Nigeria, May 22 -- Nigeria's former military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has said no agreement was reached at the Aburi meeting to allow the Eastern Region to secede and establish Biafra, contrary to claims made by the then Eastern Region leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in the build-up to the Nigerian civil war.

Mr Gowon, who ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1975, said he was shocked to hear Mr Ojukwu telling people in the Eastern Region that both parties had agreed to partition Nigeria so that each region could go its separate way following the Aburi meeting held in Ghana on 4 and 5 January 1967.

The former Nigerian leader gave the account in his autobiography, "My Life of Duty and Allegiance," launched in Abuja on Tuesday.

The ev...