS AND OPPORTUNISTS SPRINGING OUT OF THE WOODWORKS

ncidentally, I was still in Nigeria, for the burial rites of my own mother, when the death of Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was announced and confirmed. Although his lengthy stay in the London hospital, without much positive news about his health condition, had given away the fact that the end was probably near, Ojukwu was one of those enigmatic personalities that one never imagines would one day succumb to the frigid hands of death.


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Ojukwu was different things to different people. Some simply saw him as the bright and well-spoken oxford university graduate that exuded an immense amount of confidence at every turn. To others, especially those from the other side of the divide, during the war, he was a villain for his role in the Biafra-Nigeria war. To others, including this writer, inspite of his political missteps when he came back from exile in 1982, he was the epitome of courage, having mostly sacrificed his father's wealth as well as his own comfort, to attempt to beat back a barbaric north that was bent on total extermination of Ndigbo, through genocide, in 1966. This singular act, by Ojukwu, made him a hero to me from the time I was seven years till I turned ten. I still see him, even in death, as the man that helped prevent the total annihilation of the Igbos; the man that stepped up to the plate, even when many would have turned tail and run, and offered up his service to Biafra. He will be missed and may his soul rest in peace.

A few years ago, I wrote a piece on Nigeriaworld. It was titled," Ojukwu's memoir: Things I'd still like to know". I was calling on him to release his memoir, considering that he had dubbed himself "the final Biafra truth". I opined that he may be the final Biafra truth but if that truth was not revealed to the people of Nigeria and the world, it would mean very little. I pointed out that he was there when it all started and almost ended. He was the one that made most of the key decisions that shaped the Biafra- Nigeria civil war. It was therefore necessary that he set many records, about the civil war, straight by releasing a comprehensive memoir about events before, during and after the war.

At the time, many did not understand that there was another reason why I wished that Ojukwu would have his memoir out before passing. I was concerned that if he passed on without putting forth his own side, many opportunists would seize the opportunity to attempt to revise history in their favor. Well, what I feared most has started happening! Revisionists and opportunists are springing up from the woodworks and making unsubstantiated statements about Ojukwu and Biafra. Just this last Saturday, on my way back to Ikeja Lagos, to ready myself for my homeward journey back to the Unites States, I picked up copies of several newspapers and started reading. First I read a statement attributed to General Domkat Bali that stated that when Ojukwu joined the Nigerian army, with an Oxford University degree, he was suspicious of his motives. He, Bali, was not convinced that Ojukwu, whom he believed could have been able to get any job he wanted in Nigeria when he graduated and came back, joined the Nigerian army out of patriotism. To him, Ojukwu already had, inside his mind, a secession proclivity! To think that Domkat Bali, the man that almost gleefully announced the execution of Maman Vatsa, during Babangida's regime, has the temerity to make such a statement was surprising. His role during Babangida's regime made him one of the army chiefs with question marks against their names at the time he retired. Now he sees an opportunity to portray himself as the good cop and Ojukwu the bad cop. He tried to cast himself as the man that joined the army because of patriotism while Ojukwu joined the army because he already had in his mind the intent to secede from Nigeria with the Igbos. His assertion is so absurd that it is not funny. Any one that has followed or at least read about the history of Nigeria, would know that Ojukwu, at various times, before the civil war broke out, believed in nothing more than one Nigeria. Infact, during the genocide that claimed the lives of thousand s of Ndigbo in the north, Ojukwu was still pleading with Igbos not to return en mass to the east, fearing the move would disintegrate Nigeria. When the pogrom continued unabated, Ojukwu had no other choice than to start calling back home the Igbos. He did that to put an end to the butchering of his people. He declared Biafra because the easterners could no longer find respite or succor in the entity called Nigeria. If one reasoned and talked like Domkat Bali, then one may be inclined to assert that Bali joined the army for the purpose of ensuring the demise of his one-time army comrade- Mamman Vatsa. How would he like that analogy? It is ridiculous but then it is as ridiculous as the outlandish statement he made about Ojukwu.

As if Bali's statement was not enough, I also read a very long article in the Punch newspaper where Professor Sam Aluko made several statements purporting that Ojukwu basically did not make any decision about Biafra without consulting him. He said that Ojukwu took to him as his right hand man because he was a great economist. I found his entire claim suspect. If what attracted Ojukwu to him, as he claimed, was because he was a renowned economist, why was Ojukwu not just seeking economic advise from him? Why would he be seeking military advice from a man without military training or experience? He even said that when he went back to the Nigerian side, he was still in contact with Ojukwu and Ojukwu was telling him about all his war plans. Why would Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra, be divulging his military plans to a man that was certainly going to be revealing them to the enemy, the Nigerian side? This does not ring right. If Aluko believed that what he was saying in the punch was right, why wait for Ojukwu to die, when he could no longer speak for himself, to make the statements? The reason is simple. He could have been challenged by Ojukwu and in a flurry of exchanges that would have ensued, Nigerians would have distilled what really happened. Something tells me that Sam Aluko is not telling the truth.

In the coming days, weeks and months, many more outlandish statements, about Ojukwu, who can no longer speak for or defend himself, will be made. One is inclined to say that had Ojukwu released his memoir before his death, all these outlandish statements would have been manageable but unfortunately, the hand of the clock cannot be turned. To this writer, it was a mistake; an opportunity to set the records straight was missed. Some say that the memoir would now be released posthumously. While that would still be valuable, it will never be the same as when he was alive. There is speculation that any memoir released now would be sanitized in an attempt to burnish Ojukwu's image and so will not necessarily be the "final Biafra truth" as Ojukwu once stated. In any case, Nigerians are forewarned that opportunists and revisionists would be having a field day for many months and years to come. The watchword should be , "Caveat emptor- Buyer beware.

HERE I STAND

Finally, let me seize this opportunity to thank my readers for the hundreds of emails, text messages and calls to me at the time of my mother's passing. The funeral rites have taken place and she is now resting in peace. I thank you for your concerns and words of encouragement and loyalty to Uzokwe's Searchlight.