The last may not have been heard about the 1975 coup that overthrew General Yakubu Gowon, as he recounted how he rejected an offer from former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin to help him reclaim power.

The former Head of State, who was removed from power in the July 29, 1975 coup led by Brigadier Murtala Muhammed, recounted that soon after his overthrow during an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Kampala, Amin offered to help overturn the coup and restore him to office as Nigeria’s leader.

However, the former Nigerian ruler said he rejected the proposal, insisting that he did not want further bloodshed or instability in the country.

His account offers a fresh insight into the international dimensions of the coup and the complex political calculations that followed his removal from office after nine years in power.

The former military ruler revealed this in his memoir, ‘My Life of Duty and Allegiance’, unveiled last week in Abuja.

In Chapter One titled, ‘Our boys are up to something’, the elder statesman recalled that as the outgoing Chairman of the OAU, he delivered his keynote address at the opening session of the summit on July 28, while the bloodless coup occurred in the early hours of July 29, 1975.

He recalled that as he headed towards his seat on the second day of the summit, he bowed to the chairmanship table and noticed a visibly agitated Amin, furiously beckoning him to approach the high table where he was seated. He said he instructed members of his delegation to proceed to their seats while he moved towards the Ugandan leader.

The former Head of State said Amin, while waving a piece of paper at him rather brusquely, asked whether he had seen it. According to Gowon, the Ugandan leader then handed him a Reuters news agency dispatch announcing that he had been overthrown in Nigeria.

Gowon noted that he immediately felt a sense of relief after reading the report, as he realised that the worst possible outcome had already occurred. He added that he informed Amin that he was only seeing the report for the first time and had not been notified by the Nigerian High Commission, which should have been aware of the development and informed him accordingly.

He said his overthrow ended the Kampala Summit unceremoniously, as many Heads of States hurriedly left the Ugandan capital to safeguard their offices in their respective countries.

The Guardian reports that the mid-1970s represented one of the most turbulent periods in post-independence Africa, with more than half a dozen countries experiencing coups, attempted coups, or military takeovers amid Cold War rivalries, economic downturns, liberation struggles, and worsening internal political tensions that destabilised many newly independent governments.

He said, “President Amin visited me in my suite in the hotel…He immediately volunteered to put the firepower of the Ugandan Air Force at my disposal so I could fight the coup makers at home to regain my seat…Although I knew I could fight back to regain my seat like Selassie did in 1960, I quickly asked myself if it was the proper thing to do…At crossroads, I instinctively saw how easy it was for a leader to be misled into making wrong choices if his options were guided by self-interest rather than altruism…I chose to do right.”