Gowon at the Barber’s Shop

The recent publication of General Yakubu Gowon's memoir, "My Life of Duty and Allegiance," has ignited a fervent national conversation in Nigeria, nearly six decades after he presided over a turbulent chapter of the country's history.

Gowon, a figure who led Nigeria through the Biafran War and its aftermath, is now the subject of intense scrutiny following the release of his long-awaited memoirs. Many Nigerians had lost hope that the book would ever be published, given the passage of time. However, its release has stirred a hornet's nest, with widespread debate erupting across the nation.

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In times when our national conversation becomes too heated, fuzzy and bogged in intractable controversy, I prefer to take matters to the barber’s shop at Ikeja Bus Stop. That is my definition of the Public Square. In that place, fact, fiction and faction meet and mix in a noisy chaos in search of consensus and truth.

Critics have questioned the veracity of Gowon's accounts, disputed his intentions, and even challenged his right to publish, with some arguing that it reopens old wounds. The author, Chidi Amuta, uses the metaphor of a barber's shop in Ikeja Bus Stop as a "Public Square" where "fact, fiction and faction meet and mix in a noisy chaos in search of consensus and truth." This space, he suggests, represents the ultimate democracy where all viewpoints are heard.

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Hardly any other Nigerian alive made that many orphans and widows in one life time. Indeed, it is Forty Guns for the great general, a man of war that also graduated into an emblem of difficult peace.

Amuta acknowledges Gowon's complex legacy, noting that in other contexts, he might be revered as a deity or an oracle. However, in Nigeria, he remains a subject of ongoing debate. The memoir's release provides a diversion from current political turmoil, offering a point of reflection on a painful past.

"Old wounds" of the heart and memory, Amuta writes, never truly heal as long as survivors and their descendants exist. These historical grievances, he argues, can be the roots of fresh hurts and new conflicts, drawing parallels to ongoing global tensions. Gowon's memoir, therefore, serves not just as a personal account but as a catalyst for confronting Nigeria's historical narratives and their enduring impact.

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But the wounds of the heart and memory are never old. They bleed forever for as long as there are survivors and their children, grand children and great grand children. In fact, ‘old wounds’ are the roots of fresh hurts and new wars all over the world.