General Yakubu Dan-Yumma “Jack” Gowon, a Nigeria former Head of State from 1966 to 1975, born on 19 October 1934 from a minority Ngas (Anga) ethnic group from Lur, Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State, remains a model of a detribalised Nigerian and peace ambassador. General Gowon has sustained his excellent work for humanity through his NGO, the Yakubu Gowon Foundation. I aptly agreed with Prof Tunji Olaopa, the Federal Civil Service Commission Chairman, in describing General Yakubu Gowon at 90 as the nation’s eternal hero. God has graced General Gowon to be part of Nigeria’s story, engagingly, professionally, politically, and spiritually in her wellness. General Gowon, beyond his prestigious training at Sandhurst, at Camberley, and at Latimer, ‘earn not just a degree at Warwick, he endured the academic rigour of adult learning to earn for himself a doctoral degree.’

General Gowon, a man of family values, married Victoria Zakari, a trained nurse, in 1969. Their union, officiated by Bishop Seth Irunsewe Kale, was a testament to their commitment to each other and their faith. Together, they have been blessed with children and grandchildren, a personal joy that complements General Gowon’s public service.

General Gowon epitomises what it means for Christians to embrace the apostolic or missional character of ministry in our time, especially when clergy faces immense pressure from challenges to the truth of the Bible to the temptation to be swayed by the wealth and influence of liberal ideologies that promote revisionist teachings. General Gowon personifies “the Nigerian essence, the Nigerian spirit.” As an Anglican layman, his vocational ministry has been in the military. However, his vision of mission has been God’s loving liberation of his people and the development of Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu rightly praised General Gowon at 90 for his remarkable infrastructural achievement for Nigeria. President Tinubu said, “General Gowon is a gentleman extraordinaire, one of the longest-serving Nigerian leaders. He did a lot for our country and served meritoriously in various capacities within and outside the military. As a brilliant officer trained at Sandhurst and reluctantly became Nigeria’s leader at 32, his life story has inspired many Nigerians. As the nation’s head of state, he significantly contributed to nation-building and development and can be rightly called the father of national infrastructure. It is on record that after the country’s civil war, his philosophy of “No victor, no vanquished” helped promote national healing, peace, and reconciliation. His most incredible legacy was the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, founded in 1975.”

As part of his belief in the revival, unity and togetherness of Nigeria, General Gowon has continued to deploy his “Nigeria Prays’ Programme in prayer and intercession for the country while also suing for religious tolerance, peace, harmony and stability in the land. It is on note that, Gowon “replicated the Awolowo-Adebo governance model that positioned the administrative leadership corps of super-permanent secretaries pre-eminently in the policy space, thereby succeeding in articulating one of the most-cited good practices in public administration literature that globally remains a legacy for all times to reinvent for the benefit of Nigeria’s emerging greatness”

Using the words of Prof. Olaopa, General Gowon’ matured to receive a calling to fight a war to elevate an artificial creation of the British colonialist – a mere geographical expression – to quote Chief Obafemi Awolowo – to the status of a state worth preserving, is nothing less than a defining trajectory.’ On 5 May 1967, General Gowon divided the division of the three Nigerian regions into 12 states: North-Western State, North-Eastern State, Kano State, North-Central State, Benue-Plateau State, Kwara State, Western State, Lagos State, Mid-Western State, and Rivers State, South-Eastern State, and East-Central State. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), created on 22 May 1974, is a mandatory, post-tertiary scheme set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime of Head of State, General Gowon, to “reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian Civil war.

From the NYSC scheme in 1974, Corps members who shared similar Christian beliefs started meeting in orientation camps nationwide, fulfilling a divine prophecy. Corps members began working together and adopted the name Nigeria Christian Corpers’ Fellowship (NCCF), also called “Jesus Corpers.”

The NCCF Mission Statement is: To sustain salvation experience with eternity in view; To bring all Jesus Corpers into a functional unit for fellowship; To propagate and protect the gospel of Jesus Christ; To encourage members who want to serve the Lord Jesus; To provide essential service where necessary; To promote the rural life of Nigerians at the hinterland; To provide logistics/accommodation for interested corps members; To give moral, spiritual and social support to the less privileged, orphans, physically challenged, the sick, etc. The NCCF vision ensures corps members encounter Jesus Christ and are effectively equipped to preach the gospel and disciple men and women everywhere in Nigeria. The watchword is: NCCF: One Big Family (We are Jesus Corpers).

While nurtured spiritually in the church, General Gowon’s primary arena for service has been in the military world. General Gowon, a part of the laos, the people of God- lay and clergy, who are called to participate in the missio Dei, God’s mission in the world, illustrate Martin Luther’s concept of the “priesthood of all believers.” Mission as the vocation of the entire community of faith reminds us that ‘every Christian receives the call to be in mission as apostles of the one Body of Christ.’

General Gowon is a present-day apostle of Jesus Christ. The Greek word for apostle means literally “one who is sent out.” General Gowon, with apostolic leadership character, is a personal messenger or ambassador, commissioned to share messages. According to Donald Messer, ‘Beginning with the original disciples of Jesus, the apostles of every generation have had to authenticate and to incarnate Christ’s mission of love and liberation in the world. With his apostolic leadership character, General Gowon is ‘an agent of the universal church, ancient in history and global in compass, bringing the grace in that church to a local (nation’s) context.  General Gowon’s establishment of the Nigeria Prays project speaks volumes of his apostolic leadership character.

Speaking of General Gowon as an apostle may be disconcerting for some. Identifying any politician or military as an apostle may seem incongruous, ‘since those who seek or hold power often act in complex, compromising contexts. Moral purity is impossible in politics or the military, especially in the Nigerian context, yet faithful Christians like General Gowon are called to responsible leadership in the public domain. General Gowon, at 90, reminds us there is no escape from living in the world, being touched by a mixture of good and evil in all our actions or inactions. In essence, General Gowon, at 90, living out his Christian discipleship through the military with apostolic leadership character, did not endorse every policy he proposed or statement he made. General Gowon, at 90, calls for personal and corporate rededication as Nigerians, especially Christian laypersons or clergy, participating in a mission more significant than ourselves and for a new and prosperous Nigeria.

God bless General Gowon.

God bless Nigeria.