Somehow, I thought I had posted the article reproduced hereunder in this blog during the last General Elections. This morning, however, I combed through the blog and discovered it was yet to be posted. Nonetheless, the mood of the nation demands that I reproduce it here now as a personal reflection. The article was published in Sunday Concord shortly after Chief Ojukwu's return from exile in 1982. It was published to correct the impression that Chief Ojukwu single-handedly pushed the Ibos into the civil war as some Nigerians had peddled over the years. It was also an attempt to warn Chief Ojukwu himself that those who blamed the war on him were still around, waiting to capitalise on any loophole from him in their desperate serve for political brides. Forty-five years after this nation went to war, quite unavoidably, we seem not to have learnt our lessons. Exactly the same evil which triggered the bloodshed in 1966 has not only reared its ugly head again, this time, we are confronted with a monster defiant of definition, let alone a cheap solution. It is a time for deep relfections, especially because no nation has been known to face the likes of the Nigerian civil war twice, and came out unscathed.
Let reason prevail now in the hearts of these monsters.
Lest we forget...CHANGE IS HERE
Brother Ojukwu, feed them all
with smiles
Sunday Concord, July 4, 1982
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HE mist of excitement and
disbelief which gathered in Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu’s eyes while embracing the
momentous presidential amnesty and the unprecedented reception accorded him on
his return must be clearing and settling now. Also clearing and settling must
be Chief Ojukwu's grand plan for a brand-new chapter of his life - as a free
citizen without any social stigma or political apparition hunting him in the
streets.
Concord Laff is today joining the peace-loving citizens of this country
in bidding the new chief an unreserved welcome. Brother Ojukwu, nnuaoh! Concord Laff is doing more than just dancing and
wrecking its ribs and limbs or dousing itself in barrels of booze in celebration of Ojukwu’s return. It
has a word or two of advice for the big brother.
Concord Laff is going about this first by recalling a scene in the Enugu
State House of 1966, a few months after the great political dynamite was
detonated. This is simply with a view to making reflections that will lead to a
projection; no harm intended. In that scene, Ojukwu is seen exchanging views
with top army officers of the proposed Biafran oligarchy:
Ojukwu: “…During our last meeting, we ruled out acts of
secession as a positive line of action. But it was also agreed that, should we
be pushed out, we shall have no alternative but to stay alone within the
boundaries of this great region. I sincerely submit that we have been pushed
out... and reasonable people are beginning to wonder whether the people of the
eastern group of provinces are mere chattels and insensitive. I am forced to
say this because unity is not unity whenever its keepers simply use it to
deceive the less reasoned. In fact, under this condition, it is a mere destructive
weapon. I do not, as an individual, support secession, but since the putsch is
overdue, we have no option but to declare our state and defend the statehood to
the last man.”
Major Nzeogwu: “Your Excellency, I am humbly
opposed to all plans aimed at breaking up this country which great men of our
fatherland fought vigorously to unify. We must not play or toy with the destiny
of our people to free ourselves from damnation.”
Lt. Bentus: “Your Excellency, you are a
great man. We have followed your positive and reconciliatory steps since our
country had the ugly scent of breaking into pieces. O God! Give us peace in our
land, (pause) Comrades, it is definitely true that it does no one any good to
set his country ablaze, but war is a biological necessity of life, and without
it, there will be no remarkable evolution; This being nature's call on we
people of this part of the country, we are bound to accept the challenge of our
time.”
Lt. Uka: Your Excellency, I am totally opposed to any
suggestion which forces us to accept any form of government that denies us our
birth rights. A glorious opportunity has shone on us, and it could mean sheer
cowardice for us to continue to wait under the pretence that we are consulting
the people. The aim of revolution throughout the ages has been to reclaim
God-given right to life, freedom of expression and of protection of property.
What we want is freedom.”
With
those emotional exchanges, the stage was set for the greatest political carnage
ever recorded in this part of the globe. They all agreed thereafter, either
willingly or tacitly, like Lt. Bentus put it, that “war is a biological
necessity of life, without which there can be no remarkable evolution.” Yet, with time, it also dawned on all
of them that an effective revolution in a country’s history may not essentially
be violent since the metamorphosis is forcible and artificial, and so not
natural.
They
all agreed, like Ojukwu opined, that the clamour from Easterners was becoming
irresistible since the popular slogan then on the people’s lips was “Ojukwu nye anyi egbe (Ojukwu, give us guns)”. But it soon
dawned on them too that, among every twelve people singing “Ojukwu nye anyi egbe”, more than six were Judases willing to
sell their conscience as well as their birth right for less than N3.
Again,
like Lt. Uka asserted, what the Ibos wanted was freedom. But quite
unfortunately, in a record time, it became apparent that the proverbial tree of
liberty was drowning irretrievably in the blood of Nigerians from all geographical
spread. And so, Nigeria’s ship of state, which had earlier been wrecked by its
hungry and shameless politicians, sank deeper into the abyss of political mash.
At
the end of the bloodbath, the hero of the Biafran revolution had been changed
by events into a tyrant, traitor, zealot and other derogatory epithets which
his detractors heaped on him. By January 1970, the war had practically ended.
Ojukwu peeped through the smokes of cannon and ogbunigwe, but the only thing he could see was one
narrow path that led to exile. The revolution having boomeranged, Ojukwu’s
senses went literally numb. The world became still as he felt as isolated and
dejected as Robinson Crusoe – the marooned sailor in the Caribbean Island.
Most of his brethren who gave him the
green light on conference tables and sang “Ojukwu nye anyi egbe”, swiftly turned round to cast
aspersion on him. Only a few honest voices like that of Dr. Akanu Ibiam kept
crying and demanding to be crucified alongside Ojukwu. Others denied him kpom kwem. This situation he has had to contend
with for the last twelve and a half years.
When,
finally, Ojukwu stepped his feet on the tarmac of the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport 16 days ago, the weather was still gloomy. However, there
was a difference. While his vision was blurred in January 1970 by the eclipse
of the sun of violent politics, the frowning of the sky on Friday the 18th of
June, 1982, was a mere geographical phenomenon.
Besides,
when Ojukwu tore Open his lips to reveal his heavy dentition, the smiles were
so broad that they illuminated the otherwise gloomy airport. On stepping down,
Ojukwu looked like a fowl in a strange land, picking his steps with great
calculations. His tongue, which houses an inexhaustible pool of Oxford English
Language, kept hiding behind his teeth as he refused to concede any word to
desperate news hunters. Chief Ojukwu has the full support of Concord Laff for behaving the way he did - looking
at everyone almost speechlessly. If our reporters are protesting, the question
then is, would it not have been possible for every word uttered by Ojukwu to be
amplified and interpreted to suit individual political parties? Would Ojukwu's
second trouble not have started from there?
Concord Laff does not want to concern itself with whether the ex-exile
acted the way he did “on instructions” from any quarters. It is only imperative
to remind everybody, including Chief Ojukwu himself, that the man (Ojukwu) has
swallowed more political bitter pills than any human tongue can actually stand.
Ojukwu should, therefore, not make the drastic mistake of playing into the
dragnets of those politicians who want to use him as a pawn on their filthy
chess board. If I were in Ojukwu’s shoes, I would simply look at myself as a
head of palm kernels, and the rest Nigerians as parasitic ants which roam
around the palm kernel from dusk to dawn. Those ants which my people call chekwuche stay glued to the palm kernels,
pretending to be friendly. But the moment the palm kernels are heading for the
cooking pot, all the fake friends will disappear. If I were in Ojukwu’s shoes,
I would continue feeding all the political suitors with only smiles until they
feel embarrassed and leave me in peace.
MEANWHILE
Thumbs
up for President Shehu shagari for practising the saying that “the greatest
vengeance is forgiveness”.
