It's not late to restructure Nigeria – Gowon
For Former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon,there is still room for some sort of political re-engineering of the country.
Gown said such reordering of the polity could help answer to some lingering challenges in Nigeria's leadership.
Gowon who spoke on Sunday during the first session of the 11th synod of the Anglican Diocese of Owo, held at Saint Andrew's Anglican Church Uso in Owo local government area of Ondo State, said the political and security challenges facing the country called for sober reflection from the leadership and the followers.The former Head of State and Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, were special guests of honour at the event where both men were honoured for their meritorious service to the work of God.
General Gowon said, 'what is happening in our country today calls for sober reflections, as we entreat God on behalf of our nation.
'I want to believe that in spite of the gloomy situation made manifest by the escalating security and political challenges in our nation, the church in Nigeria, given its spiritual and human resources, occupies a strategic position to trigger process aimed at re-making and enforcing and reinforcing the blessings of Jubilee. It is not late to re-define and re-order Nigeria,' he said.
The former Head of State alludedto the current challenges facing the nation to the effect of her Jubilee celebrated in 2010, a year he described as that of liberty and restoration for the country.
Nigeria, he further explained, had been ushered into her long season of Jubilee, adding that in spite of the huge challenges she faced as a nation,' we can say that the blessings and spirit of Jubilee still abide with us.'
He, however, explained that 'we must not lose sight of one major fact, which is that the battle is usually fiercest in the years closest to or immediately after Jubilee.'
The former Head of State mentioned that whenever a nation approached her Jubilee, all hell would seem to be let loose, insisting that the devil would orchestrate events and issues that would create confusion, uncertainty, fear and unrest.
In the search for a scapegoat to bear the blame of the multitude of challenges that confront the country however, Gowon said many had opted to zero in on the hosting of the Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture(FESTAC) that took place in 1977 which, he said, his administration initiated .
FESTAC 77, he maintained, was neither to showcase idols nor promote idol worshiping in the country and should not be an excuse for the nation's malaise, noting that it was to showcase the rich cultural potential in the country and the entire blackrace, claiming ignorance of any contrary insinuation about it.
General Gowon, who is the chairman of the Bible Society of Nigeria, added that the programme was planned to be declared open with prayers by both Christian and Muslim clerics but before the commencement of the festival, his administration had been toppled and he was in exile when the event held. However, he maintained that hope was not lost for the nation, saying that the 'Nigeria Praise' programme, which he initiated in 1996, was to offer continuous prayers for unity, peace and progress of the country.
With the theme of the synod: 'Blessings of the Jubilee,' the former head of state re-affirmed the commitment of the group to prayng against the menace of the country. He appealed to Nigerians to always support the Goodluck Jonathan administration in its effort at stabilising the nation's economy and restoring peace for national development.
He also lauded Dr Mimiko's administration in the distribution of dividends of democracy to the people of the state. Governor Mimiko, in his message on the occasion, thanked the people of God for their fervent prayers for his administration and assured them of more dividends of democracy.