Recalling General Gowon’s Romance And Paternity Battle With Igbo Lady
Although he was a 31-year-old bachelor when he became Head of State, Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon had an Igbo girlfriend, who was even in bed with him, when Ifeajuna and his fellow coup plotters struck in Lagos on the morning of January 15, 1966.
However, after the assassination of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi in July 1966 and the subsequent systematic and indiscriminate killings of Igbo soldiers and civilians by the Northerners, Gowon admitted that the anti-Igbo feeling made him doubt whether he could trust his Igbo girlfriend, Edith Ike.
Gowon’s relationship with Edith did not survive the crisis, and the 34-year-old Head of State eventually married another woman, Victoria Zakari (pictured with Gowon and their son, Ibrahim) #OnThisDay April 19, 1969. The couple celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary today.
As an aside, Edith Ike later filed a paternity suit (which reached the Nigerian Supreme Court) against Gowon, alleging that Gowon was the father of her son, Musa, who was born a year before Gowon’s wedding.
She won the suit, but the former Head of State stuck to his guns in denial until 2016, after a DNA test proved that Musa was, indeed, Gowon’s son.
Only then did the retired general accept Musa Jack Ngodadi Gowon as his son.
Musa Gowon was 48 years old at the time and had just been pardoned by President Barack Obama after serving nearly 23 years in a U.S. prison for a drug-related crime.
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