Nigeria’s former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has revealed how arms and ammunition were allegedly smuggled from some foreign countries into the Eastern Region in preparation for the civil war fought for 30 months.
Mr Gowon, who ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1975, said the war, in which millions of people reportedly died, could have been avoided if the then leader of the Eastern Region, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, had adhered to agreements reached during the Aburi meeting held in Ghana on 4 and 5 January 1967.
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The former Nigerian leader gave the account in his autobiography, “My Life of Duty and Allegiance,” launched in Abuja on Tuesday.
The event, chaired by former President Goodluck Jonathan, was attended by prominent Nigerians, including President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by his deputy, Kashim Shettima.
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Mr Gowon was the Nigerian leader during the civil war, fought between 6 July 1967 and 15 January 1970.
The war broke out following deep ethnic, economic and political issues that emerged after the country gained independence from Britain barely six years earlier in 1960.
At the time, Nigeria was divided into four regions: the Northern Region, dominated largely by the Hausa-Fulani; the Eastern Region, dominated by the Igbo; and the Western Region, dominated by the Yoruba. The Mid-Western Region was created in 1963 from the Western Region to accommodate minority groups.
The Eastern Region, led by Mr Ojukwu, then a Colonel in the Nigerian Army, fought for independence and survival under the banner of the self-declared Republic of Biafra. The declaration of secession eventually triggered the civil war, which claimed between one and three million lives, many through starvation and disease.
Mr Ojukwu died on 26 November 2011, in London at the age of 78. He was reportedly ill for some time before his death. His body was later returned to Nigeria, where he received a state funeral and was buried in his hometown of Nnewi in Anambra State in March 2012.
In his memoir, Mr Gowon narrated efforts he made to avert the war by proposing several alternatives to the Eastern Region leader, whom he accused of preferring confrontation to dialogue.
Smuggling of ammunition
The former head of state said he repeatedly sought dialogue with Mr Ojukwu in the build-up to the war, but the Eastern region leader declined due to concerns about his safety outside the region.
He explained that the deadlock prompted Ghana’s then Head of State, Joseph Ankrah, to facilitate a peace meeting between both sides at Peduase Lodge in Aburi, Ghana.
He noted that Mr Ojukwu eventually agreed to attend the meeting, which coincided with both the Christian Passion Week and the Muslim Ramadan period.
He said that during the meeting, the Eastern Region leader proposed conditions that largely favoured the East’s demands, including a commitment by all parties to renounce the use of force to resolve the crisis.
“Ojukwu’s motion that all parties renounced the use of force in the settlement of the brewing crisis certainly sat well with me and the rest of the SMC (Supreme Military Council) members. Indeed, it was the most pragmatic thing to do if we were to set on an honest path to peace,” he said.
Mr Gowon, however, claimed that Mr Ojukwu’s proposals were also aimed at buying time to complete the stockpiling of arms and ammunition for the impending war.
The former head of state further alleged that the Eastern Region’s arms build-up suffered a setback in October 1966 after a DC-4 aircraft carrying weapons crashed in the hills of Northern Cameroon.
“It did not matter that his plan was to buy some more time to enable him to stockpile arms and ammunition. We were also mindful that he had cleverly planned to apply the brakes on our ability to deploy the numerical advantage of the existing firepower of the Nigerian Army in the event of an immediate outbreak of hostilities.
“We knew he was compelled to buy time because his surreptitious arms build-up had suffered a serious setback in October 1966 with the crash in the hills of Northern Cameroons of the DC-4 aircraft with which he had hoped to smuggle in a cache of arms,” he claimed.
Mr Gowon said Mr Ojukwu later appeared to confirm the arms stockpiling during a meeting in Enugu in May 1967 with a delegation of the National Conciliation Committee comprising Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Aluko, Jereton Mariere and J.I.C. Onyia.
He further said Mr Ojukwu declared during the meeting that the Eastern Region had attained “equality of arms,” which would allow it to negotiate Nigeria’s future from a position of strength.
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“Several months after the Aburi meeting, Ojukwu confirmed our belief that he had been biding his time to enable him to stock his armoury. In May 1967, at a meeting in Enugu with a delegation of the National Conciliation Committee that comprised Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Prof. Samuel Aluko, Chief Jereton Marierie, and Chief J.I.C. Onyia, who represented the West and Mid-West regions, respectively.
“Ojukwu confidently declared he had attained ‘equality of arms’ that would make possible for the East to discuss to discuss the future of Nigeria based on equality,” he added.
Mr Gowon quoted Mr Ojukwu on that day to have said that “Quietly I built up. If you do not know it, I am proud, and my officers are proud, that here in the East we possess the biggest army in Black Africa. I am no longer speaking as an underdog; I am speaking from a position of power.”
He, however, dismissed the Biafra’s leader’s claim of acquiring equal arms with the government as exaggeration, insisting that federal forces still maintained a clear military advantage over the Eastern Region.
“I did not believe Ojukwu’s play to the gallery; I only said to myself that we would see about that. This was because we knew better. Regardless of his posturing, the reality was that a rough count on military installations and troops in station placed the Eastern region at an obvious disadvantage compared to the rest of the nation.
“This was a plan for all to see, except the governor of the Eastern region, who believed that he could silence machine guns from the federal side with the 120 rifles he claimed to have had and sheer bravado,” he stated.
