Mbazulike amaechi biography of mahatma

He started teaching in the s. The Zikist Movement did not allow us to go to any formal university. We did most of our studies privately. In our days, there was no university in Nigeria; people went to England for their university education or did correspondence studies. I learnt that some people took an oath not to marry until Nigeria got independence and not to plead for leniency in court for whatever charge against you in the course of the struggle; why the oath?

Any member of the Zikist Movement who was not married swore an oath not to marry until Nigeria got independence. So we did not want to marry and be probably killed in the war, leaving young widows and children. As we fought the British government in Nigeria, we were arrested many times, tortured and taken to prisons. We also made it a policy not to plead for leniency in any court, no matter what we were charged for.

You would see the harsh words they told judges trying them; people like Mokwugo Okoye, Ogedende Macaulay, Raji Abdallah and many others. We were inspired by people like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and his lectures and write-ups in his chains of newspapers. We were prepared to offer our lives, unlike present politicians who are mercenaries and only interested in what they can steal from the government.

In those days, if you were to earn a living, you were either employed in a private organisation, got involved in trade unionism or went into a private business. So the people of Nigeria decided to elect those of us who fought for the independence of the country. They struck and took over the government of the country. During that period, some people were killed, including the powerful Sardauna of Sokoto.

Because there were more Igbo names among the officers that organised the coup, Northerners thought it was an Igbo affair. So they pounced on the Igbo in the North and killed many, including General Aguiyi Ironusi, the head of the army, who also was the head of the government. Yakubu Gowon, who was a Lieutenant Colonel at the time, took over, and Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, who was a Colonel, said he would not be answerable to his junior.

And Gowon told him to go to Lagos and take over command if he could. He did not go because he would be killed. The struggle for seniority between Gowon and Ojukwu led to the civil war and the subsequent killing of the Igbo in the North. The war lasted for mbazulike amaechi biography of mahatma years. Zik was the premier of the Eastern Region for six years and the governor-general and president of Nigeria; I challenge anybody to show me where he had a single building in Lagos or Enugu in those years.

He was born in Ukpor, near Nnewi in Anambra State in His father died when he was four years old, thereby leaving the responsibility of furthering his education and upbringing in the hands of his elder brother, who enrolled him at Etukokwu College, Nnewi, where he finished and did what they called Senior Cambridge Examination in those days.

In his final year at Etukokwu College inhe joined the Zikist Movement, founded as a radical wing of the biggest national political party in the country known as the NCNC. The late Dr Herbert Macaulay was the president-general of the party while Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was the secretary-general. He had a brief teaching experience at St. As he was struggling to free himself, he had drunk up to nearly a gallon of water before the older swimmers saw what was happening and came to his rescue.

After the arrest, they were all clamped into prison and after serving the sentence inthe colonial government banned the movement and proscribed it. But when he and his group came out of prison, they changed the Zikist Movement, since it has been banned, to the NCNC Youth Association where he was elected the secretary-general. He was a vibrant trade unionist for many years and held full-time offices in the unions from to As a trade unionist, Amaechi demonstrated extreme boldness and spirit of sacrifice.

He remained a minister until the first military coup on January 15, He was among the few Nigerian involved in the Zikist Movement.

Mbazulike amaechi biography of mahatma

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