Senator Victor Umeh has declared that the Nigeria that former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, claimed to have fought to keep united is still suffering today, and accused the former military leader of spreading lies about the Biafran War while ignoring the suffering of the Southeast.
Reacting to Gowon’s recent interview on Arise TV, where the ex-Head of State blamed the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu for the war and insisted the conflict was not anti-Igbo, Umeh described the statements as a “deliberate distortion of history” and “deeply insulting to the memory of those who died.”
“We will not allow Gowon to lie or twist history. All that he said are false. At 91, I will not want to join issues with him, except, of course, if he is suffering from dementia,” Umeh told journalists in Awka.
He said Gowon had failed to show remorse or offer any meaningful reconciliation despite the war ending over five decades ago.
“It is time for him to speak the truth to heal the pains of that war. The war ended 51 years ago, and we have moved on, but for him to come back at 91 years of age and begin to lie is unfortunate, and it means that he is not thinking about how to leave Nigeria in peace,” he added.
Umeh noted that Nigeria’s unity remains in question today, with mass killings and divisions worsening under every administration. “He said the reason the civil war was fought was to keep Nigeria one, but is Nigeria one today? The president was in Benue yesterday, where people of Gowon’s zone were being slaughtered on a daily basis. So what has he done to make Nigeria one?”
The senator called on Gowon to emulate other former leaders who documented their time in office and offer Nigerians an honest account of what really led to the war.
“Let him go and write his own truthful account of what led to the war. He should know that conscience is an open wound and only the truth can heal it,” Umeh stated.
He also accused Gowon of betraying the Aburi Accord reached with Ojukwu and igniting the fire of a conflict that wrecked the Southeast. “What happened after Aburi was a complete betrayal, and the attempt now to rewrite history is an insult to the memory of those who died.”
According to Umeh, Gowon’s claim that the war wasn’t targeted at Igbos is not only false but also a cruel denial of documented events.
“He keeps claiming the war wasn’t against Igbos, but the facts speak otherwise—Igbo soldiers were targeted, Igbo businesses destroyed, and our people were starved and marginalised,” he said.
READ MORE: Despite My Role in Civil War, I Wish to be Remembered as Leader Who Loved Nigerians — Yakubu Gowon
Umeh further accused Gowon of driving a wedge between Nigeria’s major ethnic groups. “Gowon is the one who laid the foundation for all the problems Nigeria is having today. He is the one who brought the Igbos and Yorubas at the crossroads, and mistrust came in,” he said.
He warned that Gowon’s recent remarks risk reopening old wounds and undermining reconciliation.
“Ojukwu is no more to join issues with him. When Ojukwu was alive, he was talking, and Gowon refused to talk. Now that Ojukwu is dead, he has started talking, and that is unfortunate,” the senator said.
Umeh concluded by demanding that Gowon apologise to the people of the Southeast for the role he played in the war and the lasting damage it caused. “Let him come out boldly and say sorry to the Igbo people of Nigeria,” he said.
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