The eldest son of the late Biafran warlord, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mr. Dede Odumegwu Ojukwu, has called on Nigerians to support the pro-Biafra agitators to actualise the dream of the Biafra state.
Making the call yesterday during a
colloquium organised by a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, in honour
of late iconic lawyer, human right activist and politician, Dr. Tunji
Braithwaite, the young Ojukwu said agitations in the country were
predicated on some iniquities that had not been atoned.
“My take is that they should agitate for Biafra; they (the agitators)
should be supported to have a Biafra, state. The worst thing in a
marriage is when you say a marriage is indissoluble.
A woman is like a bird, give her chance
to fly, she would fly away, after some time she would return to the cage
and become yours forever, but when you cage her; tie her in, she might
even destroy your roof.
“So the solution about Biafra is within Nigeria; make the Igbo people
comfortable, make sure that everything is okay because the easiest thing
to do is leadership but some people misuse it.
For instance, if you come in a year and
you are talking about budget and someone says we have 3600km of road to
tar – that is what can be accommodated in the budget and we have 36
state. If you say since we have 36 states every state should take 100km
nobody will be interested in your post as the president but when you
move and say because I am from Nnewi, I will take 300km, there will be
problem
“So, it is because of the iniquities in the country that we have agitations, remove those iniquities and I bet you there will never be any issue,” he said.
Dede who was among several other
speakers at the event who pour encomium on the late Braithwaite also
underscored the very cordial relationship between his late father and
the late Braithwaite, said during the course of their relationship,
Braithwaite kept his father’s secrets. “The relationship he had with my father was very cordial and he
(Braithwaite) never betrayed his friend. Nobody heard the secret of
Ojukwu.
“They were very close. As I mentioned,
Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, at a point was my father’s personal lawyer and
for you to have personal lawyer you know what it means. For every human
being endeavours, you have intimate relationships with your lawyer, your
accountant, your doctor and your priest. They were very close.
“If you look at it, my father had three
very identifiable Yoruba friends, but if you look at them you will see
that they looked physically identical. He had Engineer Fashola, who was
his closest Yoruba friend, an uncle to the former governor of Lagos
State. Then he had Wole Soyinka and he had Braithwaite. That was why
during the ceremony marking my father’s transition, they were all well
represented. Dr. Braithwaite at the TBS ceremony looked Nigeria in the
face and told Nigeria that Odumegwu Ojukwu did not fight against
Nigeria; rather, he defended the Igbo.
“He didn’t fear for any recrimination.
He is a very truthful person, typical; he said he never fought Nigeria
but rather, people have been misled to believe that Ojukwu fought
Nigeria. He never fought Nigeria. He defended the Igbo. Then Prof.
Soyinka in Enugu gave a memorable eulogy of his friend and that is what
friendship is all about.
“The future of this country is bright if
we eschew those things that divide us; we allowed a division, a kind of
tribalism in trying to undercut one and other and that is the bane of
the Nigerian society. When they grew up there was no Yoruba boy, there
was no Igbo boy and there was no Hausa boy. That was why that was why
when he sees Dr. Braithwaite, he would say ‘Tunji’, when he sees Prof.
Soyinka, he would not call him Prof, and he would say ‘Wole,’ because
they grew up together.
“Corruption came in when we started introducing this is my fellow Igbo, this is my fellow Yoruba. It was never like that,” he added.
“Corruption came in when we started introducing this is my fellow Igbo, this is my fellow Yoruba. It was never like that,” he added.
Other speakers, including the convener
of the colloquium, Oluyede, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin; The chairman of the
Editorial Board of The Nation Newspapers, Sam Omatseye, who represented
former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu; General Overseer of
Soul Winning Chapel, Rev. Moses Iloh; Comrade Debo Adeniran of Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL); Director of Research, People
Redemption Party (PRP) who represented Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Richard
Umar; political activist and chieftain of the Nigerian Advance Party,
Ike Ezechukwu; former chairman, Amuwo Idofin, Comrade Adewale, Nigerian
professor of political economy and founder, Centre for Values in
Leadership (CVL), Prof. Pat Utomi, Abiodun Aremu and Dr. Odion Akain,
all praised the high values of the late Braithwaithe and emphasised the
need for the country to sustain his legacies.
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