A pro-Biafra group, the Biafra Zionists
Federation, on Monday blamed a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon
for the civil war that started in 1967.....
The BZF leader, Benjamin Onwuka, who expressed the view in a statement in said Gowon caused the war.
Onwuka was reacting to Gowon’s recent
claims that the leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra, the late
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu -Ojukwu, caused the war, which reportedly claimed
over three million lives.
Onwuka, who recently announced the
formation of a ‘Biafran government’, naming himself as the ‘Interim
President’, said it was shameful for Gowon to twist history, “even at
his old age.”
He said, “Why is he (Gowon) coming now
to tell us what happened during the civil war? Why didn’t he make these
declarations when Ojukwu was alive? Why did he wait until six years
after Ojukwu’s demise before coming to say that Ojukwu lied? Why now?
“Gowon should produce the Aburi Accord
for the world to see; let him produce the one he claims to be the
genuine accord. We are challenging him.
“Gowon is to be blamed for the crisis in
Nigeria from 1967 till date. He caused the whole crisis. He could not
control the killing of the easterners as the then Head of State.”
He said, “The Aburi Accord would have sorted out Nigeria’s problems.
The Biafrans came up with a model – a
Swiss confederation model. The East, led by Ojukwu, went prepared. Gowon
went there empty. He came up with nothing.”
He added, “Now, having agreed and signed
the accord, it was expected that Gowon would come back and make the
announcement. He refused to make the announcement. What happened? The
British government reached out to him, and warned him not to implement
the Aburi Accord.
“He was never sick. He was afraid
that the Igbo would control the oil. There was pressure on Ojukwu to
tell the people what was agreed in Aburi. Gowon reneged on the Aburi
Accord on the advice of British government.”
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