Even in death Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria’s best
known rebel leader, seems to have retained his ability to shock. The revelation
that he had a secret daughter — to whom he allocated, in his will, one of his
landed properties — shocked even the other members of his family. But perhaps
more shocking is the discovery — through Sunday Trust investigation — that the
daughter was actually brought up by a prominent Northern Muslim as his own
“child”.
Tenny Hamman, as Ojukwu called
her, was raised in Kaduna by former Deputy Inspector General of Police Hamman
Maiduguri as his own “daughter”. Although she was formally named Aisha (the
name she used in school), she is also called Tani (or Aunty Tani by younger
relatives). Tani is a traditional Hausa name given to a female born on Monday.
Apparently the name Tenny (or Tenni) that Ojukwu called her is the corrupted
version of Tani.
Late Hamman Maiduguri was a top
police officer who spent a significant part of his life in Kaduna. He hailed
from the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, Borno State capital. He was appointed
Northern Region’s commissioner of police after the death of the region’s
Premier Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. He later became the Deputy
Inspector General of Police (DIG) during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon,
the man who led the crushing of Ojukwu’s Republic of Biafra.
Mystery Child
The story of how Hamman Maiduguri
became “the father” of Ojukwu’s daughter appears to be as mysterious to even a
section of his own family as it is to the other members of Ojukwu’s family.
Much of it is still shrouded in
deep secrecy but Sunday Trust investigation reveals that the late police
officer did raise Tenny as his own daughter.
There are conflicting versions of
how she came to be late Hamman’s daughter. Some sources told Sunday Trust that
she was the daughter of his wife, Mary Theresa (a Christian who later converted
to Islam and is now called Inna or simply Hajia); others said Tenny was a
daughter of Mary Theresa’s sister and that the family adopted her as their own.
One of the sources said Tenny’s
mother gave birth to her before she married Hamman. “He accepted her with her
baby and since then she has been bearing the name Tenny Hamman,” he said.
Whichever version is accurate,
most sources said she was indeed brought up like a biological daughter of
Hamman. Many residents of the area still believe that she is Hamman’s
biological daughter. One source said she was among the people who inherited
what he left behind when he died.
“It will be very difficult for
you to unravel her true story because many knew her as Hamman’s biological
daughter,” said the source. “She inherited part of his properties. This story
you are trying to open is seen by some as mere tale because they grew up and
know her as one of Hamman’s children,” he added.
“i will call the police”
Indeed, due to the cloud of
secrecy surrounding the whole issue, details are hard to come by. When a hint
of the story began to emerge following the announcement of Ojukwu’s will, the
family mounted a formidable firewall to block any leakage from any possible
source. Sunday Trust’s investigation was blocked from many angles and some of
its staffers were even threatened with arrest and litigation.
When the leak first came that the
woman Ojukwu spoke of as his daughter was a lady living in Kaduna, Sunday Trust
search team spent considerable time trying to locate her.
Our correspondents who eventually
located her at the house of late Hamman in Kaduna said Tenny is a woman
approaching the age of 50. She is living with her aged mother, they said. One
of them noted that she is Ojukwu’s “carbon copy”.
Apparently, she got a premonition
that journalists, having heard of the will, might be looking for her. So when
one of our correspondents knocked on the door to the house to seek an audience
with her, she was ready for him.
As soon as he entered the house,
she chased him away. “Who are you and why are you here?” she shouted. When he
tried to introduce himself, she refused to listen to him.
“Leave here before I call the
police,” she said angrily.
Many other family relations
approached responded with hostility too. One of them threatened litigation. “If
you mention anything about us, we’ll sue,” he warned.
Sources told Sunday Trust that
Ojukwu met Tenny’s mother when he was a military officer in the North. He was
in charge of 5th Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Kano, where he was also
friends with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, before he was appointed the
Governor of the Eastern Region following the first military coup in 1966.
Apparently, throughout the crisis
surrounding the coup and counter-coup of July 1966 and the subsequent civil war
that followed them as a result of Ojukwu’s declaration of Biafran independence,
Ojukwu and his ex-lover kept the issue of their love child secret.
But as little Tenny grew up,
there appeared to be some people who had suspected a link between her mother
and Ojukwu.
Sources told Sunday Trust that
there was a time when Tenny’s school mates at Queen’s Amina College, Kaduna,
spread “gossips” that she was Ojukwu’s daughter. At the college, Tenny was said
to be a tough girl and a bully. But when one slim girl called her Ojukwu’s
daughter, she broke down in tears.
“Her mates were surprised that
she could also be very weak,” the source said.
One of her classmates also told
Sunday Trust that Tenny — known in the college as Aisha Hamman — was always
uncomfortable with claims that she was Ojukwu’s daughter.
Another said, although she could
be nice, she doesn’t tolerate nonsense. “We once fought in the school,” she
told Sunday Trust in confidence. “Since then I have not been close to her. She
didn’t even attend my marriage”.
They were 30 in their Queen’s
Amina College class and they finished in 1978. It is unclear what other
academic attainments Tenny got, but her college classmates said she at one time
lived in the United States.
Another source also said she had
worked at the presidency during General Sani Abacha’s regime.
“She got married and has a
daughter, who should be in her 20s by now,” another source said. “But she has
since parted ways with the husband”.
The will that outs Tenny
The revelation of Tenny as
Ojukwu’s daughter came from the former Biafra leader’s will which was read at
the Enugu State High Court penultimate Friday. It was presented to a section of
the family by the chief registrar of the court Mr Dennis Ekoh.
The will listed Ojukwu’s children
as follows: Tenny Hamman (daughter), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Jnr (son),
Mmegha (Mimi) (daughter), Okigbo (son), Ebele (daughter), Chineme (daughter),
Afam (son) and Nwachukwu (son).
Ojukwu’s widow, former beauty
pageant Bianca Onoh but now Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, was there,
ostensibly to represent both herself and the three children she had with
Ojukwu: Chineme, Afam and Nwachukwu.
She reportedly expressed shock
over the appearance of Tenny’s name in the will. She said her husband had never
told her about Tenny when he was alive.
Apart from Bianca, Ojukwu’s first
cousin, Mr Val Nwosu, and another relative, Mr Mike Ejemba, were at the court
to witness the presentation. But Ojukwu’s other children were not there nor
were they represented by anyone.
Based on the will, Bianca emerged
as the biggest beneficiary of Ojukwu’s wealth. She is allocated his Casablanca
Lodge located at No 7, Forest Crescent, GRA, Enugu; two of his properties at
Jabi and Kuje in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; and all his money and
personal effects.
She is also to replace him as the
trustee in the family company, Ojukwu Transport Limited. She was also given two
plots of land in Nnewi. But Ojukwu put a strong caveat that Bianca should forfeit
the land if she remarries.
His eldest son, Emeka Jnr., got
the family house at Nnewi.
Tenny, who is apparently his
eldest daughter, got Jubilee Hotel, located in Zaria, Kaduna State. Other
children too have their own shares.
The hotel Ojukwu gave Tenny
Sunday Trust investigation traced
the hotel Ojukwu allocated to his daughter to a lively area in Zaria. The
investigation revealed that late warlord does indeed own a house and a hotel
located on Hospital Road in Sabon Gari, Zaria.
The hotel used to be a very
popular inn where people visited mainly to have drinks.
It is a one-storey building where
the top floor is left open with burglars surrounding it perhaps for the safety
of the customers.
However, when Sunday Trust’s
correspondent visited the place, he observed that it is no longer functioning
as a hotel: it has been turned into a warehouse.
A 65-year-old resident of the
area confided to Sunday Trust that recently a son of Ojukwu, who resides in
Germany, had visited the place and probably ordered for the change.
“It was after the visit of
Ojukwu’s son to the area that the status of the hotel changed to a warehouse.
What we learnt was that the place has been sold but I don’t know the details of
the transaction.
“Of course, the hotel belonged to
Ojukwu before he died. I can authoritatively confirm this to you because I know
virtually all the owners of the properties in most areas of Sabon Gari,” he
added.
“The place was very popular
before the recent change of status. But as you can see, the place has now turned
to a warehouse where provision items are stored,” he said.
Hospital Road, where Ojukwu’s
house and the former hotel are located in Zaria, is predominantly occupied by
people from southern part of Nigeria.
The hotel was located at the
heart of the street while Hospital Road is one of the famous streets in Sabon
Gari area. The hotel’s location, observers said, added to its popularity.
Apart from that, according to
those interviewed by Sunday Trust, Sabon Gari houses most of the hotels that
exist in Zaria.
Despite the popularity of Jubilee
Hotel, though, some residents told Sunday Trust that they were not aware that
it belonged to Ojukwu.
“Honestly, I heard it recently
that Ojukwu owned the hotel. Of course, I know Jubilee Hotel for quite some
time now but I never knew that it belonged to Ojukwu.
“When pub activities stopped
taking place at the hotel, somebody told me that the place belonged to Ojukwu
and his children have decided to change the status of the place.
“I learnt that before the demise
of Ojukwu, the hotel was run by his brother but after his death, according to
what I learnt, Ojukwu’s children took over,” another resident, Idris Tijjani,
told Sunday Trust.
The controversy over the will
It is unclear whether Tenny will
claim the hotel Ojukwu allocated to her. If she plans to do so, she may not
face much trouble, despite the controversy that trails the presentation of the
will.
Although the will itself has
deepened the conflict among other members of Ojukwu’s family, the contending
sides appeared to have accepted the allocation of the hotel to Tenny.
Bianca did not reject it and the
first son, Emeka Jnr, too, said his father did have a will that mentions Tenny
as his daughter and has awarded her landed property.
Emeka Jnr had rejected the will
presented at the Enugu State High Court and claimed that the genuine will of
his father has not yet been presented. But he admitted that in the genuine
will, Tenny has her share.
The other controversy about the
will is the omission of Ojukwu’s look-a-like son, Debechukwu Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Debe has persistently claimed to
be Ojukwu’s eldest child and is currently engaged in legal battle with other
members of the family.
But his name did not feature in
the will.
Ojukwu’s lawyer said that the
former Biafran leader did not include Dede because the latter failed to prove
that he was indeed his son.
Ojukwu’s randy past
The emergence of Tenny in
Ojukwu’s will has once again brought to the fore his playboy lifestyle.
Although his admirers tend to
play down such aspect, it keeps reverberating. At an event held last year ahead
of his burial, majority of the speakers focused mainly on Ojukwu’s heroic deeds
and boldness as a soldier.
But Nollywood actor and ace
broadcaster, Chief Pete Edochie, surprised the huge audience when he talked
about Ojukwu’s randy past.
“Ojukwu was a human being; Ojukwu
loved women. As a matter of fact, I would describe him as H. G. Wells described
Mr. Paully.
“H.G Wells said that Mr Paully
was congenitally disposed to the worship of women. Well, those words may sound
harsh but I will describe Ojukwu like that. Ojukwu loved women with a passion,”
Edochie told the gathering.
When Sunday Trust contacted
Edochie over Ojukwu’s revelation of Tenny as his love child and the property he
reserved for her, he said he had no doubt about it.
“Ojukwu knows the number of
children he had when he lived. If he had written such thing in his will, there
is no point questioning the wish of the dead,” he said.
Source: Daily Trust
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