BY NKIRUKA NNOROM
LAGOS — Former Minister of Information, Dr. Walter Ofonagoro, has revealed that one of the major reasons General Yakubu Gowon ceded Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun was to block food and arms from coming into the defunct Republic of Biafra.
Making this revelation in a key note address entitled 'Igbos Shall be Victorious', at the Igbo Day Celebration in Lagos on Saturday, Ofonagoro said that when it became obvious that it would be impossible to defeat the Biafran soldiers, the then Nigerian government opted for economic blockade of the old Eastern region.
His words: "I want to say that Bakassi Peninsula belonged to the people of the old Eastern region, but during the war, the Nigerian soldiers discovered that Biafran soldiers were their match, so they opted for economic blockade of the region.
“It was in the process that Gowon went into negotiation with the president of Cameroun and ceded the oil rich region to them so that the blockade would be effective.
“We all know what happened though some people are now feigning ignorance."
