Quotable Measures of the Man: Dim Ojukwu of Nigeria (1)

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Category: Patrick Iroegbu

Published on Thursday, 08 March 2012 20:00

Written by Patrick Iroegbu

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The measures of a man can stem squarely and be taken from the society where he was born, raised and expressed himself. Dim Ojukwu was one of such men whose virtues and courageous manner of historic being and becoming require capturing from the quotable measures of his life and times.

This entry begins the many parts of the quotes I will try to bring together. As a philosopher, historian, soldier and leader with a difference, one way we can truly understand his impact in words and in deeds is to build a special kind of knowledge bank in a collection of quotes and abstracts that speak to the epiculture of Dim Ojukwu of all times as they are flying around since his passing on November 26, 2011 and burial rites on March 2, 2012. Here we go.  

1. 1.“I would like to be remembered as a statesman; not just as a rebel leader.” (Dim Ojukwu).
2. 2.Alive, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu had a charisma and commanding presence matched by few men anywhere. In death, he surpassed himself, inspiring a degree of reverence that approached cult dimensions. It is safe to suggest that no Nigerian personage or hero ever received a final send-off that approached Ojukwu’s in scale, grandeur and drama. (Okey Ndibe, 2012)
3. 3.In what is bound to endure as a classic of spousal eulogy, she celebrated the multiple ways in which the ex-Biafran leader was present in her life. She invoked him as “my husband, my brother, my friend, my child.” She hailed him as “the lion of my history books, the leader of my nation when we faced extinction, the larger-than-life history come to my life – living, breathing legend.” (Okey Ndibe on Bianca Ojukwu, 2012).
4. 4.She touched on his personal attributes – an extraordinary sense of humor witnessed by those fortunate enough to be in his company, a quality of wisdom that came from clear and deep thinking, and a habit of candor. Then she pointed us to his indifference to material accumulation: “Your disdain for money was novel – sometimes funny, other times quite alarming. It mattered not a whit to you.” (Ibid, Bianca Ojukwu, 2012).
5. 5.In the days and weeks and months and years after Ojukwu’s death and burial, we will be challenged to prove that our effusive praises were heartfelt, not mere wishy-washy rituals. The proof will lie, ultimately, in our willingness to remember what his life and work meant at the deepest levels and – more fundamentally – in permitting the lessons of Biafra to inform every aspect of our progress. (Okey Ndibe, 2012).
6. 6.Dim Ojukwu was a phenomenal Nigerian who could not be captured in words alone. He was Nigerian history as Nigerian history on human rights and war against injustices became symbolic of him. (Patrick Iroegbu, 2012).
7. 7.Gowon could not have done otherwise but to listen to pronounce the end of war manta of “no victor, no vanquished” that way because no one defeats a population group that lived in every village of Nigeria. To have said it otherwise would have meant shooting oneself on the feet for greater division and calamity. (Patrick Iroegbu 2012).
8. 8.Dim Ojukwu was a critical personal testimony on Nigeria. His death pulled everyone together like never before. An embodiment of college of making a difference, valour and honour Nigeria is yet to graduate from. (Patrick Iroegbu, 2012).  
9. 9.Statements and narratives drawn from impact of a person, personal contact and experiences make the best tributes for the measure of a hero. (Patrick Iroegbu, 2012).
10. 10.While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was dealing with the racism in America, Dim Ojukwu was fighting ethnic racism and injustices in Nigeria in the same 1960s. History has spoken and Dim Ojukwu did become the Gburu Gburu of Ndigbo and a hero of all times for Nigerian unity. God bless his soul and grantperfect peace.  (Patrick Iroegbu, 2012).   
11. 11.Since installing Dim Ojukwu by the people of Nnewi and their Eze in 1982 when Ojukwu returned from 13 years of exile to the trumpet of the welcoming of a hero as Ikemba of Nnewi, the tempo, and indeed, beauty of receiving chieftaincy awards in Igboland assumed a new classic, historic anddimension. Ojukwu had in that sense transformed and reinforced the value of chieftaincy titles and how such titles are articulated, geographically spread out and brandished to fit the personhood of the recipient. (Patrick Iroegbu, 2012).
12. 12.Ojukwu is Nigeria lived out in the times we shared Nigerian spaces and challenges of unity and development together – both in peace times of crusade for unity and development and also in war times forged out of ethnic and religious idiosyncrasies, differences and intolerances rather than commonalities and potentials for unity and advancement. (Patrick Iroegbu, 2012).
13. 13.Yet it was in the privacy of his Villaska Lodge family home in Lagos, which was located on the then Queens Drive, Ikoyi, where he had kindly invited me for tea, that I became utterly enthralled with him. It was almost an obsession. I remember telling him that day that my only ambition in life after leaving Harrow (the famous British public school that I had had the privilege of attending) and Cambridge University was to join the army just as he had done after he left Epsom College and Oxford but that my father simply refused to allow it. I wondered how he had managed to pull it off given the fact that we came from similar backgrounds. He told me that unlike the Yoruba the Igbo were republican in nature and very independent-minded and that an Igbo father could not easily dictate to a son what his career should or should not be. For a brief moment I was overwhelmed and I wished that I had been born an Igbo. How different things would have been. (Femi Fani-Kayode, 2012).
14. 14.Today I re-echo the beautiful words of King David when he heard about the death of his old adversary King Saul and in a similar way I proclaim - tell it not in the north, tell it not in the south, tell it not in the east and tell it not in the west....''for how are the mighty fallen''. Ojukwu has fallen yet he lives. He is buried, yet what he stood for, the Aburi declaration included, is not buried with him. Those ideals shall live and endure forever and shall be manifested in our lifetime no matter how hard the Nigerian state seeks to deny or resist them. The right to self-determination, the freedom to live in peace with our values and cultural identity unmolested and intact even in a multi-religious and multi-cultural state, the right to be free from genocide, ethnic cleansing, religious persecution and tribal bigotry and oppression and the right to live in a country where all people are equal regardless of their state of origin, religious persuasion or ethnic identity are ideals that Ojukwu symbolised and fought for during the civil war and indeed throughout his life. These values and principles live and are not dead and buried with him. (Femi Fani-Kayode, 2012).
15. 15.To Dim Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, whose exemplary life has given me and millions of others in my generation more purpose, strength and determination to continue the struggle than he can possibly imagine; I have only the following to say. “You stood firm and fought hard for your people when it mattered the most. Nothing else counts. ...The father of Biafra. A man of strength, vision and courage. What an extraordinary and noble heritage. We knew your father and your father's father. They also made their mark. They were also great and powerful men. Yet you were the star that eclipsed all stars in the Nigerian firmament. Unlike many of those who have hailed you only in death, you were man enough to stand up and say ''no more'' and ''never again'' when your people were faced with genocide and mass murder. During the civil war the Biafrans fought like great men and lions simply because they were led by a great man and a great lion. We shall continue the fight for liberation where you stopped. The battle has passed to the next generation. (Femi Fani-Kayode, 2012).
16. 16.There cannot be anyone, I daresay, whose belle can be more gladdened with how the death and burial of the great Dim Chukwemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu has dominated national space, culminating in what is tantamount to a national State Burial of perhaps unprecedented proportion, than I – for, as readers of my column must be familiar, I idolise Ojukwu. (Tunde Fagbenle, 2012).
17. 17.Dim Chukwu Emeka Ojukwu stood and fought for equity, justice and fairness for a better society where no one is left behind. Born with silver spoon, well groomed, educated and far ahead of his peers, he foresaw the looming scourge and danger of barbaric, corrupt, uncivilized, illiterate, feudal & blood thirsty elite controlling the levers of power and he challenged the manipulative and unjust system. A rare gem then, and even now. (Akinola, M.A., 2012).

18.        To say Dim Chukwu Emaka Ojukwu is a rebel is the right word after all Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Martin Luther King Jnr., Hindra Ghandi; other upright and notable figures rebelled against feudal and manipulative elite. But for me & my household. Dim Chukwu Emeka Ojukwu is a formidable ICON then, now and forever. (Akinola, M.A., 2012).

1. 19.Ojukwu was born in the North, schooled in the West, spoke Hausa and Yoruba. There is no leader of his time more Nigerian than him, but he was forced by circumstances not of his making to fight against Nigeria. He was a reluctant warrior. ...But Ndi-Igbo did not lose their potential. Ojukwu’s presence sustained that potential. His passing will not diminish but heighten it. What we have failed to understand in the Igbo man’s attitude is his belief that potential knows no boundaries, physical or mental. That is why he is everywhere and why anywhere he is welcome and finds peace, he calls home. The Igbo man is the ultimate Nigerian. (Okechukwu Peter Nwobu, 2012).
2. 20.On the day I received news that my father’s hero and my hero Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was dead, I remembered lots of those soldiers’ war time songs. One of them whose every word I still remember brought tears to my eyes as they did during the war and I sang it for Emeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu. It goes this way, ‘Oh my brothers don’t you worry. Oh sisters don’t you worry. If I happen to die in the battle front, never mind we shall meet again.’ In death Ojukwu like Abraham Lincoln now belong to the ages. (Okechukwu Peter Nwobu, 2012).
3. 21.Ojukwu once called for handshake across the Niger. I would like to believe that in death, he is calling for that handshake across the Niger, westward and northward to build a nation all Nigerians will be proud of. It is still not too late to join hands and harness our vast potential and rebuild a nation whose citizenship he bore at his passing. How do we immortalise a man who has immortalised himself? Immortalise his ideals, not by copious words but by deeds. Ignoring his ideals will be to Nigeria’s peril. (Okechukwu Peter Nwobu, 2012).
4. 22.“In leadership, we have dynasty and dynastic succession. So, what office was Ojukwu holding before he died? Ojukwu was holding office in the minds of Ndigbo and not by election or appointment. Eze Igbo means king of Igbos, but he was not a king that orders his people around by way of control. (Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, 2012).
5. 23.“Some people erroneously alleged that Odumegwu-Ojukwu waged a war against his fatherland. But I stand to say that what Odumegwu-Ojukwu rather did was to declare war of a historic and special significance against injustice, corruption, deception and lies, adding that what he did would have received wider international blessings if it were to be now” (Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, 2012).

24.        "I will tell the next generation that Ojukwu was a man whose courage and sacrifice are worthy of emulation. He had deep love for his people. He was one of the greatest Nigerians who insisted on true federalism. He was resilient, resourceful and committed to his people. He lived for his people and Nigeria. He was an Iroko who stood tall above all. He believed in peace, unity, justice and freedom. He had courage and doggedness when he challenged the government of Lagos State. I will also tell the next generation that he was an author of Nigerian unity because he was involved." (Governor Fashola of Lagos State).

25.        Ojukwu is a total embodiment of his people to whom many have said the following:

1. Your life exemplified truth, Justice and Love for your people.
2. We stand in awe of your convictions and achievements as we mourn your departure to the great beyond.
3. Your memories would keep alive in us the unrelenting hopes of a renaissance of the Igbo nation and the emergence of a strong, virile,equitable society in Igboland and for Nigeria.
4. We Nigerians are where we were 45 years ago because Nigeria never believed in you. But now it will. Ikemba you have left a shoe too big for anyone to wear. But God will return your genius and personhood to us soon; yes he will. You may be dead but your spirit lives on with us. It is difficult to say goodbye. To die a Nigeria might be your greatest regret at the onset but now you preached it as a goal for unity. We can't say much but goodbye to eternal rest. Rest well in Peace, the Great gburugburu. ( Igboville Facebook blog, Feb., 2012).

26.        At the end of a long queue I arrived face to face with the Hero. I stood at attention and presented my copy of the book for his autograph. He raised his head as if to assess me. It was then that I discovered the man. He had commanding eyes that glared like balls of fire. His presence attracted and arrested like the Ijele masquerade. (Ambassador Dozie Nwanna, 2012).

27.        At the end of a long queue I arrived face to face with the Hero. I stood at attention and presented my copy of the book for his autograph. He raised his head as if to assess me. It was then that I discovered the man. He had commanding eyes that glared like balls of fire. His presence attracted and arrested like the Ijele masquerade. (Ibid, Nwanna).

28.        Truly, the Ikemba was very distinct in his ways. His life and work defined the Nigeria of our time and will continue to do so until his restless spirit and those of his own ‘blind men’ meet at the junction we would be glad to name ‘Catharsis’. For, in the saga of the Hero’s life there could not be any question of right or wrong — just the needful, executed on either side by persons who merely saw through a glass, darkly. (Ibid, Nwanna).

29.        Ojukwu understood Nigeria but Nigeria did not understand Ojukwu. Because more than Oxford degrees, Ojukwu’s philosophical understanding of Nigeria’s history and politics was a result of his practical knowledge of the country no other show cased such adoring depth. (Olaitan Ladipo, 2011).

30.        In fact, one of the hallmarks of Emeka Ojukwu was that he spoke things some people would not speak and to which some others would not like to listen.  It is a hallmark of true leaders, but not of politicians. He was not a politician.  Emeka Ojukwu was a leader. (Ibid, Ladipo).

31.        Throughout his tenure, and before and during the civil war, I never saw Ojukwu smile. He was always taciturn, serious, stern, and hard-faced, another feature that convinced me of his being a man of sterner stuff; a man not given to trivialities or nonsense. It was therefore no surprise to me, even at that very young age of mine, after the large scale massacre of his people and his disaffection with the Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon, who was his (Ojukwu’s) junior in the Army, that he felt he had to secede from the Nigerian nation to save and protect his people. (Akintokunbo, A. Adejumo, 2011).

32.        "Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign independent Republic, now, therefore I, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters, shall, henceforth, be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of The Republic of Biafra." (Wikipedia).

33.        To me he was a Liberator of his people; to me, he was the “Rebel Leader of Biafra”, as we used to hear in those days of the Civil War; but he was not a tribal leader, never a tribal leader. The man was too liberated, too intelligent and too educated to descend that low. This I hope we will all agree on. He did all he could to keep Nigeria one but under a very different and difficult circumstance when he could no longer see any alternative. (Akintokunbo, A. Adejumo, 2011).

34.        I have no doubt that in a different age; Ojukwu could have been the type of leader we yearn for in this confounded country of ours. Not only to the Igbos but to all who call themselves Nigerians. When we look back and forward to the present day Nigeria and how it is being run to the ground by the corrupt, hypocritical, religious and tribal fanatics, then perhaps it is time we started looking at Dim Ojukwu in a new light. I am never one to heap praises and eulogies on our leaders, but this is a time I have to change my stance. A true Nigerian Icon has gone. (Akintokunbo, A. Adejumo, 2011).

35.        Things happen when a person is ahead of his or her own time! Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of America gave what is today celebrated as “I Have A Dream Speech” in America. Chief Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu of Nigeria provided what is called “THE AHIARA DECLARATION Speech” in Mbaise of Imo State of Nigeria. The point is that some people are born or reared up to be more equal than others, not in the rational ethics and theology of humanity before God and the Law, but in the influential character they unleash, in the solemn vision they hold, in the artistic dreams they craft, and in the everlasting contributions they make in their life and times. So is the man, Ojukwu, a symbol of living for the other. (Patrick Iroegbu, 2011).

To be continued. But before then, if you have quotes or abstracts to be listed in this exercise; send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ">patrickiroegbu@yahoo.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for inclusion. Acknowledgements will be given as you do.  

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