The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), the leading socio-cultural youth organization for people of Igbo descent worldwide under the dogged leadership of Comrade Igboayaka O Igboayaka, issued a scathing critique of Gen. Yakubu Gowon after his Daily Post interview/90th birthday celebration, labeling him a ruthless leader akin to Uganda’s infamous Gen. Idi Amin.
General Yakubu Gowon’s cruel involvement in the Igbos genocide of 1966-1970 remains a contentious issue, with concerns about truth and accountability.
General Yakubu Gowon should be aware that the contemporary generation of Igbo descent recognizes the events of 1967-1970 not as a civil war, but rather as a systematic genocide orchestrated by the British government in conjunction with Northern and Western political bloc, specifically targeting Ndigbo.
The Nigerian-Biafran conflict contravened international humanitarian law and principles of warfare; notably, the Nigerian government under General Yakubu Gowon, aided by the British government, disregarded fundamental principles by targeting innocent civilians, including non-military spaces such as churches, schools, and markets.
We will not soon forget the devastating bombing of Owerinta market, which resulted in the loss of over 100 civilian lives and numerous injuries. Additionally, Uzuakoli market and Ozuabam market in Arochukwu, Abia State, suffered similar bombings, perpetrated by Russian Air-bombers hired by Gen Yakubu Gowon, leaving civilians with severe head injuries and exposing them to scavenging vultures. Furthermore, Okigwe National High School was bombed, claiming the lives of innocent students and leaving many more injured, with lingering remnants of the tragedy still evident today.
The 1967 Osowa Ogbe Asaba massacre, carefully committed by Nigeria’s 2nd Division led by Murtala Mohammed, has raised a historical questions about General Yakubu Gowon’s tyrannical Government, this indicate that Ibrahim Haruna and Ibrahim Taiwo were responsible for the deaths of over 700 Igbo individuals, primarily males, who were deceived into attending a gathering. This incident remains a source of trauma for Igbo youths, and General Gowon’s deliberate involvement and subsequent denials have in many media platforms will generating significant concern both now and in the future.
General Yakubu Gowon, should he provide clarification on whether ‘OPERATION NO MERCY: SHOOT EVERYTHING ASIDE’ was part of the war strategy, despite the ceasefire announcement at the peak of the genocide, which involved the 3rd Marine Commando from Port Harcourt, under General Olusegun Obasanjo’s command, targeting remaining civilians, and eliminated school children.
The Mbaise region in Imo state witnessed severe violence during the conflict, with military atrocities committed under General Yakubu Gowon’s leadership and Olusegun Obasanjo’s command. Innocent school children were reportedly attacked while returning home from school. A harrowing account involves soldiers ordering school girls to say their last prayers before being shot. Specifically, Miss Chinwe Ohaeri (now Prof Chinwe Obaji) survived an attack at Okpofe Mbaise, where over 100 school children were killed.
General Yakubu Gowon needs to account for the slaughter of over 200 Biafran soldiers who reported for disarmament in Port Harcourt after the genocide, as reportedly perpetrated by forces under General Olusegun Obasanjo’s command in the 3rd Marine Commando.
It’s obvious that what led General Yakubu Gowon to commit genocide/human rights abuses against the Igbo people, was due to perceived economic dependence on the Eastern Region’s oil resources and certain stereotypes about the North’s viability/ economic Survival without Igbo contributions.
The Unity of Nigeria by Gen Gowon was merely a facade; songs of the lips, the genocide was, in reality, a carefully orchestrated conspiracy to politically and economically marginalization of Ndigbo in Nigeria political context.
It has been asserted that General Yakubu Gowon’s administration was employed by the British government as a means to target the Igbo population in Nigeria. The genocide against Igbos, initially anticipated to conclude within three months according to General Gowon’s statements, extended to three years with the Nigerian government breathing through their noise, if not for foreign support, this contraption called Nigeria could have been existing in different countries by now.
British government carried Gen Yakubu Gowon on their back like 3 months baby sucking breast with the aid of German , Russian and USA and they killed 4.3 million Igbos. It’s therefore shameful for Gen Yakubu Gowon to claim that he fought a war.
In April 1969 at the midst of the genocide, General Yakubu Gowon celebrated the union of Miss Victoria Zakari in Lagos and embarked on a honeymoon. Considering General Gowon’s perceived limited engagement in battle, his thoughts on warfare are of interest. Examining Murtala Mohammed’s encounters with teenage Biafran soldiers could offer General Gowon valuable lessons on act of war. I advise Gen Yakubu Gowon to consult Gen Murtala’s spirit to explain to to him how teenage Biafra soldiers dealt with him at Abagana. It’s unfortunate that Gen Yakubu Gowon who was merely eating cake in Lagos with Miss Victoria Zakari is talking about war.
Gen Yakubu Gowon is a chronicle liar, and crafty agent of British empire, his silence on 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom which was another series of massacres committed against the Igbos living in Northern Nigeria which started in May 1966 and reached its peak after 29 September, 1966
The 1966 pogrom, which resulted in the loss of approximately 80,000 Igbo lives, constituted a catastrophic holocaust that prompted General Dim Odemegwu Ojukwu, Governor of the Eastern Region, to declare the Sovereign State of Biafra as a necessary measure to safeguard the lives and properties of Igbos and other marginalized minority tribes in the old Eastern Region.
General Yakubu Gowon should note that the contemporary Igbo generation is fully cognizant of the fact that the 1967-1970 evil sinister/atrocities were directed exclusively at Igbos and not at other ethnic groups within the former Eastern Region, such as the Ogoni, Ijaw, or Urhobo. This genocide, which was facilitated by global powers including Britain, the USA, France, Germany, and Russia, we recognized it as a deliberate attempt by the British government to marginalize the Igbo people.
British government in her excessive greed to maintain the oil field and harvest raw materials from Biafran land was instructmental to slaughtering of 4.3 million Igbos in 1966-1970.
The Biafran genocide, which occurred from 1966-1970, bears similarities to the Holocaust in its scope and intentionality, with estimates suggesting millions of Igbo people lost their lives during this period, mirroring the devastation inflicted upon six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1941-1945.
General Yakubu Gowon must acknowledge the lingering trauma inflicted upon the modern Igbo generation by this demeaning act,(genocide ) as undertaken to advance Buckingham Palace’s interests at the expense of Ndigbo and other ethnic minorities in old Eastern Region.
General Yakubu Gowon should be aware that Igbo youths recognize the vulnerabilities of Ndigbo in Nigeria. “The Atlantic Ocean is easier to cross than the hurdles faced by Igbo individuals in Nigeria.” It is evident that Nigerian unity frequently entails Igbo marginalization. “Ndigbo’s prospects for political and economic prosperity in Nigeria are as unlikely as a camel passing through the eye of a needle.”
Today, the consequences and legacy of General Yakubu Gowon’s actions during the Biafran conflict and executed genocide has contributed to Nigeria’s current state of instability, sparking renewed calls for secession.
It’s emperically clear, that part of the social Evil and karma of Gen Yakubu Gowon’s genocide against the Igbos is the evidence how Fulani’s are slaughtering Middle-Beltans in dozen with Herdsmen, Boko Haram and Bandits.
Nigeria’s status quo which Gen Yakubu Gowon fought for has become a poisonous venom to his people, and today Nigeria is regarded as irredeemable, irreconcilable, unsustainable, and irreparable; consequently, a sovereign national conference culminating in a referendum emerges as the sole option for Nigerians to safeguard their future survival.
Signed
Comrade Igboayaka O Igboayaka
National President
21st October, 2024
About The Author
