It was more of an oratory contest at the Senate which literarily set aside other legislative activities yesterday, to pay tributes to the departed Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, who died in a London hospital at the weekend.
Speaker after speaker, cutting across ethnic divides, eulogised the former Biafran leader, describing him variously as a true nationalist, visionary leader, apostle of human rights and a consummate patriot, who stood firmly for what he believed in.
Consequently, the senators in a unanimous resolution asked the Federal Government to immortalise the late Biafran warlord.
However tacitly rejecting the prayer for a federal (state) burial for him, they urged the governments of the states of the old Eastern region to ensure a befitting burial for the Ikemba Nnewi.
The resolution was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Andy Uba and 51 others. The Senate President David Mark had earlier described the late Ojukwu as a man of radical ideology, who lived ahead of his time, adding that, “He was creative, you cannot discuss Ojukwu without discussing Gen. Gowon, Hassan Katsina. He was focused and brave. He lived for his people and was able to carry his people along. The history of Nigeria cannot be written without bringing Ojukwu’s name in.”
Mark who disclosed that he considered it a rare privilege to get his military pension and gratuity the same day with Ojukwu in 2009, said for joining the Nigerian Army at the time he did, made Ojukwu a great Nigerian, a nationalist, and a patriot”