A former Minister of Defence and Chairman of Victim Support Fund, Theophilus Danjuma, has blamed the leader of the defunct Biafra, the late Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, for the civil war, which resulted in the death of nearly a million Nigerians.Danjuma said this on Wednesday after President Goodluck Jonathan paid him a private visit in his Asokoro, Abuja residence.
He argued that had the late Ojukwu conceded victory to the federal troops after the fall of Enugu during the civil war in the same manner President Jonathan accepted defeat after the March 28 presidential poll to Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of the All Progressives Congress, the nation would have been saved “a full year of bloodshed.”
Jonathan visited Danjuma, who is the Chairman of the Victims Support Fund, in company with some of his aides.
The two leaders however met behind closed doors and they did not make the purpose of the parley public.
Danjuma however told journalists at the end of the meeting that the President, by conceding defeat in the March 28 presidential election to Buhari, had set a record.
He said Africa and the world should emulate Jonathan.
He observed that if the late Ojukwu had done the same thing after the fall of Enugu, he would have saved the nation of bloodshed.
He said, “The outcome of the election and the manner in which President Jonathan conceded victory to Buhari, is totally un-African, it is very important in the history of Africa.
“If Ojukwu did the same after the fall of Enugu, if he had conceded victory to the federal troops, he would have saved the nation one full year of bloodshed.
“President Jonathan has set a history, a record as something to be emulated by the rest of Africa and indeed the whole world. It’s an excellent thing he did.”
Jonathan simply thanked Danjuma for his fatherly support during the election.
General Danjuma Sir,the event you are rreferring to happened some 46 long years ago and is already becoming misty with time.
One would have thought that a more recent event would suffice.Just FOUR years ago,a presidential candidate of the Northern extraction,lost the election and refused to concede defeat . . . What followed was ugly.Hundreds of Southerners,including NYSC members on posting in North,lost their lives.Surely Sir,that was not Ojukwu.And Sir,it is not on record that you condemned that needless blood-shed.
Sir,in one of the on-line publications,you were quoted as saying that Ansari Dokubo should be arrested for his utterances following President Jonathan's loss at the polls.Yes,a "miscreant"he may be and,to be sure,I don't like his antics.Yes,his words may be inflammatory.But Sir,how about the same presidential candidate who,in 2011,"promised to make Nigeria ungovernable",should he lose the election?Sir,you neither condemned the reckless utterance nor ordered his arrest.And,truly,Nigeria is still "ungovernable" till date.Who is actually behind the terrorist group,Boko Haram,maybe Ojukwu?To be sure Sir,l am not accusing anybody.But when a witch cries at night and a child dies the following morning,there's a rather "curious"coincidence somewhere.
Sir,you are said to be nononse,but it looks like you don't apply that positive quality across the board.
Sir,a chronology of your actions and inactions in Nigeria in the last 49 years portrays as an unrepentant sectionalist,not a nationalist.
Emeka Ojukwu,as a human being,may have made some mistakes.But he was there for us when we needed him.Even in death,he remains our hero.
I rest my case for now.