According to Chief Anthony Nnadozie Udemefuna Ojukwu, 73-year-old Ikemba Nnewi’s first cousin, there’s a tradition of multiple wives in the family, which he said have produced acknowledged warriors and warlords.
In this interview, held at the Ojukwu family compound, Udemefuna, shared his boyhood experiences in the house of Ojukwu’s father, where he and the Ikemba grew up as little boys.
We understand that Ojukwu loved beautiful things. Are you aware of this?
You can never know the attraction of a beautiful woman to a handsome man, like Emeka and vice versa. It is a woman that knows her reasons for marring a man. Look at Bianca. What she wanted in a man might be very different from what Njideka or Stella wanted. But what I want to assure you is that these four women were alike. They were all beautiful women. Emeka loved beautiful things and beautiful cars. He was a man of courage and handsome, which was an irresistible combination.
Could you tell us about your growing up with Ojukwu?
I grew up in the house of Sir Louis Philip Ojukwu, starting from when I was eight years old. Even though we were boys then, Emeka was older than me with five years, and then he was about 13. When I got to Lagos, in 1947, he was already in class three in Kings College, Lagos. That was when he left for Eton College, London and Oxford University. As far as our family is concerned, we two were the ones closer in age.
What type of child was Ojukwu?
When he was in school, his father, popularly known as LP, wanted him to read law, but he chose to read Public Administration and History. When he came back, he became the first Nigerian District Officer. His father told me this when I was living with him in the house. Also, when he went into the army, he did that on his own. He never sought the consent of his father. He did it himself and presented us with his fait accompli. It was a bit sensational then, because he already was a graduate of Oxford University, and a D. O. when he joined the army as a recruit, shunning the officers’ cadre.
What would you say about Ojukwu’s wives?
Ojukwu married four wives in all, but he was married to each of them one at a time. He married early. You know he was a young rich and handsome man, with a lot of prospects.
Could you tell of about his wives?
His first wife was Elizabeth Okoli from ‘Nnukwu Awka’ (in Awka town) in Anambra State. She was a senior Nursing Sister, by profession. They got married between 1956 and 1958. Her father was the first Nigerian Post-Master General we had in Nigeria. He wedded her in court when he was a D.O., and they lived slightly at Udi, slightly at Enugu and largely at Aba. After some time, the fortunes of the marriage dwindled, maybe because she did not have a baby; so they divorced. I was in class two or three in secondary school then. The marriage lasted for about two or three years, but I cannot pin down the real cause of the divorce. Elizabeth later married one Dr. Onuorah, whom she had children with.
Emeka’s second wife was Njideka, daughter of the once famous C.T. Onyekwelu from Nawfia, Anambra State. She had earlier been married to one Dr. Menz, maybe of Sierra-Leonean origins. His mother, Elina-Nwamama, was very popular then in Onitsha. Njideka had a set of twins for Dr Menz, a boy and a girl, before they quarrelled and separated. I wouldn’t say if they divorced formally, but they discontinued the co-habitation. So, Emeka married her in 1964 and she had Emeka Jnr, Mimi and Okigbo for him. They had a traditional and statutory marriage in court.
They had what we call ordinance wedding then and the reception was in our house, Eastern House in Lagos. He was married to her when he was the 5th Battalion Commander till he was appointed the governor of Eastern Region and during the war, before they moved to Cote d’Ivoire. It was there, maybe because of domestic of political interplay, that she moved out to London.
Emeka now became engaged to Stella Onyeador from Arochukwu in Abia State, who was Njideka’s chief bridesmaid during her wedding and my classmate in the university at Enugu Campus of University of Nigeria. She’s a lawyer by profession and moved to Cote d’Ivoire to join Emeka where he lived. She later came back to Nigeria with him in 1982. He asked us to perform the traditional rites at her father’s compound. If they did court marriage over there, I wouldn’t know. I will only tell you the things that I can swear for in court. They later quarrelled and even went to court because they were fighting for the custody of a girl-child they adopted while in Cote d’Ivoire. Emeka was eventually awarded custody and ownership of the baby because the court said that under French law, a woman is not eligible to adopt babies, which was the case then in Cote d’Ivoire. They eventually separated. She died last year.
When Stella left the picture, Bianca came, in 1989. But when Bianca was hustling with other girls to enter, Stella was still with Emeka. She was then in stiff completion with former Governor Sam Mbakwe’s daughter, one Barrister Onwuelo’s daughter from Nnewi here and another beautiful girl, who I can’t recollect her name. They were four at the time and mostly had pedigree. They were all graduates of law. Eventually, Bianca won with beauty and brains too. They had a wedding in the Catholic Church, though you know that there’s no way you can wed in the church without a certificate from the court. She was the only one he wedded in both cases. She has a set of twins for Emeka, and another boy too.
What would you say about his civil war actions? Where would you say he inherited this courage?
You know that Ezeubom, our great-grand father, was a warlord of Nnewi. He was the second warrior of Umudim Quarter of Nnewi; there are just two in the quarter those days and of the same blood. He married many wives then, as a symbol of his strength and as a farmer too. He had four sons, of which Ojukwu-Ezeokigbo was one of them. Ojukwu-Ezeokigbo, our grandfather, married 32 wives, of which 24 survived him, while eight died before him. Out of these 24, 16 were big women, while eight were just damsels, either growing into maturity or just getting into puberty. They were mostly placed in the kitchens of the big ones to learn how to become mothers.
Then, Sir Loius-Phillip, his father, married five wives. The difference between LP and Emeka, his son is that while he lived together with his wives, with the exception of the first who was divorced from him and that was the one he inherited from the dad, the rest lived with him till his death. Emeka lived with his own wives one at a time. He never had cumulative four wives, unlike his dad. I can tell you that out of the five sons of Ojukwu-Ezeokigbo, none married less than three wives, including my own father. Even the first son married as nearly as Ezeokigbo, his dad.
But these days, we just move along with one wife. Emeka married one at a time because that was his own idiosyncrasy. His siblings married one wife each. Now, education has changed a lot of things; it’s more difficult to keep pace with one wife, let alone two.
Culled from Daily Sun
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