Requiring a strong core northern support to actualise his twin plan of
\nnorthern dominance and indeed dominance by muslims in Nigeria’s political
\nspace now and in the future, President Mohammadu Buhari made no
\npretensions about his intentions when he assumed office in 2015.<\/p>\n
As a man seething with anger over his several failed bid to clinch the
\npresidency and the role of systemic corruption on the part of the
\npolitical class for which his own stock, Fulanis, are the leading lights,
\nhe had a clear focus of his agenda.<\/p>\n
Presently, however, the northern political establishment, usually a cover
\nfor the Fulani political bloc, is believed to be shopping for the
\nreplacement of President Buhari in 2019, looking towards former Vice
\nPresident, Atiku Abubakar, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and
\nformer Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.<\/p>\n
While the politicians want a replacement for Buhari in 2019 in view of his
\npoor performance and health status, officers in a Hausa-Fulani dominated
\nmilitary are also considering the coup option that would ensure that power
\ndoes not slip into the hands of the north-easterners.<\/p>\n
Pointblanknews.com has reliably gathered that President Buhari, bearing in
\nmind the Boko Haram debacle on assumption of office and the legendary
\nstubbornness of the Kanuri tribe, who usually pride themselves in the
\nhistorical fact they were never conquered throughout the “1000 years of
\nthe existence of the Karnem Bornu Empire before the advent of the Othman
\nDanfodio Jihad”, concluded that his agenda may not be realisable without
\nthe support of the Kanuris.<\/p>\n
Buhari’s own mother\u00a0 is of the Kanuri stock. He was once quoted as saying
\nthat late military Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, a Kanuri, with a
\nglobally acclaimed reputation for looting the public treasury, was not
\ncorrupt.<\/p>\n
Even the late Premier of Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, once warned
\nthe British in his book, “My Life”, about the futility of using force
\nagainst the Kanuris at a time they wanted to carry out the execution of
\nsome offenders and instead suggested appeasement and\u00a0 diplomatic approach
\nwhich the British took note of but proceeded with the executions.<\/p>\n
Chairman of President Buhari’s Transition Committee and Retired Permanent
\nSecretary, Ahmed Joda, was part of the think-tank that fully developed
\nPresident Buhari’s plan, but also recommended a cautious and placatory
\napproach towards the Kanuri.<\/p>\n
The argument in the public domain, however, is that with the Boko Haram
\nmenace as a purely Kanuri problem geographically, Kanuris would be best
\npositioned to tackle it once and for all hence the appointment of Kanuris
\nin strategic defence positions.<\/p>\n
Buhari’s appointments has been reflective of this background with the
\nappointment of the following Kanuris in his government: Lt. General Tukur
\nYusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, Major Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd),
\nNational Security Adviser, Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President,
\nIbrahim Magu, Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
\nMinister of State for Power, Works and Housing,
\nHon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri among many other heads of ministries and
\nparastatals.<\/p>\n
“Surrounding himself with Kanuris is a mark of absolute trust and
\nconfidence while his approach to his kinsmen smacks of suspicion and
\ndistrust”, a political analyst, who spoke anonymously, said.<\/p>\n
Buhari’s Original Succession Plan Pointblanknews.com has learned that the
\nmajor plank of Buhari’s succession plan was not just to marginalise
\nSouthern Nigeria but to have a northerner of the Kanuri extraction succeed
\nhim at the end of his tenure using Islam as a cover.<\/p>\n
With this political alliance, the longer term dominance of the
\nHausa-Fulani\u00a0 stock would be guaranteed. Such alliance would leave the
\nChristian minority populations in the core north and middle belt at the
\nmercy of these combined forces of Sunni muslims while majority populations
\nof the South would be constantly subjected to harassment, intimidation and
\nkillings using the security forces as is already being
\nwitnessed in killings of Pro-Biafran protesters, farmers in Agatu, Benue
\nState, Southern Kaduna, Shiite muslims, crackdown on judges mainly from
\nthe South, who are considered stumbling blocks to Buhari’s bigoted power
\nmaster plan and recently the bias in the arrests by the police in Ile-Ife.<\/p>\n
This informed the appointment of muslims to head major strategic, security
\npositions in order to enforce this agenda. Secret memos were passed down
\nto permanent secretaries\/directors (muslims) occupying strategic or
\n“juicy” ministries and parastatals to ensure strict compliance with the
\nmarginalisation agenda which has played out in the total exclusion of the
\nSouth-east geo-political zone and the
\ntreatment meted out to the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives
\nCongress (APC) and South-west states, who made Buhari’s election
\npossible, in terms of federal appointments made so far.<\/p>\n
Muslims are in charge of the following ministries and security positions
\nto enforce the Islamic plank of the Buhari agenda: Justice, Defence,
\nInternal Affairs- the ministries that control the armed forces.<\/p>\n
The chief of army staff, chief of air staff, inspector-general of police,
\ncomptroller-general of customs, commandant of the of the Nigerian Security
\nand Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Immigration Service and Nigerian Prisons
\nService are all muslims. They are from Borno, Bauchi, Niger, Nassarawa,
\nZamfara, Kano, Yobe and Sokoto States.<\/p>\n
Most Police Commissioners, General Officers Commanding (GOCs), brigade
\ncommanders of the Nigerian Army who are Hausa-Fulani\/Kanuri are presently
\ndeployed to the\u00a0 Middlebelt and southern states with a clear directive to
\ncrush opposition, suppress resistance and further Islamisation agenda, the
\nreason why killer Fulani hersdmen responsible for the death of thousands
\nof unborn children, infants, youths, women
\nand men across Nigeria have neither been arrested nor charged to court.<\/p>\n
And to add to that the Presidency is yet to make any concrete move to
\ncontain the killings.<\/p>\n
A British tabloid, The Spectator, recently published an account of how
\nNigerian military helicopters were dropping arms and ammunitions for
\nFulani herdsmen in Southern Kaduna and other parts of the Middlebelt in
\nthe night.<\/p>\n
Most heads of ministries and parastatals, directors of finance and
\nadministration are mainly muslims. This strategy is to control recruitment
\nand flow of finance to benefit muslims.<\/p>\n
“With the present structure in place, Buhari’s succession plan would
\nautomatically elicit the support of all muslims from the north benefitting
\nfrom his government.<\/p>\n
There is a pretence that southern muslims are being carried along but that
\nis far from the truth.<\/p>\n
“Remember that President Buhari,\u00a0 on assumption of office, met with Saudi
\nauthorities while visiting the Holy Kabba, the highest Islamic symbol in
\nMecca, to pledge to receive the blessings and assurances of financial
\nsupport from the Saudi government on the actualisation of the agenda”<\/p>\n
“The truth is that he does not even trust his own Fulani stock to help him
\nimplement his agenda because he believes they are part of the corrupt
\nsystem he is trying to contain and is rankled by the inordinate ambition
\nof his brothers, who do not even understand when their own is at the helm
\nof affairs hence his decision to pitch tent with his maternal relations”,
\nan impeccable source, who was part of the committee
\nthat drew up the initial plan but differed in some areas, told
\nPointblanknews.com.<\/p>\n
The Revolt of the Hausa-Fulani Political Class
\nThe Hausa-Fulani political class interprets power shift to the North to
\nmean power in the hands of the Fulani political elite, who have now come
\nto terms with President Buhari’s succession plan.<\/p>\n
There is also the feeling that Buhari is\u00a0 dissipating the bloc’s political
\ncapital, raising the possibility of a future political backlash.<\/p>\n
They are alarmed at his undue concentration of strategic appointments in
\nthe North-east, his pursuit of the North East Development Commission
\nproject\u00a0 and insistence that the headquarters of the commission should be
\nlocated in Maiduguri as against the position of others of the Fulani stock
\nthat it should be located in Bauchi.<\/p>\n
To buttress this point, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar recently
\naccused President Buhari of inability to lead while speaking on the
\nlopsided appointments of the Buhari administration and the\u00a0 need to
\nrestructure the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, here, we come back to the same economic challenges facing the
\ncountry, but,we also have a leadership that is not prepared to learn from
\nthe past and, also, not prepared to lead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have for a long time advocated for the restructuring of our democracy.
\nThe current structure has been an impediment, and has not served the
\ncountry well. The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in a
\nperiod of varied agitation here and there, and other economic problems.
\nRestructuring Nigeria would solve these problems.<\/p>\n
Without doubt, conflict is inevitable in every society, but the will to
\nchange it lies in the structuring of the society. It wasn\u2019t this bad for
\nNigeria in the past, the center wasn\u2019t as powerful as it is today.\u201d Atiku
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, in his recent memo to President
\nBuhari raised concerns that with President Buhari’style of leadership,
\nnortherners may loose out in the power struggle.<\/p>\n
“It is also clear to many of us that have studied your political career,
\nthat so long as you remain in the political landscape, no Northerner will
\nemerge successfully on the national scene,\u201d el-Rufai wrote.<\/p>\n
DSS\/EFCC, Makarfi\/Ali Moudu-Sheriff Clashes<\/p>\n
The security report released by the Department of State Security against
\nthe Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, is also a fall out of the
\nFulani\/Kanuri clashes.<\/p>\n
Head of DSS, Mamman Daura, who represents the Hausa\/Fulani interest, wants
\nto curtail the rising influence of Kanuris and the to stall the chances of
\nusing the EFCC against their leading lights on the road to 2019 and
\nbeyond.<\/p>\n
But shockingly, President Buhari is set to resubmit Magu’s name a third
\ntime after the Senate rejected his nomination\u00a0 twice.<\/p>\n
The fight between the newly pronounced Chairman of the opposition People
\nDemocratic Party (PDP) and former Governor of Borno State, Ali
\nMoudu-Sheriff, a Kanuri, and former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed
\nMakarfi,\u00a0 a Fulani takes the same pattern, the latter not wanting the
\nrealisation of Buhari’s agenda.<\/p>\n
The presidency has also been fingered to be behind Sheriff.
\nBut\u00a0 President Buhari, in spite of his health challenges, is maintaining a
\ndelicate balance between the two groups but his agenda, like most power
\nmongers, ignorant of the transient nature of power and the ever present
\ndivine order of change, remain far fetched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Requiring a strong core northern support to actualise his twin plan of northern dominance and indeed dominance by muslims in Nigeria’s political space now and in the future, President Mohammadu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n