{"id":883003,"date":"2026-01-06T04:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/06\/yakubu-gowon-meet-the-ex-nigeria-head-of-state-who-has-been-falsely-declared-dead-multiple-times\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T04:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:23:21","slug":"yakubu-gowon-meet-the-ex-nigeria-head-of-state-who-has-been-falsely-declared-dead-multiple-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/06\/yakubu-gowon-meet-the-ex-nigeria-head-of-state-who-has-been-falsely-declared-dead-multiple-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakubu Gowon: Meet the \u2018ex-Nigeria head of state\u2019 who has been falsely declared dead multiple times"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Yakubu Gowon, ex-Nigeria\u2019s head of state, is a cat with nine lives. He has been falsely declared dead several times. Every time he\u2019s declared dead, it\u2019s refuted; Gowon has lived a healthy life for years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Two significant reports about Yakubu Gowon\u2019s death have spread widely on social media, particularly Facebook.<\/p>\n

In October 2023, a rumor appeared on social media claiming that Yakubu Gowon<\/a> had died at the age of 89. The post, which received over 100 likes and comments, was swiftly discredited by Gowon\u2019s assistant, Adeyeye Ajayi.<\/p>\n

He described it as fake news and advised the public to disregard it, alleging that the former military chief was still alive and well. \u201cI am still alive and well. \u201cI\u2019m not in a hurry,\u201d replied Ajayi.<\/p>\n

In December 2025, another report arose on social media<\/a> alleging that Yakubu Gowon, the previous Head of State, had died.<\/p>\n

The report caused significant confusion and drew numerous sympathies until it was disproved by Adeyeye Ajayi, the former head of state\u2019s adviser. Ajayi encouraged Nigerians to always check information from reliable sources before sharing it.<\/p>\n

However, the Nigerian Senate has directed the National Security Adviser (NSA<\/a>) to investigate and identify those responsible for spreading the fake news.<\/p>\n

14 things you probably didn\u2019t know about Yakubu Gowon, the former Head of State who founded 12 states<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

He was born on October 19, 1934, in Kanke, Plateau State<\/p>\n

He is an Anglican Christian from the Ngas ethnic group in Northern Nigeria<\/p>\n

He trained at prestigious military academies, including the Royal Military<\/a> Academy Sandhurst, UK<\/p>\n

He also attended the Staff College, Camberley, UK<\/p>\n

He joined the Nigerian Army in 1954<\/p>\n

He participated in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, which minimized damaging effects in the Congo Crisis<\/p>\n

He became Nigeria\u2019s youngest military chief of staff at 31<\/p>\n

He later became the Head of State through a military coup, serving for almost nine years<\/p>\n

He is known for his famous speech, which he rendered at the end of the Nigerian Civil War, promoting healing and reconciliation, \u2018No Victor, No Vanquished.\u2019<\/p>\n

He created 12 new states, weakening regional divisions and promoting national unity<\/p>\n

He established the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC<\/a>)<\/p>\n

He established new universities and infrastructure projects<\/p>\n

His administration was heavily accused of corruption, which eventually led to the overthrow in a 1975 coup led by Brigadier Murtala Mohammed<\/p>\n

He is a retired Nigerian Army general<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yakubu Gowon, ex-Nigeria\u2019s head of state, is a cat with nine lives. He has been falsely declared dead several times. Every time he\u2019s declared dead, it\u2019s refuted; Gowon has lived a healthy life for years. Two significant reports about Yakubu Gowon\u2019s death have spread widely on social media, particularly Facebook. In October 2023, a rumor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":883004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128954,123404],"tags":[128953,123403],"class_list":{"0":"post-883003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gowon","8":"category-yakubu","9":"tag-gowon","10":"tag-yakubu"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}