By Adadainfo
Erstwhile Biafran soldier Joel Kroham has died five days after the burial of Gen Alexander Madiebo, Adadainfo reports.
Madiebo, who served in the Nigerian Army, later led the Biafran troops as the GOC in its three years of existence.
Prof George Obiozor, the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, announced Kroham’s death in a release by the national publicity secretary of Ohanaeze, Dr Alex Chiedozie Ogbonnia, made available to Adadainfo in Abuja on Tuesday.
Kroham, former deputy president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, died at 74, our correspondent gathered.
The deceased hailed from Upatabo in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, according to the statement. It added that Kroham retired from the Rivers State public service in 2014 as director of finance’.
Ohanaeze described Kroham as ‘a truly committed Igbo chauvinist’.
It was gathered that the Rivers State government appointed him as a Justice of Peace in 2007. Ekpeye community also conferred on him the ‘znwo Egbeite Ekpeye of Ekpeye Land’ in 2008.
Until he passed on Saturday, August 27, 2022, Kroham was at the forefront in the advocacy for a president of Nigeria from the South East, our reporter heard.
According to Ohanaeze, “One of his last public outings was when he discharged an official function as the special guest of honour at the inauguration of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, South South Zone, which held at the Igoni Grand View Hotel, Airport Road, Port Harcourt on July 22, 2022.
“Kroham had demonstrated an extra-ordinary commitment to Igbo nationalism and thus highly devoted to the galvanization of all Igbo interest groups.
“It is on record that Joel Kroham was allergic to the crop of some Igbo quislers in the South South of Nigeria who have unabashedly betrayed and denied their ancestral roots; their conscience, identity and have sold their umbilical cord for a mess of pottage.
“Kroham never suffered an identity crisis. He volunteered for enlistment into the Biafran Army and returned from the war front with bullet wound. He maintained his Igbo dignity; remained unadulterated, courageous and proud of his origins until his transition.”
Obiozor described Kroham ‘as one of the most dependable, loyal and trusted deputies who defied all the contemporary Nigerian vagaries to remain faithful and focused to the pursuit of Igbo agenda’.
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