”When I say that the Presidency must come to the north next year I am referring to the Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern Christian or Muslim minority tribe. The Christians in the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma, the Burra, the Kilba, the Mbula, and all the others are nothing and the Muslim minorities in the north, including the Kanuri, the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur, the Bade, the Bura, the Igalla, the Zerma, the Bariba, the Gbari and all the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.
They can grumble, moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for. Some of them are even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one nights sport and pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Uthman Dan Fodio. We also captured Ilorin, killed their local King and installed our Fulani Emir. We took that ancient town away from the barbarian Yoruba and their filthy pagan gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing Islam on them by force.
It was either the Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the good works of our forefathers Allah, through the British, gave us Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please.
Since 1960 we have been doing that and we intend to continue. The Igbo tried to stop us in 1966 and between 1967 and 1969 they paid a terrible price. They were brought to heel and since then they have been broken.
No Goodluck or anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africa’s biggest war zone and refugee camp if they try it. Many say we are behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and they want to take even that from us. We must fight and we will fight back in order to keep it. They have brought in the infidels from America and the pigs from Israel to help them but they will fail. The war has just begun, the Mujahedeen are more than ready and by Allah we shall win.
If they don’t want an ISIS in Nigeria then they must give us back the Presidency and our political power. Their soldiers are killing our warriors and our people every day but mark this: even if it takes one hundred years we will have our revenge. Every Fulani man that they kill is a debt that will be repaid even if it takes 100 years. The Fulani have very long memories”-
My attention was recently drawn to the above tirade written by no other than the former national security adviser Ismaila Gwarzo and published in the NVS http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/articles-comments/85402-nigeria-allah-s-gift-fulani.html .
The arrogant, condescending and utter nonsense written by no less a person than General Sanni Abacha’s former NSA is neither new nor surprising, it is just another confirmation that Nigeria’s core North is suffering from a severe mental disorder better described as the born to rule disease. From Ahmadu Bello, Balewa and other first republic political leaders from the North, such mindset and rhetoric has always been their disposition towards Nigeria. Ismaila Gwarzo and others like Junaid Muhammed, Ango Abdullahi, Murtala Nyako, Adamu Ciroma amongst others who have made careers out of abusing and threatening other Nigerians are all following Ahmadu Bello’s legacy of bigotry. Since they are so obsessed with an unbridled quest for power, one wonders why they haven’t opted to secede and create Arewa republic which remains the best and only option for them to actualise their born to rule caliphate uninterrupted? Perhaps that option has not come into consideration because it will deny them crude oil money to loot and other ethnic nationalities to oppress.
Gwarzo boasts of violence which also is not new. From 1945, 1953, 1966 to date Northern leaders like Gwarzo have thrived in sponsoring violence against other Nigerians. This is what has evolved into the Frankenstein in Boko Haram. The idea that the North or Hausa-Fulani are born to rule is beginning to be the product of mental health disorders that is bound to lead to the eventual decimation of the core north. Not even the British colonial masters who had overwhelming military powers ever considered themselves born to rule. Indeed they eventually handed power to Nigerians. It leaves one to wonder how the Hausa-Fulani hopes to accomplish what the British could not. In terms of demographics a combination of the Hausa and minority Fulani makes up just 29% of the population while the Yoruba and Igbo roughly make-up 40% of the population according to the CIA world fact book. Of Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups two are From the South. Indeed the Ijaw which is considered the 4th largest with 10% of the population according to CIA world fact book is also from the South.
The Hausa plus Fulani does not make-up a majority of Nigeria’s population, as they remain roughly within the same population threshold as each of the other two largest ethnic groups. So one wonders how the Hausa-Fulani who as the article by Gwarzo clearly demonstrates has no regards for other Northern minorities and Christians hopes to further and sustain their born to rule intentions? Most importantly; even if the Hausa-Fulani were to constitute an absolute majority of Nigeria’s population is arrogating to themselves the born to rule arrogance the way to build a nation? Is it not common sense to realise that a diverse and heterogeneous multinational state like Nigeria needs nation building/equality and not a born to rule mindset by any group? In Ghana the Akan ethnic group make-up 47% of the population but they have never gone around parading themselves as a born to rule group. Various ethnic groups in Ghana have freely produced the president without any let or hindrance.
In India the Hindu’s make-up 80.5% of the population constituting an absolute majority but they have not constituted themselves a born to rule group. The immediate past president of India Manmoham Singh is a Sikh which constitutes only 1.9% of the Indian population. Other countries even where some ethnic or religious groups form an absolute majority have been able to build their nations and create harmony by de-emphasising tribe/religion and enthroning equality, but in Nigeria the Hausa and non-native Fulani that do not constitute a majority have continued to harass and abuse the nation with their born to rule nonsense. This is the same Hausa-Fulani that vigorously campaigned against a sovereign national conference on the basis that they want to preserve Nigeria’s unity. I wonder how constituting themselves a born to rule group and constantly harassing, threatening, abusing and even killing other Nigerians can be a reasonable method to preserve Nigeria’s unity?
The Hausa-Fulani and core North constitute Nigeria’s greatest faultlines.They have ruled Nigeria unmeritoriously and destructively for more than 40 years since independence but just for once that a president from the Niger-Delta whose resources they depend on to survive has accidentally come to power they have practically taken up arms to remove him from power. Their opposition to Goodluck Jonathan is based not on policies or bad governance but wholly on ethnicity/religion. How do they intend to sustain a multi-ethnic nation with such obvious discriminating behaviour? The core North has simply made it impossible for Nigeria to become a true nation because of their warped born to rule mindset and penchant for enthroning apartheid, marginalisation, injustice and oppression. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that it was the decade’s long abuse of power by the North that led to the clamour for and introduction of zoning. Other multi-ethnic countries don’t practice zoning. If the Hausa –Fulani had allowed a level playing field on the basis of justice and equality Nigeria would have had no need for zoning. Politically, economically and socially Nigeria is paying the price for the corrupt, discriminating and malevolent leadership of erstwhile Northern leaders who created the bankrupt system we are still grappling with.
In 2000 twelve states in the North introduced Sharia laws in a vulgar violation of the secular constitution. Riots emanating from this abject abuse of the Nigerian constitution led to the deaths by official estimates of more than 20,000 people. These constitute amongst others the systematic abuse that the core north has repeatedly subjected the nation. There have been two major attempts to break-up Nigeria the first by Odigmegwu Ojukwu the second by Gideon Orkar and both because of the excesses of the core north. The core North in the past and present thus continues to constitute the fault lines and conditions that are leading to agitations and attempts to break-up the nation. Indeed, underlying the calls for a sovereign national conference is the desire by the advocates to provide a peaceful opportunity to separate from the core north or at least change the oppressive domineering system created by them.
Militant and separatist groups such as MEND, MASSOB, OPC and others exist because of injustices engendered by Northern leaders. If the core North does not cure themselves of their born to rule disease and begin to invest in nation building; centrifugal and centripetal forces will continue to be galvanised in due course to stage a third major attempt to break-up Nigeria. No people can perpetually opt to be part of a nation where they are reduced to inequality and slavery by an arrogant, insulting group that refuses to subscribe to the basic and universal tenets of justice and equality for all within the nation. The nation is now so fragile; weakened by decades of injustice, misrule, discrimination and ethno-religious divisions that no soothsayer is needed to determine that any major attempt to break the nation will succeed this time and like past incidents it will be because of the North.
The Gwarzo’s of this world by their bigotry and nonsensical rhetoric are only making it easier for those intent on sending Nigeria to the grave. If he and his co, travellers are wise they should begin to retrace their steps from the treacherous paths they tread before it’s too late.
Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
Email:lawrencenwobu@gmail.com
Refs:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ng.html
http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/articles-comments/85402-nigeria-allah-s-gift-fulani.html
