Nigeria’s former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has alleged that arms and ammunition were secretly smuggled into the Eastern Region from foreign countries ahead of the Nigerian civil war.
In his autobiography, ‘My Life of Duty and Allegiance’, launched in Abuja on Tuesday, Gowon said the 30-month civil war could have been avoided if former Eastern Region leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, had fully adhered to agreements reached at the Aburi meeting held in Ghana in January 1967.
Gowon, who ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1975, said he repeatedly sought dialogue with Ojukwu before the war broke out, but the Eastern leader declined meetings outside the region over security concerns.
According to Gowon, Ghana’s then Head of State, Joseph Ankrah, later facilitated peace talks at Peduase Lodge in Aburi, where Ojukwu proposed that all parties renounce the use of force in resolving the crisis. Gowon said the proposal was welcomed by members of the Supreme Military Council, but claimed it also gave the Eastern Region time to strengthen its military preparations.
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.
He claimed Ojukwu later confirmed the stockpiling efforts during a 1967 meeting in Enugu with members of the National Conciliation Committee, including Obafemi Awolowo, where he reportedly declared that the Eastern Region had achieved “equality of arms” to negotiate Nigeria’s future from a position of strength.
