By Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
A former captain of the Nigerian Army and Colonel in the defunct Biafran Army, Col Emmanuel Nwobosi, who died on November 24 at his country home, Obosi, Anambra State, would be accorded full state burial by the Anambra State Government.
His son, Hon Ike Emmanuel Nwobosi Jnr, a Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Internally Generated Revenue, made the disclosure yesterday while briefing journalists on the burial plans.
Nwobosi Jnr said Governor Willie Obiano who was one of the early callers to the Obosi residence of Nwobosi, expressed sadness over his father’s demise and promised that the state government would ensure that he would be given a befitting burial.
He disclosed that the late Nwobosi was supposed to have a private meeting with Governor Obiano in the afternoon before he passed on in the morning hours of the same day.
He described his late father as an elder statesman whose sense of humour and ability to heal broken hearts was exemplary and a man who knew what mattered most and was loyal to any course he believed in.
Born on 21st January 1939, Col Nwobosi attended St John’s College Kaduna in 1954. He joined the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 1960 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant where he rose to the rank of a Captain in the Nigerian Army before the civil war in 1967.
As a colonel in the Biafran Army, he played prominent roles being a Field Commander and very close to the Biafran Leader, Late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu and later served Ojukwu as his Chief of Staff and close confidante.
Col Nwobosi was among the officers led by Major Nzeogwu that plotted and executed the January 15, 1966, military coup in Nigeria. He was also one of the pioneers that set up the first field battery of the Nigerian Army Artillery.
In a condolence register signed by Governor Willie Obiano, he said the ‘Igbo race has lost an icon, an iroko and a legend of the Biafran war.’
