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In July 1975, Gowon was ousted from power in a bloodless military coup. He was on a foreign trip to Kampala , Uganda , attending the summit of the then Organisation of African Unity. Six months later, he was declared a fugitive by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria for an alleged involvement in the assassination of the hero, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed; the soldier that ousted Gowon from power. He subsequently found refuge in England and, from 1984, in Togo . Gowon, the officer and a gentleman, was trained at Sandhurst , England – the prestigious British military academy. He claimed he was innocent of what he was accused of.
Gowon was away on a military course during the planning of the first coup and to give the benefit of the doubt, he would have had no knowledge of the impending coup d’état. He only returned to the country on 14 January 1966, a day before the coup took place. When the coup was later hijacked by senior military officers, Gowon was appointed by the military junta led by Major General Aguyi Ironsi to head the Nigerian Army. He was 31 years old. Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Gowon remained as the Chief of Army Staff until 29 June 1966, when the head of state, Major General Ironsi was abducted and killed in Ibadan in a military countercoup. Ironsi, who also knew nothing about the planning of the coup that eventually brought him to power, was ill prepared as he was tossed onto the hot seat to pilot the nation.
Ironsi, naively, chose the path of unitary government – that perhaps was his undoing. The unitary system of government could not have gone down well with the Establishment in the North because it threatened the way of life of the North then. The feudalist-North, as it were, could not have sat idle to allow the “republican” Ibos to dismantle their feudalistic way of life, which had been in existence for over 500 years. In so doing, their sons in the army staged a countercoup. It was masterminded by the then Major Murtala Ramat Mohammed. The North’s first reaction was to secede. Following the success of the military countercoup of June 1966 and a change of heart not to secede, Gowon was selected by northern officers to head the military government, which will revive the Nigerian federal system.
Major General Yakubu Gowon, as he jumped two military ranks within a day, though successful in restoring order and holding much of the country together, was unable to prevent the massacre of the Igbo speaking people in the north in 1967, and the subsequent secession of the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra . Consequently, from 1967 to 1970, Gowon directed the military effort to subjugate the secessionist Biafra . After the collapse of the rebellion in 1970, he tried to reintegrate the country in his “no victor, no vanquished” policy. Attempts to modernize the economy were initiated. Foreign investors tripped on each other’s heels in their rush to invest Nigeria and the country’s GDP grew by over 280% on his watch.
Gowon was largely responsible for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which aimed to provide a regional customs union. However, Gowon was unable to contain inflation or restore civilian rule, and was, therefore, overthrown in that bloodless coup in July 1975. His departure was a watershed for Nigeria and a complete 180-degree turn, out of phase. Firstly, after he left, Nigeria ’s foreign policy moved from that of West Africa to the whole of Africa and the petrodollar was directed towards the liberation of Africa from colonialism. Murtala Mohammed became the Hugo Chavez of the time as he took the colonial masters head on.
Murtala’s zeal, though seemed innocuous, unwittingly destroyed the fabric of governance in Nigeria . Murtala Mohammed deserved the greatest benefit of the doubt in our history. What measures would he have been put in place to prevent Humpty-Dumpty ( Nigeria ) from having a great fall, had he lived? We may never know. The civil service that had been tempered by the British Foreign Service was hacked in a mass purge and in so doing, qualitative oversights were lost. That marked the beginning of Nigeria ’s downslide in quality deliveries as those that took over were mostly mediocre. The momentum of Gowon’s days, however, propelled the country forward in public quality deliveries for a little while, for as long as the projects Gowon started continued to be commissioned by those that ruled the country after him.
Nevertheless, as time passed, it became obvious that the country has lost it. Our sense of what value is, became warped. A city, they say, is adjudged beautiful by the architecture of its public structures and not individual houses. Wherever you go, locals always ask, ‘How do you like our town, and not how did you like my house?’ Not too long ago, I drove around the city of Abuja with a camera. I was looking for anything that I could consider as an architectural wonder. I am afraid, I know many people will not like this, Abuja looked bland but it is neat. I could not see anything to match the unique beauty of the National Theatre at Iganmu in Lagos for instance or the old National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos . The finishing of the Federal Secretarial is nothing to be desired. Everywhere else, if you want a taste of opulence, you go to the City Halls.
Gowon must be feeling lost in Abuja , because he did not partake of it. Outside of that, everywhere else in the country, whatever is on ground, solid and beautiful was erected on his watch, but maybe not commissioned by him or his lieutenants. Government estates were finished as if they were meant for princes and princesses during Gowon’s time. The Eric Moore Towers in Surulere, for example, are tiled from ground to the roofs, even the external walls. Festac Town houses have marbled floors and tiled walls for ordinary Nigerians – go and see the finishing of what they have built for humans in Abuja . He built the Tin Can Island Ports. The Lagos-Ibadan was designed into dual lanes.
The Apapa-Oshodi also, though originally the concept of the old Western Region to avoid paying taxes to the federal government for their produce meant for export by bypassing federal roads, was constructed by him. If you look outside Abuja , anywhere in the rest of the country, dilapidating public infrastructure are what are generally seen: those that are still functioning are those that were erected during his regime. It could be argued that Gowon presided over the greatest wealth – the price of oil had jumped from $2.00 a barrel to $12.00 a barrel overnight. Nobody else really had such money: that has remained other leaders’ excuse for delivering below par.
Lately, he led a group of Nigerians to the recently concluded bid for the right to host the Commonwealth games and we lost. In any competition, there is bound to be a loser: sadly, we lost. But are we really ready? Do not forget that electricity in Nigeria is not yet 24/7 and could remain so till the day of the game. Afterwards, I read sneering comments about him in the newspapers for failing to secure the hosting of the game. How dare they? On the galleries of great leaders, whose “vision, eloquence, and inspiring examples” shake the minds of most enlightened Nigerians, Gowon towers above them all. At the young age of 31 years old, he was saddled with the responsibility to keep together the largest concentration of black people on earth and he did.
No other Nigerian has ever shoulder such responsibilities. Can adults even remember the size of their responsibilities at 31? He is truly the father of modern Nigeria . To confirm that he is, he has stayed out of politics, as an example. He, like some of our past great leaders, has led a champion’s life. He did not monetise projects into his pocket and in doing so, what were erected by him are what we can see that Nigeria once had money. I have never met Gowon, but I see him everyday in all his footprints scattered across our great nation. The greatest wealth Gowon created was in human development. Thank you our generals’ general - you are a statesman and a leader that led vigorously.
It is not all plus for this affable Nigerian, whose parents did fear God. His darkest side would be the Nigerian Civil War. It was a bad chapter in a senseless and wicked story. By all indications, we were led to war because of a contest of seniority between him and Ojukwu. The two protagonists are even still arguing on who is senior to each other. I only hope they are joking. Did over one million people die just for that? Historians would one day analyse what happened. It is however left to the bloods that were shed to forgive. Aside from that, Gowon is no mago-mago, no wayo O!
Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick, the author of The Devil Must Be Laughing.
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Posted by Robot| 05.12.2007 12:15