BY CANUTE TANGWA (published on November 21, 2005)
The International Conference on Malaria (Roll Back Malaria) that held on November 18 to 19, 2005 in Yaounde, Cameroon was a rainbow gathering. Researchers, medics, diplomats, politicians, musicians like Yvonne Chaka Chaka, UNICEF antimalaria ambassador, representatives of NGOs and other top-flight personalities rolled up their sleeves in two days to roll back malaria! One of such personalities was Gen. Yakubu (Jack) Gowon.
I did not know Gen. Gowon was in Cameroon until I watched the CRTV bilingual newscast on Sunday 20th November, 2005. President Paul Biya had just given Gen. Gowon a one-hour red carpet reception. Apparently, most news organs, which is their duty to be nosy, covering the conference did not or failed to recognize the dashing, alert and boyishly handsome former Nigerian leader in agbada!
Gen. Gowon’s presence in Yaounde is news for many reasons. One of the legal instruments that Cameroon used at the International Court of Justice at The Hague to quash Nigeria’s claim over the disputed Bakassi peninsular was the 1975 Maroua Accord signed between the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo and Gen. Gowon.
Some Nigerian commentators maintain that it was Gowon’s gift to Ahidjo for supporting the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the Nigeria-Biafra war. This allegation has been refuted by eminent Nigerian scholars like the late Taslim Olawale Elias one-time President of the International Court of Justice at The Hague and Attorney General of the Nigerian Federation, Dr Okoi Arikpo former Nigerian Commissioner for External Affairs as well as Dr Nowa Omoigui in his seminal article titled: Did Gowon Give Away Bakassi To Cameroun?
Mention the Nigeria-Biafra secessionist war and three names spring to mind: the Sandhurst trained Gen. Gowon (a military instructor called him Jack because he had difficulties pronouncing Yakubu) who was barely thirty three years old when he became Head of State; Colonel Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, a fine product from Epsom college and Oxford university and to a certain extent the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo. The latter played a significant role in the defeat of the Biafran army because he did not allow arms meant for the secessionists to pass through Cameroon.
Unlike the late Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast and Gabonese president Omar Bongo (he later regretted his decision) who recognized Biafra due to alleged pressure from French president De Gaulle, the late Ahidjo supported the Federal forces in Nigeria. Thus when the Bakassi dispute degenerated into exchange of fire and loss of lives from both sides, informed Cameroonians talked of a stab in the back. In other words, Nigeria has a moral debt towards Cameroon. No other person knows this better than Gen. Gowon.
As young officers in the Nigerian Army, Gowon and Ojukwu sojourned in the former West Cameroon in the early Sixties. History has it that they were in Santa sniffing the paths of the maquisards! They were together in the Congo as UN peacekeepers in the 60s as well. But they were brutally torn apart in the events that led to the Nigerian civil war.
Gen. Gowon’s name had a lot of symbolism during the war. Go On With One Nigeria (G. O.W.O.N) was the battle cry. Addressing the bruised and battered Nigerian State after the war, Gen. Gowon declared on January 15, 1970 to the dismay of Afropessimists: “I solemnly repeat our guarantees of a general amnesty for those misled into rebellion… the nation is relieved. All energies will now be bent to the task of reintegration and reconciliation…reconstruction. I also thank the President of the OAU General Assembly, Presidents Mobutu, Boumedienne, and Ahidjo, who presided over OAU summit discussions of the Nigerian crisis. The enemies of Africa were restrained by the demonstration of such solid support”. Gowon’s reconciliatory spirit was vividly captured by Prof. Ali A. Mazrui when he posited that the hate retention capacity of the African is very low.
Leading a country in time of war is different from leading a country in times of relative peace. Sir Winston Churchill led the British heroically during the Second World War but saw his political fortunes dwindle after the war. Gowon was a hero during and immediately after the Nigeria-Biafra war. He like Churchill failed to see the line between war-time and peace-time political management. Churchill left the political scene through the ballot box whereas Gowon was bundled out of power through the barrel of the gun and marshal music. He went on to obtain a Ph.D at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Today he is one of African Union’s (AU) Eminent Persons.
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