Чуквуемека Оджукву: Нигериялық саяшы және әскери лидер

Nigerian politician and military leader

Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu (4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who served as President of the Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970 during the Nigerian Civil War. He previously served as military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which he declared as the independent nation of Biafra. Ojukwu was born in Zungeru, Nigeria during British colonial rule and was the son of Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a wealthy and successful Igbo businessman. Ojukwu was educated at King's College, Lagos in Nigeria and Epsom College in Surrey, England. He graduated from Oxford University in 1955 with a master's degree in history and returned to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer. He later joined the Nigerian army and was rapidly promoted. Following Nigerian independence in 1960, a group of mostly Igbo junior army officers overthrew Nigeria’s civilian government in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état. Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi, another Igbo, became the new Nigerian head of state, and he appointed Ojukwu as military governor of the predominately Igbo Eastern Region. However, Hausa and Yoruba army officers feared an Igbo dominated government, resulting in the 1966 Nigerian counter coup and the subsequent 1966 anti Igbo pogrom. In response to Igbo demands for secession, Ojukwu reorganised the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra, and he declared independence from Nigeria. Nigeria invaded Biafra, sparking the Nigerian Civil War. The Nigerian military, with support from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, blockaded Biafra and cut food supplies, which created a mass famine. Ojukwu made use of foreign media to highlight the plight of Biafran civilians and depict the war as genocide against Igbos. The shocking images of starving Biafran civilians turned the war into an international media sensation, as this was one of the first globally televised wars alongside the Vietnam War. Biafra received international humanitarian relief during the Biafran airlift. Biafra eventually capitulated to Nigerian forces in 1970 after millions of Biafran civilians died. Ojukwu subsequently fled to Ivory Coast in exile, where President Félix Houphouët Boigny, who recognised Biafra as a sovereign and independent state, granted him political asylum. In 1981, newly democratically elected Nigerian president Shehu Shagari granted amnesty to Ojukwu, allowing him to return to Nigeria without facing political or legal consequences from the war. Ojukwu spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to return to Nigerian politics as a democratically elected politician rather than a military ruler. He died in 2011 at the age of 78 in London, England. His body was returned to Nigeria, where Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan arranged a state funeral. He was buried with full military honours, including a 21 gun salute from the Nigerian Army, and thousands of people attended his funeral. Ojukwu remains a contentious figure in the history of Nigeria. Many Igbo people regard him as a hero and a messianic figure who did what was necessary to ensure the survival of Nigeria's Eastern population while facing the possibility of a genocide after the 1966 coup. Other Nigerians have deemed Biafra's secession unnecessary, blaming Ojukwu for the events of the war and accusing him of oppressing Biafra's non Igbo ethnic minorities.

Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu was born on 4 November 1933 at Zungeru in northern Nigeria to Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, an Igbo businessman from present day Nnewi, Anambra State in south eastern Nigeria. Sir Louis was in the transport business; he took advantage of the business boom during World War II to become the richest man in Nigeria. He began his educational career in Lagos, southwestern Nigeria. Emeka Ojukwu started his secondary school education at CMS Grammar School, Lagos aged 10 in 1943. He later transferred to King's College, Lagos in 1944 where he was involved in a controversy leading to his brief imprisonment for assaulting a British teacher who put down a student strike action that he was a part of. This event generated widespread coverage in local newspapers. He was a Roman Catholic.

Ojukwu joined the civil service in Eastern Nigeria as an Administrative Officer at Udi, in present day Enugu State. In 1957, after two years of working with the colonial civil service and seeking to break away from his father's influence over his civil service career, he left and joined the military initially enlisting as a non commissioned officer (NCO) in Zaria. Ojukwu's decision to enlist as an NCO was forced by his father (Sir Louis)'s pulling of political strings with the then Governor General of Nigeria (John Macpherson) to prevent Emeka from getting an officer cadetship. Sir Louis and Governor General Macpherson believed Emeka would not stick to the gruelling NCO schedule, however, Emeka persevered. After an incident in which Ojukwu corrected a drill sergeant's mispronunciation of the safety catch of the Lee Enfield .303 rifle, the British Depot Commander recommended Emeka for an officer's commission. He was one of the first and few university graduates to receive an army commission. He later attended Infantry School in Warminster, the Small Arms School in Hythe. Upon completion of further military training, he was assigned to the Army's Fifth Battalion in Kaduna. where it had succeeded. Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu supported the forces loyal to the Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Major General Aguiyi Ironisi. Major Nzeogwu was in control of Kaduna, but the coup had failed in other parts of the country. Aguiyi Ironsi took over the leadership of the country and thus became the first military head of state. On Monday, 17 January 1966, he appointed military governors for the four regions. Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu was appointed Military Governor of the Eastern Region. Others were: Lt. Cols Hassan Usman Katsina (North), Francis Adekunle Fajuyi (West), and David Akpode Ejoor (Mid West). These men formed the Supreme Military Council with Brigadier B. A. O. Ogundipe, Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, Chief of Staff Army HQ, Commodore J. E. A. Wey, Head of Nigerian Navy, Lt. Col. George T. Kurubo, Head of Air Force, Col. Sittu Alao. By 29 May, the 1966 anti Igbo pogrom started. This presented problems for Odumegwu Ojukwu, as he did everything in his power to prevent reprisals and even encouraged people to return, as assurances for their safety had been given by his supposed colleagues up north and out west. On 29 July 1966, a group of officers, including Majors Murtala Muhammed, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, and Martin Adamu, led the majority of Northern soldiers in a mutiny that later developed into a "Counter Coup" or "July Rematch". The coup failed in the South Eastern part of Nigeria where Ojukwu was the military Governor, due to the effort of the brigade commander and hesitation of northern officers stationed in the region (partly due to the mutiny leaders in the East being Northern whilst being surrounded by a large Eastern population). The Supreme Commander General Aguiyi Ironsi and his host Colonel Fajuyi were abducted and killed in Ibadan. On acknowledging Ironsi's death, Ojukwu insisted that the military hierarchy be preserved. The most senior army officer after Ironsi was Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe. However, the leaders of the countercoup insisted that Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon be made head of state, although both Gowon and Ojukwu were of the same rank in the Nigerian Army. Ogundipe could not muster enough force in Lagos to establish his authority as soldiers (Guard Battalion) available to him were under Joseph Nanven Garba, who was part of the coup. This realisation led Ogundipe to opt out. Thus, Ojukwu's insistence could not be enforced by Ogundipe unless the coup plotters agreed (which they did not). The fallout from this led to a standoff between Ojukwu and Gowon, leading to the sequence of events that resulted in the Nigerian civil war.

In 1981, Ojukwu began campaigning to return to Nigeria. Nigerian president Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari granted a pardon to Ojukwu on 18 May 1982, allowing him to return to Nigeria as a private citizen. Ojukwu re entered Nigeria from Ivory Coast on 18 June. Ojukwu declared his candidacy for the Nigerian Senate in 1983. The official tally showed him losing by 12,000 votes, though a court attempted to reverse the ruling in September of that year, citing fraud in the election results. However, the disputed result was rendered moot when the Shagari government fell in the 1983 Nigerian coup d'état on 31 December. In early 1984, the Buhari regime jailed hundreds of political figures, including Ojukwu, who was held at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison. He was released later that year. Ojukwu married Bianca Onoh (former Miss Intercontinental and future ambassador) in 1994, his third marriage. The couple had three children, Afamefuna, Chineme and Nwachukwu. In the Fourth Republic era, Ojukwu unsuccessfully contested the presidency in 2003 and 2007. His funeral was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and ex President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana among other personalities.