By Jude Atupulazi
Former Nigerian Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has been berated by the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Senator Victor Umeh, over the former’s account of the Nigerian Civil War, describing it as riddled with false narratives.
Umeh, in a press statement made available to Fides, challenged Gowon to toe the line of his counterpart, Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, by writing a book to give a factual account of what caused the war.
It will be recalled that Gowon had in a recent interview on Arise TV blamed the late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, for causing the war, even as Gowon maintained that the war was not targeted at Igbos.
But in a sharp reaction, Umeh contended that it was either Gowon was either lying or he was just suffering from dementia.
Umeh said: ‘We will not allow Gowon to lie or twist history. All that he said are false. At 91, I will not want to join issues with him, except of course, if he is suffering from dementia. He has not done what he should be doing at this late stage of his life.
‘It is time for him to speak the truth to heal the pains of that war. The war ended 51 years ago and we have moved on, but for him to come back at 91 years of age and begin to lie is unfortunate and it means that he is not thinking about how to leave Nigeria in peace. He said the reason the civil war was fought was to keep Nigeria one, but is Nigeria one today?
‘The President was in Benue where people of Gowon’s zone were being slaughtered on a daily basis. So what has he done to make Nigeria one? I challenge him again to write his own truthful account of what led to the war. He should know that conscience is an open wound and only the truth can heal it.
‘He should stop running around, let him come out boldly and say sorry to the Igbo People of Nigeria. You remember that the coup brought out Awolowo from prison and instead of using him to unite Nigeria, he bought him and made him Federal Commissioner in charge of Finance and they started driving economic policies that were aimed at exterminating the Igbos.
‘Gowon is the one who laid the foundation for all the problems Nigeria is having today. He is the one who brought the Igbos and Yorubas at the crossroads and mistrust came in. We have paid dearly for his actions and inactions, and we don’t want to be insulted more and these things he is saying will aggravate our wounds the more; so let him stop talking.
‘If he wants to say the truth, let him go and write his own book so that when he is no more, his book will be circulated and he will be judged. Ojukwu is no more to join issues with him. When Ojukwu was alive, he was talking and Gowon refused to talk and now that Ojukwu is dead, he has started talking and that is unfortunate.
‘TY Danjuma is still alive and he was the one that led the arrest of Aguiyi Ironsi and his unfortunate assassination, and I don’t know what TY will be thinking after hearing Gowon that he didn’t know anything about what happened in Nigeria. What does he want us to believe? How can he say such a thing?” Umeh queried.
The Senator further states that Gowon betrayed the Aburi Accord reached with Ojukwu and lit the fire of a war that devastated the South East.
‘What happened after Aburi was a complete betrayal, and the attempt now to rewrite history is an insult to the memory of those who died,’ Umeh said.
He regretted that Gowon kept claiming the war was not against Igbos, while the truth spoke otherwise; which was that Igbo soldiers were targeted, Igbo businesses destroyed, and their people starved and marginalized.
‘I cannot sit and watch while people who played central roles in that war continue to distort History. We must tell the truth if we want healing,’ he said.
