Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has revealed that despite the intensity of the Nigerian Civil War, he never supported the killing or targeted elimination of the Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
In his autobiography, *My Life of Duty & Allegiance*, Gowon said he consistently believed that Ojukwu’s survival was essential to post-war reconciliation and national healing in Nigeria, stressing that the conflict was never intended to become a personal vendetta.
“I always thank God we did not capture him before or during the war. But to kill him? Never, except in the battlefield where whoever got the first lucky shot survives!” he wrote.
Gowon explained that although there were strong voices within the military and political circles calling for a total crushing of the Biafran leadership, he deliberately resisted such pressure, insisting that the future of Nigeria after the war would require reconciliation rather than revenge.
“There were people who wanted him crushed completely. But I believed there had to be a future after the war,” he stated.
He added that the philosophy behind his wartime decisions later shaped the Federal Government’s post-conflict approach, famously summarised as “No Victor, No Vanquished,” which was adopted at the end of hostilities in 1970.
According to him, the aim of the war remained the preservation of national unity rather than the elimination of political opponents, noting that even in moments of extreme hostility, personal punishment was never the objective.
“We needed reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation. That was the only way Nigeria could move forward,” Gowon wrote.
The former military leader maintained that while Ojukwu remained a formidable adversary throughout the conflict, sparing his life was consistent with his belief that peace after war required magnanimity from all sides.
