Finally, Gowon accepts Musa as his son

Gen. Gowon (left) and Musa

Imagine living for 47 years without your father acknowledging you as his legitimate son. 

That was the plight of Musa Jack Gowon, who was conceived in 1968 after a romantic relationship between former military head of state General Yakubu Gowon and Edith Chu-Okongwu who is now late.

After years of denial, Gowon announced Wednesday that a DNA test had proven Musa is his biological son.

Musa, who had been in jail in the U.S. for 22 years, was pardoned by President Barrack Obama in 2015 and deported to Nigeria on January 1, 2016. He was just 23 when he was sentenced in 1992 to 40 years in prison for alleged drug-related charges but was pardoned for good behaviour.

The romance between Edith and Gowon went sour during the Nigerian Civil War because Edith protested the manner Nigerian troops had slaughtered her fellow Igbos, under her lover’s government. The Nigerian army was accused of deliberately bombing Biafran civilians and imposing a blockade that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians due to lack of food and medicine.

The pregnant Edith left Nigeria to settle in the U.S., and Gowon, who denied paternity of Musa, later got married to his present wife, Victoria, in 1969.

After some years in the USA, Edith returned to Nigeria, leaving Musa behind but he allegedly got involved with some Colombian drug dealers resulting in his arrest in 1992. Though he strongly maintained his innocence, insisting he was framed, Musa was sent to a correctional facility to serve a 40-year jail term.

As an inmate of Taft Correctional Facility in Bakersfield, California, Musa was reportedly well behaved and ended up graduating with a degree in Law.

The Igbo Mandate Congress (IMC) said Musa suffered because his mother stood as a patriot of the Igbo nation by severing her relationship with Gowon in protest of the killing of her people during the Civil War.

“This relationship between Gowon and Edith Ike ended in the heat of the civil war. It is widely believed that the relationship broke off after Federal Troops bombed Aba General Hospital with NAF Napalm Bomb on July 14, 1968 killing more than 500 patients,” said IMC Director-General, Rev Obinna Akukwe.

Now that he has left prison and reunited with his father, Musa is finally picking up the pieces of his life. General Gowon issued a statement to show he has now accepted Musa as his legitimate son.

“Following years of doubts and speculation, a DNA test was recently conducted to ascertain the paternity of Musa Gowon who recently returned to the country. The results of the tests were conclusive and they confirm his paternity,” he said in the statement.

“We, the family, are working to assist in his rehabilitation following a very difficult period in his life. As we look forward to the future with faith in God, we request that our privacy be respected.”