Former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has made rare public disclosures about two defining events in Nigeria\u2019s post-independence history\u2014the 1966 counter-coup and the breakdown of the Aburi Accord that led to the civil war.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with ARISE NEWS<\/strong>, Gowon clarified that he had no prior knowledge of the July 1966 counter-coup<\/strong>, which resulted in the assassination of then Head of State, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know about the July counter-coup ahead of time,\u201d Gowon said. \u201cI tried to warn General Ironsi, but it was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n Gowon, who was Chief of Army Staff at the time, described the period as chaotic and emotionally devastating. \u201cWhen I was informed about his death, it was a terrible moment. I had served under Ironsi. It pained me deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the coup and power vacuum, Gowon was appointed Head of State. He admitted he was unprepared but acted out of a strong sense of duty to keep Nigeria united. \u201cI was not trained to rule. I had to rise to the occasion and act in the best interest of Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n Gowon also shed light on the collapse of the 1967 Aburi Accord<\/strong>, revealing that a key sticking point was Eastern Region leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu\u2019s demand for regional control of military zones.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wanted regional governors, including himself, to command military forces in their areas,\u201d Gowon said. \u201cThat was something the federal government could not accept.\u201d<\/p>\n While both sides initially engaged in good faith at the Aburi summit in Ghana, Gowon noted that misunderstandings grew after their return. Illness prevented him from quickly responding to Ojukwu\u2019s unilateral interpretation of the agreement, which further deepened tensions.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, I was ill and couldn\u2019t respond immediately. Meanwhile, Ojukwu had already made public statements about the Accord,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n In an effort to reconcile, Gowon said the federal government invited all regional governors, including Ojukwu, to a follow-up meeting in Benin\u2014an invitation Ojukwu declined.<\/p>\n \u201cThat meeting could have saved the country. We were willing to operate in the spirit of Aburi but not at the cost of national unity,\u201d Gowon insisted. \u201cNo region can secede from Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n The failure of the Aburi Accord is widely seen as the last missed opportunity to avoid the Nigerian Civil War, which broke out in July 1967 and resulted in over one million deaths.<\/p>\n Gowon\u2019s revelations offer fresh perspective on one of Nigeria\u2019s darkest chapters, emphasizing that control of national armed forces was a non-negotiable issue for the federal side\u2014a decision that ultimately shaped Nigeria\u2019s destiny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has made rare public disclosures about two defining events in Nigeria\u2019s post-independence history\u2014the 1966 counter-coup and the breakdown of the Aburi Accord that led to the civil war. In an exclusive interview with ARISE NEWS, Gowon clarified that he had no prior knowledge of the July […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Gowon reveals new details on 1966 coup and collapse of Aburi Accord, highlighting key triggers of Nigeria\u2019s civil war.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8023,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8019\/revisions\/8023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On the Aburi Accord: The Red Line That Broke Unity Talks<\/strong><\/h3>\n