Former Military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has refuted speculations that he has died.
The retired Army General disclosed that he is alive via telephone conversation and wondered where the unfounded rumours emanated from.
There were strong speculations in a section of the social media that the General had passed on at the age of 89 years.
However, an editor with the Vanguard newspapers, John Alechenu, one of the first to speak with him over the telephone, stated that the General refuted claims of his passage, stressing that “he is alive and in good health”.
Also reacting to the rumours, the Delta State Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), during the 2023 election, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi who is said to have close ties with the war hero, described the speculations as the handiwork of mischief makers.
Gbagi, a former Minister of State for Education, spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Orusi Kenneth, late on Monday.
Gbagi, disclosed that General Gowon, is alive, hale and hearty and currently in London.
Gbagi was quoted as saying, “General Gowon, is still much around with us, hale and hearty. He is not in a hurry to go anywhere.”
He further 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.”
Later disclosures, however, showed that the speculations on social media had emerged after a man who shared the name Gowon, one Prof. Samuel Gowon Edoumiekumo, the immediate-past Vice-Chancellor of the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State, passed on last Saturday.
He was the Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.
It was the name Gowon which took the space in the social media leading to speculations until the facts emerged that the former Head of State is hale and in good health condition.
