Description:
C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra—the breakaway nation that sparked a civil war in Nigeria during late ’60s— was part of this creative and intellectual scene. He studied history in Oxford University and was expected to get a job in civil service and live the dream of colonial middle class life. He tried it, hated it, and went into the army. Those days, people who had degrees, especially from Oxford, just did not go into the army. Ojukwo was one of the first who did.
He wrote a lot during the Biafra war. Many of his notes and speeches are collected in a volume titled Biafra: Selected Speeches and Random Thoughts
C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra—the breakaway nation that sparked a civil war in Nigeria during late ’60s— was part of this creative and intellectual scene. He studied history in Oxford University and was expected to get a job in civil service and live the dream of colonial middle class life. He tried it, hated it, and went into the army. Those days, people who had degrees, especially from Oxford, just did not go into the army. Ojukwo was one of the first who did.
He wrote a lot during the Biafra war. Many of his notes and speeches are collected in a volume titled Biafra: Selected Speeches and Random Thoughts. My indifference to Ojukwu and his generation of leaders changed when I started reading this collection—a work I highly recommend.
The collection contains detailed documentation of events leading up to the war, in addition to meditations on violence and revolutions, leadership and the nation, race and oppression, and his sense of Biafra as an innovative political idea.
It’s sad, but Nigerians have become so disillusioned and cynical that they forget that there is so much in their past—a rich archive of people and ideas—from which they could draw inspiration. Nigeria has had some truly inspiring leaders its past. They were not perfect by any means, but they were thinkers, writers, and charismatic public speakers.
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Manufacturer: Perennial Library
Release date: 21 June 1969
ISBN-10 : B0007G6D9E |
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