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The Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (born November 4, 1933) was the leader the secessionist state of Biafra in Nigeria (1967 - 1970), during the Nigerian Civil War. He is usually referred to in news and other sources just as Ojukwu. There is a Frederick Forsyth (who is/was a friend) novel about him titled Emeka, after Ojukwu's personal nickname.
He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Nigerian Army and was instructed by a meeting of customary chiefs in the Eastern region of Nigeria, held at Umuhia, to declare independence under the name of Biafra. He agreed to lead the new country which was the first nation in West Africa to be formed by Africans. Basically, this conflict was caused by a pogrom in the Moslem Northern Region against Christian and Animist Ibos from the Eastern region. The Northerners were unhappy that the Sardauna of Sokoto, the leader of the Northern region and Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa had been killed in the coup of January 16, 1966, which was carried out by an Ibo lieutenant, and that no Ibo leaders had been killed. General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, who commandeered the coup straight away, was also an Igbo. Ironsi appointed Ojukwu as military leader in the Eastern Region.
Colonel Ojukwu, a very competent commander, survived the war. After a decade in exile, he was invited to return to Nigeria by President Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1980. He joined Shagari's National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and contested the 1983 election for the Senate, but was defeated. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of Nigeria in the 2003 election. He claimed to have "won" the election, despite garnering only 3.3 percent of the vote, and filed a court challenge against what he said was the "massive fraud" that allegedly denied him the presidency.
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