YOUR Excellency, Sir, first, let me on behalf of Nigerians congratulate you on your 91st birthday. We thank God for granting you long life, clarity of mind, and the uncommon grace to still stand straight, speak clearly, and walk unaided. Few of your contemporaries have been so blessed – once Africa’s youngest Head of State, today one of its oldest living statesmen— a longevity that carries a divine responsibility. It is this sense of duty that moves me to write you publicly. As the Yoruba would say, _“Agbà kìí wà l’ójà k’órí omo tuntun wó”_ — the elder cannot be present in the marketplace while the child’s head goes askew. In other words, elders must not remain silent while society drifts into decay.
Why this letter. Why now
Nigeria still wrestles with demons — 55 years after the civil war and decades after you left office: Local-government autonomy—affirmed by the Supreme Court to curb fiscal abuse, is still openly ignored by most of the thirty-six governors — exposing a deep hypocrisy in our democratic federalism. Fiscal imbalance among the tiers of government: Under the current sharing formula, the _Federal Government takes 52.68%_ of national revenue, the _thirty-six states together receive 26.72 percent, and the _774 local governments together get only 20.6 percent. The Federal Government commands the most resources, while the tiers closest to citizens remain starved. This inversion of responsibility has turned governors into allocation officers, local councils into their appendages, and FG into a rent-distributing landlord presiding over stagnation. Lack of political ideology: Governors are defecting en masse to the President’s party ahead of the 2027 general elections, confirming that in our federation _everything still gravitates toward the centre_ while federating units wither. Rumours of a failed coup attempt: Reported last week by independent media and swiftly denied by the Defence Headquarters — have further unsettled a weary nation. Even if untrue, it reflects a dangerous nostalgia for an age Nigeria must never revisit. Insecurity festers: From Boko Haram and armed bandits to everyday criminals beyond an overstretched federal police. Millions now live in fear, while the Federal Government, despite its swollen revenue, has failed to secure lives as subnational governments lack the tools to respond. Nnamdi Kanu: The detained Igbo separatist leader (born at the onset of civil war)— remains in protracted prosecution since 2015, sparking protests and calls for a political resolution. Whether his trial persists or concludes, the deeper question of Igbo inclusion remains unresolved. Energy and infrastructure collapse deepen public despair: Despite privatization, power distribution remains stuck at 4,000–5,000 megawatts for a nation of over 220 million. Federal Government owes generation and distribution companies over ₦5 trillion for epileptic power — while its control over transmission has rendered the Electricity Act 2023 largely unusable for most states. Amid these contradictions we ask: where is the intellectual voice of the man who once fought to keep Nigeria one, not only with guns, but through this unitary and imbalanced structure — and later earned a PhD in Political Science, writing a thesis on how ECOWAS members can cooperate without coercion?
Sir, we need your autobiography. But we earnestly crave your federal philosophy — reflections on what worked, what failed, and what can still be redeemed.
The two Gowons Nigeria has known
History holds two enduring images of you. The first is General Yakubu Gowon, the 31-year-old soldier who took power in 1966 amid chaos, fought a bitter civil war, and ruled until 1975. That Gowon ruled by decree, created twelve states to undercut secession, and built an oil-fed federation that still defines our fiscal habits. The second is Dr. Yakubu Gowon, the 50-year-old scholar whose doctoral thesis at the University of Warwick, “The Economic Community of West African States: A Study in Political and Economic Integration” (1984), argued that durable unity must rest on voluntary cooperation, institutional trust, and functional interdependence among equals. Ironically, your later thesis on voluntary cooperation among equals echoed the very spirit of the Aburi Accord, which collapsed under the weight of mutual suspicion and miscommunication in 1967. What was rejected in the heat of youth, you later affirmed in the calm of scholarship. That evolution is not shameful; it is instructive — and it is precisely why your reflections are desperately needed now. Between the young soldier and the mid-aged scholar lies the story of Nigeria itself: from unity by decree to the search for unity by consent. What we lack today is your reconciliation of those two selves. Only you can offer that with a nonagenarian’s wisdom.
The post-war foundation and today’s fragile federalism
Your “Three Rs policy (Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and Rehabilitation) gave post-war Nigeria a healing vocabulary. You told us, “No victor, no vanquished.” Yet, many Nigerians still feel vanquished by the very structure of unitary-by-coercion that the war failed to correct. Your PhD warned that integration fails when power asymmetry erodes trust — and Nigeria today is that warning made flesh, a giant that fears its own diversity because its federal balance tilts too heavily toward the centre.
Questions only you can answer authoritatively
At 91, you stand as the most senior soldier-statesman who both forged the union in battle and later studied the theory of cooperation in the classroom. Only you can help the younger generation connect these two experiences. We need you to write — or dictate to a trusted scholar— a testament on Nigeria’s federal system. The questions awaiting your reflections are many, but five are urgent:
1) Local Government Autonomy: The Supreme Court has spoken, yet thirty-six governors act as emperors. How do you, who once ruled by decree but later preached institutional rule, interpret this defiance? What kind of reform can secure the local tier as a true government, not a mere appendage of state governors?
2) States Creation: You created twelve states to weaken secession, but also inadvertently multiplied bureaucracy. Today we have thirty-six — most insolvent, many unviable. _Some politicians and monarchs are even asking for more!_ Would you still defend the logic of proliferation, or do you now see merit in consolidation and fiscal federalism?
3) Regionalism Revisited: Some, including this writer, propose returning to regional governments, collapsing the states, and either aligning with our current six geopolitical zones or creating about ten regions, to restore economies of scale, cultural cohesion, and shared heritage. As one who dismembered the regions to preserve unity, what is your view of rebuilding them for efficiency and security?
4) Exclusive, Concurrent, and Residual Lists: Even with various amendments to the 1999 Constitution, power in Nigeria remains heavily concentrated in the Exclusive List — policing, minerals, oil and gas, etc. Even for those items (e.g., power, railways) recently moved to the Concurrent List, the States are too weak to handle them—further reinforcing the need for regionalism. What are your reflections on these?
5) Presidential or Parliamentary System: Nigeria has experimented with both. The First Republic’s parliamentary model, though imperfect, demanded accountability through collective leadership. The presidential system introduced under your immediate successor centralized power and personalized governance. Which system, in your view, better suits a federation like ours — one that balances efficiency with inclusion?
These are not academic puzzles. They are the very issues that test the survival of the federation you once defended with arms.
Why Your Voice Matters
Every generation must learn anew how to hold Nigeria together. But we cannot learn if those who know the cost of disunity remain silent.
You, who once commanded the nation’s armed forces, understand better than anyone that when governance fails, the barracks begin to whisper.
Across West Africa, and now within our own borders, the shadow of military nostalgia reappears — proof that unbalanced systems invite instability.
You are the only Nigerian leader who has lived the entire arc — from civil war to peace, oil boom to debt crisis, military decree to civil rule, birth of ECOWAS to a drifting African Union.
You understand that coercion breeds rebellion, and that over-centralization invites decay.
You also know that forgiveness without fairness cannot last.
A single book from you — _not an autobiography, but a federal testament_ — could educate presidents, governors, lawmakers, and citizens for decades. It could be Nigeria’s equivalent of Lee Kuan Yew’s _From Third World to First_ or Julius Nyerere’s _Freedom and Unity_ — a bridge between action and reflection.
_Please, before you go the way of every mortal_, give Nigeria your final book — your reflections on unity, leadership, and federal design. Tell us what you think you did right, what you would do differently if you could rewind the clock, and what you expect from those who now hold the baton.
You can invite your contemporaries like General Olusegun Obasanjo, who introduced the presidential system, to collaborate. But you must be the lead author.
May history remember you not only as the general who kept Nigeria one by the barrel of a gun, or the scholar who theorized West African unity, but also as the elder who, in his last season, taught a divided people how to be federal without being fractured — and how to be united without being uniform.
May God continue to keep you strong enough to write, reflect, and bless the nation you once saved by war and can still guide by wisdom.
With deepest respect,
•Salako, Ph.D, a Nigerian-American from Oyo town and consultant in Energy, Sustainability, Data and Artificial Intelligence, writes in via olarinre.salako@gmail.com
Credit: Nigerian Tribune