Most Nigerians know Zik, Awo and Ahmadu Bello. Few know the young man who went to prison so they could negotiate.
His name is Osita Agwuna (1921- 2007)a powerful orator, revolutionary, and later Eze Enugwu Ukwu Na Igwe Umunri
Who Was He?
Born December 22, 1921 into the Agwuna royal family of Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra. Brilliant, eloquent, with a very bright future. He was a manager in training at the United Africa Company (UAC) the biggest company in Nigeria then. He abandoned it all for freedom.
He became the President of the Zikist Movement the radical, militant youth wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC. While the elders were writing petitions to the British, the Zikists wanted action.
*The Speech That Shook The Empire “A Call for Revolution”
On *October 27, 1948*, at Tom Jones Memorial Hall, Lagos, 26-year-old Osita Agwuna mounted the podium and delivered what is now one of the most daring speeches in Nigerian history.
He called Nigeria a police state and said:
> “The redemption of Africa lies in the hands of Africans themselves and must be achieved by either violent revolution or by non-violent revolution. Positive action, including strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience, is necessary to liberate Nigerians from colonial rule.”
He was not begging the British to leave. He was telling Nigerians to force them out.
The British were stunned and declared him wanted,to the greatest surprise of the entire Nation,three days later, he presented himself to the authorities and was arrested, charged with sedition.
During his trial, he did something even bolder he challenged the court. He told the British judge he had no jurisdiction to try him because the judge was both accuser and judge.
He was convicted and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. He Served two years in Kirikiri maximum prison in Lagos and one year and six months in Kaduna prison.
Other Zikists who dared to print and read his speech were also jailed. One of them, at Onitsha Market, built a small stage and started reading the banned speech aloud to traders he too was arrested.
Agwuna’s plan was deliberate: He believed arrests would provoke mass outrage and awaken the whole country. It worked. His imprisonment became a national scandal and radicalized a whole generation.
From Prison to Palace
After independence struggle, Agwuna did not chase political appointments in Lagos. He went home.
In 1958, he became *Eze Enugwu-Ukwu na Igwe Umunri* – a throne he held for almost 50 years until his death in 2007.
As Igwe, he became a different kind of revolutionary:
A library of Igbo culture and tradition.
Wrote extensively on Igbo customs. Founded the first museum in the South East in 1957,precisely in Enugwu Ukwu to preserve artifacts. Modernized traditional rule that affected the entire Igbo tribes of Nigeria.
Gave kingship a dignified meaning and introduced the name Igwe to vast communities in Igboland.
He reigned as one of the longest and most respected monarchs in Igboland.
Why Is He Forgotten?
This is the painful part. Nigeria gave national honours to many who negotiated independence on a platter of gold as Zik himself described it.
But the young men who actually went to prison, lost their jobs, ruined their careers, who faced the baton and the colonial jail – like Osita Agwuna, Anthony Enahoro, Sa’adu Zungur, Michael Imoudu were left in the cold.
Till today, Osita Agwuna has never received a posthumous national honour. In 2025, his former Regent, Chief Donald Nwandu, had to write to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to beg that Tinubu’s government honour him.
Osita Agwuna sacrificed his personal liberty for our collective freedom. He was royal by birth like Mandela, radical by choice like Sankara.
We must remember him.
The labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain but only if we remember who they are.
HSH, Chukwudinigbo Agwuna(Nkpume Azaoku )
Because i am involved.
