Thursday 21 July 2011

The Truth About Nigeria Since 1949/The Difference Between The South And The Northern Nigerians

The
above quotation is a time
honoured statement that aptly
describes Nigeria since 1947 till
date.
If it is from the hearts over-flow
that the mouth speaks, I invite the
reader to listen to the words of
Our hero’s past whose labours
(we sing), shall never be in vain. In
1952, Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa addressed the Northern
House of Assembly thus The
Southern people who are
swamping into this region daily in
such large numbers are really
intruders; we don’t want them
and they are not welcome here in
the North. Since 1914, the British
Government has been trying to
make Nigeria into one country.
But the people are different in
every way, including religion,
custom, language and aspiration s
in the North take it that Nigeria
unity is only a British intention for
the country they created. IT IS NOT
FOR US. In the same year, Sir
Ahmadu Bello approached the
Colonial Secretary and said! If you
want us (the North) to be part of
this Nigeria you have in mind,
then we want 50% of the
membership of the National
Assembly.
It was accepted by the British and
the 1953 census figures were
manipulate d to justify the
concession given. With majority
in the National Assembly,
whatever the North says becomes
law of course the ever vulnerable
South-East and South-Sout h
people(the only true Nigerians)
would always be used(willi ngly)
to ensure the North is happy.
When in 1956 after the
Northerner s defeated the motion
for independen ce moved by Chief
Anthony Enahoro and were jeered
by their Southern colleagues , Sir
Ahmadu Bello said what kind of
trouble have we let ourselves in
for, by associatin g with these
southern people. Lord Lugard and
his amalgamati on is not for us.
We shall set up our own and
cease to have anything more to
do with the southern people.
Two days later trouble broke out
in Sabon-Gari , Kano and
southerner s, mainly Ndigbo, were
slaughtere d. The Yorubas of the
South-West who jeered at them
in Lagos oddly enough were out
of it.
Papa Awolowo’s reaction to these
happenings was in his ever
green speech excerpts of which is
Nigeria is only a geographic al
expression to which life was
given by the diabolical
amalgamati on of 1914, that
amalgamati on will EVER remain
the most painful injury a British
Government inflicted on Southern
Nigeria.
What did Zik say? Hear him
Nigeria is now a political reality,
let us bury our difference s and
build it together. It is instructiv e
to note that Britain had
programmed to grant
independen ce to the Babel they
created and the North of Nigeria
must be appeased by ensuring
that they, (the Northerner s),
control power over the British
Babel called Nigeria. So it came to
pass on October 1st 1960.
Note that the 'do or die' election
of 1959 did not give the North the
required majority to form
Government until Eastern Nigeria
(Today's South-East and South-
Sout h) came to the rescue.
Despite that, listen to what Sir
Ahmadu Bello had to say on the
12th October, 1960 (culled from
the PARROT Magazine of the same
date-just eleven days after
independen ce) “The new nation
called Nigeria should be an estate
from our great-gran d father
Othoman Dan Fodio. We must
RUTHLESSLY prevent a change of
power. We must use the
minorities of the North as willing
tools, and the South as conquered
territorie s and never allow them
to have control of their future.
Note that Southerner s were not
allowed to join the N.P.C. the
political party of the North then.
Students of history would recall
how in 1964 the Prime Minister,
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa,
wanted to whittle down Chief
Awolowo’s influence in the
Western Region and found a
willing tool in Chief S.L. Akintola.
The Prime Minister gave Akintola
all the support to recklessly
breach the constituti on as it
pleased him.
That gave birth to the crisis in the
Western Region. 'Operation wet
eee' followed, leading to the first
military coup of January 1966 that
was quelled by General Aguyi
Ironsi. Then the pogrom of May
29th 1966, then a counter coup in
June 1966 in which General Ironsi
(an innocent man) was brutally
murdered and General Yakubu
Gowon took over. Part of his
maiden speech to the nation was
to be thus Suffice to say , putting
all considerat ion to test: political,
economical as well as social, the
basis for unity is not there, or it
has been so badly shaken not
once, but several times. All of
these mayhem, killings, secession,
and civil war were just because
the Fulani leaders of the North
were not happy and they must be
pleased. So it was in the
beginning and so it is now.
Nothing has changed.
On the 15th of September 2010,
the same day President Goodluck
Jonathan declared his intention to
seek the mandate of his party and
Nigerians to steer the ship of
state for an additional four years,
a group described as the
Northern Elders Forum/Asse mbly,
took an advertoria l in a National
daily addressed to the President
and Commander- in-Chief,
captioned As you declare. They
proceeded to threaten him. The
Great Elders who signed that
advertoria l were mostly National
awardees who claimed to be
honest, dispassion ate and deeply
care about the continued
existence of Nigeria as one
indivisibl e, harmonious and
peaceful country. The Great Elders
saw President GEJ’s declaratio n as
ill-concei ved, ill-advise d and
definitely divisive. That for GEJ to
declare on the platform of PDP (a
Northern party?) heralds a clear
and present danger that would
undermine the peace and
tranquilit y of the nation. That
GEJ’s candidatur e would open old
wounds of primitive politics
where sectional ethnic, religious
and other undesirabl e primordial
sentiments will assume center
stage with attendant unpleasant
consequenc es.
The Great Elders even saw GEJ’s
expression of his intention as
illegal and immoral. They said
quite a lot and warned the
president that the peace, harmony
and progress of the country or
OTHERWISE are in his hands and
he would be answerable to God
and humanity for his deciding to
declare to run for office of
President. Hmmmm!! All they said
plus the threats of Lawan Kaita,
Adamu Ciroma, Prof. Ango
Abdullahi’ s interview, the threats
of the Director-G eneral of Buhari
Campaign Organizati on before
the election, that they would not
accept the results of the elections,
if CPC loses are all happening
exactly and nobody is looking in
the direction of these so-called
Northern elders-Tan ko Yakassai &
Co and all those who laid the
foundation for the violence we
are witnessing today.
Nigeria belongs to the Fulani’s of
the North as Ahmadu Bello said.
They can say or do anything they
please and nothing would
happen. Rather we would all be
scared not to offend their
sensibilit ies by complainin g.
Meanwhile not a single
Northerner (Fulani’s) was
recorded in history as having
been part of the true struggle for
the independen ce of the Nigeria
they so ardently love to control. I
read the advertoria l of the
Northern Elders TEN good times
and allowed my thoughts to flow
towards their instinctiv e
directions . I saw, in the words of
Sir Ahmadu Bello, 'THE MISTAKE OF
1914'. I saw Papa Awolowo in
Heaven laughing with an Did I not
tell you people attitude. Because
Papa fought so hard to convince
Zik and others at the Constituti
onal Conference of 1957 in
London, to stand with him and
demand that a SECESSION Clause
be inserted in the constituti on
(for the independen ce), so any
tribe that becomes unhappy with
the union could leave. It failed,
because Zik refused and the
Colonial Secretary ensured that
the Northern Delegation refused
also. I remembered how Winike
Briggs, J. Umorem and another
Niger Delta person rushed to the
North in 1966 to plead with them
not to break away after
Nzeogwu’s coup. I remember
former Gov Kure’s arrogant
statement in 2006 about the
South-Sout h daring to dream of
becoming President of Nigeria. I
remembered the political support
the Ijaws, the Efiks, Ibibio,
Kalabari, Ogoni etc have given to
the North since Dec 1959 up until
2007. And whenever there is a
deadlock, the Ndigbos are forever
ready to compromise and help.
I remembered the arrogance
with which Dr Dikko said
Presidency is not for sale to
Abiola in 1983. I remembered the
killing of male children above
11yrs of age with their fathers
and uncles in Asaba on October
7th 1967 under the instructio ns
of Gen Murtala Mohammed who
we revere with his picture on our
currency.
I remembered the pogrom of May
29th 1966, July 29th 1966 and
September 29th 1966. (all
Fridays ). First of its type in Africa.
I remembered the Genocide-F irst
in Africa long before Rwanda's. I
remembered how my friend’s
father, Mbonu Maiduguri, was
killed by his best friend in 1967.
Thinking of that advertoria l, I felt
Ralph Uwazurike’ s was not
stupid. I felt the apparent treason
of the Niger Delta militants should
be commended. Thinking of the
Advertoria l, I respected the
Yorubas, even more as the smart
tribe in Nigeria with a focus on
developmen t for their land and
their people only, I saw the
ignorance of the South East and
the South South people who, as
very forgiving people with
enormous liberal hearts, would be
prepared to die for a Northerner
who they call their friend and
brother but who sees them as
instrument s to be used to
acquire power and then killed
whenever they feel unhappy. I
saw the liberal minded South East
and South-Sout h people,
endowed with excessive natural
and human resources, but
lacking in cohesion to conspire
for power like their Northern
brothers or the successful South
Westerners , until this blessed
year of 2011. Maybe, Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa was right when
he said, We are different in too
many ways.
Our sense of Justice is just not the
same and may never be
reconciled ; not with the hopeless
unitary constituti on dashed' to us
by Gen Abdusalam Abubakar. No!
We would not forget the drama
when the late President Yar’dua
was ill.
Lest we forget, since 1966 the
Ndigbos of the South East have
been crying for justice. By 1993
the Yorubas in the South West
joined and stared crying. In 1994
and 1995 the South-Sout h people
found their voice and started
crying also. Today, it seems the
North(fula nis) also cry but with
the blood of innocent citizens.
These are trying times indeed!
History would record that never
has a seat-in Head of State been
so embarrasse d for tribal
reasons. History would record
that those who never really
fought for the developmen t of
Nigeria but have enjoyed her
more and held her captive for
long, are today in the fore front of
the struggle to break up Nigeria.
Oh Lord, I could write a book on
this let’s open old wounds. Who
inflicted the wounds? Who was
wounded and still being
wounded? Can we count how
many times innocent blood
(particula rly that of Ndigbos)
have been shed in the North since
1949? For reasons nobody has
explained till today, and nothing
happens except panels of inquiry,
reports and then silence. Have we
forgotten what happened in Odi,
Choba etc when the allegation
was that the people there killed
members of the Nigerian Armed
Forces. Policemen, Youth Corpers
and Soldiers are being killed in the
North now and nothing would
happen. I do not want to hear
that it is religious. Lies! That is
the opium they use. It is political.
If a Fulani like Buhari rigged
massively and won, there would
be peace. How come there was no
riot when Yar’dua won the
hopeless and the highest rig
election of 2007 against the same
Buhari? In 2003, he planned a
mass action and OBJ wrote him a
stern letter of warning. He went
to court instead. If the Fulanis
wanted a National Conference , it
would be held. If they wanted
true Federalism , so it shall be. The
day they decide that Nigeria
would become a Dubai, so it shall
be. Until then, we all must wait, be
killed whenever they need to
appease their knives and now
bombs. We say nothing, do
nothing all because Nigeria
matters more to us. They killed my
one of my member (a youth
corper) in Bauchi and I will not
keep quiet. At times like this, we
must remember the words of our
Elders. The Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe, frustrated by the
activities of our Northern
brothers in 1964, had this to say!
If this embryo republic of ours
must disintegra te, then in the
name of God, let the operation be
a short and painless one.
And in the words of the Nigeria
Messiah President Goodluck
Jonathan ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!