Nzuko Umuigbo Worldwide (NUW)
Warns the Presidency Over Harassment of Ojukwu and MASSOB
We view the invitation of His Excellency, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Eze Igbo) for an unspecified ‘chat’ by the Presidency through the SSS as very insulting and humiliating and we condemn in very strong terms such vitriolic, uncivilised and intimidating act. We wish to state that any assault on Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu is an assault on the entire Igbo race of over 40 million people.
The federal government should stop chasing shadow with Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu for he is a very peaceful and law- abiding Senior Citizen of Nigeria, a statesman who has always conducted himself with decorum. He has nothing against nor is he planning anything against the Nigerian state instead he loves Nigeria. He speaks out against the oppression of Ndigbo, Niger-Deltans and all other oppressed Nigerians. As a Father and Leader he is, no right-thinking person shall expect Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu and, infact, the entire Igbo race not to support his oppressed people (MASSOB and Ndigbo). The President and Commander in Chief of the nigerian armed forces Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and many notable Yoruba men of letters and culture support the OPC regardless of the "pockets of trouble" they create in Western Nigeria.
It is therefore suprising that the State Security Service is raising hell because Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, a free born and citizen of Nigeria expressed his support of the recently MASSOB organised "Igbo memorial Day". He equally re-instated his original idea that Nigerians of all ethnic stock shall sit down on a table and dialogue and negotiate our existence as one country (national conference). Based on this, the Presidency and its agents known for their selective (in)justice and hatred of Ndigbo invited General Odumegwu Ojukwu to Abuja for a "Chat".
The Presidency through Col. Kayode Are (SSS Director) instead of addressing the issues raised by General Odumegwu Ojukwu like explaining to Nigerians and the world what one-way economy class ticket means; what the Presidency`s interpretation of "Chat" is and why such must hold in Abuja and not in Enugu; the issue of assassination and why due process for such "Chat" (arrest) is not followed, went ahead in his response to abuse and insult General Odumegwu Ojukwu with many uncomplimentary remarks. Col. Kayode Are went as far as calling an Igbo Hero and Leader a "Coward". With this degrading and patisan response unbecoming of a security outfit, the SSS has allowed itself to be used as a political tool or against political opponents of those in the Government. The response equally showed Nigerians and the world that Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu has no case to answer instead they are looking for a way to embarass the Igbo race through the humiliation of General Ojukwu, an Igbo Icon.
The SSS claimed that they have nothing personal against Ndigbo and Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu but just interested in the peace and unity of Nigeria and that if they see anything that threatens such, they must nip it in the bud hence their invitation to General Ojukwu. This assertion by the Presidency and the SSS is not TRUE, what they do is selective (in)justice. If not, what has the SSS done to OPC and how many Yoruba Leaders or Governors – who, as free citizens - identify and fraternize with OPC has the SSS invited? What has President Obasanjo, Col. Kayode Are (SSS Director), Mr. Tafa Balogun (Inspector General of Police) and Chief Akin Olujimi (Attorney-General and Minister of Justice) done to the the Talibans/ Moslem extremists (who spill Igbo blood) and those Prominient people from the North whom the Presidency openly accused of formenting trouble and causing religious Riots eg. in Kaduna, Kano etc.? What have they done against the Sharia fanatics and states that, without being told, have already seceded from the rest of Nigeria? What have they done to the Northern Senators and Governors who said that 2007 Presidency is not negotiable? There are also many others too numerous to mention here. In spite of all these, the Presidency and the SSS never showed their muscles nor muted a word for, they are so much afraid of the Hausa/Fulani.
Never in the post-war history of Nigeria has any government openly showed hatred and igbophobia like in this present government. We remember the police humiliation of late Dr. Okadigbo even as a senate-president; Mrs. Dupe Adelaja, President Obasanjo`s then minister of State for Defence (Navy), handing down to the entire Igbo race the greatest insult of their lives by calling Biafrans (Ndigbo) traitors and that Igbo is a race of traders, those who are only engaged in the business of buying and selling. The insults and vituperations poured on Igbo Governors by President Obasanjo when they complained about killing of Umuigbo in the North, their comment on Confederation was regarded as treasonable felony. Chief Pius Anyim as a Senate –President when he fell out with the President, Justice Akanbi`s ICPC was sent after him. Then came the sponsored daylight Election rigging , police harassment, political battle and destruction of Igbo heartland, mostly Anambra, then the Ngige ordeal.
Recently Chief Akin Olujimi (Attorney-General) designated MASSOB – unarmed pressure group as a rebel group and mapped these Igbo youths out for destruction while he protects and becomes OPC spokesman. Right now, an undeclared war by the Attorney General, Police and SSS is being waged against Ndigbo throughout Nigeria. They no longer have the right of free assemby such as social club meeting, town meeting, traders meeting etc. for such meetings are now regarded as MASSOB meeting – The Police are having payday with the arrest and incarceration of Igbo youths and traders in Lagos, Abuja and other cities in the name of clampdown on an unarmed and peaceful Igbo pressure group (MASSOB). Col. Kayode Are (SSS Director) not satisfied with Chief Akin Olujimi (Attorney-General) and Mr. Tafa Balogun (Police IG) war on Ndigbo started the mother of all battle which is to humiliate the Igbo race from the top echelon in the person of His Excellency, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Why this Igbophobia?
Of all Nigerian Tribes, Umuigbo are the most patriotic Nigerians both in Nigeria and in Diaspora. In Nigeria, Umuigbo, through their economic activities, have invested and developed all zones/areas in Nigeria. In Diaspora, we have been at the fore-front of promoting Nigeria`s political, economic and socio-cultural Interests in Europe, North America, Asia etc. During the military dictatorship, we were at the fore-front, organising protest marches in Europe and US in support of Chief M K O Abiola and for the release and freeing of Political prisoners including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Dispite Igbo patriotism and zeal for a united Nigeria, Ndigbo are still being treated like second class citizen of Nigeria.
There is hardly any federal presence in Igboland – no international airport; no international trade fair; no seaports; Ndigibo have the worst roads in Nigeria; Ndigbo are under siege by the police and are constantly harassed and money extorted from them. Marginalisation of Ndigbo in the scheme of things in Nigeria –the deliberate killing ("Sloking") of Igbo businesses – banning of some cars, Refrigerators and Textiles; the forcing of Igbo traders to import only through Lagos ports (as against Port Harcourt) and using of Customs and Police to extort and harass Igbo Traders all the way from Lagos to Igboland; no Igboman heads any of the security apparatuses of Nigeria nor are they allowed to reach the pinnacle of their career. Ndigbo have the least number of Local governments and therefore the least Allocation from Nigerian oil wealth. Two northern states – Jigawa and Kano have more local governments and consequently, have more allocations than the five Igbo states. The rape on democracy, massive rigging and disenfranchisement of Ndigbo in the 2003 General Elections have added to this systematic marginalisation. Ndigbo are constantly killed and their property looted throughout Nigeria at any slightest opportunity. The recent withdrawal of Certificate of Occupancy of lands in Abuja was an exercised targeted at Ndigbo, who single-handedly developed Abuja with their hard-earned money when other Nigerians had no faith in the reality of Abuja. For instance, out the 72 top hotels in Abuja 65 belong to Umuigbo. The recent Staff retrenchment at FCT was equally targeted at top Igbo management staff. There is complete neglect of Erosion hazards in Igboland and Ndigbo are keeping silent lest they be accused of treason.
"O buru na agbaghi uzo owelle mgba, na o naghi echi." – if the back-yard track is not fenced, tresspassers will continue to use it. Therefore Nigerians should begin to fight fascism of any sort and Ndigbo in particular, should fight for their rights. We wish to state that we can no longer sit and watch Igbo Leaders being insulted and humiliated nor shall we fold our hands and watch Igbo youths (MASSOB) who are exercising their rights as enshrined in the United Nations and African Union`s Charters being arrested, tortured and killed by the Nigerian Government. Again, Igbo Marginalisation MUST STOP. MASSOB came as a result of oppression and injustice on the Igbo people. The federal government would be embarking on the greatest threat to the Nigeria project by authorising police brutality or murder of General Ojukwu, Chief Uwazulike or MASSOB members. Unlike the other groups, MASSOB has continued to protest peacefully, so much that on August 26th "Igbo memorial Day" when MASSOB urged Ndigbo to rest at home and remember their dead ones during the Biafra-Nigerian war, no single individual was hurt nationwide. MASSOB lives in the hearts and minds of all Umuigbo and the other oppressed peoples of Nigeria. If the federal Government is truely concerned about the unity and just future of Nigeria, then they should without further delay convoke a National Sovereign Conference as Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu has suggested and which is supported by prominient and patrotic Nigerians like Chief Adesanya, Chief FRA Williams, Chief Enahoro, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Prof. Wole Soyinka and many other persons and groups in Nigeria.
Nigeria as presently constituted is a big fraud and full of injustice and in order to address these problems we, the Nzuko Umuigbo Worldwide (NUW) support the convocation of a National Sovereign Conference where all the Ethnic nationalities in Nigeria shall sit down and iron out our problems and proffer solutions. In this Conference, we all shall agree on the structure of Nigeria (true federalism), a place where all shall be happy and proud about, a place where no section shall be treated as second fiddle.
We hereby warn that any application of illegal brute force on MASSOB would be nothing short of adding fuel to the fire already blazing and over-heating the polity. It shall be very clear to all those in the position of authority that we donot need another Iraq or Chechyna in Nigeria for, ours is a volatile state. Any attempt to arrest or assasinate Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu or Chief Ralph Uwazuike shall have dire consequences which shall make Iraq or Chechyna look like a child`s play. What Nigeria needs at this time is a detribalised Presidency, Attorney General, Police and SSS, those who shall not be engaged in partisan intrigues and politiking but who rather shall enthrone social justice, fairness and equity for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe and political inclination; Leaders who shall be interested in Peace and well-being of all Nigerians.
Ndigbo are peace loving people both at home and wherever they find themselves (ojemba enwe onye ilo) as travellers we make no enemies and in keeping with our culture of o bialu be onye abiagbula ya ma o laba ala mkpumkpu abula ya na-azu. A good intelligence report shall show that neither MASSOB, Dim Ojukwu nor Ndigbo is a threat to the Nigerian state. The serious threat to Nigeria today is the Moslem fundamentalists/religious Zealots up there in Zamafara, Kano and Borno who are spilling Igbo blood and trying to impose their wish on others.
The Nigerian Government must stop its hatred of and disregard to Ndigbo and Igbo Nation, stop maltreating, arresting and killing Umuigbo. It is either, we are allowed to be full Nigerians or we are allowed to go; we are tired of being in this "Catch 22" situation. Nigeria should decide now whether Ndigbo shall remain in Nigeria or opt out, by allowing to be President of Nigeria come 2007. We can no longer keep quiet while our brothers and sisters are being arrested, tortured and, in some cases, killed by the Authorities. If you feel jittery about MASSOB’s agitation, address their concerns, enthrone social justice, fair-play, equity and level-playing ground for all Nigerians; treat Ndigbo and Niger-deltans with respect and give them their due share in Nigeria. Anything short of this is a wishful thinking on the part of those in Authority.
We use this opportunity to express our support for Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu`s bold expression of his support for MASSOB. That this is coming in this period of apathy in Igboland when our self serving leaders/Politicians are masquerading at Abuja and are ready to betray the Igbo nation just to book appointment with whomsoever in power is entirely welcomed. We wish to re-affirm that we support MASSOB – a pressure group whose actions are very legitimate, civilised and peaceful, and that we are ready to work together with any Igboman, Nigerian, persons or groups in our fight against injustice, marginalisation and genocide against Ndigbo, Niger-Deltans and other Nigerians.Thirty-four years after the Nigeria-Biafran War, nothing has been done to better the condition of Ndigbo, instead our condition is getting worse.
We are therefore crying out and carrying our case to the United Nations, African Union, Commonwealth of nations, European Union, USA, Germany, Britian and all free countries of the World, Amnesty International and other Human Rights Organisations to help pressure the Nigerian Government to stop the intimidation, harassment, arrest, torture and killing of Ndigbo in Nigeria and to immediately stop the police brutality on Igbo youths (MASSOB) and Traders. All MASSOB members being incarcerated by Mr. Tafa Balogun, Col. Kayode Are and Chief Akin Olujimi are Political Prisoners whose human rights have been grossly abused, they must be released without delay.
Ndigbo as a race have no problems with our Nigerian brothers and sisters, our problem has been with the Federal Government that never recognised that the civil war ended 34 years ago. Therefore, we are grateful and thankful to all right-thinking Nigerians - the Hausa/fulani, the Yorubas and other Tribes and their organisations and the Press who have expressed and continued to express their candid opinions on the intimidation and marginalisation of Ndigbo in Nigeria and the danger it poses for the unity and continued existence of Nigeria. Live and let live, the Federal Government should leave MASSOB, General Odumegwu Ojukwu and Ndigbo alone. There can be no better time to organise a National Conference than now, a stitch in time saves nine.Those that refuse to dialogue are making peace impossible in Nigeria and are in other words making violence inevitable.The experiences of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia are still fresh in our memories.
Signed: Chief Joseph Mmeh - Co-ordinator - International Affairs
For and on behalf of Nzuko Umuigbo Worldwide (NUW)
Email: umuigbo@igbo-land.com
www.igbo-land.com
Ndigbo abroad protest over Ojukwu
•Irukwu re-states Ohanaeze’s stand on 2007
Daily Champion
20th September 2004
NKIRU OKEKE, Enugu and VINCENT EGUNYANGA, Abuja
A NOTE of caution has gone out to the State Security Services (SSS) on the consequences of arresting Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
The warning came amid reports of planned protests by Ndigbo in Europe and the United States of America (USA) over the plight of Ojukwu, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) presidential candidate in the 2003 general elections.
National Chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie who spoke in Enugu weekend expressed dismay that any Nigerian could be hounded in a democracy for expressing an opinion.
But, apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze, insisted that for justice and equity in the polity, Ndigbo should produce the country’s president in 2007.
Okorie who just returned from the World Igbo Congress (WIC) in the U.S said influential Ndigbo in Washington D.C., London and Ottawa (Canada) were mobilising to demonstrate against the shabby treatment of Ojukwu (Ikemba) and draw world attention to the plight of the Igbo in Nigeria.
Besides, complaints have been lodged over the matter with the U.S. State Department and the British Home Office, with favourable responses from the Americans, the APGA National Chairman said.
Chief Okorie warned the SSS not to plunge the country into a fresh crisis, pointing out that the present youthful generation of the Igbo did not experience the civil war (1967-70) and having come to regard Ojukwu as a hero, would not mind daring the consequences.
Dim Ojukwu and the SSS have been at daggers drawn following the former’s declaration of support for the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) which successfully organised, on August 26, a stay-at-home protest in the South-East over alleged marginalisation of the zone.
Dim Ojukwu, also said it was up to Nigeria to determine if such independent republic would exist or otherwise.
However, the SSS, believing the opinion posed a threat to national security, invited Ojukwu to Abuja, allegedly with a one-way flight ticket, a gesture the Ikemba declined as improper and subsequently alleged a plot to kill him and MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.
Chief Okorie stated: "Igbo people see Ojukwu and for good reasons, as the symbol of their struggle for survival in Nigeria. They see him as the epitome of what the Igbo represent in the world, but not as the presidential candidate of APGA. So, they believe that arresting him is a deliberate action to assault the Igbo people again and humiliate the entire Igbo nation."
The APGA national chairman maintained that Ojukwu has done nothing, but expressed his personal opinion, which according to him, was the basic entitlement of every Nigerian citizen.
Said he: "I am not speaking for Ndigbo, but let me tell you that if Ojukwu is arrested on the basis of the opinion he expressed, some of us who are now elders may take the constitutional means of seeking redress. I cannot guarantee that the youths who now out-number us by very good margin will not be patient enough to follow that same method.
"These people did not see the war, they did not participate in the war and they cannot come to terms with why their situation will be like this in Nigeria, why the entire Igbo area will be so neglected. They can’t understand why they will go to the universities, acquire degrees, come out and be condemned to riding Okada for survival. And one man (Ojukwu) who had left every comfort available to him to identify with the downtrodden is being threatened with unwarranted arrest and possible elimination.
"The general feeling is that Igbo people are not wanted in Nigeria, no matter how hard they tried, so they (Igbos abroad) have planned a number of civilised actions. There would be demonstration in the week ahead in the capital cities of Britain, U.S.A. and Canada. They are also contacting the Igbo in the other capital cities in other countries, in Europe and the entire America to do the same.
"I personally lodged formal complaint with the American State Department and with the Home Office of the British government in London. And I am happy that the American State Department has promptly responded to that complaint."
Reiterating its position that it is the turn of the South East to produce the next president in 2007, Ohanaeze said the development would bring fairness, equity and justice to the polity.
President General of Ohanaeze, Prof. Joe Irukwu, (SAN) spoke at a reception organised in his honour by Item Union, Abuja, under the chairmanship of Chief Francis Egu.
Professor Irukwu further disclosed the setting up of a committee on Okija shrines to study the report of the police.
He said that the committee, headed by Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke will upon completion of its assignment, report back to the organisation.
He insisted that power should shift to the South East in 2007, noting that the North has ruled Nigeria for "30 years".
"By the time President Obasanjo finishes in 2007, the South West would have ruled for 12 years. The South East has ruled for six months. We are saying that justice demands that the East must rule, that is simple justice," he stressed.
Professor Irukwu argued that it was high time Nigerians imbibed the Igbo concept of justice and fairness summed up in the saying "Egbe bere, ugo bere," pointing out that it meant "justice for all."
He pledged to commit himself to defending the political and economic interest of Ndigbo, submitting that presidential materials that will be acceptable to Nigerians abound in Igbo land.
Earlier, the chairman of Item Union, Chief Chesa Ogba, said Prof. Irukwu was being honoured because of his position as "a champion of truth for the Igbo nation," saying "a N100 million befitting civic centre" will be built in honour of Irukwu who he described as "a great patriot of our time."
The reception which was well attended, had representatives of Anambra, Imo and Abia state governments present and included former governor of old Anambra, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nwafor-Orizu, a lawyer, has called on Ndigbo and all Nigerians to rally round Dim Ojukwu and let the authorities leave the Ikemba alone.
Speaking at a prayer session, Mr. Nwafor-Orizu made supplications to God for peace in Nigeria.
He described Dim Ojukwu as a great Nigerian nationalist and Igbo leader.
He said although he does not believe in MASSOB, Ojukwu, however, has the right to express an opinion.
According to him, MASSOB is a non-violent organisation.
"They are only talking, or is it a crime to express an opinion? Except it is shown that MASSOB is an armed organisation like Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) or Bakassi, then and only then will all of us raise eyebrows to their views on Biafra," he said.
APGA chief backs Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Group condemns refusal to meet SSS
Daily Champion
20th September 2004
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
NATIONAL Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has cautioned the State Security Service (SSS) against any attempt to arrest Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Okorie yesterday in Enugu warned that such action might elicit negative reactions from the Igbo.
However, a group, the Commission for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (CEHN), has condemned Odumegwu-Ojukwu's refusal to honour the invitation of the SSS.
The group warned that if allowed, it would set "a dangerous precedent".
According to Okorie, Odumegwu-Ojukwu is seen by the Igbo as representing the symbol of their struggle for survival in Nigeria.
The APGA chief spoke in apparent reference to a statement allegedly issued by the security operatives that the ex-Biafran leaders had a case to answer.
He cautioned the Federal Government to handle the matter with care as the Igbo, especially the youths, would do anything to defend the APGA presidential candidate in the last general elections.
An unnamed official of the SSS had insisted at the weekend that Odumegwu-Ojukwu had an outstanding issue to clear with the service. He added that Odumegwu-Ojukwu should make himself available to clear it.
Okorie said that the disenchantment across the land over the incident was a pointer that the people were ready to resist further intimidation of the Ikemba.
According to him, "if Odumegwu-Ojukwu is arrested on the basis of the opinion he expressed, some of us who are now elders may take the constitutional means of seeking redress. I cannot guarantee that the youths who now outnumber us by very good margin will be patient enough to follow that same method. They are going to regard it as declaration of war and they will fight.
"These people did not see the war, I mean those born in the seventies and they are now in the majority. So we are saying that the young parents of today among Igbo people did not participate in the war and they cannot come to terms with why the situation should be like this in Nigeria.
"I don't think they will be able to accommodate that provocation and that is why people are cautioning the government to thread carefully," Okorie said.
He pointed out that in spite of the fact that Ndigbo have no intention of embarking on another secession, successive governments in the country have continued to treat them as second-class citizens.
He alleged that President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration had worsened the situation.
He disclosed that a number of civilised actions would come on in the weeks ahead in the capital cities of Britain, United States (U.S.) and Canada to draw international attention to what may likely lead to a confrontation in Nigeria.
Decrying the series of ethnic agitation across the country, Mr. Allen Onyema, the group's chairman in a statement called on Odumegwu-Ojukwu "to obey the laws of the land."
"We condemn Odumegwu-Ojukwu's stance not to obey an invitation from a constituted authority. It will be a dangerous precedent if he is allowed to intimidate the government through ethnic blackmail," Onyema said.
The APGA presidential candidate had last week said he would not honour the SSS invitation, which he described as "spurious."
The CEHN, however, offered to accompany Odumegwu-Ojukwu to the SSS as witnesses if he was in doubt of his safety.
Flaying the Ohanaeze for its "support to blatant disobedience to constituted authority", Onyema said: "An invitation is a civilised way of doing things. Ethnicity has been, and is still, the bane of our development. Leaders drum up ethnic sentiments once they find themselves on the wrong side of the law."
NewAge
20th September 2004
By Gabriel Enogholase, Enugu
As the face-off between Ikemba Nnewi Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and the State Security Service (SSS) continues to dominate the nation's political discourse, the former Biafran leader at the weekend said that his comments on various national issues were the same issues that dominated the Aburi Conference of Nigerian leaders in 1967.
The conference at Aburi, Ghana was held under the auspices of the Ghanaian government and appeared to propose a very loose federation for Nigeria. Its conclusion were however in dispute in the inexorable build up to the civil war which broke out soon after.
He explained that it was the non- resolution of these issues which he listed to include the marginalisation of the Igbo race in the country in revenue sharing; true federalism, convocation of a sovereign national conference to discuss how Nigerians wants to live among others that led to the Nigerian civil war.
Ojukwu who spoke at his Isi-Uzo street residence in Enugu on Saturday morning while receiving members of the Igbo Freedom Movement (IFM) who paid a solidarity visit, said, "what I am talking about today is not new. This is what we talked about in a roundtable conference at Aburi some years ago during our meeting in the Ghanaian city.
"God did not make a mistake in creating Ndigbo and creating the Hausas and Yorubas beside them. I did not have anything against Nigerians or the Nigerian government, What I am saying is that the eagle should perch and let the kite perch as well".
While saying that all ethnic nationalities in the country should be allowed to have a fair share of the common wealth of the nation, the former All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) Presidential candidate in the last general elections, commended the IFM for the visit and extolled them to keep the flag of Igbo emancipation flying.
Eariler in their solidarity message, National President of the Igbo Freedom Movement (IFM) Agu Igwekani blamed Ndigbo's flirting with the Obasanjo led government as responsible for the betrayal of the non-realization of Ndigbo's genuine desires, but however added that the IFM would no longer fold their arms and watch the trend continue.
"We are aware that this present ordeal is not unconnected with your recent interview with a national magazine in which you expressed support for the activities of agitators for Biafra and condemnation of the unending marginalization of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
Ojukwu Versus The State...
Who blinks first?
It's a familiar path. A path he abandoned (or was compelled to abandon)34 years ago. It's a journey he verily understands the terrain, with all the bends, signposts and pot holes on the way. Fierce, blunt and courageous, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is not one to shy away from a fight as soon as he has sufficient conviction on the course he has chosen. But he is also wise enough to know when to pull a punch and when not to. He knows how and when to fight and run away so he can fight another day. Has that day come? Perhaps yes. Perhaps no. But a cocktail of an impending duel is heavy on the sky. The verbal exchanges between Dim Ojukwu and his inviters (permit the inflection)-- the State Security Services (SSS) are increasing in tempo and substance. So is the tension. But why the invitation? It is not invitation for a plate of Nkuobi over a gourd of palm wine. The SSS has no such friendly credential. Although they labour to be courteous a lot of times, the SSS extends invitations to those they fear or suspect will spin holes into the ship of state. Ojukwu's invitation may not be unconnected with the interview he granted a weekly magazine, Newswatch where he declared support for MASSOB. So it is on security matters. Security! That gazetted metaphor for state stronghandedness. That is why nobody gleefully receives an invitation from the SSS. More often, it is a preface to trouble. But because they have the instruments of power, and thus force, most people choicelessly honour their invitations, albeit with trepidation. For it could be a journey of no return or of a delayed return. The Ikemba Nnewi knows this much. He understands the language of the system, especially when the SSS has become desperate in barring its fangs to reveal its thinly-covered pre-democracy anatomy. In recent times, the rather bottled (but brightening) human rights records of the government had been exploding in a confetti of exclamation marks to indicate that the amber light is on. With a feverish bid to protect an individual more and above state, any invitation from the body will indeed be scaring. And that was the mindset of Chief Ojukwu, when he received the invitation. Although he was said to have initially been inclined to honouring it, he was to moderate his disposition after some consultations, especially as the SSS "envoy" was described as a faceless and data-less fellow. Ojukwu not only turned down the invitation, he raised an alarm that there was a plot to kill him, given the gale and nuggets of inexplicable killings in the country. That alarm, as it were, has drawn a line on the ground between Ojukwu and the SSS. The SSS has threatened to employ some other legal means to get Ojukwu into its nest. The so-called "other legal means" is all a dancing euphemism for arrest. So will the State move against Ojukwu and save face? Will it back down and lose face? Ojukwu is no small fry. Not just a quantity. He is a core figure in the geo-political matrix of the nation. He has a title of Eze-Igbo Gburugburu (king of the entire Igbo nation), he is the human totem of the Igbo man. Caution would have been the denominating guide, but that has been lost, or so it seems. If he is arrested, it may only activate the rebellious tendencies of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), and consummately inflame the cylinders of violence in the country. The Igbo nation may take it as Act Two, Scene one of an affront against them again. Already, the United States of America (according to media reports) has advised caution, so have some other local and international agencies and organisations. Eddy Odivwri examines the socio-political fireworks between the state and Ojukwu, and asks: Who blinks first?
He was a young articulate and brilliant fellow. Beside the natural endowments of high intellectual content, young Emeka Ojukwu had the good fortune to have been born by a very wealthy and influential Igbo businessman, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu. Famed as the first and only millionaire in Nigeria at the time, Louis ensured his son got the very best of education, wherever it was available in the world.
Little wonder that Emeka was sent to the elitist Oxford University, an institution meant exclusively for the nobles and Aristocrats of Great Britain. Emeka was in their midst. Although he was meant to read Law, but it was the early show of his rebellious spirit that he changed from reading Law to reading History, a realisation that did not sit well with his father.
And if you listen to Ojukwu today discuss any issue, one cannot but be arrested with the profoundness of his deep reasoning and thoughts and not without noticing the delicate phonetic rendition of his speech pattern -- one of the enduring signatures of the Oxford touch.
After his studies, up to Master's Degree level, Emeka returned to Nigeria and offered to join the British civil service just like any other applicant at the time. His father had wanted him to join in running the family business at the time. But Emeka refused. He surprisingly chose to serve in the rural areas of the Eastern region, to the chagrin of many including his father. But he enjoyed the rural and communal fellowship and union with his less-endowed kinsmen.
He was doing the job with some good measure of excitement, and meritoriously grew to become an Assistant District Officer. After his service in Aba, the British authorities then transferred him to Calabar , but his father will not hear of it, believing that the legendary 'Calabar women' will completely despoil his British brought-up son. But Emeka was willing and indeed determined to go to Calabar, yet the father will not allow him. In frustration, he offered to join the army and be off his father's guiding noose. The option of joining the army was alarming to the father.
With his masters degree at the time, Emeka was billed to join the Army as an officer. But his father used his connection and influence to block Emeka from joining as an officer, believing, wrongly though, that that will discourage Emeka from joining. But he was wrong. Emeka went through the whole gamut , gratuitously enlisting as a recruit even with his Master's degree. It was a strange streak of determination for a Master's Degree holder to stoop to become an army recruit at a time even Primary Six holders were considered sufficiently qualified to join the army as recruits. It riled his father to no end. He soon gave up on his beloved son.
While in the army, Emeka shone distinctly from the recruit crowd. He impressed his superiors and distinguished himself in several aspects of the military life and career. In no time he began a meritorious rise and it was when he became a Major that his father now came congratulating him for attaining such a remarkable rank. The rank of a Major was significant to Sir Louis. His own father had been harassed and disgraced in a market square by a Major at the time. Nobody could challenge the almighty major. So, for his own son to attain the rank of a Major, Louis considered it a landmark feat.
The Biafran Struggle...
The Biafran revolution was mainly a reaction to what was perceived as a loss of confidence on the Nigerian state by the Igbos of the country. This feeling was essentially provoked by the killings that followed the 1966 coup and the arising counter coup same year. A lot of the victims of the massacre were Igbos. The fear that the Igbos were now an endangered specie in their country was palpable.
Ojukwu, at the time, was the highest ranking Military officer of Igbo extraction in the army then. He was a colonel at the time.
He had run against the grain of the elite military corps earlier when he opposed the naming of then Col Yakubu Gowon as a replacement for the assassinated Head of State, Maj Gen Aguiyi Ironsi. Ojukwu had preferred then Brigadier Ogundipe, being the next highest ranking officer. But the rest of the corps chose Gowon, and Gowon became the Head of State. The bad blood created by his objection to Gowon's ascendancy only prepared the ground for the impending angst arising from the killings.
Then heading a battalion of the army in Kano, Ojukwu was facing tremendous pressure from his kinsmen to arm them so they can protect and defend themselves, since, in their own reading, they had been programmed for elimination. Ojukwu nyem egbe (Ojukwu give me gun) was the catch phrase that stoke the fire of the war. Several peace initiatives of the Gowon-led administration could not actually arrest the drift.
Ojukwu was to declare state of Biafra and announced that the Igbos were willing to fight for self determination, since the Nigerian federation could no longer guarantee the Igbo man or woman of national security. And that was it. The bean was spilled. In no distant time the nation's skyline was thickened and darkened by the billows of war. Ojukwu was at the epicentre of it all. He had assumed the position of the Head of State of the Federal Republic of Biafra with all its territorial consequences. It took the superior Federal troupe about 30 months to quell the war. But not before egregious human and material casualties have been recorded on both sides. Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle alias Black Scorpion actually ended the war.
But before the final surrender of the Biafran army by now late Philip Effiong to then Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo, Ojukwu, wishing to save face, had fled the country to Ivory Coast on exile in the twilight of the war.
Today, 34 years after, Nigeria yet bear the scary scars of the war in several ways, which intermittently cakes open and emits foul odour of an ill-treated wound. The resurgence of the Biafran Agitation five years ago, through the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a proof of the fact.
Ojukwu's Return from Exile
While on exile Ojukwu tried his hands on some business ventures like transportation. He was comfortable. But he was missing home. Democracy had returned to Nigeria at the time. An Igbo man, Dr Alex Ekwueme was the number two citizen at the time. Together with late Dr Chuba Okadigbo, then Political Adviser to President Shehu Shagari , a complete pardon was arranged for Ojukwu. And by June 18, 1982, Ojukwu in all his splendour made a grand triumphal return to his father land. It was a colourful ceremony. It enlivened the Igbo nation once again. Since then, Ojukwu has been in the furtive search for the shortest route to power and influence.
His Political Foray...
At the time he returned, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the government in power. That was the party that granted him the pardon and made his return smooth and colourful.
For a good measure of recompense, Ojukwu joined the NPN, against the popular grain of the Nigerian's People's Party (NPP), which was not only being led by late Nnamdi Azikiwe, his kinsman, but also the party in control of his (Ojukwu's) home state, the old Anambra state. The ruckus ululation of the Great Ikemba Nnewi was only for his return. Not his political ambition. That was why Ojukwu was dumped by the people of his senatorial district when he sought to go to the senate in 1983. An unknown NPP man trounced Ojukwu.
In the cold, he decided to quit politics. But it was not for long.
When in 1992, the Babangida administration began his weird political transition programme, by registering two political parties: National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ojukwu joined the latter.
His eyes were trained on the presidency. But his was a hard luck. The "Evil Genius" was on the throne with a huge deep bag of trickery. Predictably, security reports on the Presidential aspirants did not favour Ojukwu. It was a tribute to Babangida's foxy scheme that even those favoured by the so-called security reports had their presidential ambitions realisable only in their homesteads.
After the disqualification of the 23 presidential aspirants by the Babangida administration on some phony reasons, Ojukwu remained in the SDP.
But he called it quit with the party, when late Chief MKO Abiola came on stage as the party's presidential candidate and went ahead to pick Ambassador Babagana Kingibe as his running mate.
He was thus floating politically until that experiment convulsed to a stop.
Then when late Gen Sani Abacha assumed the reins of government, Ojukwu was named to participate in the 1995 constitutional conference. He did. And he seemed to have struck some strong chords of amity with the late Abacha.
At the end of the constitutional conference, Ojukwu along with Barnabas Gemade, became the founding fathers of the defunct Congress for National Consensus (CNC). It was significant that Ojukwu was in a group that stood almost for nothing but some weird compromising consensus. For his support of the Abacha government, Ojukwu got some perks. He was allocated some two Toll plazas by the Abacha government. He operated the toll gates until Obasanjo became President in 1999 and later scrapped the business off Ojukwu's hands.
When the CNC era collapsed, Ojukwu was around again in the next political dispensation. He picked his steps into the then All Peoples Party (APP), derisively called Abacha's People's Party. He had merely remained an elder of the party without much of expressed political ambition.
But when more political parties were registered by the INEC in 2002, Ojukwu's All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) was lucky. That re-awakened Ojukwu's presidential dream. He soon became the presidential candidate of the party. He ran for the election but lost, although he is yet contesting the outcome of that election at the election tribunal.
In all, Ojukwu may well approximate the totality of the Igbo ideology and vision. But that is where his admiration ends. Ojukwu has, since 1982, when he returned, not been able to show a political direction to the Igbos. The mass of the people probably do not believe in his political measures. That is why he has not been able to win any election since he returned. That is why he has not been able to clinch power at any level since then. Not even his supposed popular APGA could make any meaningful impact in the last election. Although many believe that but for the wild manipulations of the polls, APGA would have been credited with more electoral successes than was posted in 2003.
MASSOB and the Biafran Echoes
Five years ago, a previously unknown Ralph Uwazurike came up with the idea of MASSOB. That it will be the new vehicle to realise the Biafran dream. Nobody took him serious. With a rather blank past, Uwazurike was a stranger on the Biafran project. But over the years, the MASSOB phenomenon had assumed a bigger-than-imagined status.
It has claimed that it was ready to tackle grit-for-grit every form of repression by the Nigeria state.
With the constant news of the MASSOB idea, the Igbos were once again, tickled pink with the oodles of a revolution.
Almost all the elected Igbo leaders like the south-east Governors had disassociated themselves from the MASSOB idea. Even Ojukwu who was earlier on indifferent to the birth of MASSOB was later to distance himself from the group. In years 2000, at Ilorin after and APP executive meeting, Ojukwu had told reporters that "I do not believe today in year 2000 that the answer is a hasty proclamation of the Republic of Biafra. I don't think so. The young men who are calling for Biafra again, are people who are dissatisfied with the situation in Nigeria as it is." He had explained at that forum that although he had erased the Biafran concept from his mind completely, the Biafran he believed in presently was a psychological one that must eventually triumph.
Although he said he did not believe in the Uwazurike's idea of Biafra, Ojukwu graced the opening of the Biafra House in Washington DC in year 2001, just one year after Ojukwu disowned the group. The House was built by a foundation which facilitates the idea of the group in America and the rest of Europe.
It is against that background that Ojukwu's recent declaration of support for the MASSOB befuddles analysts. When asked by Newswatch, a weekly magazine, if Biafra was still realisable he enthused: "You can have Biafra. Why not? All you need do is to get a lot of trained personnel, get arms and ammunition, get good command charter, go and fight for it and you will get it."
He explained that the reasons for which the Igbos went to war were still prevalent in the polity, a seeming justification for his latter day support for MASSOB.
"The reason the people went to war still remains. And they don't seem to see any way out. And they say to themselves, Biafra might be better."
Ojukwu, who admitted being a patron of MASSOB, claimed that the various constituent states in the proposed Biafran republic "feel stronger (about Biafra) than during the war."
But beyond shallow noise making Uwazurike has inched some meters ahead in pursuit of his wild Biafra. Already there are all manners of Biafran mementos and symbols of sovereignty like Biafran flag, Biafran currency, Biafran anthem etc just as there are such items like face caps, badges crests, all emblazoned with the Biafran symbol of palm tree etc.
What's more. there is a rumoured frequency of Radio Biafra and Voice of Biafra both in Washington DC, just as the group has a Bill of Rights which summarises its demands from the Nigerian federation.
What The Igbos Want
The Igbos for about two decades now have popularised the word marginalisation. There is a palpable feeling that 34 years after the war ended, "some people are still in the trenches seeking and plotting how to undo the Igbo nation. Those who share this belief argue that the amount of neglect suffered by the Igbos in the country is monumental and can only be an undeclared extension of the Biafran war. They point to the terrible road network in the east. They point to the near Federal presence in the east. They point to the deliberate anti-Igbo political schemes in the country. But the Federal Government believe it has changed the story line of the Igbos especially wit the renewed efforts at reconstructing the south-eastern roads.
Ojukwu put it this way: "those who are comfortable I know them. I understand them. I respect them as co-patriots. But I find that their comfort is at my expense... I am not comfortable. "
Likening the Igbos to the Biblical Jonah in the belly of the whale, Ojukwu said: "The whale is very satisfied because its belly is full. He will digest as he wishes. But one thing we can be sure of is that Jonah is not comfortable at all inside that dark belly. This is the sort of thing that happens in Nigeria."
And one present signpost of that "darkness" is the seeming elusiveness of a President of an Igbo extraction. Already, there is a grit battle for which zone of the country will produce the nation's president in 2007.
In times past, the quest for a president from the south-east was described by an Igbo minister as "idiotic" and they have thus always aligned with power brackets outside the zone. Not even when Ekwueme contested the PDP primaries in 2003 was he supported by even his kinsmen.
Indeed, as the Yorubas will say, "the termite destroying the vegetable leaf is right inside the vegetable itself". and that is the greatest threat to the realisation of the Igbo dream in Nigeria.
But Ojukwu insists that the Igbos deserve to be treated not as second class citizens and be given a good sense of belonging in the Nigeria project.
State Security Service
Fulfilling one of the promises made in his first national address as military president, Babangida in June 1986 issued Decree Number 19, dissolving the NSO and restructuring Nigeria's security services into three separate organizations under the Office of the Co-ordinator of National Security. The new State Security Service (SSS) was responsible for intelligence within Nigeria. Babangida scrapped Decree Number 4 and reduced the punishment for drug traffickers from public execution to jail terms and he annulled the proscription of "radical" groups such as the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). They were populist moves to gain acceptance at the time.
Although the notorious NSO was dissolved, the new security establishment in 1990 continued to act arbitrarily and with impunity. The government proscribed radical interest groups like NANS and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the central body of all university professors and lecturers. Several innocent citizens were subjected to physical assault without government reparations. Human rights remained substantially circumscribed. Decree Number 2 remained in place, and numerous citizens had been incarcerated under it, although the allowable period of detention without charge was reduced from six months to six weeks in January 1990. With the aid of this and other decrees that restricted freedom, usually promulgated retrospectively, such radical and outspoken critics of the government as Gani Fawehinmi, Tai Solarin, and Balarabe Musa were regularly detained. Despite having repealed Decree Number 4, the government had several brushes with media organizations. In 1987 Newswatch was proscribed for six months, and journalists, academics, and civil rights activists continued to be harassed by state security agents. The civil society ceaselessly had excess dose of brutality and human rights abuse from the security agencies. And because it was military government, they all went unchallenged.
Government security forces frequently harassed, arrested, and detained editors and reporters from publications critical of the regime. On November 4, 1997 Adetokunbo Fakeye, defense correspondent for The News, was arrested. On November 8, Jenkins Alumona, editor of The News, was arrested by SSS agents at a Lagos television station. On November 9, Onome Osifo-Whiskey, managing editor of Tell magazine, was arrested by SSS agents in Lagos while driving to church with his children. On October 29, Osifo-Whiskey had warned that the magazine had received a written death threat, which listed the names of 27 staff members. On November 16, SSS agents arrested Babafemi Ojudu, editor of the News/Tempo. Rafiu Salau, an administration editor for the News/Tempo, was also arrested in mid-November. Former chairman of the editorial board of the daily The Guardian and a visiting professor of journalism at a US university, Olatunji Dare, was detained overnight and his passport seized upon his arrival from the United States on 02 June 1997. He was told to report to the SSS to retrieve his passport.
The Government represses the political activities of opposition groups. Public meetings are arbitrarily cancelled or prevented, including cultural events, academic conferences, and human rights meetings, so much that on several occasions, political groups on suspecting that the SSS men stealthily walked into their meetings suspended their discussions, and turned the gathering to religious forums singing church choruses and such other strange decoy acts.
On 25 September 1997, police and SSS agents broke up a Human Rights Africa (HRA) seminar for students in Jos, arrested HARA director Tunji Abayomi and four others, and briefly detained some 70 students. Abayomi and the others were held for 10 days and then released on bail. On May 1 1998 workshop on conflict management in Port Harcourt was canceled when the SSS warned local co-ordinators that such a meeting could not be held on Workers Day, a local holiday.
New Wave of SSS Harassment...
Before now the SSS had seemed actually reformed with a new attitude to the civil society. It had become a people-friendly organisation, with its occasional forum with media men to explain certain government policies and the like. But there seems a renewed bid to take Nigerians back to point origin: the temple of torture and offence. And that is why there is a red-eye treatment of groups perceived as being critical of those in government, particularly the President.
That perhaps explains the recent raid of the Insider Weekly where the Police have arrested three of the staff of Insider Weekly magazine, which has published stories critical of the government. Officers from the State Security Service (SSS) raided the magazine's offices on 4 and 5 September, arresting the production manager, distribution officer and a security guard. All are detained incommunicado, without charge, at an unknown location, and are at grave risk of torture, all in clear breach of constitutional provisions in the country. The editor-in-chief, and other journalists from the magazine, have gone underground to escape being arrested.
Production manager Raphael Olatoye was arrested on 4 September, by SSS officers who seized property, including computers, files and copies of the forthcoming issue of the magazine. They returned the following day, and arrested distribution officer Cyril Mbamulu and the security guard.
Insider Weekly has been reporting extensively on protests by Nigeria's only trade union, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), against legislation proposed by President Obasanjo, which would break the NLC up into several smaller unions.
On 4 September, the SSS issued a statement, pointing out that the crackdown on Insider Weekly had been launched because of attacks on the character and ideals of the President., and not necessarily compromising the security of the nation.
The SSS officers are now occupying the building, and have changed the locks. T
The Nigerian security forces, including the SSS, have a long history of harassing, intimidating and unlawfully arresting journalists and activists.
On 29 April they arrested Buba Galadima, who is a member of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and chairman of its mobilisation committee, at his office. He was to have taken part in an anti-government protest scheduled for 3 May. He was released on 13 May, after the Ministry of Justice had told Amnesty International that it had received a great number of letters from Amnesty members.
In the last year, pro-democracy demonstrations have been hindered, with the police refusing permission for marches to go ahead. Pro-democracy activists are highly critical of President Obasanjo's government. They are protesting over a range of issues, including election-rigging, corruption, poverty and crime.
Human rights organisations and human rights defenders have increasingly found themselves under surveillance, in particular those who are critical of the government of President Obasanjo. And they all indicate a poor despatch from the military era.
Ojukwu, Security and the SSS
The fact that the SSS invitation to Ojukwu came shortly after the publication of the Newswatch interview indicates that the invitation may not be unconnected with his pronouncements especially in the area where he not only declared support for MASSOB but also gave insight about the military readiness needed for the planned revolution.
After receiving pardon for what was clear treason, which indeed, cost the nation incalculable human and material losses, did Ojukwu need to fan the embers, albeit tacitly, the embers of the Biafran dream? By his pronouncements, did he breach or compromise security network in the land? Was he just theoritising, or was he working out a martial plan for another "strike"? After dissociating himself from MASSOB in 2000, why is he now convinced that MASSOB is indeed realisable? Is he indeed sufficiently frustrated as to seek armed rebellion as the only way out ? Is his likely frustration the failure of government to accede to the proposal for a national conference?
And if Ojukwu is invited by the SSS, the agent of the state, why will he refuse to honour the invitation? Should the state behold to him or he should behold to the state? But was the invitation properly channeled? Was Ojukwu treated with the value of an elder statesman that he is by the SSS? Has the SSS demonstrated its objectiveness that will command respect from the public? has the SSS not been reduced to a political tool for hounding political opponents of the ruling party and persons? In other words, does the SSS still command the confidence of Nigerians? Indeed, the use to which the SSS was put in the days of the military is yet fresh in the heart of Nigerians; not the least the recent illegal crack down on media organisations.
Understandably Ojukwu has alleged that there is plot to kill him, hence he turned down the invitation. He has dared the Federal Government to arrest him if he has committed any offence, stressing that he is prepared to meet a properly delegated team from the SSS in his "humble abode". The SSS has also reacted making some derisive allusions to the person of Ojukwu. And now the die is cast... Where do we go from here? Who will blink first?
Source: ThisDay, 18th September 2004.
By Ike Abonyi
The invitation extended to the Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2003 general election Ikemba Nnewi Chukwumeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu by the State Security Service (SSS) has since heated up the polity. The tension followed the alarm raised by Chief Ojukwu during the week that the federal government had directed the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) and the SSS to assassinate him and the invisible leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazurike.
Even as Chief Ojukwu is yet to substantiate the very grave allegation, the effect has continued to dominate the discourse at the political arena.
The denial by the SSS that there was no such move to either assassinate or arrest Ojukwu could not mellow the situation especially when the SSS hinted that it could confront Ojukwu through other means, not excluding arrest.
It is not for nothing that the issue is generating all the noise, Ojukwu is the most popular political figure in Igboland at the moment, and any issue concerning him attracts all the attention especially when it involves threat to life.
The apparent empathy for Ojukwu on the issue also stems from the perception that he is being harrassed for identifying with a Quasi-Political group that has endeared itself to the people. The relevance of MASSOB in the geo-political area increased soon after the intransparent general election of 2003 that saw the peoples mandate turned upside down.
In absence of a viable opposition following the squizzing of all political parties - the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and others, MASSOB became the rallying point to challenge the arrogance and glaring insensitivity of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Also, the non-biting characteristics of the umbrella socio-political group of Ndigbo -- the Ohanaeze helped to enhance the relevance of MASSOB among the Igbos.
So the Ojukwu-SSS tango has brought the people to begin to think back at so many outstanding issues. To some of them, the SSS action is an extension of the denial of mandate which was demonstrated through the PDP in the 2003. As a result of the full memory of the election is being brought back.
Not a few of the people are feeling very strongly that harassing Ojukwu is like beating a baby and instructing him not to cry.
While the adult Igbo are careful not to re-enact the memory of the brutal 30 months civil war which ended 34 years ago, the youths most of whom never saw the war appear determined to enforce their rights and MASSOB has been providing them the platform.
The mood of Igbo Youths across the country on the SSS invitation to their idol is that of anger. The Anglican Bishop of Enugu Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma captured the mood of the people when he described the invitation as provocative.
Even the highly conservative mainstream Socio-Political body of Ndigbo, the Ohanaeze could not help but describe the invitation as unwarranted and uncalled for.
Ohanaeze Secretary General Col. Joe Achuzia said that the matter was a smokescreen and an attempt to portray Ndigbo in bad light. According to him, the affront of the SSS on Chief Ojukwu for expressing his personal view is unwarranted.
Giving indications of the danger such actions portends, Col. Achuzia warned that the organisation will not just watch while "our illustrious son" is being vilified as part of anti-Igbo politics.
Ohanaeze noted that Ojukwu's expression of support for the peaceful activities of MASSOB did not in any way necessitate the panic being demonstrated by the government through the Security operatives.
Sensing that any untoward move by the government against Ojukwu might illicit unholy reaction from Igbo youths, Col. Achuze declared: "I don't believe that the government will allow the situation to degenerate to where there will be confrontation between Igbo youths and the federal might."
Reports from the South-East and among Ndigbo in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and other big cities in the country indicate that MASSOB have been mobilising in their non-confrontational manner to resist any arrest of their idol. Thisday learnt that MASSOB members have been keeping vigil at the Ojukwu independence layout home in Enugu anticipating that the SSS will eventually come for him.
They are also mobilising their members across the country to send a delegation to Enugu in solidarity with the embattled former Biafra leader.
Even as the youths mobilise to support Ojukwu, the ruling PDP members are approaching the development cautiously. Some selfish and ambitious ones are frowning at the development as they see it as an impediment to their presidential or vice presidential ambition in 2007. As they fear that other parts of the country would be uncomfortable with Ndigbo. they are afraid to make their views public for fear of attack by the angry youths.
But Ohanaeze views it differently. For them, the hype being given Ojukwu's statement supporting MASSOB is deliberate and a gimmick to frustrate the ambition of Ndigbo to produce Nigeria president in 2007.
"For the past two months, since the issue of presidency came to light, everything is being done to make the country feel as if there is danger facing our corporate existence. We consider all this a smokescreen and an attempt to say that Igbo man was not capable of producing the president for this country come 2007," Col Achuzih declared. Governor Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State whose statesmanship has been profound lately especially on issues concerning Ndigbo, told PDP caucus in Umuahia, Abia State recently that the August 26 successful protest of MASSOB puts more burden on them the political leaders to unite and perform in their delivery of dividends to the people.
In Anambra, the home state of Chief Ojukwu which has remained a specimen of the 2003 general elections disaster, the reaction to the latest development is different. A cross section of the people are worried that the SSS-Ojukwu tango many finally dim their hope of getting even a belated justice at the election tribunal where APGA gubernational candidate Peter Obi is challenging PDP's victory in the April 19, 2003 poll.
The fear is strong that since Ojukwu is seen as the leader and inspiration of APGA, it is most unlikely that the Federal Government would allow victory come the way of Mr Obi.
In the South East generally the mood is that of anger especially when they attempt to situate Ojukwu and MASSOB problems with similar persons, and organisations in other parts of the country.
The people are wondering why factional leader of ethnic body, the Oodua Peoples congress (OPC) Mr Ganiyu Adams should be given federal appointment as ambassador of peace while the MASSOB leader Chief Uwazurike pursuing similar ethnic agenda is being vilified as rebel. The statement of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr Olujimi even provoked the people more when he acknowledged that OPC disturbs public peace while MASSOB is seen as a threat to the nation.
On another plank, the people are apprehensive for the life of Ojukwu whom they see as occupying a position that is very strategic to the survival of Ndigbo in Nigeria. It is this fear that made them claim that the security operatives were planning to eliminate Ojukwu the same way and manner noteable Nigerians like former Chief of Stenff Supreme Headquarters Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua and the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election Chief Moshood Abiola were extinguished.
What is certain is that either way the on-going squabbles goes either in favour of Ojukwu or the SSS, the truth remains that the minds of average Igbo person have further been polluted and rather than erase the spirit of the civil war, the development reinforces it.
If the intention of the security operatives in going after Ojukwu and MASSOB was to strangulate and erase in the minds of Ndigbo everything about Biafria, they may have in the process achieved the opposite.
Source: ThisDay, 18th September 2004.
Between Obasanjo and Ojukwu...
It's a lifetime of little friendship and much enmity, writes Adeyeye Joseph
As the Nigerian Civil War reeled towards an anti-climatic end in the last days of December, 1969, an unusual figure emerged as its foremost hero. It was the rotund, slightly impish, potentially portly and recently appointed Commander of the 3rd Marine Commando, Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo's daring plan to rush federal troops into a headlong pursuit of Biafran troops, while a merciless artillery barrage kept them from regrouping, won the war. But it never got him the prize he coveted most.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the head of state of Biafra was that prize. In Obasanjo's estimation nothing short of the outright capture of Ojukwu could qualify as a befitting end to the war.
Hence, as Obasanjo's men raced towards Umuahia, the last outpost in Ojukwu's greatly diminished territory, an advance squad had instructions to spare no effort in ensuring the capture of Ojukwu. They were also to make sure that no harm befell him. But Ojukwu was lucky. Much more than the 2 million Nigerians that lost their lives in the war. His canny wits and adroitness kept him out Obasanjo's clutches. He escaped to Ivory Coast.
And even though Obasanjo would later earn fame, adulation and even an ancient Egba war title as a result of his war exploits, Ojukwu's flight to safety rankled.
In his eyes, he perhaps disappointed many others even much more than himself. As Obasanjo later remembered in his war memoirs, My Command, "Several times I heard wounded soldiers saying to me, 'Oga, na you and me go end this war and capture Ojukwu'."
Obasanjo wrote that he wanted Ojukwu captured so as to ensure that his death would not be turned into a martyrdom that would reignite the embers of rebellion, again.
Almost three decades after the embers are glowing again. And at the centre, variously trying to either fan it, or douse it are the two men whose paths have crossed more than once.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, while Ojukwu cooled his heels in exile, Obasanjo bestrode the corridors of power. Riding on the waves of his exploits at the War front Obasanjo headed the Corps of Engineers, became Works (federal) commissioner, Murtala's deputy and eventually head of state.
His path and that of Ojukwu crossed again in 1979.
As preparations for the politicking of the Second Republic gathered momentum, a delegation of Great Nigerian Peoples Party (GNPP) stalwarts approached Ojukwu in Ivory Coast where he was in exile.
The delegation wanted him to contest and represent Nnewi at the soon-to-be-formed National Assembly. According to Frederick Forsyth in his book, Emeka, "The moment the candidature was announced security officials flooded Nnewi and FEDECO immediately quashed the candidature as null and void."
Ojukwu's reaction, to what was obviously an Obasanjo-government sanctioned move, at the time was brief and even though it was pregnant with meaning, it offered little insight.
"I am not terribly surprised one cannot expect too much," Ojukwu told Forsyth. "In any case it gave Obasanjo a nasty fright which cannot be a bad thing."
But many years down the line light came. In the course of the explosive interview, he granted Newswatch Ojukwu made an allusion to the event of 1979.
When his interviewers asked him for the rationale behind FEDECO's decision to stop him from contesting, he replied that it was because "your friend felt I was going to become Senate President." That reference, experts say, was to President Obasanjo who apart from being close to the journalist owners of Newswatch is also the personal friend of one of the interviewers.
Sources have contended that Obasanjo's attitude towards Ojukwu is tinged by his belief that it was Ojukwu's excessive ambition that led to the civil war. In his memoirs, Obasanjo who had scathing remarks for Ojukwu, premised his refusal to explore peaceful means to resolve the post-civil war crisis to the latter's desire to rule Nigeria at all cost.
"Ojukwu was adamant, obstinate and obdurate. He refused to attend the Supreme Military Council meeting called in March in Benin city, Nigeria to discuss outstanding issues and deliberate on the budget for the coming fiscal year. If he could not achieve his long cherished ambition of ruling an independent Nigeria, he could break it up and rule an independent and sovereign Biafra. General Obasanjo wrote. But analysts have wondered how Obasanjo expected Ojukwu to have attended a meeting while killings of the Igbos still continued in the North and their killers walked about freely.
In the present political dispensation the two men started out well. During Obasanjo's first term, Ojukwu largely refrained from actions or speeches that could bring him into conflict with Obasanjo.
But that amity was first threatened by their disagreement over the Electoral Act, which the National Assembly surreptitiously passed into law in December 2001. Ojukwu, like many Nigerians, felt angry and cheated.
Ojukwu did not only describe the process as 'daylight robbery', he also threatened that the Igbo would secede. While canvassing a National Conference, Ojukwu said, "I have absolutely no fear that if what Nigeria comes out with from the National Conference is not exactly what we Ndigbo want we may talk about secession. We do not want to break up with Nigera but if you treat us as a goat we will behave like a goat, even like a he goat.
"There is no restructuring that will ever get peace in Nigeria if Ndigbo are not part of the security of the United States of Nigeria. We must first secure ourselves. At any stage we feel we are not part of it we will continue questioning it until we get what we want." Ojukwu's anger stems from his belief that the NA was teleguided into signing the law by Obasanjo.
"Nobody can pretend that the legislature saw the final draft of the bill before it was assented to or approved and as long as nobody showed me that anybody saw the draft bill it was a daylight robbery. What we are looking forward to in this country is to hold a conference that would produce a document which starts with a sentence: we the people of Nigeria have agreed."
Obasanjo's reaction was to label Ojukwu a rascal. And even though the storm of that encounter would die down shortly thereafter, it began raging again after Ojukwu who contested the 2003 presidential elections under the banner of APGA lost the presidential polls, even in its South Eastern strongholds, to the PDP. Ojukwu took the matter to court and the case is still subsisting.
Obasanjo's perception of Ojukwu as an over-ambitious rebellion minded man, which was moulded in the turbulent post independent years, may also have prevented both men from having a worthwhile relationship. That this perception subsists even though the civil war ended decades ago is lent credence by the contents of some of Obasanjo's infamous off-the-cuff outbursts.
At a recent function earlier on in the year at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Obasanjo, while talking about Ojukwu's late deputy in Biafra, Phillip Effiong, described Ojukwu as the 'archrebel'.
On his part, Ojukwu who has consistently refused to regret the course of action he chose at that period has always qualified the Biafra odyssey as one of self-survival.
"We did not go to war to rule Nigeria. We did not go to war to annex Lagos as part of Igbo territory. Only one reason forced us into going into the war - to avoid being exterminated," Ojukwu once told an assembly in Umuahia at the opening of a 2-day colloquium organised by the National Union of True Igbo Movement (NUTIM).
But before either war or politics threw them together, Obasanjo and Ojukwu shared a life.
Ojukwu was Obasanjo's senior in the army. In his autobiography, Because I am Involved, Ojukwu remembered Obasanjo, "as a young officer who joined the 1st Brigade on exercise in Kano. I remembered him well and remember his rather portly presence that never ceased to amuse."
Ojukwu said he and Obasanjo were friends at the time and claimed he had a hand in Obasanjo's decision to change from the Infantry to the Corps of Engineer.
"I had discussed his service prospects with Brigadier Ademulegun who later advised Obasanjo to transfer to the Corps of Engineers. We had been sufficient intimate and since I could not call him Oba I had opted with tongue in cheek to call him Omo-Oba. I remembered him during the Ifeajuna coup. He had just returned from a course and was used as an intermediary between General Ironsi and Major Nzeogwu in Kaduna."
But if Obasanjo has any bone to pick with Ojukwu, it must have started during the period of the intermediary role Obasanjo played between Nzeogwu the leader (not the initiator) of the January 15, 1965 coup and General Aguiyi Ironsi, the major beneficiary.
With the failure of the coup in Lagos, Ironsi took over the reins of power while Nzeogwu held sway in the North. With both sides throwing threats across the Niger, Obasanjo, then a Major, opted to go to Lagos as an intermediary.
The trip started and ended in his (thorough) humiliation. From Kaduna he moved to Kano enroute to Lagos. Ojukwu was the Commander of the 5th Battalion in Kano. And with the air thickened by suspicion and the ground barely dry of the blood of both the army officers and politicians who lost their lives in the coup Ojukwu was not willing to leave anything to chance. Not only was Obasanjo's every action and move watched Ojukwu subjected him to series of questions, which a very sensitive Obasanjo felt were a slight. In Lagos, Ironsi who had already contacted Colonel Conrad Nwawo, Nzeogwu's friend and mentor, to talk the young Major into giving up the fight simply ignored Obasanjo's intermediation.
The indignity Obasanjo believed he suffered in that meeting certainly soured his subsequent relationship with Ojukwu.
But it is unclear if the usually egregious Ojukwu ever noticed what the future head of state took as a slight.
In his book, Because I am Involved, Ojukwu had nothing but praise for Obasanjo.
"If I were to give a confidential report on this great son of Nigeria my verdict would be that 'Here was a man who without being a great statesman in his time grew to become the greatest elder statesman of his time'."
But the anger and bitterness that was the reaction to the PDP 'landslide' victory at the 2003 elections may have destroyed all that amity.
Source: ThisDay, 18th September 2004.