Wilson ojukwu biography

To the anti-Ojukwu group, therefore, Biafra may not have been the only solution to guaranteeing the safety of easterners. Ojukwu was a polarizing figure. Regardless, he was interested in politics even before the January wilson ojukwu biography. The testimonies of the January coup plotters also suggest that he did not necessarily conform to civil institutions and was inclined to altering the civilian-military power balance.

However, the Ironsi administration was not formed by civilians ceding power to the military. Rather, the military squeezed power from civilians to preclude another coup or the worsening of insecurity. The military had even begun exercising power before they eventually seized it from civilians. The same way Ironsi ignored ranking politicians to establish military rule in Januarythe mutineers of July sidelined Ironsi and other ranking officers to establish Lt Col.

Following the assassination of Ironsi inOjukwu rebelled against the Gowon regime and demanded that power be handed over to the next most senior officer after Ironsi, Brigadier Ogundipe. To the average soldier who fought on the Nigerian side, Ojukwu represented a super rebel with rare effrontery. Post-exile, he rejected the notion that he was ever anti-Nigeria.

His theory of nationhood, as described in his memoirsuggests that rather than being a separatist, he advocated for confederation and had pursued it on occasions such as the Aburi Convention. Ojukwu, thus, conceived unity in Nigeria as reconciliation and harmony, and the absence of fear. According to Ojukwu, the absence of the above-described scenario meant that the Eastern Region was already divorced from the Nigerian marriage.

He kept communications open with his compatriots. Eventually, inpower changed hands from Olusegun Obasanjo to Shehu Shagari, and Ojukwu courted the Shagari administration for an official pardon. In Maythe Shagari government granted him a pardon and he returned to Nigeria wilson ojukwu biography a strong desire to shed his reputation as a rebel and create a new name for himself.

He was not deterred by the harassment and months of unlawful detention he experienced following his return to Nigeria, under the military regimes that succeeded Shagari from Ojukwu even met with other running candidates such as Muhammadu Buhari who noted that Ojukwu had reassured him of his belief in a united Nigeria. One could, therefore, argue that Ojukwu never gave up on Nigeria.

The civil war, he constantly reminded critics, did not make him less of a Nigerian. Nigerian president Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari granted a pardon to Ojukwu on 18 Mayallowing him to return to Nigeria as a private citizen. Ojukwu re-entered Nigeria from Ivory Coast on 18 June. The official tally showed him losing by 12, votes, though a court attempted to reverse the ruling in September of that year, citing fraud in the election results.

In earlythe Buhari regime jailed hundreds of political figures, including Ojukwu, who was held at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison. Ojukwu married Bianca Onoh former Miss Intercontinental and future ambassador inhis third marriage. The couple had three children, Afamefuna, Chineme and Nwachukwu. The Nigerian Army accorded him the highest military accolade and conducted a funeral parade for him in Abuja, Nigeria on 27 Februarythe day his body was flown back to Nigeria from London before his burial on Friday 2 March.

He was buried in a newly built mausoleum in his compound at Nnewi. Before his final interment, he had an elaborate weeklong funeral ceremony in Nigeria alongside Chief Obafemi Awolowowhereby his body was carried around the five Eastern states, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, including the nation's capital, Abuja. Memorial services and public events were also held in his honour in several places across Nigeria, including Lagos and Niger State, his birthplace, and as far away as Dallas, TexasUnited States.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. Nigerian politician and military leader — Nigeria United Nations Biafra. Early life and education [ edit ]. Early career [ edit ]. Biafra [ edit ]. Return to Nigeria [ edit ].

Death [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Journal of Genocide Research. ISSN Retrieved 22 May The Republic. Retrieved 27 February Vanguard Nigeria. Retrieved 13 August The News Nigeria. Consequently, the younger Odumegwu Ojukwu received the best education money could buy. His primary education was at a private Catholic school in the Nigerian city of Lagos.

Before he was ten years old, he was enrolled at nearby King's College as the youngest pupil in the institution's history. Two years later, Odumegwu Ojukwu's father transferred him to a school in Surrey, England, called Epson College, to finish secondary studies. Odumegwu Ojukwu had a natural athletic ability and, during his years in England, he honed his skills on the playing field when not attending classes.

In school-sponsored sports he served as captain of the rugby and soccer teams. He also set the All England Junior record in the discus throw. InOdumegwu Ojukwu was admitted to Oxford University. He majored in history, graduating in with honors.

Wilson ojukwu biography

As an undergraduate, Odumegwu Ojukwu continued to pursue his love of athletics while developing outside interests in drama and journalism. In addition, he was known for his flashy sports cars, which he frequently drove at high speeds between Oxford and London. It was at Oxford that he met a female law student named Njideka; she eventually became his wife.

With a degree from Oxford University and a wealthy father, Odumegwu Ojukwu was guaranteed access to the highest levels of British colonial Nigeria. Rather than relying on his father, however, he chose to enter the workforce. Odumegwu Ojukwu was hired by the Nigerian civil service and became the assistant district officer in the town of Udi, overseeing community development in rural areas.

He later served in the same position in the towns of Aba and Umuahia. As a community development leader, he gained a reputation for his quick understanding of complex issues and was respected for his fair recommendations. Inagain in an attempt to distance himself from his privileged upbringing, he joined the army. His father was so against this decision that he did not speak to his son for the next two and a half years.

Meanwhile, the younger Odumegwu Ojukwu completed officer training in England at the Officer Cadet School at Eaton Hall and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Once Nigeria had gained independence from Britain inOdumegwu Ojukwu was quickly promoted; he held the rank of major by As one of his assignments, he served with the Nigerian First Brigade in the Congo as part of a United Nations peace-keeping program.

InOdumegwu Ojukwu, as a lieutenant colonel, became the first Nigerian quartermaster-general in the Nigerian Army. His first independent command came in ; he was assigned as commanding wilson ojukwu biography to the Fifth Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Kano. The early years of Nigerian independence were difficult for the country.

Political turmoil, riots, and ethnic rivalries resulted in a civil war in the latter half of the s. Members of the largest ethnic group, the Ibos, were murdered in great numbers during the chaos, and more than a million some sources say over four million survivors fled back to their homeland in eastern Nigeria. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military governor of the region, assumed control in the mids in an attempt to strengthen the bargaining power of the Ibos.

In his Nnewi complex, he was laid to rest in a recently constructed mausoleum. In addition, memorial ceremonies and open gatherings in his honor were conducted throughout Nigeria, notably in Lagos and Niger State, the region of his birth, as well as as far away as Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Home President Ojukwu: founder of Republic of Biafra.

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