Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (; 4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) also known as Ikemba, was a Nigerian military officer and politician who served as President of Biafra from 1967 to 1970. As the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which he declared as the independent state of Biafra, Ojukwu led the Biafran forces during the Nigerian Civil War against the Nigerian government forces.
Born in Zungeru, British Nigeria to Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a wealthy Igbo businessman, Ojukwu was educated at King's College, Lagos and Epsom College in Surrey, England. He proceeded to Lincoln College, Oxford University where he obtained a master's degree in Modern History in 1955. He returned to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer and would later join the Nigerian army. Following the independence of Nigeria in 1960, a group of military officers overthrew Nigeria's civilian government in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état and Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi became the head of state. Ironsi appointed Ojukwu as military governor of the Eastern Region mostly dominated by the Igbo tribe.
In response to the demands of the protection of the Igbos in the then-Eastern region from being killed in several parts of the country - particularly the Northern parts of Nigeria, Ojukwu reorganised the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra, and he declared independence from Nigeria. Nigeria invaded Biafra, sparking the Nigerian Civil War which has been argued in many quarters as a genocide against the Igbos of the then-Eastern region. 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.
Ojukwu was born as the second son of business tycoon Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu. Louis was the son of a clan chief from Nnewi, Anambra State. Louis married at the age of twenty five to a young wife and after a short union, they separated. Before then, the wife lived at Zungeru, a village in Northern Nigeria. After the birth of Ojukwu in November 1933, Louis visited from Lagos and reclaimed Chukwuemeka, his given name.
World War II broke out when Ojukwu was seven. His father sent him to St. Patrick's School and CMS Grammar School both in Lagos. In 1944 at the age of 10, Ojukwu started studying at King's College, Lagos. In 1945 when Ojukwu had stayed for two years in Kings College, his father, who wanted him to be educated in England, made consultations from his English friend. Epsom College in Surrey was recommended and by 1946 Louis sent Ojukwu there for an advanced education. Ojukwu stayed at Epsom for six years. During that time, he excelled in academics as well as in sports and athletics. He played rugby for the college winning the spring javelin throwing and discus. At 18 he entered Lincoln College, Oxford and studied briefly in 1952. Louis wanted his son to be a lawyer as it was the most common course in Nigeria to have been studying at the time but Ojukwu wanted to read modern history. Between 1952 and 1955 he studied law and later switched to history. He also joined the West African Students' Union in Oxford. During his final years, he joined Oxford Rugby Union as wing three quarter in Lincoln College's team. Ojukwu graduated with a B.A in arts in 1955 and travelled back to Lagos. He would later return to Oxford to obtain his M.A.
After informing his reluctant parents, Ojukwu joined the Nigerian Civil Service in Udi, as an Assistant District Officer. He was posted to the East since local authorities mandated all young civil administrators to serve in the Eastern Region. He hardly spoke Igbo since he was born in the north, raised in the west, and educated in England, hence, he could speak English and Yoruba fluently, and satisfactory Hausa. Ojukwu started learning Igbo in order to communicate with the people. Throughout his stay in Udi and other later postings in Umuahia and Aba from 1955 to 1957, he stayed with people living in bushes. From Aba, he was posted to Calabar. His father,
believing the superstition that Efik women cast spells and bewitch young men, he called his friend, the then Governor-general, John Stuart Macpherson, to terminate the appointment, which he did.
Ojukwu became angry about the termination, and he then applied to join the Nigerian Army in 1957. His reason was to escape the influence of his father over his chosen career. The Nigerian army was regarded as a small administration that people who held commissioned offices had their last degree from primary school. Seeing Ojukwu apply to join the military, surprised the Governor-general, high Army Commands, and his father. Louis, through Macpherson, ensured that Ojukwu is denied officer cadetship, hence he would not enter as a private soldier, which is more difficult but Ojukwu still Joined as a private soldier at the Army Recruit Depot in Zaria. During a recruit training by Sergeant Moussa Fort-Lamy, Ojukwu corrected his English speaking errors. Surprised by that, he sent Ojukwu to be interviewed by the Depot commander and subsequently apply for an officer commission-cadetship. It took a month for the paper to be out and during the waiting, Ojukwu was assigned the duty of escorting the wife and daughter of the Colonel in their horse ride and tennis parties.
The application was successful, and from Zaria, Ojukwu first moved to Teshie in Ghana and then to Officer Cadet School in Eaton Hall, England in February 1958. After a six months course, Ojukwu became a Second Lieutenant and before returning to Nigeria in November, he visited Infantry School, Warminster and Small Arms School, Hythe. In Nigeria, Ojukwu was posted to the 5th Battalion in Kaduna. He was sent to Ghana's Teshie Frontal School in 1959, to teach infantry tactics, and one of his student was Murtala Muhammed. From Teshie, he taught military law at the Ghana Academy. A British Brigadier, who was on a visit to Nigeria, requested that Ojukwu return as his staff in the brigade at Apapa. The Nigerian Army at Central Lagos disputed the request and asked Ojukwu to report to the headquarters in January 1961. Ojukwu returned to Nigeria to witness the 1960 Nigerian Independence but returned to Ghana to finish his work. He returned again to Nigeria before Christmas in 1960 and saw he