Another round of rumours of the death of the Ikemba Nnewi and Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was rife all over the country last Wednesday. LEADERSHIP SUNDAY’S DAVID-CHYDDY ELEKE, in this piece, takes a look at the latest false start about the ailing icon.
On Wednesday, August 10, 2011, the rumour of the death of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of the contemporary Igbo society filtered into town and was discussed in hushed tones at different places in the country. The more enthusiastic of the discussants made phone calls to whomever they thought was in a capacity to know, and like a wild fire it was no longer spoken about in hushed tones. Editors at the head offices of various media organizations picked up the rumour, and, pronto, journalists were mandated to use their contacts to ascertain the veracity of such. Alas, Ojukwu was very much alive!
It would not be the first time there would be rumours that former Biafran warlord was dead. Since December 1 when he slipped into a coma in his Enugu residence where he was being attended to by private doctors to December 19, when he was rushed to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, after another collapse as a result of stroke and later taken to the UK for treatment, rumours of his death have been spread across the land several times. But each time, he would be confirmed alive.
A ‘cat with nine lives’ would best describe the Ezeigbo. On his first collapse at his Enugu residence, rumour mongers had gone to town with the news of his death, and the story had spread so rapidly that, just as it is usually said that a lie told many times becomes true, it was almost being believed.
The second time had come at the special ward of the UNTH where the Igbo leader was being tended. Hordes of people had visited the hospital when they learnt that he might have passed on. In all these times, the wife of the former warlord and his adopted son and political child, Bianca Ojukwu and Governor Peter Obi respectively, had been confronted with the unpleasant task of having to dispel the rumour.
Ojukwu was airlifted in an ambulance to the United Kingdom for further treatment on December 23, 2010, just two days to Christmas. His supporters thronged the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, to wave a farewell to their hero, but reminiscent of the return of late President Yar’Adua after a long stay abroad for medical treatment, his supporters were barricaded from him.
Since his sojourn in the UK for medical treatment, intrigues have surrounded his health to the extent that the parties involved have either had to put up defence for his current state of health, or those looked at as dissidents have come up with one story or the other as to his true state of health to the point of accusing the other party of telling lies about his improving condition and playing politics with it.
The first to be so accused is Bianca Ojukwu, last wife of the former warlord. She was accused of abandoning her husband in a UK hospital to return home to play politics. The former beauty queen’s defence that she merely returned on a weekend from the UK where she was tending her husband fell on deaf ears as those who were bent on pushing the allegation insisted that she abandoned the old man to come home for the national convention of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) party and also seize the opportunity to hobnob with the powers that be in the country as she was then named special assistant to the president on Diaspora Matters.
At the national convention of the APGA in Awka, his wife, Bianca, told the assembled crowd that her husband was recovering steadily, and that he sent his greetings. Bianca also said that the Ezeigbo’s life was a miracle. This, she said, was because of the strange happenings that surround Ezeigbo’s movements at various hospitals. In UNTH, two patients who shared a hospital ward with Ojukwu when he was brought in died. In UK, the same happened: patients who shared wards with him also died, Bianca told the crowd. She thanked God that her husband was still alive, and assured the people that their hero will be well catered for.
The duo of Bianca and Governor Obi are known to be the principal caretakers of Ojukwu, aside the national chairman of the APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, who also shows significant interest in his health. Recently, what could be seen as a twist and sharp polarization in the family of Ojukwu emerged at the peak of the general elections.
While on a campaign tour in Umuahia for the Abia State APGA governorship candidate, Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba, the national chairman of the party, Chief Umeh was said to have told a crowd that he just returned from the UK where he had gone to see Ojukwu, and that the former warlord had spoken to him about his choice of governor for Abia State.
The news was said to have been well received by the people who were happy that Ojukwu had recovered to the extent of speaking his mind. This was because another rumour had filtered in that Ezeigbo had lapsed into unconsciousness again. The cheery news was still being savoured by the former warlord’s lovers when a press statement by his first son, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr, was published. In the release, Ojukwu Jr criticised the leadership of APGA, including Governor Obi, and his father’s wife Bianca for playing politics with the health of his father. He denied that his father could talk or even write as to be able to convey his wishes and choice of governor for Abia as Umeh had claimed.
Since then, it has remained a real struggle between the two parties to sustain their own side of the story. Rumour mongers have also cashed in on this to once in a while raise alarm about his death, and that was the situation that the family faced last Wednesday when the rumour of his death hit the streets once again.
In a press release made on behalf of Governor Obi by the chief press secretary, Mr. Mike Udah, Obi strenously refuted the latest rumour.
Udah stated that the governor had been inundated with calls from many quarters, both within and outside the country, over the state of health of the Igbo Leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
“The intermittent heightening of tension that has attended his hospitalisation,” said Udah, “shows how dearly Nigerians and the world love him. The governor observes that Dim Ojukwu has continued to attract the attention of the world because of his outstanding leadership role and assured place in national history.”
He further expressed the governor’s gratitude all who had continued to show concern about Ojukwu’s ill-health and requested them to continue to pray for his full recovery, re-assuring all Nigerians and foreign admirers of Ojukwu that he was alive and being catered for.
Obi also had words for those the statement described as ‘death-mongers’: he told them to show discretion, especially on issues that were could easily be confirmed.
The continued rumours of Ojukwu’s death, according to traditional African belief, will only continue to lengthen his life. A traditionalist from Awka north community, who identified himself as Ozuomee, said that people rumoured dead had always lived beyond the month of the rumour, and that the rumour had the capacity to lengthen his life for at least one month no matter how grave his illness.
It is for Obi’s efforts that a community leader in Anambra State, Chief Anthony Agidigbo Oguejiofor, has commended him for what he called the the governor’s wonderful support to the ailing Ojukwu.
In a statement he made available to journalists in Awka yesterday, Oguejiofor said that, considering what Ojukwu was to the Igbo nation, anything involving him ought to be the concern of the entire Igbo, not just because he was a former governor of the South-East, but because of the prominent role he played in the history of Igbos in Nigeria.
Chief Oguejiofor said he was happy that Obi was carrying the cross of the entire Igbos without complaining and urged him not to relent, as, according to him, no sacrifice was too much for the Ikemba Nnewi, another name of honour for Ojukwu.
As the intrigues on the true state of Ojukwu’s health continues, what one can be sure of is that the founder of the APGA, and its BOT chairman, is still alive. Both his wife and his son who disagree on the state of health of the former warlord have however confirmed that he is still alive. But whether he is being supported by medical equipment as a group says, after he was said to have relapsed into unconsciousness again, or whether he is fast recovering and may soon be on his way home as his wife wants us to believe, are another matter altogether. Only time will tell.
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