WINGS OF DISTINCTION: MEMOIR OF A FIGHTER PILOT (AVM CHRIS.N CHUKWU)OON

                                                                           PREFACE

Some are born great; some achieve greatness; some have greatness thrust on them.

- William Shakespeare

 

Air Vice Marshal Christian Ndubisi Chukwu was neither born great nor had greatness thrust on him. He achieved greatness by sheer hard work and providence. But in this, his story would be scarcely unique. It would seem that most great people all over the world started life from humble beginnings. Check out the biographies or autobiographies of the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa and Moshood Abiola. Read about Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela. Then Abraham Lincoln, regarded as the foremost American President and one of the America’s founding fathers. In our own generation, read the story of Barack Obama who rose to become the first African-American President of the United States. None of these great people could be said to have been born great or had greatness thrust on them. All achieved greatness by dint of hard work. Yet, Aliko Dangote, the present richest man in Africa may have been born with silver spoon but, by his own account, while in primary school, he used to buy and sell sweets – not for fun but to make money.

Yet, as you begin to study the lives of great people, you discover that though they may have something in common in their humble beginnings, along the line their stories become unique. This is also true of Air Vice Marshal Christian Chukwu. In fact, in his case, the story is not only unique but exceptionally so.  

AVM Christian Chukwu was the seventh son of ten children, seven boys and three girls. The mother had hoped he would be a girl so that she would be going to Omugo. But not yet. She would have daughters, three of them in fact, but that was after Chris, this child of destiny. Did I just say “destiny”? We have all heard about the stories of some people referred to as, “stranger than fiction.” The story of AVM Chukwu is definitely one of them.

There is a chapter titled, “Liberia: The Smell of Death”. It was not once, not twice but several times that AVM Chukwu smelt death in the course of his hazardous career, particularly during his ECOMOG mission. In fact, the smell of death ran from his father, Albert Chukwu, through his eldest brother and mentor, the legendary Sqn Ldr John Chukwu down to himself.

Yes, the smell of death had run through the family. His late father, Albert Chukwu, was lured into slavery by a teacher he was living with in his native hometown of Nenwe to Ishiagu in the present-day Ebonyi State. The chief of the town who had bought the little Albert of about 9 or 10 years planned to use him for sacrifice to the gods of the town. By Providence Albert came to know about the evil plan. He escaped into the thick forest in the middle of the night. He later recorded this episode in his diary. His escape was miraculous because he could have been devoured by wild animals or recaptured by the natives who were sent by the chief to comb the forest. Albert smelt death but he escaped and eventually returned to his family. Had he not escaped, obviously, we would not be reading the story of AVM Chukwu today.

The story of the late Sqn Ldr John Ikeokwu Chukwu, AVM Chukwu’s eldest brother and role model would require a book in its own right. Here was one of the best trained Nigerian fighter pilots who had already showed his prowess but found himself on the side of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war. He was the leading Biafran fighter pilot who caused a lot of havoc on the Nigerian military targets at the early stages of the war. JC smelt death when his aircraft came under attack of Nigerian anti-aircraft batteries over a town in the Niger Delta and a bullet pierced his body and exited but missed his heart, spine and head. That was miraculous.

Sqn Ldr John Ikeokwu Chukwu

John or JC as he was popularly called, was among the pioneer Nigerian Air Force cadets sent to train in Germany in 1963. Among his course mates was Ibrahim Alfa, a lifelong bosom friend who after the war sought and took JC out from where he was hiding with the family and ensured that he was reabsorbed into the Nigerian Air Force. That rare account of former friends turned warring enemies and later re-uniting as friends again, is one of the stranger-than-fiction anecdotes in this book, which incidentally AVM Chukwu witnessed live as a boy of just nine years. That experience, according to Christian, was the motivation for him to become a soldier, and indeed serves as the starting point of this personal account of his military career. Thus, when unfortunately, we lost JC in 1978 at his prime, aged 35 years, due to illness, it was only a question of time before Christian Chukwu stepped into the giant shoes his brother left behind.

The story of AVM Chukwu is laced with adventures. During his Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) in the United States in 1982, he also caused some anxiety for his instructors. On a solo sortie one fateful night, his jet developed electrical fault. The control tower advised Chukwu to declare emergency so that he could be given priority landing. This dare-devil and self-assured fighter-pilot in the making declined the advice and went ahead to perfectly land the jet with what they call EXTD (excellent touch down). That incident raised his profile but also earned him the sobriquet, “that Nigerian student who flies around at night without light”.

Air Marshal Ibrahim Mahmud Alfa

Now, if the younger Chukwu’s solo night flight experience in the United States was seamless, that was not the case with “Aggressors in Thunderstorm” later in Nigeria. It was another case of smelling death by the AVM. He and three other “Aggressors” had gone for military exercise, named, DOKO NDAPONGI around Bida in 1987 with four Alpha-Jet aircraft. They had successfully completed the simulation of the battlefield interdiction, with the army troops. When the Aggressors finally departed, bad weather had enveloped the Kaduna military base and they were diverted to the civilian airport. Meanwhile, they were all running out of fuel and the weather at the civilian airport was equally terrible. While the pilots were manoeuvring their jets with poor vision, Chris almost collided with another aircraft. According to him, if he had stretched out his hand, he would have touched that aircraft. Instinctively, he ducked expecting to hear a bang but as he did not hear any, he knew he was still alive. As a very experienced jet pilot, Chukwu made quick decisions and diverted to Zaria where he managed to glide the jet to land at the small airfield with fuel virtually at zero. This narrow escape was the first time he personally experienced what they had been told during training, about pilots’ knees involuntarily knocking together after a narrow escape. He later learnt that the rest of the aggressors also experienced the same thing!

There are several of these near mishaps which would hold the reader spellbound. Most of these happened during his altogether nineteen months of participation in the ECOMOG operations on many occasions, between 1990 and 1994. They included what he calls, “Mysterious Spin over the Atlantic” and “Near Death at Omega Tower.” However, the climax of these near-death missions is titled, “A Date with the Rebels.” Their mission was to destroy the convoy of trucks conveying Charles Taylor’s troops and ammunitions to Buchannan Port. As is often the case, Chukwu was leading the attack with a wingman. With professional efficiency he accomplished the task and was ready to return to their base at Lungi airport in Sierra Leone. Alas, his jet was hit by anti-aircraft canons and a large part of the canopy was blown off, missing his head by inches. Before long the remaining chunk of his canopy broke off and the plane was virtually tumbling. If he ejected, he would either have been caught by enemy troops or devoured by crocodiles or other wild animals in the swamps below. Chukwu finally decided to head to Spriggs airfield regardless of the long-range artillery fire from the enemy. He landed safely without canopy, applying the necessary procedures from his several years of training and experience. There was wild jubilation among his colleagues in Lungi, when eventually he and his wingman arrived there that night. Before then, there was much panic because of the news put out by the Taylor’s men that they had shot down two Nigerian jets. In fact, that rumour also reached Nigeria and naturally to Nenwe people. For Chukwu, “This was one of those missions I will never forget.”

If one were to summarise the military career of AVM Chukwu in one word, one could say it was a life of encounters with death at every corner but surviving to tell the story the next day. But it is also the story of military professionalism, excellence, brilliance, hard work, courage, devotion to duty and above all, love of fatherland. Indeed, it is a fascinating and inspiring story.

Enough of the hazardous zone. There is also the life of the soldier which is full of training, simulations and exercises, particularly in peace time. For the fighter pilots, aerial demonstrations are their stagecraft. From 1^st October 1985 as a young Fg Offr, up to attaining the rank of AVM, Chukwu was involved in virtually all aerial demonstrations of the Nigerian Air Force, whether during National Day celebrations or the Nigerian Air Force Day celebrations.

The most memorable of the AVM’s aerial demonstrations was the Air Force Day celebration of 15 April 2000 held in Enugu, his home State. As a Wing Commander then, Chukwu was the leader of the four-ship L-39 aerobatic team and the one who performed the solo aerobatics. Chris was at his best in the aerial manoeuvres. As I read the account, of what he was doing with the jet up in the sky, with several turns and even inverted flights and landing in a short distance, involuntary tears of admiration were running down my cheeks. One can then imagine how the spectators who watched the show live felt; spectators that included his family members and particularly his mother!

Chukwu attained the zenith of his career in the Nigerian Air Force with promotion to Air Vice Marshal (Major General) in 2010 and disengaged on 13^th August 2016, after excellently serving his country for 37 years. He deservedly earned his promotions and has been honoured in several circles, including by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Nigeria Air Force and his Nenwe Community. The Federal Government first conferred on him the National Honour of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) and in 2000 upgraded it to the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). In 2017, his hometown, Nenwe, bestowed on him the title of NKPUME NENWE (ROCK OF NENWE).

AVM Chukwu, to borrow from Julius Caesar, has come, seen and conquered. He was not only a brave fighter pilot but also an instructor pilot who brought up generations of fighter pilots. In doing so, he instilled in his students, high level professionalism, discipline and courage. In his military career, he believed that one must go the extra mile if one wants to achieve extraordinary results. For this, he advised young pilots to operate “with the highest level of proficiency … they will need the survival instinct and the angel of good luck on their side.”

Chris is a very fulfilled man, an officer and complete gentleman. Very unassuming, approachable, religious, humane, highly respectful and respected, the comments on his personality and character by some close colleagues who cut across ethnic and religious affiliations, included in this volume, are very inspiring. He is known to have always assisted both subordinates and colleagues to further their career, because, as one of his colleagues, AVM Zannah, revealed, “Chukwu, because he is sure of himself, therefore he never sees anybody as a threat to his career”. In the same vein, he has been providing guidance to young people both from his community and across Nigeria to make a career in the military. Characteristic of his humaneness, he reproduced in this volume his emotional Ode (Tribute) to some of his fallen colleagues. Furthermore, AVM Chukwu, though he did not amass wealth, has decided to be touching the lives of the less privileged with whatever resources are available. To this end, he and his adorable wife have established a charity organisation they named, in memory of the two great mentors in Chukwu’s life, JohnAlfa Foundation.

This memoir of the life and military career of AVM Chris Chukwu, is simply unputdownable. It is a privilege and honour for me to be among those who read the manuscript and to be requested to write the Foreword. It is a story of courage and adventures with remarkable anecdotes. We often hear about something being one in a million. This book perfectly belongs to that category. It should be an inspirational book not only for those aspiring for service in the Military in general and Air Force in particular but also for the Nigerian youth in general. For military authorities and the general reader, it is a must read for knowledge and relaxation.

Professor Mike Maduagwu

Directing Staff,

National Institute for Security Studies. Bwari – Abuja.

(Former Senior Fellow/Directing Staff

National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru – Jos).

May, 2020. 

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EDITED VERSIONS OF COMMENTS

 

This autobiography is indeed a masterpiece on the life journey of Air Vice Marshal Christian Ndubuisi Chukwu so far. Certainly, it is a commentary depicting an insight into the environments in which he grew up and worked. Generally, his sojourn through the Nigerian Air Force, and particularly his escapades as a fighter pilot was aptly captured in this exciting book. It will be an interesting read for all book lovers across board and should serve as motivation for younger readers who may wish to have a career as pilots in the Nigerian Air Force.

While in Service, he brought to bear appreciable courage, tenacity, integrity and excellence in executing specified and assigned tasks, while appropriately applying the experience so acquired in dealing with issues outside the Service. Overall, he exhibited exemplary leadership in his personal and professional conduct, which endeared him to superiors, contemporaries and subordinates alike. Congratulations on this onerous achievement and best wishes always. 

AIR VICE MARSHAL MOHAMMED S USMAN

Chief of Defence Intelligence, Nigeria

 

 

Reading through the scintillating life history of AVM Christian Ndubisi Chukwu held me spell bound for several days. This book climaxes the dexterity of a man bound in several talents. It could not have come at a better time than now that it seems excellence has taken flight in our national mores. Many of those who come across Christian, on the face value, may be tempted to take him for granted due to his unassuming nature. However, beneath that simplicity is a sapphire. A man so determined relentlessly, even in the face of mounting difficulties in the nation, to strive to be the best he can be, as vividly captured by this memoir.  I am glad that he eventually acquiesced himself to render his story for the benefit of younger generations of Nenwe, Enugu State and the Nigerian Air Force. It is indeed a biography like no other.

 

AIR COMMODORE CJE OZOEMENA (rtd) fdc

Ogbanukwu II

 

 

 

Avm Chris  Chukwu 

FOREWORD

I am delighted to comment on the book “Wings of Distinction” — Career Memoir of a Fighter Pilot” by Air Vice Marshal Christian Ndubuisi Chukwu, OON (rtd). The publication of the book is indeed very timely, coming at a time that the career experiences of distinguished senior officers are needed for the guidance and motivation of serving members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, particularly the junior and mid-career officers, in the face of daunting national security challenges.

A memoir is a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge. This is exactly what the author has articulated in his “Wings of Distinction” presented in 3 parts — early life, operational experience and fruits of distinction which detailed his personality, non-military life and achievements. His local and foreign training prepared him for the exemplary operational accomplishments in the various tours of duty he had, especially during the ECOMOG operations. The “Wings of Distinction” is replete with accounts of enviable accomplishments of the senior officer during his 37 years of Service to the nation.

The experience as captured in the book are commendable and worthy of emulation, I hereby recommend the book to all serving and retired military officers as well as all stakeholders in military career development. I heartily congratulate the author for the publication, which is a remarkable asset to the promotion of Military Service.

General AG OLONISAKIN NAM

Chief of Defence Staff, Nigeria

THE NORTH; TELL YOUR SONS TO SAVE ALL OF US NOW

THE NORTH; TELL YOUR SONS  TO SAVE ALL OF US NOW !!!

Yesterday  “Fulani Herdsmen sacking  a village in middle belt, kills pregnant woman in Delta state , Today 45 Killed  in Katsina by Muslim fundamentalists  , today Boko Haram kills 100 poor  farmers  in  Bornu State….  Etc . These  are  the News  you  receive daily  from Nigeria :Northerns  being butchered  by their fellow  Muslim (fundamentalist) and Southerners killed  daily by Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

 Of all these  nobody has  ever been brought to “that book” he always promises  by lip service  to bring 

them.

Once upon a time  while travelling  to Shagari village in  Sokoto  we used  to rush to drive away through the South before dark and to continue  our journey in the safe North at nightfall, now  ironically the reverse is the case. The  South has been  virtually militarized  (for other intentions) by the majority Northern soldiers and policemen leaving their homes  to bandits and terrorists while indirectly and unintentionally  securing the South relatively  . 

At this  point it is no more  the case of religious, tribal or party  debates and divides; all these poor peasants  are our brothers and sisters , they are human beings. 

It is  urgent and imperative   the good thinking northerners  should call their sons (who incidentally are occupying the command of   98% of the security organs and presidency) into a room and talk to them. In Igbo  they would be told “nna ifegonu  na ifea  ekweru unu  omume oo. Ka anyi chotanu  ndi ozo   tufu ife- emebiea “  meaning  “brothers  you can see you cant manage the situation, lets  look for other people before things get worse”. 

Why should  we  because of  “foolish pride” wait  to be overrun and be busy  finding   things   to divert peoples attention as the opening of Enugu uncompleted airport  to divert people  from the 22 Enugu boys massacres  at  Enugu while having a meeting. The succeeded. The case has been put in ‘that his book’ instead of the culprits. 

Can you imagine   the “convincing”  comments and reactions from the North if  the President and Security chiefs  were from the south or  even Northern Christians ? Certainly the absurd Kano mobs as usual   would have already started hitting on Igbo traders as if they were them the  Moslem terrorists.

The Northerners  should rescue the North and save all of  us in the country  by talking and kicking up and out (if necessary)their sons. GEJ is in the creeks now and has been there since  five years  s lets forget what he did or didn’t do.

charlie.mbc2@gmail.com

BISHOP GODFREY ONAH :CONDEMNS INJUSTICE & VIOLENCE-- by Rev. Fr. Vitus Ugwu.

Bishop of Nsukka   

 Leave Bishop Godfrey Onah Alone

One of my parishioners just sent me a link showing a tweet of one Salihu Tanko Yakasai said to be a media aide to the Governor of Kano State, His excellency Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. In the said tweet, Mr. Yakasai dared to incite the government against Most Rev. Prof Godfrey Onah over a video clip in which the Bishop decried the injustice meted out against Christianity by the Nigerian government.  The Bishop had in that short video clip called for equal opportunity and treatment to both Christians and Moslems. Weeks after the video clip made the rounds, a Hausa Moslem youth attacked an Igbo Tricycle rider, Mr. Kelly, over the latter’s insistence on the complete payment of his money. It was said that the altercation ensued between the Mr. Kelly and Aisha and the latter put a call to her son, Sabiru. The report had it that Sabiru ran to the scene and attacked the Keke driver.  The actions or reactions that ignited or trailed this unfortunate occurrence are worth looking at. Although the riot was short-lived thanks to the intervention of security agents and the timely press statement of Bishop Godfrey Onah, Saturday the 31st of October, 2020 came like any other day but ended differently from other normal days in Nsukka.  As we thank God that the riot was nipped on the bud, we have to condemn in its entirety the skewed narrative currently peddled by some mischief makers who masked their ill-will, anti-national cohesion and anti-democratic tendency in a veneer of patriotic posturing. From last Saturday till now, varied reactions ranging from religious bigotry, to tribal sentiments, and to political threats have been expressed. The worst of it all is a bungled attempt to blame it on a seasoned homily of our firing Bishop.  We will attempt below to put the records right for the sake of posterity and to disabuse the minds of the misinformed persons out there.  

A bad doctor treats symptoms instead of cause. This is what the ilk of Salihu Tanko Yakasai have done. To avert this mistake, we have to trace the causes of the rift. The first is the behavior of Aisha and her son, Sabiru. How did we get to the level where our police officers are not trusted and invited in the moment of misunderstanding? How inefficient has this institution become that the aggrieved do not look the way of police for justice? The Aisha’s reaction to these simple feuds tells us something about our dwindling or dead security apparatchiks. It is either the people are not civilized or the police are too tardy in responding to situations like that or both reasons are conjointly responsible. The woman is not alone in that mess. Many who had problems with their neighbours had used cultists, or the disbanded SARS to intimidate their opponents to submission.  In a civilized world, one who feels his right was trampled on by another immediately dials the police number. In Nigeria, we call our family members because either we are still at the brute level where might is right or the police system is moribund or both. In the same vein, look at the offense of the invited son, his action! From which part of the world is he? This question has no derogatory intent because he is a typical Nigerian and many would have acted the way he did. But we have to interrogate this way of acting. What level of reasoning makes us believe that our relative is always correct in a ruction? That was the mindset that led Sabiru to come against Mr. Kelly, the Tricyclist, without patience for dialogue. Should he not have patiently asked what the matter was? Why would he go to such scene with weapon? The fact of possession of weapon means a foreclosure of dialogue. The Keke man had no sword or harmful instrument.  How on earth would someone run into such feuds to maim without first listening to the matter. The ill-fated decision of Sabiru was the sole catalyst of the unfortunate event of the last Saturday of October. There and only there you find the necessary connection between cause and effect. Critics should leave Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah out of this!

Look at the jungle justice of the mob! It is not different from the mental hue of the initial attacker. Like Sabiru who hit Mr. Kelly without much ado or dialogue, so did the mob.  The same senselessness and impatience in the face of provocation spiraled from that spot to other parts of the town. Like the attacker who appropriated the anger of his mother and acted based on it, so were the mobs who appropriated the pain of the victim and went on rampage. In this inherited or transferred anger lies the senselessness of the whole thing. A rational person is able to distinguish between his mother’s enemies and his own enemies. Only an irrational person blindly assumes his mother’s enemies as his own enemies. This is the fault of Sabiru as well as the subsequent gangsters. The former saw not just a neutral Keke Driver simply because his mother had biased him against Mr. Kelly while those who went on rampage failed to distinguish between the original offender (Mr. Sabiru) from the innocent Hausa people who were about their normal businesses. There is that tendency either in the North or the South to judge the whole using a part. This fallacy of overgeneralization is a common disease responsible for Nigeria’s trajectory. How could we destroy the property of the southerners in the North because of a felony of a Southerner? How could mobs have gone after Northerners because of the crime of one Hausa person? It is either because they are illiterates or they are ill-literates! Why the attacks on Mosques just because of the misdeed of a Moslem? Did Sabiru hit Mr. Kelly at the prompting of a Mosque or because he is a Moslem? None of these. So, you see how senseless a mob can be? 

There are commentaries on the sad incidents. First, we return to the tweet of Salihu Tanko Yakasai. He seemed to have attributed the brief riot to a juicy homily of Most Rev. Prof. Godfrey I. Onah. Thus, he wrote: “This will be a good scapegoat for security operatives to make example of. You CANNOT use place of worship be it Mosque or a Church and incite violence…. I call for the arrest & prosecution of this man.” This appears uncouth, disrespectful, abrasive and a tout-like daring insolence on the highly revered and widely sought-after Bishop reveals something about our colossal decadence. Yakasai seems to epitomize it all in his tweet. His somewhat rude verbal diarrhea contains the germ of intellectual asphyxiation similar to that which blighted the mental contour of the mobs.  Certainly, his position may have taken him out of the street, but his tweet did not reflect it. That is why he was unable to analyze the contents of the homily instead he chose the easiest part, namely, cast slur on the purveyor. It appears he wrote with that gestapo venom congenial with despots who would rather raise sycophants at all cost than listen to priceless voice of a prophet. He tweeted from the same spirit of autocracy that made Ambassador Coomasie to instigate the government to use iron fist against peaceful protesters. The same spirit that called for the silence of the peaceful protesters is calling for the muzzling of a peaceful prophet.  I understand that ranting is now a lucrative business for some social misfits who sacrifice every modicum of decency in their morbid craze for insalubrious relevance. That should be least expected of a person of Yakasai’s status. He should not be a good specimen for the discernible rot in our system where mentally deficient individuals with connections are promoted while the best brains go down the drains as jobless. Nigerians should expect better things from people like Yakasai and not cheap instigation. 

I read the rant of Yakasai and initially did not want to react to it. But the reaction of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) almost in the same line with Yakasai, has compelled me to debunk the lies. NSCIA in a statement signed by its deputy secretary, Prof. Salisu Shehu, referred to the innocuous homily of Bishop Onah as inciting. They alleged that the Bishop’s homily led to attacks on innocent Muslims in South East and South South zones of the country. Weird and incoherent extrapolation indeed! I was going to call on this body to stand up with CAN and defend the freedom of pastors and Imams from men like Yakasai! But because of the expressed vituperations, it has become imperative to analyze the video contents. It is noteworthy that the video was a cut-out clip from the homily of Bishop Onah for 18th October, 2020. It was posted online three days after. In that homily, he voiced the bewilderment of the people that our security agents (SSS) are efficient in mowing down unarmed Igbo boys who gathered for a meeting in Emene but leave undisturbed the armed and organized bandits in our forests and farm lands. He stated the obvious that Mosques are rising freely for example in Nsukka such that we could hear as early as 4.00am the call to prayers by Moslems from their minarets. He then contrasted this freedom of religion with what happens in Abuja when Christians go out to preach with Bible only to be attacked and killed by Islamic fundamentalists and nothing happens. He then stated that that injustice, not just EndSARS, should discontinue. He made it clear that it is about injustice and violence. He did not say that Moslems, or mosques are not acceptable, but that injustice and violence against any set of people are not acceptable.  

How do sane minds try to rope Bishop Onah into the totally reprehensible show of shame that happened on last Saturday or call for the arrest of one who in the homily showed us the way to go? Those who listened to the homily did not leave from the Church to the Mosques to attack anybody. That shows us that they understood what Yakasai and NSCIA failed to understand from the homily. It was more than two weeks after the homily that the clash came. It was not a Christian who went and hit a Hausa Muslim first, instead, the latter did. So where does the homily of the Bishop which condemned violence and injustice come into this picture?  If you call for the arrest of one who demanded an end to all forms of violence and injustice, do you prefer violence and injustice or are you a beneficiary of either or both of them? If the Hausa Muslim, Sabiru, had not attacked the Mr. Kelly, would there have been any riot? Or are these men saying that the Hausa Muslim attacked the Tricycle driver because of the homily of Bishop? It is impossible to establish that from the patriotic homily. Are they saying that the hoodlums would have swallowed the egregious offensive from the Hausa boy but for the homily? This too cannot be proved. So, where does the homily of Bishop Godfrey Onah come into this? The harmless homily had nothing to do with the attack on a Keke Driver by a Huasa Muslim but everything to do with vengeance, albeit wrong, for perceived grievance.  The people already heard the homily long before the attack on the Keke driver and none raised a finger against a Muslim Igbo or Hausa or Mosque. How then do people leave the immediate cause and attempt to connect the gruesome occurrence to a repentance-aimed homily of Bishop Onah? From the foregoing, it is safe and logical to conclude that the perpetrators of the dastardly acts of the last Saturday of October, 2020 were not Christians but hoodlums. 

Evidently, many things are not adding up in this convoluted causal link.  With the high rate of illiteracy and mal-education, mobs are handy in every part of Nigeria. I cannot recall any case of an Igbo man stabbing his fellow Igbo man and going scot-free, no thanks to mobsters. Not even a Northerner would stab a fellow Northerner in Igbo land and not risk of being lynched by a mob. The same is also true in any part of Nigeria. That is the regrettable level of the people who take the laws into their own hands. 

Such revered body like NSCIA should be concerned that a Muslim chose violence over better alternative ways of resolving disputes just as CAN should have been concerned had Christians taken part in such sordid retaliation. One expected NSCIA to issue strong words of admonition to all Muslims and indeed, Nigerians, to eschew such reprehensible vengeance as two wrongs cannot make a right. Instead, the body chose to look away from the causal crime and the criminal and at the same time seek to impute the blame on an innocent, peace-loving, perspicacious and God-and-people oriented Bishop. This attitude exhibited by NSCIA may foster or embolden Muslims to take to violence as a way of settling scores. The silence of NSCIA over the attack on Keke driver is disturbing and may suggest tacit acquiescence to the attack. Contrary to the statement from NSCIA, Father Bishop Onah, through his Diocesan Secretary/Chancellor, Very Rev. Fr. Cajetan Iyidobi, issued a fatherly statement no sooner than the crisis erupted. It partly reads: “Our Father Bishop, Most Rev Godfrey Igwebuike Onah, the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka, therefore appeals to all sides in this agitated situation to remain calm but vigilant. He further appeals that people should avoid taking laws into their hands….” This statement came less than two hours into the riot. It was thanks to it that calmness immediately returned. His Excellency Most Rev. Godfrey Onah deserves commendation for his promptness in addressing the world that day. He remained neutral while calling on both parties to embrace peace. I expected NSCIA to do a similar thing. Southerners have lost billions of dollars in the North in similar attacks in the past and no one ever passed the buck to Imams. Is NSCIA now telling us indirectly that such jungle justice hitherto perpetrated in the North were incited by Imams? Absolutely not. On the contrary, those who constitute themselves as mobs most often neither listen to a Bishop nor an Imam. That was the case in what happened at Nsukka last Saturday.

No one knows better the ethics of a pluralistic people than Bishop Onah who has spent most of his intellectual years in the eternal and tolerant City of Rome.  He had in the past visited Imams to commiserate with them in the event of any lost or calamity. His episcopacy has healed many divisions among Christian denominations in Nsukka and opened new vistas for brotherly relations with Moslems. Bishop Onah calls both Christians and Moslems together to celebrate with them at least once in a year. He has employed Moslems to work for him.  Those who attack this angel in human person just betray their lack of knowledge of his antecedents with Moslems and indeed, people of other faiths. I am sure that Imams in Nsukka cannot make such unguarded utterances against Bishop Godfrey Onah like did Yakasai.

To Nsukka youths, I advise you to be wary. I have watched the lists of suspects caught in connection with arson and breaking of Bank ATMs during the protest-turned looting in Enugu. Those who made it to the list are mostly from a neigbouring State. We must not give hoodlums the opportunity to steal the peace between us and our Moslem brothers and sisters. We have lived in peace with our Moslem brothers and sisters and we must not allow that good rapport to slip off our fingers. In a similar way, we commend our indigenous Moslems brothers and sisters for refusing to fall for the ploy of people like Tanko Yakasai! We will never allow them to use religion to cause friction within us. 

 religious authorities, we have got to fulfil the mandate we receive from God.  Let us be vocal in condemning injustice even at the cost of being misunderstood, misinterpreted and misrepresented as our savvy Bishop is. A true prophet has never enjoyed the praises of any corrupt government and it would be stranger for men of God to kick against their own kind. We have to form a common front irrespective of our faith variance—a common front that will make it impossible for violence and injustice to thrive. It is repugnant to reason for men of God (Imams or Pastors) to essay to pitch the government against one who truly and creditably fulfils God’s divine mandate just because the unjust structures favour them today. 

Finally, I have no doubt that our government will not stoop so low as to become a stooge and puppet in the hands of anybody that seeks to use it to witch-hunt and harass anyone. Instead, a competent government should strive to look at itself on the mirror of the bitter truths such as Most Rev. Godfrey Onah has given. Besides, the government has to be aware that we have army of jobless youths today. It may not take time before these unarmed youths will arm themselves against the government that refused or failed to arm them with the means of survival. When that day comes, do not blame it on anybody. So, people should leave Bishop Godfrey Onah alone! What we see today all over Nigeria are consequences of systemic failure. 

Rev. Fr. Vitus Ugwu.