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.
In , again 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 in , Odumegwu 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.
In , Odumegwu 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 officer 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. He first argued against secession from Nigeria by the Ibos and, instead, urged easterners to accept a loosening of ties with the rest of Nigeria.
A article in Time magazine stated, "[Odumegwu Ojukwu] was a calm and reasoned voice pleading for a united Nigeria long after other powerful Ibos had angrily given up hope of preserving the union. Odumegwu Ojukwu changed his stance, however, and sided with the separatists on the issue of safety for the Ibos. At one point, he and Nigerian army chief of staff Yakubu Gowon, also in control of the central Nigerian government, appeared to be nearing a compromise that would have allowed the Ibos a measure of autonomy while staying within the Nigerian federation.
But Gowon was unwilling to let the eastern region maintain a separate army, and Odumegwu Ojukwu was unsure of the ability of the Nigerian central government to protect the Ibos. Odumegwu Ojukwu reluctantly demanded independence for the easterners. He formally proclaimed the independent Republic of Biafra on May 30, , during a reception in the regional capital of Enugu.
At the time, he also hinted that the Nigerian central government had played a role in the genocide of the Ibo people. He then built up his army and expelled northerners from Biafra, telling them that, because of the flood of Ibo refugees, non-easterners should leave for their own safety. Imprisoned after the coup, he was released in and retired.
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Oxford Reference. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Ojukwu was the son of a successful Igbo businessman. After graduating from the University of Oxford in , he returned to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer. After two years, however, he joined the army and was rapidly promoted thereafter.
Lieutenant Colonel Ojukwu was appointed military governor of the mostly Igbo Eastern region. However, Hausa and Yoruba army officers from the Northern and Western regions feared a government dominated by Igbo, and in July northern officers staged a successful countercoup in which Lieutenant Colonel later General Yakubu Gowon became the new head of state. Ojukwu retained his command of the Eastern region under Gowon's rule as the rising tide of feeling against the Igbo in the Northern region led to large-scale massacres of Igbo civilians by northern soldiers in September He continued in politics when activity revived briefly in the early s, and after the full return to civil rule in helped form the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA , for which he ran as presidential candidate in and , both notably fraudulent elections.
In this period he often gave interviews in which he retained his old political authority and panache, although latterly he was increasingly unwell, suffering a stroke early this year.
He had a gift for oratory — his collected speeches were edited by his great admirer the writer Frederick Forsyth, and published with the simple title Biafra ; Forsyth also wrote a biography, Emeka , revised The former editor of the journal West Africa, David Williams, no friend of Biafra, used to say that in other circumstances he could see Ojukwu's style and gravitas entirely in place at a Commonwealth leaders' conference.
In he married his third wife, Bianca Onoh, daughter of a senior politician, and former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in He is survived by her and several children.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu obituary. Controversial leader of the short-lived Republic of Biafra. Ojukwu, as military governor of Biafra, inspecting some of his troops in Reuse this content.
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