TRIBUTE TO DIM CHUKWUEMEKA ODUMEGWU OJUKWU

“DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not…”

Those were taken from the works of John Donne, a 17th century English Metaphysical poet.

Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, Eze Igbo, will be remembered for several things.

He stood against suppression and oppression of his people in particular and humanity at large.

At a time he said that the Biafran issue has gone beyond geographical boundaries but has become a thing of the mind; psychology of some sort.

After about 13 years in exile, he came back to Nigeria and reintegrated, adequately, into the political system.  He joined the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) as a panacea to his freedom.  It was expected that the NPN government under Alhaji Shehu Shagari gave him that conditionality for pardon.  Many people may not have seen that as logical because at that time Igbos gyrated around a political umbrella called Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) which the then Zik of Africa chaired.

But the desire to come back home after 13 years in exile was more important than refusing pardon and his acceptance of the conditionality for his pardon was very instructive if only that will give the impression that he was not going to come back to galvanize the Igbos for another secessionist tendency. His triumphant return to Nigeria after he was granted pardon in 1982 was a carnival of some sort.  Every being who was somebody desired to have a glimpse of him from the airport down to his Uruagu Nnewi village.

Eze Igbo was well educated having come from a wealthy background.  I can emphatically say that he was one of the most articulate and integrated personalities in the Nigerian army in the early sixties. He could have decided to play the big man’s game in Nigeria if he wanted.  But he was more imbued by the desire to see a truly independent Nigeria where all tribes are treated in the light of their intellectual relevance to the Nigerian project much more than their religious or tribal gamut.

Ikemba, sometimes, wore the aura of Ariel Sharon and he was dreaded by his contemporaries.  This was partly because of his intellectual perspicacity and partly because of his readiness to demonstrate that he has sufficient confidence in himself wherever he was.  It was because he was involved that made him have the effrontery to reintegrate into the Nigerian political equation within a very short period even as a leader of a vanquished group.

He may have made mistakes as a human being but, in all, he will be remembered as a concerned, charismatic and great leader with astonishing oratory and a powerful communication skill.

I have read the text of presidential release - in Sahara Reporters - by Dr. Reuben Abati in respect of the passing to glory of Dim but I did not know whether the release was on behalf of the Nigerian State or on behalf of the President’s family.  I would wish that Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu be given a state burial in the spirit of true reconciliation.

Eze Igbo, you have not died; you have just been translated into a better language but I will say adieu, the leader of the “half of the rising sun”. When Nigeria is finally liberated your vision at the age of 28 years or thereabout would have come to fruition.