Former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon (retd.) has revealed that the refusal of the United States and Britain to supply arms to Nigeria during the civil war drove his government into the arms of the Soviet Union and a Lebanese black-market businessman.

He said the two unlikely lifelines eventually turned the tide of the three-year conflict, which raged from July 1967 to January 1970.

The revelations are contained in Chapter Fifteen of Gowon’s 859-page autobiography titled My Life of Duty and Allegiance, obtained by our correspondent at the book’s launch in Abuja on Tuesday, where President Bola Tinubu was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The chapter, titled “If The Devil’s Ready To Help,” chronicles Gowon’s desperate search for weapons as Nigeria’s ammunition stockpile collapsed to half a million rounds for the entire Army by late 1968.

He said the stockpile was insufficient to sustain operations, while traditional Western allies remained aloof.

He wrote, “As the weeks of fighting wore on, our stock of ammunition was steadily depleted by these wastes, and we could not replenish them because international sales restrictions prevented suppliers from selling military hardware to Nigeria.

“Left with no choice, I ordered the Federal troops to hold their position after the capture of Enugu up to Okigwe and Umuahia because I could not, in clear conscience, commit them to further advance knowing that the ammunition to sustain the effort was in short supply.”

Gowon said he was particularly stung by the contrast between the inaction of the Western allies in Nigeria and their aggressive military posture in Vietnam and Cambodia, where American air power was being deployed at scale.

He sought out the British and American ambassadors in a meeting he described as one of the most consequential of the war.

About the meeting, he said, “If I say I’m not disappointed, it will be an understatement.

“I, however, left them in no doubt that I had a duty and responsibility to keep Nigeria united and safe for all Nigerians and other nationals resident in Nigeria.

“As they were about to enter their cars, preparatory to leaving the State House, I said, if I say I’m not disappointed, it will be an understatement, so I will go to any devil to get what I need to deal with the problem, to do my duty to my country, and when that happens, I hope I will not be accused of doing something wrong.”

Both ambassadors left without any commitment, Gowon said.

However, the former Head of State said he had already decided on his next move.
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He directed his Principal Secretary, Hamza Ahmadu, to contact the Soviet Ambassador, Mr Aleksandr Romanov, at Dodan Barracks.

He said Moscow’s willingness to supply arms could serve as the lever that forced Britain and America back to the negotiating table.

A Nigerian delegation led by Commissioner of Information Anthony Enahoro, Permanent Secretary Edwin Ogbu, Chief of Air Staff Emmanuel George Kurubo and Ambassador John Ukegbu was promptly dispatched to Moscow.

“The Soviet Union supplied us some MiG-15 trainers and MiG-17 bombers for the meeting, which was a huge success,” he wrote, adding that Soviet-Nigerian relations grew into something “special” in the aftermath of the war, a warmth that had been purchased by Western indifference.

According to him, Moscow alone could not solve the immediate ammunition crisis.

For that, Gowon said he turned to Ali Jamal, a Lebanese businessman with access to the black market for military hardware, “who strongly believed in Nigeria” and who offered to personally finance the procurement of ammunition and equipment, asking only to be reimbursed interest-free once the government could pay.

“Jamal was not deterred even after I told him that I had no money with which to make immediate payments for the purchases.

“He told me not to worry and that he would use his own money to provide the ammunition we needed but would want to be reimbursed interest-free at the shortest possible time.

“With his support, we were able to get some of the hardware and the ammunition we needed to change the face of the war,” Gowon wrote.

But the arrangement nearly collapsed at the Federal Executive Council when Finance Commissioner Chief Obafemi Awolowo refused to authorise payment, objecting that the process had not been properly followed and that it constituted extra-budgetary expenditure.

To this, he said, “I was aghast because it suddenly appeared to me that the Finance Commissioner and others at the FEC did not understand the depth of the problem I was in to ensure the survival of the men in the field and that war was successfully prosecuted.”

He told Awolowo: “I’m afraid I’ll want to use my powers and authority, which I think I can do as Head of State and Head of Government, to give any department the order to do what is required to be done.”

On the altercation at the council meeting, he said, “Although I used anger and the power of my office to win the argument and retain the integrity of the nation with my friend, I felt proud of my team that always insisted on following due process to justify every action and every expenditure. Jamal subsequently was paid in full.”

The book, running to 859 pages across 36 chapters, covers Gowon’s full life from his Angas origins in Plateau State through his military career, the civil war, his ouster in 1975 and his years in exile and academic study.