HOW GOWON IS THE WORST ENEMY THE NORTH HAS
HOW GOWON IS THE WORST ENEMY THE NORTH HAS
Forget Boko Haram. Forget ISWAP. Forget Lakurawa, Ansaru, Mahmuda, Sadiku, and all the others.
The North’s worst enemy never carried a gun. He wore a military uniform, smiled to the world, and sat in Dodan Barracks with Nigeria’s future in his hands.
His name is General Yakubu Gowon.
Let me prove it to you.
Northern Nigeria has suffered an endless chain of religious fanatics:
1980s — Maitatsine slaughtered thousands in Kano.
2000s — Boko Haram turned Borno into hell.
Then ISWAP broke out.
Then Ansaru, Lakurawa, Mahmuda, Sadiku, Izala, Kala Katu, IMN.
Ten different groups. Same region. Same pattern. One after the other, like a curse that never ends.
But here is the question that should keep every Northerner awake at night:
Islam is dominant in Yorubaland too. In Iwo, Ede, Ejigbo, Ilorin, Oyo, Ibadan, Lagos — Islam is everywhere. So why is there NO Maitatsine in Yorubaland? Why is there NO Boko Haram in Yorubaland? Why is there NO ISWAP in Yorubaland?
The answer will shock you. It is not religion. It is EDUCATION.
In 1955, 71 years ago, Chief Obafemi Awolowo launched FREE and COMPULSORY PRIMARY EDUCATION in the Western Region. He didn’t beg parents. He forced them.
Awolowo said: If you refuse to send your child to school, the police will arrest you. Parents were dragged to court. Some went to jail. The whole region fought him. But Awolowo won. He defeated ignorance by force.
Because of that one brutal, beautiful decision, today in Yorubaland, a child starts school at age 2. Waking up, dressing up, and going to school is not a choice — it is tradition. That child will stay in school uninterrupted until age 21 or more, when he graduates.
And in that school, he learns Islam, Christianity, and Traditional Religion together. He grows up seeing all beliefs. He chooses his own faith. It is always orthodox. It is never extreme. You cannot radicalize a child who has been thinking critically since kindergarten.
Now, this is where Gowon comes in.
When Gowon was Head of State and Awolowo was his Vice-Chairman and Minister of Finance, Awolowo told him: “General, the treasury is overflowing with oil money. Use your power as a military dictator and do what I did in 1955. Declare FREE and COMPULSORY EDUCATION for every Nigerian child. Catch them young. Kill extremism before it is born.”
It was the final solution. On a platter of gold.
What did Gowon do?
He listened to foreign advisers. They told him Awolowo was a dangerous socialist, a communist. “Don’t listen to him,” they said. So Gowon, the man who had the money, the guns, and the power to change history forever, rejected FREE EDUCATION.
And what did he give Nigerian youths instead?
He made NYSC compulsory.
He replaced books with khaki uniforms. He replaced classrooms with a one-year parade.
That one cowardly decision condemned the North.
While Yoruba children were in school from age 2, Northern children were out of school at age 12, roaming the streets, vulnerable to any Mallam who promises paradise with a gun.
Gowon is not just a former Head of State. He is the reason a 14-year-old boy in Zamfara can be recruited by Lakurawa. He is the reason a child in Sokoto can believe that killing is worship. He is the reason we are still counting extremist groups 50 years later.
Boko Haram is not the enemy of the North. Boko Haram is the child of Gowon’s failure.
Until the North produces a leader with Awolowo’s madness and courage — a leader who will use soldiers not to fight bandits, but to force every child into a classroom, arrest every parent who refuses, and lock every street during school hours — the North will never heal.
The solution is not more guns. The solution is drastic, compulsory, free education.
