The Sultan of Sokoto is the father of the Fulani people, the foremost
\ntraditional ruler in\u00a0 northern Nigeria and the spiritual leader of all
\nnorthern Muslims.<\/p>\n
He is not just a traditional ruler but an all-powerful potentate who
\nrepresents a strange and mystical power and who heads an ancient and dark
\nempire.<\/p>\n
Not only is he reverred by his subjects but he is also regarded and
\ntreated by some as something akin to a deity and by others as nothing less
\nthan the reincarnation of Sheik Usman Dan Fodio, the Sufi Muslim who
\nfounded the Caliphate empire by conquering and utterly crushing the Hausa
\nkingdoms in a brutal and bloody jihad in northern Nigeria in 1804.<\/p>\n
Whichever way his subjects choose to view him, whether as a deity or an
\nall-conquering and all powerful jihadi war-lord, to the Muslims of the
\ncore north his word is law and absolutely everything revolves around him.<\/p>\n
He is the living symbol of Fulani power, strength and glory and the
\nphysical manifestation of the quest for Islamist domination.<\/p>\n
Yet despite these lofty heights and undoubtedly rich and impressive
\nheritage his people have slaughtered, subjugated and terrorised more
\nNigerians in the last 212 years since Usman Dan Fodio’s 1804 Jihad than
\nANY other ethnic group in our nation.<\/p>\n
They have butchered more of their fellow Nigerians in that space of time
\nthan the white Boer settlers and farmers of apartheid South Africa
\nbutchered the black African population in Southern Africa in 363 years of
\nwhite rule and domination since the time that the Dutch coloniser and
\nadmnistrator, Jan Van Riebeek, first put his foot on the South African
\nCape in 1653.<\/p>\n
No African ethnic group has killed as many of their fellow Africans as the
\nFulani of northern Nigeria. Not even the Hutus of Rwanda, who did a whole
\nlot of killing in the genocide of the early 1990’s, could match them.<\/p>\n
From the first Mahdi, Usman Dan Fodio, to the second, Sir Ahmadu Bello and
\nto the third, General Muhammadu Buhari, the trail of blood, carnage,
\nterror and religious compulsion and the inexplicable quest and insatiable
\ndesire to dominate, conquer, subjugate and control others trails them.<\/p>\n
This is as unacceptable as it is provocative. The truth is that there is
\nno place in any civilised society for any form of compulsion or ethnic and
\nreligious domination and bigotry<\/p>\n
I say this because I believe that the mark of civilisation is the ability
\nto tolerate dissenting views and to accomodate those that do not share
\nyour faith or come from your tribe, ethnic stock or nationality.<\/p>\n
If you are incapable of being tolerant of others simply because they are
\ndifferent or they come from a different place and if you cannot indulge in
\nany form of accomodation of those that do not share your views, your faith
\nor your bloodlines then you are nothing more than an uncivilised field
\nhand and an intellectual barbarian.<\/p>\n
If you are capable of both tolerance and accomodation of others, no matter
\nhow stange or absurd their views, their faith or their circumstances may
\nbe, then you are the epitomy of civilisation, decency, good breeding and
\ngood old fashioned class.<\/p>\n
The morale of the tale is as follows: to be tolerant and kind to ALL those
\nthat see things differently from you, to stand up against the intolerant
\nand to resist the ignorant, the bigoted, the racist, the ethnic
\nsupremacist and the religious extremist. .<\/p>\n
It is in an attempt to keep faith with this sacred resolution and honor
\nthis fundamental principle that I wish to bare my mind and share my views
\nabout the way forward for the Fulani Republic of Nigeria in this
\ncontribution. Those views are as follows.<\/p>\n
I am a nationalist. I believe in the rise and power of the nation state. I
\nbelieve in the sovereignity of the will of the people. I believe in the
\nright of independence and self-determination for all and sundry. This is
\nespecially so for the numerous ethnic nationalities that make up the space
\ncalled Nigeria.<\/p>\n
I believe in the right of the Igbo to have Biafra and the right of the
\nYoruba to have Oduduwa if that is their wish.<\/p>\n
I believe that that right ought to be extended to the Ijaws and indeed to
\nevery other ethnic nationality in the country if that is what they want.<\/p>\n
I believe that to compel a man or a people, by the force of arms and with
\nthe raw power of the state, to stay in a house or a space that they do not
\nwish to stay is evil.<\/p>\n
Such a state of affairs and situation is an eloquent testimony, graphic
\nexample and accurate illustration of subjugation and bondage.<\/p>\n
It is a testimony of the most barbaric form of wickedness and a total
\ndenial of the most basic civil liberties, fundamental human rights and
\nexpression of free will of the victims.<\/p>\n
I believe that there are many counries in the belly of Nigeria but sadly
\nthey have all been choked, suffocated, swallowed up and killed at birth.<\/p>\n
I believe that Chief Obafemo Awolowo was right when he said that Nigeria
\nwas “not a nation but a mere geographical expression”.<\/p>\n
I believe that Sir Ahmadu Bello was right when he described the
\namalglamation of the northern and southern protectorates as a “great
\nmistake”.<\/p>\n
I believe that he was also right when he told the ever-accomodating and
\nover-compensating Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe that we needed to “understand our
\ndifferences” rather than to just “forget them”.<\/p>\n
Again I believe that Awolowo was right when he said “there are no
\n‘Nigerians’ in the sense as there are English, Welsh or French. The word
\n‘Nigerian’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who
\nlive within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not”.<\/p>\n
I believe that Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
\naccurately reflected the mind of his core northern people when he said,<\/p>\n
“the Southern people who are swamping into this region daily in such large
\nnumbers are really intruders. We don\u2019t want them and they are not welcome
\nhere in the North. Since 1914, the British Government has been trying to
\nmake Nigeria into one country but the people are different in every way,
\nincluding religion, custom, language and aspirations. We in the north take
\nit that Nigeriam unity is only a British intention for the country they
\ncreated. IT IS NOT FOR US.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believe that Lord Fredrrick Lugard, the architect of the 1914
\namalglamation, was right when he said “the North and the South are like
\noil and water. They will never mix”.<\/p>\n
Again I believe that Awolowo was right when he said “Nigeria is only a
\ngeographical expression to which life was given by the diabolical
\namalgamation of 1914. That amalgamation will EVER remain the most painful
\ninjury a British government inflicted on Southern Nigeria”.<\/p>\n
I believe that the hero of Biafra, Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
\n(the one and only Eze Igbo Gburugburu), was right when he said “it is
\nbetter we move slightly apart and survive than move together and perish in
\nour collision”.<\/p>\n
I believe that Sir Ahmadu Bello spoke the minds of his northern people
\nwhen he said,<\/p>\n
\u201cthe new nation called Nigeria should be an estate from our great
\ngrandfather, Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of
\npower. We must use the minorities in the North as willing tools and the
\nsouth as conquered territories and never allow them to have control of
\ntheir future.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believe that General Yakubu Gowon was right when he said,<\/p>\n
\u201csuffice it to say that putting all considerations to the test, political,
\neconomic as well as social, the basis of unity is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believe that Dr. Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe was right when he said,<\/p>\n
\u201cif this embryo republic of ours must disintegrate, then in the name of
\nGod, let the operation be a short and painless one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally I believe that Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was right when
\nhe said,<\/p>\n
“Nigeria is a stooge of Europe. Her independence was and is a lie. Nigeria
\ncommitted many crimes against her nationals which in the end made complete
\nnonsense of her claim to unity. Nigeria persecuted and slaughtered her
\nminorities; Nigerian justice was a farce; her elections, her census, her
\npolitics \u2013 her everything \u2013 was corrupt. Qualification, merit and
\nexperience were discounted in public service. In one area of Nigeria, for
\ninstance, they preferred to turn a nurse who had worked for five years
\ninto a doctor rather than employ a qualified doctor from another part of
\nNigeria; barely literate clerks were made Permanent Secretaries; a
\nuniversity Vice-Chancellor was sacked because he belonged to the wrong
\ntribe.\u201d<\/p>\n
These words are as truthful, accurate and\u00a0 appropiate today as they were
\nwhen Ojukwu spoke them many years ago.<\/p>\n
If there is still anyone left that believes that all is well in our forced
\nunion I urge them to consider the words of Chief John Nwodo who is a
\nformer Minister of Information and the newly-elected President-General of
\nOhaneze, the leading Igbo political and socio-cultural group which
\ncomprises of all the elders and traditional rulers of Ndi Igbo. He said,<\/p>\n
\u201cOur young men and women can no longer tolerate a second class status in
\ntheir own country. They can no longer forgive the President for arguing
\nbefore he came into office that Niger Delta militants were meekly treated
\nand tolerated by President Yar Adua while Boko Haram was harshly treated
\nby President Jonathan when his law enforcement agents literally opened
\nfire and maimed and killed unarmed MASSOB and IPOB members. They see how
\nreturnee Boko Haram members are absolved and rehabilitated while leaders
\nof MASSOB and IPOB are incarcerated or mercilessly murdered. In their
\nrage, they are becoming uncontrollable as they pass a vote of no
\nconfidence on us, their parents, describing us as cowards and
\ncompromised”.<\/p>\n
Could anyone have put it any better than this? Has Nwodo not hit the nail
\non the head? Has he not spoken the bitter truth? Is this not an aberrant
\nand unacceptable state of affairs?<\/p>\n
Has our so-called country not been turned into the theater of the absurd
\nwhere anything can happen in the last two years? Did some of us not warn
\nthat this would happen if a Fulani supremacist and Muslim fundamentalist
\nwith delusions of grandeur like Buhari was elected President? Are the
\nNigerian people not reaping what they sowed in 2015?<\/p>\n
Have the southerners and Middle Belters in Nigeria not all been turned
\ninto slaves today? Have their leaders and elders not all been turned into
\nquislings and cowards who shiver under their beds at night and who dare
\nnot speak truth to power?<\/p>\n
Christians are slaughtered, nobody talks. Southern youths are butchered,
\nnobody talks. Shiite Muslims are massacred, nobody talks. Christian
\nrefugees are bombed at IDP camps, nobody cares. Fulani militants murder
\nhundreds in cold blood on a weekly basis all over the country and nobody
\nis arrested or apprehended.<\/p>\n
Was this not Awolowo and Ojukwu’s greatest fear? Are we not living that
\nnightmare today?<\/p>\n
Whether they wish to admit it openly or not EVERY southerner and Middle
\nBelter in this country feels like a second class citizen today. (TO BE
\nCONTINUED).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sultan of Sokoto is the father of the Fulani people, the foremost traditional ruler in\u00a0 northern Nigeria and the spiritual leader of all northern Muslims. He is not just…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n