Yakubu Gowon, former military head of state, says he does not mind being called the “Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria” due to similarities in their civil war experiences.
The Nigerian civil war was between 1967 and 1970. Gowon was
the head of state between August 1, 1966 and July 29, 1975.
The American civil war took place from April 1861 to April
1865 during the presidency of Lincoln.
In an interview with Daily Trust, Gowon reflected on
Newsweek magazine’s comparison of him to the former American president, noting
that his experience in the Nigerian civil war mirrored the dynamics of the
American civil war.
The former head of state described the similarities as “very
much alike” and “uncanny”.
“I remember this question of comparing me with Abraham
Lincoln (at the end of the civil war) — I remember that during the time,
somebody called Mr Martin Dent and gave me a book about the American civil war,
but because of what was happening, I had no time to read it until towards the
end,” he said.
“Honestly, if I had read that book before we prosecuted the
Nigerian civil war, if anybody had said that I was trying to make myself look
like Abraham Lincoln, I would have found it very difficult to say there was no
comparison between us.
“The only difference
was that at the end of it, I was able to continue with the reconciliation and
getting the country through.
“So, sometimes I say to myself that I don’t mind being
called the Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria because we had a similar situation and we
were able to achieve the same result.
“I remember that one English journalist asked why I thought
the war was over —what if the people continued with guerrilla warfare? But
thank God there was no guerrilla.”
Gowon said the Nigerian civil war was inevitable due to the
south-east’s desire to secede.
The former head of state asked south-east residents to
embrace national unity, stating that “Biafra’s dissolution followed Nigerians’
acceptance of reintegration and unity”.
“I have always said that if there’s no secession, there
wouldn’t be a break out and there wouldn’t be a question of civil war because
it got to the stage that the situation was getting pretty clear that a part of
the country, the South-east wanted to secede,” he added.
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