Elated by the successful outcome of the last
general elections, former Head of State, General
Yakubu Gowon, Thursday, said that despite the
assertions of naysayers and uncertified
futurologists who predicted the break-up of
Nigeria in 2015, the effective prayers of the
people of faith moved the hands of God to
intervene in the affairs of the country.

In his remark, at a lecture entitled: “The Church
and Nigerian Nation: Impact, Challenges and the
Way Forward,” to mark the 60th Anniversary
of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria
(FGCN), held at the National Headquarters of the
Church in Lagos, Gowon who chaired the occasion
said, that Nigeria has remained together should
surprise no one because God has given the nation
the assurance that He would always answer
Nigerians whenever they call upon Him.

Recalling the events that led to the civil war in
1967-1970, he jokingly said that his colleague
Chukwuemeka Ojukwu never believed he (Gowon)
would call out Nigeria’s fighting forces to fight
against the Biafran side in order to keep Nigeria
one.

According to Gowon, the Bible has consistently
been his companion from his childhood till date,
adding that his colleague, Ojukwu had said then,
he (Gowon) was a Christian, who carries around
suitcase with a Bible inside, and so wouldn’t like
to call out the Nigerian Federal forces to war in
order to stop the secession.

Gowon said: “All my life, from childhood to this
present day, the Bible has consistently been my
companion. I discovered quite early that every
word of God contained therein speak to every
situation in the life of every man or woman, great
or small and to occurrences in every nation, big or
small. Since these words are self-evidently
true, they are reliable and unfailing. This should
surprise no one because God Himself gave us the
assurance that He would always answer when
we call upon Him.

“You will agree that, across time, happenings in
our fatherland have almost always ensured that
people of faith across denominations
in Christendom and in Islam kept unending vigil for
the love of country. Let me share a joke of what
happened before the civil war in 1967-1970. I
think it was my colleague Emeka Ojukwu that said
I know Jack, he is a Christian, who always carries
a suitcase around with the Bible inside. He
wouldn’t like to fight. Unfortunately, he was
proved wrong. However, it was through the grace
of God, that we were able to keep Nigeria one.
“It was the prayers of people of God and the
bravery of our fighting forces that kept this
country together. After the civil war, it
was wisdom from God to willing and obedient
hearts that helped us to initiate and implement
programmes that best served the interest of
the people. It was God that helped to stem the
tide of bloody coups in Nigeria so that we can
enjoy democracy today.

“Even when naysayers wrote off this nation and
various uncertified futurologists predicted the
break up of Nigeria by 2015 as a bye-product of
the recently concluded general elections, the
effective prayers of people of faith moved the
hands of God and He once more intervened in the
affairs of our dear country.”

He added: “I was in Addis Ababa for a conference
and when the news came that the incumbent
president had congratulated his
opponent, everyone at the conference was happy
and they started congratulating me and other
Nigerians at the conference. Let us imagine what
would have happened if President Goodluck
Jonathan had refused to do that.”

Speaking further, Gowon, who congratulated
Foursquare Gospel Church on the occasion of its
Diamond Jubilee celebrations, however said
religious leaders in Nigeria must stand in the gap
between temporal power and the people and must
never cease to speak the truth to those
in power, adding that religious leaders must
positively advise leaders on the way forward and
must be fair and honest in their dealings with
both sides.

He further said they must be conciliatory, not
condemnatory and help the leadership to correctly
interpret policies to the people.

According to the retired General, this will ensure
that the polity is not heated up for no reason
than the protection of the self-interest of a few
powerful elite members of the society.

In his lecture, the Guest Speaker and Vice
Chancellor, McPherson University (McU), Seriki-
Sotayo, Ogun State, Prof. Adeniyi Agunbiade, who
noted that the role of the Church and the
Nigerian State should be complimentary, urged all
Nigerians to put hands on deck with
the President-elect, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari and his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to bring
about the much needed change in Nigeria.

According to Agunbiade, “It’s never too late for
the Church to lay the right foundation for
leadership. The Church must partner
with government in the social advocacy to instil
moral value and honesty among Nigerians.”

Meanwhile, the General Overseer, FGCN, disclosed
that within six decades of the church’s existence,
it has been positioned as one of the country’s
leading Pentecostal movements, highly regarded
for its scrupulous adherence to the immutability
and sanctity of the word of God.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/ojukwu-never-believed-ill-go-to-war-over-biafra-gowon/

Gowon sha.

Onyi42:

According to Gowon, the Bible has consistently been his companion from his childhood till date, adding that his colleague, Ojukwu had said then,
he (Gowon) was a Christian, who carries around suitcase with a Bible inside, and so wouldn’t like to call out the Nigerian Federal forces to war in
order to stop the secession.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/ojukwu-never-believed-ill-go-to-war-over-biafra-gowon/

Well that shows how delusional Ojukwu was.

Maybe because he was a rich kid he was too much into his own world of fantasies and thinking about molesting toddler Biancar

He thought because Gowon was a bible carrying Christian wont go to war, Did he know how many wars were fought in the bible sef? Did he read about the crusaders who fought wars

Does he know most of the commanders of WW1 and WW2 were bible carrying Christians?.

No wonder be believed those poorly trained soldiers carrying catapult are the best army Africa in Africa

When the real war came to his doorsteps, He ported to Abidjan.

Quoting his Father in law Chief CC Onoh, Ojukwu was a cantankerous coward

Up NEPA!!!!!!

This dude above me just booking space. Smh

Ojukwu had a map to Abidjan from day one

surprise; He has never mentioned ojukwu name one bit when he was alive. Can he stand ojukwu on war strategies one on one.

Gowon, You played your role as commander in chief, and did not betray weakness or cluelessness in dealing with rebellion.

Go
On
With
One
Nigeria

Even Obama re-echoed the popular slogan of the Gowon war regime, while delivering his election message to Nigerians. "To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done".

Even in victory, you remained merciful and magnanimous. "No victor, no vanquished".


Posterity has judged you well.

What would break Nigeria is yet unknown.

ignore this type of thread.

Meant to get us fighting.

incase

Ojukwu was wrong to believe gowon wouldn't fight biafra, but what is stopping the same gowon from fighting the daily slaughter of plateau people going on under his nostrils is what Ojukwu still cannot understand .
To say that this man is a hypocrite is to be mild with the truth, if you love nigeria so much why have you not picked up weapons to recover bakassi peninsula.

Why are these coming out now Ojukwu is no more, what has gowon done to curtail fulani herdsmen ravaging jos and environs.

Rubbish!

So Biafra didn't declare war?

Why is this claimed all the time?

kettykings:
Ojukwu was wrong to believe gowon wouldn't fight biafra, but what is stopping the same gowon from fighting the daily slaughter of plateau people going on under his nostrils is what Ojukwu still cannot understand

Gowon's idi0cy is mind-boggling.
Tens of thousands have been slaughtered in Plateau state and he goes on reading his fake translation of the bible.

IyaIode:
Ojukwu had a map to Abidjan from day one

Wicked ! Wicked!!

StOla:
Gowon, You played your role as commander in chief, and did not betray weakness or cluelessness in dealing with rebellion.

Go
On
With
One
Nigeria

Even Obama re-echoed the popular slogan of the Gowon war regime, while delivering his election message to Nigerians. "To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done".

Even in victory, you remained merciful and magnanimous. "No victor, no vanquished".


Posterity has judged you well.

Please remind him that half of benue has been sacked by fulani and more than 400 people of plateau were slaughtered last week, while a lot of middle belters are refugees in Adamawa

kettykings:
Ojukwu was wrong to believe gowon wouldn't fight biafra, but what is stopping the same gowon from fighting the daily slaughter of plateau people going on under his nostrils is what Ojukwu still cannot understand .
To say that this man is a hypocrite is to be mild with the truth, if you love nigeria so much why have you not picked up weapons to recover bakassi peninsula.

Why are these coming out now Ojukwu is no more, what has gowon done to curtail fulani herdsmen ravaging jos and environs.

Stop this ranting and get lost.

kettykings:


Please remind him that half of benue has been sacked by fulani and more than 400 people of plateau were slaughtered last week, while a lot of middle belters are refugees in Adamawa

+ Boko Haram killed over 15,000 while mugu Gowon was watching

raumdeuter:


Well that shows how delusional Ojukwu was.

Maybe because he was a rich kid he was too much into his own world of fantasies and thinking about molesting toddler Biancar

He thought because Gowon was a bible carrying Christian wont go to war, Did he know how many wars were fought in the bible sef? Did he read about the crusaders who fought wars

Does he know most of the commanders of WW1 and WW2 were bible carrying Christians?.

No wonder be believed those poorly trained soldiers carrying catapult are the best army Africa in Africa

When the real war came to his doorsteps, He ported to Abidjan.

Quoting his Father in law Chief CC Onoh, Ojukwu was a cantankerous coward

If it takes a cantankerous coward 30 months to kill more than 500000 nigerian soldiers, wipe out 3 divisions of the nigerian army, evade capture and get a heroes state burial 41 years after, then nigeria is finished! !!

Alphaoscar:





Stop this ranting and get lost.

So that you can continue with your falsified history

kettykings:


If it takes a cantankerous coward 30 months to kill more than 500000 nigerian soldiers, wipe out 3 divisions of the nigerian army, evade capture and get a heroes state burial 41 years after, then nigeria is finished! !!

see as soldiers dey rush to carry the coffin

Okay Sir,

But if your aim was truly just to defeat Ojukwu, why did you bomb civilian centers like churches and markets? Why did you starve the civilians in the zone, knowing that the army would eat first before civilians?

Oga Gowon, all your actions to kill the Igbo population hardened the peoples support for Ojukwu to resist by every means necessary, thus prolonged that war and is responsible for some of the anger still persisting in Nigeria. To be fair, it was the target of key players in your administration to kill Igbos NOT OJUKWU. You may personally not like that mission, but you were too weak to stop Awolowo and the other hawks.

imhotep:

see as soldiers dey rush to carry the coffin

All the soldiers that buried were generals of the nigerian army and somebody is calling him a coward

kettykings:


If it takes a cantankerous coward 30 months to kill more than 500000 nigerian soldiers, wipe out 3 divisions of the nigerian army, evade capture and get a heroes state burial 41 years after, then nigeria is finished! !!

kettykings:

All the soldiers that buried were generals of the nigerian army and somebody is calling him a coward

His Friend and Father in law who probably knew him better called him a coward so if you have any issues with that face Chief CC Onoh or his daughter

Ogbeni Gowon,

Go and sit down.



Stop bringing up this issue.

There was nothing civil about the un-civil war. It was a very unfortunate event.

Life goes on.

Let a sleeping dog lie.

there's peace in Plateau State?