Gowon Distorted Aburi Accord HistoryLeading to Civil War, Group Claims
A United States-based advocacy group, Rising Sun, has accused former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), of distorting historical facts surrounding the 1967 Aburi Accord which was intended to prevent the Nigerian Civil War.
In a statement released on Sunday , the group criticised Gowon for recent remarks they described as a misrepresentation of the events that led to the collapse of the peace agreement.
According to Rising Sun, General Gowon’s claim that the accord failed because then-Eastern Region leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, insisted on regional military control is inaccurate and misleading.
The group stated that the Aburi Accord, held in Ghana on January 4 and 5, 1967, was a sincere attempt to restructure Nigeria into a true federation with balanced regional autonomy and joint military oversight.
They said it was the Federal Government’s refusal to implement the accord in full that triggered the civil war.
“The distortion of the facts by General Gowon is unfortunate and dangerous. The agreement at Aburi was a path to peace, not secession. It was the breach of that accord that led to the devastating conflict,” the statement read.
Rising Sun further alleged that Gowon’s rejection of the accord was influenced by pressure from British colonial interests and northern elites who were opposed to decentralisation of power. They maintained that Ojukwu’s position was based on federal principles that would have prevented the war.
The group said millions of lives lost during the war, especially in the East, could have been avoided if the terms of the Aburi Accord had been upheld. They also called on the Federal Government to release original documents and audio recordings from the meeting to allow for public scrutiny and historical accuracy.
They urged Nigerian historians, civil society organisations and academics to challenge what they described as a campaign of historical revisionism and ensure that future generations have access to the truth about the conflict.
As of press time, General Gowon has not publicly responded to the group’s claims. The Nigerian Civil War, which lasted from 1967 to 1970, resulted in the deaths of over one million people and remains one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history.
