Yakubu Gowon at 80

The accolades that have poured in to mark his entry into the octogenarians’ club are well-deserved.President Goodluck Jonathan described Gowon in glowing terms, noting that Nigeria would always owe the former head of state a huge debt of gratitude for successfully managing and guiding Nigeria through the 30-month civil war, out of which, he said […]

The accolades that have poured in to mark his entry into the octogenarians’ club are well-deserved.
President Goodluck Jonathan described Gowon in glowing terms, noting that Nigeria would always owe the former head of state a huge debt of gratitude for successfully managing and guiding Nigeria through the 30-month civil war, out of which, he said the country emerged as an even stronger and more united nation.  Over the years, Jonathan said, Gowon has continued to use his exalted position as former head of state and respected elder statesman to engender bridges of love and harmony across the country. ‘You have never failed to avail successive governments of your wise counsel’, he said.
In their statement to mark the event, the Northern Governors’ Forum called on Nigerians to celebrate General Gowon’s remarkable leadership qualities. In the statement on their behalf by the Forum’s chairman and Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, the governors said that Gowon would be remembered as an apostle of peace adding that Nigeria was indeed fortunate to have had him as head of state during the civil war.
They said Gowon’s role in “Reconstructing, Rehabilitating and Rebuilding Nigeria and the government’s position that in the aftermath of the hostilities, there should be ‘No Victor, No Vanquished’ feelings among all Nigerians helped the country to heal quickly from the effects of the war, calling on Nigerians to insist on one Nigeria regardless of the challenges.
“We cannot forget the selfless leadership role played by General Gowon during the civil war era. Perhaps it would have been worse if he was ethno-religiously based. He stood for unity, he stood for justice and he is indeed a role model for future generation of leaders to come.
“For me, Gowon is one of the best things to have happened to Nigeria, especially during the civil war era. He is still relevant even at 80, still praying for the continuous unity and progress of Nigeria. We must therefore celebrate his birthday, remembering the sacrifice many Nigerians have made to keep Nigeria from disintegrating”, Aliyu remarked.
Indeed, Gowon exemplifies the very qualities of leadership that the country sorely needs in this period when there are many divisive forces, political, ethnic and religious, that are threatening the very foundation of the state.
Fortuitously, Dr Gowon, who runs his Nigeria Prays, an interfaith movement that organises sessions to help foster understanding among the different sections of the country, has not shown any signs of slowing down in his efforts to continue with the vision of one Nigeria that he expounded during the war and has engaged himself in since.
Gowon distinguished himself also because he has studiously stayed away from the murky waters of politics since the days he returned from exile in Britain, where he had been following the overthrow of his government in the military coup of July 29, 1975, while he attended that year’s summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Kampala, Uganda.  
Instead of contesting his removal, or orchestrating a counter-coup, Gowon detoured to Britain, where he enrolled in the University of Warwick and read up through to the doctorate level.  That academic interregnum afforded him a period to deepen his commitment to the concept of national unity, and the country has been the better for it.
Gowon was born October 19, 1934, in Pankshin, Plateau State. Gowon’s father was an early convert to Christianity. Gowon was educated in Zaria and later became a career army officer. He was trained in Ghana and in England’s Sandhurst and twice served in the Congo as part of Nigeria’s peacekeeping force there in the early 1960s. After the coup of January 1966, he was appointed chief of staff by Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, who emerged as leader after Nigeria’s first military coup in January 1966, and whose contentious tenure ended in a counter-coup. Gowon emerged as the compromise head of the new government that followed.