Chief Ojukwu Dies At 78

Former biafran leader and politician Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu has been reported dead, Nigerian national newspaper Thisday  has reported.

Reports have it that the leader of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) died last night in a London hospital. He passed away at the age of 78 years. According to online news agency Sahara Reporters, source within the family says that the ‘Ikemba Nnewi’ died ‘in the UK after months of hospitalization to treat the effects of a serious stroke he had suffered late last year’. It has also been reported that Mr. Emeka Ojukwu, Jr. son of the late politician has issued a statement confirming his father’s death.

Ojukwu who was appointed Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria by Military Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi on January 17, 1966, led the establishment of Biafra, a secessionist state in South Eastern Nigeria, an event that sparked the Nigerian Civil War.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu is married to the former Bianca Onoh, the first Miss Intercontinental 1989. In January 2011 Bianca was appointed Senior Special Assistant, Diaspora Affairs to the president Goodluck Jonathan.