By: Femi Fani-Kayode
In his book titled “Concerning the Government of Our Country and
Neighboring Countries in the Sudan”, Nigeria’s first Mahdi, Sheik Usman
Dan Fodio, who is the father of the Fulani Caliphate and leader of the
1804 jihad that overwhelmed and conquered what is now known as northern
Nigeria wrote:
“The government of a country is the government of its king without
question. If the king is a Muslim, his land is Muslim; if he is an
unbeliever, his land is a land of unbelievers. In these circumstances it
is obligatory for anyone to leave it for another country”.
Could this strange and primitive rationale be the reason for the creeping
attempt to wipe out Christianity, destroy the Church, slaughter
Christians, Islamise the faithful and enslave the people of the south and
Middle Belt in our country today?
Could this be the ethos and philosophical bedrock and foundation of the
imperative of Islamic domination and Fulani rule? Have we finally
discovered the intellectual Holy Grail of Fulani raison d’etra?
This brings me to a number of other questions which many harbour but few
dare to ask.
The southern region of Nigeria has not had a Chief Justice of the
Federation in 30 years and now that one has been nominated by the National
Judicial Council our core northern President Muhammadu Buhari has simply
refused to confirm him. The question may be asked, what is the south’s
portion in Nigeria?
Such is the suspicion, bedlam and utter turmoil in our nation today that
some are of the view that the solution to the problems of Nigeria is not
just restructuring but a total break up of the country.
They believe that restructuring may be a good first step but the final
destination has to be a total and complete break up and divorce.
They argue that this can he done peacefully and quietly or it will
eventually be done violently and in a very messy way.
They say that the sooner we do it the easier it will be and that the
longer we delay it the more messy it will be.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with them one thing is clear: we are
sitting on a keg of gunpowder and we ALL know it.
It is just that we like to pretend. The bottom line is this: things cannot
go on the way they are.
Some believe that we should let the four “liberal” zones (south-west,
south-south, south- east and north-central) come together and form one
nation and let the north-west and north- east zone either go and merge
with Chad and Niger Republic or form their own country.
They argue that we should let the Christians, the Shiite Muslims and the
core northern ethnic minority tribes that presently live in the north-
east and north-west, if they wish, to relocate, move to the Middle Belt
(north-central) and remain with us in Nigeria.
Interestingly this mass relocation and migration process was executed in
India when she broke into two and Pakistan was formed just after she got
her independence from the British.
Millions of Muslims who resided in India moved north to the other side of
the country that was to be later called Pakistan whilst millions of Hindus
who resided in the area that was to be later called Pakisan relocated from
there and moved all the way south to the area that continued to be
referred to as India.
Given the terrible carnage that took place between the Hindus and the
Muslims in India before the break-up the whole thing worked rather well
and saved millions of lives.
This was the case even though there were three border wars between the two
countries not too long after the division and tensions exist between them
until today.
Yet had it not been for the break-up the number of casualties would have
been far higher and the victims of the fratricidal butchery which took
place would have been primarily the civilian population, including women
and children, rather than just the soldiers.
Some believe that we in Nigeria must take a cue from the Indian, and later
Sudanese, examples. They believe that we must break Nigeria into two
before we kill each other to the last man and woman.
They believe that it is either we negotiate this and let it be done in an
equitable, reasonable, respectful and orderly manner or we will end up
having a violent, brutal, bloody and long ethnic war in this country which
will result in the final balkanisation and break up of Nigeria into no
less than four or more pieces.
Whichever way we cannot be compelled to stay in a nation that is
controlled by our collective oppressors and those that believe that
killing others that do not share their faith or belong to their ethnic
group or religious sect for much longer.
They have sucked the nations blood dry and killed the host body that they
have fed fat on for the last 56 years.
They have killed the spirit of Nigeria and sacrificed her unity on the
alter of greed, hate, religious intolerance, political domination and
false notions of ethnic supremacy.
Their hegemony is an affront to the Living God and it stands against the
natural order of things.
It is time for them to go or to be thrown out.
It is only after this happens that we can achieve our full potentials as a
nation and that our people can be truly blessed.
Those that control the country and believe that they own it will NEVER
allow restructuring because it defeats the object of their purpose.
Given that, it is very clear that we are heading for the rocks because the
generation of southern and Middle Belt Nigerans that come after mine
refuse to accept the notion that they are nothing but glorfied slaves and
second class citizens.
My generation and those that came before it were far more ready to
compromise with the evil, accept that bogus notion and just contiue to
hope for the best.
The result is that we are still waiting and hoping whilst the grip of our
internal colonial masters and their power is greater today than it has
EVER been.
Meanwhile thousands of southerners, Shiite muslims, Middle Belters and
northern Christians have been slaughtered at the altet and are being
butchered by the sponsored ethnic militias that are known as the Fulani
herdsmen. One must ask, how long are we going to continue watching this
evil silently and just keep hoping for the best?
This sort of thing can only happen in Nigeria. If people had been
subjected to such barbarity and wickedness in any other country in the
world there would have been international outrage and violent reactions
long ago. Yet in Nigeria we respond to it with nothing but indifference
and silence in the name of political correctness. It is truly pathetic.
The truth is that this “political correctness” will kill us if we dont
kill it first. We must be prepared to say the things that we say to one
another behind closed doors publicly as well.
The country needs a dose of truth to heal its wounds and it also needs
focused, strong, honest and decisive leadership. Those that believe that
they were born to kill us at will and rule us in perpetuity must either
accept that they are not our ethnic masters and stop all this barbarity or
they must go.
The truth is that the whole country is ready to explode. We the older men
are the ones that are just still talking. The younger ones stopped talking
long ago and now they are preparing for war.
I have travelled to many parts of this country in the last few weeks and
months and what I saw and heard scared me. And I dont scare easily. We
must try to keep a lid on it and talk our way out of this mess before the
bullets start flying and reason and rational thinking goes out of the
window.
Those that believe that they own Nigeria are the greatest obstacle to
national cohesion and no one else. The rest of us can work out our
differences, keep our four zones, devolve power from the centre and
establish a 21st century secular modern nation-state where we are all
equal, where the rule of law prevails and where islamic fundamentalism and
ethnic domination has no place.
We must also work out our differences in the south. It is the division
amongst the southerners that feeds and fuels core northern hegemony. We
must all make concessions and set our differences aside and come together
as one againt our collective adversaries.
If we cannot do that and we allow historical differences and rivalries to
abide and flourish then frankly we deserve to remain as the slaves that
they have turned us into. Let us hope that good reason prevails and that
we make the right choices.
Let us hope that we are guided by God and His Holy Spirit in all our
endeavours. Let us hope that we can muster the courage to say “no more” to
ethnic and religious cleansing, mass murder, bondage, servitude and
tyranny.