Major emmanuel ifeajuna biography of albert

Olowu, who won a silver medal in long jump at the same Empire Games was the first name on the honours list! This sparked offheated controversy. An edito rial on the 4 May edition ofTheGuardian said: "What the Sports Heroes committee failed to admit isthat its members were working according to a po litical wicket. They would not want to admit it, but it is clear that Ifeajuna's participation as the leader of themilitarycoupd'etatof 15 January , informed the effort to make the first not just the last but noth ing".

Thegovernment-ownedDaily Times, in itsedi torial of 30April ,said: "IfIfeajuna's omission was an oversight, it was a very expensive one in deed. If on the other hand, it. It is also a very unacceptable rewriting ofour sports history. Born in Onitsha, Anambra State, in to a civil servant father and a mother who was a fulltime housewife, Ifeajuna was admitted into the fa mous Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha in He spearheaded a school riot that marked him out as a lad to watch out for.

He got a job as clerical officer II after completing his secondary school studies. A keen sportsman, he excelled in his chosen sport, high jump, and was selected to represent the country. The rest is history. He studied Chemistry at the University Col lege, Ibadan, and graduated in ; but not after he had participated in about three riots.

He was given a job as a teacher, but he found it boring. Together with other firebrand graduates such as Uche Chukwumerije, he sought admission into the mili tary. He was accepted, and he changed the course of Nigerian history on 15 SJanuary , when he staged the first military coup". Major Nzeogwu, spearheading the Northern effort, effected the executions of key Northern leaders, most notably the supremely iconic Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto.

On the Western front, it was all but quiet as the Premier; Akintola was killed in a hail of bullets. In the capital city of Lagos, Ifeajuna himself took charge and saw to the demise of key leading elements, most notably the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa. However, the execution of key Ibo leaders such as Azikiwe, Okpara, Ibiam and Ironsi never took place.

And the rest is now history. One writer writing on Ifeajuna said. His vision was unambiguous. He wanted a united Nigeria from start to finish and stuck to those dreams and paid for it. He was the brain behind the revolution, not Nzeogwu, who is now regarded as such in folklore. Why is Ifeajuna so unsung, even by his own people of Onitsha, he, the real revolutionary of Nigeria, an international sports champion and a true nationalist?

No funeral has been given him to this day. He wrote the book "Why we Struck" and remains alive. Major Christian Anuforo, Sandhurst trained, was a January co-conspirator, personal friend of Major Nzeogwu, and the executioner of Col. Kur Mohammed, Lt. Unegbe, Col. Pam and Chief Okotie- Eboh. He was arrested after the failure of the plot and detained initially in Lagos, then moved to Ilesha, and then Benin-City.

On August 16, a unit of troops from the 4th battalion at Ibadan brought him out of the Benin Prison, drove him and others away, tortured and later shot him along the Benin-Ore road. James Pam. As a co-conspirator in January he arrested Col. Pam at his house and drove him initially to the Brigade Officers mess. Later on a decision was made to kill Pam.

Therefore, Chukwuka and Anuforo along with some soldiers drove Pam away. Pam was later personally shot by Anuforo near the Polo course, not far from the spot where Maimalari was killed and incidentally not far from where Murtala Muhammed was killed in Chukwuka was detained by Ironsi in the East and released by Colonel Ojukwu in As a Biafran Lt.

However, when that front collapsed he too was detained like other officers and accused of sabotage.

Major emmanuel ifeajuna biography of albert

Chukwuka was initially detained at Aba where he started a Divine Ministry. Then he was moved to Owerri prison after the fall of Aba. From Owerri he was moved to Umuahia and then to Ntueke. At Ntueke prison he clashed with Charles Nwokedi and ended up being transferred to the recaptured Owerri prison. A few weeks later he was quickly evacuated from Owerri when it finally fell to Federal troops.

He returned to Ntueke from where he gained freedom at the end of the civil war. I have not heard about him for many years and presume he is still alive. Over the weekend of July 29, soldiers at the Abeokuta Garrison broke into the Prison and killed him some say by being buried alive. Captain Oji, Mons Officer Cadet School trained, one of the original three January conspirators, took part in the initially unsuccessful effort to arrest Brigadier Maimalari, killing a Lance Corporal of his guard in the process.

Some sources claim that it was Oji that Okafor sent to accost General Ironsi but that Oji did not find him at home - an oddly timed assignment considering that Oji spent so much time at Maimalari's house at the outset. Anyhow, Oji later went to Ikeja Barracks for reconnaisance before the mutiny collapsed. It may have been Oji's group Gowon was referring to when he complained to Madiebo that he was being shadowed at Ikeja.

Oji was arrested by Ironsi and detained in the East. Personal life [ edit ]. International competition record [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved Retrieved 28 February Nigeria Matters. Retrieved on The Guardian. Naija Stories. Ilesa Grammar School. World Igbo Congress. GBR Athletics. LA Foundation Nigeria Vanguard The New Telegraph.

PWC Review. Sahara Reporters Bloomsbury Publishing. The Nation Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 9 September The Nigerian Voice. Retrieved 4 April Archived from the original on 7 April New York Times.