Yakubu Gowon
Nigerian politician and Military general · Nigeria · Politicians · Born 1934 · age 92
Yakubu Gowon is read about 350 times a day, in 37 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 8 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 76 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He led Nigeria through a civil war that killed over a million people, then called for reconciliation with a speech that became national lore - "no victor, no vanquished." Some call him a unifier who held the country together. Others accuse him of genocide.
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Spouse: Victoria GowonAbout this person
Born 19 October 1934 into a minority Ngas family in northern Nigeria, Yakubu Gowon rose through the military as an Anglican Christian and committed nationalist. The July 1966 counter-coup handed him power and locked Nigeria into military rule. He governed through the Biafra War, one of the deadliest conflicts in modern history, maintaining throughout that his leadership saved the nation from fracture. For nearly nine years he held the role of head of state, the longest continuous stretch in Nigeria's history, until Brigadier Murtala Mohammed toppled him in 1975. The accusations of crimes against humanity have never left him; neither has his insistence that he committed no wrongdoing.
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