During the days following the stroke, which would eventually take his life, one issue weighed heavily on Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s mind.
That ‘issue’ was the immortalisation of Bruce Mayrock, the 20 year old who died in the early hours of the morning on this day in 1969, after he set himself ablaze in front of the UN building in New York to protest and draw attention to the atrocities being unleashed on the Biafran population at the height of the ‘Civil’ War.
Mayrock”s family stated that he had worked actively to protest the war, writing letters to the U.S. President and other leading government figures to intervene to save millions of Biafrans from a looming genocide.
In utter frustration that no one appeared to be listening, he chose to draw the attention of the world to the tragedy in Biafra the only way he felt he could do so was by sacrificing his own life.
Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu felt he would not pull through to effect the immortalisation project.
‘There is still time’, I assured him. ‘You will get through this, and then you will do it, as you planned’.
His response destabilized me. ‘I am a soldier..’ he said, looking straight into my eyes with all the equanimity of a man whose fate already lay before him.
‘’The only mode of death I am conditioned to anticipate is either death at the battlefield or by execution. I never expected to get this far. If I don’t make it, do what you can…our people must never forget.’
Sadly, he did not survive. But his dream did. It took me some time to begin in 2017, and to complete the Bruce Mayrock Memorial Building several years later.
The Mayrock is a three story edifice including amongst others, a conference hall, an exhibition floor and a memorial hall.
The Bruce Mayrock Memorial Foundation is a charitable , non profit organisation whose mission is to empower youth for self sustainability by capacity building, skills acquisition, entrepreneurship programs, guidance and counseling, most importantly, to inspire a new generation of leaders to make positive impact through peace promotion and community development in honor of Bruce Mayrock”s courageous legacy.
Brother Bruce, we will never forget..
May their souls and the souls of Biafra”s heroes and all who sacrificed their lives that we might live continue to Rest in Peace, Amen.
