Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was a Cook in the Biafran Army

She was just a teenager at the time. And given the nature of forced conscriptions into the war at the time, young male adults were forced into the war, while young female adults were forced into the kitchen - those to cook for those fighting the war. One of those in the kitchen then was the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

In her superlative tribute for late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the finance minister recounted how she became a cook for the Biafran soldiers during the war.



Describing Odumegwu-Ojukwu as her hero and the hero of all Nigerians, she said: “During the war, my father was a Brigadier in the Biafran army. I was also a teenager at the time. As I said in a tribute recently, I was cooking for the Biafran soldiers at the war front. So Ojukwu was my hero and he was the hero of all Nigerians, and we want his soul to rest in peace.” She asked: “Have you ever seen someone who received this kind of tributes from all over the country, even from outside the shores of this nation?”


Okonjo-Iweala noted that the death and burial of the former Biafran warlord and leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), had united Nigeria, describing the requiem service preceding his burial as a sober and uplifting occasion.


The minister told journalists shortly after the internment of the remains of Odumegwu-Ojukwu at the weekend at Umudim community in Nnewi, Anambra State that he was a man who in death united the whole country, noting that although when he was alive, he seemed “like a divisive figure”.


According to her, “But that’s not the case; he has actually brought everybody together. Look at the calibre of the personalities who attended the ceremony - from the speaker of the House of Representatives to the president, the First Lady.  So we want to thank the Ojukwu family for having given us a great hero.”


Asked if there was any lesson people could learn from the life of Ikemba Nnewi, the minister declared: “Nigerians can learn to be principled, to be resilient, to believe in their country, to be patriotic, to be courageous, stand for what you believe in.


“This was a man who stood for what he believed in. And like the priest said in Enugu during the funeral at Okpara Square, no one has come out to say that Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu ever stole one naira from public funds. That's the best example you could ever have. Let it be said of all of us when we depart that we never stole one naira.”


Reminded that Nigerians do not seem to have pointed out any of Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s faults, she retorted: “There is no human being who doesn't have any fault. I don't think I am qualified to even talk about whatever must have been his faults, right now. But I am sure that if he were here today, he was a great man and great people admit their faults.”

Biafran Army during the Civil war

It is a tribute to his greatness that three days after his burial, the echo of his funeral has continued to reverberate in his Nnewi, Anambra State country home.


It was a carnival of sorts yesterday as different groups, traditional dancers and live bands from far and near Igboland thronged the compound of the fallen Igbo leader to pay their last respect. The mausoleum where the late Ikemba Nnewi rests is being guarded by four members of the Lower Niger congress (LNC) clad in red vests with the photograph of Odumegwu-Ojukwu emblazoned on it. One of the guards who identified himself as Austin Onyekasi said they were guarding the mausoleum as a mark of honour because “Ojukwu was our father”.


Security was generally relaxed to enable kinsmen and folks continue with the traditional seven-day funeral rites in Igboland. This differs from the day of his burial when security buffer zones were created some two kilometres to his compound.


But it was also a day APGA world-wide paid its last respect to their fallen leader.


National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, described yesterday as a very solemn moment for the party having accepted that their leader had really departed to the great beyond, and condoled with the family.


Odumegwu-Ojukwu, he said, remained the leader of the party even in death since no replacement could better fit into his shoes.


Rather, he said, the party could only appoint a deputy leader whose political sagacity and courage must be well known to perform the late Ikemba’s duties within the physical realm. Such person he insisted would be known by his activities and would naturally be accepted by the Igbo people.


While alive, he said, Odumegwu-Ojukwu installed two governors in Peter Obi of Anambra State and Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo State respectively and reiterated the desire of the apostles he left behind to keep his dreams and legacies alive, adding that his demise could never diminish his influence and that his name is eternal with the party.


“Anybody who loves Ojukwu must love the institution he left behind. He nurtured APGA. That is the political party he left behind. Even if he had left us, the need to stay together under APGA is important,” he said. 


Umeh stressed that the party would not suffer any setback on account of the death of its national leader, adding that APGA had established a firm root in Nigerian politics that could not be easily erased.


“There is no leadership vacuum in APGA. The party is well situated right now. We have a firm leadership and team that worked with Ojukwu for the past eight years,” he said.


The APGA chieftain noted that Odumegwu-Ojukwu while alive was a man who feared no one and who took decisions forthrightly without minding whose ox was gored so long as it upheld justice, equity and fairness. 


Those present to pay their respects yesterday included former Governor of Bauchi State, Adamu Muazu; Chairman, Petroleum Task Force Committee, Nuhu Ribadu, who described Odumegwu-Ojukwu as the creator of modern Nigeria whose ideals on justice, equity and fairness the country’s leaders must not allow to die with him; and Governor Obi of Anambra State.


Others included Senator Chris Anyanwu from Imo State, Hon. Chuma Nzeribe and former APGA governorship candidate in Imo State, Chief Martins Agbaso, as well as representatives of the party in the United States of America, Europe and Asia among others.