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How Ojukwu Becomes A Soldier ~ OsazuwaAkonedo #Biafra #NigeriaCivilWar #OdumegwuOjukwu #OsazuwaAkonedo https://osazuwaakonedo.news/how-ojukwu-becomes-a-soldier/27/05/2022/ By Press Unit
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by press unit
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dash
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above is a picture of a 22 year old
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biafra warlord chukwuemeka ajamegwu
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ojuku and his auntie winford ojuku
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shortly after he returned to nigeria in
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1955 on completing his studies at oxford
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university
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ojuku bagged a degree in history
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ojuku attended king's college lagos
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epsom college surrey england and the
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prestigious oxford university england
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by the time ojuku returned to nigeria in
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1955 his father had become one of the
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richest businessmen in the country with
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a business empire that spanned
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transportation banking retail
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construction and manufacturing
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ojuku's father took him to his corporate
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headquarters and showed him a
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well-furnished air-conditioned office
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offering him a top position in his
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business organization
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ojuku turned his father down telling him
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he wanted to make his own way in life
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ojuku eventually secured a job in the
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civil service as an assistant district
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officer of udi division just outside
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enugu in 1956 ojuku was posted to abba
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it was at abba that ojuku attended a
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party that would change the course of
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his life
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at this party ojuku met a young yoruba
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man called adayinka adebayo who had just
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been newly commissioned as an officer of
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the nigerian army
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adebayo told ojuku that the army was in
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the process of being indigenized and
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there was a shortage of officers
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a few weeks after this party ojuku was
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promoted to district officer and posted
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to kalabar
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on hearing that his son had been posted
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to kalabar ochocus influential father
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prevailed on the authorities to cancel
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the posting
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when ojuku learned of what his father
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had done he angrily resigned his job and
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drove all the way to kaduna where he
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enlisted into the nigerian army as a
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lowly recruit
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the british officers at kaduna kept
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wondering what an oxford graduate was
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doing as a private in the army and sent
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him for officers course in england
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ojuku returned in 1957 and was
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commissioned a second lieutenant the
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first graduate to join the nigerian army
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ojuku rose rapidly through the army
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he was promoted to lieutenant in 1958
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captain in 1960 major in 1962 and
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lieutenant colonel in 1964.
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ojuku was commander of the 4th battalion
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kano when the first coup happened in
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january 1966.
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as the coup unfolded major and ziago
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called on ojuku to join the coup to
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which ojuku refused ochokus refusal to
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join ziago is one of the major reasons
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weinsiagu's coup eventually failed
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general ironside then seized power and
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appointed ojuku military governor of the
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eastern region
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six months later mid-level officers of
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the nigerian of northern extraction
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conducted a coup that led to the
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overthrow and killing of iron sigh and
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the installment of lieutenant colonel
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yakubu gown as head of state
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the coup also greenlighted a bagram in
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which over 30 000 easterners mainly
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igbos were killed all over nigeria
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particularly in the north
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the inability of gown to stop the
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killings the resentment in the eastern
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region against his government and the
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fact that ojuku was senior to gown
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caused bad blood between both men
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the crisis became so bad that the then
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president of ghana general joankra
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intervened and invited both gown and
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ojuku to his hilltop mansion in abury
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ghana for peace talks in january of
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1967.
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after two days of discussions ojuku and
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gown signed an agreement that was to be
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known as the ibury accord
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a few months after their return from
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ghana gown broke the ibori accord they
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signed by issuing decree 14 of 1967
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which abolished all the four regions
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created 12 states reversed the fiscal
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federalism practiced change the revenue
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sharing formula all in a bid to increase
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the power of the north over the rest of
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nigeria
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for ojuku it was the last straw ojuku
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convened the eastern nigerian
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consultative forum a body that comprised
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of all the chiefs and head of the 20
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provinces that made up the eastern
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region
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they sat and discussed for two days and
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mandated ojuku to declare the eastern
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region a separate country on the 30th of
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may 1967 ojuku declared the eastern
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region a separate country called the
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republic of biafra
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in retaliation gown declared war
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the war raged on for three years and
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ended in january 1970 with ojuku handing
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over to his deputy general efyong flying
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into exile and ivory coast and the
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subsequent surrender of biafra
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ojuku later returned from exile 12 years
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later he died in london in 2011 age 78.
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rest in peace legend
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at views exclusive rights press unit
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gossip house may 26 2022
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