Former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has reopened one of the most painful chapters in Nigeria’s history, accusing late Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, of frustrating repeated efforts to stop the country from sliding into civil war.
The claim, contained in Gowon’s autobiography, My Life of Service and Allegiance, offers a deeply personal account of the failed peace talks, political mistrust and constitutional disputes that shattered negotiations between the federal military government and the Eastern Region before the 1967–1970 Civil War.
Gowon spoke in the autobiography, where he reflected on the tensions that followed the January and July 1966 coups and the events that eventually pushed Nigeria into war.
“Ojukwu deliberately and effectively thwarted every effort we made to amicably resolve our national issues,” Gowon wrote.
The former military ruler said several attempts were made to reach a political settlement after the killings of Igbos in parts of Northern Nigeria triggered outrage, fear and growing separatist pressure in the Eastern Region.
According to him, the federal military government agreed to the January 1967 meeting in Aburi, Ghana, believing dialogue could still prevent 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 ran into trouble 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.
