My study and research of Nigerian
history made it possible for me to
extricate myself from the lingering
grip of the Biafran propaganda,
which still retains a powerful hold on most Igbo
minds. It gave me a new perspective on Biafra
and the civil war, a perspective, remarkably
different from my earlier viewpoint shaped
through the distorted prisms of the Biafran
propaganda.
It is common place knowledge that a student
who fails all his examinations is a bad student.
And that a medical doctor who looses to death
every patient that gets his medical attention is
a bad doctor. Why then do the Igbo consider a
man whose every political move ended in
failure or disaster a good leader?
The January 1966 military coup took the
Nigerian political crisis to new heights. It
decimated the northern Nigerian leadership and
brought the military into Nigerian politics. By
extension, it sparked off the northern Nigerian
counter coup of July ’66 and the mass murder
of the Igbo in northern Nigeria and other parts
of the country. There were several attempts to
resolve this political crisis. As the search for
peace continued, Ojukwu, as the governor of
Eastern Region, refused to recognize Yakubu
Gowon as the new military Head of State and
repeatedly defied the Federal Government.
Yet, the Federal Government did not attack
Eastern Region.
It was Ojukwu’s declaration of Biafra that
triggered off the civil war. The declaration of
Biafra went against the advice of the Igbo
political leaders and elders, especially, Nnamdi
Azikiwe. Biafranism was a monumental blunder
that will continue to cast a very dark shadow
over Igbo land for a very long time. It was an
apogee of recklessness. It was unparalleled in
its disdain for reason and caution. It did not
require the most rudimentary knowledge of
history or politics to know that Biafra was to
be a doomed enterprise.
By 1966, history had provided the instructive
precedence that there could be no secession
without war. Why did the Oxford educated
historian ignore that incontrovertible lesson of
history by declaring Biafra without preparation
for the inevitable war that was to follow?
From day one, Biafra was to be a colossal
waste in human effort and human lives. For
Biafra was not only ill-prepared and operating
from a position of extreme weakness, she
could not count on any serious support from
anywhere. She could not count on the support
of her neighbors, the African countries,
because the Organization of African Unity
(OAU), as a body, was opposed to secession.
The organization's charter recognized the
gross imperfections inherent in the boundaries
African countries inherited from their colonial
masters. However, it was opposed to the
tinkering with these boundaries for whatever
reason, because attempts to change the
borders in respect to cultural and ethnic
homogeneity or for the self-determination of
national units within multinational countries will
result in unprecedented upheavals in Africa.
Secondly, there were secessionist movements in
a number of the African countries: Ethiopia,
Sudan, Zaire, Senegal, etc. A successful
secession anywhere in Africa would encourage
and embolden these secessionist movements.
Therefore, the generality of the African
countries were opposed to secession in
general, and quite naturally, to Biafra in
particular.
Nigeria is within the British sphere of
influence. So, Britain reserved the sole right to
determine the fate of Nigeria. No Western
nation could intervene in Nigeria against
British interests, because they have learnt the
hard way to respect the spheres of influence
of the other powers. The First World War was
a war of spheres of influence. It was the
explosive mix of two struggles for dominance:
the struggle for global dominance that pitted
Germany against France and Britain, and the
rivalry for control in the Balkans between the
Russian and the Hapsburg (Austrian) Empires
that set off the 1st World War. And from
where the 1st World War ended, the 2nd World
War finished off.
Not surprisingly, the United States of America
invaded Panama, a sovereign nation, arrested
her president and imprisoned him in the USA,
without a murmur from the corridors of power of
any Western Power. Panama is within the US
area of geopolitical domain. Despite
American's total abandonment of Liberia
(during her civil war), no major power went
into Liberia to fill the American political and
diplomatic void. The peace accord that ended
the war in Rhodesia, a renegade British
colony, later renamed Zimbabwe, was brokered
by the British government. After many years
of civil war, it was the British that finally
determined the political fate of Sierra Leone,
a former British colony. At the outbreak of the
Ivorian civil war, France naturally intervened,
diplomatically and militarily, in Ivory Coast, a
former French colony. She has remained the
only major power handling that conflict in line
with her diplomatic and other interests.
Similarly, it was the prerogative of the British
government to determine the political destiny of
Nigeria as of 1967. And as Britain wanted
Nigeria to remain a unified country, no
Western Power could have acted against that
British objective. Some European powers,
France and Portugal, and even the United
States, especially during the Nixon
administration, sympathized with Biafra, but
could not get involved.
A leader who chose to ignore the lessons of
history, the advice of the elders, the prevailing
sentiments among African countries and the
global power politics was to, unavoidably, lead
his people to disaster. And indisputably,
Ojukwu led the Igbo to catastrophe – a
quagmire of powerlessness and helplessness.
As Biafra finally collapsed, not counting the at
least one million Igbo that starved to death,
hundreds of thousands of youths, the cream
and flower of the Igbo nation, laid dead. Igbo
land lay prostrate, completely prostrate; at the
feet of a battle harden army flush with victory.
With a collective physiognomy that revealed
raw scares of unspeakable human misery,
contortions of pains and sorrow and a blank
stare of despondency, the Igbo trudged out of
the remaining vestiges of Biafra with their
future hinging precariously at the whims of
Yakubu Gowon. As for Chukwuemeka Ojukwu,
he was gone. He abandoned his people and
ran away to the safety and comfort of an
Ivorian exile.
So, to the Igbo nation, a man who despised the
advice of the Igbo political elders, ignored the
lessons of history and disregarded the realities
of African geopolitics and the dynamics of
global power politics, and consequently, led us
into disaster is our celebrated leader? And a
man who had no qualms in sacrificing
countless Igbo lives for the struggle, but then,
abandoned the struggle, and ran for his own
dear life is our hero?
If our answers to these questions are yes, then
the Igbo, as a people, have lost their sense of
outrage. As such, we are in need of deep
introspection, profound soul searching and
reorienting our value system. We are also in a
desperate need to retrieve and restore our
sense of outrage. For, in the words of a
United States’ Senator, Daniel Moynihan, “any
nation that has lost her sense of outrage is
destined for extinction”.
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos,
Nigeria.

obiagelli! obiagelli!! obiagelli!!!
how many times i call you?
your people go e-murder you today

Ojukwu may have his faults as a leader, just like u & I, but biafra acts as a pillar for nigeria not breaking up at d moment 'cos peeps are thinking in retrospection. We fear repeating same mistakes of d past, otherwise current events wd av led our regional leaders to capitulate to seccessional voices, my tot.

wait make i carry my APC(armored personnel carrier) in case of any stray bullet sidon gidigba for this thread. mehn its gonna be bloody in here.

this article was written about three years ago,I wonder why you brought up now maybe to stir another e-war among the Igbo.you hide under an Igbo moniker to perpetuate your evil.here is the link: www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/my-questions-on-ojukwu/

Obiagelli:
i hope they don't, we can just share our different versions. I am pro Zik any day.

well, i wish you all the best. but can i lend you my APC for your safety before your kinsmen arrives from church.

obiagelli...ur people wld skin u alive.....ibos on nairaland are short sighted....e.g Chinoelect

Obiagelli:
i hope they don't, we can just share our different versions. I am pro Zik any day.

obiageli please read nairaland rule 14 and 18.
Ojukwu to us is a hero, you have every right to your opinion after all you are from southwest but as far as ndi igbo is concerned Ojukwu is an iroko who command respect even at death!
hold on to your opinion if it makes you happy but i am not buying it

Obiagelli:
i hope they don't, we can just share our different versions. I am pro Zik any day.

obiageli please read nairaland rule 14 and 18.
You have every right to your opinion after all you are from southwest but as far as ndi igbo is concerned Ojukwu is an iroko who command respect even at death!
hold on to your opinion if it makes you happy but i am not buying it

VICTORCIZA: obiageli please read nairaland rule 14 and 18.
You have every right to your opinion after all you are from southwest but as far as ndi igbo is concerned Ojukwu is an iroko who command respect even at death!
hold on to your opinion if it makes you happy but i am not buying it

Those people who crticize you do not know that you
withdrew your support for Biafra in 1969 not because
you did not support the cause of Biafra but because you
saw that the war was unwinnable and the longer it was
allowed to go on, the more the Igbos especially children
and women will die from starvation imposed by Awolowo
and Gowon. You advised Our Ikemba, the Peoples
General on this, but because of his love for Ndi Igbo,
he did not listen to you, he felt that you wanted him to
compromise and saw you as a compromiser. A WRITE UP ABOUT ZIK

Ojukwu was a prophetic messiah born before his time. Every thing he feared about Nigeria is real today, now Arewa youths, Afenifere, massob etc are singing division, same thing ojukwu fought for. He knew Nigeria will never work 40 years ago, vision!

The Ikemba is a genius, he has no equals in Nigeria.

Obiagelli:
was the war well thought out?
Was the war winnable?
Was the war a struggle for power?
Why did Ojukwu reject advice from other igbo leaders to stop the war
What Was Ojukwu desperate about

With about 30,000 dead civilians from the northern pogrom, he took the best decision. He is celebrated because of it.

I'm coming... Mai go baff.. firse! Nobody should take my spaceo.

Please has anyone seen my girlfriend

incase The Igbos e-warriors arrived i will be back

Ojukwu led Ibos to war because of his lust for power.

Biafran progrom happens where you think below reality !!!

Bitter lesson has been learnt , look before you jump !!

Obiagelli:
was the war well thought out?
Was the war winnable?
Was the war a struggle for power?
Why did Ojukwu reject advice from other igbo leaders to stop the war
What Was Ojukwu desperate about

There's no way ideologies Can be the same for everybody at the same time. For Ojukwu to be celebrated across Iboland even in death more than others(zik) shows that his decision is welcomed by his people, hence to us he was right. But Obiagelli why did u after mentioning all Ojukwu's fault that caused the civil war, u intentionally refused mentioning or refuse to ask why Gowon rejected the Aburi Accord. Well all the same, Obiagelli bear in mind that what happened in 1967 is also here again. Better u go and stop boko haram now, not when they bomb SE and out of annoyance the Ibos declare another secession, u will still tell ur children lies as ur father told u that the Ibos started it. U wouldn't see this boko haram. U wouldn't blame them when it happens, u wouldn't tell ur children the truth. U will still Blame Ibos. Obiagelli if u are not a wasterner, then then they hv succeeded in winning a soul which is their goal. plz grow up!