… Who would have been 88 yesterday
Yesterday Wednesday February 26th, 2025 was the 88 posthumous birthday of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. He was charismatic, far sighted and easily the most enigmatic soldier in Nigeria’s military history. Below are excepts from his biography written by his bosom friend and comrade-in-arms General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former military head of state (1976 – 1979) and civilian President (1999 – 2007).
BIRTH OF AN AVATAR
On 26th February 1937, Elizabeth had a male child and he was named Chukwuma. He was later given the name Patrick when he was baptized in the Catholic Church. The neighbours and friends of his parents called him Kaduna, as was the practice in those days, signifying the fact that he was a native of Kaduna by birth and the child grew up to be proud of the name. At birth, everything about Chukwuma was normal and he grew up to be a likable young child, a favourite with his friends and teachers.
THE PRECOCIOUS CHILD
Chukwuma was a very inquisitive and precocious child. As a young primary school student in Saint Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, he would ask his teachers endless questions, and was not always satisfied with their superficial replies. But after the long school hours, he would try out his abilities on other children making them bend to his wishes.
THE BUDDING SOLDIER
There were a lot of soldiers stationed in Kaduna during the Second World War, and Chukwuma would watch them doing their early morning drill, with much interest. Soon, he began to gather his little admirers together, and with a rough wooden stick, he would line them up on parade and shout orders in a high pitched military fashion.
HIS HOBBIES
Chukwuma did not play any outdoor games but jogged for exercise. But reading, playing indoor games and listening to music, especially classical music, were his hobbies. Chukwuma’s taste in music was in the instrumental. He enjoyed jazz and symphonies. But his greatest love was military music. He could not stand pop records because he did not regard them as artistic.
HIS DEATH
….Chukwuma was also persuaded to join in the war, in the hope that serious destruction of lives and property could be averted and peace enthroned. He rallied support from civilians and soldiers and stabilized the sector. He personally led an ambush to consolidate the gains around Nsukka, when he met his death on the night of 29th July 1967… The Federal troops, in full appreciation of Chukwuma’s well known nationalistic feeling, recovered his body, took it to Kaduna and buried him at the military cemetry there.
THE ESSENTIAL NZEOGWU
Chukwuma was a kind –hearted, open and generous man, who believed that there should be no dividing line on any basis between Nigerians in one part of the country and those in other parts. His birth and up-bringing in Kaduna – a town that was a microscosm of Nigeria of Nigeria in the thirties, forties and fifties – had principally conditioned his broad and detribalized Nigerian outlook. Chukwuma was politically aware but he was not what I would call a political activist. He was both a Nigerian and a Pan-Africanist.
He was good natured, occasionally boisterous and impulsive. He was bold, courageous and uninhibited, both in his speech and actions. He was neither mean nor petty and he could not tolerate stupidity or unintelligence. He was liberal and generous without being extravagant. His sense of humor was unsurpassed by that of any of his colleagues. Behind his open and extrovert nature, hid a retiring and quiet personality. His love of his family was only matched by the fervour and enthusiasm with which he tackled his work.
He detested injustice and arrogance. He could be tactful or tactless, depending on the situation…
Chukwuma had a dream of a great Nigeria that is a force to reckon with in the world, not through ineffective political rhetoric but through purposeful and effective action. He had a dream of an ordered and orderly nation, through a disciplined society. He also dreamt of a country where national interest overrides self, sectional or tribal interest. He wanted a country where a person’s ability, output, merit and productivity would determine his social and economic progress, rather than political and ethnic considerations.
He had a dream of a country free of graft and greed. He believed in virtues and values other than mere acquisition, glorification and adulation of material wealth. He dreamt of a nation where social justice and the economic interest of its citizens will not be subjugated to foreign control and manipulation. He believed in the ability of the blackman.
He had a dream of a country where everybody is everybody else’s keeper, irrespective of language, tribe, region or religion. He lived for thirty years, the last two of which he spent trying to achieve his dream for the country of his birth and the country he loved. He failed in the realization of this dream and became a victim of that dream. But he left a permanent imprint on the country, as well as lessons for all Nigerian citizens to learn.
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