On Saturday, October 19, 2024, you were interviewed by the Daily Trust. Andrew Agbese and Isiaka Wakili did the infrequent interview, which commemorated your 90th birthday.

You made claims that were unsupported by facts and praised revisionism. The purpose of this open letter is to expose and rectify your heinous amputations of modern Nigerian history. As your Christian faith dictates and as your other Christians affirm, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” therefore it is an essential activity. John 8:32.

“You are committed to Nigeria’s unity; how did you take it when the civil war broke out?” was the question our interviewers asked. In your lengthy response, you presented yourself as an ardent supporter of national cohesion. However, your self-description as a constant advocate of national unity stands out as bizarre if you recall that, in your first statewide broadcast as Head of State, on Monday, August 1, 1966, you stated that there was no foundation for Nigerian unity. This is a further assertion of yours: “At the time, my profession and responsibility required me to ensure that we maintained national unity. And it occurred that way.

With all due respect, sir, that was not precisely how it transpired. You intended to establish a Republic of Northern Nigeria in that historic broadcast. Among other things, you stated: “Given the current and past events, I firmly feel that we cannot continue in this manner, as the foundation for faith and confidence in our unitary system of government has not been able to withstand the test of time.” I have previously addressed the matter at hand. It is sufficient to state that when all political, economic, and social factors are taken into account, the foundation for unification is absent.

Your announcement of the Republic of Northern Nigeria was to come naturally since you had disregarded the foundation of national unity. However, Britain and America held your hand. Your broadcast has been in circulation for decades in various deodorised and artificial forms. However, they are unable to mask the uncompromising reality. A. H. M. Kirk-Greene’s Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria: A Documentary Sourcebook 1966-1970, Oxford University Press, London, 1971, includes a copy of the BBC transcript of your program. A voice recording of the program is available via the BBC Monitoring Service for a small charge. Likewise, it is pointless to deny your desire to proclaim secession.

South African socialist author and historian Suzanne Cronje cited Sir Louis Mbanefo, a former member of the Nigerian Bench and the World Court at The Hague, and Professor Eni Njoku, a former vice chancellor of the University of Lagos, as telling her that Sir Francis Cumming-Bruce, the British High Commissioner in Lagos, had warned against splintering Nigeria. Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1972; page 17; Suzanne Cronje, The World and Nigeria: The Diplomatic History of the Biafran War, 1957-1970.

Professor Cronje’s evidence can be dismissed as conjectural. However, they are unable to do the same with the British Parliament’s meeting minutes. Following the required 30-year embargo, the British Government published the minutes of the August 2, 1966 meeting. The Commonwealth Secretary, The Right Honourable Arthur Bottomley, MP, stated that there had been another mutiny in Nigeria and that the Head of State, Major General Aguiyi-Ironsi, had been abducted and perhaps killed. This reaffirmed your preference for independence. With the backing of the Supreme Council, a Hausa from the Northern Region named L-Col Yakubu Gowon had taken over as head of the government.

Both the US Ambassador and our own High Commissioner had firmly cautioned him against advocating for the North’s independence from the Federation. (See CAB/128/41 at the British Public Record Office, which is now the National Archives UK, located at London’s Kew Gardens.)

Commentators on your amazing DAILY PULSE interview could invite you to share your tale with the Marines based on the paragraph above. Before it coasted to General Ojukwu, the separatist bug touched you about a year earlier. Since seven Northern lives had been lost in the January 15, 1966 coup, you intended to establish a Northern Nigeria Republic.

However, the S-word had to remain anathema for Ojukwu, who lost 38 Igbo officers and 128 other ranks after your countercoup in July 1966, the bloodiest putsch in African history, in addition to the 50,000 of his kinsmen and women who were killed in the pogroms that swept through much of the country between May and October 1966.

However, to proceed with correcting your distortion of Nigeria’s past. Following the event in January 1966, a number of lies came to light, all of which crowned you with the garland of the brave officer and gentleman who put an end to the mutiny. Numerous newspapers and magazines carried the lies, and they were also spread in books by John D. Clarke in Yakubu Gowon: Faith In A United Nigeria, Frank Cass, London, 1987, and Professor J. Isawa Elaigwu in Gowon: The Biography of a Soldier-Statesman, West Books Publisher Limited, Ibadan, 1986. Oddly enough, 58 years after the incident, you are still contentedly trapped in this made-up maze.

When I met Captain Martin Adamu and asked him what the commotion was about, he told the Daily Trust that General Aguiyi Ironsi, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), had come and informed them that the prime minister, Tafawa Balewa, and the finance minister, Okotie Eboh, were affected by a crisis in town and that he had come to ask for help to see if he could handle the situation. My initial thought was, “Why Ironsi?” The brigadier should have been in the line of command, so why not him? The brigadier would have been able to connect to the battalion commander if Ironsi had told him. But when I enquired about his whereabouts, he said that he was in the master parade area.

In order to observe what was going on, I had to change into civic attire. He gave me a briefing when we arrived, stating that he wanted certain troops ready so they could go handle the problem. He asked if anyone had any questions when he was done. I was unaware that all of my school’s top officers—Maimalari, Kur Mohammed, Lt. Col. Abogo Largema, and Yakubu Pam—had been slain at that point. I was unaware that Arthur Unegbe, one of my close friends from Ozobulu, had also been slain. I went into town after asking the Quarter Master to obtain me some military gear, such as boots, hats, and uniforms. Fortunately, we managed to handle the coup in Lagos.

Since General Aguiyi-Ironsi gave the command to quell the coup, it is clear even from this description, Sir, that you had not done so. Additionally, you had no command at the moment, therefore he never issued you any commands. Giving credit to two brave policemen who had been in the forefront of the operation with Ironsi did not seem appropriate to you. I am referring to Captain Hans Anagho and Lieutenant Colonel Hilary Njoku.

Colonel Njoku says this: “After getting the unit moving, I went to the GOC to explain the assignment he gave us. Typically, a battalion does not receive instructions directly from the General Officer Commanding. It must go via Brigade Headquarters, which is the correct route. The General Officer Commanding was responding appropriately in that emergency. …Paper and pen were requested by the General Officer Commanding. I supplied these. He noted the extremely important people (VIPs) and key sites (KPs) to whom troops were to be dispatched for protection.

These included the Prime Minister, the Inspector General (IG), the Brigade Commander at No. 11 Thompson Avenue, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), the Parliament House, Post and Telecommunications (P&T), and others. He also provided a list of some of the cops he wanted to be arrested. Among them were Lieutenant Nwokocha, Captain Oji, and Major Ifeajuna.In my room, my Order Group (or “O Gp”) was prepared. Even though we were all still in my office, I had walked away from him and Jack to make my instructions. I made my way to my conference room as soon as I was prepared. Both of them trailed me. Everyone was summoned to attention by the adjutant. I put them at ease before giving them my directions.

The General Officer Commanding remained silent at the conclusion, but Jack spoke briefly to reiterate what I had previously told the commanders. The Cameroonian “B” Company, commanded by Captain Hans Anagho, was directed to relocate to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Police Headquarters, and the Parliament building. Jack (Gowon) made the decision to go with them. Page 19 of Hilary M. Njoku’s 1987 book A Tragedy Without Heroes: The Nigeria-Biafra War, published by Fourth Dimension Publishers in Enugu.

I tracked down Colonel Anagho to find out how he felt about the rumour that you were in charge of the troops that put down the January 15 action when I was preparing Ironsi’s book. In response, he said: “Gowon is fully aware that my unit, “D” unit, 2nd Battalion, Nigerian Army, led the devoted warriors in the conquest of Lagos from Ikeja. I was the commander of that company, according to the records and history. (Eminent Biographies, Chuks Iloegbunam, Ironsi: Nigeria, The Army, Power And Politics, Awka, 2019, page 5. Just a phone call away is Colonel Anagho, Cameroon’s longstanding traditional leader.

“The soldiers were given what we called a list of dos and don’ts like all the Geneva Convention instructions in any international conflict,” you said, waxing poetic about your regime’s commitment to the 1949 Geneva Conventions’ regulations during the civil war. There were around a dozen restrictions, including the prohibition of fighting against women, children, the elderly, etc. It was just against those who used weapons against you.

I was in Biafra during the fighting, and I don’t think your troops were aware of the conventions you want. It was a genocidal war that you prosecuted. It is possible to avoid discussing the millions of people—mostly children—who died of kwashiorkor and malnutrition as a result of your embargo of Biafra. Your junta, after all, said right away that “starvation is a legitimate instrument of warfare.” It is also forbidden to discuss the October 7, 1967, slaughter of 1,000 local indigenous people in Asaba by your troops. Ultimately, Major General I. B. M. Haruna continues to maintain that the slaughter in Asaba never took place.

We may take a fleeting look at your Air Force’s magnificent, Geneva Conventions-coated work: According to the New York Times, your Air Force attacked a hospital in Ihiala on September 6, 1968, killing 30 patients and gravely injuring 60 more. On September 18, 1968, it attacked Otuocha, Aguleri, leaving 510 people dead and over 1000 injured (Associated Press). It killed 75 people and injured 270 more when it bombed the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Ihiala on September 2, 1968 (New York Times). It killed 21 people and injured 50 when it attacked the Uzuakoli Leper Colony on October 13, 1968. (The Associated Press).

It bombed Umuahia on December 13, 1968, leaving 100 people wounded and 27 dead. (Source: Reuters). It attacked Umuahia once more the next day, December 14, 1968, leaving 187 people wounded and 20 dead. (Source: Reuters). It attacked Umuahia once more on December 21, 1968, killing forty-three people and injuring others (Agence France-Press). It killed 200 people when it attacked and strafed the Umuohiagu market on February 7, 1969. (The Associated Press). It killed 120 people when it bombed Ozu-abam on February 26, 1969 (New York Times). The death toll soared to 250 the next day. It killed 35 people when it attacked Umuahia on March 11, 1969. (The Associated Press). It bombed Ojoto on September 10, 1969, killing sixteen people. (The New York Times).

These are only eleven instances of the crimes committed by your Air Force in Biafra. The gloating members of your War Council and your fighter-pilots, who included Egyptian soldiers of fortune, dubbed Biafra a Free Bombing Site since it was a regular occurrence, resulting in hundreds of innocent Biafran people being bombed and strafed. Naturally, your horrible rejection of the Geneva Conventions was methodically condemned by countries, humanitarian organisations, and civil rights advocates.

To provide two examples: The United States voiced “deep concern” on March 7, 1969, in response to accusations that the Nigerian Air Force had massacred Biafran civilians. “Elbert Matthews, United States Ambassador in Lagos, had been instructed to bring to the attention of Nigeria’s Federal Military Government reports of bombing of hospitals, markets, and clinics by Nigerian aircraft,” stated State Department spokesman Robert J. McCloskey. (The New York Times). The International Committee of the Red Cross’s acting president, Dr. Jacques Freymond, voiced his disapproval “to the Nigerian Government over the bombing of civilians in Biafra” on March 24, 1969. The New York Times.

General Yakubu Cinwa Gowon, please! Your assertion that you fought the Biafran according to the Geneva Conventions’ procedures is untrue.

You were asked, “If given another opportunity, what would you have done differently?” by your Daily Trust interviewers. “I don’t think I would have done anything differently,” was your response. You have no regrets about leading Nigeria for nine years. This startling attitude indicates that you have appropriated a feeling of infallibility. However, a lot of other international leaders have been eager to own their errors. President Barrack Obama expressed remorse for his removal of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi without a strategy for handling the void that followed, which he described as his biggest mistake as president.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged that he bore “complete responsibility without exception or excuse” for the disastrous outcomes of the war he led his nation into in Iraq. He sent “sorrow, regret, and apology” for that.

I am wise enough to admit that American and British instances of regret could be too far away for you to feel at ease. Thus, I will take us back to West Africa, specifically to Accra, Ghana, where in June 1979 the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, court-martialed and executed three former military heads of state: Kutu Acheampong, Akwasi Afrifa, and Fred Akuffo; in addition, Generals Kwaku Atuka and Robert Kotie, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume, Air Vice Marshal George Boakye, and Colonel Roger Felli.

The purge was justified as anti-corruption by Rawlings and his supporters. The mob gave a loud cheer. All wounds were healed by time, and all heels were wound by time. Then Rawlings realised that a terrible injustice had been committed while he was in charge. The executions were the result of a defective process. With the national media following him, Rawlings remorsefully went from church to church, denying the bloodletting and begging for pardon. However, General Gowon, you have no regrets.

At this point, a brief tale has to be introduced. General Aguiyi-Ironsi was abducted and killed on July 29, 1966, according to Lieutenant General Theophilus Danjuma. Over the phone, he informed you that he and his soldiers had taken control of the Governor’s Lodge in Ibadan and were ready to apprehend General Aguiyi-Ironsi. “Can you do it?” you asked. “We’ve got the house surrounded and sealed off, Sir,” Danjuma said. We are capable. You approved the transfer after receiving this response. There is still General Danjuma alive.

Danjuma: The Making of a General, by Lindsay Barret, Fourth Dimension Publishers, Enugu, 1980, pp. 52–53. You were holding down the prestigious position of Army Chief of Staff at the General’s whim when you informed the commander of a rebellious horde that it was wonderful to take Aguiyi-Ironsi. Is there a possibility that you have no remorse about your previous decision to betray your Supreme Commander?

For the moment, let’s ignore the turmoil and betrayals of the latter part of the 1960s and look at two of your other baseless assertions. You claimed to have founded “Volkswagen in Enugu” and “petrochemicals in Enugu” to your interviewers.

No, sir, you definitely didn’t. Unless you were referring to an Enugu that is unknown to humanity, then there are two Enugus. In actuality, you never created anything in the South East geopolitical zone, which was once East Central State. Instead, your junta “established” the move of the steel factory that was originally planned for Onitsha to Ajaokuta, a project that has wasted billions of dollars and has yet to produce a single steel sheet.

Your reference to the “success” of your post-war three Rs policy—reconciliation, rehabilitation, and reintegration—is absurd. This is despite the fact that your government gave a Biafran a pitiful £20, regardless of what he had in any Nigerian bank before to the civil war. You oversaw the confiscation of thousands of Igbo-owned homes in Port Harcourt under the label Abandoned Properties. However, an Igbo guy gave you a London home where you, your wife, and your kids lived in secrecy for many years after your trusty lieutenants ousted you from government in 1975! Your Three Rs were nothing more than empty rhetoric.

You have referred to yourself as Nigeria’s Abraham Lincoln. That doesn’t bother me. Any damsel could grow breasts anywhere they wanted, after all. However, I am aware that President Lincoln has been the subject of more writings than any other American. About 16,000 books and articles have been written about the guy, according to estimates. Anyone who is aware of the actual history of your public and military service may read a Lincoln book and come to their own judgements.

We might want to take another look at the civil war, which has remained the most hideous aspect of Nigerian history to this day. Why did that happen? You said that Biafra’s secession was the reason. Opponents assert that independence would never have been a possibility if you had adhered to the conditions of the Aburi Accord, which your administration voluntarily signed. Another issue your interviewers asked you was, “We heard a lot of different accounts of what happened between you and Ojukwu in Aburi, Ghana. We want to hear directly from the horse. In reality, what took place? Are you in favour of a confederation?

Your response, which was the longest in the 3,782-word interview, was 1,557 words long. But in addition to lacking coherence, your verbosity was self-defeating. You suggested that while you were unprepared, Ojukwu travelled to Aburi to debate Nigeria’s future. You also suggested that you were not paying attention throughout the proceedings when you stated that you went to ask Colonel David Ejoor the specifics of what you signed. However, the Aburi Accord’s transcript and the discussions that led to it are still in existence today. The voice recording of it all does the same. When you returned to Nigeria, you were supposed to make an announcement about the Aburi discussions’ conclusion, but you didn’t.

Strangely, after sixty years, you suddenly say that your deafening silence was caused by a sickness that depressed you. You didn’t realise that your indolence was equivalent to peeing on the unmarked graves of tens of thousands of people and around 200 soldiers who had been sacrificed at the Altar of Moloch prior to Aburi. Two months had passed by the time you descended to make a decree on the Aburi Accord. In the end, you gave Nigeria a crudely tainted version of Aburi’s writings and spirit. That was the last straw for the ensuing internal strife, even if you insist on having no regrets at all.

What is the role right now? You are being constantly canvassed over 60 years after Ojukwu canvassed all of the issues in Aburi that you initially agreed to without coercion but subsequently broke. The excessive concentration of political authority at the centre is causing agitation among the populace. They are advocating for improved breathing room for provincial and ethnic conglomerates. They are calling for a more equitable distribution of natural and national resources. A Bill for Regionalism was reportedly delivered to the National Assembly even while this was being written.

Whoever reads this will undoubtedly understand why Nigeria’s ruling circles have never had a strong sense of history. In order to justify their mismanagement of the nation, the so-called leaders minimise history. The majority of Igbo officers were involved in the January 1966 coup. There is no doubt about it. However, Ironsi, Njoku, and Ojukwu, three Igbo commanders, put an end to it. This truth needed to be banned. Otherwise, the fictitious Igbo coup would be destroyed forever. The real history of Aburi had to be denied. In any other case, it would be too easy to see the hand that stoked the fire that burst into civil war. However, using bare palms to block the light is difficult. The truth will always win.

General, please. Someone suggested that since you appear to be continuously residing in cloud cuckoo land, I had no business answering your Daily Trust interview. I objected because, as I have done, I write not just for you but also for my fellow citizens to read and comprehend. The man who said, “I should put away my pen,” referred to the Benue and Plateau States, where you live. For almost ten years, Fulani herdsmen have been ravaging the local population, stealing their land, killing their residents, destroying their farms, burning their barns, raping their women, and generally causing chaos without ever voicing any objections.

You have only established an Eldorado that is based on prayers and more intense prayers in your bizarre view of Christianity. In order “to pray for peace, stability, and well-being of Nigeria,” you founded Nigeria Prays. James 2:17 states, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” You overlooked this when you did this. Tut-tut.

The author of Ironsi: Nigeria, The Army, Power And Politics is Chuks Iloegbunam.