Gowon reveals trusted security aide's role in his 1975 overthrow

Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State, reveals in his autobiography that Joseph Garba, the Commander of Federal Guards Unit he appointed to protect his life, contributed to his overthrow in the July 1975 coup. Garba, whom Gowon appointed partly due to family ties and trust, swore days before the coup that he had no knowledge of any plot against the government. Despite this, Gowon's Chief Security Officer M.D. Yusuf had warned him about a coup involving Garba and Anthony Ochefu, then Provost Marshal of Nigerian Military Police. Both Garba and Ochefu were Christians from Gowon's home state of Benue Plateau, appointed to sensitive positions in his security architecture. Gowon describes this betrayal as the deepest personal betrayal of his public life, executed by men he had elevated on the basis of trust. The coup occurred ahead of an OAU summit in Kampala, Uganda, placing Gowon in an acute dilemma between dismissing warnings and acting on them without concrete evidence.

SOURCE: https://dailypost.ng/2026/05/21/how-my-trusted-security-aide-contributed-to-overthrow-me-gowon/