The National Christian Elders Forum and their claim of a Jihadist Ouster of General Gowon: Separating the Facts from Fiction

As the Code of Conduct Tribunal convicted and entered a guilty verdict against the embattled former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, on the basis of a non and/or false assets declaration charge, some respected and accomplished leaders in the country under the aegis of National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) rushed to town to not only fault Onnoghen’s conviction, but also described it as a continuation of the jihad against Christian public office holders, a religious agenda they claimed had begun with the removal of Gowon in the coup of 1975.

As outlandish as this claim may appear, it is worthy of a look in retrospect for two reasons: (i) To set the records straight (ii) To checkmate the polarizing effect that such claim is capable of occasioning upon an already fractured nation.

The claim of a jihadist ouster of Gowon would appear as though Gowon came to power in the first place with little or no support of Muslim officers in the “Northern Counter Coup” of 1966. History, however, suggests otherwise. Gowon at no point in time orchestrated the coup that ousted the Ironsi led regime, but was chosen to head the government after the coup by his colleagues because he was seen as the man who the cap fit at the time. Murtala (a Muslim) was the leader of those referred to as “three inner circle officers” (Murtala, T. Y Danjuma and Martin Adamu) who conceived from the scratch and successfully plotted the coup that brought Gowon to power. One renowned historian has reiterated the pivotal role played by Murtala in launching Gowon to power as Head of State following the coup of July 29, 1966 as follows:

                 “…it was Murtala who had led the revolt that catapulted Gowon to office…Murtala also felt that as the kingmaker whose revolt brought Gowon to power, he had a privileged status enabling him to criticize Gowon.”

Interestingly, the officers who brought Gowon to power in 1966 were virtually the same crop of officers that booted him out 9 years later. Some of the officers who played prominent roles in the ouster of Gowon were Colonel Joe Garba and Provost Marshal-Colonel Anthony Ochefu, both of whom were Christians. Remarkably, Joe Garba was the commander of the Brigade of Guards, a formation that was and is still responsible for the personal safety of a Head of State in Nigeria. He (Garba) and Gowon both hail from Plateau State and their respective native Tarok and Ngas lands share common boundary with each other.

In rendering hollow the claim of the NCEF that the coup of 1975 was some jihad, is the fact that a former military general, who is currently the most influential member of the NCEF by a mile, was instrumental in the removal of Gowon as Head of State. It has since been opined that the coup against Gowon which was largely orchestrated by junior army officers could not have succeeded without the support (whether passive or active) of quite a number of some senior officers in the army at the time. These senior officers included Brigadier T.Y Danjuma (now General T.Y Danjuma rtd. and a founding member of NCEF), Brigadiers Iliya Bisalla (from Plateau), Gibson Sanda Jalo (from Adamawa) and Ibrahim Haruna (who is also from Adamawa).

Coup accounts have it that Colonel Anthony Ochefu (who was head of the military police and Idoma by tribe from Benue) decided to embark on a charm offensive in favour of the plot to the abode of Brigadier T.Y Danjuma at Doddan barracks; and while he Ochefu was with Danjuma, Colonel Joe Garba called Danjuma and solicited for Danjuma’s support for the coup in the following terms, “Sir we do not need your help. All that we need is for you to do nothing.”

As future events would indicate, Brigadier T.Y Danjuma did heed Joe Garba’s call by doing nothing when he could have done a lot to save Gowon. The NCEF ought to have known better that one could be guilty either by commission or omission. Another point of concern was that, when J. D Gomwalk – the military governor of Benue-Plateau – called T. Y Danjuma and sought to know what Danjuma would do regarding Joe Garba’s coup announcement; Danjuma replied Gomwalk that he would do nothing and further admonished Gomwalk to go to a safe place if he (Gomwalk) was concerned about his personal safety. Brigadiers Bisalla and Jalo also stood idly by, as Yakubu Gowon was removed from power. Could this be unknown to the NCEF?

While the leading military figures that plotted the coup of 15 January, 1966 were Christians, the same cannot be said of the ouster of Gowon on 29 July, 1975 whereby the leading plotters were drawn from broad geographic and religious backgrounds. While the initial northern Muslim plotters of the coup that removed Gowon included Colonels Yar’Adua, Abdullahi Mohammed, Buhari, Babangida, Muktar Mohammed and Sani Bello, the pan geographical and/or Christian officers on the other hand included Alfred Aduloju (who hailed from Ondo), Paul Tarfa (from Adamawa), Joe Garba, Ochefu, Shagaya, and Ibrahim Taiwo (who was of Ogbomosho ancestry).

The diversity as per the identity of the plotters and the fact that the plotters were virtually the same officers who had earlier brought Gowon to power largely informed the remarks credited to William Walbe, who was ADC to Gowon, that coup plotting could actually be a double edged sword.

Lo and behold, at dawn of July 29, 1975, a young Colonel Garba who doubled as a Tarok Prince and aged just 23 at the time announced the overthrow of Gowon. This duty fell to Garba only after Martin Adamu, who had earlier nominated Gowon as Head of State after the counter coup of 1966, declined the offer to announce the coup. Garba would then reel out the coup speech, beginning with the customary introduction as follows:

That a military coup could indeed confound the ordinary man is a truth that has found fortification in the putsch that removed Gowon. The Brigade of Guards which Garba commanded had an impressive number of soldiers drawn from the ethnic nationality of Gowon, i.e. Ngas; it was also made up of soldiers who hailed from Plateau State which happens to be Gowon’s home state; and the Guard was also composed of Christians, Christianity being the faith of Gowon. One account has it that Garba personally trained and recruited into the Brigade of Guards many of Gowon’s kinsmen from the Ngas tribe that their number could form a company of their own and headed by one McDonalds Gotip, who was himself Ngas. Also, at the relevant time, Colonel Joe Garba’s immediate cousin, Major John Shagaya was not only a member of the Guard, but was also in charge of 2 Guards battalion.

Colonel Domkat Bali (another member of the Tarok northern ethnic minority and a Christian from Langtang) also played his own role in the coup. Though not an active participant, Bali adopted the “friendly neutrality” style demonstrated by the ilk of T. Y Danjuma (who is also Christian and of the Jukun tribe in Taraba – also a northern ethnic minority). When Joe Garba called to know of Bali’s disposition towards the coup, Bali who was in temporary command of the 2 Division in Ibadan at the time assented to the development; he immediately ordered the suspension of normal programming and caused martial music to be played on broadcasting facilities. On Bali’s order, Brigadier Rotimi who was the Military Governor of the Western State at time was seized and placed under house arrest. What is jihadist about this coup?

As if the foregoing was not enough in defeating the NCEF claim of a jihadist 1975 coup, one account has firmly established the relationship between Gown and Garba in the following terms:

As further indication that the Gowon coup was not orchestrated in pursuit of any religious prejudice, let alone jihadist, as the NCEF would want us to believe, the unconscious consensus among the plotters to avoid bloodshed as practicable as possible amply demonstrated that the coup, was in part, a product of the frustration of young army officers with their own institution, which happened to be headed by Gowon at the material time. One could therefore assert that at the heart of the coup was the dynamics of power which included frustration with Gowon’s 9 year and never ending rule at the time, the desire to effect a change, the inordinate ambition of young army officers to seize political power and assume control, and the ever growing politicization of the military which had begun right at the dawn of independence.

In buttressing the foregoing, one account has put it thus:

The claim that the deposition of Gowon was informed by Islamism does not add up with the reality on ground. While Christians were at the core of the plot against Gowon, it was the Katsina-born M. D Yusuf (who was head of the police and a devout Muslim) that informed Gowon through Hassan Katsina (a key figure in Gowon’s Supreme Military Council and another Muslim) that from intelligence gathering, a plot to overthrow Gowon was being hatched by some military officers. Gowon would however ignore this piece of vital information much to his eventual regret. How could anyone ascribe the coup to a jihad?

Somewhat by providence, the man whom the NCEF is seeking to make a political capital out of his long banished misfortune in the person of General Gowon had set the template for healing the wounds of his overthrow decades ago. Garba announced the ouster of Gowon while Gowon was in Uganda attending the OAU summit as Head of State; and it was the weird Idi Amin “Dada” – a man who had also aided himself to power via military coup in his country in 1971 – that broke the unsavoury news of the coup back in Nigeria to Gowon.

On walking out of the summit, Gowon who was thronged by the press refused to be loquacious on the matter but would simply joke: “We will next meet as private citizen Gowon”. In an enviable demonstration of his usual calm and full appreciation of human vainglory, Gowon further quoted Shakespeare to match the ill fated day:

That was vantage Gowon at his philosophical best. That was Gowon exhibiting his pacific and conciliatory nature in full glare of the world. That was Gowon demonstrating uncommon, top-notch emotional intelligence. That was Gowon accepting reality and not allowing emotions to get a better part of him.

With the likes of Gowon around, we need not look beyond the shores of our country for leadership that can inspire true nation building. Gowon holds no grudge against Buhari and has continued to overtly show respect to the office of the President; his body language has also been respectful of the President. Gowon has never hesitated to sue for peace. Gowon has remained generous with his wise counsel to the Buhari led government.

Gowon had long re-established relations with Garba before the latter’s demise on 1 June, 2002. Gowon even traveled as far as Langtang, the hometown of Gen Joe Garba, to attend the funeral of his old friend held on 15 June, 2002. That symbolic gesture was a further proof that the two men still parted as friends that they originally were.

As patriots, we must realize that while the 2019 general elections have since been won and lost, nation building continues. Let us preach unity and reconciliation instead of purveying polarizing remarks that we have come to be adept at. There was nothing jihadist about the removal of Gowon and there is nothing jihadist about the judicial conviction of Onnoghen through the Code of Conduct Tribunal. In the rigorous war against graft, we must not be seen to want to protect our own at all cost. Let us be disposed to disrupting the status quo as per “The Untouchables” in so far as the anti-corruption battle is concerned. For the good of our now and the future, let us not distort history, or deliberately set out to re-write history, whatever the gains it may fetch us.

Long live Nigeria! Case rested!