JUST IN: Gowon Not Dead, says Aide, Gives More Details

AMILOADED MEDIA HUB NEWS UPDATE

Adeyeye E. Ajayi, a personal aide to former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has debunked rumours flying around social media that the former Head of State is dead.

This was contained in a terse statement issued by Ajayi late Monday night.

Ajayi said Gowon is “still around and well.”

“General Gowon is not in a hurry to go anywhere.”

Meanwhile, the Delta State governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party during the last general election, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, has also refuted the rumours that former Head of State is dead.

The former Minister of State for Education, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Orusi Kenneth, on Monday, described the purported death as the “handiwork of mischief makers”.

Gbagi disclosed that the former Head of State is alive, hale and hearty and presently in London.

Gbagi said: “General Gowon is still much around with us, hale and hearty. He is not in a hurry to go anywhere.The former chairman, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, who urged Nigerians to ignore the rumours about Gowon’s death said; “I, Gbagi, just spoke with him. I hereby refute the rumour of the death of my friend, General Gowon.“He has communicated to Nigerians that he is still much around, hale and hearty. Gowon, is alive”, Gbagi insisted.

General Yakubu Gowon was the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975, during which time he presided over the Nigerian Civil War.

Gowon is from Lur, a small village in the present Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State.

He was born in October 1934. He joined the Nigerian Army in 1954 and was trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England. He rose to the rank of general in 1966.

Gowon was chosen to become the head of state of Nigeria in 1966. He led the country during the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted from 1967 to 1970.

After the war, Gowon promised to return Nigeria to civilian rule. However, he was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1975.

Gowon went into exile in England after being overthrown. He later returned to Nigeria.