Yakubu Gowon, former head of state has reopened one of the most painful chapters in Nigeria’s history, accusing late Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, of blocking repeated attempts to stop the country from nosediving into civil war.
Gowon made the claims in his newly released autobiography: My Life of Service and Allegiance, where he revisited the political tensions, constitutional disagreements and failed negotiations that preceded the Nigerian civil war in 1967-1970.
“Ojukwu deliberately and effectively thwarted every effort we made to amicably resolve our national issues,” Gowon wrote.
Gowon said several attempts were made to reach a political settlement after the killings of Igbos in parts of Northern Nigeria which triggered outrage, fear and growing separatist pressure in the Eastern Region.
The former military ruler further said the federal military government agreed to the January 1967 meeting in Aburi, Ghana, believing dialogue could still stop the collapse of the federation.
“We went to Aburi with open minds and with the sincere hope of finding a basis for national reconciliation,” Gowon wrote.
The meeting, brokered by former Ghanaian leader, Lt.-Gen. Joseph Arthur Ankrah, brought together Nigeria’s top military officers at a time the country was already under severe strain from coups, ethnic killings and deepening distrust within the armed forces.
But Gowon said the talks collapsed after both sides returned from Ghana with different interpretations of what had been agreed.
According to him, Ojukwu’s interpretation of the Aburi Accord would have weakened the authority of the Federal Government and left the country too fragile to survive as one nation.
“What was presented by Ojukwu as the Aburi Accord was, in reality, his own interpretation of our discussions,” he wrote.
Gowon said his government found itself caught between mounting regional tension and fears that accepting Ojukwu’s demands would accelerate the breakup of the country.
He maintained that efforts to avoid war continued. “At every stage, we tried to preserve Nigeria without resorting to war,” Gowon wrote.
Also, the autobiography revisits the long-running debate over whether the Aburi Accord represented Nigeria’s last real chance for peace or whether the country had already moved too close to confrontation for any agreement to hold.
While rejecting claims that the federal government negotiated in bad faith, Gowon described the period as one marked by fear, suspicion and rapidly eroding trust among military and political leaders struggling to keep the federation together.
“Ojukwu’s actions made peaceful settlement increasingly difficult,” he wrote.
