BIAFRA: I am renouncing my Nigerian
citizenship.
I'm now a Biafran (Open Letter to Mr. President)
Opera.com Dec 26, 2019 6:39 PM
A powerful and breathtaking letter has been
sent to President Buhari of Nigeria written by Solomon Uchenna Egbo, a Biafran
now residing in the UK, renouncing his Nigerian citizenship. Solomon, who is
now part of the Biafran diaspora, works for the main independence organisation
seeking to achieve Biafran self-determination, the Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB), with its headquarters seated in Germany.
The letter reads as follows...
"Dear President Buhari
I am writing to inform you that I am renouncing my Nigerian citizenship.
I am not Nigerian. I am Biafran. I lived in the country called “Nigeria” for 40 years. Nigeria, as you know, is a country that was created for the administrative convenience of our colonial power, Britain, in 1914. Nigeria is the forced amalgamation of different peoples, different religious groups, different customs and beliefs. Nigeria may have worked for the British but it doesn’t work for the peoples forced to be Nigerians. It does not, and never has, worked for the people of Biafra.
The crimes of Empire are multiple, but surely the biggest crime of all was that, on independence, Africa was forced to retain those colonial boundaries imposed by Europeans. By accepting this post-Colonial settlement, African leaders became complicit in the oppression of Africa. Your determination to maintain the borders of Nigeria imposed by the British simply reinforces their dominion over us.
As you know, Biafra existed before the British turned up. Biafra is that landmass that nestles around the Niger Delta. To all intents and purposes, Biafra is the south east corner of modern day Nigeria. Despite colonisation and being forcibly absorbed into Nigeria, we Biafrans retained our common values and a shared sense of identity. Biafrans are made up of different people, but we are all Biafrans.
We don’t all speak the same language. I am an Igbo speaker. Other Biafrans speak Urhobo-Isoko, Ijaw-Epie-Ogbia, Ogoni, Efik, Annang, Eket-, Oron-Ibibio, Ogoja, Ejagham, Igala, Idoma, Ibani and Igbanke among others. Biafra is made up of the following provinces: Rivers Province, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Bayelsa, Delta. I am an Igbo from Biafra. Being Igbo and Biafran is synonymous.
The Igbo people did not do well out of the British. Colonisation was hugely disruptive. As a consequence of British policies, we were scattered across Nigeria and then, on independence, we were marginalised. Many Igbo had been settled into the northern states of modern-day Nigeria and barely before the ink was dry on Nigerian independence, the intimidation and attacks began. Massacre after massacre drove the Igbo people from the northern states. The northern elites were in control. You know this. You are part of that elite. As you know, our access to government was blocked by your people. On 30 May 1967 we had had enough and declared an independent state of our own, Biafra. We had no choice.
The world knows the war that resulted in Biafra because of those photographs of starving, pot-bellied children. Post-colonial Africa is still defined and haunted by those images. That starvation was reality for my family. The Nigerian government’s response to our declaration of secession was to attack with all its might. Biafrans fought with the few weapons we had. I look back at those Biafrans who fought for their survival with such pride.
They were up against a highly trained Nigerian army with the latest weaponry. The British had formed an unholy alliance with the Soviet Union to ensure that Nigerian state forces would prevail. Biafra was but a pawn in the global politics of the time. All that mattered was who controlled Nigeria. But you know all of this. You were there. It was during this war that you made your name.
For nearly three years the Biafrans held out. Surrounded, our hospitals and homes bombed by Soviet-supplied aircraft, until a deliberate policy of starvation forced Biafra to surrender and be absorbed back into Nigeria – we know it was deliberate because at a peace conference in 1968 the leader of the Nigerian delegation said “starvation is a legitimate weapon of war and we have every intention of using it against the rebels”.
The most bitter part of it is that most of Africa and the world stood by and watched this wanton destruction of human lives, the raping, the sacking and plundering of towns, villages, community after community in Biafra and elsewhere. At least two million souls perished, and the UN did not lift a finger. Some put the figure as high as six million. What is not in dispute is that as many as 12,000 starving Biafrans were dying each day.
And you, President Buhari,
played your own part in this war, commanding a sector along the Oji River to
stop food supplies from entering Biafra. Later you reportedly said that you had
no regrets and owe no apologies.
It is incomprehensible to me
that Nigeria got away with the crimes that were perpetrated against Biafra and
then demanded that we remain part of the same country. The raped being forced
to remain with the rapist. We did not want to be part of your country. We had
no choice. In many ways the “peace” afterwards was worse than war. Those who
had fled their homes found them occupied by incomers when they returned.
Our parents’ jobs were taken
away from them, what little money we had left we lost through the issue of a
new Nigerian currency which meant that Biafran supplies of the old currency
were not honoured. Many, many Igbos left the country where they had no future
and made their homes across the world. For decades Biafra became just a memory,
and one that could not even be spoken about.
“Hold your ears,” my late dad
told me once. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was just a boy. We were sitting
together on one of his special chairs covered in animal skins. He leaned
closer. “You are not allowed to discuss Biafra publicly.”
Quickly my response was, “Why
papa?”
“They might kill you or you
might spend the rest of your life in prison.”
My parents suffered terribly
during the Biafra war. They were the victims of the policies that the Nigerian
authorities instigated. My uncles and most of my grandparents did not survive:
beaten, starved, shot, bombed out of their homes, the women of my family raped
by Nigerian soldiers. They were so hungry my mum and late dad were forced to
drink urine to survive.
My mum could barely speak about
what had happened. Tears would choke her. I knew some of this, but, like
anyone, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know the history of my people, the
Igbo, the Biafran people, before the British came, before the forced
amalgamation of populations and in that brief moment when Biafra was free after
independence. However, it was a big shock to me – it was one hell of a shock –
to find out I could lose my life if I dared mention Biafra publicly.
Yet within my family, it is the
mention of your name that causes contempt. We despise you and all you
represent. You are the symbol of our persecution; our bogeyman.
I had no future in Nigeria.
Igbo who identify as Biafrans have no place in Nigeria. I came to live in
Britain in 2013. I am grateful to Britain for providing me and my family a
home. The irony is not lost on me that Britain, which, 50 years ago, aided my
parents’ enemies – people like you – is now a place of sanctuary for me. In
2015 I began my work with the Ipob. I am based in Manchester but we are a
global movement. There is a huge Biafran diaspora. It is wonderful to see so
many of Britain’s rising stars are of Biafran (and Igbo) origins. People such
as Chuka Umunna and Chiwetel Ejiofor have family ties to Biafra.
Ipob’s mission is simple. Our
struggle is to have the right to self-determination of the Biafran people
recognised. We are calling for a referendum. It is for the people of Biafra to
decide, but I hope that self-determination means independence. Fifty years ago,
we were forced to fight for Biafran independence. Today we battle with words
and music and with our bodies and our lives, but not weapons. We reject
violence. We put our faith in human rights. It is the ballot box, not bullets,
which will guarantee our liberation.
You and the state that you
preside over reject human rights. Your instinct is to resort to force – lethal
force. Which of the atrocities that the Nigerian state has committed against
Biafrans since you became president in 2015 has been the worst? People have
been imprisoned. There have been killings of supporters of Biafran independence
– many of them, perhaps up to two thousand.
Your police and security
services do not collect accurate statistics of course. We gather as much
information as we can and Amnesty International has also reported on the use of
lethal force against Biafrans at major events where hundreds of peaceful
protesters have been mown down; but they don't compile statistics across the
board as we seek to.
Our leader Nnamdi Kanu was
imprisoned on absurd charges of treason in 2015 because he dared to criticise
you, President Buhari, and called for a referendum on Biafran
self-determination. Your security forces kept him incarcerated without trial
until April 2017 when he was finally released on the bail he’d been granted over
a year earlier. And then in September of last year the Nigerian Army surrounded
the house where he was staying with his parents and attacked with bullets and
grenades. Many supporters were killed. Since that day, neither Nnamdi Kanu, nor
his mother and father have been seen. The Nigerian forces and the Nigerian
government have offered no explanation of what happened. They have been
disappeared. We all dread what that means.
You met your match in Nnamdi
Kanu. Our leader was a man of such integrity and vision. He united Biafrans in
a way that no one had since the war. He inspired us and exalted us. His
certainty that we would once again all live in Biafra gave us our purpose. His
rejection of violence perplexed you. He could have organised an armed struggle
against the Nigerian state.
The extent of the persecution
that the Biafran people are subjected to would justify force. Even the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises that persecution and denial of
rights can leave the oppressed with no choice but to resort to violence, but
Nnamdi Kanu, instead, focussed on nation building and creating a blue print for
Biafra that respected everyone’s human rights.
While you denied him his
rights, he was trying to build a state that would have recognised yours. The
reason that there were so many killed when your forces stormed his parents
home, is that Biafrans gathered just to be near him. To hear him speak. To be
part of his movement.
So, Nnamdi Kanu has been
disappeared. Yet you peddle fake news about him and Ipob. Your news agencies
report bogus sightings of him from Ghana to London. Our reaction to his
disappearance? We have responded with peaceful demonstrations and, as you know,
a very successful sit-at-home on 30 May of this year, which brought cities in
Biafra, including Port Harcourt, to a stand-still and emptied the iconic Niger
River Bridge at Onitsha of traffic.
I am not a fool. In our hearts
we all know Nnamdi Kanu’s likely fate and that of his parents, but we are still
not able to acknowledge his death. We live in hope. That’s what disappearing
people does to the survivors. We delude ourselves. But whatever you have done
to him and will do to us, we will not give up on his dream.
Your Nigerian state’s
persecution of us continues. No one is spared. I believe I am trailed even here
in the UK by agents of the Nigerian state. You continue with your fake news,
desperate to suggest that there are clashes between Ipob and the Nigerian
state. Yet Ipob’s response to your violence is to remain passive and to endure.
Faced with the level of cruelty that we are subjected to, our belief in
non-violence is often tested, but you will not provoke us.
In June you even arrested a
member of the Nigerian senate. Senator Abiribe had put up bail for Nnamdi Kanu
and was arrested by the Nigerian department for state services for “aiding and
sponsoring a proscribed organisation, Ipob”. Senator Abiribe is not only a
supporter of Nnamdi Kanu, he has also been critical of government corruption
across the board. To justify your treatment of Nnamdi Kanu and Ipob you have
attempted to label him and us terrorists. Of course, the international
community has rejected the suggestion. Calling for the right to
self-determination and a referendum is hardly an act of terrorism.
Yet this is how the Nigerian
state under your presidency, Mr Buhari, works. Criticism is branded terrorism,
upholding the rule of law is “aiding and sponsoring a proscribed organisation”,
calling for Biafran autonomy is characterised as a crime and when a man or
woman is arrested, they never really know why, or when they will be released.
But they’re lucky: they could be shot in the street without warning.
In 1952, Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa, who later became the first prime minister of Nigeria from 1960 to 1966
and a leader of Nigerian Independence – one of your heroes, president Buhari –
dismissed out of hand the amalgamation of Nigeria by the British government.
He declared: “The Southern
people who are swarming into this region daily in large numbers are really
intruders. We don’t want them, and they are not welcome here in the North.” He
went on, “since the amalgamation in 1914, the British government has been
trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people are different
in every way, including religion, custom, language and aspiration. The fact
that we are Africans might have misguided the British government. We here in
the north take it that Nigerian unity is not for us.”
But Biafra was cursed with oil
and everything changed. We Igbo people and others in the south-eEast agree with
Sir Abubakar Balewa, and we will do everything we can to achieve our dream of
self-determination. We urge you, president Buhari, to listen to your hero. We
also encourage the British Foreign Office to review its policy on Biafra.
Britain is a contradiction to
me. On the one hand the Home Office has provided many Biafrans, like me, with a
home and at the same time the Foreign Office stands by the Nigerian state. Is
asking for a referendum on Biafran self-determination too much?
Nigeria is an artificial
entity. You force people to live there and by doing so you come to embody all
the malevolence that is now associated with Nigeria. We bury our children
killed by your security forces. Those kids only asked to be acknowledged as
Biafrans. We don’t have the Nigerian state on our side, but international law
is.
We will hold you and your state
to account. You have choices. A great African leader is a benign leader. You
should have worked with Nnamdi Kanu to secure Biafra’s right to
self-determination. Had you done that the world would have recognised you as a
visionary, but instead you force us not to take up arms against you, but to use
the law against you. We will win and your legacy will be revealed for what it
is.
It is for this reason,
president Buhari of Nigeria, that I am renouncing my Nigerian citizenship. I do
not want it. I have never wanted it. My parents did not want it. My family do
not want it. I have only ever wanted to live free, for my children to grow up
in an independent, democratic Biafra, free from corruption and violence, free
from bigotry and persecution, free from fear. Just free.
Sincerely
Solomon Uchenna Egbo"
What do you you think about
this letter?
THE REASONS WHY PEOPLE
JUBILATED WHEN BUHARI WAS
OVERTHROWN IN 1985.
Have you always wondered (ask
your dad) why people jubilated when Buhari was overthrown in 1985?
No need to wonder any more,
these are some of the reasons people went on the streets after his removal. It
took pains for me to research so we can catalogue and list the real reasons he
was overthrown. I am sure this would help people my age group who were too
young or were not born then.
Here are my findings
1.Soured Nigeria’s relations
with Britain and neighbouring countries by ordering the brutal expulsion of
700,000 West African immigrants
2.Summarily dismissed 30,000
soldiers who were mainly Southerners and Middle beltans but left Lt.Col
Mohammed Aliyu Gusau intact when he knew Aliyu was operating an import license
scam.
3.Abuse of human rights:----It
was so bad that the Nigerian Bar Association stopped their lawyers from
participating in the charade dubbed "the Nuremberg tribunals". Once
you're summoned to the tribunal, consider yourself a prisoner.
4.Buhari promulgated Decree 4
on his first day in the job as head of state. It basically means you criticize
the government you go to prison, end of story.
5.All the the senior positions
in the SMC were occupied by northern Muslims (SMC is like present day senate
and HOR)
6.Decree 2 of 1984 (Detention
of Persons Decree).....It basically allows the president to arrest anybody it
wants.
7.Economy-----Insurmountable
economic problems plagued the Buhari regime as petroleum prices collapsed in
the face of expanding foreign debt. Buhari instituted austerity measures that
caused severe hardship to the average Nigerian. In addition, political
corruption continued unabated, with politicians escaping to Western countries
with millions of dollars in government money. From Encyclopaedia Britannica
8.Rigidity----- Does not listen
to other opinions hence Babangida said this when he overthrew Buhari:
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was too rigid and uncompromising in his
attitudes to issues of national significance.
9.Jailing of opponents or
perceived enemies. Sam Mbakwe 100-year jail, Ambrose Ali 75yrs, Lateef Jakande
100yrs and Pa Ajasin. Pa Adekunle Ajasin was tried, found innocent, tried again
and still found innocent, and Buhari just decided enough was enough and jailed
him anyhow. But curiously his friend Awwal Ibrahim – the highly corrupt
governor of Niger State who was arrested at Heathrow airport with £14 million
was only placed under house arrest.,
The End 10. 20 months after
taking power, Nigerians and the military had grown tired and impatient with his
dictatorship and the rest is history as they say.
After watching the evening news
with people he thought were his friends, Majors Dangiwa Umar, Lawan Gwadabe,
Abdulmumuni Aminu and Sambo Dasuki rose and pulled their pistols. One of them
said: Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, on behalf of the Nigerian people, I
hereby declare you arrested for crimes against the Nigerian people.
In conclusion, his downfall was
intransigence. Not listening to other people's opinion in a diverse nation like
Nigeria, he was not a unifier.
*Evil genius
He's end is here.
OPEN LETTER
TO
PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
OPEN LETTER
TO
PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI
By Femi Fani Kayode
Mr. President, many believe
that you cannot read and those that believe that you can claim that you cannot
go beyond three lines and that outside of that you can only comprehend
cartoons.
I do not share either view. I
know you well enough to concede that when you consider a literary submission of
sufficient importance you have the prescence of mind, discipline, health,
intelligence and ability to read through it very slowly and very carefully
weighing up every word. And that is precisely as it should be.
The first open letter that I
wrote to you was in December 2015 and the following serves as the second.
You will forgive me because
this is a long letter and I am fully aware that your attention span or ability
to retain too much information in one fell swoop may not be as good as it used
to be.
Nevertheless I urge you to do
your best to muster the courage, energy and intellectual stamina to stay the
course and to find the time out of your busy schedule to read it from beginning
to end.
I have written it because our
nation is entering into dangerous and precarious waters and I sense that
something will give very soon. I am therefore constrained to use this medium to
bring my observations to your attention.
Be rest assured that I speak
out of nothing but love and concern for the welfare of the Nigerian people and
it is not my intention to insult you or undermine and disrespect your office
but rather to shine the light of truth on all your activities with a view to
assisting and encouraging you to change your ways.
You will agree with me that, no
matter how bitter it may be, that truth must be told. This is a sacred obligation
on our part as leaders and a matter of duty and honor.
I owe you, the Nigerian people
and posterity that much and I have little doubt that no matter how badly you
may feel after reading it, history will vindicate me and prove me right and one
day you will acknowledge and recognise the profundity, wisdom and foresight in
my constant and consistent criticisms, admonitions and counsel.
Outside of that it is my
earnest prayer that the God of Heaven, whose I am and whom I serve, will judge
between you and I.
Your Excellency, kindly note
and consider the following.
You released hundreds of Boko
Haram fighters from prison claiming that they are reformed and a few days later
30 of your citizens are blown up by the same Boko Haram in Borno state.
Worse still on that same day 16
members of the same family and four others were herded into a room and burnt
alive by Fulani militants in Kaduna state.
After these terrible events
instead of rushing back home to stand with your people, you stayed in Addis
Ababa, lamenting and crying about the security situation in Libya and you sent
your Vice to a funeral in Nairobi. Such insensitivity, even by your own
standards, is rarely seen.
It took you three long days to
finally see fit to leave your foreign friends, leave Addis Ababa and fly
directly to Maiduguri to express your condolences to the Governor and people of
Borno.
Even then you could not muster
the courage to go to the town of Auno where the bombing took place but only to
Maiduguri, the capital of the state.
Understandably you were
received with boos, jeers and shouts of "ba ma so" (meaning "we
dont want") by the crowds that lined the streets and this was an eloquent
testimony to the fact that the entire nation, including the north that you
claim to represent and be a champion of, is fed up with you and can no longer
bear your incompetence and inability to run the affairs of our nation.
Worst still hours after your
condolence visit Boko Haram attacked Maiduguri itself hitting one of its
suburbs called Jidari Polo.
Their leader, a cowardly
creature that can best be described as a psychopathic, delusional, sociopathic,
mentally-deranged, murderous, bloodthirsty, bloodlusting and unconciable
monster by the name of Abubakar Shekau, even had the nerve to send you a public
warning in a recorded message that was released to the public after you left in
which he arrogantly and boastfully declared that you must never come back to
Borno again or you would be attacked and that you "should fear and serve
God and not cows". He added the following,
"Buhari thinks he is a
general but God says he is nothing. He hasn't achieved anything in the sight of
God. Buhari is deceiving the people and playing to the gallery".
Mr. President he has sent his
message to you and to Nigeria and we have heard him loud and clear.
Yet most disturbing was not his
sheer effontry but the fact that the only thing that you had to offer the
leaders and people of Borno state when you got there was a lame and
self-debasing question which was "I wonder how Boko Haram still
survives?"
You went further by blaming
them for "not taking care of local security" forgetting that that is
meant to be your job and not theirs.
In your so-called condolence
visit you refused to take responsibility for your own inaction and failure and
instead you sought to pass the buck to the very victims of terror that you
claim to have come to mourn!
You refused to inspire and
encourage them and instead you accused them of, at best, rresponsible behaviour
and, at worst, collusion with the enemy.
This is not just a case of
rubbing salt in their wounds but it is more like blowing them up and killing
them all over again. Worse still as you spoke your Minister of Defence, who sat
just a few feet away from you, fell fast asleep!
Mr. President I really do
wonder whether you have any feeling or any compassion at all? Has the milk of
human kindness stopped flowing through your veins?
Do you know that young
students, women, infants and babies were amongst those that were blown up in
the Auno atrocity?
Yes you issued a statement
immediately but you didn't show up till three days later and your Vice, who was
in the country the day it happened, never showed up at all and instead jetted
out to President Arap Moi's burial in Nairobi!
Kindly tell me what the
Nigerian people have done to deserve this level of contempt? Or is there more
to it than meets the eye?
Forgive me Mr. President but I
am constrained to ask, why do you love terrorism, bloodshed and violence so
much? Why do you find it so easy to forgive terrorists that are slaughtering
your own people? Are you feeding your spiritual foundation and getting your
power from the spilling of innocent blood?
Meanwhile your own Chief of
Army Staff has told us today that
"we have defeated
insurgency but we are facing the challenge of terrorism. There is no-where you
will not find Boko Haram, even in Lagos here, there are Boko Haram. In Kaduna
there are Boko Haram. There are more across the North East. Many have been
arrested here in Lagos. We have been tracking them. We arrest them and take
them into custody".
I commend the Chief of Army
Staff for his admission of failure but what he didn't add was that after taking
them "into custody" you ordered him to release them and even draft
some of them into the Nigerian Army on the spurious grounds that they have
repented and that they have been reformed.
Again the truth is that neither
you or him ever "defeated insugency" or anything else. Instead you
encouraged and supported it! Both of you have failed the Nigerian people just
as I predicted that you would and if you had any decency or honor you would
BOTH resign.
Aside that it takes a very
mean, callous, wicked and cruel President and Commander-in-Chief to release
1,400 terrorists who have murdered, butchered, slaughtered, tortured and maimed
his soldiers and terrorised his people over the last 5 years.
Mr. President I am constrained
to tell you that some believe that you are a sadist! They believe that your
heart is as hard as stone and your soul is as black as night.
Relevant and instructive are
the words of Mr. Charles Ogbu, a brilliant writer and essayist who has
consistently proved that he is not only insightful but also deeply profound.
Three days after the Auno bombing he wrote the following:
"Those who are asking for
the sack of the Service Chiefs as a solution to the upsurge in Boko Haram
terrorism are missing the point.
Nigeria is not currently being
overrun by terrorists because we have a set of incompetent service Chiefs or
soldiers who cannot fight the terrorists. Not at all.
The only reason the Boko Haram
terrorists are having a field day is because we have a President and a
Commander in Chief who shares the same ideology as the terrorists and as a
result prefers pandering to them as opposed to fighting them".
He went further by writing,
"In fact a betting man
would bet that the only difference between the Boko Haram terrorists killing,
maiming and beheading Nigerians in the Northeast and our President and
Commander-In-Chief is in their name and location. One is named "Boko
Haram" and operates from the bush while the other one is named
"Muhammadu Buhari" and operates from Aso Rock. If we were to remove
the cloak of fear of detention by state oppressive forces, we would all admit
they are both pursuing the same goal and doing a very good job of it. You that
is reading this, you know this is exactly what is happening even if you may not
want to publicly say it for whatever reason".
He concluded by asking,
"Who 'rehabilitates' and
releases captured terrorists back into the wild at a time the terrorists are
still visiting death and destruction on his country? Even America with her
sophisticated military doesn't release arrested terrorists in the heat of the
war because the chances of these terrorists going back into the wild to
continue killing are very high".
Mr. President, forgive me for
saying so but the verdict is out and Mr. Ogbu has made a valid point. This
calls for much soul-searching on your part.
I urge you to bear in mind that
trading in the blood of your own people and indulging in all manner of
barbarity, suppression of dissent, persecution of your perceived enemies and
evil comes with a heavy price.
Every Pharaoh, Sennacherub,
Herod, Jezebel and Nebuchadnezzar has a bad end.
Every tyrant, no matter how powerful
and highly-placed, will eventually account to God and the people for his
brutality and wickedness. Yours will be no different.
Anyone that doubts that should
consider the plight of the Sudan's former President, General Al Bashir. As the
great black American Nation of Islam leader and one of my favourite heroes,
Malcom X, once said "the chickens have finally come home to roost".
This has always been the case and it will always be the case. It is only a
matter of time.
Over the last 5 years hundreds
of thousands have died under your watch and virtually all have been killed by
those from your core northern region. You turned a blind eye to it and even
encouraged it.
Today belongs to you but let me
assure you that tomorrow belongs to those of us that you have killed,
persecuted, oppressed and treated with disdain and contempt.
On the 11th of February, at the
burial ceremony of the 18 year old Christian martyr Nnandi Michael (the
Seminarean that was abducted and later murdered by Fulani herdsmen) the respected
Catholic cleric Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, a man of immense moral authority
and intellectual vigour, courageously admonished you before the entire world,
spoke the bitter truth and reflected the thoughts of millions from all over the
country. Amongst many other things he said the following:
"This President has
displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in managing our country’s rich
diversity.
He has subordinated the larger
interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his co-religionists and
clansmen and women. The impression created now is that, to hold a key and
strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern
Muslim than a Nigerian.”
He did not stop there but went
on to say,
"We are being told that
this situation has nothing to do with Religion. Really? It is what happens when
politicians use religion to extend the frontiers of their ambition and power.
Are we to believe that simply because Boko Haram kills Muslims too, they wear
no religious garb? Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers
separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die? If
your son steals from me, do you solve the problem by saying he also steals from
you?"
He then said,
"The Fulani, his
(President Muhammadu Buhari) innocent kinsmen, have become the subject of
opprobrium, ridicule, defamation, calumny and obloquy. His north has become one
large grave yard, a valley of dry bones, the nastiest and the most brutish part
of our dear country".
He added,
"Today, our years of
hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false piety, empty morality, fraud
and Pharisaism have caught up with us. Nigeria is on the crossroads and its
future hangs precariously in a balance. This is a wakeup call for us. As St.
Paul reminds us; The night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Therefore, let
us cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. It is time
to confront and dispel the clouds of evil that hover over us."
He concludes by saying,
"On our part, I believe
that this is a defining moment for Christians and Christianity in Nigeria. We
Christians must be honest enough to accept that we have taken so much for
granted and made so much sacrifice in the name of nation building. We accepted
President Buhari when he came with General Idiagbon, two Muslims and two
northerners. We accepted Abiola and Kingibe, thinking that we had crossed the
path of religion, but we were grossly mistaken. When Jonathan became President,
and Senator David Mark remained Senate President while Patricia Ette was chosen
by the South West became a Speaker. The Muslim members revolted and forced her
resignation with lies and forgery. The same House would shamelessly say that
they had no records of her indictment. Today, we are living with a Senate whose
entire leadership is in the hands of Muslims. Christians have continued to
support them. For how long shall we continue on this road with different
ambitions? Christians must rise up and defend their faith with all the moral
weapons they have".
I assure you that these were
not the words of Bishop Kukah alone but rather the Holy Spirit speaking through
him. He spoke the mind and the oracles of the Living God and you would do well
to humble yourself, take heed and appreciate the Lord's admonition and counsel.
Let us hope that you disregard
the advice of the hardliners around you, learn from these words and change your
dastardly ways though I doubt that you will.
Whatever the case and whatever
you choose to do or not to do, know this: the die is cast, Caesar has crossed
the Rubicorn, the horse has bolted from the stable, the cat is out of the bag,
our eyes have been opened, we have lost all sense of fear and Nigeria can NEVER
be the same again.
Mr. President, here ends my
counsel to you but permit me to conclude this contribution with a closer look
at the north that you love so much and that you seek to empower and enthrone
forever.
According to the World Bank
"87% of poor people in Nigeria are in the North".
One wonders what 58 years of
northern oppression, tyranny, aggression, manipulation and hegemony over
Nigeria has actually done for the northern masses.
Since indendence mass poverty,
terrorism, religious bigotry, ethnic hegemony, Islamic fundamentalism,
arrogance, born to rule syndrome, the worship of cows, ignorance, disease,
hate, racism, feudalism, pedophilia, child marriage, VVF, gender inequality,
male chauvinism, the persecution of Christians, the suppression of women,
corruption, deceit, greed, ingratitude, a sense of entitlement, tyranny,
insensitivity, bloodshed, genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder and
gratuitous violence have all been deeply embedded in and associated with the
core north.
Worse still, according to
UNICEF, if Nigeria were to ever break up the core north would be the poorest
spot on planet Earth.
I guess this is why northerners
keep screaming "one Nigeria" and threatening the lives and liberty of
those that do not share their view. Without Nigeria they would be groping in
the dark, wobbling on their feet and literally starve to death.
All this yet they insist that
they were "born to rule" and that southerners and Middle Belters were
"born to serve" them and be their slaves!
Professor Yusuf Dankofa of the
Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University who happens to be a northerner
himself put it in very clear terms and spoke the bitter truth when he wrote the
following:
"I think the north is only
interested in power and nothing more.The sweetness of power and the allure it
brings is what appeals to them and not work. If not, how can a region be so
decimated by its own internal contradictions and trudge on as if the region is
not regressing. In the face of calamity, what you see is eerie silence, since
power is with their elites who are thoroughly dependent on public treasury to
survive.The poor too draws happiness from the fact that power is in the hands
of their elites even if they will die of poverty and insurgency. We are happy
that power is with us even though we don't know what to do with it.This mindset
will definitely lead others to seek to move out of the union. You can't slow
down your own progress and those of others and expect them to clap for
you".
Dankofa is absolutely right!
What a people! What a country!
Yet I do not blame the core
northeners: I blame southern and Middle Belt politicians and leaders who have
refused to unite and who have failed to resist them and stand up to them over
the last 58 years.
The history of our nation records
that there were a few great men of remarkable courage, extraordinary fortitude
and immense valour that not only did their best but were also gallant,
fearless, selfless and outstanding in their quest to deliver our people.
Some of them were martyred and
others were jailed whilst all suffered an unprecedented and unbearable level of
humiliation and persecution. Yet despite it all they continued the struggle.
They identified and understood
the problem and fought hard in their respective ways to fix it and deliver our
people from northern hegemony, domination and bondage but sadly they all
failed.
The new generation of southern
and Middle Belt leaders must NOT fail because this is the final lap. For our
generation failure is NOT an option.
We have no choice but to use
all lawful and non-violent means to break the yoke of subjugation, servitude,
slavery and bondage and to succeed in our quest for total liberation. If we
fail to do so future generations of our people shall NEVER be free again.
We need the prayers of the
saints and the fastings and supplications of the intercessors, the Prophets,
the men and women of God and the Body of Christ!
We need the Holy Spirit of the
Living God: the El Shaddai, the Elohim and the Adonai.
We need the Man of War, the Comforter,
the Lord of Hosts and the Ancient of Days!
We need a great deliverer: a
Moses, a Joshua, a Caleb, a David, a Cyrus, a Samson, a Gideon, a Jeptha, an
Esther and a Jehu all rolled into one.
We need men and women of
courage to pick up the gauntlet, take up the challenge and lead us in this
great and cataclysmic battle and this monumental struggle.
We need to close ranks, build
bridges amongst ourselves and forget past hurts, past disputes and past
disagreements and agree to be totally and completely united.
Finally we need to look within
ourselves and firmly resolve that it would be better to live a short life and
die as free men than live a long one and live as slaves.
We fight not for ourselves but
for future generations of our family, our lineage, our loved ones and our
compatriots.
God forbid that they should
have to live through the hell that we had to suffer called Nigeria: a land
where the accursed rule over the blessed and where slaves ride on horseback
whilst Princes and Kings walk around in bare feet.
