Dons Eze
AT 90, WHEN WILL YAKUBU GOWON DO A MEA CULPA?, BY DONS EZE
God has blessed(?) General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s Military Head of State, from 1966 to 1975, to attain an enviable age of 90 years on this planet earth. We rejoice and congratulate him, and wish him many more years ahead.
We however note that the attainment of such long life of 90 years should have been an excellent opportunity for one to have looked back at his journey in life, see what he did that was right, and where he had made some mistakes. He will then sincerely atone for those mistakes, or do a mea culpa, and ask God, and those he had injured one way or the other, for forgiveness, as a way of preparing himself for journey to the hereafter.
But Yakubu Gowon, who presided over the affairs of Nigeria during her darkest period in history, when the country was plunged into a devastating civil war which claimed millions of lives, rather than become remorseful or sorry for the ignoble role he played, chose to tell lies, and to turn history upside down about what led to the civil war.
In a recent newspaper interview to mark his 90th birthday, Gowon said that the Nigerian civil war was caused by the desire of the South East to secede.
According to him, “I have always said that if there’s no secession, there wouldn’t be a break out and there wouldn’t be a question of civil war because it got to the stage that the situation was getting pretty clear that a part of the country, the South-east wanted to secede.”
But Gowon did not tell us why the South East had wanted to secede
He also did not say anything about the senseless killing of Easterners in different parts of the country, particularly in the North, which precipitated the desire to secede, and how he, as head of state, had turned blind eye on all these.
Gowon said he did not go to Aburi, Ghana, in January 1967,:where solution to the crisis would have been found, with “my Secretary to the Government and officials like advisers”, while”Ojukwu had a different intention, So, he came with all his advisers, and prepared a memorandum”.
This shows the naivety and unseriousnes of Yakubu Gowon in handling the affairs of the country. He thought he was going to Aburi on a picnic, jamboree, or sightseeing. That was why he travelled there without any of his advisers, nor prepared any memorandum.
Gowon also revealed another of his naivety and unseriousnes. He claimed that it was from Ojukwu’s “paper that he was reading all the conditions, things he wanted done. We discussed them. We had two days there.
“The agreement was that when we got back, I would be the one to make a statement on the areas we agreed on.
“Unfortunately, I was down with a very serious fever; and honestly, I could not do anything.
“As soon as Ojukwu got back, he made a statement on what was agreed. I had not seen the document he was using. He made a statement that we had agreed to part or something like that. That was how the confusion started. Of course, when I got better, we disagreed because that was not the agreement.”
The Aburi meeting was the first time all the Nigerian military leaders were to meet since after July 29, 1966, when former Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi, was assassinated, followed by mass killing of Easterners, both military and civilians, in different parts of the country by Northern Nigeria soldiers, under the supervision of Yakubu Gowon as new Head of State. So, any serious leader, genuinely interested in finding solution to the crisis, which started in May the previous year, when Easterners were first killed in the North, would have adequately prepared for the meeting.
But Gowon was not. He did not go to Aburi with his advisers, and he did not prepare any memorandum, according to him. What a shame!
Asked by the newspaper reporter, “if given another opportunity, what would you have done differently? “
Gowon replied; “I don’t think I would have done anything differently.”
This shows that Yakubu Gowon was not remorseful for his role, his actions and inactions, that led to the catastrophic civil war, which claimed millions of lives.
Gowon could boast that he succeeded in forcing Biafra back to Nigeria, but he could not boast of bringing peace back to the country, rather he escalated crime activities. This is because, since after the war, Nigeria has been turned upside down, while criminality reigned supreme, such as armed robbery and other attendant crimes.
Gowon claimed that the civil war ended “no victor, no vanquished”, but he gave every former Biafran twenty pounds to start life anew, irrespective of the amount of money one had in his bank account before the outbreak of the war.
Gowon’s 3Rs – Rehabilitation, Reconciliation, and Reconciliation, were mitigated disasters, which were merely on paper, as he failed to make any concrete effort, or give any special concession for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged South East.
Gowon’s Indigenization Decree was to further pauperise the former.Biafrans, as nobody from the area was viable enough to buy any of the indeginised industries.
In any case, history has an uncanny way of doing things. While the former Biafrans continue to struggle and walk their way back to Nigeria, not minding the several road blocks placed on their way, those who killed them during the 1966 program as well as during the 1967-1970′ civil war, have been turning guns on themselves.
In Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, in virtually all the states in the North, the people there have been slaughtering themselves, and Yakubu Gowon is living long enough to witness all these. These are the seeds he sowed, but he does not know that he was the cause, through his several actions and inactions when he presided over the affairs of Nigeria, and he has failed to make amend or pray to God for forgiveness.
