bilymuse:

[size=15pt]Ikpe mara eziokwu na aka azu diya
[/size]

I was expecting this, although it makes no meaning with the subject of discussion.

presido1:

I was expecting this, although it makes no meaning with the subject of discussion.

If you apply it to[b] bilymuse[/b](though he apparently doesn't know ) , it make perfect sense! The guy is on a paid mission, but he is a poor student of history. Money cannot buy everything. That is why PDP lost in Anambra state, partly thanks to Ojukwu's call.

How can we qualify or identify the truth? Is it one told by one man (bilymuse) , or the one told by MILLIONS of people(Ndigbo). The answer is simple.

How could someone call ojukwu their hero?
This man dragged the igbos backwards by 100years and Nigeria by 60 years.

He led us into a war we were not prepared for, and that he had no strategy for, not even a weak alliance with any of the super powers.

For someone to call ojukwu their hero is disturbing.

cicero:

This man dragged the igbos backwards by 100years and Nigeria by 60 years.

The Igbos do not agree with your statement about 100 years so that makes your statement completely useless. Those who fought for one Nigeria should be able to answer that one.

cicero:

He led us into a war we were not prepared for, and that he had no strategy for, not even a weak alliance with any of the super powers.

Led who into a war? He defended his people against massacres and war waged upon them by Nigerians. Or where you sleeping when the Nigerian-Biafran war story was told either in your school or by your parents?

Well I dont any reason to say anything against him, he is a normal human like everybody, he has done is bit of life and I just wish him the best. Either he is an hero or not their is no need of visiting that for now but to just say to him Goodluck Mr Ojukwu

Billygoat,
Oburu na iwu nwoko Igbo i kaa ivfe nine i choro ikwu ugbua maka Ojukwu na Igbo k'anyi mara ma iwu Igbo. Nwa mba nshi!!

I don't need his memoir. He is a legend whether u like it or not.

Igbokwenu!!!! Kwenu!!!!
Ibo people let's celebrate our geriatric pedophile (a.k.a Ojukwu) popularly known as Ikebe-super of Nnewi. So far, I don't see any difference between Ex-Gov of Zamfara, "Yerima" who just got married to a 13-year-old girl in the name of Allah and sharia, as compared to warlord "Ojukwu" who’s his sheer rapacity of no measurable limit gravitated him towards little innocent girls. If someone else would have done this to his daughter, I guess we would have been in a second phase of civil war. God will judge all of you that use mouth to dissect fried meats. Ojukwu, you are one of them.

To you too flibbertigibbet "Bianca” (whose seeing an old man with fat pocket makes you amnesia) Yoruba says "eni fe arugbo lo ma kan posi," meaning -- she who gets married to old man builds the coffin. Anyway, you can grab your lotion and the dido; do your thing by your self the super “diva”.
[color=#990000][/color]

Who gave this Baboon Audience


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmmPNPhdPic

Ojukwu did not contest for Igbo leadership, HE did what real leaders do and is and will forever be LOVED by Ndigbo till death. From Aba to Onitsha to Umuahia, to Nnewi to the very ends of Igbo land love this man more than these critics can ever imagine. Now, that is one thing you can not change and i advice that you live with it.

Ojukwu is praised more than the real soldiers that lost their Lives. . .
Funny for a man that didn't do much other than threaten Captains.

mama-gee:

Ojukwu is praised more than the real soldiers that lost their Lives. . .
Funny for a man that didn't do much other than threaten Captains.

So, in your warped sense, only dead soldiers are heroes?

Don't attract attention to yourself here please. We haven't forgotten what Mama-gee in Nollywood did for a living.

" As I talk to you he probably does not know the colour of one thousand naira note. "

This part sounds really funny! That's a rare dude 4real!

mama-gee:

Ojukwu is praised more than the real soldiers that lost their Lives. . .
Funny for a man that didn't do much other than threaten Captains.

What are your understanding of a "real" hero? Having witness the Ikemba stayed with us in the war front physically in Ogoja sector all night with all sorts of bombardment around us and him, I think I will be in a better position than you to define a war hero. Myself and many other Biafra soldiers were the lucky ones but that doesn't diminish our worth just because we weren't dead.
Mortality of a soldier is not what determines their war heroic status. Some of you often reason like unborn foetus because of ignorant or rant that is fuelled by hate. Some how some idiots who will excreta themselves at the sound of a machine gun will talk about who is a hero and who isn't. That is pure Nigerian comedy.

cicero:

How could someone call ojukwu their hero?
This man dragged the igbos backwards by 100years and Nigeria by 60 years.
He led us into a war we were not prepared for, and that he had no strategy for, not even a weak alliance with any of the super powers.
For someone to call ojukwu their hero is disturbing.

It is disturbing for you because in Nigeria you are use to treasury looters like IBB called heros, that is why you find a man of principle like Ojukwu being labelled a hero by his own people as disturbing.

By the way, were was your father during that war you claimed we were led? I will guess, he was hidding somewhere, while kids like us then went to defend the freedom you are enjoying today.
The war ended since 1970, I wonder why persons of your type hasn't had the time yet to perfect your own version of successful planned war?
No one planned to go to war, the war was visited on us, we have two choices, fight and die or die not fighting and we chose the former. You should be grateful to our sacrifices every single day of your life. People like you are only spitting at the graves of many of our brothers and sisters, including my two brothers and two uncles who gave their life for you to be here today to have a mouth. You have no clue, no idea at all.
SHAME ON YOU!!

I thank God for Ojukwu's life.

akigbemaru:

Igbokwenu!!!! Kwenu!!!!
Ibo people let's celebrate our geriatric craddle-robber (a.k.a Ojukwu) popularly known as Ikebe-super of Nnewi. So far, I don't see any difference between Ex-Gov of Zamfara, "Yerima" who just got married to a 13-year-old girl in the name of Allah and sharia, as compared to warlord "Ojukwu" who’s his sheer rapacity of no measurable limit gravitated him towards little innocent girls. If someone else would have done this to his daughter, I guess we would have been in a second phase of civil war. God will judge all of you that use mouth to dissect fried meats. Ojukwu, you are one of them.

To you too flibbertigibbet "Bianca” (whose seeing an old man with fat pocket makes you amnesia) Yoruba says "eni fe arugbo lo ma kan posi," meaning -- she who gets married to old man builds the coffin.  Anyway, you can grab your lotion and the dido; do your thing by your self the super “diva”.
[color=#990000][/color]

Your beloved governor of Zamfara was a married before he married his childlike wife, while Ojukwu was unmarried man when he married Bianca who was a matured adult at the time, a former Miss Nigeria before hand, a graduate before the marriage. So it is a marriage of two agreeable adults that loves each other, hence the marriage has had it jubilee.
Ikemba, despite his wealth is not a flash Owambe guy and that has been confirmed by his wife, so you can’t say that Bianca was swayed by money as Bianca herself happened to be a daughter to one of the richest Igbo’s living or dead in Chief Christian Ono and she is still the one and only wife of the Ikemba.  She wasn’t married to be number 25th wife of Ojukwu, so if you can’t deduce the different, you must surely have a problem with your faculties.  When some of you talk, you lose all sense of reasoning because of your warped Igbo hate.

bilymuse:

Ojukwu is a betrayer and insult  to the soldiers who fought for biafra:
Ojukwu rank has been restored with full benefit, while the presence of hundreds of thousands of former biafran soldiers is not even acknowledge by the government

One of those Biafra soldiers you pretend to be crying in their behalf is me. Definitely Ikemba did not betray me at any time, nor did I feel betrayed now. So who exactly are you speaking for and shedding your crocodile tears?

Ojukwu's restored benefits are not a charity gift but his due. If according to you, your fictitious "thousand" of Biafra soldiers were not acknowledged, that is the problem of your government.
While your Nigeria production line of leaders are looting public treasury for themselves and the Swiss bank accounts. Ojukwu on the other hand used his own money and that of his father's inherited millions to help his own people. That is very unNigerian.

So he owes neither me nor any Igbo man or woman nothing. He has done his bit; it is our turn to look after him.

^^^

Don't mind the bilygoat. He thinks he can single-handedly change history. He is unlucky because we are alive to witness this same history for ourselves. We don't need evil minded spin doctors to shape our history.

~Bluetooth:

roflmaoojukwu is and will always be a coward.dude is senile and gone gaga

How much the Igbo nation wish that all those parading themselves as Igbo leaders are as senile and gone gaga as the great Ikemba of Nnewi. The first senile oxford graduate of the Nigerian army. The senile first son of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu. A senile and gaga that has no addiction to stealing from the poor as custom and normal with Nigerian politicians and leaders.
We want more senile and gaga like the Ikemba. Peter Obi and Uwazuruike are doing a good apprentice in that regard. Time will tell.

Eziachi:

How much the Igbo nation wish that all those parading themselves as Igbo leaders are as senile and gone gaga as the great Ikemba of Nnewi. The first senile oxford graduate of the Nigerian army. The senile first son of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu. A senile and gaga that has no addiction to stealing from the poor as custom and normal with Nigerian politicians and leaders.
We want more senile and gaga like the Ikemba. Peter Obi and Uwazuruike are doing a good apprentice in that regard. Time will tell.

Yes! We need more apprentices in the school of Ikemba"ism". Young men these days sell their parents for money, and they are mainly cowards.
Ojukwu was 33 when he led Biafra. How come our young men these days are weak and cowardly?

We must reform our youths urgently!

Quote from: df2006 on Yesterday at 10:34:11 PM


this makes sense.
i have been trying hard to understand why he left at such critical moment.
it would have given the federalist no doubt, unquantified joy to have him killed, which would have further humiliated the biafrans.
i agree with this,(meaning the post you & afam posted)  thanks for this info.

It is very unfortunate that forums such as Nairaland are free and open to many loudmouthed strolls that have never seen a shooting war talk less of being involved.

@ dede why didn,t you take the time to read and understand my post, i was infact thanking you for this post you posted below.

Anybody that declared Ojukwu as coward because he never allowed himself to be killed by Nigerian vandals is an irreparable novice. War retribution is always astronomically high when the leader of the defeated side is killed in the battle. The fact that Ojukwu was not captured or killed at the end of the war left Nigeria and its leaders in a precarious situation when dealing with the defeated Biafrans.

knowing he will be killed so as to humiliate biafra, (notice i didn,t say igbos) is enough reason for him to leave, same as hitler commited sucide cos it would have been more humiliating for the then german nation if he was captured alive.
i never had this line of thought untill you and afam brought it to my notice.
you need to chill out, it doesn,t pay to always be agressive, you will lose more friends that way.

df2006:

Quote from: df2006 on Yesterday at 10:34:11 PM


this makes sense.
i have been trying hard to understand why he left at such critical moment.
it would have given the federalist no doubt, unquantified joy to have him killed, which would have further humiliated the biafrans.
i agree with this,(meaning the post you & afam posted) thanks for this info.


@ dede why didn,t you take the time to read and understand my post, i was infact thanking you for this post you posted below.


knowing he will be killed so as to humiliate biafra, (notice i didn,t say igbos) is enough reason for him to leave, same as hitler commited sucide cos it would have been more humiliating for the then german nation if he was captured alive.
i never had this line of thought untill you and afam brought it to my notice.
you need to chill out, it doesn,t pay to always be agressive, you will lose more friends that way.

I did read your post quite alright. By the same token, my post was a mere complement to your post. However, neither ndigbo nor my humble self really give damnable hoot about friendship coming from non-Biafrans.

Dede1:


I did read your post quite alright. By the same token, my post was a mere complement to your post. However, neither ndigbo nor my humble self really give damnable hoot about friendship coming from non-Biafrans.

i think you should speak for your self, leave ndigbo out of this.

akigbemaru:

Igbokwenu!!!! Kwenu!!!!
Ibo people let's celebrate our geriatric craddle-robber (a.k.a Ojukwu) popularly known as Ikebe-super of Nnewi. So far, I don't see any difference between Ex-Gov of Zamfara, "Yerima" who just got married to a 13-year-old girl in the name of Allah and sharia, as compared to warlord "Ojukwu" who’s his sheer rapacity of no measurable limit gravitated him towards little innocent girls. If someone else would have done this to his daughter, I guess we would have been in a second phase of civil war. God will judge all of you that use mouth to dissect fried meats. Ojukwu, you are one of them.

To you too flibbertigibbet "Bianca” (whose seeing an old man with fat pocket makes you amnesia) Yoruba says "eni fe arugbo lo ma kan posi," meaning -- she who gets married to old man builds the coffin. Anyway, you can grab your lotion and the dido; do your thing by your self the super “diva”.
[color=#990000][/color]

By dictates of my social order, she who gets married to “akigbemau’s” ilk builds two coffins.

df2006:

Quote from: df2006 on Yesterday at 10:34:11 PM


this makes sense.
i have been trying hard to understand why he left at such critical moment.
it would have given the federalist no doubt, unquantified joy to have him killed, which would have further humiliated the biafrans.
i agree with this,(meaning the post you & afam posted)  thanks for this info.


@ dede why didn,t you take the time to read and understand my post, i was infact thanking you for this post you posted below.


knowing he will be killed so as to humiliate biafra, (notice i didn,t say igbos) is enough reason for him to leave, same as hitler commited sucide cos it would have been more humiliating for the then german nation if he was captured alive.
i never had this line of thought untill you and afam brought it to my notice.
you need to chill out, it doesn,t pay to always be agressive, you will lose more friends that way.

Again, to mention Hilter in the same sentence with Ojukwu as regards the war is disingenuous of highest order. You have decided to chase a wild goose but watch the terrain in front of you.

Ojukwu left Biafra in order to give Nigerian leaders something chew when dealing with defeated Biafrans. He did not commit suicide as your skewed analogy would want us to believe.

pls and pls nairalanders.dont turn dis topic 2 intertribal war.yoruba&igbo,i wonder wen dis enimity wi end bt us especialy wen topic lik dis ar raised on nairaland,it alwaz involves dis two tribe.knwin fuly well dis a public forum&filled wit educated pple we ar d one who impact acion 2 oda ppl.why nt let speak lov.am a yoruba guy and i av many igbo frnd.so wat wi hapen 2 us if deir is anoda war.i wonda mayb dis nysc stuf is workin in term of LOVE

[size=15pt]OJUKWU & IGBO LEADERSHIP[/size]

By
Tochukwu Ezukanma

I am ambivalent about the past because on the one hand, the past is irretrievably lost, but on the other hand, the present is only a reflection of the past, and an understanding of the past provides necessary tools for resolving the problems of the present. So, while there are many more contemporary issues that should rivet the focus of most imaginative writers, I cannot help to retrospect, and glean insights from the events of the past. As we ponder the vast scene of confusion that is our beloved country, are we not confronted with the inexorable reality that our present problems are the direct results of the happenings of yesteryears. Not surprisingly, as I brood over the plight of the Igbo nation, I am irresistibly drawn to the past, to the civil war. While there may be some fundamental cultural and historical factors that militate against Igbo political progress, it was the civil war that actually deal the Igbo a bludgeoning blow. To really address the present Igbo political problems, we cannot escape an objective assessment of that war and the central figure in that war, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.



Ojukwu's recent presence in the Washington DC area did not inspire much enthusiasm within the Igbo community. The Igbo's earlier perception of him was shaped through the distorted prisms of the Biafran propaganda. The Biafran propaganda apotheosized him, so, in the Igbo minds, he became something of a deity, an invaluable political asset. But, over the years, he proved himself a political profligate, improvidently spending his political capital. His repeated political blunders, especially, that his infamous waltz with Sani Abacha demystified and stripped him of much of his political legitimacy. It left him devoid of any political good will, except for the lingering grip of the Biafran propaganda on some Igbo minds.



As an emissary of the Abacha government, he was in Washington DC. His mission then was to burnish the badly blemished image of the Abacha government, evidently for a consideration. It was 1995, and he stood before an exclusively Igbo audience. As usual, he was a riveting presence: a consummate orator, a captivating demagogue. With credulous and adoring listeners, he was spouting some half truths, twisted facts and some downright falsehood; and his audience in their gullibility were applauding.



That forum reinforced my earlier conviction that the problem with politicians is that they generally lie too much, that the problem with their following is that they barely think, and that it is the volatile mix of these two worrisome realities that has brought the world most of its political calamities.



He said that the Igbo will provide the next Nigerian president. Surprisingly, this statement drew a thunderous applause from his audience. I was appalled by this brazen piece of demagoguery. I crafted some questions for him. I wanted to rattle him with some pointed questions. I raised my hand frantically, but I was not allowed the opportunity to ask any of my questions. The self-appointed Igbo leaders of Washington DC were at work. It was their evening, and they were putting a spin on it. They have a penchant for ingratiating the Nigerian Embassy, and fawning over every important visitor from Nigeria. So, in their customary sycophancy, they orchestrated the event in a way that will preclude serious questions that may disconcert the August visitor. Applicants for the most menial jobs are subjected to rigorous interviews. Lamentably, men who lay claim to the leadership of a people are shielded from meaningful questions from those whom they supposedly lead. Evidently, we carried across the Atlantic elements of that hero-worshipping that imperiled accountability in Nigeria public life.



The Igbo producing the next president as of 1995? Staggering nonsense! After all, Moshood Abiola who was wasting away in jail as of then was a crony of the northern dominated military elite and an intimate friend of the northern aristocracy. Moreover, like the majority of the northerners, he was a Moslem. If the northern powerbrokers could not trust him with power, what Igbo could they have entrusted with it.



In the same speech, he also extolled the Constitutional Conference. The Constitutional Conference was tendentious rubbish, a gaudy political ploy that kept the politicians busy while Abacha tightened his hold on power. It was something of a nursery game at which a bunch of venal politicians played at the supervision of Sani Abacha. Ojukwu and the other Igbo leaders stampeded into the Constitutional Conference ostensibly to "enshrine" rotational presidency, and the devolution of power to regional units in the new constitution. What of the previous constitutions, and all the grandiose ideals enshrined in them? Were they not all violated, and shoved aside at the whims of the northern feudal lords and their military surrogates. If all previous constitutions were tossed away as worthless pieces of paper, what was to ensure the sacrosanctity of the one written by the Constitutional Conference? If the Hausa/Fulani as of then were refusing to rotate the presidency with the Yoruba who had been their allies for about 30 years, why would anyone expect them to rotate it with the Igbo whose presidency, in the words of Abubakar Umar (supposedly, a progressive), "will be too much for the country to bear"?



I had a feeling that Ojukwu left that forum dismayed by the quality of his listeners, that is, not knowing that it was the hero-worshippers in their traditional shamelessness who deliberately searched out mostly the incoherent, and inarticulate to ask questions. Is Ojukwu really a hero, or do we just glory in nonentities?



In a naval battle in the South Atlantic, the British Navy disabled a German warship, and the commander of the German warship, Hans Langsdorff shot himself in the head. In his suicide note, he stated that "for a captain with a sense of honor, his personal fate cannot be separated from that of his ship". Ship, captain, and honor. What of nation, leader, and honor? "In politics and statecraft", Richard Nixon once wrote "power means life or death, prosperity or poverty, happiness or tragedy for millions of people".



Honor linked the personal fate of a captain to that of his ship. So, quite naturally, honor should inextricably bind the personal fate of a leader to the life or death, happiness or tragedy of his people. Ojukwu led the Igbo in a war against northern domination of Nigeria. That war was not wrong in itself. However, while there were insinuating circumstances that impugned the basis for one Nigeria, Biafranism was not the only political option open to the Igbo. Eastern Region of Nigeria, even Igboland was not an ideological monolith. There were contending views as to the response to the mass murder Easterners in northern Nigeria. There were knowledgeable and respectable voices who urged for a more circumspect approach. Nnamdi Azikiwe among others disagreed with Ojukwu's methods, and counseled against his policy of secession. Ojukwu ignored and/or suppressed all such dissenting views, and set off on his own political course. So, he is liable for Biafranism, and all the pains, sorrows, and ravages it wrought on the Igbo. Even the qualified endorsement of secession by the Ojukwu appointed Consultative Assembly does not in any way exonerate him from this responsibility.



Yakubu Gowon was then an ill-baked, insecure and mild-mannered ethnic and religious minority foisted on Nigeria by the northern feudal lords and neo-colonial interests. He was inexorably beholden to his northern masters and Yoruba allies. Still, he is culpable for the war to keep Nigeria and all its concomitant horrors. Even in democracies where the leader's choices are circumscribed by the constitutional prerogatives of the parliament/congress, the leader is still held answerable to his political decisions and actions. For example, in spite of the intrinsic limitations placed on leadership by the institutional moorings of democracy, it will be most grotesque to suggest that Winston Churchill was not responsible for the British stance in the 2nd World War, or that President Roosevelt be not accountable for both the New Deal and American involvement in the 2nd World War.



Soldiers by both training and orientation are ill equipped for political leadership. Edward Gibbon, that 18th century man of letters, once wrote that ", the temper of soldiers, habituated at once to violence and (servitude), renders them very unfit guardians of a legal or even a civil constitution. Justice, humanity, or political wisdom, are qualities they are too little acquainted with in themselves to appreciate them in others". In spite of these inherent handicaps, the soldiers were thrust into Nigeria politics by a political accident. They were neither expecting it nor prepared for it. Out of the confines of the barracks and the parochialism and regimentation of military life, these young army officers were overnight saddled with enormous powers and responsibilities. That mixture of military brashness, political power and youthful ebullience was to be a dangerous experiment. Yakubu Gowon, probably conscious of his limitations, sought the advise of the politicians - older men and experienced men. Ojukwu, on the other hand, befogged by his imperiousness, arrogance and superciliousness, ignored the counsel of older and experienced politicians, notably Nnamdi Azikiwe.



Azikiwe, although notorious for his equivocation and inconsistence, was still universally revered for his learning, prudence and experience. It was a profound act of irresponsibility for a 33year old soldier to rebuff the political advise of the father of Nigerian nationalism renowned for his political instincts and intellectual penetration. It smacked in the face of the traditional Igbo, actually African respect for age and the wisdom of the elders. He chose to tread his own political path, a path devoid of the foresight, staidness and somber reflection of the elder, but replete with youthful impulsiveness, wanton despotism and military license. Not surprisingly, he led the Igbo into a quagmire of powerlessness and helplessness.



By building an autonomous power structure that defied, and to some extent repressed the traditional Igbo political power structure, he disjointed and severely weakened the Igbo leadership order. Historically and culturally, the Igbo do not readily submit to a hierarchical social order, or coalesce around a leader. So, the pre-1966 power establishment in Igboland must have been painstakingly cobbled together over many decades. Ojukwu's repudiation of the established Igbo leadership form, rocked that traditional power structure to its core. Subsequent swipes at it after the civil war only furthered the deterioration of an already decrepit system. War is an infernal monster that racks, devours and devastates. It generally takes its highest toll on the youths. With their reckless idealism, impressionable minds and an excitability that can easily be kindled, they are readily whipped into a frenzy. Youthful idealism and exuberance are forged into combat material by military training, a zombification process that drills men into obeying orders unquestioningly. The word "infantry" evolved from the French word for child because of the child-like compliance instilled in soldiers. For every soldier thus trained, armed, and ordered into battle, his stake is clear. He is staking his life for some lofty ideals as made believe by the leadership. But, what are the moral obligations of that supreme commander who is ordering young men to their death in droves from the comfort and security of his bunker? What are the stakes for him that has convinced young men that the struggle was worth their lives, hundreds of thousands of them?



Some leaders in history dramatized the stakes of leadership under such circumstances. As the German Third Reich with all its attendant dreams tumbled down, Adolf Hitler took his own life, and Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister for propaganda, killed his six children,. and with his wife, Magda, committed suicide. When her revolt against Roman suzerainty ended in her defeat, the Icenic queen, Boudica, drank poison and died. But, as it all closed in on Emeka Ojukwu, he packed his bag and baggage and ran away.



The civil war exposed the Igbo to untold hardship. The Igbo persevered in the fight because they believed in the superior validity of their cause, and were acutely conscious of the unmitigated danger of northern hegemony. That war decimated the flower and promise of Igboland (it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Igbo youth died in that war), and the associated hunger took a devastating toll on the Biafran populace. It did irreparable damages to many families, and irretrievably shattered many dreams.



If the war for Igbo self-determination was worth that many lives, and such a colossal sacrifice, was it not worth Ojukwu's life? If Biafranism was not Ojukwuism, that is, if in Biafra, Ojukwu was not merely serving a personal interest, or realizing a personal ambition, if he was giving expression to the collective aspirations of the Igbo, then his personal survival of the war was not important, because there will always be men to lead the Igbo, and consequently give voice to the Igbo interests and aspirations in accordance with the social and political realities of the time. These men need to be guided by examples. Ojukwu should have therefore been prepared to die with Biafra as a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men who died obeying his orders, an atonement for the pains and sorrow his decisions and choices cost his people, and above all, as an example to future generations of Igbo leaders. The example being that no Igbo leader should ever abandon the Igbo in times of adversity, that every Igbo man, especially, those in authority - those who have been entrusted with the fate of the entire ethnic group - must be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Igbo nation.



The public good requires the rigorous subordination of the individual to the nation. According to Richard Goodman, "the process of the individual life is bound by irrevocable limits"; it is but a blip in time inexorably sandwiched between birth and death - just a breathe that can be snuffed out by the vagaries of life. On the other hand, the life of the nation is eternal.



Therefore no sacrifice made by the individual for the group can ever be too much. The obsession by man to cling unto to life is laudable, even sublime as long as it is not given precedence to the welfare of the entire group. As the war ended, the issue was not Ojukwu's personal survival, but the future of the Igbo nation. Laying the ground rule for this future was more important for the Igbo nation than the continued existence of any one individual, because irrespective of any one's station in life, he is but a dispensable cog of history.



The future of a people is predicated on their collective attitudinal disposition (especially attitude towards sacrifice, honor and loyalty) and the quality of their leaders. Ojukwu led the Igbo through the most trying period of their history. To the Igbo, the civil war was both attitudinal and psychological watershed. Wars, especially of such devastation brings about a convulsive transformation of the society, a sharp break with the past. This break was obvious in different facets of Igbo life, but especially in the Igbo mindset; there was a psychological and attitudinal shift. Overhanging this shift was Ojukwu's abandonment of the Igbo.



Ojukwu's desertion of the Igbo had a subliminal, but profound effect on the Igbo psyche. It perverted the Igbo value system, and debased her public virtue. Subliminally, it impressed on the Igbo, especially those in authority that it was alright to use your people for personal advancement, and abandon them when things go wrong. It ushered into the Igbo ranks a new culture - a culture of opportunism. It is this culture of opportunism, more than any other single factor that has been the bane of the Igbo nation since the end of the civil war.



A man who was poised to cash in on power, grandeur and history if the "toil, sweat, tear and blood" of his people pay off, and prepared to run away if everything goes crashing, is not a hero, not even a leader, but an opportunist who gambled with human lives. On the other hand, we should always respect the courage, and determination of those men who made up that ill-equipped, but indomitable army that bogged down the Nigerian military machine for nearly 3 years. We should always appreciate the sacrifices of those young men who had their lives rent permanently, and their future turned bleak by the crippling and disfiguring injuries they sustained fighting for Biafra. Finally, we should always remember, and pay tribute to those fallen heroes who laid down their youthful lives for Biafra.



Dec 2002

Dede1:


Again, to mention Hilter in the same sentence with Ojukwu as regards the war is disingenuous of highest order. You have decided to chase a wild goose but watch the terrain in front of you.

Ojukwu left Biafra in order to give Nigerian leaders something chew when dealing with defeated Biafrans. He did not commit suicide as your skewed analogy would want us to believe. 

the fact remains that you do not actually complete your thought process before you spill out the aggression in you.
hitler happens to be human just like me, you and ojukwu, nothing can change that fact.
 hitler only came into the play here, to show he was not captured, which would have caused more humiliation to the then german nation of which he was a beloved leader.
what you think about hitler is another matter.  
captivity is the key word  here, followed by humiliation, how each leader chose to avoid them wether by sucide or going on exile is not the issue in my post.
denying the nigerians the ecstasy of killing the famous biafran war lord, is the thing.  you can see how the defeated biafrans have been dealt with till date.
you need to chew something before you reply posts.

ps.  i appologise to those who feel offended putting hitler along side ojukwu.

That Ojukwu survived the war and is alive today is a MAJOR PAIN to people like Bilygoatmuse who continue their campaign of calumny against the illustrious son of Biafra.

And we continue to love the Ikemba even more and more every day.
Ikemba is a rare breed. We the youths must copy him.

During the Abacha regime, Ojukwu collected money from Abacha and went globe trotting trying to drum up sopport for the regime. In one of his speech in Washinton DC he praised Abacha to high heaven, and said the annulment of June 12, and the continuous incarceration of Abiola is a good thing that would teach the Yoruba's a lesson. He supported the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa, according to him, its pay back time.

Finally he told his audience in Washinton DC , that Igbo people are going to produce the next president, all they need to do is to support Abacha regime.

More than 15 years later, Igbo people could not produce a VP. The Yoruba have taken their turn, now Ken Saro Wiwa cousin, an Ijaw man is on the throne. Ojukwu has sold you out, he has collected dividend upfront. If such a man is your hero , then this generation is doom.

Ojukwu's recent presence in the Washington DC area did not inspire much enthusiasm within the Igbo community. The Igbo's earlier perception of him was shaped through the distorted prisms of the Biafran propaganda. The Biafran propaganda apotheosized him, so, in the Igbo minds, he became something of a deity, an invaluable political asset. But, over the years, he proved himself a political profligate, improvidently spending his political capital. His repeated political blunders, especially, that his infamous waltz with Sani Abacha demystified and stripped him of much of his political legitimacy. It left him devoid of any political good will, except for the lingering grip of the Biafran propaganda on some Igbo minds.