1: As a kid, he was continuously spanked by his parents for insistently aspiring to be a pilot. They wanted him to be a medical doctor. He ended up being an airforce pilot.

2: He first met his wife in primary school, then they separated for many years. He said he fell in love with her the first time he saw her at primary school. They later met as adults and got married. He jokes that it took years for his wife to let him hold her hands.

3: J. Rawlings was an outstanding airman. He won several awards but was relatively unknown in his country until the events that led to his attainment of leadership unraveled.

4: He was on death row for plotting a coup d'tat before becoming the head of state in Ghana. He did not deny his involvement in plotting a coup and even called for the soldiers under his command during the coup to be released.

5: The oratorical gift of J. Rawlings played a significant part in saving him from the hangman's noose. The speech he gave during his court sentencing was so empathetic to the plight of the Ghanaian public that the military had to plot a coup to release him from jail and put him in power.

6: Unlike other African leaders of his time, J. Rawlings promptly handed over power for civil rule after his first coup. He had to plot another coup after the democratic experiment failed, where he decided to lead Ghana for a while.

7: J. Rawlings is an outstanding artist. He is very good in drawing and kept it a secret. He joked that he had to keep it a secret because he had not drawn his wife's image.

8: His leadership was guided by the dictates of Ghanaian people. He listened to Ghanaians unlike his peers in other African countries. When his people demanded for democracy, he subjected the country to a democratic process, where he contested and won fairly. The process also saw him lose and handover political power to John Kuffor from an opposition party in later years.

9: He alienated himself from his children. His children rarely saw him while growing up. He decided to do this because he didn't want the pain of his possible death in the event of a coup to be too harsh on his children. His wife raised his children alone.

10: J. Rawlings was very close to Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. His admired the leadership ideals of Sankara and loathed the betrayal meted out on Sankara by his close political confidants.

11: He once broke down in tears infront of the global audience while speaking about the plight of Somalia people in the war ravaged country. He was an envoy to the country and was deeply overcome with emotion while describing the struggles of the women and children in Somalia as they strived to survive war and drought. He wept infront of cameras.

Good

Father give us a Rawling in Nigeria, or possibly make me a Rawling. IJN.

He was nothing but a greedy coup plotter

We always have idio.ts that would comment.. they see no good in whatever people do..

What of the fact that; he is an half cast?

I see.

Sound facts. Good to know.

J. J. Rawlings My Unsung Hero!
The man who had a fine blend of power in his hands and compassion in his heart. He remains a role model whose wisdom was older than his time.

xpac01:
Father give us a Rawling in Nigeria, or possibly make me a Rawling. IJN.

Do nigeria need Rawling when we have buhari..lol

Jay Rawlings

Almighty GOD give us a Rawlings in nigeria that will Kill all our former military presidents except gowon in nigeria.