₦airaland Forum

ELDER statesman and convener of Igbochukwu Organisation, Dr Chike Obidigbo, has regretted that Nigeria’s former head of state, retired General Yakubu Gowon, deliberately kept away the basic truths about the genocide against Igbo during the 1967 to 1970 Nigeria versus Biafra war.

He said that at 90, the former Head of State should have emulated former military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida by clearing all cobwebs of deceit or doubts about the events that culminated in his disagreement with Lt Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, shortly after they reached the Aburi Accord.

He said he and other Nigeria Elders such as Ibrahim Babangida; Oluesgun Obasano, Theophilus Danjuma, as well as President Bola Tinubu, ought to have learnt by now that we cannot continue to deceive the younger generation, especially now at their twilight ages.

Obidigbo, who said he waited to digest the salient historical lessons contained in Gowon’s "My Life of Duty & Allegiance,” before commenting, noted that the entire biography read like a command narrative that was intended to serve as a personal position on the troubling issues that gave rise to Nigeria’s troubled structure.

“I can say without equivocation that Jack did not include the basic facts and truth regarding the greatest historical challenge that troubled Nigeria’s political economy. Perhaps, having been used to the command and control structure of the military, which remains his constituency, the former Head of State maintained allegiance to the institution rather than to the nation.

“One area that I felt Gowon should have elaborated was the fact that the Biafra and the attempted secession by the Eastern Region was not the original idea of Ojukwu. The former Head of State knows that Ojukwu was a victim of unexpected circumstances, and the unintended consequences of the pogrom in Northern Nigeria that culminated in the hostilities,” he remarked.

He noted that even though Ojukwu was very angry at the situation of things at the time, his single intention was the protection of people of Eastern region rather than the declaration for a separate republic.

According to Obidigbo, “I know this as true. In April 1967, Ojukwu had August visitors that included the then British Deputy High Commissioner to Eastern region, Mr Roland Walter Parker, the Managing Director of Shell BP Development Company, Mr Stanley Gray, Mr Frederick Stephens, the chairman of Shell international, who visited Port Harcourt at the time, and a representative of Sir David Hunt, the then British High Commissioner to Nigeria.

“These visitors’ assignment to Enugu was to encourage Ojukwu to pull Eastern region out of Nigeria, and secondly to discuss the fate of petroleum exploitation in a new nation expected out of the then Eastern region, since according to them, Gowon got British backing to renege on the terms and modalities for the peacefully association as agreed on the Aburi Accord in Ghana.”

Further, Obidgbo said that Ojukwu disclosed that he told the visitors that since his people were very itinerant, Nigeria offered them the space they needed to transact, secondly that he felt that since the country was in the early stages of bonding, such secession may not be in the overall best interest of the new country, Nigeria.

Thirdly, Ojukwu informed his visitors that he did not have the resources and reasonable materials to execute an all-out war with the Nigeria side, which was working in cahoots with Britain and other Western backers, and finally, any discussions on the fate of the oil, at that point in time, was not only premature, but also one that only him cannot take.

The Elder statesman said that it was at that juncture that the British agents assured Ojukwu of full support, both locally and internationally, including funding, weapon supplies, and the immediate remittance of the accumulated royalties being withheld by Shell to Ojukwu.

“As they mounted severe pressure on Ojukwu, the Eastern Nigeria leader was made to consider all the benefits of separating from Nigeria, which he said included, security of lives and property of his people, with an opportunity to grow their economy at their own pace.

“Thereafter, Ojukwu held wide consultations with most major stakeholders from the then eastern Nigeria, including his top military officers and senior civil servants before he convened a meeting of all eastern region traditional rulers.

“it was at that meeting that Ojukwu was mandated to pull eastern region out of Nigeria. That same day, the name, Biafra, was proposed by Chief Frank Opigo, an Ijaw traditional ruler from Bayelsa and it was unanimously adopted since it bore no resemblance of any of the tribes that make up Biafra,” he stated.

Obidigbo maintained that Gowon knew about the pressures being mounted on Ojukwu, stressing that the Nigeria leader was also facing intense British pressure to attack as soon as the Biafran declaration was made.

His words: “At the end of the war, Gowon was right to declare a verdict of No victor, No vanquished, because neither Nigeria nor Biafra won or lost the war. Both lost. In fact, Britain was the victor, just Nigeria and Biafra came out deep losers as the situation still remains so till date.

“As soon as Ojukwu declared Biafra, the four august visitors disappeared and immediately after that, controversies over the payment of Shell royalties commenced with the late chief Obafemi Awolowo as Nigeria’s finance Commissioner, pitching for the Nigerian side and Ojukwu standing for the Biafran side for who receives the royalties.

“But, for strange reasons, when Mr Stanley Gray ventured into Port Harcourt, Ojukwu angrily ordered for his immediate arrest and detention. And, It took the intervention of Sir David Hunt and the British government to secure his release. It however, dawned on Ojukwu that he had got himself enmeshed in a war for which he was subtly deceived into and totally unprepared.”

Obidigbo therefore concluded that Gowon knew full well that Ojukwu was not preparing for war, and that both he and Ojukwu, were schemed into the war by a common influencer, Britain.

“So, Gowon’s priority at this juncture, should be thanking God for longevity, good health and last-minute opportunity to make peace with God and mankind by revealing the truths about what transpired.

“He should make peace with all Nigerians, but particularly Igbo and his Langtang people that he led into a fruitless war that cost millions of lives with no justification and no benefit to Nigeria as a country.

“He will then go all out to seek the forgiveness of the igbo nation by applying all the pressure he could muster to demand for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Simon Ekpa and all Biafrans still languishing in various security outfits across Nigeria.

It was after the war that I heard about the true cause of the war through an information leaked out from a former British Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, where he spoke, during a Graduate Convocation Lecture at Lancaster University in 1979.

He spoke about Britain’s role in African renaissance, pointing out that after granting independence to countries in Africa, some of their regions started making frantic efforts to grow their economies.

According to Heath, economic independence was something that Britain never wanted for her colonies. Therefore, the question that confronted Britain and the rest of the civilized world during the immediate post-colonial era, was whether to allow such countries to continue to grow their economies or to stop them from growing.

shortgun:
Gowon should come clean as he will soon meet his maker.

DeltaBachelor:
Okay…..I just know there are 3 sides to every story sha

Kog45:
Yes he will meet his maker just like Ojuckwu who wasted souls and ran away.

moscow007:
Igbo people are very kind and forgiving , if only Gowon had told the truth, asked for forgiveness.
Igbos would've forgiven him.

Now he's going straight to hell fire having embraced his demons as one.

shortgun:
You know nothing about Ojukwu. If the same conditions of presents themselves today and Ojukwu calls for war. We will gladly pick up arms and lay down our lives

DEROX:
Omo some pains are never forgotten even oyo and fulani under allafin atiba atobatele. All i can say is lets give the igbo man a chance once it dosent work under him which we know it wont work then we can divide the forced marriage

educatedfool:
I'm not tribalistic, but historical discussions should be balanced. It's too easy to place all the blame on Gowon while ignoring the mistakes made by Biafran leaders and the realities of the war. The Eastern Region leadership chose secession despite several attempts at negotiation, and that decision contributed to a conflict that cost countless lives on all sides.

History is rarely a story of one side being completely right and the other completely wrong. Rather than blaming Gowon alone, there should also be honest reflection on the decisions made by Biafra's leadership and how those choices affected ordinary Nigerians, including the Igbo people themselves.

Jayhome24:
You this obidigbo which truth again ae you looking for or want?

Biafra occurred, yes.

Ojukwu started it, yes.

Biafra soldiers crossed the line to SW supporting it instead of facing the North, yes.

Ojukwu went to a war nobody send him and no referedm done that permitted him to take up arms against the govt, yes.

Over 3 million innocent souls perished over what they knew nothing about, yes.

Pls wht truth again do you want to know?

You insisted on Biafra yet still want obi of all people from SE to become Nigeria president is that not a child play nwanem. I said it here if you want Biafra stay on that course, stop doing and joining Nigeria politics, tell obi to
f e c k off, stop meddling in Nigeria affairs, reject anything Nigeria, let everybody return back to village and focus on achieving biafra then you are serious nwanem obidgbo.

Oya bitter lemons start firing your insults and threatens I wan laugh small.

shortgun:
Gowon should come clean as he will soon meet his maker.
Men in age spend their remaining days telling the truth.
He should emulate IBB who recently told the whole world truth about June 12,The 1966 coup and Kaduna Nzeogwu.

shortgun:
You know nothing about Ojukwu. If the same conditions of presents themselves today and Ojukwu calls for war. We will gladly pick up arms and lay down our lives