INTERVIEW: “Unresolved Issues of Biafra War;” A Right of Reply to Gen. Gowon’s Statements, by Prof. Nwosu

Former Minister of Health and eminent statesman, PROFESSOR A. B. C. NWOSU, in this interview, responded to some of the issues raised by General Yakubu Gowon in his recent interview on his roles in the Nigeria – Biafra War. He believes there were critical issues that the former Head of State did not address, warning that “Nigeria will continue to be an unstable state until we restructure.”

The Interview

Q You must have read General Yakubu Gowon’s interview. As a person close to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and a final-year undergraduate who was politically active, how did you feel at the time?

Ans I felt sad. It is unfortunate because I had expected that Gowon would reveal some things that have bothered me and Ndigbo from 1966 until now. Gowon’s interview was sad for me because of his self-serving half-truth and the major things not said. I don’t think that Gowon believes that total deviation from the Aburi agreement was the cause of the civil war, but everybody, and I mean everybody who was a “Biafran” at the time, doubted that it was. That’s why “On Aburi We Stand” was the war cry from the East. If Aburi had been implemented, there would have been no Nigeria – Biafra War. I thank Journalist Chuks Iloegbunam for his masterful response to General Gowon, published in the Saturday Vanguard.

For example, when General Gowon said that he didn’t call his Secretary to Government to the Aburi meeting while Ojukwu did, I thought General Gowon had lost because Aburi was not a singles tennis match between him and his so-called friend, Ojukwu.

Q Why was Aburi critical for Nigeria?

Ans Aburi was critical because every other discussion on what had happened, namely, the January 15 coup, the May 29 pogrom, and the July 29 counter-coup, had failed to resolve the matter as the various delegations had feared for their lives and would not attend further meetings. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s meeting with Ojukwu on May 5th and 6th, 1967, did not bring the Eastern delegation to the meeting. As Gowon correctly said, the East could not attend meetings in Nigeria because they feared for their lives. As Gowon also said, a British warplane and a naval warship were considered but rejected by the East because of Britain’s involvement in the conflict.

“Aburi was critical because every other discussion on what had happened… had failed to resolve the matter.”

So, the acceptable venue was General Ankrah, who offered Aburi in Ghana. It was not a meeting between Gowon and Ojukwu, so I insist it was not a single tennis match between them. It was a meeting between General Gowon, who came with the federal cabinet secretariat; General Hassan Usman Katsina and the Secretary to the Northern Government; Governor David Ejoor, who went with the Secretary of the Midwest Government; Governor Adeyinka Adebayo, who came with the Secretary of the Western Nigerian government and Governor Odumegwu Ojukwu, who came with Eastern Nigerian government. So, it was a full-fledged Nigerian meeting to avert a war, not a meeting between Gowon and Ojukwu.

One of the key unanimous decisions at Aburi was that the conflict would not be settled through a war. Therefore, saying that we fought to live together is not true since they all agreed that fighting was unnecessary and would not be used to settle the matter. In any case, dividing Nigeria into 12 states was neither tabled nor discussed at Aburi. What was discussed was the devolution of powers from the center to the federating units, including coercive agencies of the State like the Police, the Army, etc. What was unanimously discussed was making appointments to “Super Permanent Secretaries,” Inspector General of Power, etc. This greatly irked the super permanent secretaries, who submitted an anti-Aburi agreement memo.

To keep good faith, a follow-up meeting was required by all those present at the original meeting where the agreement was reached. The other members couldn’t implement their version of the agreement without consulting and getting the concurrence of the Eastern government that wore the shoes that were pinching them on all sides – refugees and rehabilitation, the burial of so many dead bodies and fleeing citizens, etc. So, it was wrong to have implemented the civil servant-mutilated Aburi Agreement. If one checked the sequence of events leading to the Nigeria – Biafra war, the creation of 12 states on 5th May 1967, which was not part of Aburi, was done to take the wind off the sails of the urge for the creation of Biafra.

“It was wrong to have implemented the civil servant-mutilated Aburi Agreement.”

This was bad faith on the part of the federal government. Unfortunately, this was the impetus that accelerated the declaration of Biafra on 30 May 1967 because the people of the East feared that the federal government could declare a state of emergency and invade the East. Biafra was not proclaimed before the creation of the 12 states, which was not in the spirit of the Aburi agreement.

One of the significant agreements of the Aburi was the repatriation of soldiers to their states of origin. The West continued to whine about this until the Nigeria—Biafra war when it joined the fight against Biafra.

But Aburi will continue to haunt Nigeria in the form of RESTRUCTURING of the Nigerian polity along the intentions of the founders of the republic, where there are no senior or junior Nigerians, and where the federating units are coordinate government, not this nonsense of sub-national government. Sub-national government implies that Tafawa Balewa was senior to Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and Chief Dr. Michael Okpara. That is arrant nonsense; all these people using the term Sub-national government don’t know what a federation is.

Q You told me that you were worried about Gowon’s silence over the January 15 coup in 1966 and the counter-coup of July 1966. What are your worries?

Ans I am worried about the January 15th coup because I know the special branch of the police thoroughly investigated it under the late Inspector General of Police MD Yusuf. However, the report is not public yet, even though some people have managed to obtain it.

“The report indicated that Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna and Demola Ademoyiga were the central figures of the coup.”

The report was said to have been submitted to the Chief of Army Staff under General Ironsi (which would be General Gowon), but Gowon has said nothing about it so far. I would have liked to know how many people were investigated, their statements, and, in particular, whether it was an Igbo coup. I understand that the report indicated that Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna and Demola Ademoyiga were the central figures of the coup and that Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogu was involved in the later part of their planning. There are rumors that others were involved, but Nigerians want to see what the report is about. It was also sad that General Gowon was silent on the counter-coup of July 29 and how he became Supreme Commander.

That interview by Gowon was also totally silent on the pogrom and killing of civilians in the North and West of Nigeria. Easterners, especially Ndigbo, would wonder why he was quiet because these were the basis of fears of insecurity Easterners, especially Ndigbo, about their lives and property in their own country without being protected by their government. Knowing the reason why people got killed, and their properties seized when they ventured out of their states of origin is critical for stability in Nigeria.

Q Gowon stated that he gave specific instructions on the rules of engagement for the Nigerian Army for the war…(cuts in)

Ans Really, and were these rules enforced? I never read of the tribunal and trials of those behind the Asaba Massacre, for example. Meanwhile, “Asaba still mourns” and has erected a memorial to give their sons respectable rest. The other day, the Ogbomosho people wanted National Honours for their son and hero, Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle. I wonder whether the same Brigadier Adekunle, the Black Scorpion, ordered anything moving, even the dogs, should be shot, but I leave that for now. The West still feels that Colonel Emma Nwaobosi should be publicly hanged for killing Governor Akintola and his wife while idolizing Chief Awolowo. It perplexes me.

“Starvation of newborn children, their mothers, and toddlers are now legitimate instruments of war?”

Finally, on war crimes, I am still to come to terms with the fact that starvation of newborn children, their mothers, and toddlers could be a legitimate instrument of war. Is that part of the UN Convention? And yet nobody talks about these things, just wishing that those who lost their loved ones should hide in the corner and shut their mouths. Gowon kept quiet about this during the interview.

Q From what you said, it is evident that you expected more from Gowon’s interview…

Ans Yes. As I would have expected from Ojukwu if he ever gave an interview later in his life. In three months, it will be 55 years since the war ended, and Nigerians are living together, but the same problems that were to be solved by Aburi are still very much with us. We keep having conferences on how to live in a more stable united country.

“Nigeria will continue to be an unstable state until we restructure.”

We even had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission under Obasanjo, headed by the renowned jurist Chukwudifu Oputa and with the famous Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah as Secretary, but nobody was ready to talk.

Q Nobody also had any regrets.

Ans Governor Usman Farouk, Governor of Northwest State when Nigeria was a 12-state structure and member of the investigative panel of MD Yusuf Panel for the January 15 coup, wrote his book, “There Were Victors, and There Were Vanquished.” Some of us have copies. Nobody is still ready to talk and say precisely what happened.

Even when these national conferences agree on issues like State Police, Devolution of Powers, fewer funds for the Federal Government, and more percentage on the Derivation Principle, they don’t get implemented either by a president who throws the report into the trash bin or by a president, who is supposed to be an apostle of true federalism and fiscal federalism. The consoling issue is that we shall all go the way of all mortals whether we like it or not. And Nigeria will continue to be an unstable state until we restructure.-END-

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