Did Gowon Loot the Central Bank?

Ilove Nigeria. But there is a part of me, to echo the poet Rupert Brooke, that is forever England. Perhaps it’s her medieval knights and Plantagenet troubadours; her baroque royal trumpets; her decency and manners; her afternoon teas with scones -- her love of liberty.

On Monday 23 November, the British Parliament held a special debate to consider sanctions against Nigeria. The Mother of Parliaments is as old as Magna Carta. Despite the Nazis and the blitz, it has never stopped sitting for 600 years. It commands moral authority.

During the debate, Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP for Tonbridge, stirred the hornet’s nest when he declared: “Some people would remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half of the central bank, or so it was said, and moved to London.”

When I heard the story, I phoned the General: “Baba, they said you made away with half of the central bank.” The old man burst into laughter. He then asked me, “As a former Deputy Governor of CBN, do you believe it?”

Our social media warriors of the Yahoo generation believe “there is no smoke without fire”. Gowon himself has refused to join issues with his traducers. In an interview with the Londonbased Ben TV, he was quoted as saying: “I won’t respond to the baseless accusation…i served this Country to the best of my abilities and the records are there for anyone to verify.”

Our Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note of protest to the British government. Charlotte Pierre, Head of the Africa Department at the Foreign Office, has responded that the views so expressed were not those of Her Majesty’s Government. But she also pointed out that the administration cannot control the speeches of MPS.

Yakubu Gowon was born among the Angas of Plateau State, on 19 October 1934. His father, a saintly and revered Anglican missionary evangelist, migrated with the family to Wusasa, Zaria. Yakubu attended the famous Barewa College, where he was a Head Boy and star athlete. He had intended to study engineering at university, but his British schoolmasters persuaded him to join the army. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as 2nd Lieutenant in 1955.

Gowon was just returning from staff training in Britain when Aguiyi-ironsi was felled in the counter-coup of 29 July 1966. Fate catapulted him to the high magistracy, aged 31. He ruled for nine years, until his ouster in July 1975 whilst attending an OAU Summit in Kampala. He accepted his fate with stoic equanimity.

Gowon was virtually penniless when he left power in 1975. Members of his entourage contributed £3,000 to help him settle in exile. He survived on hand-outs from friends such as Philip Asiodu, Allison Ayida and President Gnasingbe Eyadema of Togo. When he enrolled at Warwick University, pictures of him carrying a tray in the students’ cafeteria caused some embarrassment to the Murtala administration.

When Murtala was assassinated in the failed Dimka coup of February 1976, the ObasanjoYar’adua group requested Gowon’s extradition. He has strenuously insisted on his innocence. His cousin, former military Governor of the old Benue-plateau State, Joseph Gomwalk, was not so lucky. A first-class honours graduate of University College, Ibadan, Gomwalk was martyred for a crime he did not commit. Gowon will bear the scars of those years to his grave.

As a leader, he undoubtedly made some mistakes. He has always regretted the death of so many during the civil war. The “cement scandals” were a big shame; in addition to the Udoji bonanza and failure to adhere on the timetable for transition to multiparty democracy. Whatever his shortcomings, he was not corrupt. The same, alas, could not be said for the robber barons that succeeded him.

If he had made off with half of CBN as has been alleged, there is no way he could have hidden the loot so skilfully for 45 years. Harvard-trained economist Clement Isong was CBN Governor during those years. He surely would have known. And I don’t think he would have remained silent.

According to the Jamaican sociologist Patrick Wilmot, a panel of inquiry set up by the Murtala administration found out that Gowon had just £15,000 in his bank accounts. This is remarkable for someone who served as Head of State for almost a decade. He executed the war effort without any external borrowing. Even when the petrodollars started pouring in, he never got his snout into the trough. Only four houses are attached to his name: the family home in Wusasa; the bungalow in London; the house in Jos; and the Asokoro-abuja property, built with help from the federal government. He lives with Spartan frugality.

Yakubu Gowon is our greatest leader by far. Most of the infrastructures we have today were built by him. He is our Abraham Lincoln. His cabinet remains unrivalled to this day: Obafemi Awolowo, Tony Enahoro, Shehu Shagari, Aminu Kano, Taslim Olawale Elias, Okoi Arikpo and others. He walked with great humbleness and wielded power with justice and compassion. The economy was at the verge of an industrial-technological take-off; naira was at par with the pound sterling and equal to 2 dollars.

He has spent his evening years praying for our country and pursuing humanitarian causes. He has resisted the temptation to heckle succeeding leaders, unlike one Owu High Chief. I myself think he has carried the aloofness too far.

Murtala Mohammed looted the CBN Branch in Benin during the civil war. Former CBN Research Director, Chief Samuel Falegan, revealed that in the nineties the military set the Mint on overdrive, printing naira that were then carted off by the truckloads. Even an ogre like Idi Amin would not have committed such daylight rapine.

Yakubu Gowon towers heads and shoulders above the Pygmies who call themselves leaders today.

Yakubu Gowon is our greatest leader by far. Most of the infrastructures we have today were built by him. He is our Abraham Lincoln. His cabinet remains unrivalled to this day: Obafemi Awolowo, Tony Enahoro, Shehu Shagari, Aminu Kano, Taslim Olawale Elias, Okoi Arikpo and others.