Twelve long years after the brutal Biafran/Nigerian civil war, Odumegwu Ojukwu came back to Nigeria from Ivory Coast.
The great titan who led the 1967-70 Eastern Region’s attempt to secede from Nigeria and form an independent Biafra came back to lead his fellow Ibos again.
This time he appears to have the government’s blessing as the National Party government of President Shehu Shagari granted him an unconditional pardon after 12 years of exile. He had escaped into exile as Nigerian federal troops began the final offensive of a 30-month civil war.
He joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in January 1983 and subsequently attempted to reenter politics; his bid for the senate representing the state of Anambra was unsuccessful. He was detained for 10 months following a coup that brought Muhammad Buhari to power at the end of 1983. In 1993 he once again joined a political party, this time the Social Democratic Party, but he was disqualified from running for president.
A member of constitutional conferences in 1993 and again from 1994 to 1995, he, along with other former Nigerian leaders, was consulted in 1998 by Abdusalam Abubakar, the military head of state, as Nigeria once again began the process of converting from military to civilian rule. In 2003 Ojukwu, representing a new political party that he helped form, the All Progressive Grand Alliance, unsuccessfully ran for president. He ran again in 2007 but was defeated by the ruling party’s candidate, Umaru Yar’Adua, in an election that was strongly criticized by international observers as being marred by voting irregularities.
Sir Ojukwu had several honours and titles bestowed upon him during his life, including the honorary chieftaincy title Ikemba of Nnewi.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
