Group Accuses Gowon of Distorting History Over Aburi Accord Breakdown

A United States-based group, Rising Sun, has criticized former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), accusing him of misrepresenting the reasons behind the failure of the Aburi Accord of 1967.

In a statement released on Sunday in Abuja and jointly signed by the group’s President, Chief Maxwell Dede, and Secretary, Rev. Fr. Augustine Odimmegwa, Rising Sun claimed that Gowon’s remarks were an attempt to distort historical facts surrounding the collapse of the agreement between the Nigerian federal government and the secessionist Eastern Region led by the late General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

Gowon had recently asserted that the accord failed because Ojukwu demanded that regional governors be given control over military forces in their respective regions—a claim the group dismissed as “laughable and dishonest.”

Rising Sun argued that themand for regional control of security forces was rooted in a genuine desire for justice, autonomy, and true federalism, not secession.