Yakubu Gowon
By Chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo
“It is a shame that 57 years after the Aburi Accord Nigeria is still talking of restructuring. No thanks to Yakubu Gowon who bungled it. The Aburi Accord was a agreement reached between the Nigerian government and the secessionist state of Biafra on January 4-5, 1967, in Aburi, Ghana. The accord aimed to resolve the Nigerian Civil War. Key options and agreements included:
- Confederation: Nigeria would become a confederation of semi-autonomous regions.
- Regional autonomy: Regions would have more control over internal affairs.
- Abolition of the Federal Government’s right to make laws for regions.
- Creation of a weak central government.
- Establishment of a constitutional conference to revise Nigeria’s constitution.
If Gowon had implemented the Aburi Accord there would have been no war, no waste of resources, no loss of lives and properties, no need for the “No victor, no vanquished” proclamation and no need for the promulgation of policy of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (the 3Rs).”
** Chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo, a Human Right lawyer, wrote in from Abuja
