Prof Chidi Odinkalu has stated that after the Nigerian Civil War, both General Yakubu Gowon and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who were central figures in the conflict, eventually went into exile.
In an interview with Signature TV, Odinkalu said Ojukwu, who led the Biafran side, went into exile when the war ended. He said Gowon, who served as Nigeria’s head of state during the war, was later removed from power in a 1975 coup and forced into exile as well. He said Gowon was accused of treason after being overthrown.
Odinkalu said when Shehu Shagari became president in 1979, he allowed both Gowon and Ojukwu to return home after years abroad.
In Odinkalu’s words: “Gowon was also exiled. The interesting thing is that after the war, Ojukwu first got exiled then Gowon got exiled after the coup of 1975. And so the two protagonists in the war were exiled: one for secession, the other for treason. And the question was what to do? Shagari first returned Gowon, and then allowed Ojukwu to come back and sought to reitegrate both of them into Nigeria”
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