Former member of the Enugu State House of Assembly and ex-South-East spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, Denge Onoh, has criticised former Head of State Yakubu Gowon over recent comments concerning civilian casualties during the Nigerian Civil War, describing the remarks as a troubling attempt to minimise the scale of the tragedy.
Onoh was reacting to comments made by Gowon during an interview on Arise Television, where the former military leader recounted visiting former Biafran territories after the war and observing black spots on palm trees, which he said he was told were bullet marks.
According to Gowon, the observation suggested that “most of the bullets fired by the Nigerian army hit palm trees, not people.”
In a statement issued yesterday, Onoh rejected the claim, arguing that it contradicted historical evidence, eyewitness accounts and international reports documenting the devastating impact of the 1967–1970 civil war.
He maintained that the conflict claimed an estimated three million lives, largely due to starvation and disease caused by the federal blockade, alongside civilian deaths resulting from bombings, combat operations and reprisals.
“Reducing these horrors to bullets harmlessly striking palm trees does not withstand basic scrutiny,” Onoh said.
“It ignores the well-documented humanitarian crisis, including widespread kwashiorkor among children, mass displacement and the devastating human cost of prolonged fighting across the South-East.”
Onoh also questioned the credibility of Gowon’s autobiography, My Life of Duty and Allegiance, arguing that the memoir appeared to preserve what he described as a defensive narrative of the war.
According to him, Gowon’s portrayal of the conflict as a reluctant “police action” aimed at preserving national unity, while allegedly downplaying the impact of pre-war killings and the federal blockade, reflected more of a personal justification than a full historical account.
Despite his criticism, the former lawmaker acknowledged Gowon’s post-war “No Victor, No Vanquished” policy and the 3Rs programme — Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction — noting that they were important efforts toward rebuilding the country after the conflict.
However, he insisted that true reconciliation could only be achieved through honest acknowledgment of the suffering endured by victims of the war.
Onoh warned that attempts to deflect responsibility through what he described as “anecdotes like the palm trees story” risk undermining public trust in historical narratives surrounding the conflict.
He urged Nigerians, particularly people from the South-East, to critically examine accounts of the civil war and confront its full human cost as part of the nation’s healing process.
Drawing parallels with global historical examples, Onoh referenced former United States Defence Secretary Robert McNamara and former U.S. Army officer William Calley, both of whom later expressed remorse over the Vietnam War, as well as German leaders who apologised for atrocities committed during the World War II.
“In light of this, General Gowon owes the Igbo people a simple, sincere apology for the suffering endured during the war,” Onoh stated.
“Such an apology will be remembered as the act of a true statesman and a genuine step toward healing and reconciliation.”
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