Decades after the bloody Nigerian civil war, otherwise known as the Biafran war, former military ruler Yakubu Gowon has blamed Igbo rebel soldiers for the horrendous anguish and privation the Easterners, especially women and children, endured during the yearslong violent conflict.

Mr Gowon, 90, also claimed that the number of casualties in that war from the Igbo side was “not in millions”. Mr Gowon had previously downplayed the casualties and magnitude of the horrific civil war.

Although the war was not properly documented, an estimated three million people were reportedly killed during the war, many rounded up by Nigerian soldiers and shot at close range, while hundreds of thousands were starved to death. 

Historians still lament Nigeria’s failure to ensure a proper reconciliation and closure over 60 years on, while several accounts with substantial corroboration indicated how Nigerian soldiers massacred Igbo civilians in Asaba, Onitsha, and Enugu, amongst other communities in the region. 

Despite this contentious past, Peter Obi, of Igbo extraction, affirmed that Mr Gowon will be remembered for standing for loving and protecting Nigeria’s sovereignty during the bloody war.

Mr Gowon, who ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1975, under whose watch the war broke out, in an interview with ARISE TV, said, “The number of people who were casualties of the war is not in millions. The other side also refused all attempts to send aid into their camp.”

The former military head of state explained that his decision during the 30-month war was predicated on his loyalty to the country. In the interview, Mr Gowon said he expressed his concerns to federal troops on the need to preserve the lives of civilians.

“I had a responsibility and duty as a loyal Nigerian to keep the country whole. From the beginning, I ensured that this was not a war against Igbos as such, but one to stop the breaking up of Nigeria,” Mr Gowon said.

He added, “I gave a code of conduct of how the operations were to go; soldiers on the Nigerian side were to protect the people, especially women and children, and take up arms only against those who had taken arms against them.”

Earlier this month, Mr Gowon described the war period (from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970) as the most difficult period of his life.

The civil war broke out in 1967 following the then-Eastern Region’s secession from Nigeria. It ended in 1970 when Mr Gowon declared the war “no victory, no vanquish” to drive the reconciliation process.