By GODWIN ORITSE
LAGOS FORMER Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Tuesday, explained his absence at the funeral rites of the late Biafran warlord, Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, saying he already had commitments abroad on the dates of the burial.
Speaking exclusively with Vanguard at the on-going Nigerian Maritime Exposition, NIMAREX, Gen. Gowon stated that as soldiers, ”it is only proper to give due respect and honour to our opponents” but described the late Ikemba Nnewi as his opponent during the Nigerian civil war.
Gowon said he spoke with the family while Ojukwu was hospitalised and had wished him quick recovery.
He also stated that because of his inability to attend the burial service, the family suggested he wrote a tribute on the programme of event, a request he happily obliged them.
He said: ” Unfortunately, the dates of my friend’s burial coincided with the dates of some commitments I already had abroad, that is in America and U.K.
“And, I did speak with Senator Obi who was the contact person and they requested I wrote a tribute, which I did. If I had been in the country, I would have attended and I had wanted to attend because I was in contact with the son and he had always called me ‘Uncle John’ because that is how he knew me when he was small.
“He wrote me a very good letter asking if I could come for his father’s funeral and honestly I wanted to, but for the commitments that I had.
“Although I had visited Ojukwu and the family at home in Enugu in April 2010 and that was the last time I saw him alive and, of course, soon after that, he took ill.
“But I was able to make contact with the family in London and spoke to his little girl, Ebele, that answered the phone and we had a good conversation with her.
“I told her to tell her daddy to come back so that we can continue the fight and the little girl burst into laughter.
“The way she laughed made me understand that she knew that I asked after her father not in hostility but in love and friendship.
“And, honestly, I will never forget the reaction of that little girl and I was made to understand that she passed the message to her mother and elders in the family,
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