Victor EzejaPresidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi, has explained why he congratulated former military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, on his 90th birthday anniversary.
Obi in a statement via his official X handle on Sunday, said his gesture stemmed from his believe that the “ultimate heroism is forgiving the enemy and moving forward.”
Join our WhatsApp ChannelObi stated this while reacting to comments that trailed his greetings to Gowon, who turned 90 on Saturday.
The Labour Party presidential standard bearer in the 2023 election had on Saturday, while congratulating Gowon on his 90th birthday celebration, described the former military leader as one who stood for peace and unity of Nigeria at a time of strife and division, particularly during the civil war of 1967 to 1970.
Obi’s statement elicited mixed feelings by some Nigerians who said Gowon oversaw the instability that led to death of many, especially in the eastern part of the country. According to them, Gowon does not deserve such eulogy.
However, Obi said that while he acknowledges the sentiments shared by some Nigerians regarding his comments, he, as a leader in the vanguard of positive change, needed to demonstrate that forgiving the enemy on ugly issues that happened during the 30-month civil war was part of the way forward to achieving a progressive country that everyone seeks.
“My felicitation with Nigeria’s former military Head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, on his 90th birthday anniversary, which was celebrated by a cross-section of Nigerians, has been received with mixed feelings by some Nigerians, and some have expressed their sentiments publicly, and privately to me. I share in some of them, and I feel that as a leader in the vanguard of providing direction for our country to shift base away from all our shortcomings, including the issues that caused our avoidable cruel civil war, I needed to show to the World that the ultimate heroism is forgiving the enemy and moving forward,” Obi stated.
While acknowledging that the darkest part of the country’s 64-year journey is the civil war, Obi however, argued that God, whose way is not the way of man, must have a reason for keeping Gowon, “the Chief Prosecutor” of the war alive to be 90 years today and also former president Olusegun Obasanjo “to be there at 87 years super-heading all the moves to see a reconciled and just Nigeria.”
Obi further observed that it was in line with the same spirit of unity that Nigeria gave Biafra leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, a heroic national burial on 2 March 2012, coincidentally under his tenure as governor of Anambra State.
“The status of the burial given to Dim Ojukwu remains the boldest indication to the World that Nigeria as a country is disposed to moving forward in the spirit of reconciliation,” Obi emphasised.
The former Anambra State governor pointed out that in responding to acts of evil, especially the one that claimed millions of lives, human beings can either adopt revenge or forgiveness, but he chose the latter by the way he felicitated General Gowon at 90 years old.
Obi cited some verses in the Bible that preach forgiveness, adding that as a Christian he tries to be guided by those teachings.
While noting that anger, and bitterness are the commonest responses to cruelty, Obi warned that “It fuels sectarianism, leads to resistance and avoidable blood feuds that we are witnessing across the globe, and even in our country and it does not abate.
“There is something about forgiveness, it sets the person doing it free. Forgiveness is more a process than an instinct. It’s hate that has put our society, blessed by God to be the greatest land in the black World, down, but this hate has to stop.”
He further stated that in the quest to create a new Nigeria, he didn’t feel he should drag his supporters across the country back to the “dark side of our history by being unforgiving.”
“I feel such an act will derail the message of a New Nigeria that we insist is Possible”
He maintained that in the journey to a new Nigeria, all political vices, including ethnic, religious, bitterness, and regional segregation, are eliminated.
Highlighting the importance of forgiveness, Obi said: “Various personal experiences of victims of injustice across the globe who have chosen to put ugly things behind them visibly demonstrate the transformative power of forgiveness in healing personal and collective wounds.”
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He called on all who are annoyed by his greetings to the elder statesman to bear with him and join in the mission “to create a country where hate, unforgiving spirit, and other vices will give way for justice.”
He stressed that going forward, what Nigeria urgently needs is good governance, which can only be nurtured and grow in true peace and the presence of justice.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
