By Charles Kumolu
TO many people the name Yakubu Gowon means different things. For some he represented the pillar of unity at a time of national distress, while others see him as a stumbling block to a peoples’ quest for self determination.

Another group also see him as the bridge builder who raised his hands from the plateau and extended it across the Niger. However, whichever way he is seen or whatever feelings his name evoke, Gowon is one name that would always occupy a prominent and positive space in Nigeria’s history. Gowon’s ascent to national acclaim was rapid.

Gowon

Within 12 years of leaving military school in 1955 he had become the leader of Africa’s most populous country.  Like some prominent leaders before him got power without striving or asking for it, the Angas, Plateau State born General, became Nigeria’s Head of State in 1966 by providence.

Carrying the mantle of leadership at that trying time, was definitely an arduous task for Gowon, who came to power at the age of 32. But he was able to navigate through those murky moments. Little wonder Dr. John Akunyili, husband of erstwhile Minister of Information, Dr. Dora Akunyili described him as the strength of the nation.

“You are a beacon of strength for this great nation. Your good governance and leadership qualities have marked you as one of the greatest leaders of our time,” Akunyili said when Gowon celebrated his 70th birthday in 2004. Given that the coup that brought him to power had led to the death of thousands of Easterners throughout the Northern Region, the leadership of the Eastern Region was provoked into a crisis that subsequently led to the thirty-month civil war.

However, the apostle of one Nigeria, presided over the war that ended in 1970 with a “No victor no vanquished” declaration.  He followed it up with an amnesty for the majority of those who had participated in the Biafran uprising, as well as a program of “Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and Rehabilitation”, to repair the extensive damage done to the economy and infrastructure of the Eastern Region during the war.

The Gowon administration subsequently initiated several nation-building policies, the most notable of which was the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The nine years of Gowon, also witnessed the oil boom, which subsequently brought a buoyant economy.

In addition, he embarked on major infrastructural projects to transfer control of the economy from foreigners to Nigerians.  The Nigerian Entreprises Promotion decree of 1972, which was expanded in 1977, stipulated that only Nigerians could participate in certain categories of business.

Businesses that allowed foreign participation nevertheless reserved controlling shares for Nigerians. After the hiatus that followed his overthrow from power by the Murtala-Obasanjo junta, Gowon returned to Nigeria during the second republic to pick up the unity torch he left behind.

A true gentleman, he has continued to be an advocate for good causes especially through his Yakubu Gowon Centre,YGC, whose initiatives include programmes aimed at tackling malaria, guinea worm, violence among other humanitarian initiatives.

Remarkably for a General who led Nigeria in its first and unto prayers as a weapon for resolving conflicts. Gowon at 77 has not just turned into a statesman, but a gentleman General!