HOW COLONEL NZEOGWU DIED TRYING TO PROTECT THE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA "

Of course the war was already on, and even if anyone wanted to change his mind at that stage, it was already too late. I was ordered to move down to Opi junction with the remnant of my men. There, we had some refreshment, food and water. We also had some reinforcement of men and arms. Then I was detailed to move down to Lejja area, from Lejja to Ibagwa-Ani, covering Enugu Ezike road. After a few days, we were asked to pull out completely. After pulling out, all of us converged at Opi junction, moving further into the hinterland. Later, we got an order to move back. We continued until we made contact with the enemy. Those at Orba Nsukka also continued until contact was made with the enemy. At this point in time the 7th Batallion that had been in the field since the first shot continued until we got back to Queen of the Rosary College, Nsukka. One evening, I was summoned to the Brigade Headquarters under Colonel Eze who was the Brigade Commander. We were to launch an all night attack in Nsukka town. And I was operating from Queen of the Rosary College, Nsukka, and Edem Ani area. When I got to Opi to collect my ammunition, I met Colonel Chukwuma Nzeogwu. Nzeogwu was so elated at seeing me and requested that I should move into the University Campus with him. But Colonel Eze objected saying that I had already received my orders, and I had my target area, and it would be suicidal to abandon that flank, that is, the western flank. After that, Nzeogwu moved in with the stragglers he grabbed. You see, Nzeogwu was not assigned a command; such a high ranking infantry officer that was rare in Biafra. The reason for this was difficult to understand, although this might not be unconnected with the threats of Nzeogwu’s popularity and charisma. It might however have to do with a press interview which Nzeogwu had granted shortly after our release from detention, in which he has spoken vehemently against the secession bid. That interview was believed to have made the authorities of Biafra very suspicious of Nzeogwu. So, even in those days prior to the declaration of secession, no command was assigned to Nzeogwu and he was floating about. This continued until war broke out. It must be pointed out here that Nzeogwu was not alone in his anti-secession feeling, and that anti-secession did not really imply working against the Igbo cause. Some of those who had expressed uneasiness at the secession bid at the time were simply being realistic considering the situation on ground. It appeared to them like an exercise in mass suicide….
So Nzeogwu was not assigned a command. And of course being a core infantry soldier, and his view about secession notwithstanding, war having now broken out against his own people in Eastern Nigeria, he could not afford to fold his hands and watch his people turned into mince meat in the hands of the cruel forces of the Northern-dominated Nigerian army. Nzeogwu just moved about, collecting stragglers who were fleeing the front and formed them into a fighting force which he used here and there to dislodge the advancing enemy forces. So it was that this particular evening, realizing that the Nsukka sector was threatened with imminent collapse, he took his troops into the University Campus to confront the enemy troops. That was the last that was heard of Colonel Nzeogwu. By the next day, the news was all over the place that Nzeogwu had been killed while in active operation at the Nsukka sector. His death brought such great discouragement to the Biafran troops.

Excerpts from pages 154 to 155 of the book, "To Save Nigeria: The Revolutionary Coup and the Civil War" by Goddy Onyefuru (2009, Rabboni Publishers International, Enugu) a copy is only 3500 Naira. Credit: jeff Unaebu