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General Yakubu Gowon was a Nigerian military officer who, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, became the country’s Head of State as a result of the July 1966 northern counter-coup to the January 1966 coup whose lopsidedness in the senseless murders of northern and western political leaders provided the immediate cause for the July counter-coup and eventually the Nigerian civil war, a war fought under the organizing slogan created out of GOWON as acronym: “Go On With One Nigeria”. Although he had a Christian background, his coming to power was a reflection of Nigeria’s power politics at the time, where he represented the geo-political North. His first pronouncement, after being announced as the new head of State, was “the basis for Nigeria’s Unity no longer exist” hence the declaration of Independence by the North before the decision was overturned a few days later by the same North in favor of its continued domination of Nigeria, with him still at the helm and retaining the position throughout the war.
After the war, he became a victim of another coup in July 1975 after which he proceeded on a voluntary exile to the UK and collaborated with other Christians to establish “Nigeria Prays” upon his return. “Nigeria Prays” started life under various military administrations in Nigeria, whose military governors often encourage and patronize its activities. It is anchored on “One Nigeria” where that oneness is defined by homogeneity and uniformity, in spite of the fact that the country is multi-lingual and multi-cultural and all efforts at ensuring the homogeneity and uniformity became the main causes for the crisis that led up to military intervention and subsequently General Gowon’s ascension to power. His own political (and military) history therefore cannot be divorced from this new passion of praying for Nigeria’s oneness.
The most recent activity of “Nigeria Prays” was held in Maryland, USA in early September 2017, wherein the anchor Scripture was 2 Chronicles 7:14, which says “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”.
The word “wicked” defines exactly what Nigeria is, today. And the wickedness is being flaunted in high places of governance legitimized by a Constitution brought about by the northern-dominated military aimed at homogenizing Nigeria.
General Olusegun Obasanjo was Nigeria’s military Head of State between 1976 and 1979; the civilian President between 1999 and 2007. He declared himself to be a born again Christian, having also embarked on an academic study of Theology. As a consequence of agitations for restructuring of Nigeria from nearly all of the Peoples of Nigeria, General Obasanjo threw in his ideas anchored on what he called “restructuring of the mind”.
General Obasanjo led the military regime which validated the unitarization of Nigeria begun by General Gowon. His regime reinforced the centralization of Nigeria’s financial resources, leading to the states having to go cap in hand for monthly allocations to sustain their administrations; placed all of Nigeria’s mineral resources under the control of the central government, itself under Northern military and political control, the end result of which is the despoliation of the Niger Delta area, placed all academic institutions of higher learning established by the various post-Independence Regional Administrations under centralized control, determined one centralized agricultural development paradigm for Nigeria and more importantly, legitimized Nigeria’s unitarization though subterfuge by interfering in the production and ratification of the 1979 Constitution by military fiat and collaborated in the imposition of the fraudulent military-created Constitution of 1999, which in reality was no different from that of 1979 which he superintended.
Yet, For a Born Again Christian, to argue for a restructuring of the mind must mean the person himself has restructured his own mind to such an extent that he would boldly proclaim, as Apostle Paul did, that “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”(2 Corinthians 5:17); for, as the Apostle’s life and times showed, his Damascus experience defined not only the “restructuring “ of his mind, but also of his defining characteristics and what he was able to go through and overcome in the process of putting all of these into practice. It was a “turn around” from persecution of the Way to its promotion.
Africa’s militaries were and still are the premier agency for continued colonial domination, having been created by colonial enterprises for the decimation of the various peoples of Africa, often pitting one People against the other in the recruitment and organization of such military, where, for Nigeria, the military was dominated by northerners with a mandate to secure Nigeria for the north. This was the context under which Yakubu Gowon, a minority and Christian from northern Nigeria, became the military head of State; and for Olusegun Obasanjo, he retained his leadership on account of accepting this Northern diktat as recounted by General Oluleye, the then Finance Minister, who was unceremoniously dismissed by General Obasanjo through a radio announcement upon General Oluleye’s complaint about “northern domination” of Obasanjo’s paraphernalia of office.
These two Generals therefore contributed, in a significant and direct manner, to the wickedness the Nigeria State has become.
If a “Damascus” experience proposition were to come into play, that must inform on their position and advocacy as to how Nigeria became what it is and what remedies are available for a transformation to occur. In which case, the entire edifice on which “Nigeria Prays” rest would be different from what it presently is; and General Obasanjo’s “restructuring” of the mind would accept the reality that Nigeria’s “Golden Era” was in the pre-military Regional federation that existed which was neutralized mainly by their own actions or acquiescence.
There was a mindset that produced the developments of that era just as there was a mindset that produced its negation such that asking for a “restructuring of the mind” or “praying for Nigeria” at this point without addressing this aspect is denying the Scripture both Generals now claim to promote and believe in. So far, this has not been done; hence the need to question their allusions to Biblical imperatives.
When both Generals introduce these false paradigms anchored on what they have contributed to making out of Nigeria, discerning Christians must re-examine their own understanding of the Spirit in these matters and begin to determine their allegiance, whether it is to “men” like these Generals or God. The first platform for the search would be what really constitute their own Nations: the Nigerian Post-Colonial state as already determined by these two Christian Generals(among others) or their natural God-created Nations which may or may not have to work out a Re-Formation of a new architecture of State that will encourage their mutual co-existence.
Christians in Nigeria therefore have a responsibility as to their continued relevance in the world, especially now that Nigeria is faced with an existential disorder whose outcome will determine the continued existence or obliteration of many Peoples, that is Languages/Cultures inhabiting that geo-political space.
Christians in Nigeria can either allow this crisis to be resolved one way or the other without their direct input or become active participants in the coming into being of what God intended each of the Nations to be thus fulfilling Revelation 7:9, where ALL NATIONS gather to worship God.