By
Obododimma Oha
When I was listening to Gentleman Mike Ejeagha’s album, Chukwugekwu, presented by Azel Entertainment, I did not also realise that I was listening to a narrative of my late uncle, Hyacinth Chukwujaekwu Ohaezukosi, who was killed in the Ikot-Ekpene/Uyo Sector in the Nigeria-Biafra War. Names are philosophies, argues Niyi Osundare in one of his essays. The Igbo name, Chukwujaekwu (God will make the final declaration), given to my late uncle is one of such philosophies and it simply tells us that God our maker has the final say. Guns and bombs do not have the final say. Blog articles do not have the final say, no matter how persuasive and powerful they seem to be. Only God has the final say, even when human beings have to fight and die for convictions. Ejeagha, in his song, warns that those who kill others or try to harm others with charms,will regret it eventuallly, for "so Chukwu kere ụwa ga-ekwu nke ga-eme" (only God who created the earth will determine the what will happen). So, the philosophy or ideology is and was a name my late uncle carried on him as he fought and fell at the sector.
The prophecies and interpretations given by influential musicians like Ejeagha have a lot to tell us about life. Yes, there is entertainment, especially in the rhythm. But it is something more. It also teaches, and this time around, through warning. It warns us not to think we can play God or to think we have advantage over those we have caused their deaths. If there is anything there, there is great disadvantage for us. Chukwugekwu ( or in our dialect, "Chukwujaekwu") means that we are not in charge. The Maker is and is the owner. Is that not frightening? So,we have to answer for taking what is not ours?
Chukwujaekwu was an officer in the Biafran Army. Before becoming a soldier, he was an accomplished businessperson based in Port Harcourt. He had parcels of land and houses in that part of Nigeria, but these were declared "abandoned property" by Rivers State Government. Well, he had no choice but to join the army and fight to defend himself so that his life, too, would not become "abandoned life."
Uncle Chukwujaekwu was one of those who went to war to kill a lie. And what was the lie? The lie was that landed property left by displaced persons in a shooting war was "abandoned." Oh, their owners should have stayed back to eat bullets for breakfast and swallow bombs as foo-foo in the afternoons and have humming bombers as desserts after supper.
Also, the pieces of property were crying to the government, saying, "See, we feel cold. Terrible cold. The landlords and caretakers and tenants have all abandoned us. Come quickly to save us." The government, therefore, had to go on a" rescue" mission to save the property. Was that not humane and rational?People like Uncle Chukwujaekwu just had to go to war to kill this terrible network of lies.
I was very proud of him. He would allow me to touch his jacket, whenever he came home on leave as a soldier. He was high up there and willingly signed to defend Biafra. He did not need any preaching, neither did he have to hide so as not to go to war.He understood the war,was fighting for himself, with his own conviction. Uncle Chukwujaekwu was one of the many soldiers one had to admire for the content of their heads about the war.
You would understand why it pained me greatly when another soldier, a relative, came home and disclosed that Chukwujaekwu was not coming back, that while other soldiers were dropping their guns and running in the hell of fire from the enemy forces, he stood his ground and was firing back. The returnee looked back and saw when Chukwujaekwu fell. That sealed it, sealed all speculations. I think I lost appetite right away and did not care to join in the evening meal.
My father, too, was very sad. I noticed it. He took snuff only and gnashed his teeth dangerously as if chewing something. In addition, it was even more saddening to see my father that dejected. Obviously, he was suffering greatly inside.
But it is something to remember with pride, great pride, that Chukwujaekwu did not abandon his life. He stood his ground and fought on, without turning to run from invasion. Where else would he run to? Away from himself?
Chukwujaekwu was God speaking and determining the future, God shaping the course of history; God really showing that He has the last say.
Now,I rebury him with tears, knowing Uncle Chukwujaekwu will rise again the day the Biafran flag is hoisted. He will rise and salute that flag and let me touch his army uniform and listen to me say,"Uncle, thank you very much for showing us the right way to reclaim our own."
Do you see why it is difficult to forget people who struggled when their lives are touched badly? Do you see why people like Uncle Chukwjaekwu are epic chapters opened for a young mind like mine to absorb? That way, probably, an ideology is planted to germinate in the future. That way a life teaches other lives, fulfills the whole aim of allowing our roads to cross in this lifeworld.
It would look as if Uncle Chukwujaekwu would not need those perishable property again. At least, he is resting in peace and the perishable property is the problem of the living. Seems so. But I think that those that are owing are owing; those still owing him will pay it someday, or do they want their debts to be forgiven?
Now, let us return to Ejeagha and his song. "Olisa ga-ekwu nke ga-eme." Oh, I thought that warlords that capture "abandoned property" would say who still owns what. Moreover,wrong ownership remains a burden; in fact, excess luggage in the long trip to the promised postcolonial land devouring its inhabitants. So, God still has the final say after one who abandoned one's property is shot dead at Ikot-Ekpene/Uyo Sector? This Ejeagha is really stubborn. Even his narrative music could be declared "an abandoned music" that deserves to confiscated.
Anyway, both Ejeagha and the late soldier are rebels joined also by abandonment.
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