Leadership History Archive: Gen. Yakubu Gowon

[TopDonofficial]

Gowon did not tell the complete truth. He knew that Murtala Muhammed was well behind the killing of Aguiyi ironsi. He should have tried murtala muhammed but instead retained him as head of signals and then deputy during his tenure.

[Nnfefe]

Igboland is now awash with oil even though many areas were carved out and declared non Igbo because of oil presence. The moribund of Nigeria is becoming a reality and you do not have to look at the former USSR or Yugoslavia for guidance.

[slapcompany]

When you don’t know what true for you, everyone else has unusual influence.

Values are deeply held personal beliefs that form your own priority code for living.

Values are the individual biases that allow you to decide which actions are true for you alone.

What are your values?

[Nnfefe]

The remnants of colonialism is holding Nigeria together for neither Igbos nor the Yorubas nor the Hausas have anything in common culturally or otherwise.

[viokand]

Used and abused, and now the plateau Christians which you belong to are now being massacred by the northern moslems, let me see you lead another war.

[AVOIR3]

after all your studies in the uk, gowon can still not speak very well english....shame on you gowon....

[thirdexodus2008]

Gowon was British weapon to steal Biafra oil.Yorubas think minorities in South of Nig did not suport Biafra but that was a lie.They fought alongside Igbos in Biafra.Gowon was used by Britain and North and today they are reaping their proceeds.

[Nnfefe]

Reaping the Reward: Now the Islamic north is practicing genocide on the Christians of Jos where Gowon belongs.

[Biafrans7]

"Gowon had already arrived at breakfast time at Ikeja barracks that morning of July 29th (1966) and was closeted with the leaders of the coup. By sundown it was plain that seizure and killing of Eastern officers and soldiers was going on in Army barracks all over the West and the North. This pattern went on for three days,..with only Gowon shuttling between Ikeja and Lagos city; the flag of secession fluttering over the barracks.." -- Frederick Forsyth in "Emeka" page 70, published July 1982.

[omoibile]

Thank you for this interview. God bless General Yakubu Gowan, the best, unmaterialistic, respectful and truthful leader Nigeria ever heard. Unlike the greedy corrupt defiant uncaring leaders we have now in Nigeria. Biafra is dead and it better remain dead. Ojukwu the over-ambitious, tribalist was responsible for Igbos being killed not Gowon.

[dixbro87]

@omoibile I really think u are lost with that comment of urs

This man hardly expresses himself in english

how did he rule Nigeria and in what potencials

pls

[MrOneBlackMan]

The Nigerian - Biafrian war was one sided because Britain et al were supporting the Nigerian army. That is all history now, however it seems the Northerners have this sense of superiority because of the outcome of the war. Be very much aware that if the next war comes, whihc is very likely, it wont be the same. Surely the outcome will not repeat. The world is a different place and so will be the participants.

[xythinker]

@Biafrans. Your inability to engage in civil discourse without name calling/senseless foray into subjective story-telling is funny. Pure and simple, the northern counter-coup was a direct response to an Ibo-led coup which mostly claimed the lives of non-Igbos. Both coup-de-tat were wrong and set in motion the downward spiral on the Nigerian polity, the effects of which are still being felt today. I believe Ojukwu had no choice but to declare the east a sanctuary for fleeing Igbo returnees.

[Biafrans7]

@xythinker What is subjective about the facts that Nzeogwu-led coup was not ethnic-motivated as the people they targetted were political and military leaders versus July 29th July coup which targetted all Easterners, primely the Igbo? When your pretended forthright assessment ascribes Nzeogwu coup as wrong, but leaves out its cause - Balewa and Sardauna's subvertion of democracy, ethnic and religious incitements to kill. What's your motive? Which ethnic groups are other coups ascribed to?

[Okoroman]

On July 29, 1966 Major T. Y. Danjuma and a murderous gang of Hausa/Fulani soldiers murdered their supreme commander and Head of State, Major General Aguiyi Ironsi and his host Col. Adekunle Fajuiyi in Ibadan . They also went around Nigeria and killed about 250 army officers of Biafran origin.

[shebanyan]

Mr Biafrans7, you bias doesn't allow you objectivity. You make it sound like the North woke up one day and started killing Igbos and their leaders. What caused the killing and the counter coup?

We can have a diaglogue by mistakes made by a young country with inexperienced leaders. But if you stab me with a knife and I shoot you with a gun, don't complain.

[Biafrans7]

Shebanyan, no they did not just wake up. There remarks in 1940s and 50s already showed there unjustified resentments against the Igbo. That was behind the massacre of the Igbo by Hausa-fulani in 1945 in Jos and 1953 in Kano prior to the genocidal killings of 1966 -1970.

[Biafrans7]

"In response to anti-Igbo incitements, Igbo citizens in northern Nigeria were massacred in three waves of pogrom in most sadistic and inhuman methods that made the Jewish holocaust appear like mercy-killing. 50,000 Igbos were slaughtered. Some of the inhuman methods of slaughter were recorded in affidavits of eye witnesses." ---- Ohaneze. Guardian Newspapers. July 26, 2001. These incidents took place under Yakubu Gowon's leadership.

[trommelbiel]

As an Igbo man I consider Gowon to be a very intelligent man. Only a mad man would want to lead a large country like Nigeria at the age of 31. But Gowon clearly knew about the plan to eliminate Ironsi. Gowon also could have stopped the execution of Ironsi if he did not have personal ambitions. But I still respect the man.

[Biafrans7]

trommelbiel, Yoruba propagandist making their usual unreasonable statements. Liars by nature.

[Onyibeb]

If you respect him then the blood of the innocent he is carrying is also on your own hands and heart, simple!

[Biafrans7]

"...on January 26th (1967) in Lagos, without any forewarning to the East, Yakubu Gowon gave a press conference. Reading from a prepared text he point by point rejected the four main points of the agreements at Aburi." ---- Frederick Forsyth in "Emeka" page 88, published first in 1982.

[nyamdarkee]

luckybush, you are the idiot. The igbos had ambition from day one. The igbos started killing northerners first.

[Biafrans7]

Non-Igbo participants of January 15, 1966 Coup de'tat --- Major W. Ademoyega (West), Captain G. Adeleke(West), Lt. F. Oyewole(West), 2Lt. R. Egbikor(Mid-West) 2Lt. T. Katsina(North), 2Lt. O. Olafemihon(West), Capt. G. Jalo(North), Capt. J. Swanton(North), Lt. D. Waribor(Eastern Minority), 2Lt. H.E. Eghagha(Mid-West), 2Lt. Dambo(North) and 2Lt. J. A. Kpera(North).

[Biafrans7]

"Gowon had already arrived at breakfast time at Ikeja barracks that morning of July 29th (1966) and was closeted with the leaders of the coup. By sundown it was plain that seizure and killing of Eastern officers and soldiers was going on in Army barracks all over the West and the North. This pattern went on for three days; Gowon (was) shuttling between Ikeja and lagos city..while the awful killing of Eastern soldiers.. went on inside" -- Frederick Forsyth in his book "Emeka," page 70 Pub. 1981.

[luckybushh]

this idot was the one who killed 10 million igbos the biafran included commander in chief , johnson t.u.aguiyi-ironsi from 1967- 1975 and the money that he stole from nigeria during his regim he used to build and estate in nigeria

[Biafrans7]

On close attention of an unacquainted observer

Yakubu Gowon (Nigeria's Military Head of State, 1967 - 1975) indeed appears a man of mild personality with a christian upbringing, but this view conflicts the facts that he and his fellow mutineers, in July 1966, were behind the murder of his innocent Commander-In-Chief, Johnson T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi along with about 300 military personnel from the South-East. Gowon presided over Africa's worst genocide in the 20th century - The Biafran Genocide.

[Biafrans7]

"When I became Governor of the East, my mind immediately went to Chief Obafemi Awolowo where he was in Calabar. I gave him as much protection as I could. The same as I did to J.S. Tarka..it was my own decision to release him (Awolowo) but not on any understanding. I released him because I felt that was one of the problems that beset Nigeria even before the attempted coup..On his release, he drove in the car, followed by my own personal guard." - Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Tell Mag. Sept. 18, 2000.

[Fontabele]

@Biafrans7:

Do not believe Ojukwu, he was hallucinating when he said that he released Awolowo from prison. He had no constitutional power to do that. He became governor on Jan 17, 1966. If he could release Awo, why did he not do it before Gowon came in 7 months later? Ironsi and the Igbo lost a great oppotunity in Awo. No one knows tomorrow.

Gowon released him, so he worked with Gowon. It was Igbo and Hausas (Balewa/Zik) that jailed Awo to gain political advantage. But Awo got the last laugh.

[blue8357]

@Fontabele

u are very right