Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu (4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who served as President of the Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970 during the Nigerian Civil War. He previously served as military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which he declared as the independent state of Biafra.

Ojukwu was born in Zungeru, Nigeria during British colonial rule. He was the son of Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a wealthy and successful Igbo businessman. Ojukwu was educated at King's College, Lagos in Nigeria and Epsom College in Surrey, England. He graduated from Oxford University in 1955 with a master's degree in history and returned to Nigeria to serve as an administrative officer. He later joined the Nigerian army and was rapidly promoted. Following Nigerian independence in 1960, a group of mostly Igbo junior army officers overthrew Nigeria’s civilian government in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, another Igbo, became the new Nigerian head of state, and he appointed Ojukwu as military governor of the predominately Igbo Eastern Region. However, Hausa and Yoruba army officers feared an Igbo-dominated government, resulting in the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup and the subsequent 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom.

In response to Igbo demands for secession, Ojukwu reorganised the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra, and he declared independence from Nigeria. Nigeria invaded Biafra, sparking the Nigerian Civil War. The Nigerian military, with support from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, blockaded Biafra and cut food supplies, which created a mass famine. Ojukwu made use of foreign media to highlight the plight of Biafran civilians and depict the war as genocide against Igbos. The shocking images of starving Biafran civilians turned the war into an international media sensation, as this was one of the first globally televised wars alongside the Vietnam War. Biafra received international humanitarian relief during the Biafran airlift.

Biafra eventually capitulated to Nigerian forces in 1970 after millions of Biafran civilians died. Ojukwu subsequently fled to Ivory Coast in exile, where President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who recognised Biafra as a sovereign and independent state, granted him political asylum. In 1981, newly democratically elected Nigerian president Shehu Shagari granted amnesty to Ojukwu, allowing him to return to Nigeria without facing political or legal consequences from the war. Ojukwu spent the remainder of his life unsuccessfully attempting to return to Nigerian politics as a democratically elected politician rather than a military ruler.

He died in 2011 at the age of 78 in London, England. His body was returned to Nigeria, where Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan arranged a state funeral. He was buried with full military honours, including a 21-gun salute from the Nigerian Army, and thousands of people attended his funeral. Ojukwu remains a contentious figure in the history of Nigeria. Many Igbo people regard him as a hero and a messianic figure who did what was necessary to ensure the survival of Nigeria's Eastern population while facing the possibility of a genocide after the 1966 coup. Other Nigerians have deemed Biafra's secession unnecessary, blaming Ojukwu for the events of the war and accusing him of oppressing Biafra's non-Igbo ethnic minorities. Provided by Wikipedia