A global pan-Igbo advocacy group, Rising Sun Survival Group, has strongly condemned former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), accusing him of attempting to justify the Biafran genocide with his recent comments on the 1967 Aburi Accord.
In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by the group’s President, Chief Maxwell Dede, and Secretary General, Rev. Fr. Augustine Odimmegwa, the group described Gowon’s claim that General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control the military—thus “bungling” the Accord—as “laughable” and a distortion of historical facts.
“Gowon, who oversaw the genocide of over five million Biafrans—women, children, and civilians alike—has no moral standing to lecture Nigerians on unity, truth, or federalism,” the group said.
The Aburi Accord, held on January 4–5, 1967 in Ghana, was widely seen as a final opportunity to avert civil war following the 1966 coups and targeted killings of Easterners in Northern Nigeria. The group insists that the agreement reached was not Ojukwu’s personal demand, but a collective decision of all military leaders present.
“The Accord called for a confederation where regions controlled their own affairs, and for shared command of the armed forces—not centralised control. This was documented in writing and tape,” the group stated.
“Gowon’s repudiation of the Accord was not due to its contents, but due to pressure from the British government and Northern elite, who feared the decentralisation of power and a return to regional Autonomy.
According to Rising Sun, Gowon’s recent narrative is a deliberate effort to rewrite history and absolve himself of responsibility for one of Africa’s worst genocides.
“By admitting the disagreement at Aburi was over military control—not oil or secession—Gowon has inadvertently vindicated Ojukwu. His refusal to implement the Accord triggered the war, not Biafra’s declaration.”
The group drew parallels with federal systems like the United States, where state governors control their National Guards, noting that Ojukwu’s position was rooted in federalist logic, not rebellion.
The Rising Sun Survival Group insists that had the Aburi Accord been honored, the civil war—and the atrocities that followed—could have been avoided.
“There would have been no famine used as a weapon, no bombing of villages, no starvation of innocent children. Gowon reneged, and Nigeria chose war over peace. The blood of millions is a permanent stain on that decision.”
The group concluded that Gowon’s recent statements are not just revisionist but dangerous, as they attempt to sanitize the events that led to mass atrocities against the Igbo.
“History must not be distorted to shield the powerful. The truth of Aburi belongs to all Nigerians—and the world must remember who broke it.”