How Ojukwu Joined The Army

"HOW I JOINED THE NIGERIAN ARMY: "As a private, as a
recruit. The thing is
not playing down my qualifications. No. I decided to join, I
sent in my
papers. I think it was MacPherson, the governor-general at
time, who
then called my father on the phone in
Lagos and said; "Come here, I've got something interesting to
show
you." So my father went. You can imagine his shock when my
application
to join the armed forces was put before him, He didn't know
what to do
with it or how to take it. It came to both of them that the
answer was
actually to frustrate it. I think you know actually how these
conversations go. And that was why the army, at the point of
my entry,
refused to recognize my qualifications. Well, if you want to
join the
army by all means, come and be a recruit like everybody else.
And they
thought that I would say no. Oh, we are going to shave your
head; okay
go ahead, shave it, you are going to queue for your food; that
I hated.
So I didn't bother to eat there. Luckily for me, my mother was
in Zaria,
so I could go to her house and eat or they could send food to
me the
depot. Little things like that purely to frustrate me but it was
purely
the wrong line when you are dealing with me. Because once
you do that, I
then want to show you that you are not the almighty. So, as it
happened
again, I joined the army with everybody trying to frustrate me;
there I
was, I went in as a recruit, stayed; did my little chores. I
reached a
stage of going out to town in uniform and so on. I suppose
this will
make again for some amusement; I was then finally taken
into a squad
where they were trying to see which of us could become non-
commissioned
officer and we were learning about the rifle I remember. This
came in
the usual theme: "My lesson this morning is to teach you the
subject,
the stripping and the assemblage of the rifle." And then you
start with
rehearsal: "This is a rifle." "What is this?" You put up your
hand and
say butt. "Good, sit down." "What is this?" You say barrel. And
then
points out something like this, "What is this?" nobody could
say
anything. Then I put up my hand. "Yes, you?" safety catch.
"Damn fool,
you sabi nothing." So I kept quiet and sat down. And then he
started
going until somebody put up -his hand. Yes? "Saplica." He
said "good."
So I said no, there is no such word in English language. And
he said,
"You damn fool, get to the guard-room." Left right, left right. I
was
marched into the guard-room. So, I had this rather rare
distinction of
being charged with not being able to speak English. It was at
that point
actually that the adjutant so found it so funny he called in the
second
in command and they laughed over it. And then he called the
commanding
officer; have you heard this? This is funny?" The sergeant was
asked to
leave; and then I sat with them. They said "sit down, what
happened?”
And I told them. Everybody laughed and laughed and laughed.
That was the
last time I actually functioned as a soldier. Because from that
moment,
the commanding officer gave me special duties in his house
and I was
taking his family to shopping and helping them with little
things. That
was how I spent the rest of my days in the depot. And it was
there that I
was recommended to become an officer. And then I went on."
~ Dim Emeka
Ojukwu [from The Biafra Story - Interview with NewsWatch
magazine of 28
September 1992]"