Re: General Yakubu Gowon's book titled, ‘My life of duty and allegiance’

By Prof. Echefuna' R G ONYEBEADI

Let me quickly clarifying that this article is not a review of General Yakubu Gowon’s book above captioned. It is neither a criticism nor rejoinder to the book under reference, as I am yet to read the book. This is a general interrogation of what is already out there.

To start with, I congratulate General Yakubu Gowon GCFR, for writing his own story about his "life of duty and allegiance" at about 92-year-old; 60 years after assuming office as the youngest (military) Head of State of Nigeria and 51 years after being eased out of office in a Military coup. This is not a mean feat at 92 years old!

I have been advocating for a very long time that General Yakubu Gowon GCFR, should do himself and the country a favour by documenting his era of 'stewardship' to Nigeria. I appreciate his doing so at last at the ripe old age of about 92 years.

Let me also use this medium to congratulate the amiable and humble General, for the 'burden' of suddenly being made a multi-billionaire at a ripe old age of 92 years. I used the word 'burden', reflecting on the fact that, as a young military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon was quoted to have said that the problem of Nigeria wasn't money, but what to do with it. So, if as a young military officer/Head of State, he didn't know what to do with money, will making him a sudden multi-billionaire at 92 years old not be a 'burden' to him?

In any case, kudos to General Yakubu Gowon's associates and beneficiaries who didn't disappoint at what looks like a long overdue "payback time"!

Meanwhile, I studiously monitored with rapt attention, the speech of General Yakubu Gowon GCFR, the book reviewer and all who spoke during his book launch. They were quite illuminating and thought provoking.

Give it to the General, his comments at his book launch were as usual quite measured, simple and enlightening, safe for his style at trying to be politically correct even at odd times, which seems to have become somewhat legendary.

Yes, General Yakubu Gowon GCFR maybe right!

However, it may be noted that being right does not necessarily translate to being correct.

Dictionary meaning of "right" is: "an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature", among others; while "*correct*" is: to "treat a defect; faultless, exact, precise, accurate, right, true, proper, free from error, not faulty.", among others.

So, in a way, correct is right but right may not be correct!

Therefore, General Yakubu Gowon GCFR, though, may be right about the caption and content of his book, which by the way, many Nigerians are completely priced out at a price of N75k and N100k each for soft and hard cover copy respectively, in a country where wage is pegged at N70k; he may not necessarily be correct!

I have also read and listened to many criticisms against General Yakubu Gowon and rejoinders to his book.

My initial impression of the criticisms/rejoinders is that many of them are based on victims’ perspectives, moral persuasions, documented (written and recorded) history, hunches, sentiment, emotions and possible misconceptions.

Whatever the perceived errors/omissions in the General's book, I think, he has already provided an alibi, because he said that, he wrote the book from available memory of a 92 years old man and not from documented evidence, having lost all after his overthrow in a military coup 51 years ago.

The summary of the rejoinders/criticisms is that General Yakubu Gowon GCFR conveniently omitted some truth and also failed/refused/neglected to apologize to Nigerians in his book for his role and/or perceived wrongs done, particularly to Ndigbo, under his watch as military Head of State, by simply saying: "I AM SORRY".

Some of the wrongs (real or imaginary) for which General Yakubu Gowon is expected to say "I AM SORRY" to Nigerians includes but not limited to:

a) the heinous and gruesome murder of his boss, General JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigeria's first indigenous army General and first military Head of State of Nigeria, with his host Governor, Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, under his watch as chief of staff

b) mass murder of top military officers and people of the Eastern Region extraction under his watch as Chief of Staff/Head of State

c) the genocidal atrocities across the country against armless Nigerians, mainly of Igbo extraction, particularly in northern Nigeria and elsewhere, under his watch as military Head of State.

d) reneging on the well documented Aburi Accord

e) the very inhuman "Asaba massacre" of several innocent, armless and harmless people

f) blockade of humanitarian goods and services to Eastern Nigeria at their time of need

g) questionable and unconditional ceding of a Nigerian (Eastern Region) territory of Bakassi, with all its oil reserves, to Cameroun, in return for France support to prosecute the "civil war"; while at the same time refusing "Biafra" to go

h) impoverishment of Ndigbo by giving them a flat rate of N20 (twenty Naira only) irrespective of whatever they had in the Banks after the war

i) seizure of properties belonging to Ndigbo in some places, by labelling them as "abandoned properties"

j) non-implementation of the 3Rs (Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) promised after the war

k) mere lip service to the "No Victor, No vanquished" proclamation after the war

l) others.

It may be interesting to notice that, it seems like, the same stroke that literally gave away a Nigerian territory, Bakassi, with all its oil reserves, without any fight, seems to be the same stroke that prevented another Nigerian territory, "Biafra", from going away, in exercise of self preservation, which was followed by avoidable wanton bloodshed!

Going by all the aforementioned, would it have been proper to expect General Yakubu Gowon GCFR, to apologize to Nigerians?

Is it customary for a military officer talk less of a 4 star General, to openly apologize irrespective of whatever wrong?

Your guess is as good as mine!

Meanwhile, what General Yakubu Gowon GCFR, set out to document in his book titled: "My Life Of Duty And Allegiance" seems simple enough to comprehend.

The three operating words as captioned in his book are: life, duty and allegiance.

1. The "Life" of the General being referred to is essentially the period from about July 29, 1966 to July 29, 1975; spanning just about 9 years of General Yakubu Gowon's reign as military Head of State of Nigeria. This by no means speaks to the entire long life of the General. He had a life prior to that period and a long life thereafter! – thus, making the spectrum of his book above captioned and perhaps the content look very narrow.

General Yakubu Gowon was eased out of office at about the age of 41 years and is still living 51 years after, at a ripe old age of about 92 years.

So, the General's book above captioned, seems not to be about his entire life, but for just a little fragment thereof, of just about 9 years. He lived before and still lives long after the period under reference.

2. Duty: the primary duty of a military officer is to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country against external aggression. In doing so, collateral damages resulting in loss of lives and properties are corollaries.

A military officer is trained to kill and destroy in the course of his duty! So, General Yakubu Gowon may have wittingly and/or unwittingly caused so many lives and properties to be lost in line of "duty".

This brings to fore the question of whether there is any correlation between the "duty" of a military officer in protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country against external aggression and the internal safety/security of lives and properties of citizens!?

However, whether the pogrom/genocide/mass massacre of millions of Nigerian citizens, mostly women and children, particularly of Igbo extraction, within that period (from about mid-1966 to January 1970), falls within an acceptable and justifiable line of "duty" of a military officer is open to further introspective interrogation.

The post war "duty" of General Yakubu Gowon from 1970 to 1975, as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, is also something that should ordinarily arouse further scrutiny.

3. Allegiance: The meaning of the word "allegiance" is: "The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a subject owes to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to one's king, government, or state.", among others.

The big question is: to who was General Yakubu Gowon's allegiance as military officer/Head of State?

The first official statement credited to Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon at about the time he became military Head of State was that, there is no basis for Nigeria's unity and/or one Nigeria; thus, popularizing the Hausa word "araba" - to your tents oh "Israel"!

Major Murtala Ramat Muhammed was said to have commandeered Nigerian Airways and Lagos Airport (later renamed after him, after his assassination much later as Head of State), to evacuate northerners from Lagos and environs.

So, for General Yakubu Gowon to then go ahead to prosecute an avoidable war for which millions of Nigerian lives were lost on both sides to "keep Nigeria one" seems curious and speaks volumes about his allegiance!

60 years after, and in General Yakubu Gowon's life time, what has changed!?

Summary:

General Yakubu Gowon's book captioned: "My Life, Duty And Allegiance" has no doubt increased the volume of literature on military incursions into the governance of our country Nigeria.

General Yakubu Gowon may be right in the caption of his book and perhaps his narration therein, but may not necessarily be correct; more so, as he said, his book is a product of an old man's memory, with no documented evidence.

General Yakubu Gowon reserves the right to apologize for whatever is perceived wrong in his administration of the country as Head of State/C-in-C or chose otherwise. History and posterity will judge better.

The Life of the General did not commence in 1966 and transcends far beyond 1975, when he was eased out of office.

The last has not been said about the "duty" or otherwise of General Yakubu Gowon as a military officer cum Head of State.

The allegiance of General Yakubu Gowon as military officer/Head of State needs further illumination and introspections.

May the labour of our heroes past never be in vain.

•Professor Echefuna’ R. G. ONYEBEADI [DBA; PhDs; CEng. etc], Professor of Engineering Economy, Strategic Management Expert and the Inegbese of Oligbo Kingdom, writes from FCT Abuja.