Gowon: Ojukwu Deliberately Undermined the 1967 Aburi Accord, New Memoir Reveals

In his newly released 859-page autobiography, former Head of State Yakubu Gowon accuses Biafran leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu of sabotaging the historic Aburi Accord of January 1967. Gowon recalls that Ojukwu arrived in Ghana with fixed positions and then misrepresented the meeting’s outcome to Eastern Nigerians. He also quotes Ojukwu privately mocking him as a “Bible-carrying” officer who would pray rather than fight. The memoir alleges that while official peace talks proceeded, Ojukwu was secretly amassing arms and later boasted of one of Africa’s strongest regional armies. Gowon says he offered major concessions through Decree No. 8 but that Ojukwu rejected any clause barring secession. These revelations are likely to reignite debates over why the Aburi Accord failed and the underlying causes of the Nigerian Civil War.

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