Yakubu Gowon Archives - Voice of Liberty NG

Ramalan felicitates Gowon at 91, Kwankwaso at 69

October 21, 2025October 21, 2025 Aminu Imam

…Extols both as patriotic, visionary leaders dedicated to national unity, development Aminu Imam Executive Chairman of Liberty Television and FM Stations, Alhaji (Dr.) Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan, has extended warm birthday felicitations to two of Nigeria’s distinguished leaders – former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (GCFR), and former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso – describing both as exemplary patriots and visionaries whose lives embody service, integrity, and devotion to the Nigerian project. In separate goodwill messages issued in Abuja yesterday, Ramalan paid glowing tributes to General Gowon on…

Council of State meeting: Jonathan, Obasanjo, Gowon absent; Tinubu presides

October 10, 2025October 10, 2025 Aminu Imam

President Bola Tinubu yesterday, presided over the meeting of Council of State, with former Head of State Yakubu Gowon, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, absent. The meeting took place at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with former President Ibrahim Babangida and AbdulSalam Abubakar, as well as Governor Charles Soludo, of Anambra State joining virtually. Others are Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, serving Governors, the Chief of Staff to the President and other invited government officials. The meeting was also attended…

Gowon defends civil war role, says it was for Nigeria’s unity

May 19, 2025May 19, 2025 Aminu Imam

Former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, (rtd) has reiterated that his decision to lead Nigeria into the civil war was not a crime, but an act driven by the desire to preserve the country’s unity. In a recent interview in Abuja, Gowon reflected on the Nigerian Civil War and its enduring impact more than 50 years after its end. He described the conflict as a painful but necessary step to prevent national disintegration. “I will not say I committed a crime by going into war; it was out…

“Nigeria would�ve been better if Yar�Adua had completed his tenure” � Gowon

May 9, 2024May 9, 2024 Aminu Imam

Former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has said Nigeria would have been a better country if the Late President Umaru Yar�adua had completed his tenure. Speaking on Monday, during a first President Umaru Musa Yar�adua international leadership conference and awards organised by ‘Global Initiative for Leadership Success’, in Abuja, Gowon said Yar�Adua achieved significant milestones for Nigeria during his short stint in office. He said the Late former president granted amnesty to the Niger Delta militants as a way of restoring the economy of the country. Recall that Yar�adua…

Gowon lauds Tinubu for uniting ECOWAS

March 27, 2024March 27, 2024 Aminu Imam

Former Head of State and founding father of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), Yakubu Gowon, a , has lauded President Bola Tinubu for uniting the bloc under his leadership. Gowon made this known at the inauguration of the Academy of International Affairs (AIA), a foreign policy think-thank founded by former foreign affairs minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, on Monday in Abuja. He said the inauguration of AIA with President Tinubu as ECOWAS chairman, and who recently achieved a foreign policy milestone by making efforts to forestall its disintegration,…

State of the Nation: Gowon, OBJ, Anyaoku, Danjuma, other eminent Nigerians converge on Lagos for dialogue today

March 18, 2024March 18, 2024 Aminu Imam

Eminent Nigerians, including former Heads of State and Presidents of Nigeria, Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, AbdulSalami Abubakar, and former Secretary-General of the Com�monwealth of Nations, Emeka Anyaoku, as well as Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, are among eminent Nigerians expected in Lagos today, Monday, to discuss the state of the nation and the way forward. Other eminent Nigerians expected at the event are for�mer Chief of Army Staff, TY Danjuma; Chairman of the Northern Elders� Forum, Ango Abdullahi; Leader of the Niger Delta, Edwin Clark; former Chief of Defence…

Provocative Statement: ACF tackles Ohanaeze Ndigbo, IPOB for demanding apology from Gowon

March 8, 2024March 8, 2024 Aminu Imam

Apex Northern socio-cultural group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF), has expressed deep offense and pain over what it called highly provocative statements recently credited to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Indigenous People of Biafra against former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd). The ACF said it took time to digest a statements credited to Mr. Okechukwu Isiguzoro, of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as well as the one from the IPOB calling on General Gowon, its Grand Patron, to tender apology for what the Forum referred as a nebulous �sin� against…

Ndume seeks Gowon, AbdulSalam, others intervention in Niger Republic crisis

December 25, 2023December 25, 2023 Aminu Imam

Senate Majority Chief Whip, Senator Muhammadu Ndume, has called for the urgent intervention of the four living former military Nigerian heads of state of northern extraction in the resolution of the persisting Niger Republic crisis following the military coup there five months ago. At a media parley in Maiduguri, Borno State on Saturday, Ndume wrote-off the ECOWAS-imposed sanctions on the neighbouring francophone country as miscalculated and ineffective. �We have four former military heads of state that are alive � Buhari, the most-recent, Abdulsalami, Babangida and Gowon, who can intervene. I…

2023 Presidential Election Results: �Allow tribunals decide your fate� – Gowon asks Atiku, Obi, others

May 5, 2023May 5, 2023 Aminu Imam

Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has called on the presidential candidates of the People�s Democratic Party, (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, of the Labour Party (LP), as well as other aggrieved politicians to allow the election tribunals to decide their fate and to abide by such decisions. Gowon made the call yesterday in Abuja, at the 15th edition of the PUNUKA Annual Lecture 2023 and symposium in honour of the Late Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Chike Idigbe. The ex-military Head of State, who emphasised…

2023: “Only God, not desperation, can confer power”, Gowon tells Osinbajo group

March 20, 2022March 20, 2022 Aminu Imam

Former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, says God is the ultimate decider of who will lead Nigeria in the forthcoming 2023 general elections. He stated this in Abuja on Friday, when officials of the Progressive Consolidation Group, (PCG), a group rooting for Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, paid him a visit at his Asokoro, Abuja residence. Gowon emphasised that while he had no partisan involvement with politics, he believed that leaders and citizens at all levels had a duty to sustain peace, progress and national unity of the country. He…