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| Ex-Biafra leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu: Funeral in Nigeria | Ex-Biafra leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu: Funeral in Nigeria |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Thousands of people have gathered in south-eastern Nigerian for the funeral of former Biafran secessionist leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. | Thousands of people have gathered in south-eastern Nigerian for the funeral of former Biafran secessionist leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. |
| The BBC's Fidelis Mbah, in Col Ojukwu's home town of Nnewi, says well-wishers are lining the streets and climbing tall buildings to get the best view. | The BBC's Fidelis Mbah, in Col Ojukwu's home town of Nnewi, says well-wishers are lining the streets and climbing tall buildings to get the best view. |
| Col Ojukwu died in the UK last year after a long illness, aged 78. | Col Ojukwu died in the UK last year after a long illness, aged 78. |
| His 1967 declaration of independence for Biafra sparked a civil war, in which more than a million people died. | His 1967 declaration of independence for Biafra sparked a civil war, in which more than a million people died. |
| He remained a prominent figure in Nigerian politics, running twice as a presidential candidate in the 2000s. | He remained a prominent figure in Nigerian politics, running twice as a presidential candidate in the 2000s. |
| Col Ojukwu went into exile after the Biafrans surrendered in 1970, returning more than a decade later, after he was officially pardoned. | Col Ojukwu went into exile after the Biafrans surrendered in 1970, returning more than a decade later, after he was officially pardoned. |
| Following his amnesty, he is being granted full military honours at the funeral, with a military band playing at his family home in Nnewi, Anambra state. | Following his amnesty, he is being granted full military honours at the funeral, with a military band playing at his family home in Nnewi, Anambra state. |
| His coffin, draped in a Nigerian flag, has been transported around the country after it was flown back to Nigeria on Monday. | |
| President Goodluck Jonathan, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings are among those who have gone to attend the funeral. | |
| Following Col Ojukwu's death, the president said it was his "immense love for his people, justice, equity and fairness which forced him into the leading role he played in the Nigerian civil war". | Following Col Ojukwu's death, the president said it was his "immense love for his people, justice, equity and fairness which forced him into the leading role he played in the Nigerian civil war". |
| Col Ojukwu declared independence for south-eastern Nigeria, where Igbo is the most widely spoken language, following the slaughter of thousands of ethnic Igbos in northern Nigeria. | |
| This followed a 1966 coup carried out by Igbo officers, in which Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a northerner, was shot dead. | |
| Most of the civilians who died during the Biafran war died from hunger. |