GEORGE OBIOZOR, OJUKWU AND OKADIGBO: FOR THE RECORDS, By James Okoroma

Recently, another Iroko in Igboland, Prof. George Obiozor fell. Obiozor was President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, a foremost Scholar and Political Scientist.

As the world pours encomiums on this great son of Igboland, it is imperative I reveal one of the superlative accomplishments of Prof. Obiozor for Ndigbo: It was Prof. Obiozor and the late Dr Chuba Okadigbo who convinced the late President Shehu Shagari to grant presidential pardon to OJUKWU in 1982 to enable the Ikemba return from exile in Ivory Coast.

As the Special Assistant to Dr Okadigbo, I worked closely with him and shared thoughts on Nigeria, Ndigbo and the World.

In 1982, Okadigbo was the Political Adviser to President Shagari with Dr George Obiozor (as he then was) as Assistant. The duo came up with the position that for Nigeria to completely end the Civil War, both OJUKWU and Gen. Gowon must be allowed to return to the Country. While OJUKWU left Nigeria during the war, Gowon was in self-imposed exile after being implicated in the Coup that consumed Murtala Muhammed.

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President Shagari bought into Okadigbo’s advice and granted pardon to OJUKWU and Gowon.

Dr Okadigbo told me that in the paper he and Obiozor wrote to Shagari, they had argued that though the war ended militarily in 1970, it must be made to end democratically by an elected President if the dramatis personae in the war(OJUKWU and Gowon) were allowed to return home.

With the return of OJUKWU and Gowon, the curtain was finally drawn on the war.

In a chat with OJUKWU in 2003, in his Enugu house, after Dr Okadigbo ‘s death, the Ikemba disclosed to me that it was George Obiozor and Chuba-Okadigbo who came to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to break the news of his pardon to Him. In Ojukwu’s words: “conversation with Chuba and George was very easy”, meaning that three of them understood one another with ease because they were all cerebral.

As we mourn Obiozor, we must also remember the strategic role he played with Okadigbo to ensure that Ojukwu returned from exile.

The plot hatched by Okadigbo and Obiozor worked. The inclusion of Gowon for pardon was a sound argument which removed ethnic coloration from the move to bring Ikemba back.

Ndigbo must not forget the sacrifice Okadigbo and Obiozor made in their interest.

Ojukwu’s return boosted the morale of every Igbo man and woman. It also ensured that we did not wear the tag of a conquered people forever.

● Okoroma wrote from Ahiazu Mbaise, Imo State.