Africa Goju Martial Arts Lauds CDS, General Musa, for Urging Nigerians to Embrace Self-Defence

By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted 26th August, 2025

The Africa Goju Martial Arts Grand Warrior/Grandmaster Ohio-Michael Elakhe, has applauded the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, for urging Nigerians to acquire self-defence skills amidst the rising cases of kidnapping, banditry and other security threats that have overstretched traditional armed response systems.

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General Musa, while answering questions on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday August 21, 2025, advised Nigerians to learn combat skills as part of personal survival measures, likening it to essential life skills such as driving or swimming.

In support of the CDS’ position, Professor Danny Gwira, founder of the survival systems known as African Goju and South American Goju, also emphasized that self-defence is now a global necessity. With over 60 years in martial arts practice, he has trained more than 12,000 students across 34 countries.

Great Warrior/Grandmaster Ohio-Michael, Head and Chief Instructor of African Goju Nigeria, commended General Musa for his “courage and boldness to state the obvious,” stressing that “African Goju’s survival self-defense is an idea whose time has come.”

He expanded on the Chief of Defence Staff’s recommendation, noting:

“For it to achieve its objective, it must be understood—as I am convinced the General knows—that today’s hostiles and lawless elements have no regard for life and property. They easily perpetrate extremes such as rape, gang wars, genocides, xenophobic attacks, jungle justice, serial killings, violent armed robberies, kidnappings and abductions with high-caliber firearms for ransom or rituals, assassinations, sniper attacks, suicide bombings, cross-border banditry, insurgency, terrorism, IEDs, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, bombs, acid baths, and even chemical warfare—without batting an eyelid.”

THE PHILOSOPHY OF AFRICAN GOJU MARTIAL ARTS:

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“When traditional martial systems were created nearly a millennium ago, their founders never envisaged the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) insecurity challenges of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Kicks, punches, grapples, and set-pieces—no matter how proficiently executed in sports scenarios—do not equip practitioners with the intelligence and skillsets required to meet today’s protection demands.”

“It was this realization that gave birth to African Goju. The system recognizes that realistic survival self-defense does not begin during an attack. It begins with the ‘sixth sense’—environmental awareness: the ability to discern and evade danger, avoid risky situations, and ensure one is not carelessly open to attack. It also requires the intelligence to identify and apply the best proactive strategy for every situation.”

Furthermore, the Grand Warrior explained that, “Self-defense, in truth, is 65% common sense, 10% will, 10% skill, 10% fitness, and 5% God—the beyond-human factor. For martial arts to truly serve as a protection system, the General should champion a solution that equips citizens with survival commonsense (awareness and intelligence), alongside a system offering realistic responses to modern-day threats, rather than just generic martial arts.”

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“The actual ‘fight’—the physical confrontation—is the last line of defense. It rests on intelligent deduction and only becomes necessary when every other proactive and defensive measure has been exhausted. And even then, it cannot rely on the sporting applications of traditional martial arts; it requires a warfront mentality.”

“This mindset, along with lethal hand-to-hand combat capability, is what African Goju’s training imparts. Its curriculum prepares practitioners to be proactive and alert—to sense danger, to foresee devious or malicious intent, and to secure survival by preempting, averting, or countering threats. When necessary, it also equips them with the resolve and skills to physically defend themselves.”

“By incorporating security awareness, intelligence, close protection, and warfront readiness, African Goju sets itself apart from other martial arts systems. Its unique selling point is that its curriculum is tailored—addressing different personalities, challenges, and environments, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution. It is a deliberate, practical system that directly answers today’s demand for coordinated community safety and self-policing strategies”, explained Grand Warrior Ohio-Michael.

Prof Gwira added that; “The most unique feature of African Goju is that self-defence is not only physical but concerns every aspect of an individual. It is this attention to situational detail that makes African Goju different from other disciplines, because it can easily be adapted to suit any individual in order to keep one completely safe. A kidnapper knows that the easiest way to hurt someone is to kidnap a member of his/her family and hold him/her to ransom; which means one must include protection of the home, family and finances as part of one’s self-defence.

“Being aware of potential dangers and knowing how to avoid them is ultimately more important than knowing how to fight because even the toughest and strongest fighter in the world can be killed with a single knife stab or bullet from the weakest person. African Goju is the art of knowing how, where, why and when to fight or not to fight; defending your body, family, property, dignity, integrity, self-esteem, reputation, and country in the process. “

He noted that Goju martial art offers Africa’s own answer to non-kinetic strategies for strengthening security awareness and personal survival capacity. He disclosed that Goju Martial Arts organization trained the commandos special forces in Ghana, while the Chief Instructor of South American Goju; his second martial arts system, trains the Bolivian Army’s special forces in unarmed combat. “I think that individuals, corporations and security agencies in Nigeria can leverage our robust experience in this area of survival self-defence”, said Ohio-Michael.

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Grand warrior Ohio-Michael explained that, “Africa Goju is basically a Africa-centric home-grown survival self defence system and another of its unique distinguishing features in comparison to Chinese, Japanese or any other Asian or Korean martial arts, is the language of instruction. The Asian or Korean brand of martial arts rely on their indigenous language, cultural ethos and symbols for instruction and practice. But African Goju and South American Goju are rooted in the native or common language of instruction where we train and operate”, he said.

“We are currently developing an executive training programme to encourage everyone to embrace basic security self-awareness and preparedness. We are open to consultancy with any corporation or institution or even security agencies,” he added.

Both leaders in the African Goju community aligned with the CDS’ view that acquiring combat skills should be treated as a survival instinct, essential for everyday living—whether in times of war or peace.

The CDS had expressed that learning combat skills for self-defence, should be taken as learning driving, learning how to swim, noting that “whether we have war or not, it is a survival instinct”.

“In Europe, swimming is compulsory. Learning and teaching about security (is compulsory) because you have to learn what security is.”

LOCAL ADAPTATION FOR NIGERIA

Both Prof. Gwira and Grand Warrior/Grandmaster Ohio-Michael agree with General Musa when he emphasized the need for members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to be equipped with unarmed combat skills to enhance their survival in the face of growing insecurity.

“That’s what the NYSC is supposed to do, but the NYSC has been watered down to three weeks. I think it is important that we are able to give every Nigerian security awareness at whatever level. Self-defence is very important. Unarmed combat. Swimming. Driving. These are critical aspects for human endeavours. These are things we should never take for granted because they prepare you for the future. The world we are in now is dangerous. We have individuals who don’t mean people well. They kill for whatever reason”, said General Musa.

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In alignment with this call, African Goju martial arts founder, Prof. Gwira, stressed that security must be seen as the collective responsibility of all Nigerians and Africans. While noting that safety and preparedness should be taken seriously through the acquisition of practical life-saving skills, he said,

“The time is apt to share my secrets with a wider audience and give something back to the world. My aim is to teach people basic and advanced techniques of self-defence, keeping fit, and staying safe through the African Goju/South American Goju way.