Former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has opened up on his relationship with the late Biafran warlord Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, disclosing that despite his desire to work with the latter as governor of the now-defunct Eastern Region, Ojukwu refused to accept his elevation to the position of head of state.
This and the following disclosures are contained in Chapter 15 of Gowon’s 859-page autobiography published by the Havilah Group, Lagos, and titled ‘My Life of Duty and Allegiance’, launched in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to Gowon, northern military officers believed Ojukwu was complicit in the January 1966 coup d’etat allegedly executed by officers mostly of Igbo origin. In the said pustch, key northern leaders and military officers were killed.
The Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Premier of the Northern region, Ahmadu Bello; Premier of the Western region, Ladoke Akintola who was their political ally; and Festus Okotie-Eboh, minister of finance, were all killed. A brigadier and the most senior military officer from the north, Zakariya Maimalari, was also killed alongside many other northerners in the military.
The putsch failed, and the Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, became the head of state. Reverberations from the coup led to the countercoup of July 1966 in which Aguiyi-Ironsi was killed. Following this countercoup led by northern officers, Gowon, then a lieutenant colonel and army chief, was made the Head of State.
Ojukwu, a colonel who was then the Eastern region governor, refused to accept Gowon’s leadership, insisting that the most senior army officer, Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe, should have been appointed to the position.
Gowon as lieutenant colonel was two ranks below Ogundipe when he assumed office as head of state. Commodore Joseph Wey, and Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo, were also senior to Gowon who ultimately got promoted to major-general and later full-star general within one year.
On why Ogundipe was not made the Head of State, the memoir narrates, “The case of Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe was, however, not as straightforward because the course of the coup had made it obvious that he could no longer function effectively in the command-and-control structure of the Nigerian Army and the Armed Forces.
“With the concurrence of the UK government, he was appointed Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK.”
Delving into his relationship with Ojukwu, Gowon wrote, “Ojukwu refused my offer of friendship. By extension, he wilfully refused to recognise my leadership. He felt that the ‘normal’ protocol of seniority in service should have been upheld in selecting General Ironsi’s successor under the new administration, regardless of the circumstances by which I assumed power.
“Admiral Wey effectively persuaded former Supreme Military Council members to take cognisance of the situation and support my leadership, highlighting my ability to command respect from junior officers and my willingness to lead during a difficult time.”
The former military ruler continued, “Left unsaid at the time was Ojukwu’s strong view that I was junior to him in the hierarchy. He failed to appreciate that he had been under serious threat because the young Northern officers believed he was complicit in the January 15, 1966 coup.
“I pre-empted any attempt to move against him, in part, because of my respect for all the Regional Governors and, more importantly, because I saw him primarily as a colleague and officer with whom I thought I had worked to restore normalcy in those early days of uncertainty. I believed that, together, we could rebuild the army and allow the country to continue its course in history.”
Despite his reservations, Gowon went ahead and retained Ojukwu as the governor of the East. Gowon did not believe Ojukwu was supporting Ogundipe or defending the army hierarchy for altruistic reasons.
“My decision to retain Ojukwu in office was altogether altruistic though subsequent events made it seem a huge mistake. But with the situation at hand, it did not matter whether he agreed or not with the fact that change had occurred. Even if he did not agree with my new role, the soldier in him never said he would leave the Army. I let him be,” Gowon wrote.
Ojukwu subsequently declared the secession of Biafra in May 1967 over the reprisal killing of Igbos in the north after the January 1966 coup. This led to a 30-month civil war which came to an end in January 1970 with the surrender of Biafra.
