Gowon and Ojukwu in the eyes of Nigeria political history

By Sonnie O. Ibrahim  (EMAIL) Friday, June 15, 2001

owon is now back making Headline News not necessarily because of his association with, or his role within the Arewa group but because of his tendencies to prevaricate and unleash unguarded utterances. The unrepentant "paper" General vaulting and inordinate ambition was the sole cause of the needless Nigeria civil war that culminated in the death of millions of innocent Nigerians on both sides of the war. If Gowon was a well trained and disciplined military officer, he could have followed the military hierarchy after the unwarranted assassination of Major General J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi in the needless bloody counter-coup of July 1966. At General Ironsi's death, the most senior military officer that was next in line was Brigadier Ogundipe. Therefore, Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was right to demand that Brigadier Ogundipe take over as the military head of state after the death of Ironsi. It was Gowon's refusal, the unabated and wanton massacre of innocent Igbo indigenes, during Gowon's tenure in the different part of the country that lead to the civil war. Gowon and the supposedly Federal Military Government of Nigeria (FMGN) branded Ojukwu a rebel for imposing an ultimatum and demanding for the security of his kiths and kin all over Nigeria. Did Gowon remember Aburi? Did he recollect what he agreed to for and on behalf of Nigeria? I know memory do fail, but Aburi must be very important to all of the parties that attended the meeting for it to remain somewhat fresh in their memories. The Aburi Conference was in Ghana and if the opportunistic paper General had abide by the terms of the accord many innocent lives would have been spared. Now that the retired "paper" General is opening up by disclosing what he knew and did not know during his ill-fated misrule of Nigeria-I will heed to ask him to disclose what was agreed to at Aburi, and why he unilaterally reneged on an agreement that he signed when he was not drunk or asleep a la Bakassi. Perhaps he was drunk and asleep during the Aburi meeting, thus could not remembered what he did then. Maybe it was the case of a temporary amnesic stupor. It was his myopic thinking and self-adulated ego that set the nation on the path of abyss. Perhaps Gowon need to tell the nation what he knew about the death of General Murtala Mohammed. He was implicated by the coup plotters as an accomplice and was even mentioned as a possible beneficiary of the job that he was deposed of by General Murtala Mohammed, then his nemesis. I knew he was pardoned by Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the democratically elected President of the corrupt Second Republic. It is politically and historically proper to disintinguished between elected Presidents and clique-appointed self-styled President of Babangida's ilk. It is also important to put the nation's political history in proper perspectives. What baffles most students of Nigeria's political history is how our erstwhile political miscreants are always trying to rewrite some chapters of her history. This revisionary tactics is not only an insult to our sensibilities but an affront on the collective intelligence of all well meaning Nigerians. We are all living witnesses to the recent IBB Jos pseudo-history outing. Was it an outing or a convention of rouges and morally bankrupted derelicts? You be the judge. Rather than sit at home and indulge in self-recrimination, Gowon like IBB is now a self-ordained historian cum born-again democrat. Thanks to what one of my learned compatriot dubbed "our collective amnesia." It will be absurd to let Gowon roam the country with his own version of Nigeria's history when we all know what the real truths are. Let us all remember that during the war, Gowon through well sophisticated propaganda machine made Ojukwu look like a rebel. His purported war slogan of keeping Nigeria one, a task that must be done, was ultimately done at the expense of under-developing a certain part of the country. Our compatriots across the Niger were reduced to second class citizens and marginalized at every turns and corners. Is it any wonder that no military officer of Igbo origin got promoted beyond a certain rank post the civil war? (compliments of the unwritten rule of the Geo-political army of occupation). If the Igbos are part of corporate Nigeria, they should be given their fair chance. They should be accorded equal access and equal opportunity in all sphere of human endeavor within Nigeria. Why can't an Igbo man or woman for that matter have a legitimate shot at aspiring to be Nigeria's President? If the Igbos with their size and resources cannot aspire to be the Chief Executive of Corporate Nigeria therein lies the problem for the multitude of ethnic minorities nationalities A certain part of Nigeria for whatever reason(s)is hell bent and willing to do anything to deprive the Igbos of any chance of political advancement in Nigeria. The Vice-Presidency in a democracy or second-in-command in a stratocracy is the highest office or rank the Igbo can dream of. The thinking is that this illusion of inclusion will be enough to make the average Igbo indegene feel his or her political self worth in Nigeria. What about the Presidency in a civil polity? Are the Igbos still paying the price of the January 15, 1966 coup? A coup that was perceived by many Nigerians, particularly the Northerners as an Igbo coup. If they are not being made to pay the price, then why are they being politically schemed out. Let it be known that it was Gowon that sow the seed of ethnic and tribal mutual mistrust amongst the different and tribal ethnic groups in Nigeria and IBB it was that took it to a new height. Gowon plays the ethnic card by announcing after the bloody coup that strategically placed him at the helm that "...Behold A Northerner is in power." A recent statement attributed to our own malevolent Muhammadu Buhari is enough to tell any sensible Nigerian the thinking of our erstwhile military dictators. Buhari is playing the religion card. Gowon is now at it again, he is no longer from the Middle Belt, thus he is a hardcore Northerner. In our present day Nigeria, leadership is achieved by accident of birth. The Hausa-Fulani has arrogated themself the role of power brokers, thus they begrudgingly bequest power to the Yoruba for now. They have openly proclaimed the fact that they are "born to rule" or is it "Born to misrule." What an arrant nonsense! The talking about power shifting from North to South is totally absurd. Well meaning Nigerians are yearning for the day the best Nigerian regardless of tribe or tongue will be allowed to rule. We need to practice true democracy instead of wearing the toga of democracy on aristocracy and calling it democracy. It is self-evident today that Ojukwu the supposedly rebel and war lord of yore is by all standards of modern political analysis a detribalized nationalist and a statesman of worth. The irony of course is that Gowon fooled the nation once by playing the ethnic card and he is at it again. I will be the first to posit that the late Major Kaduna Nzeogwu is more a Northerner than Gowon. It is an incontrovertible fact that Gowon is only a Northerner whenever his alignment with the North accrues a personal dividend to him. Thus it is always convenient for him to be a Northerner when the stakes are high. When opportunity knocks, Gowon takes it without thinking of the consequences. My fellow countrymen and women, I will sign off by sharing this apothegm: "Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their past." A word as the saying goes is enough for the wise. So long and God bless Nigeria.