Former Nigerian Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has claimed that the late Biafran leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu, mortgaged the mineral resources of Biafra to the Rothschild banking family in exchange for financial and foreign support during the Nigerian Civil War.
Gowon made the revelation in his newly launched 859-page autobiography titled My Life of Duty and Allegiance: No Going Back, unveiled on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to the former military ruler, Ojukwu allegedly secured approximately $10 million from the arrangement as the secessionist government sought international backing for Biafra’s struggle during the civil war.
Gowon explained in the book that France played a major role in supporting the Biafran government at the height of the conflict, largely through its former African colonies and allied networks.
He alleged that the French support was not entirely humanitarian or political, but was tied to strategic economic interests France hoped to gain if Biafra successfully separated from Nigeria.
“It later emerged that this was in exchange for what they had hoped to gain from him in the event of a successful breakaway from Nigeria,” Gowon wrote.
The former Head of State further claimed that Nigerian authorities only uncovered details of the alleged transaction after intelligence linked to the purchase of a B-26 aircraft was intercepted by the Nigerian Consulate in New York.
“Indeed, he had pawned the mineral wealth of Biafra to Rothschild for about $10m or an estimated N5m at the time,” Gowon stated.
“Our knowledge of this deal was fortuitous because the Nigerian Consulate in New York had intercepted information regarding the purchase of a B-26 aircraft that was to have been sent to Biafra through a South American country,” he added.
The Nigerian Civil War, fought between 1967 and 1970, remains one of the most defining and controversial periods in Nigeria’s history, following Biafra’s declaration of independence under Ojukwu’s leadership.
Gowon’s latest claims are expected to generate fresh historical and political debates, particularly regarding the international interests and foreign involvement that shaped the outcome of the war.
