GOWON AND THE TRAGEDY OF NIGERIA
By
Citizen Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi
Apostle and Nation Builder

When General Yakubu Gowon stepped out of Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Saturday, March 14, 2026, faced the waiting press, and spoke, what followed was not counsel, not caution, not the burdened voice of an elder statesman carrying the anguish of his people — it was reassurance.
He told Nigerians that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is “doing the best he can all round,” that there is “no particular area” requiring improvement, and that the security situation is being handled “the best he can.” And, the words came from a man whose roots are planted in the very soil whose unity he vigorously defended during his age of youth.
That statement now sits in the public record. It sits there while communities are being wiped out in real time. It sits there while farmlands in Benue and Plateau, and elsewhere in Nigeria, are turning into burial grounds. It sits there while entire populations are displaced—and in some cases, replaced—under the watch of a state that appears either overwhelmed or unwilling.

THE ABURI MOMENT: WHEN NIGERIA STOOD AT THE EDGE
To grasp the weight of this moment, one must return to January 1967—to the Aburi Accord. Nigeria was already fracturing. Coups and counter-coups had ruptured the military. Ethnic massacres had claimed thousands of lives. Trust between regions had collapsed.
In Aburi, Ghana, General Gowon met with Lt. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and other military leaders in what would become Nigeria’s last serious attempt to preserve unity through negotiation rather than war. What emerged—at least in principle—was a win-win workable framework for the unity of Nigeria; governance anchored on mutual consent rather than central imposition. It was, in essence, a blueprint for a Nigeria built on trust.

THE BREAK THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
What followed remains one of the most consequential breakdowns in Nigeria’s history. The Federal Military Government issued Decree No. 8, presented as a codification of the Aburi resolutions. The Eastern Region rejected it, arguing that it fundamentally altered the spirit and substance of the agreement.
Then came the creation of 12 states. Then came the collapse of dialogue. Then came war. The Nigerian Civil War began in July 1967—ushering in one of the most devastating human tragedies on the African continent. To this day, one question lingers: Did Nigeria fail at Aburi—or was Aburi abandoned?

FROM ABURI TO ASO ROCK: A PATTERN OF SILENCE
Nearly six decades later, General Gowon stood again at a moment of national crisis. Not as Head of State. Not under military constraint. But as an elder statesman with unrestricted access to power.
He entered Aso Rock Presidential Villa. He met President Tinubu. He emerged before a wounded nation. And he said—there is nothing in particular that needs improvement. History has a language for moments like this; it is called acquiescence.

NIGERIA BLEEDS; AND THE VOICES OF CITIZENS FALTER
The people being killed across Nigeria today by ethnoreligious gangsters are not abstractions. They are communities of indigenous ethnicities; Tiv, Idoma, Berom, Afizere, Anaguta, Irigwe, Igede, Mwaghavul, Ngas, Tarok, Bassa, Adara, and many more. They are not combatants. They are citizens.
In places like Kwande and Apa, in Benue State, what is unfolding bears the troubling pattern of sustained territorial assault: homes seized, farmlands occupied, lives lost, ethnic identity erased, and much more. And in the face of this, one of the most historically prominent sons of that region walked into the seat of power—and came out with praise.

THE DANGEROUS DOCTRINE OF “BROTHERHOOD”
Compounding this crisis is a deeply troubling assertion by Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who suggested that armed perpetrators of violence cannot simply be eliminated because they are his kinsfolk aka “brothers.” That statement has neither been questioned. It stands in direct contradiction to the grundnorm law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which recognizes no ethnic or fraternal exemption from criminal liability.
The implication is stark: perpetrators are shielded by identity, while victims are abandoned by the state. General Gowon possesses the moral authority to confront that doctrine. He did not.

THE POLITICS OF APPEARANCE
The timing of Gowon’s visit cannot be ignored. It followed public calls urging elder statesmen—Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Theophilus Danjuma—to rally behind the President. Only one appeared. And that appearance, stripped of ceremonial language, reads less like counsel and more like endorsement; less like intervention, more like validation.

WHEN COURAGE IS OUTSOURCED
In the absence of elder clarity, the burden of truth has shifted to unlikely voices. Voices like Omoyele Sowore, who continue to challenge power from outside formal structures. Voices from within affected communities—men and women who bury their dead and still find the strength to speak, like Rev Ezekiel Dachomo. Even the voice of others, like Shehu Sani, who appears more preoccupied with moderating the language of victims than confronting the violence of perpetrators. This inversion is not accidental. It is what happens when those with historical weight choose silence.

THE TRAGEDY OF A SECOND OPPORTUNITY LOST
History gave General Gowon something rare: a second moment. At Aburi, the record remains debated. At Aso Rock, it is not. He had the opportunity to stand between power and the people; to speak with the authority of history, to defend those who share his soil and his story. He chose otherwise.

A FINAL WORD
General Gowon as the patriarch of one Nigeria, knows that the “Best” of the efforts of president Tinubu is not a word measured by intention. It is measured by outcome. The graves in the federation of Nigeria reject that verdict. The displaced reject that verdict. The silence of emptied villages rejects that verdict. A nation in distress does not need elder statesmen who COMFORT power. It needs those who CONFRONT it.
From Aburi Accord to Aso Rock Presidential Villa, history has now recorded two defining moments. The first shaped a war. The second endorsed bloodshed. And the people, your fellow country folks, are left to live with the consequences of both.
Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi
Founding President, PVC-Naija
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Apostle & Nation Builder

Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the C.E.O, Masterbuilder Communications.

Email:bolajiakinyemi66@gmail.com
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