Fifty-six years after the guns fell silent, Nigeria still flinches at the mention of the Civil War. That reflex kicked in again last month when former Head of State Yakubu Gowon released “My Life of Duty and Allegiance”, reopening a ledger many hoped had been closed.
In the memoir, Gowon accuses the late Chukwuemeka Ojukwu of selling a false version of the 1967 Aburi Accord to Eastern Nigerians. He says Ojukwu framed the Ghana talks as a green light for secession, even while smuggling arms into the Eastern Region and preaching peace in public. Gowon points to a 1966 plane crash in northern Cameroon as evidence of a weapons build-up cut short.
For Nigerians, the claims drag memory and justice back into the ring. And when we peel this conflict like an onion, we keep coming back to the same bitter core: not just how it ended, but why it
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