Gowon and Nigeria

There are some individuals whose lives and destinies become irretrievably intertwined with that of their nations and peoples. You cannot read the history of Russia without encountering Lenin (and Putin!) or the USA without George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Winston Churchill’s leadership will forever be the underpinning of Britain’s resurgence against Hitler’s bid for German global hegemony; Fidel Castro still defines Cuba even after his death and both Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping created modern China. In Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Joseph Tarka, Aminu Kano and Odumegwu Ojukwu became equivalent in life and in death to the aspirations of the Yoruba, Fulani, Tiv, Kano Talakawa and Igbo, respectively.

There is no way the history of Nigeria will be written that General Yakubu Gowon will not be a prominent figure in the narrative. It may, however, be a matter of some debate what role and legacy history will ascribe to him. Nigeria is such a complicated and, some will argue, dysfunctional mix of ethnic groups, religions and regions that leadership selection often degenerates to finding the individual whom all the component groups find least objectionable. No matter Awolowo’s strengths, he couldn’t secure Nigeria’s presidency and became the best president Nigeria never had! In spite of all his exertions, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua never secured the county’s leadership, only for his less-prepared and evidently-unhealthy junior brother, Umaru, to land the presidency on a platter of gold!

While many ambitious military officers (Ifeajuna, Nzeogwu, Victor Banjo, Ojukwu, Murtala Muhammed, etc.) jostled for power in the turbulent 1960s, the position fell first to the least prepared (Ironsi) and then to the gentle and naïve, Yakubu Gowon! That has been the story of our country. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sardauna’s deputy, became federal prime minister, not his principal, and not Zik or Awo who endeavoured all their lives to occupy the office; Obasanjo became head of state upon Murtala’s assassination; Shehu Shagari neither sought nor was equipped for the office of first civilian executive presidency; and Yar’Adua and Jonathan became president and vice precisely because all those desperate for the position had been eliminated by Obasanjo and the cabal of James Ibori, Bukola Saraki, Aliko Dangote, Nuhu Ribadu and Andy Uba. The presidency in Nigeria is about finding the lowest common factor, not the highest common multiple and, not surprisingly, the result is frequently sub-optimal!

Gowon became head of state because he was a Northern middle-belt officer at a time soldiers from that region dominated the army. If the leader were to be selected based on their roles in inciting and executing the counter-coup that culminated in Ironsi’s death and overthrow, T. Y. Danjuma or Murtala Muhammed would have been head of state in July 1966. However, I also believe Gowon became leader because of the grace of God upon his life; the love the British establishment had for him; the respect he commanded within the Northern troops, especially of Middle Belt extraction; and the fact that he was the least threatening of all the available options.

In his post-war policies of “no victor, no vanquished” and “rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation”, Gowon probably earned his place in history and in his embrace of peace and forgiveness, justified God’s extraordinary favour on his life. After the war, his work was done even though he was slow to recognise it! The power-hungry, scheming, plotting, and rumour-mongering clique of ambitious military officers would eventually get what they had deemed their right since 1966! In order to overthrow Gowon, they spread false tales about his wealth, but today it is easy to see who was really corrupt and dictatorial vis-a-vis Gowon whose real weakness was good intentions combined with Christian simple-mindedness!

In spite of Gowon’s good nature and spirit which I admire, I am not an admirer of his leadership template. It was not visionary; it was probably weak, or at least not sufficiently firm and assertive; and it missed great opportunities in policy and economic management to build a great nation. But all that is perfectly understandable – Gowon was a young military officer, a lieutenant-colonel whose only training was in the barracks at the time he was entrusted with the leadership of Nigeria. Given the context, it is a divine miracle that Nigeria emerged in one piece from his leadership and those of many of military colleagues after him!

General Yakubu Gowon was born on October 19, 1934 and reached the ripe old age of 80 earlier this month. His parents were Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries who left their Angas homestead in today’s Plateau State for Wusasa, Zaria in Kaduna State. Gowon joined the army, attended Sandhurst, served in Congo and fortuitously returned to Nigeria only two days before the January 1966 coup which probably saved him from Ifeajuna’s bullets! In secondary school, he was an extraordinary sportsman – football goalkeeper, pole vaulter, long distance runner and boxing captain. In January 1966, at the age of 32, he became chief of army staff under Ironsi and six months later, he was head of state. His biggest challenge was preserving Nigeria’s unity and post-war reconciliation and economic development. He succeeded with unity and reconciliation, but appears to have failed in building a sustainable and diversified economy.

His notable legacies include the creation of twelve states in 1967; National Youths Service Corps (NYSC); the Indigenisation Decree and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Like his parents, he is associated with missionary work through “Nigeria Prays”. History will remember him most for “going on with one Nigeria”, a legacy which continues to endure, even though it remains continuously challenged.

Opeyemi Agbaje