By Kolawole Ojebisi
A former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has reflected on events preceding the outbreak of Nigeria’s civil war which happened under his watch, identifying the Aburi Accord as the last-ditch attempt that could have prevented the internecine strife.
Gowon disclosed that a fundamental disagreement with the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu over who should control military forces in the country’s regions led to the collapse of the Aburi Accord.
The former military ruler spoke during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday.
He explained that although both parties engaged in sincere dialogue during the January 1967 summit in Aburi, Ghana, the eastern region leader, Ojukwu, later pushed for a form of regional autonomy that the federal side could not accept.
Gowon said, “Although we said that the military would be zoned, you know, but the control… he wanted, you know, those zones to be commanded by the governor. Say you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the east, it would be commanded by, you know, by him.
“And, of course, we did not agree with that one”, Gowon said.
He continued: “We just went there as far as we are concerned to be able to meet as officers now, and then to agree to be able to get back home and resolve a problem at home. That was my understanding. But that is not his understanding”
While not completely absolving himself of the blame for the collapse, Gowon emphasized that he fell ill upon returning to Nigeria from the summit and unable to immediately respond to the terms Ojukwu had publicly announced.
He added that the delay created space for misunderstanding and unilateral declarations.
“Unfortunately… I was having a serious attack of a kind of fever or whatever it is, and I could not make a decision”, the former Head of State said.
He accused Ojukwu of making unauthorised statements about the Accord without waiting for joint clarification.
“Ojukwu was one who, when he came, he went and made… a statement about the Aburi Accord”, Gowon said.
“We had to organise that, you know, a meeting of all the governors. And he was invited to attend so that we can deal with the Accord. And we met at NIFOR in Benin. And he did not turn up”, Gowon added.
Gowon insisted that had Ojukwu attended the Benin meeting, the parties might have been able to avoid escalation.
“The only thing that I added was that no region, you know, will, you know, can secede from the country.”
The collapse of the Aburi Accord is widely regarded as a decisive moment that led to the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in July 1967. The war lasted for three years and ended in 1970, claiming millions of lives.
At the end of the war, Gowon declared, “no victor, no vanquished” to drive home his point that he was was not intended to conquer any region but to hold the country together as an entity.
