Nigeria: No Evidence Nigeria's Former Military Head of State Says Nigeria Might Go 'Into Extinction'

18 June 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

No evidence Nigeria's former military head of state says Nigeria might go 'into extinction'

IN SHORT: Facebook's users have attributed a statement that Nigeria might go "into extinction" if Igbos continue to "keep silent" to Yakubu Gowon, the country's military head of state between 1966 and 1975. But there is no evidence that he made such a statement.

Yakubu Gowon has said Nigeria will "die a natural death" if members of the Igbo community continue to "keep silent" about the state of affairs in the country. This is according to several Facebook pages that include a link to a blog post.

One post published 10 May 2024 reads, in part: "Nigeria Might Go into Extinction If Igbo's Continue to Keep silent In The Face Of Current Hardship, Their Current Silent Is a Sign Of Death To Nigeria, Nigeria Will Die a Natural Death If Igbos Keep silent This way, In a Time Like This All Nigeria Needs Igbos."

This echoes the opening paragraph of the blog linked to.

The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, primarily residing in the southeastern part of the country. The Igbo were particularly affected by the Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970, also known as the Biafran war, which resulted in significant loss of life and displacement for the group.

Yakubu Gowon is a prominent Nigerian political figure, best known for his role as the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He played a central role in the Biafran war.

The statement attributed to Gowon has surfaced during economic hardship in Nigeria and increased public debate on how to solve Nigeria's economic problems.

Similar posts can be found here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of the report.)

But did Gowon make this statement?

No evidence

Africa Check entered different keywords from the statement into the Google search engine and found no credible media reports of Gowon saying any such thing.

However, in a report on 9 May 2024 by The Guardian, a Nigerian newspaper, Gowon was quoted linking Nigeria's problems to the scarcity of "transformational leadership".

We found plenty of other examples of him being quoted in the press. So the statement attributed to the former head of state would have made it into the news, if true. It is not.

The source of the supposed statement is Igbo Time Magazine, a Facebook account and blog notorious for sharing misinformation on Facebook.

Similar posts were also posted here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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