Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu going on strong at 76

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, businessman, politician, historian and former army officer was born on November 4, 1933 at Zungeru in Niger State to multimillionaire businessman, Sir Louis Philippe Odumegwu Ojukwu. He would be clocking 76 on Wednesday.

His primary education was at a private Catholic school in Lagos, St. Patrick’s School, Idumagbo. He was briefly at CMS Grammar School, Lagos before he was enrolled at King’s College as the youngest pupil in the institution’s history at the age of 10. Two years later, Ojukwu’s father transferred him to Epson College, Surrey, England to finish his secondary education. In 1952, Odumegwu Ojukwu was admitted to Oxford University. He majored in history, graduating in 1955 with honors. He later earned a Masters degree in history at Lincoln College, Oxford University. During the period, he served as a leader in the Oxford branch of the West African Students Union.


Rather than rely on his multimillionaire father after graduation, Ojukwu started life by choosing to enter the workforce. He was hired by the Nigerian Civil Service and became the assistant district officer in the town of Udi, overseeing community development in rural areas. He later served in the same position in the towns of Aba and Umuahia in present day Abia State from1956 to 1957. As a community development leader, he gained a reputation for his quick understanding of complex issues and was respected for his fair recommendations.


In 1957, again in an attempt to distance himself from his privileged upbringing, he joined the Army. His father was so against this decision that he did not speak to his son for two and a half years.


Meanwhile, Ojukwu had completed the officer training in England at the Officer Cadet School, Eaton Hall and was commissioned a second lieutenant. After attending the Infantry School in Warminster, England, the Small Arms School in Hythe, England, and the Royal West African Frontier Force Training School in Teshie, Ghana, he returned to Nigeria in 1958 and was assigned to the Fifth Battalion in Kaduna.


Once Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960, Ojukwu was quickly promoted. He held the rank of major by 1961. As one of his assignments, he served with the Nigerian First Brigade in the Congo as part of a United Nations peacekeeping program. He later attended the Joint Services Staff College in the United Kingdom as the first Nigerian officer ever to do so. In 1963, Ojukwu, as a lieutenant colonel, became the first Nigerian quartermaster-general in the Nigerian Army. His first independent command came in 1965; he was assigned as commanding officer to the Fifth Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Kano.


During the 1966 political upheavals in the then northern Nigeria, Ojukwu was a lone voice in keeping Nigeria one, a situation critics concluded was because most of his inheritance from his father was in Lagos, hence his personal stake at keeping Nigeria one. As a result of the mounting secessionist pressure he later took sides with the separatists, which led to his being dismissed from the Nigerian Army on July 1, 1967 after which he became a general in the Biafran Army.


He led the Biafran Army in a 30-month civil war which ended in January 1970. Ojukwu went on exile after his troop fell to the federal might.


The former warlord was granted a presidential pardon in 1982 by the then President Shehu Shagari, on his return from Cote D’Ivoire where he took political asylum at the collapse of Biafra.


He joined the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and was elected national vice chairman in 1982. In the 1983 elections, he contested the Onitsha senatorial seat but lost out in controversial circumstances. Following the coup later that year he was detained until October 1984. On his release he became a private businessman.


He was a member of the All People’s Party (APP) in 1998 and presidential candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2003 polls.


From his numerous experiences he authored the several publications like: Biafra: Selected Speeches, (1969); Biafra: Random Thoughts, (1969) and Because I Am Involved, (1989). He also holds several traditional titles, such as: Ikemba of Nnewi, Dike di Ora Nma Ndi Igbo, Ochi Obi of Onicha-Ugbo and Ugo Chinyere Ndi Igbo.


His hobbies are sports, music, arts, poetry, literature and writing.

Odumegwu Ojukwu: The First Nigerian Silver Spoon(er)

the subtle nuisances of tribalism

posakosa:

the subtle nuisances of tribalism

If you have noticed the other threads started by this chap, you will not refer to this thread as subtle.

His father's private limousine was used to convey Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Nigeria in 1956

Whao! The 1st Nigerian graduate to join the army.