Gen Gowon Misses It on Unending Killings in Nigeria - Simon Reef

Killings: Gowon Misses The Point

BY SIMON REEF MUSA

General Yakubu Gowon is a name that connotes reverence across partisanship. Since he was forced out of the corridors of power in 1974, he has successfully distanced himself from issues capable of compromising his neutral status in national discourse. Having seen the nation through the Nigerian civil war, his name later became a reference point for national unity.

Through the years since his return to the country in the 1980s through a state pardon by former President Shehu Shagari over his alleged role in the assassination of General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, the former military leader has stayed off controversial waters. To keep himself busy, he resorted to championing a programme known as ‘NIGERIA PRAYS’. With this programme, Gowon has kept himself enmeshed in calling on divine powers to keep our nation united despite the myriad of problems haranguing our existence as a people. Despite these prayers sessions conducted across many states, the demons of killings have not allowed the country to rest. It is either these demons are too powerful to be subdued by these prayers or there is an absence of sincerity in the programme. It seems that the more Gowon prays, the more the country is turned into an ocean of bloodshed.

From Zamfara to Taraba, Adamawa to Kogi and Benue to Borno, among others, our country, mostly the North, has been seized by bloodthirsty fiends that are irrevocably committed to annihilating us. Before now, 2014 was seen as the peak of these killings, with no fewer than 15o killed on a single day at Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Boko Haram in the North-east then was devastating the region, with worship centres reduced to rubbles and rising death toll. The then PDP Government had no answers and it was not surprise that the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government was forced to kiss the dust at the 2015 polls.

Then came President Muhammadu Buhari with a promise to tackle insecurity, corruption and improve on the lives of the people. Over three years after he replaced the PDP Government, the APC Government has become a tragic nightmare threatening to consume the country Gowon worked so hard to save from disintegration. Boko Haram may have been “technically defeated” by the APC Government, but an unprecedented terror gang in the name of herdsmen/farmers’ clash in the North-central zone has killed thousands, and still counting. More painful, there is a lack of sincerity on the part of government’s spokesmen as they deployed haughty dispositions in rationalizing the continued insecurity in the country. As it stands, the nation is sitting on a razor edge, with both sides clinging to their points.

In times like this, there is one name that ought to be at the forefront of seeking for solutions. That name is General Yakubu Gowon. Having assumed neutrality in national discourse, he is yet to put to use his local and global influence to bring to an end these massacres. He has remained silent in the face of these coldblooded murders. While visiting Governor Simon Lalong On Tuesday July 10, 2018 in Jos to commiserate with the state over the killings of more than 200 persons, he was quoted to have declared that it was unfair to accuse President Buhari over the killings.

If during the PDP years Nigerians blamed their tragedies on the Jonathan’s Administration, why should they not continue to do that? In our clime today, Buhari is the symbol of government and if anything goes wrong, he stands to be blamed. Unlike in developed democracies where the three-arm of government work in consonance with their mandates, ours sees the President as the all-in-all. It is true that no leader would be happy to see his people being killed, but what if that leader does only little to stop these killings? Despite outcries from sections of the country calling for the review of the security architecture, nothing concrete has been seen.

Gowon’s remark in Jos is out of order with his status as an elder statesman. Our revered Head of State should have known that the real issue is not about absolving President Buhari of blame, but the need to demand that the President safeguards the lives and property of all Nigerians. As former Head of State, Gowon is aware that a government that appears powerless in protecting the life of its citizenry against bloodthirsty gangs of bandits cannot be taken seriously. He is also aware that what is happening in Zamfara and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State are pure cases of banditry aimed at cattle rustling. But what is happening in the North-central geo-political zone and other parts of the North in the name of herdsmen/farmers’ clashes is simply aimed at dispossessing people of their ancestral lands. The government, so far, is yet to show resolve in tackling the issue, just as the political class from the minorities’ region are yet to firm up in their resolve in presenting a united front in confronting the problems. With groaning silence from the political class, religious leaders have been forced to convert their pulpits into protest voice against these killings. Gowon’s message in Jos resonates with unbelief: Is he more concerned with absolving Buhari over the killings than calling on him to protect the lives of the people?
The country is sick today because the so-called North is sick. If our elder statesman like General Gowon cannot rally prominent Northerners to find out what is ailing this sick, then who can? When General TY Danjuma called on Nigerians to stand up and be prepared for self-defence, he was accused of encouraging ethnic insurrection. If Gowon had demonstrated courageous leadership skills and rallied people to save the day, our nation would not have gone the way our country is going today. It is not enough to pray. What this country needs is the truth. Gowon has all it takes to rally both past and present leaders to stop these barbaric killings.
May be the law of Karma is about to unleash its vengeance on the children of those who killed for GOWON (Go On With One Nigeria). Following the killings in Benue by armed herdsmen, one of these children, Emmanuel Eche-Ofun John, apologises for the sins of the fathers and pleads for forgiveness from the Ndi Igbo: “Since this unfortunate incident that threw the state into a mourning mood, I have come to the conclusion that it’s time I apologized on behalf of the entire peoples of old Benue-Plateau and Southern Kaduna to the peoples of Eastern Nigeria for the roles that our fathers and fore fathers played in the Nigerian Civil war. I apologize for any single Easterner that any person from Benue-Plateau and Southern Kaduna killed in that war. We were misled and used. In you, Easterners and Westerners, we find true brotherhood, love and care. When our “brothers” kill and harm us, it’s you who sympathize with and give us shelter. You have been a shoulder for us to lean on.
“Never again shall we “boast” that we were the ones who fought the civil war. Yes, we were the ones used to prosecute the war, but it was a war we fought ignorantly; fighting our true brothers for our real enemies. We apologize.”
John’s apology could serve as a prologue for deep seated regrets and helplessness Northern minorities are facing in Nigeria in rationalizing their decimation. Our country is fixed on the path of self-annihilation. Gowon should act fast and rally all men and women of goodwill, across religious and ethnic divide, to place a demand on President Buhari to protect the lives of Nigerians. We must stop these little raging small flames before they combine to become national wild fire. Gowon should pray less and act more in order to salvage what is left of his legacy that consumed millions of lives.
Simon Reef is the Editor-in-Chief of Forefront, and wrote in from Abuja