Ojukwu And Igbo Leadership

By Pini Jason

There was an event that happened during the Abacha Constitutional Conference of 1994/1995 that many may have forgotten and which nevertheless showed Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu as a compulsive fighter against injustice and oppression.

It was at the Abacha conference that Dr Alex Ekwueme articulated the doctrine of six geo-political zones. That immediately drew the ire of the Northern members who accused him of trying to divide the country. During his contribution on the floor of the Conference, Ekwueme was loudly heckled and harassed by some elements in the conference.

*Ikemba Nnewi, Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Ojukwu, his eyes popping out of their sockets, characteristically strode majestically across the conference floor, planted himself solidly behind Dr Ekwueme as a show of support and urged him to make his contribution! There was calm in the hall until Ekwueme finished his submission.

That did not in anyway suggest that Ojukwu did not hold strongly to his view of his (Ojukwu’s) place when it came to the leadership hierarchy in Igbo land.

It will be recalled that at the time Ojukwu returned from exile in 1982, Dr Alex Ekwueme was already the Vice President of the country and in a pole position to succeed Alhaji Shehu Shagari, if the military had not struck. Ekwueme’s rise to number two soon after the civil war was regarded by many as evidence of the reintegration of the Igbo in Nigeria. But Ojukwu saw things differently.

He plunged into partisan politics against the views of some people, including this writer, that he remained an oracle and establish what Chinweizu called “a paramount cultural-political institution” that would be the embodiment of Ndi Igbo. He joined the National Party of Nigeria, a party on whose platform Ekwueme was already a Vice President and declared that he joined politics to “take Ndi Igbo to the mainstream of Nigerian politics”.

Ojukwu was always fund of saying that he had been holding the mantle of leadership for too long and his hand was aching; that he was searching for the right person to hand it over to. This he always said, notwithstanding how high the political position held by any other Igbo in the country.

That brought the clash between him and other Igbo leaders when he declared himself Eze Ndi Igbo. That controversy died only when he tactically declared that his Eze Igbo had no territorial claim; that he was just primus inter pares among other panjandrum Eze Igbos in diaspora. He soon after adopted the Eze Igbo gburugburu title.

Apparently, Ojukwu was always guided by his own view of the hierarchy of leadership in Igbo land. In mid 90s, this writer had the privilege of interceding on behalf of a group of Igbo youths who invited him as a Special Guest of Honour. Always meticulous in matters of protocol, Ojukwu demanded to know who else would be sitting on the high table with him and with whom he could have conversation. Names of some of his friends were mentioned; eminent Igbo like Senator Ben Obi, late Senator Chuba Okadigbo, Prof George Obiozor and others.

Satisfied, he then said he had to ask because Ndigbo must be circumspect about the occasions they want him to grace; that he was saying so because in Igbo land, after Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe (former Senate President, first indigenous Governor-General and first civilian President of Nigeria) and Dr Nwafor Orizu (former Senate President of Nigeria and Acting President when the coup of 1966 occurred), he Emeka Ojukwu was next (having been Governor of Eastern Region and Head of State of Biafra)!

Ojukwu’s vision of himself in Igbo leadership creates a problem for those who are posturing over his succession. Soon there will be claims by people who would say that Ojukwu anointed them. Already there are a few missteps.

On what basis would anybody succeed Ojukwu as Eze Igbo? Does that make one the Igbo leader? What does it mean when his son, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr. is crowned Ikemba II by a community that did not crown Ojukwu Ikemba Nnewi? Does that elevate the young man to his father’s place in Igbo pantheon of leaders? These missteps are manifestations of the usual penchant of some Igbo to create confusion where there should be none and a lack of insight into the persona of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, a man who was difficult to pigeonhole.