Civil War: My duty was to ensure Nigeria didn’t break up – Gowon

General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s head of state during the Nigeria-Biafra War, has explained that his duty as head of state was basically to ensure the country did not go their separate ways.

Gowon said this in an interview commemorating his 90th birthday published by Daily Trust, noting that every effort was made by his administration during the civil war to ensure the situation did not degenerate into a breakaway. “I had a duty to make sure that the breakup of the country did not happen,” he said,

“We had to fight for two and a half years and made sure that there was no interference from outside. There was no question of allowing any nation or power to get involved in our crisis. If you remember, in the Congo, you had United Nations forces made up of Nigerian troops and others from other parts of Africa to deal with the problem.”

Nigeria battled separatist Biafran forces from the Eastern Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. The war however ended with a mutual agreement to reconcile, rehabilitate and reintegrate the region into the mainstream economic and political strata of the nation.

According to Gowon, “The instruction I gave to the fighting troops after the war was, ‘having fought your brothers and sisters, I want you to be soldiers of peace. Do whatever you can to help them get back to their homes and places; and give whatever assistance to them.’ Despite what happened, a lot of courageous Igbo people that lived in the North went back to Kaduna, Kano, Jos etc and got back their properties, which some of their friends had kept for them.” He said the troops helped to transport the people of South-East to various parts of the country after the war.

The former head of state further said that all Nigerians were given the opportunity to go back to wherever they wanted after the war, noting that a few retirements were made to ensure there was true reconciliation.

“I had Mr Ukpabi Asika, a brilliant nationalist as administrator and gave him all the assistance he needed. For example, we gave assistance to get the schools. There was also the medical side. A lot of things were done so that at least you could start getting the reconciliation and integration so that people would be able to go back to various parts of the country,” he said.

He urged the South-East Nigerian people to learn that war has long ended and they are part of the Nigerian state.
“On my message for the people of the South-east, I would say that the civil war has ended and Republic of Biafra is no more because people have accepted to be reintegrated as Nigerians. Do you want me to sort of say they should continue? No. Don’t ask that question,” he said.