About The University of Ife

[kaleo...@comcast.net]

This is for those that might not have been aware of history about the University of Ife.

'Kale Oyedeji

[Okey Iheduru]

Dear Chief Oyedeji:

Please take comfort in the fact that not everyone despised/despises Chief Akintola. Just go to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. You'll see Akintola Hall, right there next to Tafawa Balewa Hall. There's no hall named after Nnamdi Azikiwe, the founder of UNN; he only got the Nnamdi Azikiwe Library. Zik's Flats (now part of the residence hall system) were actually Azikiwe's own personal property next to his personal residence on the outskirts of the university.

Okey

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62.

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Kale:

You seem to have been bitten once again with your episodic SLA bug!  Some of us who grew up despising his politics - but not his person - have allowed time to erode

that ill-disposition towards his name.  You contributed to that - with respect to my humble self - when you caused me to read a flattering book on Akintola written by Prof. 

Jide Osuntokun.

But you will recall that his was the first assault against freedom of speech in Independent Nigeria when in 1964 he sacked my father and four others from the University of

Ife for opposition to him (and support for Awolowo), and all those persons and their supporters (Dr. Oluwasanmi, Dr. Aluko, Dr. Oyenuga, etc., then later Dr. Akintoye, etc)

became the academic leaders of the university in 1967 - and for the next two decades -  after Akintola's assassination in 1966 coup.   It would have taken a large heart for

them to give Akintola too much pride of place in the university.

However, things have changed.  SLA has since  had a hall named after him at OAU, and I can assure you that nobody refuses to be posted there.

http://www.oauife.edu.ng/administration/student-affairs/halls-of-residence/ladoke-akintola-hall/

And there you have it

Bolaji Aluko

,

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okey:

You are fishing in un-troubled waters....which one "consign" UNN with OAU again, except this hackneyed Zik-Awo twinning which A Ogugua recently accused me of, but of the Soyinka-Achebe variety, like Anthony and Cleopatra?

Anyway  sha,   as I have indicated in other email, in Yorubaland, Ladoke Akintola now has at least a hall named after him at OAU (formerly University of Ife), as well as a whole university too (Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho LAUTECH), just as Awo has a university and a hall named after him at Obafemi Awolowo University.  By your own admission, Zik has a library and a hostel named after him at UNN, but I should also remind you that a university is also named after him at Awka (NAU).

Over the years, much angst has reduced over these initial political players on the national scene.  As the generation of our fathers pass on, and we who were witnesses to some of the pre-independence and immediate post-independence join them - as we must in time - virtually all the angst will disappear, except from tit-bits from the history books.

And there you it

Bolaji Aluko

http://unn.edu.ng/studentswelfare/halls-residence

[Okey Iheduru]

Bolaji:

Thanks for your response, but I'm afraid you totally missed the Pan-Nigerian and Pan-Africanist identity of UNN which I tried to convey in my post. Can you name any university in Nigeria or West Africa (including Legon) where important edifices are LIBERALLY named after national and Pan-Africanist friends and foes as is the case with UNN? Aside from the residence halls, every building is named after some one who has in one way or the other contributed to the elevation of our national and African humanity --from Langston Hughes to Russwurn, Sa'id Zungor (a Zikist from Bauchi, I believe), George Washington Carver (the peanut agricultural scientist and Tuskegee professor). As you probably recall from your boyhood days at Nsukka, the campus is a living history.

If you check my posts on this or any other listserv, I don't engage in all this your Yoruba-Igbo foolishness (Awo-Zik, Achebe-Soyinka, etc.) for which Ogugua appropriately upbraided you and any other persons who have too much time on their hand but refuse to acknowledge/embrace how tightly all of us have now been joined at the hip.

Please give my Happy Mothers' Day greetings to Madam, o jare!

Okey

--

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okey:

You forget that my "boyhood days" at UNN were in 1964-1966, when UNN, barely three to four years old,  was practically an outpost of Michigan State University, when the Vice-Chancellor was a white Professor Taggart, the Registrar was another white fellow (I believe), and virtually all the textbooks in my University Staff primary school were American (that is where I learnt about Daniel Boone and General Custer, etc.), and a third of my classmates were American children (I often wonder where many of them are now) - and the only Hall of Residence was "Zik's Flats." and maybe two others that I forget their names now.   What I remember most of UNN was my  spectacular performance in the play "Hansel and Gretel" (I played Hansel), Abiodun Lawal (now a Professor of Art History  in the University) playing spectacular soccer for UNN (we children used to walk with him from the UNN stadium all the way to his Hall after matches, like he was  Peter Pan); when I often quit the soccer field when "5 minutes onwunandu" was announced (who wan die?);  when St. Theresa's Nsukka used to play Zixton College Ozubulu in soccer;  and when we took trips to Varsity Superette Nsukka owned by an American woman.

So, no, it was deep Americanism and soccer that I remembered.  I do not remember Nsukka as a walk-through encyclopedia of "edifices .....liberally named after national and Pan-Africanist friends and foes."  In fact, there were not edifices at all that I can remember, in the mold that I saw when, because of the war, my family relocated to Ibadan and then Great Ife sprang to life:  and my o my, with all my trips around the world, Ife's true edifices still compare with ANY university's in the world.

Of course, if one were to name every building and shack on Ife's campus - or some other university campus - one would become forced to have a rationale to name them after all and sundry - but that would be excessive, would it not?  It could turn out that one would name a Chemistry building after the poet Langston Hughes, and a Yoruba Studies building after Sa'id Zungor, rather capricioulsy, don't you think so?

As to binary foolishness (Awo-Zik, Soyinka-Achebe,  OAU-UNN, WEB Dubois-Booker T Washington, Anthony-Cleopatra,etc.),  that you mentioned, let us skip over that. If I were to mention some observed foolishness of yours too, I would be considered vengeful, but each one of us is entitled to some foolishness, otherwise we would not be human.

So, yes, regards to Madame on this Mother's Day...she is the reason that I am sparing you today!

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

Having a belly laugh

[Okechukwu Ukaga]

My favorite is Nkrumah hall reserved then for graduate students or PG (postgraduate) students they as were called at UNN. I still remember my room (114). Thanks for sharing this perspective, which has refreshed my memory of the good old days at UNN.
OU

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Zik donated Zik’s flats to the UNN as per his WILL- final testament did he not?

 

oa

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Thank you Okey for this reminder. Zik was an Pan-African like no other for his generation. The university he founded is eloquent testament of it. He called it the University of Nigeria. He could have named it the University of Nsukka or something else. He had halls and other facilities dedicated to illustrious Africans (including his adversaries) at home and abroad. He even declined to have the university named after him when some proposed that he be so honored. He chose a most appropriate motto for the university- “To Restore the Dignity of Man”. He was a thoughtful man with a broad-minded sense of history. He had big dreams. He always saw the big picture. He wrote scripts and left the footnotes to others.  What a man he was.

 

oa

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Okey Iheduru
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2015 8:22 AM
To: USAAfrica Dialogue; Mobolaji Aluko
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - About The University of Ife

 

Bolaji:

[Okey Iheduru]

Bolaji:

Thanks for your very interesting reminiscences about your days as an Nsukka "brat". You livened up several readers' spirits with that snippet; the kind of thing you should be doing more often. I'm even thinking we can initiate a project whereby ten members of this forum will volunteer to write and submit a 3,000 word reminiscences of their first or most memorable encounter with the "ethnic Other" outside the writer's "homeland" as young Nigerians -- no more than 25 years. I know what I'll write about: 'Fumi, my fellow Corper in Langtang, Plateau state, who taught me how to cook, especially steam-boiling fresh meat. She tongue-lashed me for every one of my foibles with "Okoro, wetin your Mama teach you?" We could ask Obi Nwakanma and Moses Ochonu to wordsmith the contributions into a must-read volume. 

I'd love to read more about your cowardice during those 5 minutes "onwu na ndu" encounters -- we call it "o tinye ukwu, o buru onya" (put out one leg, go home thoroughly bruised). I can't believe you were appointed a VC when you couldn't stand this small test of will? Where I come from, boys who always declared "gbakwata nu" --count me out, you guys go ahead and play) were ostracized. What's wrong with getting wounded once in a while?

Finally, I'm skeptical about your account of the structures at UNN in 1964-1966. The war started in 1967 and some of the buildings on campus were destroyed. In 1970 when Mr. Ukpabi Asika declared the university open (to the chagrin of the Federal Government; the latter had reportedly planned to keep UNN closed for 5 more years, but relented on the advise of its bureaucrats that Asika's announcement was actually a Decree) professors used bricks as office chairs and desks. The six or more residence halls on the main campus were there before the war started. I don't believe any new buildings were built at UNN until the late 1970s and early 1980s, except numerous Prefabs built by the quixotic Prof. Kodilinye and the "New Franco Hostels" -- Eni Njoku, Alvan Ikoku, Mbonu Ojike. This "arrested development" occurred at the time Ife and ABU expanded and erected those magnificent edifices you bragged about. UNN began to wear a new look following the appoint of Prof. Frank Ndili, first as Acting and later substantive VC. Sadly, much of Ndili's development drive was halted by the terrible "son of the soil" strife that drove him out, and years later saw the appointment of Prof. Gomwalk as Sole Administrator during the locust years of military dictatorship.

Perhaps Obi Nwakanma can chip in here and clarify why Bolaji could not see beyond "Ziks Flats and two others..."  buildings on the main campus in 1966.

Finally, university education in Nigeria owes a debt of gratitude to Prof. Glenn Taggart (first UNN VC/President) from Michigan State University for introducing innovations at UNN that were later copied by others to bring the system into modernity. A few examples: the Course and credit hour system --and the GPA calculation (UI and Ife adopted these only in the mid-1970s --Bolaji can attest to how many credit hours and GPA were recorded on his transcript from Ife), General Education curriculum as the "gateway" to a broadly educated mind, the four-year undergraduate curriculum, and, of course, the indigenization/ Africanization of university education. As at 1966, there were over 100 MSU faculty and staff at UNN piloting this revolution.

Okey

[kaleo...@comcast.net]

Thank you Prof. Iheduru for your response and elucidation. Thes forum had changed a lot over the years. Some years back, whenever I posted anything in favour of S.L. Akintola, the pro-Awo crowd would come out in full swing with unprintable insults. So, I decided to just watch from the sideline.

Prof. Falola, asked me in January, when we met at the Muritala Muhamed Airport, why I no longer contributed to the discussions on this forum; I can't remember the answer I gave him, but the reason is because I just could not stand those with insulting tendencies.

We are really moving forward.

'Kale Oyedeji (I'm not a chief o)

---

From: "Okey Iheduru" <okeyi...@gmail.com>
To: "USAAfrica Dialogue" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 9, 2015 3:00:24 PM

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - About The University of Ife

[Rex Marinus]

Okey,
My most memorable encounter with the so-called "ethnic other" was in 1975, when I returned for the first time to spend  term of school with my grandmother in my ancestral village. I was a thorough city boy. I had grown up till that moment in what my memory now tells was a lovely spot on what was Queen Elizabeth road, between Mokola and Iyagankun in Ibadan. I was possibly at that time more Yoruba than Igbo. Well, as it so happened, my grandmother let me run with the boys, so they could teach me a thing or two. And these kids had incredible skills: they made catapults from disused bicycle tubes and tires; fashioned their own "pen-knives," knew how to keep a traditional forge going and to shape iron therefrom; knew traditional woodwork; some even helped their fathers or uncles carve elegant doors;  they knew how to weave bags or mats with raffia; make ropes from some plant that they only could pick from the bushes; and if you went out with them into he woods that have now all but disappeared, they knew to cut the "opete" and drink pure water from it that kept the thirst away;  and they climbed great trees, in ways that made me feel completely flat footed. What they did not know in the use of "spoken English" which proved my only advantage over them, they made up in sheer knowledge of the world and its material environment that told very much of their steady and informed observation of phenomena.
 
But somehow, because I had arrived from the so-called city, they were in awe of me! For a few months, whenever I was lured into a fight, I would put up a "Bruce Lee" stance. The kids would disperse in awe and say, "the boy knows karate" - which somehow seemed like a profound skill to have. Anyway, come this day, and it was a fight again, and I had again taken the stance of the curled Mamba like Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon." Now, this kid Kperechi, had possibly had enough of my bullshit. But for a while, he seemed undecided about whether to take me on or not. Well, the short of it is that in one swirling act of courage and decisiveness, Kperechi gather me up, in traditional wrestling  style, still curled like the striking mamba, but now levitating weightlessly in the air. I found myself on the ground. Now, the strange thing was, when I fell, all the kids ran away! As if some sacred spirit had been unmasked! But in fact, it was the end of my "city mystique" and it was much to my chagrin. Of course, not long after, I had my own revenge on Kperechi. But the lesson has never left me to this day.
 
Now to UNN: I'm sure Dr. Aluko will know many things about Nsukka that many of us will not, yet here are my own doubts: I do not think that Dr. Glenn Taggart was the first Vice-Chancellor of  UNN. He alongside others like T. Olawale Elias, Marguerite Carthright, and so on were on the first Board of Trustees of UNN as established by Zik. The first VC was Dr. Johnson, for whom the School of Journalism was named. I think. He was African-American. When he left, Prof. Babs-Fafunwa became the acting Vice-Chancellor. With the "exodus" of Westerners from Nsukka in 1967, Professor Bede Okigbo became the Acting Vice Chancellor until Ojukwu appointed Professor Eni Njoku, formerly of UNILAG, substantive Vice-Chancellor, and Prof. Kenneth Dike, Vice-Chancellor of the then new University of Technology, Port-Harcourt in 1967. It is also quite clear that Nsukka reflected Azikiwe's philosophy of Education: he founded Nsukka on two principal visions and missions: Nsukka was conceived as the new University of Sankore - a place where Africans - whether of home or the Diaspora - can come in pursuit of knowledge. Its missin was African renaissance, and its vision, pan-African. His second model was the land-grant university; America's contribution to the idea of the modern University. But in this case, Azikiwe actually did not take his model from Michigan State, he modeled Nsukka after Cornell and the historically black colleges. Underneath was his critique of the mission and foundation of the University of Ibadan, which, in its foundation and in its "misdirection" as Azikiwe saw it, he had declared a "One million dollar baby." He did not see Ibadan, as it was established, satisfying the  mission of a newly decolonizing nation in an urgent race for development. He believed that an educated man was educated to serve and not to be served by the people. That was why, aside from the regular, classical Faculties, Nsukka had the first  "vocational colleges"  - the College of Law, the first College of Engineering, the first College of Business, journalism, Social Work, Estate Management, Music, etc. in Nigeria. Students could work and go to school at the same time, and pay their way through a university education by what they earned, supplemented by public grants - the so-called "Eastern Nigerian Scholarship" program. 
 
All these Schools were named after distinguished Africans, African Americans and even non Africans who had made contributions positively to Africa. It was a cosmopolitan view and vision for a university conceived to be global and cosmopolitan in its  reach and outreach. That is the singular failure of Nsukka today: that it abandoned its Zikist mission. The College of Music was for instance, named the Fela Sowande College of Music, the School of Fine Arts was the Ben Enwonwu school, the Institute of African Studies was the Hansberry Institute, named after Leon Hansberry, who was appointed its first Director in 1962. The College of Business was named after the Ghanaian Lawyer, novelist Publisher and Investor, E.G. Kobina Sekyi who had died in 1956. Just as an example. Azikiwe himself named these colleges in one of his early addresses to the congregation at Nsukka. Taggart, Marguerite Cartwright, T. O. Elias were on the Nsukka Board of Trustees, and streets and places were named after them too. The upshot is that Nsukka reflected Eastern Nigeria's vision of nation in the early formation of Nigeria, and it was driven by a Zikist impulse. Another great factor in the conception and development of Nsukka, who has been largely understated in the narrative of that great university is Akpabio, then minister of Education, who with Zik toured, raised money, and helped to establish local and international goodwill for the establishment of the University of Nigeria, and indeed pushed its bill of foundation through the Eastern Nigerian parliament in 1955, when the University, was formally chartered and officially founded. I think Dr. Aluko should re-check his facts again. The names were already there and were part of Nsukka's founding. I salute you.
Obi Nwakanma
 

---

Date: Tue, 12 May 2015 11:47:46 -0700

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - About The University of Ife

From: okeyi...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[kaleo...@comcast.net]

Bolaji, you have addressed my concern, "Over the years, much angst has reduced over these initial political players on the national scene.  As the generation of our fathers pass on, and we who were witnesses to some of the pre-independence and immediate post-independence join them - as we must in time - virtually all the angst will disappear, except from tit-bits from the history books."

I am very surprised that a hall has finally been named after SLA at the University of Ife!

Bolaji, how many times do I need to correct you, Ogbomoso, not Ogbomosho.

'Kale

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Kale:

Yes, if history is given as history, no one will quarrel with you over Akintola.  But any hagiographic interpretations of past events, or asynchronic projections of those

events into present-day politics are bound to get a push-back by those you term "Awoists", who still smart both at Awo's hastiness in leaving Ibadan for the Lagos center,

and leaving Ibadan in the hands of Akintola who proceeded to - em em - mess things up.  

That is a threat, not a promise.

I am also fighting hard to note that you were not aware that there is an Akintola Hall (a Sports Hall) at Great Ife all of this time.  That must have happened over 10 years ago now.

In closing, let me leave you with this snipped of history of Great Ife till 2012:

QUOTE

OAU @ 50 The Development Of The University by whilly: 10:34pm On Nov 07, 2012

The Development of the University

The University has a land area of about 5,605 hectares out of which 1,012 hectares have been developed as the central campus,1214 hectares set aside for the Teaching and Research Farm, and another 2,023 hectares earmarked for Commercial Farm. An additional area of approximately 6,256 hectares along the Ife/Ede Roadwas also acquired. 

The first movement to the permanent site at Ile-Ife was on 29th January, 1967 when 500 students of the Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Law came into residence. The Faculty of Agriculture and the Departments of Botany and Zoology moved to Ile-Ife in January 1968.

The Faculty of Pharmacy followed in 1972. The Faculty of Law also moved into its own building on October 14, 1981, while the Faculty of Social Sciences moved into its building in September 1982. The Library building has been in use since October 1, 1969. An extension to the Library was completed and occupied in 1982.

The Faculty of Science buildings were completed in 1970. It now accommodates the Department of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Electronics and Electrical Engineering. The Department of Geology has its own building which it has occupied since 1974.

The Sports Centre has been progressively developed. Additional students’ hostels have been completed to facilitate accommodation of students on campus. An ultra-modern Conference Centre and Guest Houses has also been completed and is currently being expanded.

The attractive and spacious buildings of the Department of Biological Sciences and Pre-Clinical Sciences were completed and occupied at the beginning of the 1974/75 session. The buildings of the Faculty of Administration and the Central Administration Secretariat – the University Hall - were ready for occupation during the long vacation in 1974, and are now in full use. The Indoor Sports hall, the Students Union Building, the Department of Food Science and Technology Building, the Chemical Engineering buildings and the Staff Canteen were also completed in 1974, and have since been in full use.

The Assembly hall, otherwise known as “Oduduwa Hall” was completed during the year 1976. The College of Health Sciences buildings were completed and occupied in 1978 while the University Teaching Centre, now known as Ajose Lecture Theatre, was completed and put to use in 1987.

The Power Station was commissioned in 1977. The Opa Dam and Water Works was commissioned in December 1980. The construction of a one million gallon water reservoir was completed subsequently.

The Akintola Hall, the Computer Science and Engineering Building Complex and the Civil Engineering Building Complex are among the more recent developments. The Central Science Laboratory was commissioned in 2000 and the Institute of Cultural Studies building in 2001. The new Environmental Design and Management Buildings have been virtually completed and are in use, remaining only the external works. Two blocks of the Mathematics and First Year Laboratory Building have also been completed, leaving only the last block.

In 2008, the University has commenced the development of its northern boundary with the completion of three 500-Capacity Lecture theatres being used by the Centre for Distance Learning for its Pre-Degree and other programmes. On the main campus, a 500-capacity lecture theatre donated by First Bank Plc has been completed and is ready for use. Other projects that have beautifully impacted the landscape of the University include the 1000-capacity Lecture theatre sited close to the Department of Architecture and Moremi Hall, the Post Graduate College Building donated by an Alumnus, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim and the Natural History Museum Building being completed by the Leventis Foundation of London.

The University runs a two semester system (i.e Harmattan Semester from last week of September to Mid-February of the succeeding year; and Rain Semester from last week of February to first week of July of the succeeding year). Accommodation comprising some 10,000 bed spaces is provided for male undergraduate students in four Halls of Residence (i.e Awolowo, Fajuyi, Angola and ETF halls); and for female undergraduates in Moremi, Mozambique, Akintola and Alunmi Halls of Residence. The Postgraduate Students are accommodated in the Murtala Mohammed Hall and there is a Clinical Students’ Hostel at the grounds of the University Teaching Hospital.

A new strategic plan for the period 2010 to 2015 is being completed to replace the earlier one that had been in operation since 2004. The strategic plan of the University gives prority to harnessing and adapting modern technologies in the effectuation of its objectives. It also emphasizes the concept of the omoluabi which entails hard work, integrity, public spiritedness, and an honour code comparable to the best in the world. The University has thus continued to strive for excellence in keeping faith with its objectives. It has also continued to place great emphasis on keeping pace with modern technological developments. In this respect, the Obafemi Awolowo University has the best-developed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system in the country, with its own VSAT access to the internet and a very efficient intranet. The University has in its effort at ensuring the efficiency of the intra and internet facilities upgraded the bandwidth capacity with the help of the World Bank STEP-B Project. The University has also embarked on the progressive application of ICT to all its functions and services – academic, research and administration. The University is continually evolving in response to the needs of the Nation and the international community

UNQUOTE

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Obi Nwakanma:

Thanks for your own reminiscences.

Each one of us knows only in part, and it is the totality of human knowledge that enriches us all.  I went back to my initial write-up to see whether I indicated anywhere who was the FIRST VC as you stated, but no where did I write so.  In part, I wrote viz:

QUOTE

You forget that my "boyhood days" at UNN were in 1964-1966, when UNN, barely three to four years old,  was practically an outpost of Michigan State University, when the Vice-Chancellor was a white Professor Taggart,......

UNQUOTE

And here is the list of  UNN VCs till date (according to Wikipedia)

QUOTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Nigeria,_Nsukka

Professor Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba: 2014–Present

Professor Barth Okolo: 2009 - June 2014

Professor Chinedu O. Nebo: June 2004 - June 2009

Professor Ginigeme Francis Mbanefoh: 1999 - 2004

Professor Umaru Gomwalk: May 1994 - (appointed as the Sole Administrator)

Professor Oleka K. Udeala:1992 - 1995

Professor Chimere Ikoku: 1985 -

Professor Frank Nwachukwu Ndili: 1980 - Oct. 1985

Professor Umaru Shehu: 1978 - 1979

Professor James O.C. Ezeilo: 1975 - 1978

Professor Herbert C. Kodilinye: 1971 - 1975

Professor Eni Njoku: July 1966 - 1967; 1967 - 1970

Professor Glen L. Taggart: 1964 - 1966

Dr. George Marion Johnson: 1960 - 1964

UNQUOTE

So you are right about Dr. Johnson, and I am right about Prof. Taggart!

I arrived Nsukka at age 9 just before Christmas of 1964 - my family driven from Ibadan to Onitsha by Prof. VS Oyenuga in his long Chevrolet car - to be picked up by my father on an onward journey to Nsukka.  After Term 2 as a fifth grader (January to June) and Term 1 as a sixth grader (September to December), I exited Nsukka staff primary school to my father's alma mater Christ's School Ado-Ekiti in January 1966 - but delayed to start secondary school by a week or so by the military coup of January 15, 1966. [You, Obi, were to be born at the end of 1966, 18th December to be exact, in Ibadan,  if you will remember.]   My family left Nsukka in convoy in 1967, under Ojukwu insinuation of inability to protect "other ethnics" due to the ongoing tensions, while your own family moved in the other direction.

So I will be excused if I do not know about ALL the halls existing then at UNN, or their naming ceremonies.  However, since I took piano and singing lessons in the Music Department building in 1965 (it was close to the gate then), I don't remember it being named after any Fela Sowande then...it just said "Music Department" on its wall, and that naming must have been after my time there.

Anyway sha, I have provided much of what I remember then, and will not like to soil the pan-Africanist proclivities of your hero Zik that you are so bent on pushing, which legacy you say suffuses UNN's "edifices".

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

After chopping big profit? IBK

[kenneth harrow]

dear obi and bolaji
the first two chancellors of UNN listed below were professors and administrators at michigan state university. not cornell.
anyway, one of the professors who collaborated in setting up in msu's program to set up a land grant school there was joe druse, a humanities professor. i was hired in msu in 1966, and when joe returned, his interest in africa generated an interest in my department.
we held a small colloquium, and shared in reading The Interpreters by wole soyinka. none of us knew anything about african literature, and the novel is filled with references to yoruba gods, so i did what a good comparatist was trained to do, i went to the library to read up on yoruba gods. what i found was close to useless. very very little was published on them, and unlike greek gods who stood for this and that, and whose myths were recorded in the classical writings of edith hamilton

On 5/13/15 2:22 AM, Mobolaji Aluko wrote:

Obi Nwakanma:

Thanks for your own reminiscences.

Each one of us knows only in part, and it is the totality of human knowledge that enriches us all.  I went back to my initial write-up to see whether I indicated anywhere who was the FIRST VC as you stated, but no where did I write so.  In part, I wrote viz:

QUOTE

You forget that my "boyhood days" at UNN were in 1964-1966, when UNN, barely three to four years old,  was practically an outpost of Michigan State University, when the Vice-Chancellor was a white Professor Taggart,......

UNQUOTE

And here is the list of  UNN VCs till date (according to Wikipedia)

QUOTE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Nigeria,_Nsukka

Professor Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba: 2014–Present

Professor Barth Okolo: 2009 - June 2014

Professor Chinedu O. Nebo: June 2004 - June 2009

Professor Ginigeme Francis Mbanefoh: 1999 - 2004

Professor Umaru Gomwalk: May 1994 - (appointed as the Sole Administrator)

Professor Oleka K. Udeala:1992 - 1995

Professor Chimere Ikoku: 1985 -

Professor Frank Nwachukwu Ndili: 1980 - Oct. 1985

Professor Umaru Shehu: 1978 - 1979

Professor James O.C. Ezeilo: 1975 - 1978

Professor Herbert C. Kodilinye: 1971 - 1975

Professor Eni Njoku: July 1966 - 1967; 1967 - 1970

Professor Glen L. Taggart: 1964 - 1966

Dr. George Marion Johnson: 1960 - 1964

-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 har...@msu.edu

[kenneth harrow]

dear rex
i was surprised to read below that Azikiwe did not take his model of the land grant university from msu but from cornell. i was in msu at the time, having arrived in 1966. two colleagues in my department, humanities, had been in nsukka to work on setting up a program like that at msu, which was the first land grant school in the u.s.
they were part of a contingent of 200 msu profs who worked for a number of years at nsukka,and we had been told that their charge was to help set up the first land grant school in africa. there is a vast archive of their work at our library here.
i don't know what cornell was doing.
ken

-- 
kenneth w. harrow 
faculty excellence advocate
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
har...@msu.edu

[Rex Marinus]

 Dear Ken,
Yes indeed, Zik thought Ithaca, as I understand. But eventually, it was Michigan state that stood up to be counted with its institutional support for Nsukka which accounts for the impact of MSU in shaping Nsukka, and thus the close relationship between UNN and Michigan. Azikiwe and Akpabio went round many places. Michigan's enthusiastic support for the new university, through Dr. J.A. Hannah, and the Dean Glenn L. Taggart was certainly the driving forces in what became MSU's most important international initiative. I salute you.
Obi
 

---

Date: Wed, 13 May 2015 07:30:25 -0400
From: har...@msu.edu
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Kale Oyedeji]

Bolaji, you and I have gone down this road before. The essence of the article under discuss is to remind the young ones that SLA was the first chancellor of the University of Ife and that Prof. Ajose was the first VC. The pro-Awoists never felt comfortable with that portion of history. 

Thanks to Dr.Iheduru for his comment. I am surprised that there was no comments  on the the 1963 article in which  SLA addressed the issue of him selling the Yoruba to the Hausa.

I really was very surprised when I saw a road in Abuja named after SLA. One can rightly or wrongly assume that the older generation with clouded view of history no longer hold sway. The exact reason why Chief Obafemii Awolowo left Western Region for Lagos and what SLA did thereafter in Ibadan  is again matter of interpretation.

Bolaji, I am not afraid to debate you on these issues but I'm afraid of the "eleke ebu"  that always resorts to foul language. You are an "omolu'abi". Again, we have gone down that road before on Naijanet, I'm not ready to go that route any more. Afterall, you and I are not getting younger.

I hope I shall live long enough to see how historians will interpret the events of today.

Take care.

'Kale

Sent from Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com>
Date: 13/05/2015 2:39 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - About The University of Ife

Kale:

Yes, if history is given as history, no one will quarrel with you over Akintola.  But any hagiographic interpretations of past events, or asynchronic projections of those

events into present-day politics are bound to get a push-back by those you term "Awoists", who still smart both at Awo's hastiness in leaving Ibadan for the Lagos center,

and leaving Ibadan in the hands of Akintola who proceeded to - em em - mess things up.  

That is a threat, not a promise.

I am also fighting hard to note that you were not aware that there is an Akintola Hall (a Sports Hall) at Great Ife all of this time.  That must have happened over 10 years ago now.

In closing, let me leave you with this snipped of history of Great Ife till 2012:

QUOTE

OAU @ 50 The Development Of The University by whilly: 10:34pm On Nov 07, 2012

The Development of the University

The University has a land area of about 5,605 hectares out of which 1,012 hectares have been developed as the central campus,1214 hectares set aside for the Teaching and Research Farm, and another 2,023 hectares earmarked for Commercial Farm. An additional area of approximately 6,256 hectares along the Ife/Ede Roadwas also acquired. 

The first movement to the permanent site at Ile-Ife was on 29th January, 1967 when 500 students of the Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Law came into residence. The Faculty of Agriculture and the Departments of Botany and Zoology moved to Ile-Ife in January 1968.

The Faculty of Pharmacy followed in 1972. The Faculty of Law also moved into its own building on October 14, 1981, while the Faculty of Social Sciences moved into its building in September 1982. The Library building has been in use since October 1, 1969. An extension to the Library was completed and occupied in 1982.

The Faculty of Science buildings were completed in 1970. It now accommodates the Department of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Electronics and Electrical Engineering. The Department of Geology has its own building which it has occupied since 1974.

The Sports Centre has been progressively developed. Additional students’ hostels have been completed to facilitate accommodation of students on campus. An ultra-modern Conference Centre and Guest Houses has also been completed and is currently being expanded.

The attractive and spacious buildings of the Department of Biological Sciences and Pre-Clinical Sciences were completed and occupied at the beginning of the 1974/75 session. The buildings of the Faculty of Administration and the Central Administration Secretariat – the University Hall - were ready for occupation during the long vacation in 1974, and are now in full use. The Indoor Sports hall, the Students Union Building, the Department of Food Science and Technology Building, the Chemical Engineering buildings and the Staff Canteen were also completed in 1974, and have since been in full use.

The Assembly hall, otherwise known as “Oduduwa Hall” was completed during the year 1976. The College of Health Sciences buildings were completed and occupied in 1978 while the University Teaching Centre, now known as Ajose Lecture Theatre, was completed and put to use in 1987.

The Power Station was commissioned in 1977. The Opa Dam and Water Works was commissioned in December 1980. The construction of a one million gallon water reservoir was completed subsequently.

The Akintola Hall, the Computer Science and Engineering Building Complex and the Civil Engineering Building Complex are among the more recent developments. The Central Science Laboratory was commissioned in 2000 and the Institute of Cultural Studies building in 2001. The new Environmental Design and Management Buildings have been virtually completed and are in use, remaining only the external works. Two blocks of the Mathematics and First Year Laboratory Building have also been completed, leaving only the last block.

In 2008, the University has commenced the development of its northern boundary with the completion of three 500-Capacity Lecture theatres being used by the Centre for Distance Learning for its Pre-Degree and other programmes. On the main campus, a 500-capacity lecture theatre donated by First Bank Plc has been completed and is ready for use. Other projects that have beautifully impacted the landscape of the University include the 1000-capacity Lecture theatre sited close to the Department of Architecture and Moremi Hall, the Post Graduate College Building donated by an Alumnus, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim and the Natural History Museum Building being completed by the Leventis Foundation of London.

The University runs a two semester system (i.e Harmattan Semester from last week of September to Mid-February of the succeeding year; and Rain Semester from last week of February to first week of July of the succeeding year). Accommodation comprising some 10,000 bed spaces is provided for male undergraduate students in four Halls of Residence (i.e Awolowo, Fajuyi, Angola and ETF halls); and for female undergraduates in Moremi, Mozambique, Akintola and Alunmi Halls of Residence. The Postgraduate Students are accommodated in the Murtala Mohammed Hall and there is a Clinical Students’ Hostel at the grounds of the University Teaching Hospital.

A new strategic plan for the period 2010 to 2015 is being completed to replace the earlier one that had been in operation since 2004. The strategic plan of the University gives prority to harnessing and adapting modern technologies in the effectuation of its objectives. It also emphasizes the concept of the omoluabi which entails hard work, integrity, public spiritedness, and an honour code comparable to the best in the world. The University has thus continued to strive for excellence in keeping faith with its objectives. It has also continued to place great emphasis on keeping pace with modern technological developments. In this respect, the Obafemi Awolowo University has the best-developed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system in the country, with its own VSAT access to the internet and a very efficient intranet. The University has in its effort at ensuring the efficiency of the intra and internet facilities upgraded the bandwidth capacity with the help of the World Bank STEP-B Project. The University has also embarked on the progressive application of ICT to all its functions and services – academic, research and administration. The University is continually evolving in response to the needs of the Nation and the international community

UNQUOTE

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

On Wed, May 13, 2015 at 5:28 AM, <kaleo...@comcast.net> wrote:

Bolaji, you have addressed my concern, "Over the years, much angst has reduced over these initial political players on the national scene.  As the generation of our fathers pass on, and we who were witnesses to some of the pre-independence and immediate post-independence join them - as we must in time - virtually all the angst will disappear, except from tit-bits from the history books."

I am very surprised that a hall has finally been named after SLA at the University of Ife!

Bolaji, how many times do I need to correct you, Ogbomoso, not Ogbomosho.

'Kale

On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 10:28 PM, Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Okey:

 

You are fishing in un-troubled waters....which one "consign" UNN with OAU again, except this hackneyed Zik-Awo twinning which A Ogugua recently accused me of, but of the Soyinka-Achebe variety, like Anthony and Cleopatra?

 

Anyway  sha,   as I have indicated in other email, in Yorubaland, Ladoke Akintola now has at least a hall named after him at OAU (formerly University of Ife), as well as a whole university too (Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho LAUTECH), just as Awo has a university and a hall named after him at Obafemi Awolowo University.  By your own admission, Zik has a library and a hostel named after him at UNN, but I should also remind you that a university is also named after him at Awka (NAU).

 

Over the years, much angst has reduced over these initial political players on the national scene.  As the generation of our fathers pass on, and we who were witnesses to some of the pre-independence and immediate post-independence join them - as we must in time - virtually all the angst will disappear, except from tit-bits from the history books.

 

And there you it

 

 

Bolaji Aluko

 

 

http://unn.edu.ng/studentswelfare/halls-residence

 

On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 8:00 PM, Okey Iheduru <okeyi...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

--

 

[kenneth harrow]

hi obi
you probably know what happened after. that is, with the beginning of the war, the msu people all had to come home. after that, msu became persona non grata for many years with nigeria. it finally ended, though i don't know exactly when. but we were associated with biafra, with supporting biafra, etc.
technically i don't think that was true: msu, no doubt, took no public position in favor of biafra.
but privately there was enormous support here. there were biafran refugees, our librarian of african studies was igbo, and many others as well.  support for starving igbos was very strong not only here, which i  can faintly remember, but throughout the country. the pictures were widely promulgated. the image was that of the bully state of nigeria beating up and starving poor brave biafrans. that was the public image, distant though the conflict was to most americans.
ken

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Ken:

I believe that Mrs Kalu Ezera - a family friend - left Nigeria for MSU after the war, soon  after her husband Prof Kalu Ezera was mysteriously murdered during the last few days of the war, to become a Librarian, and remained there for decades. I once called her when I became a professor at Howard University.


Bolaji Aluko

> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=14d4e862dd502aeb&attid=0.1.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1>

[kenneth harrow]

yes, it was mrs ezera, who had become a widow. indeed. for many years, too.

[Okey Iheduru]

Bolaji:

Glad to know you knew Mrs. Onuma Ezera. However, there's a gap in your recollection of her sojourn in the USA. She won a fellowship to further her studies shortly before the hostilities started in Nigeria. She and her husband agreed she should travel to the US with their three kids, while Prof. Kalu Ezera remained behind. You're correct, though, when you stated that the professor died mysteriously in the wee hours of the civil war. 

I met Mrs. Ezera the first time when I joined the Michigan State University faculty in 1993, and I was elated to show her the Kalu Ezera Trust Fund Award certificate I earned as the best graduating student in Political Science for the Class of 1983 at UNN. 

By the way, I hope you'll find time to write a more detailed version of your "encounter with the ethnic other" per my earlier suggestion. I'd love to hear how those Nsukka boys whopped your behind as the Mbaise lads did to Obi.

Regards,

Okey

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Okey:

Your recollection of when/how Mrs. Ezera got to MSU relative to the war might be "righter" than mine, so I concede that, but I am yet to concede whether Prof. Kalu Ezera was not killed during the  dying hours of the conflict rather than its START (your "wee hours").  I am willing to revise my priors on that one too though.

Now, as to interactions with "ethnic others..." - I had none.  At our ages then, 8, 9, 10, 11 years old,  really - and this is being honest - we hardly knew whether we were Yoruba or Igbo.  We only knew Nigerian, American, and non-American/non-Nigerian (a number of Indians were on campus too.)  

But my best buddy then was classmate Uzo Okezie (JOJ's son) who had come to stay with his Uncle on campus (Uzo died during the war).  We car-pooled to school and back with the children (Ngozi and Chuks) of Prof. Nwosu (the Physics Professor that led the Biafra war technology effort) - I remember a girl living with the Nwosu's once nearly fell out of an poorly-closed car door while we were being ferried back from school, and she held on for dear life, otherwise she might have been crushed.  I spent a lot of time at the house of the Oyolus (their half-cast children all girls, with Nesochi ("Gretel" to my "Hansel") being my classmate and ChinChin being my interest; I reconnected with both of them in Lagos just last year, after 46 years,  on their kid third sister's (Mrs. Etete) 30th wedding anniversary)).  Baibure Blyden, with a rather long neck and the butt of many kiddings  (son of Prof Edward Blyden III) was another classmate of mine.  The quartet of Prof. Sylvester Ugoh (my father's Economics Department colleague, later Biafra Central Bank Governor and VP candidate to Bashir Tofa.  I reconnected with him in Maryland just before he passed a few years back), Prof. ABC Okalla (next door neighbor, bombastic and cigar-puffing, I believe, at then new Nkwocha-built staff quarters ), Prof. BIC Ijeoma (still active today in Delta State politics; he "attempted" to call me during my recent electoral duties in Delta State) and Dr. Diaku (another Economics lecturer; he passed last year) were constant visitors to our house, discussing Economics and Politics.  The Fafunwa girls (Sheri (Okey Ndibe's wife) and her older sister and junior brother Tunde, all with white American mother), as well as the Ojehomon children (with Black American mother) were also on campus, with Ojehomon boys (oldest Akinwande and Akintunde; Bimbo was the sister between them, and my classmate)  always terrifying the White American kids on campus with Black power intensity (I was not fully aware of the Black agitations against White oppression back in America then, so I did not fully understand why the Ojehomon children seemed to "hate" the White kids so much...!  Transferred aggression).  On campus, staff and children alike were mortally terrified of Ozue, the Chief Security Officer, who was a strict enforcer of the law against bad driving, or swinging on the tennis court nets; he seemed to pop up everywhere on campus, and we thought he was a spirit.    Finally, at Nkwocha quarters, my family also lived next door to a White American family whose children had a lion cub for a pet...everyday, I looked out to ensure that the cub had not grown big, and was happy to move away to secondary school before it did.

As to soccer - and I would say both tennis and ping pong too - those took quite my time in the one year plus that I spent in Nsukka.  When I was not playing tennis (with wooden paddles) on the campus courts or ping pong at home (with good bats; my parents ALWAYS had tennis tables in all our homes), it was constant soccer playing.  We even had a university staff children's team, in which we would venture into the outlying Wawa villages to play the children there, always afraid (as we walked through bush tracks) of the infamous Nsukka puff adders (I never really saw one, but was told that if it bit you, you would die in a second.)  As to Five-Minutes "Onwu na ndu" (as you correctly spelt that "leave or die" period of soccer play), you must remember that we played in games in which we 8-9 year olds were on the field with 16 or 17 year olds, who looked like adults to us.  If it came to dribbling,passing and scoring - no problem.  But if it came to "measuring legs", what would I say to my parents that I was doing on a field with a 17-year old?  So it was more of wisdom than cowardice, Okey.  I mean, with just my age mates - or better with 6 or 7 year olds, I too would have remained on the pitch.

And there you have that one!

Bolaji Aluko

[kenneth harrow]

dear guys, i wonder what your impression was of adichie's attempt to capture this time in Half a Yellow Sun, (and of the movie, too, if you had a chance to see it)
ken

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Ken:

I believe that Mrs Kalu Ezera - a family friend - left Nigeria for MSU after the war, soon  after her husband Prof Kalu Ezera was mysteriously murdered during the last few days of the war, to become a Librarian, and remained there for decades. I once called her when I became a professor at Howard University.


Bolaji Aluko

On Wednesday, May 13, 2015, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:

> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=14d4e862dd502aeb&attid=0.1.1&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1>

[kenneth harrow]

yes, we knew ms ezera; she lived close to us.
ken

[Segun Ogungbemi]

I am happy you are back. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

On May 13, 2015, at 5:16 AM, kaleo...@comcast.net wrote:

Thank you Prof. Iheduru for your response and elucidation. Thes forum had changed a lot over the years. Some years back, whenever I posted anything in favour of S.L. Akintola, the pro-Awo crowd would come out in full swing with unprintable insults. So, I decided to just watch from the sideline.

Prof. Falola, asked me in January, when we met at the Muritala Muhamed Airport, why I no longer contributed to the discussions on this forum; I can't remember the answer I gave him, but the reason is because I just could not stand those with insulting tendencies.

We are really moving forward.

'Kale Oyedeji (I'm not a chief o)

---

From: "Okey Iheduru" <okeyi...@gmail.com>
To: "USAAfrica Dialogue" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 9, 2015 3:00:24 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - About The University of Ife

Dear Chief Oyedeji:

Please take comfort in the fact that not everyone despised/despises Chief Akintola. Just go to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. You'll see Akintola Hall, right there next to Tafawa Balewa Hall. There's no hall named after Nnamdi Azikiwe, the founder of UNN; he only got the Nnamdi Azikiwe Library. Zik's Flats (now part of the residence hall system) were actually Azikiwe's own personal property next to his personal residence on the outskirts of the university.

Okey

On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 10:40 AM, <kaleo...@comcast.net> wrote:

This is for those that might not have been aware of history about the University of Ife.

'Kale Oyedeji

<undefined>

62.

[Rex Marinus]

Ken, yes indeed, the war was a bitch. And I'm saying it with Linton Kwesi Johnson's "Inglan' is a Bitch" echoing right at the back of my mind. I do not know when Mrs. Ezera returned to the US, but I suspect it was soon after the war. Prof. Kalu Ezera was killed in 1970, not more than a week after the war. The war was already over, and the circumstance of his death is still not clear. His first son, Emeka, was also ironically killed in some freak auto accident in Nigeria in 1990 just as he was rounding up his doctoral work at Berkley. It was shocking and he was deeply mourned by his friends in Nigeria. And there, as Bolaji Aluko would say, you have it.
Obi Nwakanma

 

---

Date: Thu, 14 May 2015 20:24:38 +0100

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - About The University of Ife

From: alu...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Mobolaji Aluko]

Obi:

It was upon the reporting of Emeka's death in Nigerian newspapers  (in 1990?) that my mother asked me to track down Mrs Ezera.in the US.  I do not remember ever meeting Emeka growing up, but my mother simply said that he was "you children's age",  meaning then between age 20 and 36 of us six siblings....... nothing more tragic than losing a child, an adult son for that matter, more so by a widow.

Bolaji Aluko

[Okey Iheduru]

Obi, Bolaji & Ken:

I meant to write that Mrs. Ezera left Nigeria with her three children "in the wee hours" (beginning) of the hostilities and civil war, but Prof. Ezera was killed "mysteriously" just as the war was ending in 1970. Mrs. Ezera left the service of MSU in the late 1990s or early 2000s (I forget the exact date now) and finally returned to Nigeria. The tragedy of Kalu, Jr.'s death in 1990 introduced more complication to one of the tragic stories of the civil war.

I'm not competent to comment on the accuracy or otherwise of Ms. Adichie's account of the civil war in her acclaimed Half of a Yellow Sun. I do know, however, that few historical accounts of wars are ever "accurate", let alone work of fiction. Whereas I identify with some of the middle class characters and events she captures, a huge chunk of "social history" of the Biafran experience are not reflected in the novel. Of course, if I don't like Adichie's account, the challenge would be for me to write mine, from the perspective of an 8-year old who went from comfortable rural "middle class" living (Dad employed over 20 workers on his farms; ran several rotating credit schemes; and owned real estate in Aba; while Mom was a shrewd business woman and Church leader noted for her "White Horse" Raleigh lady's bicycle) to refugee, sick bays, sight and smell of so much death and celebration of life, and then trauma of the continuation of war after the war, especially the Nigerian military (172 Infantry Battalion) occupation of my village.

For a feeble attempt to document my own experience of the Nigeria-Biafra war, I've copied and pasted below a column piece I did at Gen. Ojukwu's death in 2011. Hopefully, I've not re-opened/re-started the civil war on this listserv.

Regards,

Okey

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ojukwu: The hero of Nigeria’s minorities

Okey C. Iheduru*

General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died penultimate Saturday in London at age 78, after almost a year’s battle with stroke. Condolences and reminiscences have continued to pour in like August rains. Unfortunately, some of the messages are downright insulting to the person of Ojukwu and the cause for which he so selflessly gave everything he had. He was clearly ahead of his generation in figuring out ‘where the rain began to beat us.’

More astonishing has been the silent voice of Nigeria’s ethnic minorities and their identity brokers, especially in the present day South-South geopolitical zone. Ironically, these minorities are the real beneficiaries of the fallout from Ojukwu’s tragic but patriotic and indefatigable fight for equity, justice and peaceful co-existence in Nigeria and the ill-fated Republic of Biafra.

Without Ojukwu and Biafra, it would have taken much longer, if at all, for most ethnic minorities to be ‘liberated’ from the clutches of the Big Three – the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, years after their petitions to the Sir Henry Willinks Minorities Commission of 1955. The 12 states created by General Yakubu Gowon in 1967 was not about justice, but a cynical ploy to set the minorities against Ojukwu and Biafra. What Isaac Adaka Boro tried to achieve in 12 days but failed miserably in 1966, minorities now got by fiat as Rivers and Southeastern/Cross River states, later joined by Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa. Minorities in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Adamawa, Gongola, and Niger states, etc., similarly gained.

The saddest irony, of course, is that each erstwhile minority has spawned its own marginalised minorities chanting the ‘liberation’ chorus. Ojukwu would have egged every one of them on, because, like the French philosopher Voltaire, he would rather die than see any Nigerian suffer injustice because of their inherited identities. Yet, there are no eulogies or dirges for the arrow of god that made possible the status and power that Nigerian ethnic minorities bask in today.

Few Nigerians, including me, can write about Ojukwu and Biafra with neutrality. I saw Ojukwu for the first time, probably in 1969, when an uncle whom we called ‘Radio Biafra’ announced that ‘the People’s General’ would be passing through our home town on his way back from ‘wiping out the vandals’ at the Umuahia sector.

We trooped to the old Umuahia-Okigwe-Orlu road in Mbeke in today’s Isiala-Mbano in Imo State, and sure enough after about two hours, the hitherto mythical Ojukwu stopped his convoy, stepped out of his car, waved, bowed and jumped right back in as the convoy sped off. I was charmed; I wanted to wear that camouflage of his with the brightest half of a yellow sun, but I was too young, not even eligible for the Boys’ Company which had just been disbanded.

Although it was joyous to see my 21-year old brother back from the war front at Aguleri, near Awka, I was totally unprepared for the events of January 12, 1970. I ran to the local hospital, amidst a large jubilant crowd. There I saw looters overturn wounded Biafran soldiers and carry away their beds. A lad about my age stepped on a dead man to pluck an unripe pawpaw fruit. The man had been killed a few hours earlier by the ‘vandals’ for refusing to remove his ‘Ojukwu soldier’ uniform. A group of boys, some younger than me, surrounded a middle-aged woman as she picked up rice granules that had been scattered in the sand in a fierce scuffle by looters. Her yellowed plastic sheeting ‘wrapper’ was no barrier for her genitals which displayed so brazenly as she bent down, unperturbed by the movie she was so generously showing the boys.

Saddened by what I had just witnessed, I went straight to the bunker in the centre of the hospital and picked up a trampled Biafran army fez cap and three bullets from the mountain of bullets strewn all around, and headed home. How could Ojukwu and Biafra be defeated?

The shock on my father’s face upon sighting me in my Biafran outfit was indescribable. Before he could open his mouth I had thrown the cap and the bullets into the bush near our house and disappeared. Two months later, three loud explosions sounded from that very bush just as my mother was walking into the kitchen. She had just cleared and set the brush on fire in preparation for the first rains of the year. Today, my family will learn, for the very first time, that my three choice bullets could have killed my mother, instead of ‘the vandals.’

On January 13, 1970, Mom earned the family’s first one Nigerian shilling from selling fuel wood to the ‘vandals’ who had now occupied our home town. My father survived the war, but never fully recovered from the untold humiliations, losses and disappointment until his death at 60 in 1974. Mother outlived him by 33 years!

In his eulogy last week, General Gowon stated that Ojukwu should not have led ‘his people’ to secede from Nigeria. I hope that when Gowon meets his creator, like Ojukwu, he will tell God why little kids like me had to experience the horrors and the trauma of a war he started and could have stopped much earlier. My generation has since moved on with remarkable success, as Ojukwu told us to do upon his return in 1982, but I doubt if our contemporaries who today are now powerful minorities in Nigeria can relate to the horrific events I’ve described above. If not, why are they not thanking Ojukwu and Biafra?

*Published in the Business Day (Lagos) of December 8, 2011; also republished in Chuks Illoegbunam (ed.), The General of the People's Army (2012).