FORMER head of state and retired general, 83, October 19. Born in Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State, he attended University of Warwick, 1983; Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1955 – 1956, and Staff College, Camberley. He took power after one military coup d’état and was overthrown in another. During his rule, the Nigerian government successfully prevented Biafran secession during the 1967 – 1970 Nigerian Civil War. He saw action in the Congo (Zaire) as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, both in 1960 – 1961 and in 1963. He advanced to battalion commander rank by 1966, at which time he was still a lieutenant colonel. Up until that year Gowon remained strictly a career soldier with no involvement whatsoever in politics, until the tumultuous events of the year suddenly thrust him into a leadership role, when his unusual background as a Northerner who was neither of Hausa nor Fulani ancestry nor of the Islamic faith made him a particularly safe choice to lead a nation whose population were seething with ethnic tension.

Oct 12, 2017 @ 10:43 GMT /