Kenneth Okonkwo, a lawyer and politician, speaks on the recent interview granted by a former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, on the Nigerian/Biafran war and some recent developments in the polity. Excerpts

What are your thoughts on the comments made by General Yakubu Gowon that the Nigerian Civil War was fought to keep the country together, and that it was not really about defeat of any part of the country.

First of all, we must understand that war in itself is a display of anarchy. When you talk about war, it is lawlessness at its peak. So, when you say you are fighting war to keep Nigeria one; no, you fought the war as a manifestation of your incompetence in the management of the crisis.

Let me explain what I mean. Before independence, the colonial power- Britain; brainwashed Nigerian people to maintain their ethnic cleavages, and they needed to make Nigerians live in that disunity, so that they could continue their colonization against Nigeria.

So, they made North, for instance, to believe that being educationally disadvantaged, they should not rush into independence because of the likelihood that they will be dominated by the more advanced Southern Nigeria, and the North bought into that, and that was why we were delayed from 1954 to 1960. But the actual thing is that Britain just wanted more time to dominate Nigeria.

So, after independence, that mindset that the South is likely to dominate them remained, and the North was always at every slightest chance, reminding the South that we did not intend to be one country with you because we are suspecting your domination.

But the 1966 military coup, which had nothing to do with ethnicity even though people, who organised it, were predominantly from one ethnic group, reinforced the belief by the North that these people want to dominate us. Then, they carried out a revenge coup in July 1966, which was meant actually to separate from Nigeria, not to keep Nigeria one.

But the Britain also reminded them that the resources are in the East; ‘if you leave Nigeria, we are going to support the East. So you better run now that you have acquired power to maintain Nigeria as one.’ And that made them to have a rethink. By that time, a lot of Igbos, for instance, had been killed during the pogrom.

So, there was an entrenched suspicion between the ethnic groups, and this led them to go to Aburi, Ghana for a conference, and they reached an agreement. It was still Gowon who came back and reneged on the agreement, which inevitably led to the bitter war.

After the war, Gowon declared again “No Victor, no vanquished” and promised to “Reconcile, Rehabilitate and Reconstruct” the South East, which he failed again to do. So, all the available opportunities for him to make Nigeria one and consolidate that unity he was not able to do.

But let us make one point clear that after a while, when he himself was thrown away by some of those his colleagues, that was when maybe he recognized that what happened in 1966 was a military coup and not any ethnic coup, because he himself was thrown away by the same military people.

I wonder which terminology we will use to describe the ones who threw him away. But one thing is clear, after that, it looks as if he went into theology, had a rebirth, and he came back and genuinely went throughout SouthEast apologizing and asking for forgiveness for his role in the civil w0ar.

And we know that though the South-East has been marginalized and ill -treated in that war which was not caused by them. We know that Gowon has tried to make certain types of penance. We should forgive each other, because hostilities need not last forever.

Part of the incompetence of these leaders is having no policies to use to convince the people, so they resort to such primordial sentiments… but they are fading away, even as these incompetent and corrupt leaders are fading away out

Why is Mr. Peter Obi being almost forced to explain his congratulatory message to General Gowon because the likes of Simon Ekpa and several others are saying he congratulated Gowon because he is desperate to become president?

You should be prepared to ask Obi when you see him. I have always said that it is good for a leader to always think before he talks. Before you make a statement, it must be a statement you have thought through, and you should be able to stand by it.

You should not be a fair weather kind of leader that when they push you this side, you will explain; when they push you to the other side, you will explain. You should be able to articulate your view at any point and stand by it. However, like I said, no human being is infallible.

He does not need to explain if he is sure of what he is saying and he believes in it. But if he needed to explain and he explained, then you should hold him responsible for his own actions and for his own words.

I believe in unity of Nigeria, I believe General Gowon made a whole lot of mistakes because he himself prevaricated on a lot of things that would have prevented the war, even when we are aware by his own initiation. So, when you say Obi made a statement, and then he is clarifying, there is nothing wrong in clarification.

However, there is a need to always be sensitive and then be sure of the statement you want to make, so that you don’t begin to pander on all sides. I have always said -it is good to stand on one side. I don’t have anything against anybody saying anything.

It’s a free word but you should be able to stand by your word. I don’t think it has anything to do with the unity of Nigeria, because what Nigerians are looking out for now, like I said, is competent leaders. So, if he expressed his opinion and withdraws it or modifies it, that is his right to do, and he is entitled to it.

Some people believe that politicians usually use divide and rule tactic, ethnicity and religion to divide Nigerians in order to win elections. How can Nigerians as a people rise above this very common gimmick?

Let me first of all agree with you that part of the incompetence of these leaders is having no policies to use to convince the people, so they resort to such primordial sentiments. That is why I’m saying that it is no longer part of our problem. Why am I saying that?

The present president threw up all the ethnic cards. However, after doing all these things, he lost his state. After saying Muslim-Muslim ticket, he did not even impress anybody. He still had the least votes as in relation to the opposition.

So, they exploit that tendency, but Nigerians have outgrown that, they win by rigging, they win by electoral violence, manipulation and corruption. They don’t win anymore by ethnic sentiment and religious fanaticism. The problem we have now is corruption, not being able to organise free and fair elections and abuse of public power for private gain. It is no longer ethnic.

You can’t go to the North and tell northerners that you are a Muslim and they should vote for you because you are a Muslim given what they are suffering now under a Muslim- Muslim ticket. You can’t go to anybody in the South-West and say vote for me because I’m from the SouthWest.

I agree with you that some of these leaders, because they don’t have anything, they don’t have any policy to show to the people, they try to exploit such primordial sentiments, but they are fading away, even as these incompetent and corrupt leaders are fading away out.

Nigerians must rise in the interest of a united Nigeria, for the sake of the black man, for the sake of Africa, and for the sake of all of us, knowing that our diversity is our strength, knowing that united we stand, knowing that we will achieve economy of scale if we are together.

If this country is divided into six, what it means is that each of those six must have their own army, air force, navy, police, meaning it will cost us six times to govern Nigeria what is costing us now.

Do you think the British colonialists were not wise when they amalgamated the South and the North? They did that so that they will achieve lesser cost of governance; it has nothing to do with trying to make us to live together but we should take advantage of that.

We should take advantage of the economy of scale. When we live together under the rule of law, there is no challenge we will not overcome. We are building a more progressive and perfect union as we go on. It is a process; it is not an incident.

So, whatever challenges we have, every Nigerian should know that is surmountable, and should not always be thinking about dividing Nigeria and separating Nigerians. We are a united nation, indissoluble and indissolvable under God, and we should move on in that capacity.