Happy 80th Birthday – General Dr Yakubu Gowon

Go On With One Nigeria

General Yakubu Gowon was the Commander-in-Chief and Head of the Armed Forces during the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970. So, responsibility for the acts and inactions during the civil war naturally lies fully at his doorstep, not excluding the so-called ‘starvation policy’, the dropping of bombs on civilian targets by rogue mercenary pilots seeking to prolong the war and their pay by refusing to bomb Biafran military targets, the Asaba massacre by frontline federal soldiers gone against the instructions of their commander, etc.

Nevertheless, for those of us who have taken the time to study the intrigues of Nigerian politics between 1966 and 1970, especially during the Nigerian civil war, we know fully well the various struggles the young, politically inexperienced Yakubu Gowon (who did not ask or seek to become the leader of the armed forces to talk less of a distressed nation) had to contend with.

Gowon struggled to underline his headship of government with his authority, in the face of outright challenge from other colleagues who felt they were better qualified and had better claim to the position than him. He had to contend with opposition from others who felt his instructions during the civil war were too liberal, too gentlemanly, too catechist, and not in line with their own view that all is fair in war.

Gowon’s pacific disposition during the civil war given his Christian background, is further underlined by his belief in the aftermath of the Biafran surrender. The current of opinion by a significant number of members of the Gowon cabinet was for recrimination against the Igbo. Unfortunately for those with that mind-set, the head of government strode into the cabinet meeting that followed Biafran surrender with a bright smile on his face. He was thankful that the disagreement between brothers had ended, and declared that the end of the war must be followed by a process of ‘reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation’.

So, when anyone talks of the policy of the 3Rs, Professor Adebayo Adedeji reminded me during our conversation in 2009, it was a one man policy – the policy of the Head of State Gen. Gowon which no member of the federal cabinet dare contradict despite their displeasure.

Yet, this is the same man my Igbo brothers would say had a deliberate policy to annihilate them. Selective amnesia as Kongi (Prof. Wole Soyinka) would say. 

‘The over-bearing influence of Gowon on the re-integration of the Igbos into post-war Nigeria, and the silenced opposition of key members of his cabinet, is further reflected in the abandonment of the 3Rs as a policy by the Murtala Muhammed/Olusegun Obasanjo military regime, following the overthrow of Yakubu Gowon in a palace coup d’état in 1975.’ – Ojeleye 2010.

In my humble personal opinion, if there is one man Nigeria should be eternally grateful to, for standing unwavering to keep us as one nation, it is General Dr Yakubu Gowon.

I am convinced as I was 5 years ago, that posterity will eventually place him in that spot many Nigerians have refused to accord him – the spot of a nationalist, a patriot and a hero.