Gowon, not Ojukwu, caused civil war –Igbo group

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.”
|Punch