Ojukwu for burial today, as Jonathan, Rawlings, Soyinka, others pay tributes

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Thursday, March 1st, 2012

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, former Ghanaian president, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, Professor Wole Soyinka, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, past and serving governors and others bade farewell to ex-Biafran leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, even as former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, was not physically present.

The remains of the Igbo hero moved from Enugu to his home town, Nnewi, in Anambra State, for internment today.

Ojukwu’s body arrived at Michael Okpara Square, Enugu, at exactly 11.00 a.m on Thursday, where inter-denominational service was held in his honour.

Wife of the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Lady Bianca and her four children joined the procession which attracted thousands of people from all walk of life.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan, led the Federal Government’s delegation to the event.

Some of the other dignitaries at the event included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, represented by Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ministers of Labour, Emeka Wogu; Power, Professor Bart Nnaji and that of Niger, Delta, Godson Orubebe.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Rivers State governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, led his counterparts, Sullivan Chime (Enugu); Peter Obi (Anambra); Theodore Orji (Abia); Maritn Elechi (Ebonyi); Rochas Okorocha (Imo); Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Malam Isa Yuguda (Bauchi); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and a host of others to the event.

In a tribute presented on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan by Vice-President Sambo, he said the Federal
Government’s clear presence at the burial programmes for Ojukwu was a demonstration of his commitment to healing past wounds.

“I feel honoured to have been chosen to lead this Federal Government’s delegation. Ojukwu deserves this honour and the presence and participation of the Federal Government is a sign that Jonathan is committed to ensuring that all the wounds of the past are healed completely and that we do not make the mistakes of the past again,” he added.

Pouring encomiums on Ojukwu, Jonathan said “this is one man whose eulogies have been said across the world. Ikemba Nnewi not only wrote things worth reading but also did things worth writing.”

Also speaking, former Ghanaian president, Jerry Rawlings, thanked President Jonathan for the active role the Federal
Government had played in Ojukwu’s burial.

“I thank President Jonathan for making it possible for this man to be given this kind of state burial he deserves. I am also glad by the kind of tribute from General Yakubu Gowon. However, when I met President Jonathan during a function abroad, I asked him to make it possible for Gowon to come and read that tribute in person; I would have really wished it to be so, but I believe that whatever stopped him from coming must be germane.

“So long as we keep talking about Ojukwu’s integrity, I feel very much at home. What we have these days is corruption of integrity, a corruption of not recognising the basic rights of the people,” Rawlings said.

In a tribute presented on his behalf by Professor Benjamin Mariere, former head of state, General Gowon, described Ojukwu as a man who fought to liberate his people from injustice.

According to him, “Ojukwu will be remembered for his courage, focus and unwavering desire to fight for justice and fair play for his people. He loved Nigeria so much; he merely wanted to opt out over perceived injustice against his people.”

In their separate tributes, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Amaechi and the chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, Peter Obi, agreed that a great Nigerian par excellence had gone.

The host governor, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and Justice Chukwudifu Oputa also paid glowing tributes to Ojukwu.

According to Soyinka, “he who lived to embrace, to share bread and salt with his once implacable enemies is no longer with us, yet he remains among us.”

Professor Soyinka noted that “Ojukwu, thrown by destiny onto that critical moment of truth as a leader, became the voice, the actualising agent of their overwhelming recognition. He heard the answers given to an interrogatory that proceeded from gross violation, and he responded as became a leader.”

The late Igbo hero, he said, “challenged the pietisms of former colonial masters and the sanctimoniousness of much of the world. He challenged an opportunist construct of nationhood, mostly externally imposed, and sought to replace it under the most harrowing circumstances, with a vital proposition that answered the purpose of humanity-which is not merely to survive, but to exist in dignity.”

Earlier, an inter-denominational funeral church service led by the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, the Right Reverend Calistus Onaga and his Anglican counterpart, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, Methodist Archbishop of Enugu Diocese, Right Reverend Uche and other clergy men, was held in honour of the departed Igbo leader.

While the first reading taken from the book of Isaiah was read by Ojukwu’s daughter, Chinemelu, the second reading from 1 Corinthians 5 from verses 1 to 10 was read by Senator Ben Obi, Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Inter-Party Affairs.

Meanwhile, members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), on Thursday, closed down all markets within the commercial city of Onitsha, as part of honour for the late Ojukwu.

Nigerian Tribune found that as part of programmes mapped out by MASSOB to honour the late Ikemba of Nnewi, traders were earlier warned against opening their shops on Thursday, as the body of Ojukwu arrived Awka, Anambra State capital.

-Tribune

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