Politics
Aburi was not a single’s tennis match between Gowon and Ojukwu – Professor ABC Nwosu
Former Minister of Health and eminent statesman, PROFESSOR A. B. C. NWOSU, in this interview responded to some of the issues raised by General Yakubu Gowon in his recent interview, on his roles in the Nigeria – Biafra War. He is of the view that there are critical issues that the former Head of State did not address, warning that “Nigeria will continue to be an unstable state until we restructure.”
You must have read General Yakubu Gowon’s interview; as a person close to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and final year undergraduate who was politically active, how did you feel at the time?
I felt sad. Very sad because I had expected that Gowon would reveal at least some of the things which have bothered me and Ndigbo from 1966 till now. Gowon’s interview was not only sad for me because of his self-serving half-truth but for the major things not said. I don’t think that Gowon believes that total deviation from the Aburi agreement was the cause of the civil war but everybody, and I mean everybody who was a “Biafran” at the time, doubted that it was. That’s why ‘On Aburi We Stand’ was the war cry from the East. If Aburi had been implemented there would have been no Nigeria – Biafra War. I thank the respected Journalist, Chuks Iloegbunam, for his masterful response to General Gowon published in the Vanguard.
For example, when General Gowon said that he didn’t call his Secretary to Government to the Aburi meeting whilst Ojukwu did, I said to myself that General Gowon has lost it because Aburi was not a single’s tennis match between him and his so-called friend, Ojukwu.
Why is Aburi critical for Nigeria?
Aburi was critical because every other discussion on what had happened namely, the January 15 coup, May 29 pogrom and the July 29 counter coup had failed to resolve the matter as the various delegations had feared for their lives and would not attend further meetings. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s meeting with Ojukwu on May 5th and 6th, 1967 did not succeed in bringing the Eastern delegation to the meeting. As Gowon correctly said, the East could not attend any meeting in Nigeria because they feared for their lives. As Gowon also said, a British war plane as well as a Naval war ship were considered but rejected by the East because of the involvement of Britain in the conflict. So the acceptable venue was General Ankrah and his offer of Aburi in Ghana. It was not a meeting between Gowon and Ojukwu, that’s why I insist it was not a single’s tennis match between the two of them. It was a meeting between General Gowon, who came with the federal cabinet secretariat; General Hassan Usman Katsina and the Secretary to the Northern Government; Governor David Ejoor, who came with the Secretary of the Midwest Government; Governor Adeyinka Adebayo, who came with the Secretary of the Western Nigerian government and Governor Odumegwu Ojukwu, who came with Eastern Nigerian government. So, it was a full-fledged Nigerian meeting to avert a war and not a meeting between Gowon and Ojukwu.
One of the key unanimous decisions at Aburi was that the conflict would not be settled through a war. Therefore to say that we fought to live together is not true since all of them had agreed that fighting was not necessary and would not be used to settle the matter. In any case, the matter of dividing Nigeria into 12 states was neither tabled nor discussed at Aburi. What was discussed was devolution of powers from the centre to the federating units including coercive agencies of State like Police, Army etc. What was discussed with unanimity was in making appointments to “Super Permanent Secretaries”, Inspector General of Power, etc. This greatly irked the super permanent secretaries at the time, who submitted an anti-Aburu agreement memo.
What was required in order to keep good faith was a follow-up meeting by all those present at the original meeting where the original agreement was reached. The other members cannot implement their version of the agreement without consulting and getting the concurrence of the Eastern government that wore the shoes that were pinching them on all sides – refugees and rehabilitation, burial of so many dead bodies and fleeing citizens, etc. So, it was wrong to have implemented the civil servant-mutilated Aburi Agreement. If one checks the sequence of events leading to the Nigeria – Biafra war, the creation of 12 states on 5th May 1967, which was not part of Aburi, was done to take the wind off the sails of the urge for the creation of Biafra. This was clearly bad faith shown by the federal government. Unfortunately, this was the impetus that accelerated the declaration of Biafra on 30th May, 1967 because people of the East feared that the federal government could declare a state of emergency and invade the East. Biafra was not declared before the creation of the 12 states, which was not in the spirit of the Aburi agreement.
One of the major agreements of the Aburi was the repatriation of soldiers to their states of origin. The West continued to whine over this until the Nigeria – Biafra war, where they joined the fight against Biafra.
But Aburi will continue to hunt Nigeria in the form of RESTRUCTURING of the Nigerian polity along the intentions of the founding fathers of the republic, where there are no senior or junior Nigerians, and where the federating units are coordinate government, not this nonsense of sub-national government. Sub-national government implies that Tafawa Balewa was senior to Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Dr. Michael Okpara. To me that is arrant nonsense, and all these people using the term Sub-national government don’t know what a federation is.
You told me that you are worried about Gowon’s silence over January 15 coup in 1966 and the counter coup of July 1966, what are your worries?
I am worried about the January 15th coup because I know it was fully investigated by the special branch of the police under late Inspector General of Police MD Yusuf and the report up till now is not public, even though some people have managed to lay their hands on it. The report was said to have been submitted to the Chief of Army Staff under General Ironsi (which would be General Gowon) but Gowon has said nothing about it so far. I would have liked to know how many people were investigated; the statement that they made and in particular, whether it was an Igbo coup. I know for certain that the report indicated that Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna and Demola Ademoyiga were the central figures of the coup and that Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogu was involved towards the later part of their planning. There are rumors that others were involved but Nigerians would like to see what the report was like. It was also sad that General Gowon kept total silence on the counter coup of July 29 and how he became Supreme Commander.
That interview by Gowon was also totally silent on the pogrom and killing of civilians in the North and West of Nigeria. Easterners, especially Ndigbo, would wonder why he was silent because these were the bases of fears of insecurity by Easterners, especially Ndigbo, about their lives and property in their own country without being protected by their own government. Knowing the reason why people get killed and their properties seized when they venture out of their states of origin, is critical for stability in Nigeria.
Gowon stated that he gave specific instructions on the rules of engagement for the Nigerian Army for the war…(cuts in)
Really, and were these rules enforced? I never read of the tribunal and trials of those behind the Asaba Massacre for example. Meanwhile, “Asaba still mourns” and have erected a memorial to give their sons respectable rest. The other day Ogbomosho people wanted National Honours for their son and hero, Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle. I wonder whether it was the same Brigadier Adekunle, the Black Scorpion, who ordered that anything moving should be shot, even the dogs, but I leave that for now. And the West still feels that Colonel Emma Nwaobosi should be publicly hanged for killing Governor Akintola and his wife whilst idolizing Chief Awolowo. It perplexes me. ,
Finally, on war crimes, I am still to come to terms with the fact that starvation of new born children, their mothers and toddlers could be a legitimate instrument of war. Is that part of the UN Convention? And yet nobody talks about these things, just wishing that those who lost their loved ones should just hide in the corner and shut their mouths. And Gowon kept quiet on this in the interview.
It is obvious, from what you said, that you expected more from Gowon’s interview…
Yes. As I would have expected from Ojukwu, if he ever gave an interview in the later part of his life. In three months it will be 55 years since the war ended and Nigerians are living together but the same problems that were to be solved by Aburi are still very much with us. We keep having conferences upon conferences on how to live in a more stable united country. We even had under Obasanjo a Truth and Reconciliation Commission under the renowned jurist, Chukwudifu Oputa with also renowned Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah as Secretary, but nobody was ready to talk. Nobody also had any regrets. Governor Usman Farouk, Governor of Northwest State when Nigeria was a 12 state structure and member of the investigative panel of MD Yusuf Panel for the January 15 coup, wrote his book titled, “There were Victors and There were Vanquished”. Some of us have copies. Nobody is still ready to talk and say exactly what happened. Even when these national conferences agree on issues like State Police, Devolution of Powers, Less funds for the Federal Government, more percentage on Derivation Principle, they don’t get implemented either by a president who throws the report into the trash bin nor by a president, who is supposed to be an apostle of true federalism and fiscal federalism. The consoling issue is that we shall all go the way of all mortals whether we like it or not. And Nigeria will continue to be an unstable state until we RESTRUCTURE.
Politics
We’ll quit PDP if Udeh-Okoye is not returned National Secretary – PDP South-East Caucus threatens
…Offers pathway to peace, unity, stability
•Mbah: South-East must stand together
•Wabara: We’ve been trampled upon too many times
•Udenwa: We don’t want to be taken for granted any longer
•Secretariat staff, management decry crisis, support governors’ position
The crisis plaguing the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) got messier Wednesday, as the South-east caucus of the party threatened to quit en masse if its nominee, Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye, was not returned as PDP National Secretary.
That was as the management and staff of the PDP national secretariat expressed concern over the state of the party, lamenting that in the last one year, the party has been engulfed in a disturbing leadership crisis, particularly, over the office of National Secretary.
Speaking on the plight of the South-east in PDP, Enugu State Governor and leader of the PDP in the zone, Dr. Peter Mbah, said it was time for the zone to speak with one voice.
Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Adolphus Wabara, and former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, also expressed anger over what they described as the party’s disrespect for the region.
The geopolitical zone vented its displeasure in a communique read by the zonal chairman, Chief Ali Odefa, at the end of a meeting of the South East Zonal Executive, at Government House, Enugu.
It said the meeting was convened to nominate a candidate to complete the remaining term in the position of National Secretary in line with the directive of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) during its 600th meeting in Abuja.
Odefa said, “The South East ZEC exhaustively deliberated on the directive of the NWC and came to the conclusion that it offered a sure pathway to peace, unity, stability, and progress of our party.
“Consequently, the ZEC unanimously recommended Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the candidate to complete the term of office of the National Secretary.”
The South East PDP regretted that it had to go through the process of nominating Udeh-Okoye several times since October 2023. It urged the NWC to not only immediately ratify his nomination, but also ensure that Arch. Setonji Koshoedo effectively occupied the office of National Secretary in acting capacity pending Udeh-Okoye’s ratification by the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC).
The South East PDP threatened to review its membership of the party should its position suffer further delay, despite its age long loyalty to PDP.
The communique said, “The South East has consistently served as a stronghold of the PDP from inception. In PDP’s near three-decade existence, we have given our loyalty and all to the party.
“Currently, while the party has been losing key members post-2023 general election, the South East PDP is at the vanguard of strengthening the party by rallying major opposition figures such as in Enugu, where the Labour Party, LP, gubernatorial candidate, two LP House of Representatives members, numerous members of the House of Assembly, among other stalwarts into the PDP fold.
“Therefore, we hope that this time around, the position of the South East PDP regarding the Office of the National Secretary is accorded the honour and immediacy it deserves. This would bring to a closure the needless lingering dispute over the matter.
“However, in the event that our position is not promptly implemented by the party, the South East PDP, as a family, will be compelled to reconsider our relationship with the PDP going forward.”
Wabara said it was in order to review the region’s relationship with the party should what he described as trampling on the zone by the party persist.
He stated, “We have been trampled upon, not taken seriously. If such a position were vacant in the South-south, it would not be like this. And now, it came to us. I mean, the usual thing is to play politics with the Igbo man. Yes, we may have to reconsider our stand as far as the party is concerned. But I trust the NWC.”
Udenwa also said, “We are expecting that this issue will be finally ironed out once and for all. We do not want to be taken for granted by anybody again.”
Meanwhile, staff of the PDP national secretariat in Abuja called on the acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Iliya Damagum, to take all necessary steps to ensure that the NEC meeting held as scheduled, on May 27, to enable the party address pertinent issues and reassert its values of unity, discipline, loyalty and strict adherence to the provisions of the party’s constitution.
The management and staff said they supported Koshoedo as acting national secretary of the party, and commended the BoT, NWC, the governors’ forum, and other stakeholders.
They also pledged their continued loyalty and commitment to PDP.
The management and staff said, in a joint statement, “After a thorough consideration, the management and staff of the PDP national secretariat unanimously align with and declare unalloyed loyalty to the recommendation of the PDP Governor’s Forum as adopted by the NWC in recognising and working with Arch Setonji Koshoedo as the Acting National Secretary of our party in line with the provisions of the PDP Constitution.
“This recommendation, which is in consonant with Section 36 (2) of the PDP Constitution was duly adopted by the NWC in its 600th meeting held on April 29, 2025 wherein in exercise of its powers under Section 29 (2)(b) of the PDP Constitution directed the Deputy National Secretary, Arch Setonji Koshoedo, to act as the National Secretary pending the emergence of a substantive National Secretary.
“We believe that the NWC’s directive that Arch Setonji Koshoedo acts as National Secretary is in the overall interest of the stability of our party, being the best step at the moment to restore the confidence of members of the party and preserve the integrity of our internal affairs
“Moreover, we are aware that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received and acknowledged Arch Setonji Koshoedo as the Acting National Secretary of the PDP.
“We are also aware that INEC is receiving and attending to correspondences of our party signed by Arch Setonji Koshoedo, contrary to false narratives by certain quarters.
“As staff of the PDP, we fully recognise and appreciate the roles and contributions Senator Anyanwu has played and made for the growth and success of the party, especially issues regarding staff welfare, but at this moment we strongly believe that there is no sacrifice too high for any individual to make for the overall interest of our party.
“The PDP gave him the platform from which he rose from local government chairman, to senator and also elected as the National Secretary of our party.”
The management and staff said the leadership dispute was worsened by protracted litigations, violent disruption of activities at the party secretariat, and damaging media narratives, which posed serious threat to the stability and survival of PDP as well as the credibility of its internal processes.
They said in the statement that staff of the national secretariat were among the key stakeholders in the affairs of the party because many of them had spent 20 to 25 years of their working lives striving to establish and grow the bureaucracy of the party and were bestowed with rich institutional memory regarding the party.
They said they were desirous and concerned about getting the problems solved without further delay.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has yet to make any decision regarding the national chairman and national secretary crisis rocking Labour Party (LP).
The commission made the clarification in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, on Thursday in Abuja.
Oyekanmi also said that it had yet to take any decision on the national secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The commission faulted some media reports which claimed that INEC had recognised the embattled national chairman of LP, Julius Abure as well as Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the national secretary of the PDP.
Oyekanmi said the reports were false and misleading.
“Our attention has been drawn to some media reports claiming that the commission has recognised certain persons as the national chairman and national secretary of LP.
“The reports also inferred that the commission has restored a particular individual as the national secretary of PDP, referring to the listings on the commission’s official website.
“However, the reports are false and misleading. The commission has not made any decision in respect of either the LP or PDP,” he said.
Oyekanmi said that the names of the national officers of LP had previously been uploaded to INEC website, following a court order, not related in any way to the latest judgement of the Supreme Court.
“In the same manner, the name of the national secretary of PDP on the same website was neither deleted nor reinstated.
“As a law abiding institution, the commission is carefully studying the judgment of the Supreme Court on the LP and will communicate its decision to the public in due course,” Oyekanmi said.
AS the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prepares for its much-anticipated national convention in Kano, party elders and stakeholders are urging politicians who are planning to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to do so without delay.
Top sources within the PDP told the Sunday Tribune that the leadership of the party would prefer a “clean slate” ahead of the convention, especially in light of recent high-profile defections and ongoing speculation about others who may soon follow suit.
The concern, Insiders say, is that those who are not committed to the party’s future should not be allowed to influence the process of electing a new national executive.
“Whoever wants to leave should leave now because we don’t want them to have any input in the leadership. They can even mislead us anyway,” said a founding member of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We want a new leadership that is not tied to the ambitions or manipulations of those planning to betray the party.”
The warning comes amid deepening internal tensions over the defection of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to the APC – an exit the PDP has chosen to downplay publicly, despite the signal it sends about waning influence in some quarters.
While more defections are rumoured to be imminent – including among lawmakers and former officeholders—PDP stakeholders insist that numbers alone do not guarantee political success.
“In 2015, we had the majority of state governors and still lost the presidential election,” one senior official remarked.
According to him, what Nigeria needs is not a dominant one-party state but a truly competitive democracy.
“The number of governors is immaterial. What matters is preserving multiparty democracy. We may be in trouble now, but should we give in to dictatorship? No. Democracy is worth fighting for.”
The party’s upcoming convention is seen as a crucial moment in repositioning the PDP ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Insiders say the goal is to elect a credible, reform-minded national leadership that will reconnect with the grassroots and rebuild public trust.
Despite setbacks, PDP leaders remain defiant in the face of APC’s growing dominance, which has been aided by a wave of defections and political realignments since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023. However, many within the party argue that a house purged of fair-weather allies is better equipped to recover and offer a viable alternative in the next electoral cycle.
As one party elder put it, “It’s better we face our storm now than later. Those who want to leave should leave. Those who stay must be ready to rebuild.”
Following the recent Delta stakeholders defection to the APC, PDP had declared its intention to challenge in court what it described as the trading away of its electoral mandates in the state.
This was part of the resolutions reached at a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), presided over by the acting National Chairman, Ambassador Iliya Damagum, at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja last week.
The party leadership condemned the mass defections as a betrayal of the people’s mandate and vowed to initiate legal and political steps to reclaim its lost ground.
In a decisive move to reassert control over its Delta structure, the NWC had directed the South-South Zonal Caretaker Committee, led by Chief Emma Ogidi, to immediately take charge of the party’s affairs in the state.
The zonal body was instructed to relocate temporarily to Delta State, take inventory of party assets, and ensure continuity of PDP operations pending the appointment of a full caretaker committee.
Sunday Tribune
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