Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu: Ex-Biafran warlord dies at 78

Ailing leader of the defunct
Biafran Republic and leader of
the All Progressive Grand Alliance
(APGA) Dim Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu is dead
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-
Ojukwu born on 4 November
1933 at Zungeru in northern
Nigeria to Sir Louis Phillippe
Odumegwu Ojukwu, a
businessman from Nnewi in
south-eastern Nigeria died in
London in the early hours after a
long illness at Royal Berkshire
Hospital in the UK.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu also known
as Ikemba Nnewi was said to
have died in the UK after months
in hospital for the treatment of a
serious stroke he had suffered
late last year.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-
Ojukwu born on 4 November
1933 at Zungeru in northern
Nigeria was imprisoned for
assaulting a white British colonial
teacher, who was humiliating a
black woman, at King’s College in
Lagos began his educational
career in Lagos.
At 13, his father sent him
overseas to study in Britain, first
at Epsom College, in Surrey and
later earned a Masters degree in
history at Lincoln College, Oxford
University and returned to
colonial Nigeria in 1956.
In 1957 the Ikemba Nnewi joined
the Nigerian Army as one of the
first and few university
graduates. Ojukwu was among
the 15 Nigerians officers out of
the 250 officers the Nigerian
Military Forces had then.
After serving in the UN
peacekeeping force in the then
Congo under Maj.-Gen. Johnson
Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, Ojuwkwu
was promoted to Lieutenant-
Colonel in 1964 and was posted
to Kano, where he was in charge
of the 5 Battalion of the Nigerian
Army.
Aguiyi-Ironsi appointed
Odumegwu-Ojukwu military
governor of the defunct Easter
Region on Jan. 17, 1966.
After the first military coup of
1966 and the counter coup that
followed, Odumegwu-Ojukwu
declared the defunct Eastern
Region a sovereign state to be
known as Biafra.
In the declaration and during his
public address to the people of
Biafra, he said: “Having
mandated me to proclaim on
your behalf, and in your name,
that Eastern Nigeria be a
sovereign independent republic,
now, therefore I, Lt.-Col.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-
Ojukwu, Military Governor of
Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the
authority, and pursuant to the
principles recited above, do
hereby solemnly proclaim that
the territory and region known as
and called Eastern Nigeria
together with her continental
shelf and territorial waters, shall,
henceforth, be an independent
sovereign state of the name and
title of The Republic of Biafra.’’
On July 6, 1967, the then military
Head of State, Col. Yakubu Gowon
declared war and attacked Biafra
in a bid to stop Ojukwu’s
secessionist attempt.
The war lasted 30 months and
ended on Jan. 15, 1970.
As the war was wearing out,
Ojukwu went on exile and stayed
away for 13 years. He was
granted state pardon by
President Shehu Shagari, a
decision which was trailed by the
deceased’s triumphant return in
1982.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu was married
to Miss Intercontinental 1989
Bianca Onoh. They have children.
More details later.

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