Yakubu Gowon And The Ghosts Of War -By Kene Obiezu

Perhaps it fits into the faithful fixture of fate that Yakubu Gowon, a key gladiator in the bloody Nigerian civil war of 1967-70, is still alive and going strong at 91. That he has outlived many key actors in what was Nigeria’s defining conflict is at once a testament to his longevity and a cautionary tale.

Despite going public to emphasize that his autobiography was not an attempt to reopen the wounds of the Nigerian civil war, a book vaulted into the heart of history by a key player in a decisive moment for Nigeria would always bludgeon open old wounds while inflicting new ones. Books have that power to wound but also to heal.

When Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the key protagonist of the short-lived Biafra Republic, breathed his last in 2013 without an autobiographical account of what truly transpired, the diviners of history feared the worst. It truly warms the cockles of the heart to know that Gowon is not about to make the same mistake.
Because, after all, it is important to hear and know what truly transpired from one of the key figures in an episode that has perhaps scarred Nigeria forever. Provided there won’t be embellishments, exaggerations, and execrable excuses, Nigerians need to know what really happened.

The survivors of all those who died in the war need to have a full account of what happened; a country’s historical memory has to be honored by a full account that does not hold back.
At the time the war broke out, Yakubu Gowon was only 33. His military training notwithstanding, it is clear that being thrust into the crucible of the civil war at that young age must have been a crippling burden. Ojukwu was similarly young—only 34, which meant that the war was prosecuted by young people on both sides. While bravery can come with youth, exuberant folly is also a firm fixture of youth.

So, it would be interesting to hear what went through the heart and head of Yakubu Gowon as he prosecuted the war. Specifically, it would be crucial to find out if he viewed Biafra as an enemy to be crushed or as a straying family member to be reunited with the family. The heavy-handed tactics employed by the Nigerian side during the war seem to suggest that annihilation was deemed a solution to an irritable rash. There was, as it were, a deliberate attempt to utterly destroy Biafra so that nothing of that sort would ever happen again. The problem is that “problems” like Biafra never really go away.

So, Gowon, whose life ever since has been about making amends for his role in a devastating conflict, should forget about political correctness and reopen the wounds of the Nigerian civil war.
At the end of the war, he declared no victor and no vanquished, seemingly ushering Nigeria into a period of national healing. But only a few are fooled. Fifty-six years down the line, the wounds of the civil war are yet to heal. They will do with a reopening.

The anaesthetic applied has long worn off. The wounds must now be reopened for proper treatment to be commenced once and for all.

For as long as Nnamdi Kanu who was not even born when the civil war ended, stews behind prison bars in Sokoto for championing Biafra, any book about the civil war that does not address the root causes of the war with defiant accountability and responsibility will only go down as another exercise in print futility.

Yakubu Gowon must pull no punches even if it means his frail old body will get some pounding, for the ghosts of the civil war, especially those who wail on the banks of the River Niger every other night, are not easily appeased.

Kene Obiezu is a lawyer and writer. He can be reached at keneobiezu@gmail.com