Cosmas Chukwu, Enugu
An Enugu State traditional ruler and retired diplomat who recently made headlines for calling on President Bola Tinubu to release detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has opened a fresh window into the alleged post-civil war marginalisation of Igbo officers in Nigeria’s foreign service.
Ambassador Lawrence Agubuzu, in his newly published autobiography, Zero Hour Graduate: A Nigerian Diplomat’s Journey Through War and Service to Triumph, provides a detailed account of what he describes as systematic discrimination against officers from the former East Central State in the years immediately following the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War.
Agubuzu, a career diplomat who later served as a political appointee in Anambra State, worked with the Organisation of African Unity before becoming a traditional ruler in Enugu State.
His memoir traces his journey from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he was a student when the civil war broke out in 1967, through the difficult post-war years and his eventual career in Nigeria’s diplomatic service.
Although he did not enlist in the Biafran Army after his parents pleaded with him not to do so, Agubuzu said he supported the war effort through the Olo and Amagu Umulokpa Civil Defence Organisation, where he helped shelter people displaced by the conflict.
He was later commissioned as an intelligence officer with the Biafran Organisation of Freedom Fighters, an assignment he said exposed him to considerable danger.
Following the end of the war in January 1970, Agubuzu said he rejected a contract teaching offer to graduates from the former East Central State in Northern Nigeria, arguing that the arrangement demonstrated that national reconciliation remained incomplete.
He subsequently applied to the Ministry of External Affairs and reported for duty at the Republic Building in Lagos in April 1971.
According to him, his experience in the foreign service soon exposed the lingering consequences of the civil war.
Agubuzu said officers from the former East Central State were treated differently after completing their training at the Foreign Service Academy.
While a colleague from Benue Plateau State was posted within a week to Nigeria’s mission at the United Nations in New York, he said officers from the former East Central State were retained at headquarters based on unspecified security reports.
When the restriction was eventually relaxed, Agubuzu said officers from the region were largely limited to postings within West Africa.
He cited the postings of Ambassador Gabriel Akuwafor to Dakar, Ambassador Mark Eze to Lomé and his training officer, Ambassador Pascal Nnochiri, to Conakry.
Nnochiri, he noted, had joined the diplomatic service before the war and had received two promotions under the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon, but his previous record did not shield him from the post-war restrictions.
One of the most striking episodes in the memoir concerns Mr Mike Amobi, a diplomat who sought security clearance to marry the widow of the late Colonel Emmanuel Ifeajuna, one of the officers executed after the 1966 coup.
According to Agubuzu, the woman was declared unsuitable after her name was submitted for the mandatory security clearance required before officers could marry.
The author said a secret letter from the Permanent Secretary subsequently placed Amobi in a difficult position, effectively forcing him to choose between the proposed marriage and his diplomatic career.
Amobi, according to the memoir, chose his career and terminated the relationship.
Agubuzu, however, said the sacrifice did not ultimately protect him from discrimination, alleging that Amobi was thereafter effectively grounded within the service and became what he described as a diplomat who was physically present but excluded from meaningful assignments.
The author also recounted his own delayed posting, saying a supervisor had described him as too valuable to be released from headquarters.
Agubuzu characterised the description as a “tag of indispensability”, which he said was another way of keeping certain officers from advancing through normal diplomatic postings.
He eventually secured a posting to Liberia after another Igbo officer, Victor Chibundu, was recalled from Monrovia following an adverse report.
Chibundu, according to Agubuzu, had been accused of wearing a Biafran-style suit during Nigeria’s Independence Anniversary celebrations.
The memoir further argues that even demonstrable loyalty to the Federal Government did not always protect Igbo officers from suspicion.
Agubuzu cited the case of Ambassador John Ukegbu, who, according to the book, publicly swore allegiance to the Gowon administration while serving in Liberia during the civil war.
Despite this, he was allegedly subjected to adverse reports by a rival deputy and recalled to Lagos at a time when, Agubuzu said, Igbo men were being hunted down.
The author also named diplomats, including Ambassador Dapo Fafowora and Ambassador Remi Esau, among others, whom he said were prematurely retired in circumstances that cut short potentially distinguished diplomatic careers.
Agubuzu, however, was careful to distinguish his experiences from a blanket indictment of other ethnic groups.
He acknowledged receiving support, friendship and mentorship from colleagues of different backgrounds throughout his career and cautioned against generalising about any tribe or region.
Rather, the memoir presents his experiences as an account of how the political and security atmosphere created by the civil war continued to influence the careers of officers from the former East Central State.
The revelations are particularly significant coming from Agubuzu, who has remained outspoken on questions surrounding the unresolved consequences of the civil war.
In his recent intervention that attracted national attention, the traditional ruler appealed to President Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu from detention, arguing that resolving the Kanu issue would help address longstanding grievances in the South-East.
His latest memoir now offers a historical account of the period in which some of those grievances took institutional form, documenting allegations of restricted postings, security screening, blocked promotions, vetoed marriages and premature retirement within Nigeria’s foreign service.
Zero Hour Graduate therefore goes beyond a personal autobiography, presenting what its author considers an insider’s record of the enduring impact of the civil war on the careers and lives of members of Nigeria’s diplomatic corps.
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