By Bayo Davids<\/p>\n
Former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has revealed how he restrained some of the Nigerian Army\u2019s most aggressive officers from arresting the then Military Governor of the Eastern Region, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, at the height of the political and military crisis that eventually led to the Nigerian Civil War.<\/p>\n
Gowon made the disclosure in Chapter Nine of his autobiography, My Life of Duty and Allegiance, unveiled in Abuja on Tuesday before an audience that included Vice President Kashim Shettima, former Defence Minister Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, businessman Aliko Dangote and Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah.<\/p>\n
The memoir revisits one of the most turbulent periods in Nigeria\u2019s history \u2014 the political crisis that followed the January 15 and July 1966 military coups, the collapse of trust within the military hierarchy, and the eventual declaration of the Republic of Biafra by Ojukwu in 1967.<\/p>\n
At the time, Ojukwu was Military Governor of the Eastern Region while Gowon emerged as Head of State following the assassination of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi during the July 1966 counter-coup.<\/p>\n
The transition was controversial and deeply contested within military circles, especially by Ojukwu, who questioned both the process that brought Gowon to power and the chain of command within the army.<\/p>\n
Recalling the tension that existed between both men and among officers loyal to the Federal Military Government, Gowon wrote, \u201cHe only saw me as a Bible-thumping \u2018Jack\u2019 who, before anything else, would pick his Bible and pray rather than stand up to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Gowon, Ojukwu\u2019s attitude angered several officers who wanted immediate military action against the Eastern Region leadership.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cHis posturing did not go down well with several officers. An example of a few of these officers was the Commanding Officer of the Second Battalion Enugu at the time, Lt.Col. Benjamin Adekunle, whom I liked to call \u2018Zomo\u2019 (Hausa for rabbit) because of his big, protruding ears. He ceaselessly sought my permission to advance from the barracks to the Government House, Enugu to arrest Ojukwu. Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed, on the other hand, could barely contain his zeal to capture Ojukwu without fanfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI firmly calmed the angry officers down because I did not want the situation to be misconstrued, moreso as we did not aim at imposing unnecessary authority over the Eastern Region or any other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Murtala Muhammed and Benjamin Adekunle later became central figures in the prosecution of the civil war. Adekunle, popularly known as the \u201cBlack Scorpion,\u201d commanded the Marine Commando Division, while Murtala emerged as one of the war\u2019s most influential field commanders before eventually becoming Head of State in 1975.<\/p>\n
Gowon also used the book to revisit the long-running controversy over seniority between him and Ojukwu \u2014 a dispute that worsened relations between both officers during the crisis years.<\/p>\n
On page 246 of the memoir, Gowon said, \u201cHe (Ojukwu) preferred to believe he was my senior, never minding that I was commissioned two years before he received his commission. I was commissioned in 1956, with service number N\/20 while he, with service number N\/29, was commissioned in 1958, and he was one of the first set of university graduates to be directly recruited from outside the army.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gowon further argued that university education was not unusual among officers at the time, adding, \u201cBut Col. Victor Banjo was already a degree holder and a qualified Mechanical Engineer before Ojukwu joined the Army. By 1963, the Army had more than six graduate officers, the most notable being Victor Banjo, Olufemi Olutoye, Oluwole Rotimi, Austen Peters and Ahmadu Ali (the latter two being medical doctors), Adewale Ademoyega and Emmanuel Ifeajuna.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Head of State explained that although both officers attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on the same day \u2014 April 1, 1963 \u2014 subsequent appointments placed him above Ojukwu within the military structure.<\/p>\n
He wrote, \u201cAs it happened, we were both promoted to the rank of Lt. Col on the same day, April 1, 1963. I was subsequently appointed as Adjutant General while he was Quartermaster General of the Nigerian Army.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe held these posts until May 1965 when I attended the JSSC course in Latimer, UK while Ojukwu was posted as Commanding Officer of the Fifth Battalion, Nigerian Army in Kano.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the January 15, 1966 coup, he was appointed the Governor of the Eastern Region while I was appointed the Chief of Staff (CoS) to the GOC, General Ironsi. In strict military hierarchy, therefore, I was senior to him by my appointment, yet Ojukwu refused to recognise me as such.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rivalry between Gowon and Ojukwu would eventually culminate in the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted from July 1967 to January 1970 and remains one of the defining events in Nigeria\u2019s post-independence history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bayo Davids Former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has revealed how he restrained some of the Nigerian Army\u2019s most aggressive officers from arresting the then Military Governor of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n