Nigeria: No, Former Nigerian Head of State Yakubu Gowon Has Not Said Britain Made Him Start Civil War

27 February 2025
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Allwell Okpi

No, former Nigerian head of state Yakubu Gowon has not said Britain made him start civil war

IN SHORT: Facebook posts claim that Yakubu Gowon has said Britain made him start the 30-month Nigerian civil war. There is no evidence of this.

A post on a public Facebook group with over 94,600 members quotes former military head of state Yakubu Gowon saying he was asked by Britain to start the Nigerian civil war in 1967.

The post reads: "Just In: 'I didn't start the Biafra w*ar, but Britain asked me to because Igbo land was leading in technology and Quantum City ... Even during the war, without foreign help, the Igbos would have overpowered the whole of Nigeria within a month,' Gowon opens up."

The claim can also be found here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of the report.)

Gowon was military head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He was in charge when Nigerian troops fought a civil war against the country's eastern region, after it declared independence as the Republic of Biafra on 30 May 1967.

The war ended in January 1970 and had a death toll estimated at between 500,000 and 3 million. The Biafrans were predominantly of the Igbo ethnic group.

Gowon attended the launch of A Journey in Service, a book written by another former Nigerian military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, on 20 February 2025. Babangida was Nigeria's head of state from 1985 to 1993.

Babangida's autobiography has generated debates about historical events, including the 1966 coups, the civil war and the annulled 1993 presidential election.

After the launch, some Nigerians have asked Gowon to speak on the subject or publish a memoir.

But has the 90-year-old accused Nigeria's coloniser Britain of directing him to start the civil war? We checked.

No evidence of the claim

At the book launch, Gowon spoke of his decades of friendship with Babangida. He made no comments about the civil war.

We found no evidence of the claim or a credible media report on the statement the Facebook posts attributed to Gowon.

It's unlikely that Gowon's accusation of Britain of instigating the civil war would go unreported by local and international media.

The claim is false.

The false claim was also posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, 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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