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Tag: Ojukwu

  • Victor Banjo’s daughter: Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him

    Victor Banjo’s daughter: Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him

    Fifty years ago, the late Lt. Col Victor Banjo, the 16th Nigerian to be commissioned into the Nigerian Army, was publicly executed reportedly on the orders of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was then the Military Head of the secessionist Biafra Republic. He was an Ijebu from Ogun State but died fighting on the Biafran side during the Nigerian civil war.
    Banjo was before his death, in detention on allegations that he took part in the January 1966 coup, was released by Ojukwu when the war broke out and convinced to lead part of the Liberation Army, which went on the offensive against the Nigerian Army and got as far as Benin, in present day Edo State. Banjo was to declare another republic upon having Benin under his control.
    In this interview with Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, his daughter, Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Ibadan, recalls how Banjo’s young family was thrown into disarray upon his arrest and detention. She also lamented what she described as the unjust treatment meted out to her father while explaining why she thinks Ojukwu killed his friend, her father.

    How does it feel remembering the events that led to the reported execution of your father (Lt. Col.  Victor Banjo)?

    First and foremost, I must express gratitude to God for keeping us alive and well all these years. Despite the fact that we lost our father while still so young, God has kept us to see this day. We are four children, two boys, two girls. I am the third. We’ve all been able to go through school and acquire degrees. All of us are alive and healthy.

    I thank God for the kind of parents he gave me. Our father died 50 years ago and our mum 20 years ago. She was a widow for 30 years before she also went to be with the Lord. I am proud of them. It was 30 years of struggle and difficulty, but with our late mother determined to fulfil her promise to our dad, we made it.

    My mum was a Creole from Sierra Leone. She gave us the best possible life any child can ask for. We didn’t have money growing up but we had love and security in abundance. However, I still feel that pain that 50 years after my dad’s death, we do not have any official notification about his death from his employers.

    I also feel pained that my father has been treated very unjustly by the people who arrested him, people who kept him in prison, who took his things and had not returned those things even up till now. And by those who treated his immediate family so unjustly by denying us so much while keeping our father unjustly in prison.

    But I still believe in this nation. I had the choice of staying elsewhere than coming to live and work in Nigeria. I spent years in the United States and the United Kingdom training and schooling. I have had the opportunity to lead international organizations abroad. I’ve been severally offered opportunities to apply for international jobs. But I am a firm believer in Nigeria. And people close to me will tell you that I am passionate about this country. I am actively involved in nation building irrespective of what the country did to my father.

    How easy was it for your mum to train four of you after your father’s incarceration and eventual death?

    It wasn’t in anyway easy. It was rough for her. She bore the brunt of the brutality of this nation. She went through the harrowing experience of living in an unjust society. She got no widow’s pension. She got no help. In fact, all my father’s things were taken away from her. She struggled for help and received none. But God was there for her. She focused on the task of raising her children and God helped her.

    At the end of her sojourn here on earth, she had practically nothing. But she had raised four secured children. And I think that is the greatest legacy anybody could leave behind.

    Many reasons have been given for what Ojukwu did to your father. But as his child, why do you think your father was executed by his erstwhile bosom friend?

    I never had the opportunity to meet one on one with Ojukwu before he died. But from my father’s letters which he wrote to us from prison and from what my mum told us, Ojukwu was my father’s friend. They were one of the very few graduates in the Nigerian army at the time, so they were close. I really don’t know why he decided to kill his friend.

    But from what I gathered like I said from my dad’s letters and the many things I read about the incident, my father was a patriot who meant well for this country. He also meant well for the Igbo. In fact, from some of his letters to my mother back then, he spoke out clearly against the massacre of the Igbo back then. His letter of November 14, 1966, which is on page 128 of the book I published for him, he lamented the killings going on in the east.

    He said he would not change the principles he lived for. He said justice and fairness to all should be the basis on which the country should be based on. He said he cannot fail to condemn what he described as the vindictive and vengeful killings of Easterners. He warned that unless the killing stops, the bloodshed will be prolonged for a longer time. He warned the Yoruba of the West not to keep quiet on the killings saying they must not think that they are temporarily safe.

    So, I will say, just like my brother said in one of his write-ups on the social media, Ojukwu used my father as a scapegoat. That is the only imaginable reason why he wasted such a fine soldier and loving father. In September 1967, the Liberation Army, which my father led, had retreated to Enugu and Ojukwu needed to explain the defeats he was suffering to the people of Biafra.

    Why do you think he did that to his friend?

    He conveniently blamed Banjo and three other men. Lt. Col Ifeajuna, Alele and one other for sabotaging the Biafran efforts. He needed to tell the people who were losing faith in him something new as a reason for the defeats. His fear about the imminent fall of Enugu was also driving him to do something. So, on trumped up charges, my father and three other men were tried by a Kangaroo court and killed by firing squad in 1967.

    The trial did not reveal any evidence linking Banjo with any act of treason against Ojukwu or the Biafran government. In fact, it took a second military tribunal to convict Banjo because the first tribunal stated that the evidence presented to it was insufficient to prove Banjo’s guilt in the case. Unsatisfied and not ready to let my father off the hook, Ojukwu constituted another tribunal speedily.

    Apparently, it was a clear case of sacrificing someone as a scapegoat because while my father was looking forward to assisting Ojukwu further with the Biafran war in spite of the huge risk and sacrifice involved for him as a person, Ojukwu was looking for a way of implicating him for sabotage so as to retain the control of the region. Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him.

    It was clear from his letters that my father has been assisting Ojukwu even while he did not believe in the secession. His idea, based on the letters he wrote to my mother, was to fight against, and remove the northern domination of other parts of the country and ensure a free, fair and equitable country where no arm is dominating the others.

    And you don’t think his not agreeing in the secession was a reason he got into trouble with Ojukwu?

    Well, they were friends and friends disagree. They probably must have disagreed on that before then because my father never hid his patriotism. But again, I was told that hours after the execution, Enugu fell.  I am a Professor. Human beings are very fickle. We are wont to always look for excuses. For scapegoats; so, my father was simply the sacrifice.

    He knew my father was up for one Nigeria. Even before drafting him into the war on his side, he knew my father was a patriot who wanted one united Nigeria. After the war we left Nigeria for Sierra Leone but my mother brought us back because my father, in his letters, had insisted we must be raised as Nigerians. So, his patriotism was never in doubt. Ojukwu merely executed him to cover up his own failures as a leader of the war.

    What memories do you have of your late father?

    I have very little in terms of direct memory of him. My father was arrested even before I was three. Although we got to meet him when I was four years old when he was under house arrest in Enugu sometimes in March 1967. But my mother spoke a lot about him. And then, one of the greatest legacies my father left behind were his letters to my mum. Through these letters, I got to know who he was. His letters are rich and deep. Some of them are even in French.

    He spoke on many issues in his letters to my mum. He spoke of deep affection; loyalty; adoration to his family and wife’s anguish at the situation in the country etc. He was a very deep and brilliant man. He was a talent wasted. The memories I have are all mixed up. These are memories of what my mother said and the ones I had of him as a child. And then what I have read from his letters. Above all, he is somebody I have grown to be very proud of.

    Was your father really part of a coup for which he was arrested?

    My father was a solid patriot who will not be a coup plotter. He did not know of, and did not participate in the January 1966 coup for which he was arrested and imprisoned. And it is painful that up till now, nothing has been done to exonerate him of this allegation in spite of the fact that those who participated had severally said publicly that Lt. Col. Banjo was not part of them.

    I was travelling and I sat beside a man. And immediately he knew I was Banjo’s daughter, he said I know him. The man who participated in the 1966 coup. My father was not party to the coup. The authorities know this. Ex Head of State Gen Yakubu Gowon knows this. He is still alive and able to say the truth if he cares about saying the truth for posterity’s sake.

    In a letter he wrote to gen Gowon from prison on June 19, 1967, my father said very clearly that it was obvious that the then leadership didn’t want him out of prison so as to contribute his quota to national development. He pointedly accused Gowon and his other colleagues of plotting against him by keeping him in jail even when they were aware of his innocence. Gowon is still around to deny this if I am lying.

    Then there is Major Adewale Ademoyega, one of those who planned the coup, who wrote in his book, Why We Struck, that; “also in detention were Lt. Col. Banjo and Major Aganya, both of whom had not taken part in the revolution.” Those were the exact words of Ademoyega in his book. Gowon and others were aware of this long before Ademoyega wrote.

    But Gowon later became the Head of State. Why didn’t he release your dad?

    After Gowon was installed as Head of State, my father made several overtures to him for his release. But Gen. Gowon refused to release him even though he knew he was not part of the coup. The only concession he gave was that Banjo could be transferred to a prison in Lagos if he so wished. My father rejected the offer.

    Even when my father wrote Ironsi from prison in Ikot Ekpene, on June 1, 1966, he was wondering what on earth he did to warrant being imprisoned. He faulted the way he was being treated and asked for justice, fairness and loyalty from Ironsi as a loyal officer. He saw his detention as a grievous crime against him. He pleaded his innocence and asked to be released. There is really no basis for tagging him as a ‘coupist’. I sincerely think setting the records straight is one of the things Nigeria, and the likes of Gen. Gowon, owe us as his family and children.

    It is very painful for us not knowing how he ended really. Not knowing where his remains are. Not even the exact date of his death. We only read in the book of a foreign journalist who had witnessed his execution of the date and circumstances. Beyond that, there is little or nothing to prove how he ended. This is very sad.

    We need a closure of some sort. You know when someone dies and he is committed to mother earth that is some closure. But for us as young children back then, we were not sure whether he was dead or still coming back. And 50 years after, we still don’t have a closure. That is really very painful and unbearable in a way. It is still bad that there is no notification about his death. I don’t feel that is right

    When Ojukwu released him, why didn’t he leave the country instead of joining the Biafran Army?

    He made effort. But his papers were with gen. Gowon which he refused to give him. And I read somewhere that Ojukwu, who wanted someone that will be counselling him, convinced him to stay. He must have really been in conflict at that time whether to stay or join us abroad. He loved his country, so I am not surprised he chose to stay. Ojukwu was his friend, don’t forget.

    It was tough like I said growing up without him. Though my mother ensured we survived the tough times, there was a big drop in our social standing and our finances. I remember being in school and some children were served milk while we couldn’t afford it. We just watched while others drank the milk. Looking back now, I could imagine what it was like. We had to live on the meagre resources my mum could garner. This is why we are saying the authorities should do the right thing by correcting the impression about our father, we need an official statement on him. He is N16, meaning he was the 16th officer commissioned into the Nigerian Army. He deserved to be better treated.

    All we knew and still know is that he was arrested on Monday, January 17, 1966 when he went to work. My mother and I were sad to watch the heroic reception given Ojukwu, the man who killed my father in 1982 when he returned from exile.  He also got a state burial upon his death in 2011. We couldn’t understand what manner of country this is.

    How did your mother cope with the situation back then?

    My mother died 20 years ago, but before her death, she made some requests and those remains our request even today. These requests are in a letter my mother wrote to Gen Yakubu Gowon on May 31, 1972, two years after the civil war ended. Gen. Gowon was then the Head of State. She requested the return of my father’s safe, removed personally by Gen. Gowon from 21B Cooper Road Ikoyi on Monday, January 17, 1976. In the safe were some vital documents and belongings of my father and his immediate family. We want that back because it will go a long way in helping us catch up on those times.

    She also asked for the return of some land papers and money as well as my father’s cars namely a Mercedez Benz WAL 720 and another car. She wrote the number too. She also asked for the death certificate of my father. So, we call on the authorities to help out with these so we can have these things to cherish about our dear father who was unjustly sacrificed by this country.

    And personally, I have a lot of unanswered questions. Why is my father still being tied up with the January 1966 coup? Why was my father arrested at all? Even when it was clear to the then Head of State, that my father wasn’t part of the coup, why did he choose to leave my father in prison? Gen. Gowon took the steel cabinet from our home, why hasn’t he returned the cabinet? When exactly did my father die? Where are his remains? I seek answers to these questions. And someone like Gen Gowon is still around to help out with answers to these questions and many more.

  • Ojukwu, Zik varsities join NASU, SSANU strike

    The Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) and the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), both in Anambra State, have joined the nationwide strike of some academic unions.

    The institutions joined under the aegis of Joint Action Committee of Trade Unions comprising Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic technical (NAAS).

    Members of the unions held separate meetings in their institutions where the decision to join the national body was taken.

    At the end of the meeting at Ojukwu Varsity at Igbariam, the chairman of Joint Action Committee of Trade Unions at the school, Andrew Okeke, said the unions had joined the strike.

    The union leader described the strike as total and indefinite, adding that any member seen on the three campuses of the institution would be penalised.

    In a statement, the chairperson of SSANU at UNIZIK in Awka, Njideka Nwangwu, noted that a monitoring team of the institution’s Joint Action Committee (JAC) had been sent out to monitor compliance with the strike.

    She said: “The monitoring team has been set up to monitor the activities of members. Anybody who misbehaves will be severely dealt with.

    “From Tuesday (yesterday), no worker of these three unions is to be seen on this campus unless that person wants to challenge his or her chi in this circumstance.

    “We will wait for further directives from our national leaders. We are not going back on the decision.”

  • From Ojukwu to Ngige: Wither the Nigerian dream?

    From Ojukwu to Ngige: Wither the Nigerian dream?

    Sometime in 2015, I had written that the Igbo should avoid decamping en masse into the victorious All People’s Congress (APC) party. I had good reasons for my position at the time, reasons that have not changed. Primarily, my contention was that of greater importance was for the Igbo to have a clear vision of what they expected from Nigeria; that rather than the makeshift and predictable hobnobbing with the centres of political power and patronage, the Igbo should show character by sacrificing short term material gains by individuals for long term social or group benefits. Nothing in that proposal could translate to isolationism or putting all our eggs in one basket.

    I make the point against the raging controversy over recent comments by the Labour Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige. The minister had admonished his Igbo brothers for putting all their eggs in one basket during the 2015 elections. The minister’s position has drawn the ire of many Igbo individuals and groups. Some of his critics have gone as far as suggesting that he has betrayed the late Igbo leader Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, by joining the APC, conveniently ignoring that his membership of the party predated the current herd mentality that questions, to some extent, the motives of the ‘born again’ joiners.

    But was Ngige wrong in identifying the political miscalculation of the Igbo in 2015? Even if we do not admit it publicly, upon reflection, do the Igbo not admit that they could have been more pragmatic in their electoral behavior even against the background of the political currents of the time? The point is that, in trying to be politically correct, many Igbo political elite can say one thing in the day time and act another in the night. In the end, the poor masses are taken for a ride.

    Let us examine the Ngige matter further. To the best of my knowledge, the saying that one should not count all of one’s eggs in one basket is yet to become obsolete. In fact, contemporary practice is for various ethnic groups to distribute their political risks and fortunes among various parties while aligning electoral behavior and party support between party and candidate. That is how the Yoruba ethnic group has successfully navigated its way through the vagaries of Nigeria’s unpredictable political climate. Let’s not crucify Ngige for telling us the truth unless, perhaps, the Igbo are saying that they intend to repeat the mistake of 2015 at 2019 general elections. That will be inexcusable.

    Commonsense and political reality dictate that the Igbo should be a lot more rigorous in reading the nation’s political barometer, in going into alliances and coalitions, in staking their bet publicly. This is not about soured grapes. No matter how aggrieved we may be, no matter how emotional we want to be, politics will remain what it has always been: the art of the possible. I want to believe that that is what Ngige has advocated.

    Besides, as the minister himself has argued, nothing that he has done can be said to amount to a betrayal of Ojukwu, considered by many as the foremost Igbo leader of all times. After all, was it not the general himself who once thundered that he was ready to go to war again, but only to defend the corporate existence of Nigeria? Didn’t he give practical effect to his declaration by contesting the presidency of Nigeria on at least two occasions? I do not want to get into the argument of whether he won or not or whether he was not rigged out. What is certain is that he believed that reintegrating the Igbo into the mainstream of Nigeria’s political process would take some deliberate effort.

    One can understand the impatience of young school leavers of Igbo extraction who cannot understand why, in spite of very high JAMB scores, they are denied admission so that their counterparts who scored less can read medicine while they wait at home. There is no denying the anguish of the graduate who watches in despair as he is denied a job so that his counterpart from another geo-political zone can be offered the job even when he has a better university degree and interview report. Just as the itinerant Igbo traveller would be hard pressed to understand the explanation as to why the rail lines are not slicing through Igbo heartland that witnesses the highest human traffic in the country. Yes: these are ponderous vicissitudes; in spite of them, we should guard against certain political miscalculations or rushing to crucify those political actors who have the courage and patriotism to say the truth. Nigige is one of such people. Senator Ken Nnamani is another.

    The way I see it, the trend is for many politicians to jump into the Biafra bandwagon just because some political capital can be made from it now. Had President Muhammadu Buhari not made the mistake of arresting Nnamdi Kanu, had he allowed him freedom to operate on the streets without guns, had he not turned a relatively unknown activist, who was legitimately bemoaning the plight of his people, into a celeb overnight, who would have been struggling to take photographs with him, including lavishing dollars and SUVs on him? Let Buhari take stock of Kanu’s fans: how many of them were there for Ralph Uwazurike who, more than anyone else, single-handedly carried the banner of his people and, for many years and has been catering for the welfare of civil war veterans from the side of Biafra?

    Nigeria is in a state of flux. The forces of destabilization are pushing the nation to the brink. grandstanding will take us nowhere. Brinksmanship will only lead us to certain perdition. Nor would we survive another civil war; at least, civil war veteran General T.Y. Danjuma told us that many years ago.  Beyond emotions, we need to reflect soberly on the crisis of survival that is buffeting the nation on all sides.

    Patriots like Ngige are being misunderstood because those in power are not listening to elder statesmen like General Yakubu Gowon who, in a recent statement, has counseled on the need to implement the 2014 Constitutional Conference to douse the tension in the land or former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (all hail the Waziri!) and serial minister emeritus, Professor Jerry Gana who have called for the restructuring of the country. If that is done, we would have travelled a productive distance from where Ojukwu started when he joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1982 to Ngige’s impassioned membership of the APC in 2017. That is a quarter of a century. See how we have wasted precious time driven by unproductive parochialism while other nations developed.

    My final take is that as the political gladiators of the Igbo ethnic stock trade tackles over the strategy for creating an inclusive political environment, it should not be forgotten that there is neither wisdom nor strength in casting all one’s eggs in one political basket or throwing the baby away with the bath water. Ngige should be given a hearing. He is a Nigerian patriot whose DNA is unimpeachably Igbo; he demonstrated it as president of Aka Ikenga; he took it a notch higher as governor of Anambra State where his legacy has become a benchmark for service delivery among the states. I have a strong feeling that given a chance, he has the capacity and political experience to pursue to its logical conclusion Ojukwu’s peaceful quest for a paradigm shift in inter-ethnic and inter-governmental relations in Nigeria.

  • I’m following Ojukwu’s political footsteps, says Ngige

    I’m following Ojukwu’s political footsteps, says Ngige

    Minister of Labour Chris Ngige said at the weekend that he is following the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu’s footsteps.

    He said his advice in 2015 that the Igbo should not put all their political eggs in one basket was borne out of what he learnt from the late Ojukwu.

    Reacting to a statement credited to the leadership of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASOB), Ngige said  Ojukwu, in 1982 left the Igbo-dominated Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) for the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) because of his belief that it was not politically wise to put your eggs in one basket.

    He said: “I am only practising what the late leader of Ndigbo, Dim odumegwu Ojukwu, taught us. I wish to put on record that my position is exactly the same position our late leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, took in 1982 when he left the Igbo-dominated NPP to join the NPN.

    “Ikemba reasoned that while the Igbo supported Zik’s (Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s) NPP, there was also the wisdom in spreading our political net to the waters of the ruling party. Ikemba did so to ensure that Ndigbo was not all boxed into a regional party or enclave, which can disconnect or limit their participation in the nation’s apex political conclave.

    “If Ojukwu thought that doing otherwise was myopic in 1982, why is a section of the Igbo crucifying Ngige for preaching and practising the wise counsel of our eternal leader, Ikemba.

    “It is, therefore, clear that the ‘new’ leadership of MASSOB needs a clearer and undistorted interpretation of the truth in my position, which is that it is politically unwise for us to repeat in future elections, the 2015 presidential election voting pattern, where all our eggs were dumped in one basket; the basket failed and the eggs all got broken.

    “I wish to add that there is enough opportunity for the Igbo to make up whatever perceived loss they currently encounter. But our leaders need to shun the creeping political narrowness and play politics more astutely.

    “What matters most is not how ‘big’ the positions we occupy. Rather, what we are able to achieve for the Igbo with what we occupy.

    “Today, work is ongoing on all the major Federal roads in the Southeast: Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Umuahia-Abia-Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt-Owerri, Oba-Nnewi– Arondizuogu-Okigwe, to mention a few. Julius Berger has been mobilised with N6 billion for the 2nd River Niger Bridge. There is also the Benin-Onitsha rail line with a separate bridge across the Niger, which was not originally in the Goodluck Jonathan-PDP coastal rail master plan.”

    Ngige said the current development going in the Southeast could not be achieved with the “big” positions (SGF, Deputy Senate President and Speaker, Ministers of Finance, Health, Aviation, National Chairman of ruling party, Head of Army and police, among others) that Ndigbo occupied under the Jonathan administration for six years.

    The minister said the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration was doing so in just one budget cycle, that is, between May 2016 and May 2017, “knowing well that 2015 budget was Jonathan’s”.

    He reminded the “new” MASSOB leadership that when he was Anambra State governor, he was the only governor in the zone who protected the organisation against harassment by the security agencies because of their non-violent approach to its struggle.

    “I did not only protect MASOB from undue harassment by security agencies, I sent them food from the state treasury and employed its members in the formidable Anambra Vigilante Service. This was to give stability to the security architecture of the state.The founder of MASSOB, Chief Ralph Uwazurike is alive and can testify to this.”

    He advised the “new” MASSOB leadership to show some respect to elders who have contributed to the wellbeing of Ndigbo.

  • Murder at Ojukwu varsity

    Murder at Ojukwu varsity

    A final year Computer Science student at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu University (COOU) in Uli,  Anambra State, Mohammed Umar, has been shot dead by gunmen, who allegedly mistook him for their target. FRANKLIN ONWUBIKO reports.

    Who killed Mohammed Umar? This is the knot the Homicide Department of the Anambra State Police Command needs to untie.

    The late Mohammed, a final year Computer Science student of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), formerly known as Anambra State University, in Uli, was ambushed and shot at close range penultimate Saturday by yet-to-be identified gunmen on his way to his off-campus hostel around 2am. He was returning from the bonfire night organised by the Students’ Union Government (SUG).

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the late Mohammed was a victim of mistaken identity. The union’s Director of Transport, it was gathered, was the assailants’ target.

    Mohammed, who hailed from Kogi State, was shot in the chest and he died on the spot.

    His death plunged the campus into mourning.

    Olivia Ikejiuba, his classmate, who was with him moments before he was shot, described the incident as “plain murder”.

    In a tribute to the deceased on her Facebook timeline, Olivia wrote: “It’s still a shock to me, Mohammed. We went to the SUG night together; we had fun. On our way back home, you were murdered. I don’t have much to say, but to say rest in peace dear friend. I can still remember all that you told me that evening.”

    When CAMPUSLIFE visited the campus last week, there were insinuations of the real identity of the assailants. While some believed the victim could have been killed by suspected secret cult members, who attempted to disrupt the bonfire night organised by to mark Students’ Week; others said the killing might have been carried out by motor park touts.

    It was gathered the union leaders, particularly the Director of Transport, had a bitter dispute with leaders of the road transport union in Uli Motor Park over the union’s introduction of tricycles (Keke) approved by the SUG leaders to convey students from off-campus to school.

    After the bonfire night ended at midnight, it was gathered that the late Mohammed was in company of some friends when he was accosted by the assailants.

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Fidelis Okafor, described the incident as “a tragedy”. He told CAMPUSLIFE that investigations had begun into the killing, vowing that the perpetrators would be fished out and brought to book.

    The VC said preliminary findings by the school revealed that the incident took place outside the university.

    He said: “We gathered reliable information that the deceased was returning to his off-campus hostel after bonfire night with other students, about five of them. While they were on their way, they were accosted by two unidentified men. We learnt that one of them approached the late Mohammed and said in pidgin: ‘Shey you be SUG official, you think say you don get power’. Afterwards, he was shot and killed on the spot.

    “We gathered that the SUG officials, who were returning from Adoration Ground that night, where they had gone for prayers, found the victim in a pool of blood. They immediately alerted the police plying the area and took the deceased to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The body was conveyed in the police van back to the school.

    “On inquiry, I was told and confirmed that the Director of Transport of the SUG might have been the actual target, because he had a misunderstanding and dispute with the local park managers known as agberos, who took great offence in the decision of the SUG to introduce Keke into the transport scheme within the area for students.

    “The agberos had believed the scheme would affect their business. On interrogation, the students’ leaders told me that they always felt they were being trailed by unknown persons and believed that the Director of Transport could possibly be the target.

    The Director of Transport is not a Muslim, but he is popularly called Suleiman. And he keeps bushy beard that makes him to look like the victim.

    “We were told that the victim answered the assailants when they  called him Suleiman. He was shot immediately. This pointed towards a mistaken identity, because the victim was said to be a quiet student.”

    The VC denied reports making the rounds that the management suspended the SUG president for “contravening the school directive” which banned night activities on the campus. He, however, said the bonfire was held against the school’s directive.

    Prof Okafor said: “The university has placed ban on night activities, including religious events. If any event must be held on the campus, the organisers must inform the management ahead so that we can arrange for security. The bonfire night is illegal and in defiance of the school rules.”

    It was gathered that the SUG president sent a text to the VC about the cancellation of the bonfire night, but the union still organised the show. This, some students said, was the reason why some leaders of the union’s stayed away from the show.

    The union Public Relations Officer, Godwin Onwuemezina, in  a statement, said the SUG regretted the “ugly incident”, while condoling with the family of the victim.

    The statement reads: “The late Mohammed was a final year student who had held leadership positions in his department. It is on record that he was COOU’s Best Basket Ball Player. He was a devoted Muslim and loved to participate in social activities. We regret his killing and we hope the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

    Some students, who spoke to our reporter, described the late Mohammed as “peace-loving and jovial”, adding that he actively participated in every extracurricular activity.

  • Biafra, Buhari and the children of Ojukwu

    Since April 25, 2017, millions of Nigerians, international security and diplomatic monitors of Nigeria have been witnessing two contrasting images of the country of an estimated 170 million. One image is that of President Muhammadu Buhari. The other is the controversial profile of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) movement.

    Ironically, Buhari’s government detention and refusal to respect lawful orders of the courts for almost two years regarding the release or granting of bail escalated Kanu’s profile, globally. It sharpened the contrast with implications.

    First, it sent a historic reminder to all students of history and power that demands for equity/fairness  in Nigeria’s geo-politics and nationalities questions cannot be swept aside as the high-noon rantings of a few, misguided chaps possessed and jaundiced by youthful impetuosity! Such snotty, condescending nonsense and arrogance have combined to show the evident limitations of some of Nigeria’s leaders at the state and federal levels.

    Second, since January 19, 2017, when Nigeria’s President Buhari began his “medical vacation” to London, we’ve all seen the images of a very ill and absent commander-in-chief; plus increasing talk about the likelihood of his quitting due to his complicated, frail health. Essentially, those images fit the current shape of the country’s weakening political economy. Like my made-in-Aba suits and trousers, they fit perfectly.

    Third, the dominant message seems to me to be the escalating demands against Nigeria’s 1914 colonial borders as imposed and implemented under The Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern regions by the British soldier of raw materials and minerals named Lord Lugard. I hear the familiar demands approximating the historical agreement at Aburi in Ghana, as reflected in the official minutes, dated January 4-5, 1967. I hear the cries of some young men and young women whose siblings and parents were murdered in the routine killing and genocidal slaughter of the Igbo and the ethnic groups/communities who constituted Biafra. I hear a demand on all those who profit from the militarized impositions of a perpetual, non-negotiable “national unity” since 1960s to date, circa 2017. It seems to me a demand against domestic agents and foreign corporations whose actions have turned the once evergreen Niger Delta into a decimated, polluted environmental nightmare. I hear a demand for economic security and against 10 years of  unemployment after graduation. I hear, loud and clear, a stand against discrimination in admissions and  employment. I hear….

    Fourth, many of the older generation Igbo who fought in and for Biafra caution the youth against pushing for another Biafra, even with the peaceful agitation. For all that it is worth, we note that Nnamdi Kanu was born after that war. It is the dominant demographics and a benchmark to appreciate/understand/critique the younger generation’s interpretation of Biafra and trans-continental agitation for Biafra.

    Fifth, Kanu-led IPOB and its affiliates distribute information and mobilize across more cities in the world more than any other Nigerian or African organization. USAfrica news index January 2014-April 2017 also show that the Pope Francis, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu, U.S President Donald Trump know, the British Prime Minister Theresa May, and many world leaders are, at least, aware of their activism and agenda.

    Sixth, without a doubt, there are aspects of the new Biafra movement which reflect a certain level of operational and tactical recklessness.

    On the other hand, the non-dramatic fluency with which they sorted and settled — within 30 hours—  the harsh reality of the mountain high jump, stringent and extremely difficult to meet conditions ordered on April 25, 2017 as required bail terms for the temporary release of the leader of the IPOB, by the Federal High Court Justice Binta Nyako, a wife of a former top military officer and governor, showed the credibility and clout of IPOB . She required Kanu  to provide three sureties; one of whom must be a serving Senator in Nigeria, a Jewish religious leader and highly respected person, who own land anywhere in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The bail bond was set at N100 million, for each surety. Kanu was also ordered not to grant any interviews to the media/press, pending the outcome of his trial and should  not be seen in a meeting/gathering of more than 10 persons.

    Finally, what would Ojukwu (the Head of State of Biafra) have said about these events? I interviewed him 3 times; one at his house in Lagos and twice in the U.S. One thing is certain: the ideological children  and grandchildren of Odumegwu Ojukwu, of Chinua Achebe, of Gen. Effiong, of Christopher Okigbo, of Wole Soyinka have kept a message of national identity, unapologetic zeal and unbowed resilience regarding the 1967-1970 war. Especially, those who swear “citizenship” under the golden yellow colors of the Land of the Rising Sun! Biafra.

    • Dr. Nwangwu who appears as an analyst on CNN and SKYnews serves as Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992. He is the author of the soon-to-released book, Mandela & Achebe: Leadership, Identity and Footprints of Greatness. @Chidö247 

     

  • Anambra 2017: Obiano, Obi, Umeh, others clash over Ojukwu

    Top politicians and parties in Anambra State are at one another’s throats over who has the blessing of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, as the November 18 governorship election draws close.

    Investigations confirmed the old controversy between former Governor Peter Obi; former National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh and many others over who has the political blessing of the late Igbo leader in Anambra State has been resurrected.

    The issue has become the most important campaign slogan in the state ahead of the governorship election.

    Being the National Leader of APGA before his death, the party made it a point of duty, since the 2010 governorship election, which Peter Obi won, to concentrate its campaigns on the person and blessing of the late Biafran leader.

    The party under the leadership of Governor Willie Obiano has again resolved to use Ojukwu’s name and his alleged blessing as anchor of its campaigns.

    But other parties, politicians and stakeholders are crying blue murder, accusing APGA of deceiving the people of Anambra with the name of the revered late leader.

    Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has scolded Obiano for using the name to campaign for the November 18 governorship poll.

    In a statement in Awka, the PDP chairman, Kenneth Emeakayi, alleged Obiano dismantled the billboards mounted by Obi with the pictures of Ojukwu.

    He said it was “nauseating and deceitful” for Obiano to remember the late leader with election around the corner again.

    He lamented: “Just about six months to another governorship election in the state, the Obiano-led APGA administration suddenly remembered the name, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

    “Billboards are now being hoisted, while government-owned vehicles are branded with Ojukwu’s photograph.”

    Other political parties in the state are equally irritated over APGA’s and Obiano’s use of Ojukwu’s name as a major campaign slogan.

    The party’s claim, in recently erected signposts, bearing Ojukwu’s pictures, is that APGA is the party that belongs to Ndigbo.

    Dr. Chike Obidigbo, one of the governorship aspirants on the platform of APC, told The Nation: “I have nothing against APGA.

    “People say APGA is an Igbo party but truly if APGA is an Igbo party, why is it only in Anambra State?

    “Is Abia not Igbo land? Are Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo not Igbo land? Why are they not there?

    “Why do they have to go to campaign for APGA in Edo State? So, APGA is not an Igbo party and the original intention of the founders of APGA was not to make it an Igbo party.

    “The whole idea was to make APGA a regional party; that regional party should form a negotiating bloc into the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

  • PDP to Obiano: stop using Ojukwu’s name for election

    PDP to Obiano: stop using Ojukwu’s name for election

    THE Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated Governor Willie Obiano for using the name of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to campaign for the November 18 governorship poll.

    In a statement in Awka, the state capital, the PDP Chairman, Mr. Kenneth Emeakayi, described the governor’s action as nauseating and deceitful. He said Obiano was unwittingly saying that he had not achieved anything in the past three years that could earn him electoral victory without climbing on Ojukwu’s back.

    He said: “During the campaigns for the 2010 election, major streets of Anambra were flooded with a particular billboard bearing the photograph of our great leader, Ojukwu, raising the hand of former Governor Peter Obi, with an inscription: ‘This  is my last wish’.

    “Having won the 2010 governorship election, the APGA government under Peter Obi erected and hoisted new billboards in all the major streets of Anambra State, to honour and to immortalise the pride and symbol of the Igbo nation, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

    “Similarly, every single billboard and APGA campaign materials for the 2013 governorship election in Anambra had the photograph of Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and APGA leveraged heavily on Ojukwu’s name to win the election.”

    Emeakayi added: “Disappointingly, as soon as Chief Willie Obiano became the governor on March 17, 2014, all the billboards bearing the photograph of Ojukwu disappeared from the streets of Anambra State.

    “Just about six months to another governorship election in the state, the Obiano-led APGA administration suddenly remembered the name, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Billboards are now being hoisted, while government-owned vehicles are branded with Ojukwu’s photograph.

    “Amazingly, Governor Obiano in three years did not complete any single project in Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s home town of Nnewi.”

  • Dignitaries extol Ojukwu’s virtues at memorial

    Dignitaries extol Ojukwu’s virtues at memorial

    For several hours on Saturday, November 26, guests from far and near joined Igbo leaders who assembled at the Ojukwu Memorial Centre, Owerri the Imo State capital to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the death of former Biafran Leader, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi, Odenigbo Ngwo and the Ezeigbo Gburugburu.

    It was all glamour and show of opulence as the expansive Ojukwu Centre was filled to capacity.

    Great sons and daughters of Igbo land were in attendance as a show of respect for the man they loved. Friends of Ndigbo from the Northern part of Nigeria were also in attendance.

    Major El Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to the late Gen. Sani Abacha and his entourage were present.

    Major Mustapha said: “I have been attending Ojukwu memorial service since the past five years. My passion for identifying with Ndigbo in celebrating the late Ojukwu was informed by the fact that the late Ojukwu was a leader who loved his people and was prepared to defend them against any form of injustice.

    “His patriotism and sacrifice endeared him to his people. This manifested in the huge crowd present at this 5th anniversary celebration. “Special thanks go to my good friend, Ralph Uwazuruike and Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, who exhibited faithfulness to the late Ojukwu and is still faithful to him even in death.”

    Mustapha called on Ndigbo to unite so that they could take their pride of place in Nigeria’s scheme of things.

    The chairperson of the event, Prof. Antonia Maduekwe said she was privileged to be the chairperson of the event where people from North, West, Southsouth and the clergy gathered to remember a great man.

    She said she regarded Ojukwu as a fearless, bold hero and a man who believed in the rule of law, equity and justice. She thanked Ndigbo for a job well done in organising the memorial service.

    Leader of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr Fredrick Fasheun thanked Ndigbo for believing in Ojukwu even in death. He urged Igbo leaders to work hard to realise the interest of Igbo which are paramount for the development of the area. He advised Chief Uwazuruike not to relent in propagating Ojukwu’s legacies and all he stood for.

    Ambassador Ojukwu thanked all who came to identify with Ojukwu’s family, especially the OPC leader; Maj. Mustapha; Bishop Emmanuel Iheanachor, Eze Ndigbo of Lagos State, Christian Uchechukwu Nwachukwu, Prof Maduekwe, President of Nigerians in the Netherlands, Chief Evelyn Azih, AlhajiYerima Shetima and His Royal Highness (HRH), Eze Anya Nso, Eze Nri.

  • Ojukwu wants Warriors’ scalp

    Ojukwu wants Warriors’ scalp

    Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) striker, Ifegwu Ojukwu has said his side still have an unfinished agenda at top-flight side, Abia Warriors.

    The Oluyole Warriors will be the guests of the Umuahia Warriors in Sunday’s top-flight matchday 38 clash at the Umuahia Township Stadium.

    Ojukwu said that the Ibadan landlords want to end their glorious campaign in the ongoing top-flight on a high with a decent result at the Umuahia outfit.

    “We are secured as far as the ongoing top-flight is concerned but we still have an unfinished work to do at Abia Warriors on Sunday.

    “We want to end our campaign on a high with a respectable result at Abia Warriors.

    “We are going there to play our very best game aimed at challenging for the whole three points at stake.

    “Abia Warriors are under severe pressure to win the encounter to secure their status quo in the NPFL, not us, but that does not mean we are going there for a jamboree or sight-seeing.

    “We are satisfied with our achievement, especially cementing our spot in the top-flight.

    “We actually wanted to finish the league campaign among the top three teams, but the unique circumstance we found ourselves  hindered the lofty dream.

    “We are not complaining as we consider the outgoing season a good one, hoping to make the upcoming one glorious,” the former Ikorodu United marksman told supersport.com.

    The Ibadan warriors are 14th on the Nigerian top-flight log on 47 points, 13 behind leaders Enugu Rangers.