Ojukwu, Ifeanyi Ubah And IKEMBA FRONT; Why Are They Afraid?

Part 1

By;
Sir Arinzechukwu Awogu
National Coordinator,
IKEMBA FRONT.

Frank Borkenau, the Spanish cockpit quoted in Jeremy Harding's Small Wars, Small Mercies: Journies in Africa's Disputed Nations (Penguin 1994); that nothing is lost in history, and every action, every policy, finds its adequate reward in later events, not to be sure (only) in the moral, but in the political. In the Second Republic politics of old Anambra state, *IKEMBA FRONT* was a common feature and ment different things to different people. The name *IKEMBA FRONT* evokes memories. Essentially, it brings to mind the untiring efforts of the eternal leader of Ndigbo, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and his many struggles in search of political rostrum of comfort for his beloved Ndigbo. *IKEMBA FRONT* reflects an audacious move in close concert with the then Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme to relaunch Ndigbo into the mainstream politics of Nigeria, himself having been the one that pulled Ndigbo out from the centre during the fratricidal civil war. That effort was aborted by the 1983 coup d'état, altering the projection that would have taken effect by 1987 with Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme succeeding Alhaj Shehu Shagari as President of Nigeria in 1987. 40 years after the December 31st, 1983 coup d'état requiemed
*IKEMBA FRONT,* a resurgence of
*IKEMBA FRONT* seemingly to accomplish the mission of reconnecting Ndigbo/Ndi-Anambra to the centre as envisioned by Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is now afoot and evidentially, 40 years is very significant in biblical history.

*The Second Republic.*

In the first elections under the 1979 constitution which were conducted by the Federal Military Government in July and August 1979, with the Federal Military Government handing over power to a new civilian government under President Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979 with Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme as the Vice President. Five major parties competed for power in the first elections in 1979. As might be expected, there was some continuity between the old parties of the First Republic and the new parties of the Second Republic. The National Party of Nigeria (NPN), for example, inherited the mantle of the Northern People's Congress, although the NPN differed from the NPC in that it obtained significant support in the non-Igbo states of southeastern Nigeria. The United Party of Nigeria (UPN) was the successor to the Action Group, with Chief Obafemi Awolowo as its head. Its support was almost entirely in the Yoruba states. The Nigerian People's Party (NPP), the successor to the NCNC, was predominantly Igbo and had Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as its leader. An attempt to forge an alliance with non-Hausa/Fulani northern elements collapsed in the end, and a breakaway party with strong support in parts of the north emerged from the failed alliance. This northern party was known as the Great Nigerian People's Party under the leadership of Waziri Ibrahim of Borno. Finally, the People's Redemption Party was the successor to the Northern Elements Progressive Union and had Aminu Kano as its head.

Just as the NPC dominated the First Republic, its successor, the NPN, dominated the Second Republic. Alhaji Shehu Shagari won the presidency, defeating Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in a close and controversial vote. The NPN also took 36 of 95 Senate seats, 165 of 443 House of Representatives seats and won control of seven states (Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Kwara, and Rivers). The NPN lost the governorship of Kaduna State but secured control of the Kaduna legislature. The NPN failed to take Kano and lacked a majority in either the Senate or House of Representatives. It was forced to form a shaky coalition with the NPP, the successor of the NCNC, the old coalition partner of the NPC. The NPP took three states (Anambra, Imo, and Plateau), sixteen Senate seats and seventy-eight House of Representatives seats, so that in combination with the NPN the coalition had a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Nonetheless, the interests of the two parties were often in conflict, which forced the NPN to operate alone in most situations. Even though the presidential form of constitution was intended to create a stronger central government, the weakness of the coalition undermined effective central authority. Again, the usual narratives which claimed that ethnicity, regionalism and religion were sole players in the Nigerian body polity was rife. But the return from exile of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu significantly attempted to provide a new paradigm to the ethno-religious conundrum that had dubbed the national polity.

*Ojukwu's return to Nigeria*

Before the birth of Second Republic, there were disquiet within the Federal Military Government over intermittent sprawling of Emeka Ojukwu's campaign posters around Nnewi and its environs suggesting the likelihood of Ojukwu returning with the intention of going into politics. However, it was on October 28, 1981, from his base in Ivory Coast, that the former leader of the defunct Biafra, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was in exile in that country cried out against “obstacles to my plans to return home. I want to go home and put myself at the service of the people,” the then 46-year-old soldier then turned businessman told a group of journalists in a rare interview in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast.

Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu said that with the advent of democratic rule in Nigeria he had hoped that “there should be no more obstacles to my plans to return home. If today I am presented to the people of Nigeria in whatever capacity, I will win”, he confidently affirmed. “Nobody can challenge my popularity with the youths in Nigeria."

The news went round and the next day October 29, The Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) former governorship candidate for Lagos State, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanyan said that former Head of State, Mr. Yakubu Gowon and Mr. Chwukuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, both of whom were dismissed from the Nigerian Army should both be pardoned and allowed to return to Nigeria. He said so on Ogun Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) during a current affairs programme, “Meet the Press.” An interviewer had asked for his opinion on whether Ojukwu and Gowon should be allowed to return home, as expressed by some people. “If the National Assembly thinks that there should be amnesty with the concurrence of the executive, why not?” he replied. On December 28, the leader of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Alhaji Aminu Kano, joined in the plea that Yakubu Gowon and Emeka Odumewgu Ojukwu be pardoned. Alhaji Aminu said his party’s philosophy of democratic humanism did not favour the deprivation of anybody’s right to free movement and right to choice of abode.

Then it happened on May 18, 1982, President Shehu Shagari officially granted pardon to Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. The next day May 19, barely 24 hours after Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was granted state pardon, Nigerian border posts and overseas mission were alerted of the government directives. Then on May 21, Madam Grace Ojukwu, mother of the ex-Biafran leader who hails from Ogbakuba, Ogbaru LGA in Anambra state, expressed profound gratitude to President Shehu Shagari and other members of the National Council of States, over the clemency granted her son. On June 3, the President’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Charles Igoh issued a press release on the regaining of military ranks by former Head of State, Mr. Yakubu Gowon and the ex-Biafran leader, Mr. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and said it was a matter for the Army Council and not for President Shagari.

On June 18, 1982, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu returned to Nigeria at 11.55 a. m after about 12 years in exile. He was accompanied back by an 11-man NPN delegation led by Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. Just before he boarded his Boeing 727 aircraft from Abidjan, capital of Ivory Coast he said “Long live Nigeria,” signaling a return to Nigeria and by implication, a return to Nigeria by the Igbos that he led out of Nigeria.

*Ojukwu's decision to join NPN (a National/Northern party) instead of NPP (a Regional/Igbo party)*

At the birth of the Second Republic, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Presidential candidate of the Nigeria People's Party ((NPP) and Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the Vice Presidential candidate of National Party of Nigeria (NPN) were joined by a number of a relatively younger generation of politicians from the South -East to up the ante in the politics of the Second Republic. This was before Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu returned from self-exile to partake in the politics. In my conversation with one of the surviving leaders of the 1983 *IKEMBA FRONT,* Chief B.U.O Anekwe (Agu-nwa Anekwe), he affirmed that many Igbos had expected Ojukwu upon his return to join the Nigeria People's Party (NPP) with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe but Ojukwu felt otherwise. "Ojukwu was of the view that it was him that pulled the Igbos out of Nigeria and that he would be the one to return the Igbos to Nigeria. Moreover, it was the government of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) that ensured his pardon and subsequent return to Nigeria after 12 years of bitter exile". Chief Anekwe went on to say that it was a masterpiece by Ojukwu, to try and make the powers that be believe he has now forgiven them for the past and for the powers that be to also relax their nerves and accommodate him and his beloved Ndigbo.

Ojukwu's decision to join NPN was later justified as it quickened the integration of persons separated by the civil war which in the views of bookmakers would have been near impossible had Ojukwu joined his kinsmen in NPP, a party adjudged to be an Igbo party as such would have been termed as another Igbo alignment to grease and fan the embers of secession. Bad as some Igbos felt at the time over Ojukwu's joining of NPN, it turned out a respite for Ndigbo who were being visited with all manner of restrictions, deprivation and ostracization with the war still fresh in the minds of the actual victors of that war.

*Formation of IKEMBA FRONT*

Ojukwu's return and his decision to join NPN added a lot of pep to horse-trading in Igbo land, as most of the power blocs engaged one another in the contest for the soul of the zone. Expectedly, it wasn't going to be a tea party for Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Jim Nwobodo's NPP with Ojukwu's joining of NPN. The implication was that the regional party that was in power in old Anambra state, NPP, was to giveaway for the party at the centre, NPN, and given the gladiators at both sides, it wasn't going to be an easy fight after all. The rivalry culminated that ensued led to the formation of such partisan groups like the *IKEMBA FRONT,* the Nwobodo Vanguard, just to name two. While Ojukwu on his return from Ivory Coast used *IKEMBA FRONT* to advance his political cause in the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Nwobodo, a political son of late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, in the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) formed the Nwobodo Vanguard to protect his flank. IKEMBA FRONT became a moving force that domesticated the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the old Anambra state that was hitherto the home base of Nwobodo's Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP). By 1983 governorship election, *IKEMBA FRONT* efforts had paid off, Dr. CC Onoh of Ojukwu's National Party of Nigeria defeated Nwobodo's Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) in the old Anambra state to create an in road for NPN and it became the pathway to the centre as it were. The group however collapsed immediately the military struck in 1983.

To be continued....

Chest beaters. I thought by now they would have invaded the Prison and brought out their criminal son Nnamdi Kanu

To read this long epistle go require better strength...

Anyone wey make am from top to finish, should please summarize for us

naija4life247:
Chest beaters. I thought by now they would have invaded the Prison and brought out their criminal son Nnamdi Kanu

Na illiteracy or what exactly is ur problem ?
Did you read anything like MNK in this post ?