1960-1967: From

Harrogate to Biafra
Chris Ejiofor grew up in Zaria,
an ancient, largely Muslim city in
Nigerias arid north, where his father
was a prosperous businessman and
the family lived in comfort. In 1960,
aged 14, he joined the Nigerian army,
proudly swearing allegiance to Queen
Elizabeth.
In 1962 he won a military schol-
arship to study in the UK, at the Army
Apprentice College in Harrogate. It
was a beautiful experience, he recalls,
although in those days some people
had the impression that black people
were not intelligent. He did his best
to dispel this myth, graduating with
ying colours and winning multiple
awards for excellence, as well as being
feted in a BBC radio interview and
proled in the local press.
Ejiofor returned to Nigeria with
high hopes, eager to make a contri-
bution to the building of his newly
independent nation. It was not to
be. In 1966, military coups plunged
the country into civil war, split the
army and ignited ethnic tensions.
Pogroms were conducted against
the Igbo people which claimed more
than 30,000 civilian lives and saw a
million Igbo eeing to seek refuge in
their ancestral homeland in southeast
Nigeria. Ejiofors family was amongst
them. Ejiofor himself was based in
Lagos with his battalion, and got out
in the nick of time after being tipped
of that fellow army troops were en
route to his base to kill all Igbos.
On 29th May 1966, yet another
massacre began in the north. The
widely broadcast anthem of this
pogrom was a bloodthirsty chant in
the Hausa language:
Mu je mu kashe nyamiri | Lets go
kill the damned Igbo
Mu kashe maza su da yan maza
su | Kill of their men and boys
Mu chi mata su da yan mata su |
Rape their wives and daughters
Mu kwashe kaya su | Cart of their
property
O
n or around 15th August
(in rural Nigeria people
can be tremendously
hazy about precise
dates) a jubilant crowd
made its way to the Ngamikpo IV
Palace in Oyofo Oghe. The people
chanted as they marched and were
joined by neighbourhood children who
dashed into the dusty road to take part
in the fun. As they arrived at the 12 foot
high palace gates with their bright gold
lettering, they called out for their ruler.
Igwe! (King) they shouted.
The king, 67-year-old Igwe Engr.
Chris Ejiofor (Ezekwesili) Ngamikpo
IV, appeared in front of the palace.
Resplendent in floor-length black
brocade robes embroidered with
delicate gold ligree birds and owers,
he wore necklaces made of ivory and
coral and a gold crown trimmed with
red velvet and leopard skin. Gold
beads, hung in strands from the sides
of the crown, swayed gently as he
approached his people. The crowd
roared. Igwe! Igwe!
The procession marked the return
of a group of the kings subjects from a
successful raid on an illegal settlement
on his land. The king surveyed the
scene with satisfaction. Its fair to say
this kind of thing rarely happened
during his four decades in Derby.
The King of
Derby
In 2009 Chris Ejiofor, a soft-spoken aviation engineer
from Derby, was suddenly and unexpectedly elected ruler of
a kingdom in Nigeria. Susan Schulman has been following his progress
for the last four years, and tells the story of his ght to make
the most of an extraordinary second chance
Thu 15th
!"#$%$& &()*&+(,
)$ -#.(&#/
0#)1 1#.1 1$2(34
(/.(& )$ 5/6( /
7$+)&#8*)#$+ )$ )1(
8*#9,#+. $% 1#3 +(09:
#+,(2(+,(+) +/)#$+;
<) 0/3 +$) )$ 8(=
!
"
#
$
%
!
'
(
"
)*
$
%
troops. The major world powers
refused to recognise Biafra.
It was a bitter pill for Ejiofor to
swallow. He had been condent that
Britain and its allies would come to
the support of what he saw as a just
cause and that war would be averted.
I realised that the world had more of
an interest in the resources than in the
people who were killed, he says.
War began in earnest. General
Ojukwu appointed the 21-year-old
Captain Ejiofor as his aide-de-camp
and the young ofcer took his place at
the side of the defender of Biafra.
1970: The fall
After initial successes which saw them
get to within 130 miles of Lagos, the
Biafran army was pushed back by
Nigerian federal forces supported by
Britain and Russia. A million lives
were lost in two and half years of
war and, besieged and diplomatically
marooned, Biafra eventually ran out
of options.
The last time Ejiofor saw Ojukwu
was on 10th January 1970. He was
coming out of a meeting and I knew
something was wrong. It was like
he had had a fit. General Ojukwu
left the country by plane the very
next day. On 13th January 1970,
Biafra surrendered. Panic ensued. It
was like the end of the world, says
Ejiofor. Shells were exploding every-
where and nobody knew where they
were going.
Ejiofor crammed his fiance
Christine and her 12-year-old brother,
Obie, his sister Cecilia and his
cousin, Chinedu, eight, into his
Volkswagen Beetle and they set of
together towards the town of Omanze
were crying hysterically. The two
children Chinedu and Obie hadnt
made it onboard. The two women
wept inconsolably as the plane
swooped away from the wreckage of
their world.
Ejiofor sat silently, staring out
of the window, sinking into a deep
depression. I felt like an earthquake
had opened the ground and swallowed
me up, he says. Suddenly I was a
refugee. I had nothing. No home.
Nowhere to go. It was like Year Zero.
He was 24 years old.
People were very, very angry.
There were demonstrations every-
where, saying we cant have this if
they dont want us, why dont we have
our own land, our own nation, Ejiofor
remembers. Biafra came out of
necessity rather than desire.
On 30th May 1967 General C.
Odumegwu Ojukwu took the micro-
phone at Enugu State House and
declared the independence of the
south east of Nigeria and the creation
of the Republic of Biafra, citing the
massacres of the eastern peoples as
the reason for secession. Ejiofor was
in the crowd of onlookers. It was
a momentous day, he remembers.
The whole city was vibrating with joy
and hope.
The territory of Biafra included
the oilrich Niger Delta. If this
made independence an economically
plausible response to the slaughter
of the Igbo people, it also put Biafra
into the crosshairs of politics and
commerce. Britain, whose Shell-BP
venture had been rst to discover and
export oil from Nigerias delta, lined
up in support of Nigerian federal
in search of safety. Before they could
get there, they were stopped by
soldiers at a checkpoint. Ejiofor got
out and instructed the soldier to let
them pass, but was struck across
the face. Christine screamed. A ght
broke out and the soldiers raised their
guns: Ejiofor tried to reason with
them, telling them he was Ojukwus
aide-de-camp.
But the soldiers knew exactly who
he was. Angered at what they saw as
Ojukwus desertion, they had rebelled.
Ejiofor was beaten and tossed into a
deep pit in the ground. As his eyes
slowly adapted to the darkness, he
could make out around 20 other
men. It was my bleakest moment,
he told me. I had lost everything, the
people of Nigeria had rejected me, the
world powers had rejected me and
then my own people turn against me
and throw me into a pit and try to
kill me... It was just like going down
to hell. Then, nally, came a stroke
of luck: a sympathetic officer had
heard of his capture and helped him
to escape.
Ejiofor now knew that if he
didnt leave the country, hed be killed.
After rounding up his party, he set
out in search of a way to ee abroad.
But by now, all the airports were
closed. They headed for Uga airstrip
where Ejiofor had been posted
early in the war, and joined the
desperate group already waiting there,
praying a plane would come. At last
the drone of engines approached, the
airstrip lights ashed on and a relief
plane landed.
The plane had barely touched
down on the narrow landing strip
when the waiting crowd stampeded in
a frantic rush to get on. Christine and
Cecilia were scrambling onto the plane
behind Ejiofor when suddenly the
staccato beat of machine gun re lled
the air. Bullets perforated the plane
and screams rang out as the engines
roared to life. The pilot struggled to
take off, a man tumbled from the
boarding ladder to the ground, and
bombs exploded around the plane as it
gained height, its door open. Inside, a
man lay on the oor bleeding profusely
from bullet wounds.
Christine and Cecilia were the
last two passengers to make it
onto the last plane out of Biafra. They
>1( 2($29( $%
-#.(&#/ 1/,
&("(7)(, 5(4 )1(
0$&9, 2$0(&3 1/,
&("(7)(, 5( /+, )1(+
5: $0+ 2($29( )*&+
/./#+3) 5( /+, )1&$0
5( #+)$ / 2#) /+, )&:
)$ 6#99 5(=
?&#)/#+4 01$3(
@1(99A?B
C(+)*&( 1/, 8((+
hrst to discover
/+, (D2$&) $#9
%&$5 -#.(&#/E3
,(9)/4 9#+(, *2 #+
3*22$&) $% -#.(&#/+
%(,(&/9 )&$$23=
+
,
-
,
./
#
#
+
#
#
0
'
1$
210
%
3*
$
4
/
#
5
/
%
%
1#
6
/
/
7
0
8
)/
9 6
$
"
./
%
'
/
:
$
..1#
9 ;
.$
%
<
6
/
0
%
$
.=
>
/
?
<
/
#
@
"
.8
3*
$
4
/
'
0
"
.2/
#
8
0
A B
(
.1#
C
D10
A0
.
"#$#%&' ()*#%)&+ ,%--./ 0&'1 ,-0&%$/ ,2# 3%-+,)#% 0),2 4)&3%&
5%-64)&3%& .%-,#/,/ )+ 7#+,%&' 8-+$-+9 :;<=
>#+#%&' ?@A10A9 7#+,%#9 0),2 2)/ &)$#6$#67&B. C&.,&)+ C2%)/ D@)-3-%9 %)*2,
would encourage people to embrace
modernity and Christianity.
To achieve his goals, Igwe carefully
handpicked a trusted group to serve
as his executive cabinet. He had
complete condence in them. It was a
time brimming with optimism.
The day of the coronation arrived.
Marquees formed a semi-circle
around the town plaza, fanning out
from the regal pergola, which was
still being nished. Tables and chairs
were being tied with bows. Someone
swept half-heartedly at the red dusty
ground. No one seemed the least bit
hurried, nor had anyone arrived,
Ejiofors luck changed with the
economic meltdown of 1978. With the
Winter of Discontent came fortunes
for the Igwe, he says, laughing. The
company he was working for, Dukeries
Avionics, went bankrupt. In 1982,
he bought out his former employers
business and renamed it Ejway (Ejiofor
Way) Avionics. Now a businessman and
employer, he had power. Now, I could
discriminate if I wanted to, he says.
Ejway Avionics thrived and Ejiofor
became the rst black man to be certied
by the UKs Civil Aviation Authority. He
became chairman of the Derby Catholic
Racial Justice Group and alongside his
wife became an active participant in
the local church. They also worked to
raise money for important charitable
projects in Ejiofors former home town
of Oyofo Oghe in Nigeria.
Four children, all now grown
and living in England, were born and
raised in Derby. The family home on
Louvain Road overflows with their
sports trophies and awards. Ejiofor had
been accepted into the heart of middle
England. And then, one night in 2008,
he got a call from Oyofo Oghe.
This time it was not the usual
request for funds. Instead, the voice
on the other end of the phone asked
whether he would be willing to be
considered for election as King Igwe
of Oyofo Oghe and the surrounding
area. It was nearly 40 years since
Ejiofor had even lived in Nigeria. It
was preposterous. He laughed of the
suggestion, thinking it was a joke, and
forgot all about it.
He and Christine were watching
TV a few weeks later when the phone
rang again. Congratulations, Igwe. You
have been unanimously elected King!
Stunned, Ejiofor accepted.
1971-2009: Life in Derby
England for me is like a mother
country. Ejiofor is reecting on the
nation which became his home when
he arrived as a refugee in 1971. It
was a place to start life afresh. After
completing a course in aeronautical
engineering in Bristol, he got a job as
avionics supervisory inspector at East
Midlands airport. He and Christine, by
now married, moved to Derby.
But the England of the 1970s was
not like the one he had left six years
earlier as a newly-trained soldier.
There were no press profiles this
time. As a series of economic blows
pushed unemployment and ination to
post-war highs, immigrants were seen
as part of the problem and frustration
turned to racism. People were saying
go back to where you came from,
says Ejiofor. Time and again, promo-
tions were granted to less qualied,
white skinned colleagues. And
Ejiofors own feelings toward Britain
were complicated by his bitterness
about Biafra. When I first got to
England, I was boiling angry, he says.
I blamed the British for not stopping
the war.
December 2009:
Return of the King
It takes almost an hour to cover the
heavily potholed 20 miles from the
regional capital of Enugu to Oyofo
Oghe. It takes even longer if the armed
policemen stop you, as is their wont, to
hit you up for whatever they can. The
road turns to dust at the turn of for
Oyofo, and as we neared the village
we saw the massive road grader hired
by Ejiofor rolling back and forward
on the dirt road, throwing up a huge
cloud of dust as it attempted to even
it out in time for his coronation day.
Ejiofor welcomed us warmly to
his new kingdom. Forty years after the
failure of Biafra, he had been given a
second chance to bring progress to his
people, and had grabbed it with both
hands. With the same commitment he
once brought to bear as Ojukwus right
hand man, he had arrived in Nigeria
for his coronation determined, this
time, to succeed.
Nancy, a friend of the family,
had called round to see Ejiofor. She
explained to me that the job of Igwe
is ercely coveted. She lowered her
voice and said, people kill to be Igwe.
He must be very careful. In a whisper
she conded that her father had been
in the running for Igwe, but that he
had been poisoned. Ejiofor overheard
our conversation. Yes, it is true, he
said. People ght over the position of
Igwe, and people lose their lives for it.
But Ejiofor did have one trump
card. It is all but unheard of for a king
to be selected unanimously, as he had
been. He would need this powerful
mandate. He had big ambitions for his
largely impoverished and undeveloped
kingdom of 100,000.
First and foremost, he was
determined to bring what he
sees as British values of integrity,
honesty and transparency to bear
in the notoriously corrupt Nigerian
landscape, creating a foundation for
development and progress. Next, he
would bring running water, electricity
and roads; develop cottage industries
and tourism and build a town hall
and a shopping centre. Finally, he
would reject the primitive belief in
magic and the traditional practices of
native witchdoctors for which Oyofo
Oghe is widely known. Instead, he
>1#3 )#5( #) 0/3
+$) )1( *3*/9
&(F*(3) %$& %*+,3; >1(
C$#7( $+ )1( $)1(&
(+, $% )1( 21$+(
/36(, 01()1(& 1(
0$*9, 8( 0#99#+. )$
8( 7$+3#,(&(, %$&
(9(7)#$+ /3 G#+.=
despite it already being well after the
scheduled start time.
Eventually the guests turned up
and proceedings got underway. It was
a glorious riot of colour and music:
women in fabulously patterned wraps
and grand headdresses; tribal chiefs
in gold robes, children in their Sunday
best. The royal thrones were inched
into place as the last bits of thatch
were nailed onto the pergola roof.
Ejiofor arrived in a silver minivan.
Wearing an elaborately embroidered
ruby robe, he raised his staf to the wild
cheers of the crowd. Accompanied by
two bagpipe players, he mounted his
throne.
An endless procession of musicians
and villagers dragging goats circled
past the royal couple in tribute, before
a solitary dancer gyrated towards the
king. Wearing a red top cut of at the
midrif, he twirled and jumped ever
more ercely, building into an other-
worldly frenzy. A leopardskin-robed
man joined in. Their dancing came
to an explosive crescendo before they
swiveled of to deafening applause.
The moment had come. The King
was crowned. The crowd shouted
with joy. !
"
#
$
%
!
'
(
"
)*
$
%
3*
$
4
/
#
'
0
"
.2/
#
8
0
A B
(
.1#
C
D10
A0
.
C2%)/ D@)-3-% &, 0-%1 E),2 2)/ F-A+* 3&B)'F )+ G#%HF I2# 7-%-+&,)-+ -3 J*0# C2%)/ D@)-3-% K 7-BB#B-%&,)L# .%-*%&BB#
whom the King had such condence
have all been red. The ve chiefs here
today are his new executive cabinet.
Ejiofor has spent much of the
last three years campaiging against
corruption. Everyone was doing it,
right down to the grassroots, he says.
Even children. The Igwes minivan
was used behind his back as a taxi,
run into the ground and falsely re-reg-
istered to a stranger by his trusted
driver, a family member. You cant
trust anyone at all says Ejiofor. It is
every man for himself.
Oyofo Oghe went without power
for months after it was turned of by the
supplier, NEPA, for non-payment of
bills. Determined to get to the bottom
of the issue, the king discovered that
although two million naira (7,775)
in fees for the electricity had been
duly collected from local homes by
Oyofo council, NEPA had recorded
payments of only 80,000 naira (311)
towards a total bill of 500,000 naira
(1,950). Which left a staggering 1.92
million naira unaccounted for and the
community cut of.
As Ejiofor pushed back against
the corruption, he says, attempts were
made on his life. But he has continued
to work hard during all the provoca-
tions and upsets. As custodian of the
land, judge and arbitrator, head of
security and of all matters concerning
properties, events, feasts and festivals,
his job is never-ending. I watch him
deal with a frightened subject who
has had multiple attempts made on
his life by a man who wants to steal
his business (he advises to avoid trying
black magic and seeks to arrange a
confrontation with the aggressor).
The Igwes next visitor is a disgruntled
mother-in-law, upset with her sons
wife. She is followed by a man
burdened by an excessive medical bill
for his son. The stream of petitions
and problems is endless.
Despite the challenges, the Igwe
has made progress. He has resolved
the electricity problem and water is
running once more. Children crowd
around a row of shiny new taps,
jostling to fill colourful buckets.
Nearby, the town hall is in the process
of being expanded and the yearned-for
shopping centre has been constructed.
But the biggest turning point in
Igwes battle to bring integrity and
He also faced opposition from the
witch doctors within his community,
whose beliefs he vocally opposed.
These people are testing me and
trying to kill me, says Ejiofor. But the
Igwe is not a man to give up. His third
war The Cold War, as he described
it had begun.
2013: The incorruptible
youth
The King is radiant in his regal attire as
he meets me at the brand new Enugu
airport. His gleaming Hyundai stands
out amongst the chaotic assortment
of vehicles in the airport carpark.
We head to the royal palace at Oyofo
Oghe without anyone trying to shake
us down: the HRH plates ensure a
smooth passage.
Turning off to Oyofo, we glide
onto a now-tarmacked road. We
pass the dirt village square where the
coronation was held and little else
seems changed until we reach the
Royal Palace, where there are brand
new gates and a new room is being
constructed at the top. The king takes
to his throne and greets his advisors.
The original cabinet members in
development to his people was his
action against the illegal settlements
in August. The Nigerian Supreme
Court had condemned this settlement
back in 1966, and ordered the settlers
to leave within seven days. Nearly ve
decades later, the illegal settlement
had more than quadrupled in size and
more construction was underway.
Ejiofor had decided to take a
stand. He had ordered the immediate
demolition of two of the settlers
recently-erected structures, calling
for six volunteers to put themselves
forward to carry out the action. More
than 50 stepped forward.
The night before the raid its
leader, Ernest Iyke-Ojuegegiofor,
received a phone call from an uniden-
tied stranger who implored him not
to take action but instead to send over
details of his bank account, into which
he promised to deposit two million
naira, an absolute fortune in this
impoverished locale and more money
than driver Ernest is likely to see in
his whole life. The settlers were trying
to buy him of as they had apparently
bought off his predecessors. But
Iyke-Ojuegegiofor was not to be
persuaded.
The raid went ahead and was
swift, decisive and at the Igwes
insistence non violent. And the
raiders returned jubilant, determined
for change. That night, branches and
greenery were twisted into a shrine
to the spirit Bonoshie Alushie and a
ceremony was held. Birds, goats and
cows were sacrificed for the blood
needed to enable the spirit to carry
out its deadly threat. Anyone who
now accepts a bribe will be killed by
Bonoshie Alushie. Virtually the whole
community save its Christian king
came, in a sign of unanimous support.
Ejiofors decisive and forceful
response to an age-old land issue
had united the youth behind him and
shown what can happen when the
temptations of corruption are resisted.
And with the support of the youth
and of Bonoshie Alushie Ejiofor can
start to resurrect some of the dreams
which died on that Biafran airstrip
back in 1970.
I feel like I am part of the history
of this land once again, Ejiofor tells
me. It is something that I never
dreamed of.
April 2010: Royal blues
I am just totally devastated. You only
get promises that something is going
to be performed but nothing ever
comes of it. So now what do I do? How
do I transform this?
Three months after the coronation,
we were talking in the Kings Derby
home. He was splitting his time
between Nigeria and Derby, where
he still had a business, commitments
and obligations that needed tying
up. His rst few months as King had
been challenging.
Before I was made Igwe, I already
knew the system was a failure, he
said. But I now realize the battle is
going to be tougher than I first
envisaged What I have discovered
is very painful. It makes one feel very
dejected. People who are wearing
the hats of representatives of the
government are just thugs and
people who are just there to pilfer
and take money from the treasury
and steal peoples wealth and take
peoples land.
Phone networks fail. The
electricity cuts out every ten minutes.
Nothing works.
!"#$%$& 1/3
32(+) 5*71 $%
)1( 9/3) )1&((
:(/&3 7/52/#.#+.
/./#+3) 7$&&*2)#$+;
H!C(&:$+( 0/3 ,$#+.
#)4 &#.1) ,$0+ )$ )1(
.&/33&$$)34= 1( 3/:3;
H!C(+ 71#9,&(+;=
Aug
Sun 11th
!"#$%& $((#)*%" )1(
7$+3)&*7)#$+ $% /95$3)
I4JKK 1$5(3 $+ 7$+)(3)(,
9/+, #+ (/3) L(&*3/9(5+
That name is
reserved for one
person and that
one person is
Jesus Christ
M/.#3)&/)( N* O++ ?/99(0,
$ -./0% 12 3%22%""%%, )#/%#" $
4).(&% 5) 46$20% 56%1# ")27"
2$8% 9#)8 :%""1$6 5) :$#512+
36% ($#%25" /%4&$#% 56%1#
125%251)2 5) $((%$&+
Mon 12th
<+,#/ 9/*+71(3 <-@ P#6&/+),
the hrst aircralt carrier to be
built in the country.
S attorney general Eric
;)&/%# "5$5%" 56$5 5/+,/)$&:
5#+#5*5 2&#3$+ 3(+)(+7(3
0#99 +$ 9$+.(& 8( (+%$&7(,
by prosecutors lor low-level,
non-violent, non-repeat-
)99%2/%# /#.0 )99%24%"+
36% 8)*% 8$#<" $ /#$8$514
policy change in America's war
)2 /#.0"+
The lnternational Olympic
=)88155%% $22).24%" 56$5
/)19()(3 01$ $2(+9:
2&$)(3) Q*33#/E3 /+)#A./:
9/03 5/: %/7(
disquaIihcation 9#)8 56%
2014 Winter Olympic Games
in Sochi. An lOC spokesman
says the event is "not a place
9)# (#)$451*% (#)5%"5" )#
/%8)2"5#$51)2"+>
!+.9/+, 8(/) O*3)&/9#/ 8:
RS &*+3 in the lourth Ashes
test match. The win gives
England an unassailable 3-0
&%$/ 12 56% "%#1%"+ The Ashes
digested
Tue 13th
The hrst video footage of
)1( #+,#.(+$*3 G/0/1#C/
)&#8( #3 &(9(/3(, 12 ?#$@1&+
The recording, which is just
.2/%# $ 812.5% $2/ $ 6$&9 &)20,
shows nine indigenous people
walking through the Amazon
jungle with bows and arrows,
belore heeing alter spotting
56% 4$8%#$+
!
"
#
$
%
!
'
(
"
)*
$
%
J*0# C2%)/ D@)-3-% &, ,2# (*&B)1.- JM 5&'&7# )+ ?F-3- ?*2# I2# %-F&' 7&% 0),2 ),/ NON +ABH#%.'&,#