Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was a Nigerian military officer and politician who served as the leader of the secessionist state of Biafra from 1967 to 1970. He was born into a wealthy and influential Igbo family in Zungeru, Nigeria. He attended King's College in Lagos and Epsom College in Surrey, England. He graduated from Oxford University in 1955 with a master's degree in history. He returned to Nigeria and joined the civil service as an administrative officer. He later switched to the army and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was appointed as the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966, following a coup that brought Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, to power. However, Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed in a counter-coup by Northern officers, who installed Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon as the new head of state. Ojukwu resisted Gowon's authority and demanded more autonomy for the Eastern Region, where most of the Igbo people lived. He accused the federal government of neglecting the security and welfare of the Igbo, who faced massacres and discrimination in other parts of the country. He declared the independence of the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967, sparking a civil war that lasted for three years. Ojukwu led the Biafran army against the Nigerian federal forces, who were backed by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. The war resulted in the deaths of an estimated one to three million people, mostly from starvation and disease, as the Nigerian blockade cut off food and medical supplies to Biafra. Ojukwu appealed to the international community for recognition and humanitarian aid, but only a few countries supported Biafra. He also tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Gowon, but the talks failed. As the Nigerian troops advanced and captured most of Biafra's territory, Ojukwu fled to Ivory Coast in January 1970, where he was granted asylum. He handed over power to his deputy, Philip Effiong, who surrendered to the federal government and accepted the terms of the Aburi Accord, which granted amnesty and reconciliation to the Biafrans. Ojukwu remained in exile for 13 years, until he was pardoned by President Shehu Shagari in 1982. He returned to Nigeria and joined politics, becoming a founding member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) party. He ran for president in 2003 and 2007, but lost both times. He remained a respected and influential figure among the Igbo people, who regarded him as a hero and a symbol of their struggle for self-determination. He died in London in 2011, after suffering a stroke. He was given a state funeral and buried in his hometown of Nnewi, Anambra, Nigeria.