NIGERIA: FORMER HEAD OF STATE, GOWON STARTS NEW YEAR WITH IGBO SON DEPORTED FROM THE U.S.

GEN. YAKUBU GOWON (RTD.)

Jack Musa Ngonadi Gowon, the Igbo son of Yakubu Gowon, former military leader of Nigeria who conducted a civil war that starved to death over one million women and children-ironically his in-laws was on December 30, 2015 deported from U.S.  He arrived Nigeria the following day onboard a commercial carrier and was received by relatives on the father's side. According to sources, Gowon (Musa's father) was conspicuously absent at the airport on the fateful day in order not to draw media and public attention. Virginia Kice, Western Regional Communications Director/Spokesperson, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Nigeria Masterweb, Jack Musa Ngonadi Gowon's removal (deportation) from the U.S. on December 30, 2015.

On July 29, 1966, after a military coup that ended both the government and life of Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, ethnic tensions grew in Nigeria. The coup stalled the celebration of my tenth birthday (having been born July 29) and got me wondering what was happening as people  around me were worried with the situation of things in the country. The emergence of Yakubu Gowon, then a Lieutenant Colonel as Head of State on August 1 the same year, did not help matters.  Eventually the country became very unstable with purges (killings) of soldiers of Eastern Nigeria origin and eventually massacre of Igbos in the North and to some extent in Lagos. The non implementation by Gowon of the Aburi-Ghana peace accord that would allowed each region control of lives and property within its borders led to the declaration of Biafra on May 30, 1967. It was rumoured in Biafra that Gowon was married to an Igbo woman (others said it was engagement) and as such would not declare war against Biafra. On July 6, 1967, Gowon invaded Biafra.

The truth as we now see today whether marriage or engagement is that Gowon had a relationship with an Igbo girl named Edith Ike which was consummated in 1968 at the heat of the war with the birth of a male child, Jack Musa Ngonadi Gowon. The relationship according to Igbo Mandate Congress (IMC) ended the same year due to Nigeria Air Force bombing of Aba General hospital that killed over 500 patients, including Dr. Nzeribe, the medical doctor on duty on the fateful day. In IMC's words: "This relationship between Gowon and Edith Ike ended in the heat of the civil war. It is widely believed that the relationship broke off after Federal Troops bombed Aba General Hospital with NAF Napalm Bomb on July 14, 1968 killing more than 500 patients.

"Edith was said to have expressed disapproval with Gowon over the deliberate bombing of Biafran civilian soft targets and the romance was brought to an end. Prior to that, Edith Ike’s parents, though from Aro-Ndikelionwu in Orumba North Local Govt of Anambra State but lived in the north for over thirty years, relocated back to the East after the first wave of pogrom of 1966."

Igbo Mandate Congress' plans to welcome Musa Gowon as an Igbo son were aborted due to the secretive nature of his removal (deportation). He arrived Nigeria on new year's eve, maybe packaged by the U.S. as 'New Year' present to his father General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) now aged 81.  Musa's mother is long gone to glory; may her loving soul rest in peace. 

COURTESY: NIGERIAN MASTERWEB