Come, let me take you back to 1970/71, when one of Africa’s most famous wartime figures was living far away from Nigeria, in exile in the Ivory Coast.
After the Nigerian Civil War ended in January 1970, former Biafran leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu fled into exile.
For months, the international press wanted to know where he was and what his life looked like after the fall of Biafra.
Then came this remarkable FLAMINGO magazine picture story: “Ojukwu’s Lair And The Girl Who Snared Him.”
The reporter was Vanya Kewley, described by the magazine as a tiny, former convent girl and hospital nurse who had become an international reporter.
According to the story, she spent months trying to reach Ojukwu, travelling from Abidjan towards Yamoussoukro and encountering guards and police along the way.
Eventually, she was given a signal at Abidjan airport by a man wearing dark glasses and holding a tightly rolled newspaper.
That was how the journey to Ojukwu began.
He was living in a heavily guarded villa in Yamoussoukro, then the political capital of the Ivory Coast, as a guest of President Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
The magazine described the residence as being behind high walls, fences and lights, close to the Holy Lake and its sacred crocodiles.
Ojukwu was not alone.
Living with him were his wife, two of his children, Mimi and Emeka, his mother, his sister and a group of Igbo bodyguards who had followed him into exile.
For twelve days, Vanya Kewley spoke with Ojukwu about his lonely life, his memories and his thoughts about the future.
The photographs show a very different side of the man Nigerians had watched dominate the headlines during the Civil War.
One photograph shows Ojukwu reading a stack of letters.
The magazine reported that he received many letters from followers around the world. Another shows him with his daughter Mimi. There are also photographs of him walking around the compound and sitting with members of his family.
His daily life in exile sounded surprisingly quiet.
He spent much of his time answering letters, reading and working on a book.
The magazine reported that he had taken a trunk filled with papers with him when he left Biafra.
There were few newspapers available in English, and his main physical recreation was reportedly playing table tennis with his guards.
He watched television from the beginning of the day’s broadcast until the final white dot appeared on the screen at night, even though much of the programming was in French.
And then there was Ash, his black-and-white puppy.
At one point, Ojukwu reportedly told Kewley that he had little money.
He explained that if he had more money, his children would not be attending the school down the road but would instead be sent to a private school in Europe.
The article also reported that Ojukwu was thinking about establishing a Biafran Research Foundation, while remaining unwilling to discuss in detail the men he had left behind.
Another photograph captures what the magazine described as a rare happy occasion in his otherwise lonely exile: the wedding of one of his Igbo security guards who had taken refuge with him.
The bride wore a borrowed dress, while Ojukwu attended the ceremony in Yamoussoukro.
Think about how extraordinary this must have been at the time.
Only months earlier, Ojukwu had been at the centre of one of the most devastating conflicts in Nigeria’s history.
Now he was living behind guarded walls in a distant country, watching French television, answering letters, writing his book and waiting to see what the future would bring.
The story appeared years before Ojukwu would eventually return to Nigeria after receiving a presidential pardon in 1982.
Today, these pages are more than an old magazine story.
They are a remarkable time capsule of Ojukwu’s life immediately after the Civil War and a glimpse into the man, his family and his lonely years in exile that many Nigerians of today may never have seen.
From Biafra to Yamoussoukro, the distance was not only geographical.
It was an entirely different chapter of Ojukwu’s life.
Source: FLAMINGO Magazine, “Ojukwu’s Lair And The Girl Who Snared Him,” 1970/71 archival issue. Story by Vanya Kewley; “As told to Gerry Malmed.”
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