President Jonathan & his daughter arriving the
National Xtian Centre for Gowon's 80th Birthday
Jonathan made the remarks on Sunday at a thanksgiving service at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, to mark Gowon's 80th birthday.
He stated that the celebrant was a good example of a genuine elder statesman, accommodating even his enemies in the interest of peace and unity of the country.
According to him, Gowon further demonstrated his commitment to Nigeria's unity after the Nigerian civil war, with his Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation programme.
"As a patriot and Head of Government then, and was prosecuting the civil war, he did not see the Biafran side as a thing that must be crushed.
"Gown saw the war as a struggle of Nigerians and his emphasis was 'how do we keep Nigeria together.
"It was not 'we must crush them or we must defeat them'. Of course, that was why the slogan, 'To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done,' came up and of course, 'Go on with one Nigeria'.
"His commitment is to unite this country, to keep Nigeria one, not to win a war, not to defeat an opponent, not to crush a rebellion.
"For him, it was 'how do we bring this nation as indivisible body?'’
Jonathan noted Gowon's effort to galvanise Nigerians into prayer for unity and his cooperation with succeeding administration to develop the country.
"He hardly misses Council of State meetings. If we call for Council of State meeting and Gowon is not there, it must be for something inevitable," he said.
The president congratulated the celebrant for his birthday and thanked God for keeping him young and active at 80 years.
He specifically thanked Victoria, Gowon’s wife for giving her husband peace at home which he said accounted partly for his sound health at 80.
Source: nigeriabulletin
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