- Onoh, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, asserted that Gowon was not forthright about his purported reconciliation with Ojukwu in London.
Former campaign spokesman to President Bola Tinubu in the south east, Dr. Josef Onoh, says Nigeria’s ex-Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd) remarks on his meeting with the leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, were replete with half-truths and lies.
Onoh, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, asserted that Gowon was not forthright about his purported reconciliation with Ojukwu in London.
He noted that Gowon’s narration of the meeting was awash with inaccuracies and some of his claims regarding the encounter were made up and did not tell the full and real picture of what actually transpired.
Onoh, who is Ojukwu’s brother-in-law, disclosed that he witnessed the chance meeting between Gowon and Ojukwu both in Enugu and in London and was not a reconciliatory one.
He said that Gowon substituted a condolence visit with reconciliation, noting that because Gowon had started telling lies, he would need more lies to keep up with his bias narratives.
“Gowon’s narration of his meeting with Ojukwu is a lie! That wasn’t how it happened because I was there.
“And it wasn’t in London, rather it was in Enugu, in March 2010 and I received him
“Part of the reason for his visit was to pay condolences to the passing of my father, who is Ikemba Ojukwu’s father-in-law who passed-on in May 2009, but Gowon was not in the country and couldn’t make it for the burial.
“I was present in the meeting, I served him and he told me he doesn’t take alcoholic drinks and opted for water or orange juice.
“He brought up the importance of reconciliation and Ojukwu made it clear that he holds no grudge against him and that as soldiers they did what they believed was best at that time for their country and that he (Ojukwu) doesn’t support another Biafra that will be achieved with bloodshed and massacre of the Igbo.
“Gowon left and Ojukwu promised to honour him with a visit and he said he was most likely to be out of the country and Ojukwu replied: ‘even during the civil war I knew your every movement and location and since I’ve promised to honour you with a visit as you did me, I’ll find you even if you are in the moon’”, Onoh said
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