Gowon blames collapse of Aburi Accord on Ojukwu’s push for regional military control

Yakubu Gowon, former Nigerian head of state, has revealed that the collapse of the Aburi Accord, the final major effort to avert Nigeria’s civil war, was due to a fundamental disagreement over who should control military forces across the country’s regions.

Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Gowon explained that while the January 1967 peace summit in Aburi, Ghana, was marked by sincere dialogue between both sides, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Eastern Region leader, later made demands that were unacceptable to the federal government.

“Although we said that the military would be zoned, you know, but the control… he wanted, you know, those zones to be commanded by the governor. Say you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the east, it would be commanded by, you know, by him,” Gowon said. “And, of course, we did not agree with that one.”

According to Gowon, the federal delegation never saw the Aburi meeting as an avenue to restructure the country’s constitution or devolve military authority.

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“We just went there as far as we are concerned to be able to meet as officers now, and then to agree to be able to get back home and resolve a problem at home. That was my understanding. But that is not his understanding.”

The former head of state also disclosed that he fell ill shortly after returning to Nigeria from the summit, which delayed his response to the terms Ojukwu publicly outlined. This, Gowon said, created space for confusion and miscommunication.

“Unfortunately… I was having serious attack of kind of fever or whatever it is, and I could not make a decision,” he said.

He accused Ojukwu of making unilateral statements on the Accord before a joint resolution could be reached.

“Ojukwu was one who, when he came, he went and made… a statement about the Aburi Accord,” Gowon said.

In a bid to resolve the situation, Gowon said the federal government convened a follow-up meeting in Benin and invited all regional governors to attend, including Ojukwu, but the Eastern leader refused to show up.

“We had to organise that, you know, a meeting of all the governors. And he was invited to attend so that we can deal with the Accord. And we met at Nifo in Benin. And he did not turn up.”

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Gowon insisted that had Ojukwu honoured the invitation, it might have prevented the escalation that eventually led to war.

He added that while the federal government was open to implementing the “spirit of Aburi,” it could not concede military command to the regions or allow the threat of secession.

“The only thing that I added was that no region, you know, will, you know, can secede from the country.”

The Aburi Accord’s collapse is widely considered a pivotal moment that triggered the Nigerian Civil War, which began in July 1967 and lasted until 1970, claiming over a million lives.