By Emeka Obasi

Nelson Bossman Soroh became the first Nigerian to command a Warship when he took control of HMNS Kaduna from Lt. Commander Watting in December 1960.

File: Naval officers 

However, the first Nigerian to be commissioned as an officer in the navy was Onwura  Zonyeuno [O.Z.] Chiazor. He became a Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy [RCN] in 1957.

Joseph Edet Akinwale Wey who became the first Nigerian Chief of Naval Staff was commissioned in 1958. The former Nigerian national soccer team left back joined the Marine Department in 1939, as a Trainee Junior Technical Assistant. In 1957, he crossed over to the Navy.

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Soroh worked in the Marine Department as an Ordinary Seaman in 1948. He was redeployed to the Navy as a Sub. Lieutenant in July 1958. On August 21, 1958 the officer became ‘the first African to be accepted for training at the Royal Navy [RN] for sub-Tech course.’

Chiazor  traveled to Canada in 1943, as a stowaway. His mission was to become a medical doctor at the University of Manitoba. A move to the University of Kingston, Western Ontario offered the opportunity to join the University Naval Training Division[UNTD].

It is easy to identify Chiazor as UNTD CATARAQUI “54 U-14505. He became the first African to be commissioned Naval officer by Queen Elizabeth, the Second.

Another Nigerian, Theophilus Uzochukwu Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, who would have passed out from the University of New Brunswick, Canada, as a UNTD officer, pulled out.

Okonkwo moved to Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, Moscow. The Soviets, convinced he was an American spy, expelled and ordered him to leave the USSR.

In 1958, Dr. Dennis Osadebe, a prominent politician in the first republic, led a Nigerian delegation to Vancouver. He was accompanied by Chief Jereton Mariere and Mathew Mbu.  Chiazor was on duty off the Coast of Hawaii.

The Canadians worked out a function that involved the Nigerian delegation and the young officer. When Osadebe saw Chiazor, he thought the latter was an African American.

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The officer introduced himself as a Nigerian from Atuma in today’s Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State. Osadebe was pleasantly shocked.

Mbu who was minister in charge of the Navy, was just willing to bring back the officer gentleman to Nigeria to join the Navy.

Chiazor returned to the country, joined the Royal Nigerian Navy [RNN] then headed by Commodore R.A. Kennedy. Both men prepared the Orders and Regulations of the Navy.

Things were smooth in the beginning. Chiazor worked with Governor General Nnamdi Azikiwe as Aide de Camp[ADC]. When Cdre Kennedy was leaving, Chiazor recommended Wey to Zik as new Head of the Navy.

By 1960, the Nigerian officers in the Royal Nigerian Navy included Lieutenants Wey, Pearse, Akinloye and Chiazor. Sub Lieutenants Victor Oduwaiye, Oni, Duyile and Martins.

Chiazor commanded the Navy platoon that lowered the Union Jack and hoisted the Nigerian Flag during Independence in 1960. He ordered Salaudeen Akano, an Ordinary Seaman, to lower the British flag.

In 1962, a Royal Canadian Navy squadron of two frigates, Fort Erie and New Waterford, led by Commander L.E. Jenson, visited Lagos. Chiazor was the  Liaison officer between the Nigerian Navy and Canadian Navy.

Shortly after, Chiazor ran into trouble. He was a Supply officer, but allegations of misappropriation emerged.  A Court Martial followed and he never recovered from it before crisis began in 1966.

Today, at over 90 years, Commander Chiazor is not a happy old man. Confined to a wheelchair in Atuma and relying on villagers for daily bread, he complains of neglect by the Navy. History, the senior citizen believes, has not been fair to him.

Chiazor feels sad to hear Akano get credit for lifting the Nigerian flag in 1960. Would it be nice to give it to Commander Chiazor who gave the order and not a lowly seaman who merely obeyed orders?

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In a twist of fate, Akano rose to become a Commodore and was known as ‘Akano Jack,’ for lowering the Union Jack. At home in Ogbomosho, he was popularly known as  ‘ka sama se daadaa’ [let us be doing good]. Akano died on October 1. He hoisted the Nigerian flag on October 1.

I would not know where to place ‘Nnayi’ Chiazor now. He was for Biafra and he was also for Nigeria during the war. So he said in different interviews.

Chiazor told Author and Activist, Emma Okocha, in 2014 that: “History will write it that it was me, Commander O.Z. Chiazor, who because of my position, denied the Biafrans victory over Nigeria.”

Biafran Navy commandos were about blowing up NNS Nigeria, commanded by Soroh when Chiazor alerted the Nigerians. Biafra could not react effectively in sea battles due to this.

NNS Nigeria propelled  Nigerian battle ships: NNS Bonny, NNS Ogoja and NNS Calabar, among others to deal with Biafra. In the sea campaign, Mike Adelanwa and Akin Aduwo were outstanding.

Aduwo had to destroy the Biafran ship of his course mate and buddy, Paschal Jacob Odu. In a show of love, the former asked his pal to come safe. The latter disappeared into the sea and escaped.

The same Chiazor said to journalist, Ahaoma Kanu, in 2015: “But during the war, I had another boy, Anuku, from Agbor, who was in charge of the Biafran Navy.

“ Anuku was my boy and there was no way I could go and serve under him so Ojukwu asked me  to be in charge of the Sector in Port Harcourt. I was there during the war…I fought on the Biafran side. I was very close to Ojukwu.”

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Captain Wilfred Anuku trained at Dartmouth with Adelanwa. When the Biafran Navy was grounded, he fought in Oguta as a Brigade Commander. He could also have been a GOC.

Strange enough, the Navy will not forget the name Chiazor. On October 4, 2013, Mrs Jean Chiazor-Anishere of Jean Chiazor chambers, led a 5-man team of lawyers to torpedo the Navy for dismissing some top officers in 2007.

The affected officers were: Rear Admirals J.Kpokpogiri, F. Akpan, S.Baje. Cdre E. Omakwu. Captains G. Ohuabunwa, George Alily, H. Efenudu, Cdr. A. Oforibo and Lt. Cdr. Abdullahi.