ABUJA, Nigeria (AP), Former Nigerian Head of State Yakubu Gowon has unveiled his long‑awaited memoir, defending his choices during the country’s brutal civil war and insisting the book is meant to clarify history rather than reopen old wounds.
The 881 page autobiography, scheduled for public presentation on May 19, 2026, at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja, revisits Gowon’s nine years in power, including the 30 month conflict between Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra. President Bola Tinubu is expected to attend as guest of honor, while former Defence Minister Theophilus Danjuma will formally unveil the book.
Gowon, who ruled from 1966 to 1975, said he wrote the memoir to explain the reasoning behind his wartime policies. “By choosing to write, I took a conscious decision not to reopen old wounds but to clarify my thinking on policies and plans at a period often narrated by others,” he said.
Inside the memoir, the book offers Gowon’s personal defense of his wartime leadership: He argues that his decisions were shaped by conviction and circumstance, not ambition, He revisits his post war policy of “No Victor, No Vanquished,” describing it as essential to reconciliation and rebuilding Nigeria, He reflects on the burden of leading a fractured nation, saying his story is one of “conviction evaluated by circumstances at the crossroads of expectations and reality”, He stresses that many accounts of the war have been written by others, but few reflect his own reasoning as Nigeria’s leader at the time.
The Nigerian Civil War, fought from 1967 to 1970, claimed more than a million lives, many from starvation in Biafra. Gowon’s post‑war policy of “No Victor, No Vanquished” sought reconciliation, but critics argue his wartime decisions left scars that still shape Nigeria’s politics and ethnic relations.
Historians say the memoir will provide a crucial primary source for understanding Nigeria’s trajectory. “This is not just Gowon’s story, it’s a window into how decisions were made at the highest levels during one of Africa’s most devastating conflicts,” said one analyst.
Others caution that Gowon’s narrative may be seen as self‑justification. Survivors and descendants of war victims are likely to challenge his account, particularly on humanitarian issues.
The war drew global attention at the time, with relief agencies struggling to address famine in Biafra and foreign governments divided over whether to recognize the breakaway republic. Britain, the Soviet Union, and others backed Nigeria, while France and humanitarian groups pressed for aid to Biafra. Gowon’s reflections may resonate internationally today, as questions of secession, reconciliation, and post‑conflict governance remain relevant across Africa and beyond.
Nearly six decades later, Gowon’s memoir is both a personal defense and a national reckoning. By revisiting the choices that defined his leadership, he invites Nigerians and the world to confront the past with clarity, even as the wounds of history remain tender.
