07/07/2026
On this day 6th July, 1967, (59 years ago) Gowon commenced the genocidal war against Ndigbo and Nigeria was never the same again. The first shot was fired by Nigeria at Garkem in present day Bekwarra Local Government Area of cross River State. Many a person may wonder why this war happened and heaped blame on Ojukwu without understanding the root causes. Prior to the declaration of Biafra by Ojukwu, Easterners mostly Ndigbo were killed in the Northern and Western Region several months after Ironsi had been killed. They were unable to run their businesses or retain their public positions in the federal civil service, parastatals and other institutions yet Gowon the new leader was unable to stop these killings which was what informed the Aburi meeting. Thereat, a number of issues were thrashed out and if implemented, the country would have recovered and stabilized but back home, Gowon reneged on these agreements and one would not expect Ojukwu as a leader to fold his arms and allow the further massacring of his people. It is his duty to protect them. on the other hand, Gowon and the North saw an opportunity to bring inequality to the system to their utmost advantage hence the onset of Northern hegemony that ensured, free and substandard education, special and lion-share appointments and recruitments in the armed forces, police and other para military agencies, citing of monumental projects and infrastructure, treatment as first class citizens, treatment of the sultan as the patriarch of Nigeria, monopoly of violence, riot and brigandage etc. The foregoing became the order of the day for decades and on the economy, psyche of Nigerians, the aspirations of the country, politics and fortunes of Nigeria focusing on the oil until all other vestiges of the nations collapsed and has docked the badly damaged Nigeria ship on the marshy shore it found itself today. All this happened owing to the indiscretion, lack of vision, wickedness, and insensitivity of one man, "Gowon" who
