General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s former military Head of State on Saturday said there would not have been any need for the Nigerian Civil War if there were no plans of secession by the people of the South East under Biafra.
The Nigerian civil war between July 1967 and January 1970 was prosecuted during the period General Gowon was Head of State between August 1, 1966 and July 29, 1975.
The former leader said the Nigerian civil war was inevitable due to the South East’s desire to secede.
Gowon, who spoke in an interview with Daily Trust, said: “It got to the stage that the situation was getting pretty clear that a part of the country, the South East wanted to secede.”
The former Head of State asked South East residents to embrace national unity, stating that “Biafra’s dissolution followed Nigerians’ acceptance of reintegration and unity.
“I have always said that if there’s no secession, there wouldn’t be a breakout and there wouldn’t be a question of civil war because it got to the stage that the situation was getting pretty clear that a part of the country, the South East wanted to secede.”
Gowon added: “Sometimes I say to myself that I don’t mind being called the Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria because we had a similar situation and we were able to achieve the same result.
“I remember that one English journalist asked why I thought the war was over — what if the people continued with guerrilla warfare? But thank God there was no guerrilla.”