By Sunny Igboanugo
Wouldn't it have been better for former head of state General Yakubu Gowon to just
say that his inexperience, age and poor education were responsible for the Nigerian civil war rather than sticking to a 50-year-old propaganda, which has refused
to stick.
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| *Gowon and Ojukwu eating from the same plate in Aburi |
Having gone to Aburi "unprepared" and completely overwhelmed by an
Oxfords-trained graduate, wouldn't it have been better for him to just accept
that he simply fell to the manipulations of the British and bureaucrats back
home rather than blame the war on
"Ojukwu's lies?"
General Yakubu Gowon claims part of the Aburi agreement was that
he should speak first on return to tell the world what happened. He admitted
that he didn't on the excuse that he took ill. Assuming but not conceding that
were so, would it not have been more auspicious for him to let Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu know that
much instead of allowing the long silence that followed?
Ojukwu admitted to this part of the agreement, but
posited that it was not only Gowon's silence but that the Nigerian side began
to deny "everything" that made him not only speak out but release the
supportive Aburi tapes as backups.
Before he died, Ojukwu admitted also that given the
same circumstances, he would have acted differently at 77 than a 33-year-old,
implying he might not have gone to war or done so the way he did.
But here, Gowon, apparently still pressing to be
seen as a nationalist, compassionate and lately, Godly, appears afraid of
giving an inch to accept blame.
But, no matter how he tries, he will not only go
down in history as the man who betrayed, plotted against and killed his boss
who practically entrusted him with his life, but one whose burden will include
the sad memory of supervising the death of millions of infants, women and
ordinary folks, including the over 1,000 souls wasted in the just-marked Asaba
massacre. There's no escaping that fact.
At 82, people like Gowon ought to be burnishing
their souls in preparation for the inevitable. Living in denial is hardly a way
of doing so. You could pretend all you could and try to deceive man all you
could in the hope of being recorded on the good side of history, but the Good
Book is replete with examples that only through confession, remission and
contrition could sins be forgiven.
You can deceive man, but you can't deceive God.
I like your piece; you hit the nail on its head but the term that needs correction is "..implying he might not have gone to war..." Ojukwu did not go war against nigeria. Gowon brought war into the Igbo bedroom- the last line of defence for a man.
ReplyDeleteGowon appears to be suffering from dementia associated with ageing. It is better he forgets everything about Ojukwu who is no more, and in whose presence he could not speak. No matter the volume of lies he tell he presided over a genocidal war against the Igbo. We should put this behind us a move forward. Each time Gowon opens his mouth to talk about Ojukwu and why he went to war he angers many people who have correct information about the entire episode. Even foreigners who are familiar with Aburi Accord believe that Gowon put the nation at war by going back on the Aburi Accord. Chinua Achebe's last book titled "There was a Country" exposed everything and the role played by everyone. The facts in the book was why the Nigerian government initially banned it from coming in. History was abolished in Nigeria just to hide the facts of the civil war from younger generations of Nigerians. Unfortunately, history would have helped to heal wounds. The likes of Gowon would not have had the opportunity to be telling lies.
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