Denge Josef Onoh has described as a historical falsehood claims attributed to Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, suggesting that the late Biafra Head of State, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, attempted to deceive the world that Nigeria committed genocide against Biafra during the civil war.
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Gumi, in a recent interview responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that America may send troops to Nigeria if the alleged Christian genocide continued, claimed that Ojukwu used the genocide narrative to mislead the world, but that it failed because the then Nigerian leader and his deputy were Christians.
Responding to Gumi, Onoh stated that invoking Ojukwu’s memory was not only factually incorrect but a deliberate attempt to rewrite the violent history of Nigeria’s Civil War (1967–1970) for petty and divisive purposes.
“This is not scholarship; it is sophistry, a cheap sleight of hand meant to gaslight survivors and sanitize atrocities under the guise of peace and stability,” Onoh said.
Onoh clarified that history proves Ojukwu never made such claims:
“Absolutely. With profound justification rooted in the pogroms that ignited Biafra’s tragic bid for survival in late 1966, over 30,000 Igbo lives were lost in northern Nigeria within weeks. These were not random clashes but targeted ethnic and religious attacks: Igbo Christians hunted in their homes, churches burned, and women and children slaughtered. Eyewitness accounts, corroborated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and British diplomats, describe mobs chanting ‘Araba!’ as they wielded machetes against ‘infidels’ and ‘saboteurs.’
“Ojukwu documented this in his seminal works A Statement on the Nigerian Crisis (September 1966) and the Ashram Declaration (May 1969) decrying the genocide of Igbos as a calculated extermination by northern elements, often framed in jihadist rhetoric. The war saw federal forces, predominantly northern Muslim troops, bombard Biafran civilians, causing a famine that claimed two million lives, mostly children, described by Gowon’s own advisors privately as a ‘final solution.’
“Gumi’s pivot to Gowon’s Christianity is a risible deflection. Leadership faith does not absolve systemic complicity. Gowon, a devout Anglican, presided over an army where northern Muslim officers, such as Murtala Muhammed, wielded significant power. The war’s architects included figures like the Emir of Kano, whose inflammatory sermons fueled the pogroms. To claim ‘we didn’t mind’ because Gowon’s deputy was Igbo and Catholic is to mock the graves of millions.
“Ojukwu fought not against Muslims as a monolith but against a federation that failed its minorities a fight for equity that echoes today in calls for inclusive governance under President Tinubu.
“Gumi’s narrative isn’t peace; it’s erasure, designed to delegitimize legitimate grievances and stoke sectarian fires. I honor Ojukwu’s memory by rejecting such distortions.
“Gumi’s interventions have historically sown chaos under the banner of dialogue. During the 2021 wave of school abductions in Kaduna and Niger states over 1,000 children seized he led peace missions, distributing Korans and medical aid while advocating blanket amnesty for the kidnappers. Far from disarming them, his visits romanticized militancy, shifting public perception from ‘bandits’ to ‘militants’ and attracting foreign jihadists.
“The result? Kidnappings escalated from 3,620 in 2020 to over 5,000 by mid-2025, with ransoms exceeding ₦2.57 billion, displacing millions, and destroying 638 villages in Zamfara alone. Groups like the World Institute for Peace in 2024 accused him of emboldening perpetrators and undermining military resolve.
“In 2025, Gumi blamed ‘white evangelical Christian supremacists’ for Nigeria’s woes while dismissing Boko Haram as a ‘CIA creation,’ deflecting attention from Islamist radicals he once defended. His push for peace deals with bandits mirrors failed past pacts, leaving communities vulnerable and security forces accused of sabotage.
“Just last month, he urged Tinubu to emulate the Israel-Hamas truce by negotiating with terrorists, rewarding extortion instead of addressing it. Gumi’s selective impunity—amnesty for northern armed groups, scorn for southern agitators, and historical amnesia—has cost lives, deepened divisions, and undermined justice.
“To Sheikh Gumi: cease your distortions. To Nigerians: reject division. Let us build the unity Ojukwu dreamed of where no cleric’s words override the people’s will and equity, not ethnicity or faith, guides governance. President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope calls us to heal, not hate. I stand ready to bridge our divides for Enugu, for Sokoto, for Nigeria eternal.”
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