Nothing could have been more definitive for a young military officer, on whose slender frame, the fortunes of a country on the precipice, hinged. But many Nigerians have a problem, a big one for that matter, with either Gowon’s sense of history, or his appreciation of it.
Every man/woman of goodwill and benevolence, undoubtedly, felicitates with the retired military head of state, the second in the series, General Yakubu Gowon, who clocked 91 years ten days ago. To have chalked up over nine decades on God’s green earth and with a relative good health in tow, our dear Jack, who the Biafran chief propagandist, Okokon Ndem, derisively referred to, as “jack wagon”, had the singular providence of having his surname paraphrased to mean “go on with one Nigeria.
Nothing could have been more definitive for a young military officer, on whose slender frame, the fortunes of a country on the precipice, hinged. I salute you, sir, on your birthday, as you continue to count. But many Nigerians have a problem, a big one for that matter, with either Gowon’s sense of history, or his appreciation of it. A cynic once quipped that history is always written by the winners. I strongly believe that our General needs an urgent purgation of his emotions. After all, as archbishop Desmond Tutu stressed, “if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, you say you are neutral, the mouse would not appreciate your neutrality.
Our man pretends not to remember that between July 29 and August 1st, 1966, the country was without a leader. It is on record that in the four days I talked about, the flag of the northern separatist group flew, at full staff or mast, at the 9th mechanised brigade headquarters, that is Ikeja cantonment this is after no less than 260 officers of eastern Nigeria origin, chiefly Igbos – were killed, with two of them reportedly buried alive. He has also not been forthright about why the terms of the Aburi accord, which was signed in Ghana as a last-minute effort to prevent an all-out war, were not adhered to.
History also records that, Gowon, whose soft spoken, meek and reserved demeanour, partly earned him his position as the head of state — because he was seen as a pliant and amenable character that can be pushed around and would do the bidding of the powerful forces on whose behalf he wielded power — reneged on the Aburi accord after the Nigerians of Middle Belt extraction, who took over top and plum positions in the federal civil service left behind by the Igbo after they fled Lagos, convinced him to abandon the accord because, according to them, it was not in the best interest of Nigeria as it only strengthened the position of Odumegwu Ojukwu, the governor of the Eastern region at the time and gave him the upper hand in the power tussle and battle for the control of Nigeria. The Igbos fled Lagos and other parts of Nigeria to escape the raging pogrom in the Western and Northern Region of yore.
Gowon should have been more forthcoming on the question of why the seniority regime was not followed, in determining the successor to General Irons! – after his death. Our dear Gowon, now in his twilight days, is a bible-clutching, peace-preaching, prayer-mongering, God-fearing, good-old-man, who has decided to close the stable door after the horse had bolted. I wonder if the general could ever come to terms with the opportunity of a lifetime, which he fluffed when, for nine gruelling years, he took the country on a pot-hole ride, to maintain the status quo. Twice, he postponed his handover and a return to civilian rule, something which keeps haunting the country.
If Gowon is sincere about going on with one Nigeria, over 200 million or so Nigerians should be spared the sour grapes.