A Jolly Gentle General

Book excerpt: Major-General Charles Ndiomu was erudite and persuasive. Nigerians found in him the quintessence of an academic communicator and administrator at the various military establishments he was posted to. His mind was incisive and penetrating. He was a silent philanthropist who contributed in various forms to education and religious causes. His self-discipline and integrity were in character with his unwavering insistence on fairness and justice. I believe that in the end, it was this quality, this unquenching eagerness to reach and push back the horizons of knowledge, which made Charles Ndiomu relevant and refreshing in the chequered annals of our national search for intelligent men. In corollary therefore, the leadership qualities, thoroughness, love, straight-forwardness and God-fearing demonstrated by the man - Major-General Charles Ndiomu, were ingredients that prompted me to research into his life and times. The Biography entitled "The Jolly Gentle General", covered the life and times of Major-General Charles Bebeye Ndiomu (CFR, FSS, mni). In my approach, I have tried to utilize the critic's concern with balanced judgement while animating the landscape with a sense of environment where and when necessary. I have tried to recall episodes that I witnessed when necessary, as well as accounts from General Charles Ndiomu himself, and those of his aides, friends and his family members. Throughout, I responded to issues, events and happening the way I would through animated logic. I wrote about Major-General Charles Ndiomu as a man who started from ground-zero aided by God. I wrote about General Charles Ndiomu, as an Academic Soldier that took me to the ringside of history; a profession that never gave Major-General Charles Ndiomu much money but gave him honour, dignity, knowledge, wisdom, fame, integrity and responsibility; a profession that exhorted him to go after the truth and nothing but the truth. A profession that said he should be fair and just to everybody by hearing all sides of the story before giving verdict; a profession that emboldened him to fight (not engaging in fisticuffs) for his kith and kin in the backwater, and gave voice to the voiceless. It is a book of nostalgia, which I hope the young generation will find some aspects useful and which will allow them to avoid some certain pitfalls in this hectic age. And for the older ones, I believe, they will take pride and comfort that the past was the golden age. The story tells of Charles Bebeye Ndiomu's enlistment into the Nigerian Army and the amazing life he led unearthing, uncovering, exposing, and shading light on stories that would rather be kept in the dark or in the closets of those who would not want the stories exposed.