Come clean on what led to civil war, Obidigbo tells Gowon
Elder statesman and President of the Osisioma Foundation, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, has urged Nigeria’s dilapidated Head of Convey, Long-established Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), to expend the twilight of his lifestyles to originate peace with God and humanity by publicly acknowledging the truth concerning the Nigerian Civil War, in particular his alleged dealings with Britain.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Obidigbo, who described himself as a discontinuance partner of the boring Biafran chief Lt.
Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, expressed deep instruct over what he termed “complicated and contradictory public statements” neutral no longer too long ago made by Gowon regarding the causes of the war.
Referring to comments made by Gowon in media interviews, where he claimed that the give procedure of the Aburi Accord and Ojukwu’s insistence on regional military bid led to war, Obidigbo brushed apart the rationalization as “absolute hogwash.” He said it used to be time Gowon stopped rewriting historical past and started telling all the truth.
“Though Gowon would possibly well no longer safe in my view wanted the war, it used to be the British and Fulani interests that compelled him to renege on the Aburi Accord,” Obidigbo said.
“Unless he makes these info public, his soul would possibly well no longer in discovering peace.”
He alleged that British diplomats and Shell Petroleum representatives, sooner than the Biafran declaration, attempted to persuade Ojukwu to secede, assuring him of strengthen and the price of oil royalties in the event of a slit up.
Essentially based on Obidigbo, Ojukwu resisted these pressures, telling the British High Commissioner, Mr. Parker, and others that the Igbo of us had been too constructed-in within Nigeria to define secession and that the East lacked the fingers and resources for war.
“Ojukwu under no conditions wanted secession. He simplest desired to substantiate the protection and dignity of his of us,” Obidigbo said.
He accused Gowon of constant to “hide in the abet of counterfeit narratives” in its set of acknowledging the open air pressures and within contradictions that led to the battle. “It’s melancholy that at this point in his lifestyles, he's nonetheless attempting to define a war that led to mass genocide in opposition to the Igbo of us,” he said.
Obidigbo additional argued that Gowon’s most up-to-date public statements are reopening gentle wounds and harming nationwide therapeutic. He when put next the British role in the Biafran blockade and genocide to the most up-to-date criticism Britain directs at Israel, calling the honour hypocritical.
“It is some distance ironic that the same Britain that supported genocide and blockade in opposition to Biafra now cries out about Israel’s actions in Gaza,” he said.
He also wondered Gowon’s failure to manufacture alternate choices to the most up-to-date insecurity in the Heart Belt, in particular in his native Plateau and Benue axis, noting that the dilapidated chief has did now not purchase a stand or provide guidance.
“Rather than address the continued bloodshed in his space, he's centered on revisiting a painful chapter of our historical past—one which he mismanaged with naivety and under international influence,” he said.
Obidigbo urged Gowon to doc his experiences essentially, handsome as dilapidated Militia President Ibrahim Babangida did in his autobiography, “A Jog in Service.”
He lamented that Gowon, who rose to handbook the nation at a young and inexperienced age, appears to be like sure to leave in the abet of a legacy of denial in preference to reflection.
“Long-established Gowon should always realise that the time for historical whitewashing is over. He owes it to Nigerians, to historical past, and to God, to say the truth and search reconciliation,” he said.
