Thousands of people trooped to the Tafawa Balewa Square, venue for the Lagos state organised funeral rite occassion for Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to pay their last respect to the late Biafran warlord.
In attendance were notable national leaders who came to pay their tributes to the deceased, describing him as one of the greatest leaders in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha who spoke in his native Igbo language, said that “with the departure of the icon, the Igbo nation must not mourn but celebrate the passage of Chief Ojukwu.” He said that Ojukwu is “not dead but alive.”
Chief Rochas charged every Igbo man that now is not the time to mourn but the time for them to rediscover themselves. He warned that “the ideals for which Ojukwu fought and died must never be in vain.”
The governor also noted that the ways Nigerians have mourned Chief Ojukwu since his death, has shown that “the war has truly ended and that at the appropriate time the Igbos will come up again.”
Another speaker at the event and a former Presidential Candidate of the defunct Nigerian Advance Party (NAP), Tunji Braithwaite said Chief Ojukwu did not declare war against his country but against lies, injustice and corruption.
He noted that Ojukwu’s death should remind Nigerians that the country is now standing where it was in 1966 which precipitated the crisis and that if appropriate corrective steps are not taken, “the country may be fulfilling some apocalyptic predictions about the nation.”
The one day tribute precedes the arrival of Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s remains next Monday, and it began with Professor Lazarus Ekwueme leading a choral group for a rendition of the national anthem.
Also present at the event was the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola who described the late Ojukwu as a man who stood for what he believed in. He noted that “the Nigerian civil war was not about succession but about Ojukwu’s love for his people. I will tell them that Ojukwu did not love Nigeria less but simply loved his people more”.
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“And that his brave and large-hearted leadership guaranteed the continued unity of Nigeria in the aftermath of the war because it takes courage to stand up and speak. But it also takes courage to sit down and listen”.
A former Presidential aspirant and activist, Professor Pat Utomi in his tribute said he was not at the ceremony to praise or celebrate Chief Ojukwu but to invoke his spirit to rise and fight for justice in Nigeria. He said for so long injustice seem to have taking over the country, adding that as a man who lived and fought for the enthronement of justice, Ojukwu’s struggles should not be in vain.
Eminent Nigerians present at the event included Senator Ben Obi, Professor ABC Nwosu, Admiral Allison Madueke and Chief Emeka Anyaoku. The former Governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and Vice Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu were also present at the tribute paying event in honor of Ojukwu.
Below are images from the tribute paying day for the late Ojukwu in Lagos:
