General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, known as Emeka Ojukwu, (born November 4, 1933) was the leader of the secessionist state of Biafra. During the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). He was previously Military Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. 

His father Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu KBE, was President of The African Continental Bank (ACB), first President of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and a business tycoon.

He joined the Nigerian military and graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England. He then became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of Nigeria and Military Governor of the oil rich Eastern Region. Following killings targeting the Igbo's, Igbo chiefs met at Umuahia in the Eastern Region. They decided to declare the region then consisting of the Igbo heartland, the Niger Delta and the Cross River basin independent. Ojukwu was chosen as Head of State by the Igbos to lead the new country 'Biafra' named after the Bight of Biafra. Despite some early Biafran successes, such as the world famous Abagana ambush in which two divisions of the Nigerian Army were annihilated, the Nigerians slowly gained the upper hand.

Ojukwu left Biafra as it collapsed, intending to set up a government in exile. He subsequently lived in Cte d'Ivoire for 13 years. Seeking to build his support among Igbos, President Alhaji Shehu Shagari pardoned Ojukwu and allowed him to return to Nigeria in 1980. He joined Shagari's National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and contested the 1983 election for the Senate.

In the 2003 presidential election he campaigned under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In early December 2006 he was again chosen to be the APGA presidential candidate for the April 2007 election. On January 14, 2008 he received his military pension from the Nigerian government, but he complained that he was referred to as a lieutenant colonel and not as a general, his rank in the Biafran military.

Today Ojukwu lives a quiet life in Eastern Nigeria.

