So, What Made Ojukwu A Hero?

The whole funeral fanfare of the passage of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi and Eze Igbo Gburugburu was nothing more than a grand opera of infantile fears and crocodile tears in the wedlock of hypocrisy and ignorance by strange bed fellows.

The charade of the apologists, charlatans, hypocrites, opportunists and sycophants of the warlord of a stupid tribal war ironically mislabeled as a civil war by reporters, historians and others whose ignorance of the facts of the tyrannical dictatorship that ruined Biafra was on parade in their ethnic bigotry and idolatry in their so called heroic funeral of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi and Eze Igbo Gburugburu from February to his internment on March 2, 2012.

Lest we forget, if these multitudes had rallied to his sick bed before he was even flown for better medical services overseas, the Lion of Biafra would have fared better and might have recuperated. If these political contractors and their hordes of political charlatans and sycophants have been really patriotic all these years, they would not have turned the eastern states into a haven for armed robbers, kidnappers, crude oil thieves, incompetent and corrupt governors and their equally incompetent and corrupt subordinates, occultists, ritualistic natives and others abnormal homo sapiens of the lunatic fringe who have turned the lives of the innocent majority into Kafkaesque nightmares.


Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu and soldiers of his self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra.


Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu as head of state of Biafra and Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon as head of state of Nigeria during the uncivil war.

So, leading a tribe ruled more by their herd instinct than intellect to a stupid suicidal war that neither redeemed nor salvaged the Igbos from the woes of their foes, but only caused their worst catastrophe with nearly one million people dead after two and half years of man's inhumanity to man makes one a hero? When an intelligent, smart and wise leader would have avoided that internecine uncivil war and saved hundreds of thousands of lives of mostly innocent children who were not killed by the bombs and bullets of the enemies, but by kwashiorkor and other infections and afflictions of the calamities precipitated by the hostilities of the war, such as hunger, collapsed Medicare, collapsed economy, dysfunctional families, etc.

If Ojukwu and his ill conceived cabinet and allies had read Sun Tzu's Art of War, they would have known that only fools rush into a war they are not prepared for, because the Igbos had no means to combat the fully equipped and prepared armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Majority of Igbo youths were conscripted into the rag tag Biafran Army with majority of boy scouts recruited to join their uncles at the war fronts to commit suicide.

Lest we forget the wanton misappropriation of revenue allocations and relief supplies by the powerful and rich elites and their cronies in Biafra who later swept the many cases of corruption in Biafra under the carpet of the corrupt cabinet.

Finally, from testimonies of reliable people in Biafra, there was no justification for the trial, conviction and execution of Brigadier Victor Banjo, Colonel Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Philip Alale and Mr. Samuel Agbam, and several other victims not recorded by historians of the Nigerian uncivil war.

So, what made Ojukwu a hero?
For having both legitimate and illegitimate children in and out of wedlock, for fighting an avoidable and stupid suicidal war that did more harm than good to his tribe or for publishing a collection of his notes on his ego trips, political apologia to trivia and how he lured and intimidated a beauty queen who is one of the younger daughters of his friend?
What else?


~ By Orikinla Osinachi, author of Children of Heaven, Scarlet Tears of London, Bye, Bye Mugabe, In the House of Dogs and the two new books to be released before the end of 2012.



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