Urukanachukwu Final Draft 2
Urukanachukwu Final Draft 2
Urukanachukwu Final Draft 2
IN
TRANSITION
Preface
Acknowledgement
Dedication
Foreword
An Introduction
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Nigeria: Challenges Before a Bewildered Nation
The Challenge from our History
The Challenge of Socio-economic inequalities
The Challenges of an appropriate constitutional
arrangement
The Challenge of Building Democratic and
Developmental Institutions
The Challenge of Leadership
Challenges from Spirituality and Mysteries in
Governance in Nigeria: A Recapitulation
3. Inter-Governmental Relations in Nigeria: The
Increasing Dependency of the State Governments on
the Federal Government.
Federal Supremacy (Increased Centralisation and
Consolidation of National Authority)
Constitutional and Political Relations
Administrative Relations
Fiscal (Financial) Relations
Adjustment of States to Federal Supremacy
Federal – State Relationship: What It Should Be
4. Conclusion
5. References
1. An Introduction
2. Where Vultures Feast: Nigeria
(i) “Criminal Crude” otherwise called Oil Theft in Nigeria
(ii) Oil Theft in Nigeria from 2009 – 2018: NEITI Reports
(iii) Illegal Gold Mining in Nigeria
(iv) Nigerian Politicians with the Acquired Vulture Virus
Syndrome (Treasury Looters Exposed)
(v) Some Convicted Government Top Officials Caught with
Corruption and Abuse of Office.
(vi) Some High Profile Corruption Cases under Buhari
Administration.
Ibrahim Magu’s Alleged Loots: Facts on Alleged Re-
Looting of Recovered Funds, Magu’s Alleged Dubai
Properties; Sales of 157 Oil Tankers.
Crisis in Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC): Alleged Financial Recklessness.
Corruption in the Oil Sector.
Alleged Scam at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
under Godwin Emefiele.
Fiscal Governance in Nigeria and the Bastardization of
the “Federation Account”.
(vii) Executive cum Legislative Conspiracy: The Unholy Political
Matrimony
(viii) Nigerians: Villains by Necessity, Fools by Heavenly
Compulsion?
3. Conclusion
4. References
1. Background Studies
2. The Three Arms of Government: A Democratic Burden
The Legislative (Legislating to Steal)
The Executive
The Judiciary
3. Cost of Politics and Politicking in Nigeria
Conducts of National Elections in Nigeria: A Democratic Deficit!
2019 Elections: Nigeria’s Most Expensive Elections Ever.
4. Rise and Rise of Elections Cost
5. Recommendation and Conclusion
6. References
1. A Preliminary Statement
2. Is the All Progressive Congress (APC) the Direct Sponsor of Terrorism in
Nigeria?
Muhammadu Buhari, the APC and Terrorism in Nigeria: Matters
Arising!
3. Sharia and Nigeria under Buhari: The Demise of Secular Union
The Drivers of Terrorism and Insecurity in Nigeria
Islamization Likened to a Football Game with One Goal Mouth
4. #EndSARS#: A Metaphor for Complete Disenchantment with the
Excesses of the Nigeria Government and Its Officials
SARS, The Licensed Killing Squad of Nigeria Police Force
5. Nigeria: How to Destroy a Country by Electing a Buhari
Background Studies
Nigeria: Stolen from the Mind of the Fulani
Nepotistic Tendencies of the Buhari Administration: Matters
Arising!
Full List of Army Officers Compulsorily Retired in 2016
6. Muhammadu Buhari, the Northern Nigeria Fulani Oligarchs and the
wider network of Fulani in Sub-Saharan Africa.
7. References
(1) An Introduction
(2) Understanding Restructuring: The Basis
(3) Pathway to a New Nigeria
(i) Is the Unity of Nigeria not Negotiable?
(ii) The North-South Dimension of the Nigeria Question.
(iii) The North-South Question and a History of Grievances
(iv) The North-South Question – A Political Trajectory
(4) An Attempt at Restructuring Nigeria at Aburi Conference
Background to Aburi Meeting
The Constitutional Debate
Bad Faith of Lt. Col. Gowon
Aburi Conference: A Constitution in Waiting.
(5) Restructuring through the Prism of Nigeria’s Ethnic Nationalities
Ohaneze Ndigbo’s South-East Summit on Restructuring Nigeria
Yoruba Position on Restructuring Nigeria
Arewa’s Position on Restructuring Nigeria
(6) The Road to Freedom – Movement for New/No Nigeria (MNN) and
Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination
(NINAS).
MNN and NINAS – Who are they?
Correcting the Mistake of 1914
(7) References
1. Background Studies
2. Understanding the Boko Haram
3. Timeline on Boko Haram Insurgency
4. Counter-Terrorism Measures
Patterns of Operation
Boko Haram: Collapse, Amnesty or Assimilation?
Conclusion
5. Fulani Herders: Terrorism or Manifestation of a Failed State?
The Gulf between Fulani rulers and herders
Timeline on Activities of the Fulani Herdsmen
Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue State between 2013
and 2016.
6. Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History of a Long War
Bandits, State Actors and Non-State Actors
7. References
1. Background Studies
2. Biafra Secession and the Rights and Limits of Self-
Determination
The Biafran Claim for Self-Determination and Its Critics
Self-Determination and the Dilemma of the Post-Colonial
State
3. 50 Years On, Biafra’s Pain Still Fresh
4. Shocking Adoption of IPOB Leader – the Extra-ordinary
Rendition, the Looming Chaos
A Disgrace to the Rule of Law
5. References
1) Background Studies
2) Is Genocide Happening in Nigeria as the World Turns a Blind Eye?
3) Is Genocide against Christians Silently Unfolding in Nigeria?
4) History of Igbo Massacre
5) The Biafra Genocide and Its Aftermath: The Tragedy of Africa’s
Unlearned Lessons
What ‘Internal Affairs’? Whose’ ‘Internal Affairs’?
6) The New and Emerging Genocide against an Indigenous People
Background Studies
The Unfolding Genocide
An Appraisal
“Dot in a Circle” and/or “Dot Nation”: How the Presidency Goofed
7).References
_____________________________________________________________
________
Countries are not great just because of the presence of Infrastructure or natural resources
but for the presence of great people who have made great sacrifices, discoveries and choices
to provide great solutions and sacrifices in times of need. – IJIGBAN OKETA (National
Coordinator Arise Nigeria Global Mission)
“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that
people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders … and millions have been killed
because of this obedience… Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full
of petty thieves … (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem”. –
Howard Zinn, author of People’s History of the United States, 1492 – President.
“…it is mass suicide for a population to become generally sheepish and unquestioning …
Historically, the most terrible things – war, genocide and slavery – have resulted not from
disobedience but from obedience.” – Howard Zinn, author of People’s History of the
United States, 1492 - President
PREFACE
I’m not too sure that I willingly chose to write again about Nigeria. It was
providence I want to believe that chose me! And, in yielding to that choice,
three emotions were at work in me – honour, humility and trepidation.
I’m also expected to shed light on every dark corners of our national life so that
darkness be exposed, and possibly checkmated while suggesting a way forward.
This is the basis of my trepidation. I therefore crave your indulgence as I
attempt to paint a few strokes on a canvass that is almost “impossible to fill up”.
Like the proverbial six blind men touching the elephant, each of us can only tell
a small part of what we experienced of this supposedly great nation standing on
bended knees.
While it is, indeed, a good thing to be proud of one’s country – which I struggle
most of the time to be – but I am menaciously confronted with unassailable
evidences, spanning a century of Nigeria’s history that evokes not pride but
shame if I don’t want to be economical with the truth.
In appreciating the times we are in, Senator Adeyeye while addressing his
colleagues on the floor of the Senate said: “I stand before you today fully
cognizant, as are many of you in this audience, that these days are not the best
for Nigeria. At the risk of being called prophets of doom, we really have no
choice than to admit that our country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, lies in
the paths of sundry tornadoes, hurricanes, cyclones, storms, superstorms,
whirlwinds, and typhoons all of which are rushing towards our Republic with
deadly speeds and their concomitant devastating momentum.”2
Granted that we cannot perfectly predict what the future holds. Nonetheless, we
can examine, assess and calibrate past and present events in order to reasonably
predict events of the future, thereby preparing against and averting preventable
disasters and crisis. In practical terms, patriots have the responsibility to seek
and say the truth about their country even if doing so results in being perceived,
rightly or wrongly, either as the apostles of hope or as the harbingers of doom.
It is most unfortunate and sad reality that Nigerians have the unenviable
distinction of being the only humans on earth who carry a passport of a nation
but who indeed is not really regarded and treated as citizens of the nation. Those
that rule Nigeria today are complete strangers, who are untouched by its pains –
they don’t use the same hospitals as ordinary Nigerians use; they and their
family members go abroad for medical check-ups and medical holidays, their
children are studying abroad because there are no quality schools in the land
where their fathers and uncles are presidents and governors. Even some of them
who work in Nigeria have their doctors not in Nigeria, etc. Our present
leadership is such a resounding failure that one could no longer gloss over the
systemic rot, the complete collapse of the Nigeria-state as it were. It is so
evident that no one could successfully argue it or rationalise its existence.
We have a governance (leadership) crisis and our political system has made
nonsense of knowledge. All the ethnic nationalities have their share of
grievances and none appear to have an exclusive monopoly of it nor has the
capacity to shoot their way into grievances or out of it. Crocodiles have been
smiling in some parts of Nigeria and pythons have been dancing to the delight
of those beating the drum. Some Nigerians have been made to drink mud
(potopoto) waters and executed extra-judicially, and human organs have been
harvested and there were no consequences, even as millions and billions of local
and foreign currencies are spent to rehabilitate and pay ransom to criminals and
terrorists; and at the same time expending our meagre resources in building
refineries and railways in a desert country while Nigeria is left to rot. Nigerians
have been gratuitously injured to the extent that no reasonable Nigerian would
be in doubt that her government is a moral hazard through and through.
According to them, this is one of the major reasons why votes of Nigerians do
not really count because they are not yet treated as citizens. It is therefore
germane and fundamental to ask: if we cannot hold ‘common’ councillorship
elections in Nigeria, how on earth can you have a genuine referendum to break
up Nigeria even when the government is a major stake holder? They have
argued that ours is a “national problem” not tribal, not religious but a class and
that when we reduce it to secession or nothing, it distracts us from what we
should rightly be focused on. They have argued that even if most people want
secession, it is important to establish the citizenship rights of the average
Nigerians before asking for a referendum. It is the citizenship rights that acquire
the electoral rights to a referendum. The advocates of these views have opined
that a referendum is not achievable within the objective reality in the absence of
war and that the binary vision that leads us to think that Nigeria need to break
will only lead us to the road of Mogadishu.
Consequently, some others have argued that what we really need now is a
“ground sweeping” national revolution most likely a bloody one that neutralises
and equalises all things and all persons. They argue that in a nation where
elections are not credible to effect a desired change when necessary, a nation
that the Courts decide and determine election victory instead of the electorates
(citing the case of the incumbent Imo State governor who came 4th in the 2019
gubernatorial election but was declared the winner by the Supreme Court of
Nigeria in what appeared a judicial coup), a state where you cannot even protest
and ventilate your grievances because the State will unleash her mad dogs after
you as was the case of the #EndSARS# protests; a state that fetes with criminal
elements to achieve whatever objectives she is driving at – the only reasonable
option left is to rebel and revolutionize. They argue that a nation worth dying
for must be one that is worth living for, thus can only be achieved if and when a
surgical operation is done to extract the common criminals (and these defy
tribes) from the Nigeria scene permanently for life.
If the truth must be told, the Nigeria nation creaks and moans from the battering
gales that precariously dangle us on the precipice of disintegration. The
American prediction has not come true yet. But as Senator Adeyeye rightly
pointed out: “… we would be suffering from delusion-induced astigmatism,
cataracts, myopia, glaucoma and macular degeneration if we fail to see that it is
not too late for the prediction to be fulfilled”.4
Problems, whether of nations or individuals, are not solved by denying that they
exist. Even so, what is most important is not our recognition that ferocious
challenges buffet Nigeria. Instead, it is our willingness to stem and avert these
gales and their centrifugal forces that perennially jolt and weaken the threads
holding the seams of Nigeria.5
For a start, perhaps, let’s be generous enough to first convince ourselves that
keeping Nigeria from disintegration is a worthwhile goal if only we are
prepared to make it work.
Our once beloved but presently, seemingly and increasingly unjust, iniquitous,
wicked, and evil God-forsaking nation could be likened to the proverbial farmer
searching for his black goat. He has to do it with a sense of urgency because
darkness is setting in as the sun quickly recedes. “Nigeria has become one huge
waste land, huge debris of the deceit, lies, treachery, double dealing and
duplicity. Nigerian politics has become a huge Trojan horse, a hoax, a hall of
guile and dissimulation. The levels of frustration are rising by the day and we
can see all this in the cumulative rise in domestic violence and intercommunal
conflicts. A combination of all these has turned us unto a nation at war with
itself.” 7
Are you in this category? Are Nigerian shepherds different from those in
Baghdad, Iraq and other parts of the corrupt and selfish world? Isn’t it about
time we changed the face of our country?
We seem to have lost our ways because we seem to have lost the wisdom of
governance and the wisdom of service as well as the wisdom that flows from
spirituality that undergirds both. We need to interrogate how the failure of
politics and of faith has compromised the unravelling of the Nigerian project.
There is something fundamentally wrong in the relationship between religion
and politics in Nigeria. On the one hand, Nigeria has suffered, is suffering huge
and massive human and governance tragedy resulting from the religious
insurgency of Boko Haram and the Fulani herders. On the other hand and
simultaneously, the social dimension of Nigeria’s religiosity provides a
shocking direct proportionality between the proliferation of churches and
mosques and a thriving corruption mentality in Nigerian society and public life.
The moral hazard of the Buhari government was brought to the fore when the
US government listed the name of Nigeria’s minister of Communications and
Digital Economy – Isa Pantami – on the terrorist list. Reports said Pantami had
been placed on the watch list of the United States of America over alleged link
with the leadership of terrorist group operating in the North East, Boko Haram.
Isa Panama did express views sympathetic to groups such as al-Qaeda, Taliban
and Boko Haram. Pantami whom critics have rated as the real symbol (or thrust)
of Buhari administration was perceived as an extremist, an Islamist and a
jihadist and therefore Nigerians have queried why such a character should be
allowed to serve as a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, a supposedly
multi-ethnic, multi-religious Secular state.
Nigerians complain that the country is full of Churches and Mosques and yet
they cannot find the values of these religions in everyday life. “We sin at home
by stealing the nation’s resources but we seek repentance and forgiveness in
Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem in the guise of lesser or higher pilgrimages. We
make money from abandoning projects duly paid for by governments without
genuine accountability and retribution; it is as if we have adopted
“Contractocracy” as a governance mechanism. We are allowing others to use
our money to develop their own infrastructure.” 8 Our elites all assembled in
Dubai and Europe for Christmas and also to welcome the New Year.
It is therefore in this important sense that one argues that nations, just like
individuals, sleep on whatever bed they had laid. The pervasive dysfunction and
decay in our national institutions are the creations of Nigerians, not God or
Satan. We can pray for as long as we wish in our churches and mosques. We
can tarry in our endless camps and so-called vigils. As virtue recedes into the
sunset in our country, there is an urgent need for us to pause and take stock of
what is required to save our country.9
In African world view, all life is thought to be created, recreated, preserved and
affirmed by the Supreme God. Hence, the chief functions of human is to create,
recreate, preserve and affirm life in communion with God and all of God’s
spiritual associates which include not only sub-divinities and ancestral spirits,
but all leaders, institutions and movements serving the wellbeing of their
people.10-11
The relevance of the above to our central theme stems from the fact that an
average Nigerian is already a product of a worldview which he wears as a
spectacle through which he views life. It is then a fact of life that an average
Nigerian – Christian, Moslem, Traditionalist, Animists and even atheists –
pursues and interrogates life from a point of view of bias, a guidance or
foreknowledge which influences his position relatively to one or more of the
innumerable points of life’s compass.
One is therefore not surprise as we are all living witnesses how Nigeria’s
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway probably hosts the highest concentration of sectarian
zealots in the world. It would not be an over-statement to also posit that it has
the distinction of being the only federal expressway in the world where trucks
are parked anywhere that suits the insanity of their drivers. Certainly, God sees
it all. He probably smiles at it all! 12
I am yet to understand how Japan (majority of the Japanese are Buddhists) who
neither worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God nor pay obeisance to
Mohammed as God’s prophet could be so blessed that they lead a good quality
life on earth unencumbered and free from all unreasonable encumbrances
having all the necessities that life requires. The opposite is the case in
comparison with his Nigerian counterpart. And yet, because of its endless
Buddhist temples, Japan might be classified by Nigerians as a nation of infidels!
Furthermore, the natural resources of Nigeria by far exceed those of Japan. Yet,
see what the Japanese have made of their nation.13
Simultaneously, some 50,000 Christians went to Israel to kiss Jesus statute and
attach JP to their names. Some $250,000,000 – $645,000,000 was reportedly
expended. And, this happens two times a year ($1.3bn).15 Yet, we have no single
well-equipped world-standard hospital anywhere in Nigeria, our roads are death
traps, no good water to drink, nothing! We prefer building cathedrals and
worship centres that worth millions of dollars instead of building industries,
factories and supporting agro-based businesses. We prefer to be asking Jesus
and Allah to provide us with good health and heal our wounds and attend to our
numerous and innumerable needs and wants instead of asking and demanding
from our government to fulfil her fundamental objective and derivative
principles of state as enshrined in the constitution and insisting that it be made
justiciable. And, it might interest you to know that over £400 billion have been
illegally stashed away from Nigeria and kept in Europe, America and Asia
continents by those calling the name of Jesus and those killing for Allah. Where
is the life we’ve lost in living? What is really wrong with the brain of Africans
(Nigerians)?
Let me tell us the blunt truth now. It isn’t the fornication you are committing
that is causing the killings going on in Nigeria. Neither is it punishment from
God. Any man of God telling you that it is the sins of Nigerians that are causing
the evil going on in Nigeria is economical with the truth. Why didn’t same sins
stop him from living extravagant lifestyle? They ask us to have faith in the
miraculous works of God for our salvation. While I may have some believe in
some miracles, I want to say that the miraculous is only a periodic intervention
of divinity in the affairs of humanity when humanity is helpless and confused. It
cannot and will never take the place of strategic planning and activating sound
economic principles and values that represents the cornerstone of raising the
common man to some reasonable standard and basis of livelihood.
I want to believe that God (including His Son Jesus Christ and perhaps His
prophet Mohammed) is not and should not be an option in our lives but a
necessity. But it is important to understand that God did not send Jesus or
Mohammed on the grounds of erasing poverty of Nigerians, any people. People
were rich before Jesus and Mohammed came and dwelled among us. And
people are rich after their departure. There are many rich and prosperous people
who do not believe in Christ or Mohammed. Some of them do not even believe
in God, as it were! Nigerians do not necessarily need Jesus or Mohammed to
live a good quality lives the way our preachers want us believe. We should not
allow preachers to begin to preach and lure us into believing and demanding on
God what government and politics can and should rather give us, what
medicine, engineering, etc. can and should provide us and then stop us from
looking for that thing that perhaps only Jesus Himself can give us and without it
every other thing is useless. That thing that is more fundamental is now
relegated to the background and we are busy pursuing what we should rightly
get from elsewhere while forgetting the only thing which we cannot get from
anywhere else – our salvation (salvation from sin, self and Satan). The
demands for better life does not reckon with praying and fasting but with
rigorous political, financial (fiscal), socio-cultural and economic exercises.
And so, while our political space is presently on life-support, only “surviving”
with oxygen of corruption, our religious and cultural institutions do not fare any
better. Is there anything whatsoever that can inspire an average Nigerian to
“die” for his country? It is only what inspires us that we can perspire and be
inspired and perspired to acquire. Until we organize our values aright, ‘life will
not organize around us’. We appear too confused and warped as a nation to ask:
Nigerian pastors, religious leaders, politicians and witches: which of them drank
our blood and jeopardize our destinies?
No doubt, decades of misrule and deprivation have indeed made our religious
and ethnic divisions deeper. Nobody can wave a hand and make the problems
go away. We ought to have found honourable ways to reconcile our differences
on common ground. But unfortunately, we are simply piling new grievances on
old ones. Yet, the overwhelming fact of modern life everywhere appears to be
our growing inter-dependence.
Nigerians, especially our leaders must appreciate the fact that every Nigerian
counts, no matter his station in life; no matter his ethnic, religious, or political
affiliations and orientation. Every Nigerian deserves a chance at life and we all
do better when we help each other and when we find a way for everyone to
follow his or her path through life, guided by their own lights and their own
faith. After all Nigeria is greater than any of its parts. 17
Today, the ruling elites over the years have failed woefully to manage the
diversity of this great country. Nigerians know that people of highly
questionable moral and spiritual characters have captured political power. Toxic
politics fuelled and produced much hatred which destroyed the dreams and
moral vision of our founding fathers. Today, Nigeria has come to characterise
some of the out layers of the Inferno.18 Today Nigeria is a tale of two peoples –
the core north and the rest of us.
It would therefore be safe to conveniently state that the problems of Nigeria can
never be resolved by personnel changes only. The system is designed with
impunity guarding it and therefore can never deliver anything positive to the
Nigerian peoples. Every Nigerian, in a way, is rendered “stateless” by the 1999
Constitution. It is an iniquitous, wicked and evil document that has nothing
good for Nigerian people. We cannot continue to build on top of lies and
propaganda. For, as long as justice is missing in a place, you will continue to
have strife. The closest we can have to return to normalcy in Nigeria is to have a
return to the Original Agreement that founded the country. Those agreements
are fundamental. But if we chose to become a nation of lies and propaganda
ready to accept every lie sold to us, peace would continue to elude us.
The most attacked object in life whether as individuals or nations is purpose.
What purpose do the framers of the so-called 1999 Constitution of Nigeria
intend to pursue by marrying two strange bed-fellows? This Constitution is the
greatest undoing that underpins and instigates the chain-reactions of other
misfortunes rocking the boat of the bewildered nation. It generously undermines
and denies the country ‘her best behaviour’. It could be likened to the fact that
the devil preserves a mad man only to constantly remind the family members of
the pain of a destroyed destiny.
In 2015, the world body ranked Fulani militants masquerading as herders as the
fourth most lethal terrorist group in the world — behind only Boko Haram, ISIS
and al-Shabaab. Why have they not be declared and treated as terrorists despite
mountain of evidences and confessions authenticating their culpability in
terrorism-related crimes and other crimes against humanity including ethnic
cleansing? But those seeking for self-determination through a referendum were
promptly tagged terrorists and visited with all the forces and venom the state
could garner, including forcing them to drink mud waters with all manner of
human right abuses and extra-judicial killings that go with it.
And suddenly, some northern governors and government officials have turned
kidnapping into huge business, using abductions by Bandits as a source of
siphoning public funds. These criminals in government advocate a policy of
dialogue with the criminal elements and troublers of the nation by espousing
amnesty and unconditional pardon and settlement of Bandits with cash running
in millions and billions of local and foreign currencies. Oh no! That should not
be. Is it not the same crime that “Evans the Kidnapper” committed and was
committed to the prison that those bandits from the north are committing daily
but were rewarded with ransom supported by their political and religious
leaders? Instead, they (Bandits) must be degraded and decimated to a state of
unconditional submission to constitutional authority if the government do not
intend to undermine her moral ontology of existence.21
I am not a prophet, giving a prophecy in the order of ‘thus says the Lord’. Jesus
made reference to this practice as quoted in Matthew 16:1–3 (NKJV): “Then the
Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show
them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening
you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will
be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You
know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the
times.”22 But are the signs not there for Nigerians to see? If we can predict the
weather, would it not be hypocritical to feign ignorance regarding the
foreboding state of the nation? Can we not see the clouds gathering ahead of a
major storm?
History reveals that all governments, empires and kingdoms of men, no matter
how grand, no matter how powerful, ultimately fall. It happened to ancient
Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. Even Rome was not exempt; though it dominated
much of Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East and parts of the Near East,
and lasted for 500 years, the Roman Empire ultimately fell.
There is an old and popular saying: “Rome was not built in a day.” Likewise,
the Roman Empire did not fall in one night; its decline was gradual. Not long
after it rose to world dominance, several factors were already at work
contributing to the empire’s ultimate demise.
Similarly, these factors are at work among the nationalities of the Nigerian
peoples—and serve as warning signs of a nation destined to fall.
It was therefore in this important sense that Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof.
Yemi Osinbajo, has proposed an increased number of new tribe of Nigerians
that would be committed to a country run on high values of integrity, hard work,
justice and love of country.23
Going by the peculiar circumstances in which we find ourselves the real issue is
the fact that if Nigeria must remain one, indivisible, indissoluble political entity,
then she needs to restructure, first and foremost before any further elections in
the country otherwise it would be continuity in the oblivion. This is the position
of some well-meaning Nigerians who still believe in a “united” Nigeria.
Otherwise, we might even woke up one day and discover that Nigeria is no
more.
Those at the driver’s seat in Aso Rock appear to have completely lost the sense
of history. Let this message go forth from here to uttermost nooks and crannies
of this earth: there is a new Biafra who was not born in 1966 and neither knows
nor cares about Nzeogwu or Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the streets who are
never “Biafra’s”. They were born “Nigerians”, are “Nigerians” but suffer
because of the actions of earlier generations.24
They have decided that it is better to fight their own “war” and perhaps may
find an honourable peace than dwelling in this contemptible state of denials,
marginalization, subjugation and complete exclusion from the scheme of things
in perpetuity in this seemingly increasingly God-forsaking nation called
Nigeria. They are prepared to take their destinies in their hands and the powers
that be would only take them for granted at their own perils.
United Kingdom was embroiled for years by the Brexit conundrum. The British
people elected to exit the European Union through a referendum organized by
the British government under Prime Minister David Cameroon – a union
entered into some years ago – the result to which the British authorities must
respect, for the people have spoken! And today, Britain has successfully exited
the European Union.
And so, after many years’ experience, these countries must have found out that
human beings joining together by CHEMISTRY what God has put asunder do
not work out satisfactorily. In such unions, there is truly no common vision, no
common interest and no common objective. Within the nationalities making up
the Union, there is common interest, vision and objective. But within the Union
itself as an entity, interests are diverse and divided. And that is truly the case of
Nigeria. 26
In 1966 former Military Head of State Lt. Col. Gowon (as he then was) said that
the basis for unity in Nigeria does not exist. He was right. For many Nigerians
today and as it relates to Nigeria, unity is an illusory concept.27
I am yet to understand why our founding fathers – Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Ahmadu Bello – failed to undertake some crucial
initial political tasks of holding a National Conference to determine: 28
A. Whether to go their separate ways – Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to the East, Sir
Ahmadu Bello to the North and Chief Obafemi Awolowo to the West.
Instructively, that type of arrangement was made for South West and
North West parts of Cameroon which were part of Nigeria. In 1961 (one
year after Nigeria’s independence) a plebiscite was held to decide
whether they will remain in Nigeria or join the French-speaking Republic
of Cameroon. The uncertainty surrounding what will be the outcome of
the plebiscite caused the people of both countries ominous feelings. The
result of the plebiscite was as follows:
The North-Western part of Cameroon opted to remain in Nigeria
(within the Northern part of the Northern Region of Nigeria);
The South-Western part of Cameroon opted out of the Eastern
region of Nigeria.
I am yet to understand why Sir Ahmadu Bello on his part did not take a
proactive step in the interest of the Northern territory. It suffices that the
Northern territory and the Southern territory were never one country until the
amalgamation of 1914. Also, very clear was the fact that the Northern territory
had embraced ISLAM as its Religion long before Amalgamation and the
Southern territory had also embraced CHRISTIANITY long before the
Amalgamation. I had expected that Sir Ahmadu Bello would have borrowed the
precedent set by India:
“Before the 14th of August, 1947 the country, INDIA consisted of PAKISTAN,
BANGLADESH and INDIA. These three countries made up what was INDIA before
14th August, 1947.
The North-Western part of INDIA was predominantly MOSLEMS while the rest of
the Country was predominantly HINDUS.
There were several other smaller groups. The Moslem North Western part led by
Muhammad Ali JINNAH demanded from the British government that independence
be granted to them separately as an ISLAMIC Country. The demand was granted.
On the 14th of August, 1947, independence was granted to the North-Western part of
PAKISTAN while the rest of INDIA had their independence the next day 15 th of
August 1947.
Had Sir Ahmadu Bello, knowing that the Northern territory was predominantly
Moslem, and knowing that the Northern territory and the Southern territory were
never one country any way, borrowed the precedent set by INDIA which had their
independence from the same British government thirteen (13) years before Nigeria
(1960) the British government would have granted it. It would have amounted to a
mere de-amalgamation of the 1914 amalgamation. Had this been done, there would
have been no need for the 2014 Nigeria National Conference. There would have
been no need for Boko Haram whose desire is to establish an Islamic Republic of
Northern Nigeria in line with what late Colonel Gaddafi of Libya had always
advocated…”29
It is therefore rational to assume that there must have been an implied voluntary
CONSENT to stay together in the spirit of the SOCIAL CONTRACT theory
which is based on the understanding that individuals or groups in a polity
voluntarily agree to give up their rights and freedom to the Ruler or the State in
return for Protection to be given them by the Ruler or the State. But to the
extent and degree to which various ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria, or
at least one of the major ethnic groups have demonstrated, are demonstrating a
vote of no confidence and lack of faith, and justifiably so, in the political entity
called Nigeria and constantly and continuously questioning the so-called
“implied consent of the founding fathers” to stay together in the spirit of the
“Social Contract Theory”, to that extent, the prevailing Nigeria government
should do the needful to allow a referendum or a plebiscite for such group or
ethnic nationality to decide their political destiny. This is the honourable path a
responsible government should take. And by the way, how could the
government conclude that the result of the referendum must favour the
separatists?
Given the fact that the decision to stay together was by implied voluntary
consent and not under duress or coercion it means that the Ethnic nationalities
that formed Nigeria or any part thereof could advocate for self-determination if
they are not satisfied with the union. More importantly, the United Nations
Charter and the African Union Charter provide for self-determination.
Interestingly, Nigeria is also a signatory to both Charters. Groups could seek
self-determination under United Nations Resolutions 1514 and 1541.30
Evidently, some countries make provisions in their Constitution for any of its
constituent part to opt out from the Union if dissatisfied. Ethiopia presents a
very good example. But, regrettably, for Nigeria, the people of Nigeria have
never made a Constitution for themselves, save, perhaps the 1963 Republican
Constitution. The Nigerian government has always made a Constitution for the
people.31 That is very wrong!
Unless we find the courage to engage the true cause of the disasters enveloping
and overwhelming Nigeria, it is only a matter of time for Nigeria to die from its
self-inflicted injuries. Nigeria’s political sickness is a Dangerous one and
requires a Dangerous medicine to treat it. A doctor will not treat an Ebola virus
patient with Panadol, and he will not treat a Breast Cancer with Aspirin – unless
of course the doctor’s intention is to let the patient die! Those who are treating
Nigeria’s political sickness with Panadol and Aspirin want Nigeria to die.
Time is of the essence and a stitch in time saves nine, they say!
ENDNOTES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The literary world appears to be God's signature upon my life, the driver's seat
upon which my destiny is seated.
To my mother-in-law, Mrs. Justina Okafor “Akwuete!” you are lifted! All your
contributions towards lifting my family are highly appreciated!
Patriots are duty-bound to seek and say the truth about their country even if
doing so results in being perceived, rightly or wrongly, either as the apostles of
hope or as the harbingers of doom.
Warning: A society whose young people are asleep will never rise; such a
society can never fulfil its potentials. The attitude of an average Nigerian,
especially the youth is: "siddon look!" Are Nigerians fundamentally different
from any other people in the world? Where is the life we've lost in living?
We're afraid of death! Rubbish, as if we are living a "life"! In the long run of
eternity, should it really matter whether we live long or short on earth, since
eternity is but a passing moment? What really matter, and should matter, is
everything what stewardship we give of the days at our disposal. Whether we
are today suffering pain or enjoying pleasurable health will make little
difference a thousand years from now. But how our pain and pleasure, weakness
or health is related to faith and love will make all the difference. After all, as the
popular saying goes: “If you talk, you die; if you don’t, you still die. Why not
talk and die”.
Listen: If Nigerians must be free, we must stop cooperating with an evil system.
It is only a feeble expression of one's desire that right should prevail. It is
wisdom for Nigerians not to leave the right to chance nor wish it to prevail
through the power of majority.
Through this book, I would probably receive both insults and praises. But
insults and praises are just peoples’ opinion about me. They are not necessarily
my reality. If I am not angry when I’m being praised, must I necessarily be
angry when insulted? Even to my detractors, I say: May their journey in life not
is like that of Nigeria! May Nigeria never happen to them!! Dalu nu!
DEDICATION
FOREWORD
Since our days as school mates at the former Federal School of Arts & Science
(FEDSAS) Aba; calm, diligent, coordinated, concentrated, unassuming, a
patriot of unquantifiable dimension, Charles have written several books that
crisscross politics, social, economy, juxtaposing his contents with humanitarian
and egalitarian view points for the benefits of society.
The writer of the book though living outside the shores of Nigeria, obviously for
greener pastures, has never taken his eyes off the happenings in Nigeria as the
book exemplified: His viewpoints demonstrate currency, detail, vision, focus
and propensity for truth.
Charles Alujieze in his books especially the latest, a 550 page-book, appears to
be saying no to archaism, retrogression, neo-colonialism, injustice, inequity,
abysmal absence of constitutionalism, deception, impunity, ethnic jingoism,
nepotism, leadership ineptitude, rudderlessness and all the unprintable
adjectives for describing evil for which the nation Nigeria has appeared to be
associated with.
The book segmented into five parts and captured in 11 chapters: Nigeria: An
Experiment in Nation Building ; Historical Perspective of Hatred across Ethnic
Nationalities of Nigerian Union; The Two Conflicting Ideologies in Nigeria;
Nigeria in the Belly of the Vulture and The Cost of Governance and Politics in
Nigeria.
Other chapters are Nigeria in the Belly of the Vampire; Renegotiating a New
Nigeria; Terrorism in Nigeria (The rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Nigeria);
Stride Towards Freedom; BIAFRA: The Struggle for Freedom; and Genocide in
Nigeria: Calling it What It Is.
Of course, with experience garnered over the years living in the White man’s
land, where there is rule of law, constitutionalism, equity and justice which have
also facilitated cordiality, friendship, enabling environment for individuals,
organisations and government organs to leverage on and contribute their various
quotas in the development efforts of their society, indeed A Nation in Transition
is a clarion call for sanity to prevail in Nigeria, for the right things to be done, to
jettison hidden agenda.
What else can I say, the contents of the book is the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. The book is a compendium of well researched work on the country
Nigeria; it is an analysis of a nation to know the truth; in deed it is a diagnosis
of the state of the nation with the sole objective of prescribing the right
medicine to tackle seemingly intractable maladies.
“…it is mass suicide for a population to become generally sheepish and unquestioning …
Historically, the most terrible things – war, genocide and slavery – have resulted not from
disobedience but from obedience.” – Howard Zinn, author of People’s History of the
United States, 1492 - President
Politics, economy, military and religion – these forces, likened to the four winds
of the earth, result in the troubling or change of governmental orders. And
depending on the dispositions of the leaders and the led, these forces could be
channelled to either the making or ruining of nations.
In one important sense, these “four winds of the earth” have served in ushering
nations into seasons of genuine or perceived transformation. For instance, the
formation of the United States of America was brought forth by the stirring of
the combined winds of religion, economy, politics and military in Europe as
well as in America. It suffices that many of the colonies that comprises the
United States were created by settlers who fled religious persecution in Europe.
This quest for religious freedom and the discipline that characterized the puritan
migrants became the energizing power for the highly profitable agricultural and
commercial activities that led to economic prosperity in the colonies. The
political wind blew when the colonies declared independence and this
declaration was accompanied by war of independence upon which was laid the
foundation of a prosperous nation that has come to become the most powerful
country on earth today.
In the same vein, the formation of the Islamic kingdoms, the largest of which
was the Ottoman Empire that later metamorphosed to modern day Turkey under
the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatkurk was inspired by this interplay of the
four winds of the earth. Other cases in point include the economic miracle of the
Asian Tigers – Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore as well as the
Asian giant, China.1
On the other hand and unfortunately too, these four winds lead to national ruin
resulting in many African states with the emergence of tyrants after
independence – the likes of Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Mobutu Sese Seko of
Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean Bedel Bokassa of Central African
Republic, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Generals
Sani Abacha and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, and many other ambitious
men whose dreams, drives and delusions unleashed a devastating storm into the
political space of their respective nations. This political storm resulted, or has
resulted, as the case may be, in economic ruin as these men enriched themselves
and/or pursue exclusively private agenda at the expense of their respective
nations.2
At some point in Uganda, for instance, currency was printed just to satisfy the
whims and caprices of Idi Amin without recourse to any principle of monetary
policy management. Mobutu, on his part, amazed so much wealth through
corruption that he was reportedly richer than his country had. General Sani
Abacha became the most brutal dictator in the history of Nigeria, eliminating
perceived opponents by means of a deadly killing squad, stashing away over $3
billion of public monies into foreign accounts. Obiang, still the current president
of Equatorial Guinea, is reportedly worth $600 million. He is said to have taken
full control of his country’s national treasury and deposited more than half a
billion dollars into accounts controlled by himself and his family claiming that
he did this to prevent civil servants from being tempted to engage in corrupt
practices. 3 And Muhammadu Buhari became the first Nigerian ruler to attempt
to change the demography of his country through his perceived satanic policies
geared towards an agenda of “fulanization” of Nigeria and “Islamization” of
West Africa, thus making his presidency a Trojan horse and Nigeria a nation at
war with itself.
It would be observed that the emergence of these African dictators was as a
result of the invasion of the military wind manifesting principally through coup
d’états or civil wars which, in some cases, resulted in counter-coups or extended
civil wars. In more recent times, especially since the turn of the century, the
wind of religion and the wind of military have been unleashed upon the
continent and upon the nations of the earth like a genie in a bottle, manifesting
in the form of terrorist organisation from Boko Haram and Fulani herders in
Nigeria to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Shabab in the
Horn of Africa from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS); and from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas in Palestine. 4
In the democratic arrangements that preceded the return to civil rule in 1999,
such as the 1993 elections, religion was a much more silent factor among the
four winds in the determination of political outcomes. That was why the June
12, 1993 elections could produce victory for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. However,
following the return to civil rule, religion has become a major factor in the
determination of election outcomes especially since the 2003 elections in which
General Muhammadu Buhari first contested for the presidency, as he has often
been pointedly associated rightly with religious fundamentalism. The import of
this factor got to what some might have thought would be a crescendo in the
2011 elections when, for the first time in Nigeria’s history, a pastor stepped into
politics as running mate to General Buhari. 6 It would be recalled that in 2003,
Ahmed Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State and one of the most
influential politicians in the Western region of the country did warn Nigerians
about Buhari: “Muhammadu Buhari is an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot
and religious fanatic who, if given the chance, would ensure the disintegration
of the country. His ethnocentrisms would jeopardize Nigeria’s national unity”. 7
Nevertheless, in the year 2015, a crucial year in the unfolding history of our
nation, the Four Winds of the Earth also hit the nation in one combined storm
that never left her the same. Also, in 2019 general elections, these four winds
interfered and interrogated the system in some more fundamental ways. The rest
is history.
It is, therefore, not surprising when William Golding infers in his ‘Lord of the
Flies’ that beast is synonymous for politics;9 but, is politics a beast? Put
differently, in what important sense is politics, especially as practiced in
Nigeria, a beast? And, Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a book, titled: ‘That Animal
called Man’ in which he likened the negative aspects of man to that of beasts.
The correlation between Obasanjo and Golding likening politics to beasts refer
to the bestial element in man which surfaces in the art or process of
politicking.10
In politics, somebody once said: “With proper arrangement even Satan can see
God! The very idea of Satan paying a courtesy call on God! To discuss what,
pray? If this happens, it would imply that some underhand things have
happened, like bribing the angels at heaven’s gate or God’s throne to arrange
such meeting! In politics, anything and everything is “possible”.”
Deception and lies, trickery, betrayal, literal or metaphorical killings and
assassination – there is this general perception, though negatively, of politics,
politicians and the political process held by non-politicians in Nigeria and
across the world. It is not complimentary. If anything, it is unsavoury and
indeed condemnatory.
Politicians in Nigeria have been routinely described and addressed with such
uncomplimentary expressions or terms as ‘ politrikcians’, ‘politricks’, ‘the-
more-you-look-the-less-you-see’, ‘talking from sides of the mouth’ (that is
double talk people) and ‘liars’ . A potential voter would lie, swearing to vote or
have voted for you. A supposed friend would campaign against you and end up
in your house for dinner, drink some wine and curse all those who ate your food
but did not vote for you. A highly placed person in the scheme of things would
swear neutrality and go ahead to promote false narratives about you and do
unimaginable things behind you. In politics, lie-telling is second nature. A man
may claim to have achieved things he never was party to, or claims to be the
initiator of everything good in your life or claim to have made you what you are
as your god father! In a significant sense, the Nigeria’s political class is a
university of liars!
Yet, we all need politics and politicians for the state or country to make
progress, for the quality of life to improve, and for government to make an
impact on lives. If those whom we “entrust” with public office are tricksters and
we do not really respect them, how do we expect change to take place more so
when conduct of elections in Nigeria is a travesty of justice, a glorified sham? A
conundrum!
The journey of the ship of the Nigerian state has thus far been difficult and we
have largely drifted under the influence of the four winds – politics, economy,
military and religious minds. The fundamental flaws in the polity include but
not limited to the following:
(a) The awkward geo-political structure that has the form but lacking the
substance of federalism;
(b) The consequent lop-sided economic structure in which a single product
from one region of the country contributes the bulk of the revenue of the
entire nation despite the abundant resources spread across the nation;
(c) A constitution that lays claim to the phrase, “we the people” but to which
the people made no impact;
(d) Contentious population figures that have been the harbinger of election
disputes since the pre-independence era;
(e) An electoral body that wears the label ‘independent’ but is practically
under the control of the presidency;
(f) Endemic corruption pervading the whole strata of the country; and, most
importantly,
(g) The two conflicting ideologies in Nigeria – Democracy and Sharia
These factors have directly and indirectly contributed to the current economic
crisis, the political instability and the insecurity situation.
Twenty years into democracy, the government tells us every dissent is treason;
every criminal-acquiescence is patriotism. Marching, not marching; walking,
not walking; talking and not talking are capital crimes, except the party in
power is the beneficiary. But still, can we be dead quiet as kidnap victims in
Nigeria’s forest of carrion eaters? 11
With the benefit of hindsight, one could say that Nigeria under Buhari
government is steadily sliding into a suffocating fascist, illegitimate
“rigocracy” and it will only get worse in the coming years unless something
drastic is done to arrest the situation now. Dissent is now violently suppressed.
Opposition is pathologically treated and criminalized. Elections are militarized
and rigged blatantly and with criminal impunity. Rule of law and due process is
officially disdained and murdered at the highest levels. The judiciary is now a
pitiable poodle of the presidency. Rank nepotism and total disregard for even
the wispiest pretences to meritocracy are now normalized.
The ominous sign in our political firmament appears to be the fact that we have
two Nigeria – the core North and the rest of us! These feelings have been
reinforced in the ways President Buhari has been drifting the ship of the nation.
Nigerians had never been this divided as they are under Buhari administration.
Many critics have posited that if Jonathan administration was a failure, the
Buhari’s is a disaster and repulsive to men of good conscience. Buhari is
reminding us that it is in ethnic politics that the bestial nature of man climbs to
the highest peak and man descends into a pit of extreme foolishness. Our people
say that in ethnic politics, the people would rather vote in a goat from ‘home-
town’ than vote in a wise professor from the next community. Why are
Nigeria’s three top leaders from the core north – Ahmed Lawal (Senate
President) North East, Chief Justice of the Federation, Tanko Mohammed,
North East, and Buhari – President North-West? They are all Moslems and
core-northerners.
On the eve of his resumption in office, former Ogun state governor, Ubikonle
Amosun reportedly handed over at least four (4,000,000) million rounds of
ammunition, one thousand (1,000) units of AK 47 assault rifles, one thousand
(1,000) units of bullet-proof vests and others to Nigeria police! 15 Why was the
illegal importation made in the first place, by whom and to what purpose? Why
hasn’t he been prosecuted?
In September, 2016, major general Lucky Igilagbo of the Nigerian army and
commander under the South-East command told the media that the military has
confirmed that the soldiers were transferring arms to Boko Haram terrorists.
What was the outcome of this betrayal to Nigerian people?
In May 2017, the Nigeria Customs and Excise in Lagos seized a container
loaded with 440 arms, mostly pump-action rifles.16 Where are the ammunitions
and who are the importers?
In another development, 10, 000 daggers were imported through Lagos into
Nigeria.
The truth is: it appears that there is no political will to fight insecurity situation
in Nigeria. The fundamental problems of the Nigeria state manifesting as
insecurity challenges is no longer rational nor can it be tolerated any longer.
Why have the successive Nigerian governments shy away from constitutional
reconstruction to truly federal system whereby each state would organize,
operate and manage its police force as it is the practice in other federal states?
Why is there no genuine political will by the government of the day to address
insecurity challenges in the country? A lot of the security challenges – killings
by herdsmen, kidnappings, banditry, etc. are also political in nature.
The reactions of the citizens go beyond the fact that they are being killed, but
also the fact that there are other agendas – right or wrong! And if there are no
other agenda, they are wont to posit, how come the government is unable, and
sometimes unwilling to bring these killers to justice? Why must the leadership
of this government appear to prioritize the problems of a particular ethnic group
over and above others? This gives room for more speculations in the country.
Why is the government unable or rather unwilling to secure her territorial
borders? Secondly, it is political because people make the “mistake” of
attributing the killing by herdsmen to a particular ethnic group – “Fulani”. Yet,
there are many Fulanis’ who disagree with the way Buhari government is
handling the security challenges facing the country. There are a lot of political
issues surrounding the security challenges in the country.
Nigeria has some 371,800 personnel in the police force, with half guarding the
VIPs. How then do we expect to have an effective presence of the police that
covers the strategic security areas? I agree with Professor Kingsley Chiedu
Moghalu that Nigeria with a population of some 200 million needs some 1.5
million police servicemen, well-trained, well-equipped and well-remunerated!
Surprisingly, the former chief of army staff, Lt. Gen. Buratai said that the
Nigerian soldiers are not motivated to fight insurgency. Isn’t that a political
issue? Is it that the Nigerian army is not well-equipped and the government is
telling us that she’s voting billions of dollars on security? Where is the money?
If the military feels she is not supported and empowered enough, if she doesn’t
feel loyal and patriotic enough to lay down their lives for the Nigeria state, we
need to know why.
While the allegations that our soldiers are forced to confront terrorists with
inferior weapons have been denied by the Nigerian Army, these claims must
still be thoroughly investigated and acted upon rather than merely dismissed.
Recent news of the loss of territories to Boko Haram and recent videos of our
soldiers being massacred by terrorists are more potent in the consciousness of
the average Nigerian than any denial the military officials could muster.
Between 2008 and 2018, N6 trillion has been allocated to the Federal Ministry
of Defence.18 Between 2012 and 2014, it received a whopping 19.9% of the
total budget on average.19
In 2017, N6.8 billion was budgeted for defence equipment, while Operation
Lafiya Dole “and other operations of the armed forces” received N78 billion.21
With these relatively huge allocations, even with average budget performance,
the allegations that our soldiers fight under poor conditions are intolerable.
If we further consider the fact that recurrent expenditure has been fully
performed as overhead costs are covered, then it becomes inconceivable that
any soldier risking his or her life for the Nigerian state should be owed a dime
of his or her allowance.
Even more disturbing is the 2017 investigative report that soldiers in the theatre
of war lack basic necessities such as food, uniforms and footwear despite the
fact that a portion of their wages is questionably deducted as feeding allowance.
The President, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defence, the
Army Headquarters, and the National Assembly Committees on Defence must
re-examine the defence architecture, especially the human resource factor, and
address every anomaly in the interest of the vulnerable rather than the powerful.
This also calls for political leadership graduating into an effective national
security strategy. Has the government of Buhari administration shown enough
capacity that she is capable of solving the security challenges in the country? At
least showing genuine signs to stem insecurity in the country is important;
effective communication and intelligence report on security is important,
holding people accountable for crimes committed is very important. But when
the government is making excuses for the perpetrators of these crimes or appear
to be doing so, she is undermining her ability as a government to be able to
solve the problems.
Many people now see Buhari as the greatest mistake of the century. When you
see the impunity with which these kidnap buzzards operate these days, you
can’t but ask if there’s no complicity from security officials.
The Taraba incident which happened in the most suspicious circumstances only
helps to reinforce the complicity of a hidden agenda. Why was the police
officers murdered in cold blood? The three police officers that were murdered
by soldiers of the 93 Battalion in Taraba State were said to have briefed the
soldiers of their mission at the military check-point to go after the criminal
gangs in Taraba. They also consulted with the police authorities in the area
before embarking on their action. They succeeded in dislodging the criminal
gangs and arrested the kingpin. On their way back the soldiers accosted them,
killed the three police officers and set the criminal kingpin, Bala Hamisa
Wadume free. 22
And to add salt to injury, the Miyetti Allah is setting a vigilante in some parts of
the country. A Yoruba chieftain, Chief Adebayo put it this way:
“…We are miffed that those who will not allow our elected governors have police are
now setting up Fulani bandit-vigilantes on our soil in addition to the Fulani militias
terrorizing our land”. 23
He went further to claim that about 30,000 people have been killed by the
Fulani herders/militias across the country between 2015 and 2019 and that
President Muhammadu Buhari has taken so many steps which betray the
encouragement being given to these troublers of Nigeria. 24
Recently, Wall Street Journal, in an on-line article reported that the Nigerian
Military maintains secret graveyards in the North East theatre of operation
where not less than one thousand soldiers killed by Boko Haram terrorists were
secretly buried in the North East. Atiku had challenged Buhari to probe the
reported secret burial of fallen hero killed by Boko Haram and ISWAP.25
The Buhari government need to set in motion a security plan that has the
following:
In July 1968, a year into Nigeria’s civil war, one of the divisional commanders
fired a note, from the war front, to the Head of State: “What really are we
fighting for: to enliven a new class of the domineering type or to integrate the
country?”27 General Benjamin Adekunle who wrote that note to General
Yakubu Gowon fought in our civil war and became a folk hero. He thought he
was performing that duty for the sake of the children and grandchildren of a
future Nigeria of justice. The celebrated General soon saw how Nigeria bred
privileged vultures and preening maggots. He died broke and broken.
In what important sense are we really one nation? What really is the basis of
Nigeria’s “unity”? Once upon a time, a senator from the north suggested that
Islamic state be given to Boko Haram to stop the killings. Senator Ike
Ekweremadu challenged him that Ndigbo should be given Biafra as well and
further stated that Biafra is older than Nigeria. A senator from the north threw a
bottled-water at him for mentioning Biafra. Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe fought
the senator from the north for fighting his brother.28
The Buhari government has been known to travel crisis-ridden routes. The
Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) and passport issue were seen by critics as satanic
phases and final phase, or so it seems, of forceful islamization of Nigeria.
Recently, a vexing issue on RUGA took the country by storm. The government
set aside “eleven billion Naira” – (NGN 11,000, 000,000)29 – for RUGA in
Nigeria! The Southern part of Nigeria unanimously rejected RUGA on the
suspicion that it is laden with sinister intention. Some northern states like Benue
and Taraba also rejected it. The government was forced to suspend it
temporarily.
Although some leaders of the north advised the withdrawal of the Fulani herders
from the Southern region for their safety, president Buhari reasoned otherwise.
Some Nigerians were flabbergasted as the northern youths led by one Abdul
Aziz Sulleiman gave the federal government a 30-day ultimatum to rescind the
decision to suspend RUGA failing which they will not guarantee the
unimaginable violence that would be visited against some Nigerians. It beats my
imagination and as some virulent critics have posited, how a region utterly
lacking in intellect, education, class and moral probity can unleash a motley
crew of Street urchins to spew out gibberish, threatening and giving ultimatums
to millions of Nigerians.31-32
No doubt, Nigeria is indeed at war and the Trojan horse in Aso Rock is
perceived to be actively involved.33
Today, Nigeria is home to the highest number of poor people living in any
nation on earth. In 2016, according to the World Poverty Clock, Nigeria had
78,036,612 people living in poverty.35 In 2017, the number increased to
85,674,403 and yet increased the more in 2018 with 90,001,485 persons living
in poverty.36 The latest report of the UNDP reveals that Nigeria has moved from
86 million to 98 million persons living in extreme poverty. 37 Nigeria is growing
retrogressively at 5% annually. Every single minute, it is estimated that about
six Nigerians fall into extreme poverty. The World Bank had warned that by
2040, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would account for
at least 40% of Africa’s population in extreme poverty.38
Nigeria runs asset depletion economy and this increases poverty. Nigeria is
being plundered and a major cause of extreme poverty – the illegal mining of
gold and other minerals going on in the North West to which the nation had lost
at least some $9 billion, illegal logging of wood being perpetuated in the North
eastern part of the country to which the nation had lost at least $1billion, illegal
oil bunkering between 2003 to 2008 to which the nation had lost some $100
billion and other illegal loggings and bitumen depletion to which Nigeria had
lost quite a fortune. 39
By the year 2000, China had 500 million people living in extreme poverty. But
by adopting and strictly implementing the Medium Development Goals (MDG),
she was able to pull 439 million Chinese out of poverty. And in 2012, India had
more than 276 million people living in extreme poverty. Today, India has less
than 76 million of such people. Regrettably, Nigeria has, today, more people
living in poverty than these two populous nations put together have. And this is
our crisis.40
Nigeria is the 3rd most unsecure place to live on earth, after Syria and
Afghanistan and with daily killings and kidnappings unabated, Nigeria is being
speculated to likely overtake the two. Our under-employment and
unemployment rate is one of the worst in the world. It is over 30% with over 22
million young people in their productive age doing nothing. This is very
worrisome.
Nigeria’s debts are escalating almost every single day. We are currently
indebted to about NGN 33 trillion 43 with little or nothing to show for it. What is
even worse! The debt is growing daily and consequently, what is required to
service it is worsening. In 2017, we spent NGN 1 trillion, 630 billion (NGN
1.63 trillion) 44 to service debts. In 2018, we spent NGN 2.90 trillion. 45 And so,
within a year, we had expended the sum of NGN 460 billion difference and this
sum represent about 90.3% of our budget for education and 125.6% for those of
health – just to service debts and yet we keep pilling more debts. 46 How do we
expect to overcome and redeem our debts when we borrow for consumption? In
Singapore, her Constitution was very clear on this matter: You can only borrow
for capital projects that will pay the debts back. But in Nigeria anything goes!
Our borrowings do not impact on our growth or per capita income. No tangible
projects to show for it.
There are three things Nigeria needs to fix very urgently – issues on security,
education and the economy (with particular emphasis on under-employment and
unemployment).
No reasonable investor would invest where there are serious
manifestations of insecurity of lives and properties. Every investor needs
peace of mind to do his business and make his wealth. A place like
Nigeria with serious manifestations of insecurity is definitely not
considered an ideal place to invest irrespective of how much returns one
could make. At best, you need to be alive to harvest your investment.
Every empirical study has shown that the more a nation invests in
education the better for its economy and society. Countries that are doing
well today are those who have invested and continue to invest in
education. Education is not an expense; it is an investment. All the
BRICS countries invested at least 4% of their GDP on education.
Tragically, Nigeria’s budget is low and that of education even worse. In
both the BRICS and the MINT nations, only Nigeria has her education
budget below 1% of her GDP. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, a
GDP of $13 trillion and the annual budget of $3.8 trillion, her budget for
education is $590 billion (which is more than 40% of her GDP and more
than 15% of her budget). And, according to UNESCO, China has 95%
literacy rate.49
Among the MINT nations – Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey, the
most performing amongst them is Indonesia. Indonesia is a country of
260 million people. Her budget is $178 billion and she spent $40 billion
on education (about 4% of the GDP and over 20% of her budget). Nigeria
with about 200 million people and a budget of $28 billion (which is low)
only invested $ 2 billion on education (which is worse).50
South Africa, the second largest economy in Africa has an annual budget
four times those of Nigeria. With the current budget of $110 billion,
South Africa budgets the sum of $17 billion on education this year.
Think! In the past 10 years, Nigeria expended some NGN 4.4 trillion
($14.4 billion). This implies that the whole of 10 years of Nigeria’s
education budget at federal level is quite smaller than those of South
Africa in a year alone. Even when you add ten year budget on health
(which amounted to NGN 2.7 trillion) with the ten years of education
budget in Nigeria (which is NGN 4.4 trillion) the total is still inferior to
one year of South Africa budget on education.51
Yet, within the same period, Nigeria had expended some NGN 10 trillion
on subsidy. About 70% - 80% of those monies find their ways into
corrupt pockets. $1.6 trillion was said to have been stolen from oil
bunkering in 2016 and $1 trillion stolen in 2017. Combine these two it is
$2.6 trillion an equivalent of the sum spent on health sector in ten years;
that should not be!52
The third issue to urgently tackle is the economy as in employment.
Employment is the greatest contributor to building an economy. All the
BRICS and MINT nations know that there is a connection between the
issue of employment creation, growth per capita and growth to overall
economy with the support of the Ministry of Small and Medium
Entrepreneurs (MSME). China has an unemployment rate at 3.8%;
Indonesia 5.4%. Unemployment Rate in Nigeria increased to 23.10 per
cent in the third quarter of 2018 from 22.70 per cent in the second quarter
of 2018. Unemployment Rate in Nigeria averaged 12.31 per cent from
2006 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 23.10 per cent in the third
quarter of 2018 and a record low of 5.10 per cent in the fourth quarter of
2010.53 Today, those figures are inferior to reality.
In Indonesia, 97.7% of the companies are collaborating with the Ministry
of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) creating over 90% of the
jobs in the country. These SME’s in Indonesia produces over 60% of the
GDP. The country’s GDP is $1.2 trillion (60% of the GDP is $720 billion
which is twice Nigeria’s GDP.) Thus, with 260 million people, 145
million are gainfully employed and SMEs are producing 60% of the
employment which is 125 million. Indonesian government supports
SMSEs. These are the practice in other developed countries where their
governments supports the SMEs. But this is not the case with Nigeria.
Nigeria has borrowed a total debt of NGN 28.9 trillion. Had ¼ of this
debt (some NGN 7.23 trillion) been devoted to the SMSEs, the country
would have been better for it. 54
Dr Peter Obi collaborate the above report as he narrated his experience at
a Conference organised by the Tony Elumelu Foundation. According to
Obi, the CEO of the Foundation, Mrs Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu said that for
every $5000 support given to every entrepreneur, it created 20 jobs after
one year. Speaker after speaker supported her position. If Nigeria had
taken $ 23 billion (which is 25% of $90 billion she borrowed) and
supported our local entrepreneurs with grants, she would have created
4,600 entrepreneurs. Assuming 75% of them – 3,350, had created 60% of
the job Mrs Ifeyinwa had aluded to, just by creating only 10 jobs the
3,350 entrepreneurs would have created thirty four million, five hundred
jobs. If we had thirty four million + Nigerians who were gainfully
employed, who would be talking about 98 million Nigerians living in
extreme poverty? 55
Today, Nigeria has a taxable adult of 20 million when she should have
more. If the country wants more, the government must support the SMEs.
Eligible taskforce in Nigeria presently is 115 million. Those engaged in
one employment or the other are about 75 million. About 40 million able-
bodied men and women in their productive age are not doing anything.
The more China, for instance, puts people out of poverty, the more
revenue she receives. The Nigerian SMEs receive a pittance from
government aids and thus cannot contribute significantly to the GDP
growth. In comparison, China, out of the overall $30 trillion debts, the
SMEs control 25% which is $7.5 trillion. The consequence is that not
only do the SMEs contribute 60% of the GDP or 70% on employment,
but also contribute 50% of the tax revenue. 80% of China’s budget is
funded by tax revenue (which is about $3 trillion) and the SMEs provide
50% of which is $1.5 trillion. But in Nigeria the opposite is the case
because the Nigerian SMEs are living from hand to mouth. In 2019 alone,
about 10 million bank accounts were rendered un-operational. Nigerians
withdraw money more than any other countries the world over.56
A story was told how the Nebraska’s governor’s wife was forced by
circumstances to take up a job in a restaurant in order to augment her husband’s
salary to be able to buy a Rand Ford car. I have written extensively how
Nigerian legislators are stealing from the commonwealth of the people in the
course of this book. I need not be detained on that here.
In the recent Global Terrorism Index, based on 2013 incidents, Nigeria ranked
4th among 162 countries with 303 reported attacks, 1,826 fatalities and 457
injuries. In 2020 Nigeria ranked the 3rd position (8.314) position just before
Afghanistan and Iraq. Terrorism was said to have cost Nigeria $28.48 billion in
the year 2013. Nigeria is surpassed only by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq in
this index. Given the dastardly activities of Boko Haram 2013, the 2014 index
was more damning for Nigeria. Terrorism Index in Nigeria decreased to 8.66 in
2017 from 9.01 in 2016. Terrorism Index in Nigeria averaged 6.64 from 2002
until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 9.31 in 2015 and a record low of 3.86 in
2002.58
I am yet to see any other nation in the world where government officials behave
as irresponsible as they do in Nigeria. In a country where poverty is erasing
people’s surnames, some clowns pocket humongous sum as welfare package.
Our legislators are the highest paid in the world, receiving NGN 13.5 million
monthly, even as they do part-time job. Nigerian governors behave like
emperors using the state resources in the most bizarre manner with the security
votes constitutionally granting them avenues to steal the commonwealth of the
nation. The president of Nigeria is one of the most powerful individuals in the
world and we are facing the consequences associated with it.
In Nigeria where most states are complaining of how to pay NGN 30,000
minimum wage (presently about $60 in black market), 469 members of the 9th
National Assembly receive NGN 4.68 billion as welcome package in one day.
In a country where the minimum wage is below $100 and the daily wage below
$5, yet our so-called leaders are sharing billions of naira. In a country that
produces seven out of the twenty richest pastors in the world, a country that
produces the richest black man and once the richest black woman on earth, a
country that was enormously endowed with both human and material resources,
it is most ironical that it is the poverty capital of the world.
Nigeria borrowed to fund its 2019 budget of NGN 8.83 trillion ($28.8 billion).
Nigeria government set aside N305 billion ($1 billion) for fuel subsidies in
2019. From the borrowed money, the sum of NGN 2.14 trillion, a quarter of the
budget, was used in paying part of previous debts. Under Buhari administration,
Nigeria has already borrowed more than NGN 33 trillion. Let’s not forget that
the sum of NGN 410 billion was also borrowed to finance the 2018 budget. The
Buhari government has gone ahead to borrow more money. The Minister of
Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has said the “new”
sought $3bn loan by the Federal Government from the World Bank would be
deployed for reforms in the power sector.59
In the same country where many governors could not even pay consistently the
minimum wage of NGN 18,000 (less than $40) and now that it has increased to
NGN 30,000 which is less than $90, many of them have shown signs that
they’re very likely to default. Meanwhile, our federal legislators who earn more
than presidents of countries from where we wish to borrow will also benefit
from these loans. Do we still wonder why Nigeria was recently adjudged as the
6th most miserable country on earth? Which economic theory says that a
country would move forward by borrowing to fund its entire budget and pay
illegal salaries to its uncaring, bureaucratic and autocratic politicians? 60
China, through its Belt and Road Initiatives, superimposes on Africa continent
like a colossus. In 2017, Sri Lanka was forced to hand over her sea port to
China after fallen into debt traps due to her inability to redeem her $1,
000,000,000 Chinese’ loan. Similarly, Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia,
Montenegro, Pakistan, Tajikistan, etc. are all dying under Chinese loans now.
Nigeria’s case could be worse because those in office usually loot what is
borrowed Nigeria.
It would be recalled that China wrote off some debts owned by Tajikistan in
exchange for some 1,158 square kilometres of her land. Zambian government
has handed over her national electricity company ZESCO (formerly known as
Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited) a state-owned power company
in Zambia. It is Zambia's largest power company producing about 80% of the
electricity consumed in the country. And, her Lusaka Airport is said to have
been ceded also to China in lieu of debts owed. Kenya is presently shivering
because of 72% of her $5,000,000,000 debts from China. Nigeria owes China
over $5,000,000,000 even as her insatiable appetite for loans drives her to
demand for more loans from any willing country on earth. Nigeria may be in the
way of losing some of her national assets to China like the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, Lagos, some of Nigerian refineries, oil blocs, federal
roads and even some federal institutions, some of our major highways,
including raising toll gates which Nigerians must be subjected to pay for using
the roads in their land to China in lieu of debts that are unlikely to be redeemed
in view of the ways of rascality of our leaders. 61 Most grants given to Nigeria
only feed corrupt pockets.
Not long ago, the Nigeria Customs and Excise seized expired chickens and
buried same because they are not fit for human consumption, but hungry
Nigerians were reported to have exhumed those expired and buried chickens
and consumed them. It is that bad; a country where a couple in Port Harcourt
sold their new born baby in order to pay their rent and survive.
In Akwa Ibom, Kano, Lagos and others, ex-governors receive 100% of annual
pay slip salary of the incumbent governors and deputies (and this excludes the
billions paid to them as they leave office). This is a nonsensical piece of
ridiculous, arrant and stupendous nonsense. Are we joking in this country?
Many of them transform to be senators where they retire to earn even more than
most presidents on this planet earth. Government officials in Nigeria both
serving and “ex” are liabilities for life.
Nigeria is rated 67th on suicide rate world-wide. Nigerians have been known for
their resilience and suicide attempt is no option in our culture. But today, the
story has changed.
Quota system in Nigeria is designed to demonize and mentally frustrate the
ingenuity, tenacity and brilliance to hard work and mediocrity enthroned.
Fellow Nigerians and to whom it may concern, the time has come when we
must make hard and uncommon choices in order to arrive at uncommon change
for personal and national transformation. Choices and changes are life
constants. And if we make the right uncommon choices, we shall arrive at many
great uncommon changes.
Following from above, it is quite obvious that most of our institutions and
structures in place are largely obsolete and inappropriate for the kind of future
we pretend to aspire. As Professor Soludo has rightly opined: “You can’t build a
100 storey building on an old bungalow foundation”! Can we create a
functioning and competitive socio-political and economic foundation for
Nigeria without losing the stranglehold of Abuja?
As the oil rent that held the country together is gradually disappearing, its
internal contradictions are forced open, requiring a coterie of survival-coping
mechanisms to keep the system afloat. But for how long!
Today, Nigeria earns as much money from oil as it earns from remittances from
diaspora. She would have gained more had she engaged in massive educational
drive. How do we deliberately optimize the huge army of youths in the country
to be highly productive at home and competitive abroad? According to
Professor Soludo, an educational system with 21 st century curricula powered by
the technologies that guarantees one youth to three skills might be the winning
strategy. As the Western strategies age and decline, they would need production
labour and Nigeria can smartly position herself to become the largest supplier of
such labour either directly or indirectly.
Since 2007, no civil case lodged in the Court of Appeal has been called up for
hearing. Accordingly, Chidi Odinkalu made some calculations on the
congestion rate to about 70% with 86% of Nigerians in prisons today awaiting
trials.64 Most of them eventually overspent their time under detention than they
would have been were they convicted and sentenced. Judges are grossly over-
worked and grossly underpaid. The Nigeria Supreme Court is probably the only
one in the world where judges sit every day and yet cases keep piling up. How
then do we expect the future economy to compete and win in a society where it
can take more than twenty years to settle a simple commercial dispute which
takes few days in other countries? Imagine! Our system of fighting corruption is
concentrated at Abuja. Can we seriously expect the ICPC, or EFCC to police
the 774 local government areas of the country or match up with an intimidating
population surge? 65
In the light of the above, the following measures are therefore proposed to be
put in place:
Granted that Nigeria has got a long list of problems, but adversity comes with
opportunities. With a “Will” to overcome, the problems shouldn’t stop us nor
should a few thousands of miscreants – kidnappers, treasury looters, drug
barons, 419 scammers, etc. must not be the ones that define us. As we build a
new foundation for the next Nigeria we must seize the narrative and sing a new
song to rebrand Nigeria.67
While we bemoan the rising poverty and unemployment rate in the country, we
could take solace the fact that Nigeria still remains the leading and largest
economy in Africa and the most populous and arguably, the most important
black nation on earth.
The United States’ Federal Bureau Intelligence 77 (FBI) released list indicates
that Nigerians in US constitute the most educated and highest earning
immigrants in the US.68
When I hear of drug barons who were Nigerians, I remember that Alaba Market
in Lagos houses some of the highest business incubators on earth. When the
news of the litany of insecurities adorn all nooks and crannies of the nation –
kidnappings, bandits, terrorism, military and police hacking down on the
defenceless citizens of the country, etc., I also remember that there are honest
and hardworking and law-abiding citizens of Nigeria in their millions. When I
hear about the afro-phobia and the stereotyping of Nigerians in South Africa, I
recall that the richest black man on earth is a Nigerian (Aliko Dangote), the one-
time richest black woman on earth a Nigerian (Mrs. Alakija), and our own Tony
Elumelu Foundation is empowering thousands of young African entrepreneurs.
Our own Allen Onyema, the owner of Air Peace is currently evacuating trapped
and stranded Nigerians in South Africa – the remnants of the xenophobic attack
in South Africa – irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or other affiliations,
free of charge. He had expended billions of Nigeria currency to undertake the
evacuations of thousands of Nigerian nationals, a duty the federal government
ought to have done but did not. What is more, our own Mike Adenuga owns the
Glo Communications and he is doing great job; the former Secretary General of
Commonwealth (Emeka Anyaoku) is a Nigerian who excelled in his job.
Nigeria’s investment banker, Adebayo Ogunlesi recently bought over Gatwick
Airport and some other airports in the United Kingdom. 69 Dr Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala, a Nigerian-born world-class economist has recently become the first
African and the first woman on earth to head the World Trade Organisation
(WTO).
Also Obinna Ukwuani, a Nigerian man, has been appointed to lead digital
innovation and growth as Chief Digital Officer for the Bank of Kigali, Rwanda.
And Eno Titilayo Ebong is the latest appointee of President Joe Biden as acting
director of the United States Trade and Development Agency.
Let’s not forget that as Obinwanne, the fame-formed alleged scammer and a
“kid-singer” who worth millions in dollar is from Nnewi, let’s also quickly
remember that Cletus Ibeto (the CEO of Ibeto Group of Companies), Innocent
Chukwuma (Innoson Motors), which produces sports utility vehicles,
commercial buses, and passenger cars at the first indigenous assembly plant in
Nigeria), Chikason, Cosmos Maduka (President/CEO of Coscharis Group,
started Coscharis Motors as a one-man business and over the years has
transformed it into one of the largest car dealership in Nigeria that deals in
BMW, Jaguar, Range Rover and Rolls Royce cars, etc., and Emeka Offor, an oil
dealer. These men all hail from Nnewi Nigeria.
When someone tells me that our youths are under-performing, I remind him that
the youths at the Ikeja Computer Village are doing wonders. Aba is Nigeria’s
Japan and Onitsha Main Market a leading market in West Africa. A young man
from Anambra State recently invented a generator that runs on water; and a
young girl from Regina Patche Secondary School, Onitsha, Anambra State,
Nigeria won the global prize for innovation. Our own Phillip Emeagwali, the
patent-owner and computer wizard and the father of internet on earth is a
Nigerian, the son of the soil. Also, Jenali Alliu from Sokoto designed a
Chevrolet Volt car.70
Tell me that Nigerians can’t be proficient writers and I will conveniently remind
you that the 1986 Novel Prize in Literature was awarded to our own Wole
Soyinka, Chinua Achebe was a well acknowledged and respected international
author who had won so many literary awards and our daughter, Ngozi
Chimamanda Adichie are all Nigerians.
Since 2019 till date, the whole world trembles as a result of the coronavirus
pandemic tearing through families and taking loved ones away, everyone
longed for succour. The announcement of a vaccine undergoing trials was the
needed reprieve for the global community having recorded over 1.7 million
deaths. But in the heart of that race to save the world is a scientist with Nigerian
heritage — Onyema Ogbuagu.71
Ogbuagu is one of those leading the research for a COVID-19 vaccine in the
US. Pfizer and BioNTech had announced that the first vaccine they developed
against COVID-19 could prevent more than 90 per cent of people from getting
infected, saying it would be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of 2020,
and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.72
The point is simple: For every one challenge that Nigeria is confronted with,
there are possibly more opportunities out there. If Lagos, for instance, were to
be a country in spite of her challenges, she would have been among the 6 th
richest African nations. Nigeria is adequately blessed to be the most prosperous
nation of the black race. All we need do is to unleash the creative geniuses in
our people by designing the appropriate institution to power a 21 st century
economy without oil.
The party is over. The elites need to come together. The pretence and hypocrisy
is over. Nigeria’s current population of 200 million and the projected 2050
population of over 400 million with the youths in greater percentage need
quality education, job creation, clean drinking water, uninterrupted electricity
supply, roof over their heads, quality health services, etc. Our leaders should
make it a goal to offer to the children of the poor, what they’re offering their
own children, abroad. That would be the minimum template.
The Nigeria’s National Assembly must do the needful by scaling down her
salaries and allowances to a reasonably, affordable remuneration the country
can endure. What really, according to comments credited to a sitting senator,
would three senators be doing that one couldn’t do? Better still, we can make do
with one arm legislature at the national level. We have no other country but
Nigeria. We must make it work. Of course, I see huge problems and challenges,
but my focus is on the solution.
The choice, ladies and gentlemen, is ours! If we believe it and work at it,
especially in the light of the fact that Africa deepens its integration with the
continental free trade in view, Nigeria could become Africa’s California. But if
Nigeria chose to go the path of its current trajectory, I’m afraid to join Obasanjo
to decry: “… I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice
and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to
hold danger at bay. The main issue, if I may dare say, is poor management or
mismanagement of diversity which, on the other hand, is one of our greatest and
most important assets. As a result, very onerous cloud is gathering. And rain of
destruction, violence, disaster and disunity can only be the outcome.” 72
Today, Nigeria is heavily pregnant. The gathering storm and possible shipwreck
is avoidable. 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.
Any moment from now Nigeria would surely deliver a baby. We are all
expectants. Is Nigeria going to slip into avoidable genocide? Will Nigeria be
officially “fulanised” and “islamized” as events unfold? Would Nigerian elites
do the needful to restructure the country and reposition her for greater heights?
Or is Nigeria pregnant with bloody revolution? Or, better still, we should know
that when tyranny becomes a law, rebellion becomes a duty. Biafra question
still resurrects! Unity is not forced on people. Any man who ignores the
continuous call for separation or divorce by his wife will soon be a victim of
food poisoning at its best because marriage should be by choice, not by force.
Our leaders should therefore recognize that Nigeria is truly united when it is not
forced to be together. A word is enough for the wise. A wise man gets the
umbrella ready before the rain starts. Dalu nu!
REFERENCES
PART 1
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, a total of 117 million bribes were paid in 2019
alone with an average bribe size of NGN 5,754 billion, meaning that a total of
around NGN 675 billion was paid in cash bribes to public officials in Nigeria. 3
This corresponds to 0.52% of the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of
Nigeria. Corruption appears to be the only thing that works in today’s Nigeria.
This is Nigeria where you might woke up one day to hear that snake had
swallowed thirty-six million naira (NGN 36,000,000)4 belonging to a board, or
that Monkey ate up seventy million naira (NGN 70,000,000) 5 belonging to an
association. Or, that the government fetes with terrorists, carouses with
kidnappers and had regular unprotected sex with felons, the troublers of the
Nigerian nation6. Or that the one on the driver’s seat in Aso Rock is an
imposter! Or that about 70% of Nigeria’s expenditure goes to payment of
salaries while only 30% goes to capital projects.7
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, a renowned
rights, democracy and security watchdog has revealed that the humongous sum
of NGN 806 billion was criminally extorted from innocent and industrious
peoples of old Eastern Nigeria otherwise known as “Biafra” in the past 50
months (August 2015 – October 2019)11.
It would be recalled that in August 2017, Senator Isa Misau, a retired Deputy
Superintendent of Police and a senator representing Bauchi South District made
a weighty and shocking allegation and disclosed that the Federal Government of
Nigeria refused to thoroughly and conclusively investigate the NGN 500 billion
criminally extorted from innocent citizens of the old Eastern Region. The
operations of the Nigerian Police Force and the Army-led military in the two
geo-political zones (the South-East and South South) of the old Eastern Nigeria
where innocent citizens are robbed and killed are needless, worthless,
unwarranted, provocative, act of war, genocidal and laden with ethno-religious
ulterior motives. 12
It suffices that in the first tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, some 25,794
Nigerians were killed.13 Of this number, Boko Haramists alone slaughtered over
5,598 persons13 whilst the Fulani herders and other sectarian violence consumed
over 4,917 innocent lives.14 Over 2000 Boko Haramists have been enlisted into
Nigerian army.15 It would be recalled that the two Boko Haram leaders –
Commander Boni and Commander Useini Matagará – involved in the bombing
of the Mosque in Kano and Yobe State, were arrested by the Nigerian
authorities but were swapped in a deal for the Dapchi girls. 16 Now, these
terrorists are back to the war front against Nigerians in cooperation with the
over 2000 Boko Haramists in the Nigerian Army, added with the mass of illegal
foreigners and terrorists that troop into Nigeria. Nigeria has not less than 1,800
porous borders and most of them located in the north. While Buhari closed the
Southern borders, he allowed the northern borders to remain open. It is as if
Buhari closed borders to food but opens same to terrorists and criminals.
Not quite too long ago, the Chadian president led the Chadian soldiers to
dislodge the Boko Haram hideout in Lake Chad Basin.17
If this is Nigeria, critics argue, the chances are that nothing will work. You may
or may not get fair treatment because justice is geographically and religiously
defined; patriotism may mean self, first and self, last! Government work is
obviously nobody`s work, and you may decide to close at noon or sleep off or
chat away on duty cheerfully, ignoring the job you are paid to do.
This is Nigeria where your place of birth tells the man next door whether you
are a genius or a congenital idiot, whether your name is a password or a
handicap, whether your religion may open door or close same.18
This is Nigeria where we have witnessed our “rise to greatness”, and a decline
to a state of a bewildered nation. Nigeria’s electoral umpire, Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) since the return to civil rule in 1999 has
spent NGN 450 billion conducting five general elections and a number of by-
elections.19 In addition to that, the sum of NGN 143 billion was budgeted for
2019 general elections in Nigeria.20 In spite of all these “wastes” our nation
continues to suffer a staggering leadership deficit.
Truth be told, I’m not unaware of the fact that we have experienced some
semblance of “outstanding leadership”, particularly by appointment in the last
twenty-something years ago. We have also seen good intentions and laudable
development agendas. But unfortunately and regrettably, neither the five and
now six general elections nor the wonderful intentions have translated into
improved living conditions for most Nigerians. Six general elections and yet
more than 90 million Nigerians are extremely poor thereby earning the country
the title “Poverty Capital of the World”.21 Six general elections, yet more than
38, 00022 lives have been claimed by the Boko Haram menace, 2.4 million of
us are internally displaced23 but today this figure is inferior to reality, more than
228,000 of us are refugees24, thousands of us have been kidnapped by terrorists,
and 7.7 million of us require urgent humanitarian assistance.25
Six elections, yet more than 2,300 children under the age of five and more than
145 women of childbearing age died yesterday and will die today due to little or
no healthcare facilities.26 Six elections yet well over 13 million of our children
are still out of school27, over 90 million of us, almost half our entire population,
have no access to electricity supply28, and over 108 million of us are homeless.29
Six elections, yet our country have one of the worst infrastructural deficits in the
world; needless to say, our roads are lavishly decorated with potholes and our
airports are among the worst of the worsts.30
Six elections and most of our 36 states have remained economic vegetables,
cap in hand and running to Abuja for life support every single month because
they are unable to generate sufficient internally generated revenue. 31 And
indeed, six elections and our paradoxical underdevelopment continue to
confound the world.
It suffices that Nigeria’s economy had, indeed, grown significantly since 1999
up until 2015 or so, but what is the essence of economic growth if it does not
reflect on the tables of Nigerians? What is economic growth if it enriches the
few and leaves the rest of us in abject poverty? In seventeen years, like prodigal
sons, we earned NGN 77 trillion and squandered it. 32 We have gone ahead to
incur an additional $74.28 billion worth of debt barely thirteen years after a debt
burden of $18 billion was lifted off our shoulders. 33 Yet, there is no
commensurate development to show for the debts we keep piling up for future
generations of Nigerians (“Blessed are the future generations of Nigeria for they
shall inherit our national debts!”) Oh yes! Six general elections and ours is a tale
of an increasing poverty and indebtedness.
This is Nigeria where the current drivers of our nation’s economy had led the
country’s external debt grown to 700% from $10.32 billion in 2015 to $81.2.74
billion in 2019.34 It implies that Nigeria was committing half of its foreign
earnings to servicing its current level of indebtedness. Such a situation only
talks about imminent bankruptcy. No entity can survive while devoting an entire
50% of its revenue to debt servicing. Debts servicing simply means paying
interests that accrue from debts owe. Only interests are paid not the loan or part
of it is attended to. And yet this government is not seeing anything wrong in
borrowing further. Obasanjo was therefore right when he said: “I do not need
the brain of any genius to conclude that those who use statistics to dig us deeper
into debt are our enemies. Statistics can be used to serve any purpose, and that
is why Winston Churchill talked of lies, damn lies and statistics, meaning
statistics can be made master of lies”.35
This is Nigeria where her parliament is the highest paid in the world (Senators
earn as much as $80,000 per month meaning 10,000 times minimum wage and
200 times more than the GDP per capita38 and yet more than 90 million of her
people are below the poverty level, living less than a dollar a day; whilst at least
10.5 million African slaves were taken over the 300 years of Trans-Atlantic
trade39, over 15 million of Nigerian citizens are in diaspora since her
independence in 196040. From popular nations like the US, UK, Canada and
Italy to less popular nations like Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and
Nigerians have chosen to endure all manner of inhuman treatment and
deprivations.
It was said that Britain “bought” Nigeria for £865,000. 41 Who “sold” Nigeria to
Britain? At what price and why, Nigerian youths are wont to ask? Allegedly, for
every single barrel of oil Nigeria gets or sold, Britain has 13. Britain is said to
be feeding fat on Nigeria and critics argue that Britain may not be able to stand
without going bankrupt except by “parasiting” and “killing Nigeria to death”
through our political and economic gate-keepers. 42
In Nigeria where most state governments are complaining about their “inability”
to pay a paltry sum of NGN 30,000 (-$90) minimum wage to her civil servants,
in just one day, 469 members of the 9th National Assembly received NGN 4.68
billion as a welcome package.43 And yet, this is a country in which poverty has
erased peoples’ surnames, a country that has come to become the poverty
capital on earth, a country where people exhume buried chickens and consume
due to poverty, a country where suicide rate skyrockets!, a country that her
National Assembly plans to spend a humongous sum of NGN 37 billion, just to
“renovate” the complex.44 SERAP is currently contending with the House of
Representatives over alleged plans to spend NGN 5.04 billion on exotic cars
purchase.45 Tufiakwa! Emere anyi ihe a eme!!
This is Nigeria where government bribes a terrorist group with one hundred
billion naira (NGN 100,000,000,000)46 and yet could not adequately fund its
educational and health sectors put together in a year near that figure!
Not quite long, the First Lady and her daughter took umbrage at the
management of Aso Rock Clinic over the poor state of health, accusing the
Chief Medical Director of Aso Rock of running an ill-equipped health care
Clinic despite huge budgetary allocations it receives yearly. Aso Rock Clinic,
instead of becoming a centre of excellence has become seedy, a wretched centre
where ordinary facilities such as syringes, cotton wool, drugs and equipment,
even paracetamol are conspicuously absent and yet between 2015 till date about
NGN 13 billion had been expended on the Clinic. 47 The name of the game is
corruption and it is happening right under the nose of President Buhari.
Nigerians have realized that the corruption industry is still flourishing till date.
What the First Lady and her daughter’s angst signify is that minus the president,
members of the First Family have also come to this realization.
This is Nigeria where a sitting president went to Egypt, and without the
knowledge and approval of the parliament, told his host that as from January
2020 there would no longer be a visa requirement for Africans to come to
Nigeria.48 How could a “leader” of a nation that has come to become the third
most dangerous place to live on earth, a nation with some 93 million of its
population unemployed; a nation with billions and trillions of debt in foreign
and local currencies that has come to become the poverty capital of the world be
so callous, insensitive, purblind, imbecilic, to make such a pronouncement. That
policy statement is nothing but a nonsensical piece of ridiculous, arrant and
stupendous nonsense.
President Buhari is the only president of Nigeria that attempt to change the
demography of the country by subterfuge.
The government has proposed that states be allowed to control all the solid
minerals deposited in their soil. That’s a good one. But what about states that
have little or no solid minerals but have other mineral deposits buried in their
soil? Why would they not be allowed to also access their natural resources and
then pay royalties to the federal government? Solid minerals are largely
deposited in the northern parts of Nigeria whilst states in the Niger-Delta region
are blessed abundantly with oil. If the states in the North be allowed to access
their solid minerals and some other states, for example, in the Niger-Delta
region could not access theirs, is there a better definition of injustice more than
that?
Islam in Northern Nigeria has carved in to the forces of bigotry. With deep
sense of responsibility and highest regard to honest and sincere faithfuls of
Islamic faith, and without intending to be unnecessarily cynical to their faith,
the truth remains that the enforcement of sharia law has created an atmosphere
of impunity and intolerance. It would be recalled that in 2013, a lady was
beheaded by members of a terrorist organisation suspected to be those of Boko
Haram sect.50 The brutal murder of this unfortunate lady was recorded on video
and viewed by CKN Nigeria in one of the troubled states in the northern part of
Nigeria. The lady whose hands were tied to the back was asked to confess that
she was a member of the State Security Service (SSS), an allegation she denied.
It was a gruesome death!
In 2016, some blood-thirsty Muslims who wanted to please Allah by all means
and get into the good books of Prophet Muhammad were on rampage in
Northern Nigeria where they maimed, killed and destroyed lives and the horrific
consequences of their actions were graphic and glaring. Also, one Mrs. Eunice
Elisha, the wife of a Redeemed Pastor was murdered in cold blood in the early
hour of Saturday July 9th by suspected Muslim fanatics.51
Beheading for God and religion has become a dangerous slippery, slippery
slope and a worrisome development in northern Nigeria. The beheadings were
never done in secrets; they were open and public rituals.52
The criminal silence of the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, the Kano
State Governor, Umar Ganduje and then Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II
over the killings in Kano was disappointingly deafening and sends worrisome
signals about the threat of Islamic fanaticism in the region. 52 Within a week,
Christians have been murdered in different states across northern Nigeria in
very gruesome ways for the supposed crimes of blasphemy against Prophet
Muhammad. The Christian woman is the latest. But is she going to be the last?
In the wake of the Christmas Day attack by Islamic State West Africa Province
(ISWAP) and an attack by Boko Haram on Christmas Eve, Bishop Matthew
Hassan Kukah of Sokoto told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need of his
disgust with the authorities.
According to him:
“The only difference between the government and Boko Haram is Boko Haram
holding a bomb and the government is using the levers of pawn … using different
methods of achieving the same goal of Islamic dominance… They are using the levers
of power to secure the supremacy of Islam, which then gives more weight to the idea
that it can be achieved by violence. With the situation in Nigeria, it is hard to see the
moral basis they have to defeat Boko Haram…
They have created the conditions to make it possible for Boko Haram to behave the
way they are behaving.56
This followed a Christmas Eve attack by Boko Haram in which seven people
were slaughtered.
The rampaging soldiers of Allah got away with their heinous crime in the past
in the case of Gideon Akaluka in the 90s and are most likely to get away with
such in the future because some Muslems have ensured impunity is entrenched
in Muslim communities in northern Nigeria; yet there are good and faithful
ones. Extremism appears to be ubiquitous and the political will to stem this
cancerous trend is obviously lacking.
In my estimation, those who fight for God are missing the point. If your God is
God indeed, let Him fight for Himself! Why must anybody fight or kill in the
name of God?
One is therefore not surprised when a popular Australian Muslim Scholar Imam
Tawhidi had disclosed that Nigerian Government harbours all forms of terrorists
because the government itself is run Terrorist.
According to Tawhidi, Boko Haram terrorists are allowed to operate with little
or no effort to tackle them because of corruption in Nigeria.
The naïve and uninformed are surprised that while the whole former Eastern
Region otherwise known as the Biafra land is decidedly Christian, at least 75%
are Catholics. It is believed that the Pope has the ears of the world leaders.
People are wont to ask: Why is the Pope “not doing something” about the
killings of Christians in Nigeria? But for those who are in the know, it is not
surprising that even Buhari is an asset to the Vatican more than he is to the
British Crown. What Vatican and others failed to do, America under Trump has
done graciously. US has placed Nigeria on a Special Watch List for nations
whose religious intolerance holds sway; even as she has placed a visa ban on
Nigeria on certain immigration aspects.59
In some African countries, it is the Church that is stopping the government from
impunity. But here in Nigeria, the Church aids the government, speaks for them.
Some of the so called pastors are enjoying private jets in a country that is the
capital of poverty on earth. When you confront the politicians, poor citizens will
troop out to defend them and insult you. They say you are a mere civil servant
that can’t feed himself, that’s why you are talking. When you call out pastors, a
sick man drinking only anointing oil and holy water will remind you of “Touch
not My Anointed and My Prophet Do No Harm”. They ask you to pray for
Nigeria, while they take huge donations from the same government killing you.
“Obu gini n’eme nu!”
They ask us to have faith in the miraculous works of God for our salvation.
While I may have some believe in some miracles, I want to say that the
miraculous is only a periodic intervention of divinity in the affairs of humanity
when humanity is helpless and confused. It cannot and will never take the place
of strategic planning and putting in place sound economic principles and values
that represents the connerstone of raising the common man to some reasonable
standard and basis of livelihood. The demands for better life does not reckon
with praying and fasting but with rigorous political, financial (fiscal), socio-
cultural and economic exercises.
Nigeria of today could better be described and/or defined through the lens of
William Shakespeare as a tale told by idots, full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing! 60 Was it not William Bossman who opined that “the Negroes are all
without exception crafty, villainous and fraudulent and very seldom to be
trusted and a man of integrity is as rare among them as a white falcon” 61? We
have failed to dispel the validity of this view by our actions and by our
performance and behaviour in government, we have proven Sir Richard Burton
right who said that the Negro is always a child, that he never develops and that
the race is an inferior one which neither education nor anything else can raise to
the level of the white.62
Nigeria is an integral part of the modern world; therefore, Nigerians are rightly
concerned about nation-building. In a significant sense, nations are not just
thrown up by historical accident; they are built by men and women with vision
and resolve. Nation-building is therefore the product of conscious statecraft, not
happenstance.65
First and foremost, it is all about building a political entity which corresponds to
a given territory, based on some generally accepted rules, norms, and principles,
and a common citizenship. Secondly, it essentially has to do with building
institutions which symbolize the political entity – institutions such as a
bureaucracy, an economy, the judiciary, universities, a civil service, and civil
society organizations. Most importantly, nation-building is about building a
common sense of purpose, a sense of shared destiny, a collective imagination of
belonging. Therefore, nation-building is all about building the tangible and
intangible threads that hold a political entity together and gives it a sense of
purpose. It is all about building the institutions and values which sustain the
collective community in these modern times. 67
Nigeria has the potential to become the ‘Giant of Africa’. Although many see
Nigeria as giant, not necessarily because of the quality of her national
institutions and values but simply by virtue of her large population and oil
wealth. But the greatness of a nation, in reality, has to be earned and is not
determined just by the size of its population or the abundance of its natural
resources. Unlike Nigeria that has the highest population of black race and
superabundance of natural resources, China and India which also have the
largest populations in the world, are only recently rising as important global
players. Japan, on the other hand, has few natural resources, but has long
managed to turn itself into a global economic powerhouse. 68 Singapore
optimized the quality of her national institutions and values to become an Asian
tiger.
“In today's world, skills, industriousness, productivity, and competitiveness are the
determinant factors of national greatness. Not even the possession of the nuclear
bomb is enough to make a nation great without reference to the industriousness and
creativity of its citizens. Since the time of Adam Smith, every serious nationalist and
politician has come to know that the wealth of a nation is not based on the wealth and
opulence of its rulers, but on the productivity and industriousness of its citizenry.” 69
The real question is: Despite our enormous human and natural resources, why
has the task of nation-building been so difficult in Nigeria, and the fruits so
patchy? We shall interrogate three critical areas:
Nigerians within and outside our country are convinced that, with the right
social, economic and political atmosphere, a united, powerful, purposeful,
compassionate and egalitarian nation will emerge from the frustrations
expressed and captured by such expressions as marginalization, stranger,
indigene, discrimination, etc.
But unfortunately and regrettably too and considering the insatiable crocodile of
militant Islam in Nigeria whose sense of history extends beyond blood
breakfast, it appears that if a people wants to destroy or divide their country,
they should elect a Buhari? The malignancy which is now growing between
militant Islamism resident mainly in the North and other crimes mainly in the
South threatens the peace of all. This malignancy seeks not to liberate but to
enslave; not to build but to destroy. That malignancy is militant Islam. It cloaks
itself in the mantle of great faith, yet it murders the Jews, Christians and
Moslem alike with seemingly unforgiving impartiality.
The historical legacies of colonial rule created some challenges for nation-
building in Nigeria. It splited Nigeria into North and South with different –
While large British colonies like India and the Sudan had a single administrative
system, Nigeria had two, one for the North and another for the South. Indeed,
these were supposed to be two separate countries, but held together only by a
shared currency and transportation system.
In the 1950s and 1960s many members of the Nigerian elite class had their
education and world outlook moulded by the regional institutions. While it is
generally true to speak of Britain as being relatively “homogenous” inspite of
the distinctive cultures of the English, Scot and the Welsh which made her
adopt a unitary political system, Nigeria, on the other hand, had before 1914,
different kingdoms which differ in many respects – socio-political, cultural,
linguistic, and religious backgrounds and orientations.
It is, therefore, in this important sense that regionalism has been regarded as a
major challenge to nation-building in Nigeria. In coping with the problems of
state and nation building the founding fathers of our nation tried to deal with
this challenge by adopting federalism and advocating a policy of unity-in-
diversity. 75
There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably measured using
the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and the
distribution of wealth (the amount of wealth people own). Besides economic
inequality between countries or states, there are important types of economic
inequality between different groups of people.78
In the case with Nigeria, however, not only are many of her citizens denied
basic rights such as the right to education and health, there is also serious
variation in the enjoyment of these rights across the country. As a consequence,
the citizen is not motivated to support the state and society, because he or she
does not feel that the society is adequately concerned about their welfare.
Secondly socio-economic inequalities across the country fuels fears and
suspicious which keep our people divided.
Secondly, even in those parts of the country that are relatively better off, the
level of social provision and protection is still low by world standards. The
20% that are poor and unemployed in Bayelsa State, for instance, are still
excluded from common citizenship benefits. We therefore need a Social
Contract between the people on the one hand, and the state and nation on the
other. The state and nation must put meeting the needs of the disadvantaged as
a key objective of public policy. Such an approach can make possible a
common experience of life by Nigerians living in different parts of the country
and elicit their commitment to the nation. Instead of resorting to the divisive
politics of indigene against settler as a means of accessing resources, a
generalized and honest/sincere commitment to social citizenship is expected to
create a civic structure of rights that will unite people around shared rights and
goals.83
The traditional polarization between the rulers and the ruled increases in leaps
and bounds! As the Niger Delta region with all its trappings of oil and power
and the most embarrassing expression of poverty and neglect and the fact that
more than 85% of the people in the north of Nigeria live below poverty level
insult the psyche of the nation, and yet, our leaders are swimming in an ocean of
opulence.84 This should not be!
Statistics also reveals the level of poverty in all the 36 states, including the
capital, Abuja runs thus:
Lagos State – 85%; Osun State – 10.9%, Anambra State – 11.2%, Ekiti
State – 12.9%, Edo State –19.2%, Imo State – 19.8%, Abia State –
21.0%, Rivers State – 21.1%.
FCT (Abuja) – 23.5%, Kwara State – 23.7%, Akwa Ibom 23.8%, Delta
State – 25.1%, Ogun State – 26.1%, Kogi State – 26.4%, Oyo State –
29.4%, Cross River State – 33.1%, Plateau State – 51.6%.
Nassarawa State – 52.4%, Ebonyi State – 56.0%, Kaduna State – 56.5%,
Adamawa State – 59.0%, Benue State – 59.2%, Niger State – 61.2%,
Borno State – 70.1%, Kano State – 76.4%, Gombe State – 76.9%.
Taraba State – 77.7%, Katsina State – 82.2%, Sokoto State – 85.3%,
Kebbi State – 86.0%, Bauchi State – 86.6%, Jigawa State – 88.4%, Yobe
State – 90.2% and Zamfara State – 91.9%.86
Poverty and nation-building are strange bedfellows, whether the poor are 20%
or 85% of the population. How can you sincerely expect a largely marginalized
citizenry, increasingly crippled by poverty and the lack of basic needs, to play
its proper role in the development of the nation? Nations’ are built by healthy
and skilled citizens. On grounds of both equity and efficiency, we need to
promote the access of the bulk of the Nigerian population to basic education,
health, and housing. Nigeria, indeed, needs a social contract with its citizens as
a basis for demanding their loyalty and support.87
The country, Nigeria was created through Constitution and had now grown into
an independent nation since 1960, having gone through the period of colonial
rule under the British government, which lasted for over a century, with the
annexation of Lagos in 1861. The history of constitutional development in
Nigeria can simply be separated into two:88
However, since 1940s and 1950s, our founding fathers have been confronted
with the problem of an appropriate constitutional arrangement. In the end, they
arrived at the principle of federalism as a foundation for our nation. The
Lyttleton constitution of 1954 is the fourth and the last of the pre-
independence constitutions of Nigeria. It was enacted in 1954 as a successor of
the Macpherson Constitution of 1951.
The Lyttleton constitution of 1954 was inundated with the following features: 89
Post of the premier was created in every region. The Premiers were to
advise the governor of their regions.
Federal system of government by sharing power between the central and
the regions.
Lagos was carved out of the Western Region and made the Federal
Capital Territory.
It retained the bi-cameral legislature for both Northern and Western
regions, and uni-cameral for the Eastern Region.
There was autonomy of regions.
Federal legislature (House of Representatives) consisting 184 members
who were elected directly from regional assemblies.
A council of minister with the governor general as the president, three
official members, three ministered from each region and one minister
from southern Cameroon.
The speaker instead of the governor presided over the House of
Representatives.
The governor of the region ceased to be member of the Federal executive
council.
1960 Constitution:
It was the Constitution that defined ‘Nigerian citizenship’, as well as, outlined
constitutionally protected rights for every citizen and person living in Nigeria.
Under the 1960 constitution, the three, and subsequently four, regions of
Nigeria were viable and promoted sustained development in all sectors of the
economy. In Northern Nigeria, groundnut pyramids grew exponentially, and so
did cotton mills, tin, animal husbandry and grains thrive. Ahmadu Bello
University grew into a reputable institution, boasting of one of the best
architectural faculties in Africa.91
In Western Nigeria, cocoa production flourished and financed free education at
all levels, leading to the establishment of the University of Ife, with an
internationally renowned Pharmacy Department. The first television station in
Africa was established in Ibadan and also the first stadium in Africa. Import
substitution industries grew, extending to Lagos, which increasingly became the
industrial hub of West Africa. 92
In Eastern Nigeria, the first Iron and steel factory in Black Africa was built in
Enugu, the second cement factory at Nkalagu, the first gas factory in Emene, the
second beer brewery in Umuahia and two soft drink plants in Onitsha and
Enugu. An American oriented University of Nigeria, Nsukka grew, threatening
the pioneer status of University College Ibadan, then a campus of University of
London.93
Military rule and the imposition of a non-federal constitution changed all that.
The unitary system of government destroyed competition among regions. It led
to a scramble for our collective resources and the foundation of unbridled
corruption in government.
States and local governments, which did not reflect any demographic equality,
were created and used as the yardstick for representation in the legislature and
the executive.
Speaking glowingly about the legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the former premier
of the north, Bishop Kukah avers:
“At a time when there was no technology and no structures, you developed them from
scratch. You built such institutions as the Ahmadu Bello University, Institute of
Administration, Kaduna Polytechnic, Colleges of Education, Government Secondary
Schools, etc. You set up the Northern Nigerian Development Corporation, Northern
Nigeria Investment Limited, Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Broadcasting Corporation of
Nigeria, New Nigerian Newspapers, Textiles Factories such as Kaduna Textile Mills,
Zamfara Textiles, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, Northern Oil Processing
Mill, Sword Branch Bottling Company, Nigerian Breweries Ltd, Hamdala Hotel,
Kano Groundnut pyramids, Central Hotel, Bank of the North, Northern Nigeria
Radio Corporation and many others, etc.”94
It is of note that during this period, Dr. Micheal Okpara ended up building the
fastest growing economy in the world as a Premier of Eastern Region.
It is unarguably true that DR.M .I. Okpara laid a solid industrial base for the
development of Eastern Nigeria for the then period and for future generations. It
was then that Nigeria’s industrial pathway was drawn and which could have
established Nigeria on a solid foundation of industrial growth had the initiative
been sustained by successive administrations. According to him:
"I have never understood why Nigeria should export 41,947 tons of raw cotton in
1961 valued at £9.5 million while importing 177, 684, 000 square yards of textiles
valued at £19 million.
Why should we continue to import such heavy commodities as cement when limestone
abounds in this country? The only adequate answer to the European Common Market
with the obnoxious tariff walls is our manufacturing most of what we import from
them. With the best will in the world, this will take time .
But a start must be made now by deliberately concentrating on those goods which can
be easily manufactured here thereby saving foreign exchange. I have already
mentioned two, but I believe that it is possible to concentrate during this period of the
plan on three specific fields covering food, clothing, and shelter."95 - Premier Michael
Okpara (1962 )
'Progress Without Tears'
However, our founding fathers did very well and were able to perform because
the regions were truly autonomous and independent, practicing fiscal federalism
as it were.
Consequently, the “New Federalism” was born under the first military rule in
1966. It had uncertain infanthood during the early periods of Gowon
government but its growth was accelerated during the later period of his regime.
Its adulthood and continuity have received tremendous boost from Murtala’s
regime down to the last vestige of military rule in Nigeria. It was the last
military junta of Abdulsalami Abubakar that inspired and conspired to produce
what we know today as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Now I ask: Will the deliberate suppression of the truth of what happened and
what is currently playing out, cure the terrible maladies manifesting all over
Nigeria from its many self-inflicted wounds? No. Will elections mandated by
the “Rogue Constitution” that emerged from the blood festivals of 1966-1970
cure the dying Nigeria? The answer is “No”. Why is Nigeria the only country
on earth operating two conflicting irreconciliable ideologies – democracy and
sharia all embedded in the same constitution? A conundrum!
A third and final area of constitutional challenge is about the principles for
sharing power at inter-governmental relations. 101 Some indigenous people were
not only discriminated against, but tactically excluded. The present
administration in Nigeria is a perfect example. This pattern of uneven
distribution of power goes right down to even local governments. Unless we
have inclusive systems of government, we cannot have a stable political system
as an anchor for nation-building. Through the Federal Character Commission
and through informal arrangements like zoning, we have witnessed some
epileptic progress, but a lot more work has to be done before we fully address
the problem of monopoly, marginalization, and exclusion in bureaucratic and
political positions. More importantly, the pursuit of the principle of the federal
character should not be at the expense of merit or a substitute of equal
opportunity for all citizens.102
I would argue, therefore, that the key values of federalism, democracy, and
inclusive government have not been sufficiently consolidated as core values for
our nation. Some important questions regarding each of these three key values
remain unanswered. And in many instances, there is a discrepancy between
what is written on paper and what people do in practice. Building consensus
around these three key values remains a constitutional challenge for nation-
building. Nigeria needs a constitutional settlement that commands the
acceptance, if not the respect, of a majority of its 200 million citizens. The
1999 constitution bequeathed by the military is defective in many important
respects. Attempts to correct these defects through the National Political
Reform Conference (NPRC) of 2005 and the Constitutional Reform Bill of
2006 which was debated and rejected by the National Assembly, have so far
failed.103
When we refer to the courts or the ICPC or Economic and Financial Crime
Commission (EFCC) as institutions that fight corruption; we imply that these
organisations not only operate and apply enforce a set of rules but also aim to
create a system of values that rejects the abusive of public position for private
gain.
Today, there are three institutions that are dedicated to fostering integrity in the
public sector: the Code of Conduct Bureau [CCB], the ICPC and EFCC.
Together the ICPC’s mandate include reviewing public sector systems and
procedures with a view to eliminating pitfalls for corruption, public
enlightenment and mobilization against corruption and enforcing the law in
these areas. By contrast, EFCC has mandate to combat 419 crimes, money
laundering, and terrorist financing and fraud in the financial sector.
The civil service is the main instrument and institution of public service
delivery. Traditionally, the civil service performs three functions: supporting
the policy making function of government at the federal, state and local
government; facilitating or regulating the private sector; and providing
managerial leadership for operating public sector enterprises. The capacity of
the Nigerian civil service to perform its statutory functions is critically
dependent on its ability to attract and retain competent and highly skilled
persons in the professional category; the willingness to offer attractive pay and
benefits package; and the modernisation of the office infrastructure.
The reforms of the federal civil service has rightly focused on improving the
pay package, increasing the number of staff in the professional category and
improving service to the public through the Service Compact with Nigerians
(Servcom).
The Judiciary is an important institution is any democracy but they are essential
to the functioning of a market economy. The judiciary not only arbitrates
disputes between the various levels of government, between government and
citizens, and among citizens but also among private sector agents. Given its
pivotal role in national stability and economic prosperity, some of the major
features of good institutions noted earlier are particular relevant. These are that
institutions should have persons with the technical expertise and moral
competence to interpret the rules or implement the goals of the organisations;
and ensure that the institutions inspire public confidence.
In recent times, the Supreme Court, the apex court in the country, has inspired
much public confidence and respect because of the quality of its judgment,
especially in some politically sensitive cases. In some ways, the gradual
maturity of the democratic process in Nigeria, where politicians now prefer
legal recourse rather to local rampage with their supporters and loyalists, is
directly linked to the growing public confidence in the courts. Election related
disputes should be addressed in the courts –be they electoral courts or ultimately
in judicial courts –and not through violence.
How to spread the benefits of growth and development to all – in other words to
achieve equitable growth is a major public policy challenge. In Nigeria, little
effort has been made in that direction. The key instruments for sharing include
unemployment insurance, access to affordable housing, and access to health.109
In his book, “The Trouble with Nigeria” Chinua Achebe identified failure of
leadership as the main problem of Nigeria’s politics and governance.
Everybody defines leadership differently but I really prefer the way John C
Maxwell defines leadership, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way,
and shows the way.” Irrespective of how one defines a leader, he or she can
prove to be a difference maker between success and failure. A good leader has
to have a futuristic vision and knows how to turn his ideas into real-world
success stories.110 In this book, we shall look at some of the important leadership
qualities that separate good leaders from a bad one. (See Charles Akujieze,
(2019) Nigeria: An Experiment in Nation Building, ibid)
Colonel Tony Nyiam, a retired Army officer who hails from Cross River State
came to the limelight when he and some other officers attempted to overthrow
the former military president, Gen Ibrahim Babangida in a coup, on April 22,
1990.126 Nyiam who also served under retired Major-General Buhari recounted
how the then general officer commanding (GOC) 3rd Armored Division, Jos told
the officer under his command that though his ancestral lineage and root were
from the Niger Republic, he having sworn an oath of allegiance to Nigeria is
committed to defend the territorial integrity of the Nigeria-nation.
On April 18, 1983, a Chadian force invaded and occupied 19 islands on Lake
Chad. Acting independently of the Nigerian government, Muhammadu Buhari,
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Third Armoured Division of Jos, 128
unilaterally closed the Chadian-Nigerian border and mobilized his forces. The
Nigerian government under President Shehu Shagari ordered Buhari to reopen
the border, but he openly refused, opting to expel the Chadian troops without
the blessings of the government. The Nigerian troops successfully recaptured
the islands, and also pursued the Chadians 50 kilometers across the borders.129
The war was one of the causes behind the 1983 Nigerian coup d'état.
Demonstrating President Shagari's powerlessness vis-à-vis his officers, which
had enabled Buhari to openly act against orders; it highlighted the tensions
between the military and the civilian government. On December 31, 1983,
Muhammadu Buhari seized power in Nigeria, ending the Second Nigerian
Republic.
One of the turning events during his leadership was the failed attempt at
kidnapping the former Nigerian politician, former transport and aviation
minister and adviser (confidant) of former president Shehu Shagari – Alhaji
Umaru Dikko, accused, alongside others, of embezzling billions of dollar.
Buhari ruled Nigeria briefly and brought some sense of sanity and orderliness in
the country. Though high-handed in his approach to governance, many
Nigerians appreciated him for his thoroughness and no-nonsense mien and zero-
tolerance to corruption. He subsequently despatched most corrupt Nigeria
politicians to Kirikiri maximum prison and seized many assets and properties
acquired by corruption.
He had tried three consecutive times to run for presidency under democratic
dispensation which were unsuccessful but his efforts paved way in his forth
time. Having ran on the manthras of three major issues which Nigerians
desperately sought after – arresting the insecurity problem in the country,
revamping the economy and fighting corruption in the system, Nigerians
believed in him and gave him the mandate in 2015.
The Holy Book of the Christian faith admonishes that the heart of man is
deceitful and deliberately wicked; who can know it? This is perfectly in
consonance with the manner of man we come to know as Muhammadu Buhari.
It would be recalled that in the election for the secretary general of the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1985 when he was the military head of
state, Buhari voted against Nigeria. Instead, he voted and secured the election of
one Ide Oumarou, a Fulani man from Niger, as opposed to Peter Onu, an Igbo
man from Nigeria. By doing so, Buhari became the first and only head of state
in the history of modern international relations to vote against his country in
favour of his tribe. His ancestoral root was from the neighbouring desert nation
– Niger Republic.
According to one Abba Mahmoud who commented on Buhari cueless
government lamented that the president does not seem to be in charge of the
country as there is no clear path being taken. This is not the Buhari we knew.130
Holding a copy of the Qur’an, President Buhari swore to an Oath of Office “to
do good to all manner of people, without fear or favour, affection or ill will”.
Unfortunately and regrettably too, Buhari whose speech: “I belong to everybody
and I belong to nobody speech”, show the appearance of a no-nonsense and
neutral umpire suddenly degenerated into the worst nepotistic, tribal and
religious bigot known in Nigeria history. Buhari has identified those he appears
to favour and he has chosen those he cannot sack, apparently because he fears
them, all contrary to his oath of office. He went further to say that we should not
expect those who gave him 5% to enjoy the same privilege as those who gave
him 97% vote. This is not the Buhari we knew.
Even Aisha Buhari had reason to complain in public about the cabal that caged
her husband; many well-meaning individuals both high and low have been
complaining too. The verdict is that President Buhari is surrounded by very bad
people who are destroying him, his government and even the country he
pretends to love so much. Is it that the President does not know or is not
listening? We really love Buhari and we want him to succeed. That is why we
have to complain loudly, before it is too late so that he can take necessary
actions immediately. The verdict of history awaits him and he should know that.
After all, history is on the side of the oppressed.132
Col. Nyiam said, “It will not augur well for Nigeria if Buhari continues this
way. Buhari is too sectional. He doesn’t hide it and his action if remained
unchecked is capable of undermining the unity of Nigeria. He should see entire
Nigeria as his constituency,”133 he declared.
The Buhari government is pampering the bandits in Zamfara and Katsina and
incentivising organised crime. The Buhari government have allowed Sheikh
Gumi trivialise terrorism and sow seeds of discord in the military; even
suggesting the bandits were only asking for a piece of their denied national pie
in ransoms. Unfortunately our lion (Buhari) suddenly become drowsy and
allowed cockroaches to grow teeth, never bothered with the apparent danger
that Gumi poses.135
The governors in the North of Nigeria have started doing the biddings of the
terrorists, paying heavy ransom to them and shuting down schools. Niger State
is currently overrun by the terrorists and Abuja is under siege of the “arrangee”
terrorists. It brutalises my psyche to hear that the DSS was said to have written a
memo to a frightening village in Abuja telling them not to panic as the terrorists
are only passing by through their village.
“In Niger State, a certain community has taxed members and paid bandits for a slice
of peace. Nobody knows when their payment would expire and if the bandits in Niger
would seek to renew the agreement, and at what fee? Niger, perhaps, has the fastest-
growing terrorism industry in the world. Somewhere in Borno, some people had tried
a brigade of prayer warriors. Now our politicians are openly begging for foreign
mercenaries.”136
And as terrorists take over Abuja the Department of State Security (DSS), the
Nigeria police and the military go after protesters especially in the South East.
According to SaharaReporters,
“The Nigerian military has drafted reinforcement troops from some of its formations
fighting insurgency in Borno State to join the troops in the South-East region over the
military’s clash with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its security arm, the
Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Military sources confirmed to SaharaReporters that the reinforcements were drawn
from some battalions including the 231 Tank Battalion in Biu, Borno State, which is
under the 3 Armoured Division, Jos, Plateau State…”137
Under the very watch of the great lion, some unknown gunmen sourced and
found the audacity to visit a governor’s home at 9 a.m. on a Saturday. They
killed police officers and burnt the house. And under this dispensation, perhaps,
just perhaps, we could soon have a situation where a sitting president could be
negotiating with some unknown gunmen to release a sitting governor kidnapped
from a government house. 138
“Direct death threats have been issued to governors and traditional rulers, and
nothing happened. Oh, sorry, somebody jumped out of the presidency to remind a
bemused public that those crimes are not federal crimes. You need not laugh.
Perhaps that’s why the federal Attorney General is aloof. The chief law officer of a
nation sliding into anarchy… The Foreign Affairs Minister is too urbane, too suave,
to attend to threats against the country coming from foreign lands. So, who would
blame state governors who have become chickens? The rumours that some state
governments have begun paying protection monies to organised crime groups
masquerading as freedom fighters might, after all, not be unthinkable.”139-140
The last bite we could hear from Mr. President was “Shoot on sight everybody
found with assault weapons.” However, since this order was given, an entire
State police command and prisons have been sacked and burnt by hoodlums. A
governor’s house burnt. Yet, all Buhari has done is to issue warning to criminals
not to mess around with him. Is Buhari now desperate to be seen as a born-again
democrat? Our fate is bleak.141 .
“The aura of the lion is what keeps his adversaries away. That aura is built by his
conquests, muscularity, roars, mien and alertness. That aura deters the forest and
saves him a thousand fights. The glory of our lion is fading. Not because he has tried
to bite and failed to tear and crush. But because he has picked his teeth and watched
goats eat palm fronds on our heads. So even scrawny hyenas are gathering and
nibbling at him, on the tail. His time is running out. Our last hopes are crumbling.
His legacy is in peril. We are in shambles.
We know the goats eating palm fronds on our heads will grow canines. When the
palm fronds are finished, they might chew our heads and tear us apart. Yet we hope.
Because what would it take the lion to whom the gods had given all our fangs to use
and pounce.”
“Today all our chickens are coming home to roost. We have been on the brink many
times. Siddon-look looks dangerous. Many rural communities in the North are now
desolate. The South-East is slipping. Fatwas are flying around. Anambra
governorship election, due in a few months, is in clear jeopardy. Our last hopes are
crumbling. Who can rouse the president?”142
A reflection on human nature and the conditions for human progress, or lack of
it, as the case may be, is copiously recapitulated and encapsulated in the
Scriptures, through the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes – two of the most
profound books which distill insights into human experiences and direction in
life. For a reformer who desires good governance in his society, these two
books should be in his arsenals, for the dynamics of politics and good
governance cannot survive independent of spiritual elements.
“There is no doubt that Nigeria is at a most precarious phase in its existence as a
nation. These are indeed trying time for Nigeria and Nigerians. My diagnosis is
simple: We seem to have lost our ways because we seem to have lost the wisdom of
governance and the wisdom of service as well as the wisdom that flows from the
spirituality that undergirds both.”143
Foundation reflects one’s life and no man or nation can go beyond the
foundation of his or her life. It is a factor to either growth or stagnation. The
foundational problem of Nigeria, one of the major inter-locking and hydra-
headed problems why nothing works in Nigeria is largely spiritual.
The spiritual controls the physical. Even the name we bear: “Nigeria”, what
does it connotes spiritually? What is the spiritual significance of choosing 1 st
October 1960 as Nigeria’s independence date? What are the spiritual
consequences of hosting FESTAC 1977 where different countries brought in
their in their demonic inheritances and unholy customs into our land? What are
the consequences of having demonic agents man our political, economic, social
and educational gates of Nigeria? Was it propaganda that Nigeria’s former
dictator – General Sani Abacha – buried 500 human heads in Aso Rock in order
to solidify and secure his rulership over Nigeria and what are the consequences
of such an action in Nigeria’s governance? Why was it that as Nigeria’s capital
city was moved to Abuja from Lagos, virtually all the rulers (mostly either the
president or his wife, or the family members) had been having one serious
misfortune or the other? From the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida
when the nation moved to Aso Rock in Abuja on the 12 th December, 1991 to
this present day under President Buhari, strange and surreal pictures have been
painted of the incredible things happening in Nigeria’s seat of power.
Do you seriously think that the numerous and innumerable killings and
shedding of innocent blood in Nigeria is for nothing? Do you honestly think that
the Buhari government were as supine as we tag it to be; unable to stem the
insecurities in Nigeria if the government officials really wanted to do that? To
the naïve and the “uninitiated”, these questions do not and should not arise. But
to those in the know, these blood that flow in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria
are necessary to satisfy the desires and yearnings of the spiritual entities
employed by most of our political elites and leaders to enable them have a
stranglehold on Nigeria.
It is culturally interesting that Africa’s top ruling elites have been linked to
dabbling in irrational juju-marabou mediums to the injury of Africa’s progress,
especially in terms of developments and Africa’s Renaissance process. The
reasons for this are not far-fetched; such practices have been part of African
culture for thousands of years, especially in West Africa, the most juju-marabou
and witchcraft infested region of Africa. In an important sense, African elites
are yet to have a fuller grasp of the realization that juju-marabou and other such
practices are counterproductive to progress.
Experience have shown that the history of Africa’s development process reveals
that leaders, both military and civilians, who dabble heavily in juju-marabou
either paralyze their country or effectively destroys it or are blinded from
reasoning properly to solve the problems. History is replete as we watched some
African ruling class – from Liberia’s General Samuel Doe to Uganda’s General
Idi Amin Dada, down to Central Africa Republic’s Jean-Bedel Bokassa (who
ate human flesh as part of his juju-marabout ritual) – become increasingly
unrealistic, depending on illiterate, irrational, unscientific and impractical juju-
marabout mediums that, in all measure, are immoral and destructive. It suffices
that the average juju-marabout dabbling Africa leader sees critics as enemies
and lives in paranoia to the detriment of Africa’s progress. In Idi Amin of
Uganda, we saw such leaders become the manipulative robots of the juju-
marabout and spiritual mediums. Idi Amin was perhaps one of the most rabid
juju-marabout dabblers Africa has seen, who listened to these mediums to the
extent of deport enmass Ugandan-Asians and which impact destroyed Uganda’s
economy till President Yuweri Museveni stepped in. The Ugandan media
described Amin as “spiritually weak.” Likewise, Sierra Leone witnessed Foday
Sankoh’s revolution derailed partly because of the juju-marabout mediums. The
collapse of Gen. Samuel Doe’s Liberia and mounting troubles of Guinea Bissau
till recently were also tarred with the same brush.
Robert Kaplan was right to have reported in his work, “The Coming Anarchy”
that not only were juju-marabou and other such practices weakens trust which is
an indispensable factor in national development, but also undermines “national
morality because they are based on irrational spirit power. Experience in Africa
governance and attempts at resolving developmental problems are never solved
by dabbling in juju-marabout; if for anything it undermines and renders them
counter-productive. It was one of such unmitigated and reckless dabbling into
juju-marabout that led to Sani Abacha into ‘deleting’ his real and imaginary
enemies in an attempt to transmute himself from military head of state to
civilian president, possibly for life if permitted, according to the whims and
caprices of his juju-marabout.
The use of charms, juju or African talisman was once part of the culture of the
tribes that make up Nigeria; it is often associated with the country's traditional
culture. Two religions, Christianity and Islam have however eroded dependence
on this aspect of the people of this country's culture to an extent but the fact is
that belief and the use of charms is still much prevalent remains.
The most recent public outburst of such an occurrence from the country's seat of
power was the verbal exchange of accusations between, former President
Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar towards the
twilight of their administration.
Obasanjo accused his estranged deputy of wishing him dead and consulting
Islamic holy men on the date of his demise.
Obasanjo said the vice president had told a former minister: "Don't worry, the
president will be dead soon."
Atiku Abubakar denied the charges, saying Obasanjo's mind was full of "the
cobwebs of juju or occult".
The pair fell out when Abubakar opposed the president's efforts to stay in office
for a third term.
Speaking about the feud between him and his deputy on national television,
Obasanjo said Abubakar had told a minister that he had been consulting a
marabout (holy man).
Obasanjo, who was forced to standing down after two terms, revealed that
Abubakar told the minister: "So the same marabout has told me that I will be
President when this man (Obasanjo) dies and had given me a month that he will
die, you better prepare."
Obasanjo said the alleged comments showed his rival's "bankruptcy of ideas,
bankruptcy of knowledge and lack of knowledge in God and the affairs of God
on the lives of human beings".
He added: "If I will live for another 20 years, it is in the hands of God. I am not
afraid of such stupidity. Of course, I know that you can be poisoned but if God
wants to save you, you will be saved."
It would be recalled that the loser in the Nigerian presidential elections of 1999,
Chief Olu Falae, filed an appeal against the victory of General Olusegun
Obasanjo.
Chief Falae said the general was not qualified to stand in the polls because he
belonged to a secret society and had been convicted of treason.
But Chief Falae says that at the time of the election General Obasanjo was a
member of the Ogboni - a secret society said to include some of the nation's
most powerful businessmen and politicians. (See BBC News Monday, March
15, 1999 Published at 23:22 GMT) Nigeria's election rules bar members of
secret societies from running for president.
He wrote in part:
“I can confirm that every principal officer suffered one tragedy or the other; it
was as if you needed to sacrifice something to remain on duty inside that
environment.
From cancer to brain and prostrate surgery and whatever, the villa was a
hospital full of agonising patients.
“A colleague once told me that I was the most naïve person around the place. I
thought I was a bright, smart, professional doing my bit and enjoying the President’s
confidence. I spelled it out. But what I got in response was that I was coming to the
villa using Lux soap, but that most people around the place always bathed in the
morning with blood. Goat blood. Ram blood.
Whatever animal blood. I argued. “He said there were persons in the Villa walking
upside down, head to the ground. I screamed. Everybody looked normal to me. But I
soon began to suspect that I was in a strange environment indeed”.146
But beyond the strange incidence, according to insiders, the foundation of the
construction of the villa itself was laid in strange circumstances.
According to a staff of Julius Berger, the construction company that built the
Villa, from the very day that the excavation for what is now known as the
presidential Villa was made; it was mired in strange incidences.
The staff who has worked for the construction company for over thirty years
and claimed he was there when the very first excavation began narrated the
strange occurrences that marked the first few months.
“When we moved in here, it was as if we were in a war zone. There were multiple
incidences of equipment failure, workers developing strange illnesses and in one
particularly poignant case, a very senior officer of the company who was brought in
from Germany to supervise the construction collapsed and died on site while
supervising the uprooting of a particular tree that defied all attempts to remove.
Strangely, his death brought an end to the many equipment failures that we had
witnessed over many weeks”149 he said.
Whether the strange incidences that have been noticed in the Villa are products
of striking coincidences or handiwork of higher, inexplicable spiritual powers is
hard to decipher.
But since President Ibrahim Babangida, the first occupant of the presidential
Villa left office; subsequent occupants of the sprawling edifice have brought
spirituality to bear on their stay in the edifice.
But it is not inexplicable only deaths and sicknesses that stand out in the Aso
Rock. Strange things happen both at night and day that defy logical
explanations.
Olayinka went further to explain that, during the Obasanjo regime, for instance,
a huge python was found right inside the Council chambers of the Presidential
Villa where the federal executive council meeting takes place. Giving an insight
into what happened, according to Olayinka, a staff of Julius Berger which is in
charge of maintaining the Presidential Villa told Saturday Vanguard a cleaner
found the python right under the table where the president seats to preside over
the federal executive council meeting while cleaning the place on a Tuesday to
prepare for the Wednesday meeting.152
“The python was killed but the cleaner who found it died a few weeks after in
mysterious circumstances”153 the staff explained.
Perhaps the greatest witnesses to the strange happenings at the presidential Villa
are the security personnel who man every corner of the Aso Rock twenty four
hours round the clock.
Sometimes, we will wake up to see blood on the ground, at the fore court of the
presidential Villa. At other times, we hear the cry of babies throughout the
night.
“In one particularly poignant case, we heard banging of doors at the president’s
office only to go and see that the president’s office remained securely locked.
In other circumstances, even after all the electrical gadgets and lights were
turned off at the president’s waiting rooms, the televisions and the lights come
on, on their own with the volume at its loudest. Being on duty at night at the
president’s office was the most dreaded beat among security personnel in the
Villa”154 a body guard who worked at Aso Villa under President Jonathan said.
Even people who come to the villa to see the president or other officials do so
with less than noble intentions.
According to a former staff of the Villa, “we see people with different amulets
on their body when we notice suspicious behaviours. And some of the people
that such amulets are found on were either friends of the president of highly
placed government officials.155
In such delicate situation, we make formal reports to our superiors and allow
them deal with it. In few instances, such people are denied access to the villa”.
It is not only strange things that go on in the villa. Sometimes the president’s
personal security is even threatened by those who are close to him.
But rather than shake the president’s hand and allow him to move to the next
guest, the visitor held unto the president’s hand and it took the intervention of
body guards to wrest the president hand that was being held hostage.156
“It was one of those anxious moments that no body guard wants to be caught
in” a security detail who witnessed the incidence confessed.
Whether they are coincidences or not, there is no doubt that some people
believe that strange things happen at the Aso Villa. But those who don’t believe
in superstition or reckon with principalities and powers would not attribute
strange happenings to demons. To them, they are mere coincidences.
And not all staff of the Villa would readily confirm strange ailments especially
the crash of libido.
“However, as the seat of government, there are those who believe that there are
powers and principalities that occupy high places in that sprawling edifice. The
interface between the known and the unknown is bound to have consequences on
mere mortals.
How we are able to harvest the positive side of these contending powers will always
depend on the occupants. But for now, the occupants and workers of the seat of
power who fear that demons are in the air must find a way of navigating this
treacherous route without losing their minds, limbs or even soul”.157
There appears other spiritual dimension which some call the mystery of the Aso
Rock goddess and the diabolic nature of Nigeria’s sit of power. Some who
claimed to have spiritual insights believe that an evil, deadly woman sits at the
back of Aso Rock. This, according to them, is a female spirit called “Niger”,
holding the Nigerian people and Nigeria in bondage especially our leaders in
Aso Rock. How does she operate? This evil demonic woman called “Niger”
has a lot of young girls (daughters of Niger) all over Abuja and their
preoccupation is to sleep with politicians and leaders and to bring down every
so-called man of God, especially in Abuja, and anybody that dares to speak
against the evils in Nigeria, the daughters of Niger would be released against
such people.
As the 2015 elections approached and both sides of the political divide began to
make frantic moves to decide the course and subsequent outcome of the
elections a concerned Northern Muslim and driver to one of the prominent
Emirs of the North secretly approached a Northern Clergyman and informed
him of the on-going clandestine plans of the Northern Muslim leaders including
those who are serving under Goodluck Jonathan’s Government and presumed to
be his confidants to make sure that President Goodluck Jonathan was kicked out
of power by every possible means and have a Northern Muslim installed as his
successor.
It was gathered that the Traditional Doctor who carried out the ritual processes
on their behalf warned them that although they would get what they were asking
for but it might involve the spilling of much blood if not immediately but after.
To the surprise of the Native Doctor the Northern leaders asked him if it was
possible to achieve any political feat without the shading of blood! Hence the
unabated “rains of blood and mayhem” in Nigeria under the Buhari
administration may not be unconnected, after all from the spiritual sacrifices
and obligations entered into in the quest for political powers. This look weird to
the uninitiated but those in the know of the spiritual underworking in Nigeria, it
is not a surprise at all.
It is important to note that part of the resolution of the ritual cow-driven Sokoto
meeting was for all Northern Muslim political leaders of the two major political
parties PDP and APC to unite under one discreet political umbrella and make
sure that President Jonathan did not succeed in his re-election bid. There
General Muhammadu Buhari was unanimously nominated as their preferred
candidate with the condition that he would serve for only one term in office
because of his age and ill-health, with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar taking over the
reins of the Presidency after.
This work focuses attention on that aspect of state building which deals with the
emerging relationships between the national (federal government) and the
constituent states. Specifically, this paper examines the emergence of a “new
federalism” – a more centralised or unitary federal arrangement marked by
increased dependence of the constituent states on the federal government.
One of the major features of the emerging federal – state relations in Nigeria is
the greater centralisation and consolidation of the national authority. Humphrey
Nwosu observed that this development has been made possible by the very
nature of Nigeria’s military regime159 and Olajide Aliko concluded that “the
trend towards increasing federal supremacy and authority over the states would
be hard to reverse at least in the foreseeable future”. 160
Immediately after the civil war in Nigeria, General Gowon with his principal
military aides gradually, but firmly established federal presence and authority in
all parts of the federation. However, the emergence of more or less permanent
federal preponderance can be explained by a number of factors:
Attract to itself the ablest and most experienced politicians (and civil
servants) to whom the state counterparts could “authomatically look for
leadership;
Take over the most important fiscal powers; and
Create strategic civil service cadres that cut across federal-state service
boundaries, along with an economic civil service and inter-governmental
planning and finance Commissions.
These sentiments were, however, endorsed in the higher Civil Service and
among the intelligence.
In his article, “The Future of the Federal and State Civil Services in the Context
of the Twelve-State Structure”, Phillip Asiodu cautioned against the danger of a
loose federation and the myth that the responsibilities of State and the federal
governments and their respective civil servants were the same and that their
roles were identical.
“The development of national consciousness and the growth of the federal unifying
ideal would be retarded by the ‘regionalistic and separatist developments’ such as
led to ‘a flow of official advice in the Regions in support of a confederal solution to
the 1966 crisis’. While the ideal of a civil service cadre that cut across Federal-State
service boundaries would seem impracticable in Nigeria, a Federal ‘Elite Service’
should at least be created. This should have ‘adequate recruitment, training and
remuneration policies to make it indeed superior to the civil services in their highest
echelons and more attractive to nthe best talents in the country’, talents which
should be made to look up to the highest positions in the federal civil service for the
normal fulfilment of their ambitions. The federal supremacy should be reflected and
maintained by ‘appropriate pay differentials’”163
Some scholars like James O’Connel and Ibrahim Tahir urged the federal
government to live a life of its own, distinct from the resultant of regional
forces; to be an organic and pervasive power transcending regionalism, and to
“assume the predominance in the federation that is its right”. 165 No wonder, the
Udorji Commission on wages and salaries and the white paper on Civil Service
reflected this in salary differentials between a state and a Federal Permanent
Secretary.166
The third factor which influences the Federal hegemony is the material
advantages to a potent political and bureaucratic class, economic in the
Southern States, socio-political in the Northern States. The Southern
bureaucratic and political class saw a dominant federal government the only
opportunity for coveted civil service and related jobs and for higher status. Such
opportunities were already limited in their respective states. According to
Adabayo Adedeji, in the Western Region, for instance, total establishment
increased only by 4.7% between 1959 and 1966 (from 12,011 to 12,573) whilst
that of the federal government increased by 65.9% (from 41,000 to 65,951) over
the same period. Consequently, the creation of states in agreement with federal
preponderance would open up highly remunerated political and civil service
appointment in the new systems. For instance, in 1963 when the Mid-Western
state was created, the exercise enabled 4,327 people to fill such posts within
three years. 168
In the North, however, the power of the federal military government to create
six states at once demonstrated the penetrability of a closed Northern society,
offered avenues for political and social advancement and guaranteed human
rights. Ojo advances that the bulk of the northerners, except for the old
aristocracy, wanted more leadership and authority from the centre to further
transform the northern societies.169 A former permanent secretary in the old
North Eastern State, Yaya Abubakar puts it thus: “… the people welcomed the
idea of having more control over their future in the belief that this will enable
them to develop faster … Even the Hausa-Fulani bloc … to bring government
closer to the people has now become, with justification, a key slogan”.170
It was in this important sense that the Federal Government under General
Yakubu Gowon intervened and declared the former Governor of the old Benue-
Plateau state, Mr. Gomwalk of maladministration and misappropriation, a case
levelled against him by one Mr. Ape Aku. The federal government had, at one
fell swoop, unconstitutionally intervened in State matters, truncated due process
and blocked constitutional avenues for redress of wrong doing.
The changed constitutional reality reflects a political one: that, in keeping with
its own centralised command, the military regime tend to unify rather than
decentralize political administration. Thus, the appointment and removal of
State governors are the responsibility of the Head of the Federal Military
Government. Ojo further explained:
“True, these governors were all members of the supreme Military Council before July
29, 1975, but this very fact illustrates the centralisation tendency; a governor’s
actions had to conform with the decisions of the Supreme Military Council and these
were no more than a ratification of the supreme Commander’s actions, inactions or
simply preferences … In sum, state governors and governments have essentially been
instruments of the federal government …”174
Under Gowon regime, the Marketing Board system was financially controlled
by the Central Bank. The Board’s export duties on produce have been abolished
and its power to fix producer prices with the advice and consent of the state
government eliminated. (see Federal Budget Speech 1973) Under the new
arrangement, “the amount claimable as subsidies from the Federal Government
in lieu of export duties would be lower than what would have been collected if
the duties had been abolished” (see West Africa, 11 June 1973, p.763). It is
virtually impossible for the Marketing Boards to make grants and loans to the
states for capital development; and the states can no longer use producer price
fixing as a weapon in their campaigns to remain in power. The initiative has
shifted to the Federal Government which can now use the Marketing Board to
make “new deals” with Nigeria’s farmers and score points vis-à-vis the State
governments.175 (see O.J.B. Ojo, “Federalism and State Administration”)
It would also be recalled that during the First Republic, States could at least
organise provincial police for use in the particular province, but the Constitution
(Suspension & Modification Decree No. 36 of 1971) prohibits the establishment
of provincial police other than the Nigeria Police Force under the hegemony of
the Federal Military Government.
It has been noted that in the area of education, the federal government has made
tremendous gains at the expense of state authority. According to Ojo:
“During the 1972-1973 financial year the Supreme Military Council agreed to
transfer primary and secondary education to the concurrent list, thus paving the way
for the Universal Primary Education scheduled to begin in 1975-1976. The shift of
education to the concurrent list was also followed by the school year (Variation)
Decree which enjoins all States to start the school year in September and end it in
June or July. But much more profound was a change in the transfer of Higher
Education to the Exclusiver (Federal) list. For a while existing State Universities
were allowed to continue to be run by States, by the end of August 1975 all of them
had been taken over by the Federal Government. Further, the establishment and
location of new Universities or the establishment of new faculties or post-graduate
institutions in the existing universities … have to be on the recommendation of a
National Universities Commission established by Decree No. 1 of January 1974”.176
Whatever might be the reason for these actions, a very important area of State
power and authority has been taken over by the federal government.
Again, the Trade Union Decree 1973 concerning compulsory registration and
the exclusion of certain categories of employees from membership, together
with the Labour Decree 1074 on wages, contracts, recruitment, labour, health
questions and forced labour are so comprehensive that it is most unlikely that a
state law on the subject will not contravene at least some sections of it.
In effect labour was made a federal rather than a concurrent subject. To a lesser
degree the Nigeria Enterprises Promotion Decree 1072 indirectly curtails a State
to seek foreign private investment for its legitimate industrial development
functions. In sum, while the new states in theory inherited the constitutional
powers of the foreign regional governments, in practice the extent and scope of
these powers have been drastically reduced with the result that the States play
second fiddle to the centre.177 (O.J.B.Ojo, 1976, p.116)
Administrative Relations:
According to the Federal Digest of Statistics in 1970, between 1960 and 1966,
while federal revenue rose by only 32.5%, that of the Regions combined rose by
72.0% with a breakdown of 84.7% in the north, 81.3% in the East and 53.3% in
the West.180
Thus, before 1968, the Regions were so powerful vis-à-vis the federal-state
confrontation. Such confrontation ended in 1966 disaster.
However, after 1968, the trend was reversed. The federal government command
enormously more financial resources than its pre-1966 predecessor.
Thus, between 1968 and 1974, federal revenue increased by 293.3% whereas
that of the then twelve states put together rose by only 214.4%. 181
In the year before 1966, the rate of revenue growth of each and every region had
surpassed that of the federal government. However, during the 1968-1974
periods, only a third of the twelve states had a higher revenue growth rate.
With the loss of political, economic and constitutional powers to the Federal
Government, the States are resigned to their fate – making the best of the
situation by providing institutional means of protecting their interests on a day-
to-day basis in the federal capital.
Samuel Hume observed that the States have reacted to the loss of autonomy in
some vital area of activities by incursion into other areas largely at the expense
of their local administrations. The loss of several functions such as the police,
prisons, and a major portion of the educational responsibilities have led all the
states to embark, in the guise of reforms, on change that increase the power and
authority of the State government. The former South-Eastern states would rather
administer all services from state capital. The North states would wish to
undermine the traditional authorities and, together with the West, create local
administrations to subordinate, that more services would, in effect, be provided
directly by state ministries.
The “New Federalism” in Nigeria since 1967 has two major implications – (a)
there is increasing dependency of State government on the federal government;
and (b) are the constituent States in Nigeria operating as coordinates of the
federal government or as units of unitary administration?
On the other hand, States want parity with the Federal government. The
contention of States is that all the powers and control of the national
government are derived from the states comprising Nigeria. Even the local
governments have their genuine desire for some powers and some control
because they are the grassroots.
However, three basic facts should be noted. First, every federation is formed
with the purpose of achieving certain gains accruing from the union and their
gains can only be realised through joint effort. These gains could be political,
economic or military or all of these in varying degrees. Secondly, the Federal
government assumes responsibility of matters of common interest while those
of local importance are left to the states. This principle rests on the theory that
the people or their representatives in a particular area are best fitted to decide
and to manage these matters which touch the daily lives of the people of that
area because of their intimate knowledge of and sympathy with their
requirements. On the other hand, certain matters in which uniformity is
desirable or because it alone can command the vast financial resources
necessary for their implementation. Matters like defense including the territorial
integrity and territorial waters should not be left for the States. Thirdly, powers
are generally so divided as to enable both the Federal government and the State
to be legally autonomous within their respective spheres.
There has to be mutual division of power. Sovereignty does not rest with
individual States nor does it rest with the national (Federal) government alone
for the union as a whole is sovereign. Federal government involves a division of
powers and not a division of sovereignty.
Nigeria is presently confronted with three viable options – a mutual (or forced)
separation, a true autonomous fiscal federalism or a confederal arrangement as
those of the United Kingdom where there are independent political entities
uniting to form the United Kingdom.
As I write, all our chickens are coming home to roost. Nigeria has been on the
brink too many times. “Siddon-look” looks extremely dangerous. Many rural
communities in the North are now desolate; even as the South-East is slipping.
Fatwas are flying around. Anambra governorship election, due in a few months,
is in clear jeopardy. Our last hopes are crumbling. Who can rouse the president?
Today, Nigeria is heavily pregnant. The gathering storm and possible shipwreck
is avoidable if we do the needful. 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.
5. REFERENCES
1. Dan Agbese, Editorial Comments, Newswatch Publications, 1986.
2. Dan Agbese, Editorial Comments, Newswatch Publications, 1986.
3. See Reports of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the UN Office
on Drugs and Crimes, 2019.
4. BBC News on the 12th of February, 2018 titled: “Nigerian Snake Ate
Millions of Naira, Clerk Says”. This was also reported in various media
houses both in pring and electronic.
5. Kemi Busari, “Monkey Carted Away NGN 70 million in Senators Farm-
House” The PremiumTimes, 21st February, 2018.
6. Lasisi Olagunju, “Sowore, A Vampire State and Its Whale”, in News
Digest, 5th August 2019.
7. Lamido Sanusi made this revelation that “at the moment, 70% of the
federal government revenue goes for payments of salaries and
entitlements, leaving 30% for development of 167 million Nigerians”.
See AllAfrica.com of 15th of March, 2015 titled “Jumbo Pay”.
8. Gbenga Adejayan, “Zamfara Assembly Stops Payment of Entitlements to
Ex-Governors, Others in 2021”, Within Nigeria, 26th of November, 2019.
9. SaharaReporters, “Nigeria to Spend NGN 7.8 billion on Entitlements of
Former Presidents, Deputies, Others in 2021” New York, 22nd January,
2021. See also Premium Times of 22nd of January, 2021 and other dailies.
10.Ngere Davies, “Swiss Lawyer Details How He Helped Nigerian
Government Recover Over $2.4 billion Abacha Loot”, Within Nigeria,
29th of January, 2021. See also www.pmnewsnigeria.com.
11.The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law revealed
that for the past 50 months (August 2015 – October 2019) lost NGN 806
billion to government-inspired corruption and rape on the people of
former Eastern Region of Nigeria. See also Ekwenche Research Institute,
“Refund the Extorted NGN 806 billion and Account for Hundreds Slain
and Maimed in Eastern Nigeria or Face More Lawsuits, Others”,
Chicago, Illinois, USA, 29th of October, 2019.
12.The Ekwenche Research Organisation, the Biafra Genocidal Survivors’
International and the Persecuted Christians International all based in the
US are strongly warning and calling on Nigeria Police and Army-led
Military to account for the sum of NGN 806 billion. Also, Isa Misau, a
former Senator and a retired Deputy Supreintedent of Police (DSP)
representing Bauchi South District alleged that the Federal Government
has refused to investigate the NGN 500 billion currently extorted from
innocent citizens of the old Eastern Region.
13.Wikipedia on Timeline of the Boko Haram insurgency.
14.Gbaradi, “Timeline of Fulani Herdsmen Insurgency in Nigeria from 2012
till Now” gbaradi.com/category/news. See also Culture/Arts General Life
News Politics.
15.Promise Adiele, “Boko Haram: Nigeria’s Absurd Conditions” TheSun,
26th of February, 2020.
16.SaharaReporters, “Nigerian Government Lied, Boko Haran Fighters,
Money Swapped for Dapchi Girls”, 21st March, 2018.
17.OrientalTimes, “Don’t Allow Nigeria Free Captured Boko Haram
Terrorists, President Iddris Derby tells Chadian Soldiers”, 12 th of April,
2020.
18.Dan Agbese, Newswatch Communications, 1986.
19.Abdallah, Nuruddeen M. “2019 elections set to be Nigeria’s most
expensive.” Daily Trust. August 3, 2018.
20.“INEC adjusts 2019 Elections budget to N143bn.” Vanguard August 28,
2018. Accessed October 4, 2018. See also
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/inec-adjusts-2019-elections-
budget-to-n143bn
21.Ugwu, Emmanuel. “Nigeria as new poverty capital of the world.” The
Nation July 9, 2018. Accessed October 4, 2018.
http://thenationonlineng.net/nigeria-as-new-poverty-capital-of-the-world
22.“Boko Haram in Nigeria.” Council on Foreign Relations”, Updated
October 5, 2018. Accessed October 5, 2018.
https://www.cfr.org/interactives/global-conflict-tracker?
marker=26#!/conflict/boko-haram-in-nigeria
23.ibid
24.ibid
25.ibid
26.Onuoha, C. Freedom and Samuel Oyewole. “Anatomy of Boko Haram:
The Rise and Decline of a Violent Group in Nigeria” Aljazeera Centre for
Studies. April 22, 2018, Accessed October 4, 2018.
http://studies.aljazeera.net/en/reports/2018/04/anatomy-boko-haram-rise-
decline-violent-group-nigeria180422110920231.html
27.“Nigeria.” Action Against Hunger Accessed October 4, 2018.
https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/africa/nigeria
28.Johnson, Dayo. “Over 17m Nigerian children malnourished – UNICEF.”
Vanguard. February 28, 2018. Accessed October 4, 2018.
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/17m-nigerian-children-
malnourished-unicef
29.Nleweoha, Happiness and Njideka Agbo. “The Trouble With Maternal
Healthcare In Nigeria.” The Guardian, August 19, 2018 Accessed
October 4, 2018. https://guardian.ng/life/on-the-cover/the-trouble-with-
maternalhealthcare-in-nigeria
30.Aluko, Olaleye. “13.2 million Nigerian children now out-of-school –
UBEC.” Punch. October 5, 2018.Accessed October 5, 2018.
https://punchng.com/13-2-million-nigerian-children-now-out-of-school-
ubec
31.20Adeyemi, Muyiwa. “90 million Nigerians lack electricity supply, says
Fashola.” TheGuardian March 6, 2018. Accessed October 4, 2018.
https://guardian.ng/news/90-million-nigerians-lack-electricity-supply-
saysfashola
32.“Over 108m Nigerians are technically homeless.” The Guardian
February 10, 2017. Accessed October 4, 2018.
https://guardian.ng/news/over-108m-nigerians-are-technically-homeless
33.Olatunji, Kehinde. “Why Nigeria is trapped in infrastructural deficit.”
The Guardian July 20, 2018. Accessed October 4, 2018.
https://guardian.ng/news/why-nigeria-is-trapped-in-infrastructure-deficit.
34. AfricaDailyNews, New York, “Nigeria Faces Impending Bankruptcy,
says Obasanjo”, 27th of December, 2019.
35.Ibid
36.Seyi Olumide, “Proposed $30 billion Loan and Buhari’s Many Burdens”,
The Guardian, 1 January, 2020.
37.Bamidele Samuel Adesoji, “Debt Servicing Gulps NGN 7.04 trillion
under Buhari’s Administration”, Nairametrics, July 18, 2019.
38.Uche Jombo, “Senators make NGN 29.5 million ($80,000.00) per month
in a tweet published by NigeriaTimes.
39.Thomas Lewis, “Transatlantic Slave Trade” Britannica.com
40.The senior Special Assistant to thePresident on Foreign Affairs and the
Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a lecture titled: “Nigerians in the
Diaspora: Strengths and Challenges in Pursuit of National Development”,
at the Island Club, Lagos that there were about 15 million Nigerians in
various parts of the world. See Vanguard, March 30, 2017.
41.Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza, “How Nigeria was Bought for £865,000 by
Britain”, The African Exponent, November 12, 2019.
42.Quotes from Herberts Hoover
43.ExpressiveInformation, “9th National Assembly: 469 Members to
Receive NGN4.68 billion Welcome Package”, 15th of May, 2019.
44.Queen Esther Iroanusi, “Buhari approves NGN 37 billion for National
Assembly Renovation”, Premium Times, 16th of December, 2019.
45.Vanguard, “SERAP, Others, Sue Gbajabiamila, Reps over Plan to Spend
NGN 5.04 billion on 400 exotic cars”, 24th of February, 2020.
46.Tobi Aworinde, “Miyetti Allah Admits, Clarifies NGN 100 billion
Demand from Federal Government”, Punch, 17th of May, 2019.
47.Adeola Aderounmu, “What Happened to NGN 13 billion Aso Rock
Clinic Budget?” adeola.blog posted on the 18th of April, 2020.
48.SaharaReporter NY, “Africans No Longer Need Visa to Enter Nigeria,
Buhari Announces in Egypt”, 11th of December, 2019.
49.Femi Fani-Kayode reacts to free visa requirement announced by
President Buhari and the consequences.
50.Cisco Knowledge Network (CKN) recorded a video and was viewed by
the CK cable Network in one of the troubled states in the northern parts
of Nigeria where a lady was tied to the back and was beheaded.
51.SaharaReporter NY, “How Suspected Muslim Fanatics Hacked Female
Redeemed Church Preacher to Death in Abuja”, 11th of July, 2016.
52.TheNigerianVoice (TNV), “Christian Woman Beheaded in Kano for
Blasphemy”, 4th of June, 2016. See also www.breitbart.com
53.On 26th of December, 2019, ISWAP, in a 56-second video published
through Amaq declared that it has executed eleven Christian aid workers
in Borno State.
54.Washington-based intelligence Group explained the ISWAP footage
killings saying that one man was shot dead, withn others – all male –
being beheaded by jihadist wearing black masks and beige uniforms.
55.On 26th of December, 2019, ISWAP, in a 56-second video published
through Amaq declared that it has executed eleven Christian aid workers
in Borno State.
56.Tunde Omolehin, “Bishop Kukah blasts Federal Government over
Killings of Christians by ISWAP terrorists”, 8th January, 2020.
57.https://catholicherald.co.uk/news
58.Imam Tawhidi, a popular Australian Muslim scholar discloses that
Buhari government is run terrorist, aids and abates terrorism in Nigeria.
59.US placed Nigeria on a Special Watch List for nations whose religious
intolerance holds sway ever as she has placed a visa ban on Nigeria on
certain immigration aspects.
60.William Shakespeare quoted in Charles Akujieze (2007), “Nigeria:
Challenges Before A Bewildered Nation”, Mdrid, Spain.
61.William Bossman, quoted in Charles Akujieze, ibid.
62.Sir Richard Burton quoted in Charles Akujieze, ibid.
63.Charles Akujieze, ibid.
64.Quotation from https://elombah.com/
65.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
66.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
67.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
68.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
69.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
70.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
71.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
72.See https://www.thedefensepost.com
73.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
74.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
75.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
76.Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa said this when addressing Nigeria’s first
Prime Minister.
77.Charles Akujieze (2007), op. cit.
78.Charles Akujieze (2007), ibid
79.Wikipedia.or on Economic Inequalities
80.Ibid
81.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
82.Professor Ibrahim Gambari Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi
Foundation, in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February,
2008.
83.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
84.Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The Case of
Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation,
in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February, 2008.
85.See the Nigeria Poverty Statistics Score Sheet
86.See the Nigeria Poverty Statistics Score Sheet
87.See the Nigeria Poverty Statistics Score Sheet
88.See Wikipedia.org
89.See Wikipedia.org
90.See the 1960 Nigeria Constitution.
91.Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese, Nigeria
commented on the progress made in the north by the First Republic in the
northern region.
92.See Wikipedia about Nigeria’s regional achievements of their respective
premiers.
93.Ibid
94.Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese, Nigeria
commented on the progress made in the north by the First Republic in the
northern region.
95.Premier of the Eastern Region, Michael Okpara (1962) “Progress Without
Tears”. See Wikipedia.org
96.Ibid
97.Charles Akujieze (2007), op. cit.
98.Some legal minds and political activists have forcefully argued that the
1999 Constitution is a Military Imposition nof Decree 24 which imposed
a unitary system masquerading asa federal one which birthed the so-
called 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
99.Ibrahim Gambari, op. cit
100. Ibid
101. See the United Nation’s Research Institute for Social Development
(UNRISD) in Geneva expresses its view on the political dominance in
Nigeria.
102. Ibrahim Gambari, op. cit.
103. Ibid.
104. Business Hallmark, “Buhari and Jonathan’s Constitutional
Conference Document”, 15th of June, 2015.
105. Ibrahim Gambari, op. cit.
106. See Wikipedia on Chadian-Nigerian War
107. Ibid
108. Ibid
109. Yusuf Omotayo, “Opinion: This is Not The Buhari We Knew”,
Legit, 9th November, 2017.
110. John C. Maxwell defines leadership thus: “A leader is one who
knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way” quoted in Sarmad
Hasan, “Top 15 Leadership Qualities That Make Good Leaders”,
https://blog.taskque.com.
111. See Sarmad Hasan, “Top 15 Leadership Qualities That Make Good
Leaders”, https://blog.taskque.com
112. Dwight D. Eisenhower quoted in Sarmad Hasan, “Top 15
Leadership Qualities That Make Good Leaders”, https://blog.taskque.com
113. John Quincy quoted in Sarmad Hasan, “Top 15 Leadership
Qualities That Make Good Leaders”, https://blog.taskque.com
114. According to Merriam-Webster, accountability is: “an obligation or
willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”
115. In an interview with Capture Your Flag, leadership expert and best-
selling author, Simon Sinek explains him more about accountability in
leadership.
116. Patrick M. Lencioni, (2002) “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A
Leadership Fable”, USA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
117. Arnold H. Glass quotes (1905 – 1998, American humanist and
author).
118. See Wikipedia on Emotional Intelligence.
119. See https://www.palbp.com
120. Paul Keijzer, “5 Reasons Why Humility Is An Essential Leadership
Trait”, www.bisiness2community.com, March 15, 2018.
121. Thomas Merton was a quote machine spewing out pitting wisdom
as if the author of one of those thought-for-the-day calendars: “Pride
makes us artificial, and humility makes us real”.
122. See https://www.bamboohr.com
123. Jack Welch quoted in www.brainyquote.com
124. Jen Croneberger, “Vision, Mission, and Purpose: The Difference”,
www.forbes.com
125. Professor Ibrahim Gambari, “Challenges of Nation Building: The
Case of Nigeria”, First Year Anniversary Lecture, Mustapha Akanbi
Foundation, in Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria on the 7thn of February,
2008.
126. Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), a Cross-River State retired Army officer
and one of the officers who attempted to sack Babangida regime in the
April 22, 1990 military coup has claimed that Buhari is undermining
Nigeria’s unity. See TheSun, 21 Oct., 2017.
127. See Wikipedia on Chadian-Nigerian War
128. Ibid
129. Ibid
130. Yusuf Omotayo, “Opinion: This is Not The Buhari We Knew”,
Legit, 9th November, 2017.
131. ibid
132. Humphrey Nwosu quoted in Charles Akujieze (2007), op. cit.
133. Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), a Cross-River State retired Army officer
and one of the officers who attempted to sack Babangida regime in the
April 22, 1990 military coup has claimed that Buhari is undermining
Nigeria’s unity. See TheSun, 21 Oct., 2017.
134. Dr. Ugoji Egbujo, “Our Olympus is Falling: Who Can Rouse the
General”, Vanguard, May 8, 2021.
135. Dr. Ugoji Egbujo, “Our Olympus is Falling: Who Can Rouse the
General”, Vanguard, May 8, 2021.
136. Dr. Ugoji Egbujo, “Our Olympus is Falling: Who Can Rouse the
General”, Vanguard, May 8, 2021.
137. SaharaReporter, “Nigerian Army Sends Reinforcement Troops
from Borno to South East in IPOB, ESN Showdown”, rifnote.com;
https://journalist101.com
138. Olajide Aliko, quoted in Charles Akujieze (2007)
139. Adebayo Adedeji quoted in Charles Akujieze (2007)
140. Ibid
141. Ibid
142. Ibid
143. Tunji Olaopa, “Spirituality and Good Governance in Nigeria”,
Punch, 8 October, 2017.
144. Tunji Olaopa, “Spirituality and Good Governance in Nigeria”,
Punch, 8 October, 2017.
145. Tunji Olaopa, “Spirituality and Good Governance in Nigeria”,
Punch, 8 October, 2017.
146. Reuben Abati, “Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of
Aso Rock”, Breaking Times, 14 October, 2016.
147. Reuben Abati, “Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of
Aso Rock”, Breaking Times, 14 October, 2016.
148. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
149. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
150. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
151. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
152. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
153. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
154. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
155. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
156. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
157. Olamuyiwa Olayinka’s blog in reaction to Reuben Abati’s
“Rituals, Blood and Death – The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock”, Breaking
Times, 14 October, 2016.
158. Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe of Institute of African Studies/Dept.
of History & International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu
State, in his article titled: “Goodluck Jonathan, the Caliphate Ritual-Cows
and Ayo Oritsejafor” reveals activities leading to the penultimate of the
2015 electoral debacle that sent President Goodluck Jonathan packing
from Aso Villa.
159. Charles Akujieze, (2007) op. cit.
160. Philip Asiodu, “The Future of the Federal and State Civil Services
in the Context of the Twelve-State Structure”, quoted in Charles Akujieze
(2007).
161. Humphrey Nwosu quoted in Charles Akujieze (2007)
162. James O’ Connel and Ibrahim Tahir quoted in Charles Akujieze
(2007).
163. Udorji Commission on Wasges and Salaries and the White Paper
on Civil Service.
164. Edward Feit quoted in Charles Akujieze (2007).
165. Charles Akujieze (2007), op. cit
166. Ibid
167. Ibid
168. Ibid
169. Ibid
170. O.J.B. Ojo, (1976) “Federalism and State Administration”
171. Ibid
172. Ibid
173. Charles Akujieze, (2007), op. cit.
174. Ibid
175. O.J.B. Ojo, (1976) “Federalism and State Administration”
176. Charles Akujieze, op. cit.
177. O.J.B. Ojo, (1976) “Federalism and State Administration”
178. Charles Akujieze, op. cit.
179. Ibid
180. Ibid
181. Ibid
182. Ibid
“If we can imprison Awolowo, killed Ken Saro Wiwa, murdered Abiola and his wife without
Nigeria breaking apart, we are moving to kill Nnamdi Kanu and nothing will happen”. –
Buhari’s Defense Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazzau
“It is abject foolishness to dredge up resentment for wrongs caused by long dead individuals
and stir up strife among uninvolved generations … Let the wrongdoers make amends to those
they wronged” – Trisha Sonnia
“ … God is never mocked. Nigeria is today dying from its own wickedness and Nemesis is in
town redistributing the bloodshed, torment and General dislocation of whole populations...
What amends can you make for killing over 1.5 million adults and starving over 2 million
children to death? Any “amends” that does not begin with letting the thoroughly despised
East be by themselves in their ancestral space, in unfettered Self-Determination, should have
at the least started with the wholesale jettisoning of the Imposed Master-Servant
Constitutional Order, but the wickedness that prevails in Nigeria had not permitted that line
of thought since almost 5 decades. For the East to live, the murderous Nigeria must now
die”. – Tony Nnadi
Background Studies:
The true picture of the Nigerian situation was x-rayed by then Harvard
University Encyclopaedia on Ethnicity and a thorough study of these two
quotations (A) and (B) will throw more light:
A. “Assuming that the impossible were feasible that this collection of self-
contained and mutually independent Native States, separated from one another,
as many of them are, by great distances, by differences in history and traditions
and by ethno-logical, racial, tribal, political, social and religious barriers, were
indeed capable of being welded into homogenous nation – a deadly blow would
thereby be struck at the very root of national self-government in Nigeria, which
secures to each separate people the right to maintain its identity, its
individuality, and its nationality; its own chosen form of government, and the
peculiar political and social institution which have been evolved for it by the
wisdom and by the accumulated experience of generations of its forbearers” 1 –
Sir Hugh Clifford (Former Governor-General of Nigeria)
B. “Nigeria has actually pursued the politics of ethnic, religious and regional
cleavages to the point of violent, bloody and disintegrating civil war. In a way,
Nigeria represents the most troubling and the most complex aggregation of all
the structural problems in African politics today … Nigeria deserves special
mention. Since independence, Nigeria has witnessed chronic elite and
communal instability, ethnic riots, rebellions, several coup d’etáts, ethnic
pogroms, and a thirty-month civil war. The country was in grip of chronic
disintegration forces from 1962 – 1970. Of all countries in Africa, Nigeria is
unique in its special combination and convergence of chronic regionalism,
ethnic exclusivity and intolerance, religious polarization; and political
organization power drives within a structure of ruthless, even banal
competition”2 – Ray, L. Hall
It would be recalled that as far back as mid-1950s when Late Chief Anthony
Enahoro moved a MOTION in Lagos at the Legislative Council, calling for
Nigeria’s independence from British rule, the people of northern Nigeria reacted
very violently against it. They went on rampage slaughtering in cold blood,
southern Nigerians resident in Northern Nigeria like rams.
This took place mostly in KANO. Since then, periodic slaughtering in cold
blood of southern Nigerians resident in northern Nigeria is a common place. We
do not have evidence of such periodic slaughtering occurring in southern
Nigeria amongst the ethnic groups of southern Nigeria. The HATE CRUSADE
is limited to northern Nigeria versus southern Nigeria.
Nonetheless, many a historian have claimed the 1966 coup led by two Igbo
military officers – Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna – has no tribalistic motivation
attached; it was only but a coincidence that many Igbo soldiers were involved.
Insinuating otherwise, Azikiwe wrote:
“In January 1966, five Majors, four of whom were Ibo, decided to liquidate
five Heads of Government together with certain politicians and senior military
personnel. When the coup de grace was executed three Premiers, one Federal
Minister and nine military leaders were assassinated. Only one of the last
category was Ibo”.4
Azikiwe went further to blame Ironsi for his part in the misadventure that led to
the Biafra war. First and foremost, he accused Ironsi of clannishly favouring
lower ranked Igbo military officer against higher ranked Niger Deltans in his
choice of the military leadership of the Eastern region. According to Azikiwe,
this created serious tribal divides between the Igbos and Niger Deltans of the
Eastern region.
“When General Aguiyi-Ironsi assumed power, he appointed a Military
Governor for each region. In Eastern Nigeria, he appointed Lieutenant-
Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu who, at that time, was junior to six senior
military officers of Eastern Nigeria origin, among whom were Colonel W.U.
Bassey [Niger Deltan], Lt. Col. U.O. Imo, Lt-Col. G.U. Kurubo [Niger
Deltan] and Lt-Col. H.M. Njoku. This was a capital blunder because it smacks
of tribalism and favouritism. Bassey is Efik, Kurubo is Ijaw, Imo and Njoku
are Ibo”5
Ironsi was accused and criticized for being the first to amend the Nigerian
constitution without a proper constitutional conference thereby creating a
precedence that was later followed by other military governments. Ironsi was
said to have used four of his tribe’s men to promulgate decree 34 which, to all
intents and purposes, abrogated the country’s federal system, thereby stopping
RESOURCES CONTROL by region government, and in its place, established a
Unitary System. Critics saw this move as tribalistic posture and betrayal of
faith.
“On assuming office, General Aguiyi-Ironsi promised that he would not
amend the Nigerian Constitution without formally consulting the people of
Nigeria. As an earnest of his good faith, he appointed a Constitutional Study
Group to make recommendations. Without formally consulting the Nigerians
and without waiting for the submission of report of the Study Group, General
Ironsi, acting contrary to the advice of majority members of the Supreme
Military Council, together with that of the Sultan of Sokoto, and influenced by
the advice of four Ibo experts, who are now the closest associates of General
Ojukwu, promulgated Decree No. 34, in April 1966, abolishing the federal
system of government and introducing the unitary system. This was a
unilateral act which arbitrarily jettisoned the fundamental basis of the
Nigerian political union.”6
Even the concept of “ONE NIGERIA” which was indeed propagated during
Ironsi’s regime was perceived by critics as an “Igbonization agenda” just as we
are witnessing the “Fulanization agenda” of the present Buhari misadventure. It
would be recalled that Ironsi and Ojukwu foiled the first secession attempt in
Nigeria by Isaac Adaka Boro, declaring the Niger Delta Republic. Critics gave
more insight to some of the Ironsi’s protracted tribal cadence and Igbonization
agenda:
“The Supreme Commander was now confronted with a political problem
which neither himself nor his Ibo experts [referring to the four Ibos, including
Prof. Nwabueze, who helped Ironsi to establish the unitary system] could cope
with. A meeting of traditional rulers was convened to take place at Ibadan on
July 29 and he planned to use the occasion to explain and expatiate for his
monocratic act. He was abducted and murdered by some soldiers. Leading
officers of Ibo and non-Ibo origin from Eastern Nigeria were murdered
also.”7
In his book, “Origin of the Civil War”, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe made assertions
and indications antithetical to frequent claims by Ojukwu and other pro-Biafran,
giving the massacres of the Easterners in the North as the reason for the
declaration of Biafra as an independent entity. Debunking the pro-Biafra claims,
Azikiwe laid out a precedence which showed that it was Igbos in the Eastern
region that started the massacre of Northerners. Azikiwe’s highly controversial
claim which indeed is highly debatable accuses Ojukwu of using the reprisal
attack of Northerners on Igbos for his secession propaganda. Azikiwe puts it
this way:
“Between August and September 1966, either by chance or by design,
hundreds of Hausa, Fulani, Nupe and Igalla-speaking people of Northern
Nigeria origin residing in Eastern Nigeria were abducted and massacred in
Aba, Abakaliki, Enugu, Onitsha and Port Harcourt. Eye witnesses gave on-
the-spot accounts of corpses floating in the Imo River and River Niger. Radio
Cotonou broadcast this macabre news, which was suppressed by Enugu
Radio. Then Radio Kaduna relayed it and this sparked off the massacre of
September-October 1966 [in the North]. When now, Easterners were
slaughtered in the North, in reprisal for the slaughter of Northerners in the
East, and General Gowon publicly expressed his regrets for what had
happened and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved, maimed and
displaced. Lt. Col. Ojukwu seized this as an opportunity to beat the tom-tom of
secession. In spite of his propagated canard of genocide this has now been
universally discredited.”8
Obviously, Azikiwe must be courting the ire of his tribesmen and women for
these anti-Igbo comments. No wonder why most of his countrymen and women
ridiculously refer to him an “Efulefu” and a “Sabotuer” amongst his people.
Some critics opine that it was Ojukwu’s self-serving greed that caused the
Biafra war. Azikiwe who was one of these critics had this to say:
“Lt.-Col. Ojukwu’e greed blinded him to fail to realize the great concession
he had won. He under-rated General Gowon and underestimated Nigerian
war potential. He decided to continue a CALCULATED GAMBLE WHICH
HAS LED TO THE CIVIL WAR.”10
Critics have argued that even the provisions of Decree No. 8 which was rejected
by Ojukwu in the Aburi Accord actually guaranteed regional autonomy “and
safeguarded the security of persons and property of the citizens of Nigeria in
each region. In its issue of March 25, 1967, a London-based weekly, “West
Africa” made a remark about a balanced critique of the agreement of Decree
No. 8 which Azikiwe succinctly opined that:
“It transformed Nigeria into a PSEUDO-CONFEDERATION. It referred to
some of the extra-ordinary powers conceded to the Military Governors,
arming them with great authority in the federal sphere without their being
restricted in their own, excepting the proviso regarding secession. It
concluded that the only sanction of the Federal Government against abuse of
power by the regions was that which enabled it to take over their function
when necessary.” 11
Critics went further to narrate that Ojukwu was not interested in any
negotiation, stating that after the Aburi conference, he was only buying time to
actualize his grandiose dream of being the supreme leader of a tribal dominated
state with no regards to life that may be lost in the process. Even Azikiwe’s
comment showed that he could not agree less.
In another development, critics had alleged that Ojukwu tribal rhetorics against
Niger Deltans became evident through his broadcast medium, Radio Biafra. He
was said to have used this medium to engender pre-war tribal acrimony between
the Igbos and Niger Delta. And, according to Ken Saro Wiwa, in all the flurry
of pre-war activities, meetings and consultations that were held by the Igbo staff
and students at the University of Ibadan were he was a student, Niger Deltans of
the East were excluded. However, he noted that:
“It is signal that although what they were thinking of was secession of Eastern
Nigeria, when they gathered to discuss the matter, non-Ibos from Eastern
Nigeria were carefully excluded. Again, this was symbolic of things to come.
In the end, a memorandum went into circulation, was signed and was carried
to Ojukwu”13 5(Pg.35).
Critics continued that six weeks after the meeting at the University of Ibadan as
expressed above, the war broke out, the Niger Delta was said to have suffered
the brunt of Ojukwu’s tyrannical plot and atrocities. Biafrans from the Niger-
Delta geo-political zone felt bitter and was said to have suffered the brunt of
Ojukwu’s tyrannical plot and atrocities. Even Nnamdi Azikiwe was very bitter
how even intellectuals became a willing tool in what he called Ojukwu’s self-
serving, tribalistic and grandiloquent plot. To him, Ojukwu could pass for a
modern day con man who sacrificed his people for his pleasurable experiment
to seek power and fame. According to Azikiwe,
“General Ojukwu has deceived his people to believe that they are fighting the civil
war for their survival. But he has cleverly enthroned tyranny in that unhappy
land.When he bragged, three weeks ago that, the war will not end on the conference
table on the battlefield, he shut the door to any meaningful peaceful settlement of
THIS CARNAGE. What strikes me is his apparent IMPERVIOUSNESS TO REASON
and INSENTITIVENESS TO HUMAN SUFFERING. The death of children and
helpless old people in millions would appear to mean nothing to him. I HAVE YET
TO HEAR AN EXPRESSION OF SYMPATHY EMANATING FROM HIM FOR THE
PLIGHT OF THESE INNOCENTS. I have hoped against hope to see a picture of him
fondling with one of these skeletal children. YET HIS TWO CHILDREN ARE
ROBUST AND HEALTHY; and he has had the temerity to urge the parents of the
dying generation to sacrifice everything for the sustenance of THE MIRAGE OR
BIAFRAN sovereignty.”14
Here, Azikiwe called Biafra a “mirage”. Also concerned was he how Ojukwu
easily hoodwinked and indoctrinated the Igbo intellectuals with his (Ojukwu’s)
phantom freedom he coined as “Biafra”. And while describing Ojukwu as
crafty, shameless, and double-talk, Azikiwe lamented:
“If a person of my stature cannot hold opinion on any public issue and must
only express views which conform to a regimented behaviour pattern of the
Biafran Establishment, then it is evident that Biafra cannot, by any stretch of
the imagination, be regarded as a democratic and tolerant society. Yet many
people, including university dons and students of Biafran origin, would not
hesitate to condemn those who dared to hold their own opinion and refuse to
conform to misdirected, misguided and mistaken popular opinion. How can I,
in conscience, support a leadership which deliberately violated section 86 of
the Nigerian Constitution, craftily transformed Eastern Nigeria Nigeria into a
Police state, SHAMELESSLY PLACED A PREMIUM ON DOUBLE-TALK,
systematically metamorphosed and mesmerized Ibo and non-Ibo leaders who
live in Biafra or outside its confines, into cowards who dare not oppose a
tyranny which has been firly rooted in their homeland, for fear of death, and
they are so supine that they cannot protect their children from hunger and
disease and death, because they, are afraid of being ostracized or detained or
shut, on the order of a CONFIRMED DESPOT created thy them. WHAT A
CHICKEN-HEARTED GENERATION!”15
Why Igbos are Hated and Resented by Others: An Opinion
Africa’s literary giant and celebrated writer Chinua Achebe, has claimed that
Nigerians, especially the Hausa/Fulanis and the Yorubas, do not like the Igbos
because of their cultural ideology that emphasizes ‘change, individualism and
competitiveness.’
He made this claim in his latest book “There was a Country”, which has
generated controversy for his onslaught on the role of Obafemi Awolowo as the
federal commissioner of finance during the Nigeria civil war. He accused
Awolowo of genocide and imposition of food blockade on Biafra, a claim that
has drawn rebuttals and contradictions of emotional intensity from some
southwest leaders and commentators.
“I have written in my small book entitled The Trouble with Nigeria that
Nigerians will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their
common resentment of the Igbo,” he wrote under the heading, A History of
Ethnic Tension and Resentment. He traced the origin of “the national
resentment of the Igbo” to its culture that “gave the Igbo man an unquestioned
advantage over his compatriots in securing credentials for advancement in
Nigerian colonial society.”16
He delved into history with his claim, asserting that the Igbo overcame the
earlier Yoruba advantage within two decades earlier in the twentieth century.
“Although the Yoruba had a huge historical and geographical head start, the
Igbo wiped out their handicap in one fantastic burst of energy in the twenty
years between 1930 and 1950.” 19
“The increase was so exponential in such a short time that within three short
decades the Igbos had closed the gap and quickly moved ahead as the group
with the highest literacy rate, the highest standard of living, and the greatest of
citizens with postsecondary education in Nigeria,”20 he contended.
He said Nigerian leadership should have taken advantage of the Igbo talent and
this failure was partly responsible for the failure of the Nigerian state,
explaining further that competitive individualism and the adventurous spirit of
the Igbo was a boom Nigerian leaders’ failed to recognize and harness for
modernization.
He noted that the ousting of prominent Igbos from top offices was a ploy to
achieve a simple and crude goal. He said what Nigerians wanted was to “get the
achievers out and replace them with less qualified individuals from the desired
ethnic background so as to gain access to the resources of the state.”22
Achebe, however, saved some criticisms for his kinsmen. He criticised them for
what he described as “hubris, overweening pride and thoughtlessness, which
invite envy and hatred or even worse that can obsess the mind with material
success and dispose it to all kinds of crude showiness.”23
He added that “contemporary Igbo behavior (that) can offend by its noisy
exhibitionism and disregard for humility and quietness.24
Speaking from empirical evidence from the research he undertook on the three
major tribes, Obasanjo found out that “… the Igbos are the most westernized,
most enterprising, most astute, most dynamic, most intelligent (smart), and the
most technically gifted tribe found among the black race. The Hausa/Fulani and
the Yoruba have limitations. But an Igbo man doesn’t see any limitations.”31
While the Yoruba and the Hausa/Fulani had kingdoms which enabled the British to
infiltrate their territories easily, the Igbos on the other hand, had what could be
called “Chiefdoms” (autonomous Communities). These structures made it very
difficult to tame the Igbos.
It took the British just 9 months to tame the North and South West but almost 30 years
to be able to tame the Igbos. The British had to send a team of anthropologists to the
South to understudy the Igbo because, they (the British) acknowledged they hadn’t
been up against a black race with such depth and intelligence coupled with the gut to
confront the whites and learn from them so, so fast.33
“While a Tinubu, can have unrestricted influence over the Yoruba tribe, something
you can only find mostly among blacks and some poor nations on earth today, an
Igbo man can never be tamed by the ideology of one man unchecked, no matter how
highly placed he or she is. That’s why the Igbos are very successful no matter where
they find themselves. They don’t believe in putting limitations on their path. You can
only find such similarities among the Europeans, the Americans, and developed Asian
tiger nations.”34
Obasanjo finally submits that whilst a Hausa/Fulani man sees Kano as his world
and a Yoruba man sees Lagos as his world, an Igbo man rather sees the world
as his Village!35
Other Testimonies:
Reno Omokri took to his facebook page to disagree and expressed discomfort to
how the current government is being run.
“If you don’t respect Igbos, consider that without government assistance, Alaba
Electronic Market generates $4 billion annual sales.
“When you add Onitsha and Aba Markets, the total comes to $6.5 billion. Add Ladipo
Spare Parts Market, it jumps to $8 billion. Without oil, Nigeria’s Federal
Government can’t generate what the Igbos are generating without government.
“What do we learn from this? “The Igbos can survive without Nigeria’s government,
but Nigeria’s government can’t survive without oil. In reality, who is better off?
“The Igbo apprenticeship system is not only the world’s largest venture capitalist
scheme, it has produced more US dollar millionaires per capita than either Harvard
or Yale universities.
“To understand money, you must understand the Igbo race. Igbo is synonymous with
SUCCESS. No other race on Earth, with perhaps the exception of the Jews, has a
better excuse to be poor, as the Igbos.
“Militarily defeated and financially devastated in 1970, they overcame that in less
than a generation, and prospered above any other ethnicity in Africa, bar NONE!”36
The Igbo people, according to critics, were responsible for the first successful
military coup in this country; they were responsible, according to bitter critics,
for the first attempt at “ethnic cleansing”; they were responsible for the first
violation of constitutionally laid down succession procedures; they were
responsible for the destruction of the federation and the creation of the unitary
system of which they are now victims (since the initial objective was for the
Igbos to dominate the other groups) some Igbo detractors have claimed; they
were responsible for Nigeria's first and only civil war.37
In collaborating this report and going further to inflame anti-Igbo passions Femi
Fani-Kayode writes, explaining how Igbo officers in the army carried out the
first military coup in Nigeria 38-41
According to detractors, “it makes no sense, in the face of these facts, repeat
facts, for the Igbos to shed tears today and claim to have always been an
aggrieved party. It will convince no one.” They further advised:
“Granted, the Igbo people as a whole must not be punished for the action of some.
Granted, there can never be full reconciliation without justice and equity. Granted,
the Igbo people, like all Nigerians, have the right to fight against perceived injustices.
The way to do this is by integration into the country, by joining broad-based parties
and establishing a system that guarantees all individuals and groups their rights and
liberty. It is not by crying Biafra again. It is not by following the man who led them to
defeat and ran away to come back later and enjoy his wealth. The Igbos have always
had alliances with other parts of the country. The astute political strategy is to go into
one now. Tribalism will lead to defeat, once more, and even more humiliation.”42
Anti-Igbo rhetoric was on the rise inside Nigeria during Obasanjo regime. Only
a few years ago, the then country's President and retired army General –
Olusegun Obasanjo called some Igbo leaders insane for demanding a frank
discussion of Nigeria's federalism and stating that secession was preferable to
being victims of pogroms. His Minister of Transport called Ndigbo idiots for
making the case for an Igbo as President. One of his Ministers of State called
Ndigbo traitors.
Inspired anti-Igbo articles were then flooding the newspapers. For instance,
Reuben Abati of The Guardian (Lagos) wrote a two-part article entitled
"Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists"43 (The Sunday Guardian, December
16 and 23, 2001). All he did therein was to denigrate Ndigbo.
Normally, the abuses rained on Ndigbo may not ring alarm bells. Were they not
always everybody's whipping boy? However, there is something sinister in the
rising tirades. For seeking a shot at the presidency, Ndigbo were called idiots.
For demanding compensation for Nigerian soldiers who fought for Biafra, a
topic initiated by the Federal Government, they were called traitors.
But instead of showing remorse and apologise for lack of respect to his fellow
Southerners, Reuben Abati claimed that his write-up was to address "the issues"
bordering on secession. His words:
"Always, from President to my 'washaman', we should all be interested in the issues,
for if there is anything that unites us all, it is the expectation that this country called
Nigeria will serve our purpose by guaranteeing our safety and happiness. Safety and
happiness: those are the two things that the average Nigerian wants. When we do not
focus on the issues, we trivialize critical aspects of our own lives."45
But how do the above justify Abati's subjection of Ndigbo to obloquy? This is
what Reuben Abati was reported to have said:
"After all, Ibos now sell land in Lagos and Kaduna, and they are in charge of
commerce, "419" and 'international trade.' But there is a problem of leadership.
Every Ibo man who has access to the media, and some money in his pocket thinks that
he is an Ibo leader." When this fellow renders sentences such as these, could he be
seen to be promoting "safety and happiness" which, according to him "are the two
things that the average Nigerian wants." (By the way, it's not 'Ibo' but Igbo) 46
Let's examine the illogicality of the sentences. How could it be sensibly said
that Ndigbo now sell land in Lagos and Kaduna when they were into that long
before Abati was born? Why should the selling of land in Lagos and Kaduna by
Ndigbo be an issue? Are there no Hausas, Yorubas and indeed people of other
nationalities who sell land in Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos, Port Harcourt and
elsewhere? 47
Ndigbo, says Abati, are in charge of "419" in Nigeria. Where is the evidence to
support this wildness, Ndigbo challenges? What respectable part of journalism
or scholarship allows people to throw unsubstantiated statements around like
confetti, Ndigbo demanded? "Every Ibo man who has access to the media, and
some money in his pocket thinks that he is an Ibo leader" 48, asserts Abati. Pray,
how did he come by this? In any case, why should anyone be afflicted by
insomnia even if every Igbo person sees himself as a leader of his ethnic
group?, a rejoinder challenges. Yet, another Abati claim: "The biggest disease
in Ibo land is money." What is the biggest disease in Yorubaland? What is the
biggest disease in Hausaland? What is the biggest disease in other lands of
Nigeria? How does Abati monitor and quantify these pandemics? Clearly,
Abati's irrationality is calculated to expose his fanatic anti-Igbo feelings” 49,
some Igbo intelligentsia have posited.
But, according to some accounts, Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe was not killed for
refusing to hand over the keys to the armoury. As QMG, the Colonel held no
armoury keys, and The Guardian's top-flight commentator/staff ought to have
known this. Also, what are the brackets in Abati's sentence for?
Fact is that Ironsi did not surround himself with Igbo advisers. Recent books
have quite thoroughly discredited that lie. What are the grounds for referring to
Francis Nwokedi as "strong-headed"? In Reminiscence, his 1989 biography
published by Malthouse, Lagos, General David Ejoor states that Ironsi's
Supreme Military Council (SMC) of which Ejoor was a member decided on the
trial of the January coup makers52 (p39). Also, in 'The Barrel of a Gun: The
Politics of Coups d'Etat in Africa' which was published by Allen Lane The
Penguin Press, London in 1970, Professor Ruth First attributes the following to
Hassan Usman Katsina. "By July (1966), the minutes of the SMC recorded that
the young majors were to be court-martialed not later than October. The
proceedings were to be in public."53 (p. 307).
General Hassan, another member of Ironsi's SMC, lived for over 25 years after
First's book was published but never denied the statements credited to him.
Ironsi was assassinated months before the October date slated for the court-
martials. Yet, Abati maintains that the General "was not willing to deal with the
coupists of January 1966."54
Ironsi was in power for six months, as against Yakubu Gowon's nine years.
Why did Abati and his ilk not ask Gowon the reason he failed to try the coup
makers of January 1966 and the counter-coup makers of July 1966? The Igbos
querried!
Abati says that the Igbo "even had a song, Celestine Ukwu's 'Ewu Ne Ba Akwa'
(meaning 'Goats Are Crying') with which they taunted the Northerners. That
song was not the work of Celestine Ukwu. That song was not the work of an
Igbo artiste. That song was on vinyl long before the action of January1966, the
Igbos submitted.55
According to Reuben Abati, Ojukwu fled to the East in the wake of the July
1966 counter-coup. But is it not a matter of public record that then Colonel
Ojukwu was in Enugu from January 1966 as the Military Governor of the East?
56
Abati claims that Isaac Adaka Boro was an Ogoni man, that he was a student of
the University of Nigeria (Nsukka) when he declared a "Republic of the Niger
Delta", and that he had no army! These are not correct. Boro was Ijaw. Boro
was on the staff of the University of Lagos when he struck. And, yes, Boro had
an army.57
Abati claimed that Gowon announced his 12-state structure the same day as
Ojukwu declared Biafra. That is fallacious.
Of the Igbo intelligentsia, Abati says, “They had lived all their lives either in the
West or the North"58 Was that not a nonsensical piece of ridiculous, arrant and
stupendous nonsense? Does he mean that none of the Igbo intelligentsia lived
abroad? None taught at the Enugu and Nsukka campuses of the University of
Nigeria? None found gainful employment elsewhere in the East?
The collective sin of Ndigbo is their refusal to be content with "buying and
selling" which Obasanjo's deputy minister of defence and daughter of Yoruba
chieftain Abraham Adesanya, Mrs. Dupe Adelaja insists is their place. Rather,
the Igbos have the effrontery to ask for a stint at the presidential palace,
something intolerable to those intent on making Aso Rock a place of permanent
abode.59
It is, therefore, according to Abati, imperative to contain the troublesome lot,
and to amputate those arms stretched for the handshake across the Niger,
especially during periods of presidential elections. That explains the new wave
of anti-Igbo sentiments being fanned across the length and breadth of Nigeria 60,
the Igbos have submitted.
According to the Igbos, when the Holocaust was in the offing, every means was
used to portray the Jews as evil and despicable. The Jews ultimately paid an un-
owed debt to the staggering tune of six million lives. A reality of this played out
in Year 2019 as Ndigbo are being readied for the first holocaust of the new
millennium. Should Ndigbo and, indeed, the whole world allow it? 61
Ethnic stereotyping
Aribisala appreciates this ethnic stereotyping between the Youbas and the
Igbos. Both the Yorubas and the Igbo stereotype one another. To the Igbo, the
Yorubas are the “ngbati ngbati” “ofemmanu” who eat too much oil. They are
masters of duplicity and deception; saying one thing while meaning another. To
the Yorubas, the Igbo are clannish and money-minded. They are Shylock
traders who specialise in selling counterfeit goods.77
According to Aribisala, as the insults fly with abandon, you begin to wonder
where all this comes from. What is the basis of all this hate? In the sixties, the
Igbo were slaughtered in pogroms in the North. However, the principal
exchange of hateful words today is not between Northerners and Easterners, but
between Easterners and Westerners. Why are these two ethnic groups so much
at loggerheads? How did we get to this pass? 79 queried Aribisala.
Awolowo factor
The Igbo tar the Yorubas with the brush of Awolowo, who they label as “the
father of ethnicity in Nigeria.” In that narrative, it is conveniently overlooked
that the broadmindedness of the Yorubas enabled Azikiwe, an Igbo man, to win
a regional election in the Yoruba heartland in 1954. Instead, what is harped on
is the fact that Awolowo mobilised Yoruba politicians to nullify that victory by
decamping from Azikiwe’s more nationalist camp to Awolowo’s more
ethnically-focused camp.81
According to Aribisala, one of the newspaper headlines that stick in his memory
from 50 years ago is the one that said: “If East Goes, West will Go – Awo.”82
“After a visit to Ojukwu in Enugu at the height of the acrimony over the mass killing
of the Igbo in the North in the mid-1960s, Awolowo declared that if the East was
allowed to secede as a result of acts of omission or commission, he would also lead
the West into secession. This flashed a green light for Igbo secession. But when the
East seceded, Awolowo failed to mobilise the West to follow suit. Not only did the
West not join the East in secession, it joined the North in fighting against the East.
Awolowo then became the Commissioner of Finance and Vice-President of the
Federal Executive Council of the Nigerian government that prosecuted the war
against Biafran secession. The Igbo have rightly deemed this a great betrayal. But
their case against Awolowo did not end there.”83
As finance minister,
“Awolowo was the brainchild of the strategy to blockade Biafra; leading to mass
Igbo starvation and deaths. With the end of the war, it was also alleged that Awolowo
orchestrated the policy whereby the totality of individual holdings of Biafran
currency was converted to Nigerian legal tender at a flat maximum amount of only 20
pounds. This effectively pauperized the Igbo.
Since it also coincided with the period when Nigerian corporations were being
privatised, it had the effect of locking out the Igbo from strategic sectors of the
Nigerian economy; gobbled up in the main by the Hausa-Fulanis and Yorubas.”84
Brothers in adversity
The Igbo case against Awolowo has become the Igbo case against the Yorubas.
In the process, it is easily overlooked that prominent Yorubas, like Tai Solarin
and Wole Soyinka, defended the Igbo right to self-determination during the
Biafran War. The properties the Igbo left behind in Yorubaland during the Civil
War were not expropriated by the Yorubas, as they were in some other places.
When Odumegwu Ojukwu came back from exile in Ivory Coast, his entire
father’s properties in Lagos remained intact. Under President Obasanjo, a
Yoruba man, the Igbos was given the control of Nigeria’s economic and
monetary policy. The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Governor of
the Central Bank, Charles Soludo; and Director-General of the Stock Exchange,
Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, was all Igbos. So were the Minister of Education,
Obiageli Ezekwesili; and the Director-General of NAFDAC, Dora Akinyuli.
Indeed, Obasanjo favoured the Igbo more than his native Yorubas. He
appointed an Igbo, Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, as the Minister of Defense and
another, Air Marshal Paul Dike, as Nigeria’s first Igbo Chief of Air Staff.85
While the Igbo visit the transgressions of Awolowo on the Yorubas, they do not visit
the favouritism of Obasanjo on the Yorubas. The sins of Awolowo were brought again
to the fore in 2012 by Chinua Achebe in his book: “There Was a Country: A Personal
History of Biafra.” The blogs came alive as blame was traded on both sides of the
East-West divide. Awolowo was now cast by the Igbos as the father of the Yorubas;
and they were determined to visit his sins on his Yoruba sons to the third and fourth
generations.86
Mistakes galore
But nothing quite compares to the comment that came from the Oba of Lagos.
During the 2015 election, Oba Rilwan Akiolu summoned Lagos Igbo leaders to
his palace; only to threaten them:
“If anyone of you, I swear in the name of God, goes against my wish that Ambode
will be the next governor of Lagos state, the person is going to die inside this water.
What you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere you cannot do it here. If you
do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosperous for you, if you go against my
wish, you will perish in the water.”89
It mattered little to His Royal Highness that Ambode’s close rival was not an
Igbo but Jimi Agbaje another Yoruba man.
Timeout
The Yorubas and Ndigbo do themselves great disservice by seeing themselves
as arch-enemies. Within the framework of Nigerian politics, this has limited the
freedom of action of both ethnic groups. If one is prominent in this political
party, the other is more likely to align itself with another party. This means the
one can always be manipulated against the other. Instead, the political space
should be opened up by the possibility that the Yoruba and the Igbo can form an
alliance. That eventuality is not implausible especially because they actually
have common interests.
Summary:
2. Awolowo from then on, started indoctrination of Yorubas against the “threat
of Igbo domination”. That is how the incurable seed of fear of Igbos was sown
in the psychic of Yorubas which Yorubas later sold to other groups through
Yoruba control of the media for decades.
3. Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime minister could not tolerate
Awolowo’s treacherous and inordinate ambition of acquiring political power by
all means and at any cost. So, he threw Awolowo into prison for treason.
8. The Nigerian Army was consequently split into two divisions: the northern
sector division commanded by Hausa-Fulani and the southern sector division,
commanded by Yorubas.
9. Lagos, a city built largely by Igbos and where Igbos invested heavily, was
also ceded to Yorubas as a State even when there was no Abuja at the time
(1967). Awolowo was made Vice Chairman of Federal Executive Council and
Finance Minister. All federal government owned banks in Nigeria at the time
which included the Central Bank and First Bank, were under Awolowo and
Yoruba management. It was a deal Awolowo could not resist. The man was an
unscrupulous Machiavellian anyway.
10. The Igbos were eventually defeated and Yorubas became champions of
nationalism.
11. Awolowo tried to make sure no Igbo man or woman would ever be more
than financial destitute let alone have the financial resources to rival a Yoruba.
13. The Igbo were not only made pariahs but also financial destitutes.
14. Every house and industry in Igbo city was destroyed by war. Schools were
closed for 3 years and many were razed to the ground.
16. They rejoiced and relaxed and complacently asked: “How could Igbos ever
rear their ugly heads up again”? Sure, if that had happened to Yoruba’s or any
other ethnic group, that would be their end. But as Awolowo rightly feared, we
happen to be Ndi Igbo.
17. The shooting war ended 45 years ago and we are still here. We have
survived all policy shenanigans contracted by treacherous Yoruba masterminds
and executed by their Hausa-Fulani allies.
18. In frustration, they have realized that we are who we are. Imagine their
frustration! Never mind all Yoruba masterminded psychological attacks on
Igbos disparaging us in any way they can.
19. Yes, Federal government policy has made them the tycoons of oil and gas,
telecommunications, insurance and manufacturing. Oh, their Hausa-Fulani cum
military allies gave Nigeria to Obasanjo for 8 years in keeping faith with their
alliance.
In his views on the Yoruba political leadership which have been thoroughly
articulated in some of his writings, prime among which was “Afenifere:
Syllabus of Errors” published by This Day (The Sunday Newspaper) on Sept
27, 199894 Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, took the Yoruba leadership to the
cleaners. There was also an earlier publication in the weekly Trust entitled” The
Igbo, the Yoruba and History” (Aug. 21, 1998).
In 1962, according to critics, the Yoruba elite were the first to attempt a violent
overthrow of an elected government in Nigeria. It was the violence in the West
in 1966 which provided an avenue for the putsch of 15th January. In 1983
general elections after Chief Awolowo lost to Shagari in the presidential
election, it was the discontent and bad publicity in the South-West which led to
the Buhari military intervention.
When Buhari jailed the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) governors like Ige and
Onabanjo, the South-Western press castigated that government and provided the
right mood for General Ibrahim Babangida to take over power. As soon as
Babangida cleared UPN governors of charges against them in a politically
motivated retrial, he was regarded as the darling of the South-West. When
General Babangida annulled the primaries in which Adamu Ciroma and Shehu
Yar Adua emerged as presidential candidates in the then National Republic
Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he was hailed by
the South-West. But unfortunately, the same South-West suddenly became
defenders of democracy when the same man annulled the June 12, 1993
elections in which Abiola was the front-runner.95
Meanwhile, according to critics, nothing has been negotiated for the children of
Abiola, the focus of Yoruba political activity. In return for these favours, the
critics argue that AD solidly voted for Evan Enwerem as Senate President. Yet,
this man – Evan – participated in the two-million- man March for Abacha´s
self-succession. He also was reputed to have hosted a meeting of governors
during Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida´s transition, demanding that June 12
elections should never be de-annulled and threatening that the East would go to
war if this was done. The Yoruba political elites actively campaigned for his
resignation when Ibrahim Salisu Buhari was accused of swearing to a false
affidavit.
Why did the Yoruba elites not taken the gruntlet to insist the resignation and
punishment when an AD governor, Bola Tinubu, swears to a false affidavit that
he attended an Ivy League University which he did not attend? We only hear
excuses from them.
For so many years, according to critics, the Yoruba have inundated this country
with stories of being marginalised and of a civil service dominated by
northerners through quota system. And, according to Emir Sanusi, the Federal
Character Commission has recently released a report which shows that the
South-West accounts for 27.8% of civil servants in the range GL08 to GL14 and
a full 29.5% of GL 15 and above. One zone out of six zones controls a full 30%
of the civil service leaving the other five zones to share the remaining 70%. We
find the same story in the economy, in academia, in parastatals.98
To further show that they were in charge, they led a cult into the Hausa area of
Sagamu, murdered a Hausa woman and nothing happened. In the violence that
followed, they killed several Hausa residents, with Yoruba leaders like Segun
Osoba, reminding Nigerians of the need to respect the culture of their host
communities. This would have continued were it not for the people of Kano
who showed that they could also create their own Oro who would only be
appeased through the shedding of innocent Yoruba blood.
In his bid to advise the Yorubas and the Igbos to abandon tribal politics, Sanusi
said:
“The Yoruba have become Nigeria's wailing tribe, detaching themselves from the rest
of the country and alienating the people they hope to rule; abusing other Nigerians
through their vociferous media and hoping for votes from the same Nigerians on
ballot day.
The lesson in all this is that the Igbo, Yoruba and all Nigerians must learn by now
that no one can win a national election on a tribal platform. Those clamoring to join
Ojukwu's Igbo party and those attempting to transform Afenifere/NADECO into a
tribal party are heading for a resounding defeat at the polls.
The presidency can, and perhaps should, move to the south. But it will be to a
southerner who contests on the platform of Nigeria, not of his tribe. A southerner
committed to the system, to the rule of law and to the principle of peace, justice,
equity and freedom, not of avenging real or imagined wrongs; a Southerner like Chief
Abiola who stands the chance of winning.
This is an opportunity to make (or unmake) history. But, sadly, it is being thrown
away once more in what may be the commencement of a new cycle of defeat,
frustration and wailing.104
There has been tension and suspicion that in the second coming of Muhammadu
Buhari, the Biafrans could be likened to the situation of the Jews in Hitler’s
Germany, the Tasmanians, and the Native Americans.
The author, Chinweizu Ibekwe wrote that in July 2018, Buhari showed his
death–dealing hand when, through his media spokesman, he warned non-Fulani
Nigerians to: “Give up your ancestral land for ranches or die” 106(Accessed July
2018)
Caution: Now that Buhari has rigged himself into a second term, those non-
Fulani Nigerians who want themselves and their ethnic nationality to survive
Buhari’s second term should pay close attention.
THE Fulani Project in Nigeria
In 1960, the Fulani project in Nigeria was defined as conquest and domination.
Their political leader, Sir Ahmadu Bello told his people that Nigeria should be
Dan Fodio’s Estate:
“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great–grandfather,
Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the
minorities of the North as willing tools and the South as a conquered territory and
never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their
future.” 108
Prior to that, in 1957, the same Sir Ahmadu had vowed to conquer and to
Islamize the south:
“We the people of the north will continue our stated intention to conquer the south
and to dip the Koran in the Atlantic Ocean after the British leave our shores.” 109
Thus, by 1960, the Fulani project in Nigeria had been defined as having two
components:
And since 1960, the Fulani in Nigeria have been implementing the two projects.
Then in 2018, something was publicly added to the Fulani Domination and
Jihad project. It is the Living Space campaign proclaimed by FUNAM and
supported by Buhari. That is to say, the Fulani project in Nigeria now has three
components: Fulani Domination, Jihad and Living Space, which Chinweizu
call FUDOJILS for short.110
Critics have argued that the leaders of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities (whether
assembled in Afenifere, Ohaneze, PANDEF, MBF or other organizations) are
clamouring for restructuring. But they will not get restructuring while a Fulani
or a Fulani-loyal non-Fulani is President. That’s because restructuring is not in
the Fulani interest. And they will repudiate any restructuring agreement that
would adversely affect their domination, just like they got Gowon to renege on
the 1967 Aburi Agreement. 112
It would be recalled that in 2001, Buhari declared his “total commitment to the
Sharia movement” in Nigeria, i.e. that he is a Jihadist, those mumu Nigerians
did not understand and went on to help to make him President in 2015; and in
2019, some of them, especially from the South and Christian, did whatever they
could to help Buhari rig himself into a second term. Had they understood what a
Jihadist is, their instinct for self-preservation would have prevented them from
helping Buhari become President in 2015; and it would have restrained them
from helping him to rig himself into a second term.115
Since 2015, most Nigerians haven’t known what to do about Buhari because
they haven’t figured out and put the correct name to what he has been doing.
When they do, they will know the nature of the war he has been waging on
them, and can then step out of their clouds of confusion and respond
appropriately.
The second was the declaration made in 1957 by Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dan
Fodio’s direct descendant and Jihadist heir, to conquer and Islamize the south.
That Jihadist project is the religious part of what Buhari has been carrying out in
his first term, and is committed to completing in his second term—namely,
ignoring the secular character of the 1999 Constitution and putting northern
Muslims, and preferably his fellow Jihadists, into every possible office in the
government.
And the second part of what Buhari has been doing is the Fulani Living Space
(Lebensraum) project, otherwise baptized as Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) that
had been going on, unrecognized for years, before FUNAM made it public; and
that the Buhari government supported and abetted by warning non-Fulani
Nigerians, to “Give Up Your Ancestral Land For Ranches Or Die”.
Chinweizu said that for the enlightenment of those Nigerians who do not
understand Buhari’s agenda or who say they see no agenda, only incompetence,
we shall examine 30 major events of the last 20 years and decipher the agenda
that is being implemented.118
1] 1999: the fraudulent 1999 Constitution was decreed into effect by Gen.
Abdusalami Abubakar.
2] 1999: Obasanjo, a.k.a. OBJ, was elected and took office as President and he
promptly retired wholesale the Caliphate military officers, thereby depriving the
Fulani of full command of their habitual military instrument for dominating and
ruling Nigeria.
3] 2000: Shari’a was adopted by 12 states in the Arewa (Far North) bastion of
the Caliphate, in violation of the 1999 Constitution.
5] 2005: Mustapha Jokolo, the Emir of Gwandu and the second highest person
in the Caliphate hierarchy, second only to the Sultan of Sokoto, called for Jihad
to restore Caliphate domination and end the alleged marginalization of Muslims
by the OBJ government.
6] 2005: Boko Haram grew strong after it was adopted by unknown powerful
patrons including, allegedly, the then Governor of Borno State, Ali Sherif.
10] 2011 to 2019: In 2011, Boko Haram issued a quit notice to southerners in
the north, and began enforcing it by bombing churches; The Fulani Militia, in
battalion–size units armed with AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons,
attacked villages in Benue State, and even ambushed Benue Governor Gabriel
Suswam in 2014. From the ambush of the Governor, there were clear
indications that elements in the military were aiding and abetting these Fulani
militias in their attacks on villages in Benue State.
11] 2014: Ismaila Gwarzo, a Fulani who had been Abacha’s National Security
Adviser, declared that “Nigeria is Allah’s gift to the Fulani (…) to rule and to
do with as we please.”120
12] 2015, May 29: Buhari, the self-admitted Jihadist, became President of
Nigeria. He felt strong enough to start ruling Nigeria as an Islamic country. And
his fellow Northern Muslim bigwigs have been conducting themselves as if
Nigeria is a de facto Islamic country instead of a secular democratic republic, as
provided for in its 1999 Constitution. This will be seen in the events listed
below.
13] 2015, July: Buhari declared that he will probe only corrupt officials in the
Jonathan government.
14] 2015, September: Fulani herdsmen abducted Chief Olu Falae from his farm
and released him for a ransom. Chief Falae is a prominent Yoruba leader; he
was a 1999 presidential election candidate, and a former Secretary to the
Government of the Federation.
15] 2015, December: Global Terrorism Index named Nigerian Fulani militants
as the fourth deadliest terror group in world, after Al-Shabab, ISIS and Boko
Haram.
16] 2015 to 2019: Buhari, in his appointments, has been brazenly flouting the
Federal Character provision of the Constitution, and has overwhelmingly
appointed Northern Muslims.
17] 2017, August: The Emir of Katsina abducted an underage Christian girl,
forcibly converted her to Islam and married her.
19] 2017, September: Buhari’s military, in its Operation Python Dance, killed
non-violent Biafra self-determination demonstrators near Aba, Abia State, SE
Nigeria; but, at the UN General Assembly in that same month, Buhari declared
his support for Muslim self-determination campaigners in Western Sahara.
20] 2017, September and October: Buhari withdrew Nigeria from 90 non-
Islamic international organizations but kept it in Islamic organizations like the
Organization of the Islamic Conference and the D8 (a grouping of Islamic less-
developed countries formed by Turkey).
22] 2017, October: The World Bank President revealed that Buhari asked the
World Bank to focus its development projects only in northern Nigeria.
23] 2015, May to 2019, March: Buhari’s security agencies, almost all headed by
Fulani officers, have been unable to seal (or is it uninterested in sealing?)
Nigeria’s borders to stop foreign Fulani herdsmen from coming into the
country.
24] 2018, January: In a media release, the Fulani Nationality Movement,
FUNAM, declared that Nigeria is Allah’s gift to the Fulani, echoing what
Gwarzo had said in 2014.
25] 2015-2018: Under Buhari’s watch, Fulani militias and Boko Haram
intensified their attacks on Christian communities, their mass murder of
Christians, and the murder of priests, especially in the Middle Belt. In March
2018, Gen T. Y. Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff and former Defense
Minister, revealed that Buhari’s security forces have been aiding and abetting
the Fulani ethnic cleansing militia in the Middle Belt, thus adding his prominent
voice to many other such reports.
26] 2018, May: The president of Miyetti Allah, the Fulani Cattle Breeders’
Association, insisted on Cattle Colonies and Grazing Reserves and rejected
ranching. Their ulterior land–grab motive was explained by Col. Madaki and
Gen. Lekwot.
27] 2018 May: Trailer loads of Fulani infiltrate forests in Cross River; and
helicopters supply Fulani base camps in Delta State. Infiltrations have also been
reported from other states in southern Nigeria.
28] 2018 July: Buhari’s government, through its media spokesman, warned non-
Fulani Nigerians to “Give up your ancestral lands or die!”
29] 2015-2019: Buhari continued to pack the Judiciary, from the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court down to all levels, with Northern Muslims.
30] February and March 2019: Free and fair elections, Buhari Jihadist style,
were held and Buhari was, predictably, declared winner by his Fulani-led
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
What these 30 events show is that, since the year 2000, Nigerians have been
under a relentless and continuous Jihadist assault; yet, most Nigerians do not
speak about that fact and possibly are unaware of it. They have been suffering a
Jihad for the last 20 years without realizing it. How is that possible? How is
such systematic ignorance possible?
Let’s see how a defective conceptual framework has operated to blindfold and
confuse Nigerians.
In 1960 as Nigeria was granted independence in 1960, its visible and official
ruler was a Muslim: Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister.
He was the political lieutenant of Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna
(warlord) of Sokoto. The Sardauna, being Sir Abubakar’s boss, was the real
political supremo of Nigeria. This simple fact of reaching independence under
Muslim leaders has had serious consequences for Nigeria’s history.
They were still clueless about the creeping Islamization of Nigeria when they
helped install a Jihadist Buhari as the President of Nigeria in 2015. When he
thus became the political leader of these Jihadists, Buhari was determined to
conclude the creeping Islamization of Nigeria. He and his Jihadist cabal
believed their position was at last strong enough for them to drop the disguises
of the preceding 55 years and boldly rule Nigeria as a de facto Islamic country.
And that is what Buhari has been doing since 2015, to the consternation of the
still clueless and confused secular democrats, who mistake Buhari’s Jihadist
actions as simply incompetent or dictatorial.
According to that MSE world outlook, all Nigerians, just like Americans, are
secular and detribalized INDIVIDUALS practicing democracy and engaged in
upwardly mobile striving for prosperity. Nigeria’s problems are supposedly
rooted in poverty and tribalism, and can be solved only by reducing the numbers
of the poor and by everybody becoming detribalized and learning to live
together harmoniously through growing up together, attending unity schools,
and finishing up with the Youth Corps experience of living in some part of the
country other than their places of origin.123
However, these things of the material world are of scant concern to Jihadists
and the rank and file Almajiri cannon fodder who adhere to:
From top to bottom, from royalty to the poorest rank and file, the Jihadists see
the world in terms of religion and ethnicity. They are preoccupied with the
prospect of dying when on Jihad and going from there straight to a Muslim
heaven where they will be in the arms and beds of black-eyed, beautiful virgins.
But the heart of Nigeria’s problem is that the adherents of the MSE paradigm
assume that everybody already shares or will soon be brought around to share
their paradigm, mindset, desires and ambitions. They refuse to see, let alone
understand, that the Jihadists are not like themselves.
If you don’t understand what a Jihadist is, and how he sees the world, and what
he wants in the world, and you are told that Buhari, in 2001, called himself a
Jihadist, you are likely to dismiss the statement as old and irrelevant to what is
happening in 2015 or 2019. That’s like dismissing a lion’s roar that you heard
last year as telling you nothing about the lion’s hunger for human flesh today.
Most Nigerians, especially the Christian and Westernized elites in the south, do
not see a religious, let alone Jihadist, factor in what is happening in Nigeria.
They see each of these events but don’t see a Jihad. They see each of these 30
events in isolation, never together as a set. They don’t see them as the trees that
make up the Jihad forest. That’s because they adhere to the MSE paradigm for
explaining politics; aparadigm that lacks the Jihad concept. Let’s see how well
this MSE paradigm can explain the 30 items listed above.124
How well does the MSE paradigm, with its identification of poverty as root
cause, explain these 30 events? How well, for instance, does poverty explain the
attacks on Christian churches and communities and the killing of priests by
Boko Haram and the Fulani Militia or, Boko Haram’s abduction of the Chibok
girls and their forcible marriage of the Christians among their captives; or the
Emir of Katsina’s abduction and marriage of an underage Christian girl? How
does poverty explain Kaduna State Governor El-Rufai’s conversion of
chiefdoms into emirates? Or Buhari’s brazen flouting of the secular democracy
Constitution he swore to uphold? Or Buhari’s biased anti-corruption campaign;
or his skewing of security, judiciary and other appointments overwhelmingly in
favor of Northern Muslims? 125
Poverty may explain the herdsmen attack on Chief Olu Falae’s farm and other
cases of abduction for ransom. However, that the perpetrators were Fulani, or
were on an ethnic Fulani agenda, was initially unacknowledged, in line with the
“detribalized Nigerians” dogma. And the religious aspect was also not
acknowledged because Nigeria was supposed to have already become, or to be
developing into, a secular country where persons of different religions live
tolerantly and happily as neighbors.126
Because they are in denial regarding these powerful ethnic and religious factors
that actually dominate daily life in Nigeria, the secularists see the religious and
ethnic mayhem in the Middle Belt and the Northeast as “senseless”, “irrational”,
etc. Some have even blamed these massive killings on a “bunch of psychopaths
and anachronistic feudal mentality.”127 In other words, their MSE framework
obscures for them the nature and purpose of the killings they read and complain
about.
But let’s ask a few elementary questions: Is poverty causing Boko Haram to
burn churches and kill Christians?
Is poverty the reason the Fulani militia kill villagers and take over their villages
in the areas they operate in?
How does poverty explain Buhari’s Jihadist actions and policies listed above?
Of course, the burden of showing that the MSE paradigm can explain all these
30 developments, let alone in a better way than the Ethno-religious Paradigm, is
entirely on those who use it to explain Nigeria’s history. I have merely indicated
a few of the cases where the difficulties of explaining things seem insuperable.
In contrast, does the Ethno-religious Paradigm explain most of the listed events?
Yes, it does, as we shall see below. That’s because it acknowledges the
powerful ethnic and religious aspects of life in Nigeria, and allows us to
recognize the Fulani Domination, Jihad and Living Space (FUDOJILS)
phenomena.
To show that the FUDOJILS project explains all of these major 30 events, it is
necessary to link each to some FUDOJILS project or concept.
How Fulani Domination and Jihad explain some of these 30 events and how the
Fulani Living Space project explains the rest.129
#1: The imposition of the 1999 Constitution by military decree was to covertly
entrench Fulani domination through the devices and frauds in that document.
#2: OBJ’s mass retirement of Caliphate military officers, was done to prevent
the Fulani from overthrowing his elected regime.
#3: The adoption of Shari’a by 12 states in the Arewa (Far north) bastion of the
Caliphate, in violation of the 1999 Constitution, was to further “advance
Shari’a”; promote the Jihadist agenda; and protect the Domination agenda.
#4: Buhari’s coming out of his Jihadist closet was to position himself as the
champion of Jihad.
#5: Mustapha Jokolo’s call for Jihad in 2005 was in the interest of both Jihad
(Islamization by war) and Caliphate Fulani domination.
#6: The sponsored growth of Boko Haram was to promote Jihad as well as
restore a Fulani domination that had been undermined by OBJ.
#7: Bala N’Allah’s call for the extermination of 20 million Niger Delta militants
was aimed to secure Fulani Domination from challenge by its Niger Delta
victims.
#9: Lawal Kaita’s threat to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan
was in the service of restoring Fulani domination.
#10: Boko Haram’s quit notice to Southerners in the North, and the Fulani
militia attacks on villages in Benue were some early manifestations of the
Fulani Living Space project. These attacks, by some accounts, began as far back
as 2009.
#11: Ismaila Gwarzo’s declaration that “Nigeria is Allah’s gift to the Fulani (…)
to rule and to do with as we please.” was in furtherance of Fulani domination.
I think these attacks have a different purpose than economic. They were
designed to intimidate the Yoruba and keep them subservient to the Fulani. I
base this explanation on a device for Fulani minority rule that Ibrahim Tahir, in
a boastful moment, revealed to Chuba Okadigbo when they both were
colleagues in the NPN leadership under President Shagari in the early 1980s.
The story goes like this: Okadigbo asked Tahir how come a lone Fulani
herdsman could control a herd of hundreds of cows each of whom could
trample him underfoot. Tahir explained it thus: The cattle leading the herd are
liable to wander off in any direction and scatter the column of cattle. To prevent
that from happening, the lone herdsman hastens forward and hits one of the
straying cattle very hard with his stick until it returns to its place in the line.130
The others watch this happen and, not wanting to be beaten like that, learn their
lesson and stay in line. And Tahir concluded by saying that that’s how his
Fulani people keep their subject peoples under control. When any of the leaders
of the subject peoples starts getting out of line, his Fulani masters publicly and
severely punish him for all to see. His people, from fear of getting the same
treatment, avoid following him. I think that’s what was being done to the
Yoruba through one of their most prominent sons, Chief Falae.
A similar thing was done in 1993 to General Lekwot by framing and sentencing
him to death when his Zango Kataf people became restive after the Fulani used
their cattle colony to take over rulership of Zango Kataf. On this explanation,
the attacks on Falae and his farm were not for the ransom demanded when he
was kidnapped in the first attack, but to publicly and repeatedly hit him so hard
that the Yoruba would stay subservient to the Fulani. That is to say, despite
appearances, this was also a case that served Fulani domination.131
#15: Putting the Fulani militia on the terrorism list immediately following ISIS,
al-Shabab and Boko Haram can be understood as inviting Nigerians to see them
in the same light as those other Jihadist forces; and as encouraging them to stop
accepting the disinformation that the attacks by these militias were like the
traditional farmer-herder clashes.
After all, traditional herders did not carry AK47s and other sophisticated
weapons or attack in battalion–size units. It therefore served to expose the
Fulani Living Space project that had been hidden by the systematic
disinformation about farmer-herder conflict.
#17: In abducting an underage Christian girl, and forcibly marrying her, the
Emir of Katsina was upholding the Jihadist doctrine that “Jihad is waged to hurt
the Infidels” . . . “taking them captive and enslaving them injures their honor
and morale.”134
#18: Buhari’s Defense Minister’s boast about the Fulani record of political
murder with impunity serves to intimidate the victims of Fulani domination. It
says, to them: look what we can do to you, and with impunity.
#21: Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s move to change Chiefdoms into
Emirates would extend Fulani domination over populations that had never been
part of the Fulani emirate system.
#22: Buhari’s asking the World Bank to focus its development projects only in
northern Nigeria was another act of Jihadist discrimination against the non-
Muslims in the other parts of Nigeria and serves the interest of the northern
bastion of Fulani domination.
#23-28 each serves the Fulani Living Space project that #24 made public. In
particular, #23, not sealing off Nigeria’s borders, allows the inflow of armed
Fulani herdsmen and militia into Nigeria; and
#25, the aiding and abetting of the Fulani ethnic cleansing militia in the Middle
Belt by Buhari’s security forces, facilitates the project; and,
#26: Miyetti Allah’s insistence on Cattle Colonies and Grazing Reserves and its
rejection of ranching, together facilitate Fulani expropriation of the lands of
non-Fulani peoples. Cattle Colonies, as Col. Madaki and Gen. Lekwotexplain,
are a device Fulanis have traditionally used to gain a toehold in the territories of
their intended victims; Grazing Reserves will obviously help them penetrate
other people’s territory and set up cattle colonies; and,
#27, the infiltration of Fulani into forests in Cross River, Delta, and other states
in southern Nigeria implements the FUNAM directive to Fulani herdsmen from
all over West Africa to “penetrate every corner [of Nigeria] for the upcoming
Jihad”, and,
#28, the Buhari government’s warning to non-Fulani Nigerians to “Give up
your ancestral lands or die!” aims to discourage resistance to the Fulani ethnic
cleansing land grabbers.
We should note that the attacks on Christian communities and churches; the
killing of priests and the mass murder of Christians all serve the Jihadist project
of destroying Christianity and other religions that Jihadists consider repugnant
to Islam. Basing themselves on the Quran, Jihadists claim that “Allah made
annihilating the infidels one of his steadfast decrees” . . . ‘for the unbelievers are
unto you open enemies’ [Quran 4: 101].
#29: Buhari continued packing of the judiciary, at all levels, including the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, with Northern Muslims, is just another Jihadist
device for Islamizing the Nigerian state apparatus.
#30: The 2019 free and fair election, Buhari Jihadist style, and INEC’s false
declaration of Buhari as winner will facilitate every aspect of FUDOJILS during
Buhari’s second term.
It should now be abundantly clear that the FUDOJILS project explains all of
these major 30 events that have occurred in Nigeria since 1999. It does so by
linking each to some FUDOJILS project or concept.137
When you finally see that Jihad is being waged on you, you learn something
vital about the fighting methods of your enemy. You are then able to see
through his usual tricks and stratagems and then can evade or counter them. For
instance, when he plays Takkiya on you, you are not fooled you do not fall for
what he says under oath, least of all for what he swears on the Koran, because
you now know that Takkiya enjoins him to deceive the infidel, even by
swearing falsely on the Koran.
You also know that, like Muhammed’s example with the treaty of Hudaybiya,
he will not honor any agreement he signs with non-Muslims. You realize that
any talk or claim of integrity in a Jihadist enemy is just a pretense. You now
know and you don’t allow yourself to be confused by the pretense.
Knowing these usual tricks and techniques of Jihadists, we can then organize to
fight appropriately. If you recognize that your opponent in the boxing ring is a
southpaw, you change your boxing stance and style to accommodate and take
advantage of that fact.
We have seen how well one paradigm explains these events and how inept the
other is at the task
Since you will be killed immediately if you don’t give up your land, and will die
of starvation and homelessness, perhaps more slowly, if you give up your land
and become a refugee that means that the MSE paradigm requires you,
whatever choice you make, to sacrifice your life for the Fulani. What self-
respecting person would do that? Not even a slave of the Fulani would do that.
Did your God create you to be used as human sacrifice to the Fulani armed land
robbers?139
It should be obvious that armed ethnic militants (the OPC of the Yoruba,
MASSOB/ IPOB of the Igbo, the Avengers and other militants of the Niger
Delta) are together no match for Buhari’s collection of armed forces. Given the
mighty disparity between the armed strengths of the two sides, the secularists
can’t hope to win militarily.
As they can’t win by fighting, they must endeavor to win without fighting. And
in this case, winning without fighting means flight into the protection of the
United Nations. And for that, serious and expert diplomacy is needed to get UN
membership for their new countries. This is exactly what Nnamdi Kanu is doing
and we must support him!
Flight and escape from your Fulani exterminators requires that you remove the
territory and population of your ethnic group from the jurisdiction and physical
control of Buhari’s Nigerian state. And this should be done preferably before
2023, before his genocide project gathers unstoppable momentum. And that is
something practical that could be done if you have the will to find the way to do
it.
In the West, the non-Yoruba speaking people of Asaba, Warri, and Benin
demanded for a separate mid-Western region.
To allay the fears of the minorities, the Sir Henry Willink Commission was set
up in 1957 to look into the grievances of minority groups and their agitations for
separate states and recommendations.142
One of the most visible minorities is the Middle Belt states in Nigeria. Middle
Belt is a human geographical term used to designate a belt region stretching
longitudinally across the center of Nigeria and thereby forming a transition zone
in between the South and North locations in Nigeria. It is characterised by clear
absence of Majority ethnic groups and a location of Nigeria’s Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) in Abuja. The eminence of the ethnic minorities that made up
the Middle Belt is manifold, and to some extent, brings barrier of having an
ethnolinguistic status in Nigeria and thereby drawing a separation between the
North which mainly practice Islam and the South which practice Christianity
mainly.144
Defining Middle Belt areas are subjected to powerful debate because of the
presence of a significant number of ethnic groups in Nigeria such as the Hausa,
Fulani and Kanuri groups. Moreover, the Yorubas in Kwara and Kogi states
possess a strong bond with Majority of the Yoruba body and preferred often not
to be identified with Middle Belt states. The total population of the people
residing the Middle Belt states is estimated to be over thirty-five million
(35,000,000) or more of which majority are Christians and some few number of
them are converted to Muslims. It comprises a significant number of Hausa and
Fulani who are in approximation of 20% of the total population. Christians in
the Middle Belt are about 70-75% of the total population, while the Muslim of
the Middle Belt takes the remaining 25-30% of the total population.145
What is the list of Middle Belt states in Nigeria? The rightful answer to this
question has been subjected to contention by a series of groups for many years.
Nigeria is divided into six different geopolitical zones which include the North
West region, North East region, South East region, South West region, and the
Middle Belt which are loosely termed the North Central. These zones were not
entirely established based on the geopolitical locations they were established
based on their similarities in culture as well as shared history and ethnicity. But
the Nigeria’s Middle Belt region which is widely termed as the North Central of
which there is a mixture of both minor and major ethnic presence and co-
existing together.146
The Middle Belt region is mapped at the very center of Nigeria and stretches
longitudinally from one of the map’s end to the other, for instance, from West to
East. Although the North Central is also the Middle Belt, some groups from the
Middle Belt or North Central region have laid claims to the fact that they are not
northern states nor part of Northern Nigeria. Following the Nigeria’s map, the
states which fall under the Middle Belt zone are: Abuja (Federal Capital
Territory), Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Niger, Adamawa.
Others included Kaduna, Kebbi, Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe and Borno states.147
But following the geopolitical divisions of Nigeria, the Middle Belt states are
just seven in number which includes the following: Benue, Abuja, Kwara, Kogi,
Nasarawa, Plateau, and Niger states.
However, many people believe that the Middle Belt zone of Nigeria is
indeterminate because it does not possess an official or designated border.
In the last 12 months in 2016, more than 50 villages have been attacked and
hundreds of families were severely affected. The World Watch Monitor Nigeria
in its September 11, 2017 publication identified five germane and fundamental
issues about violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.150
Thirty-eight million people belong to the larger Fulani cluster of ethnic groups
found in pockets across 19 Central and West African countries. They speak a
variety of languages, including Hausa, English, French and Arabic, and form
the world’s largest nomadic group roaming this large area in search of grazing
for their cattle. Although there are varying degrees of dedication throughout
Fulani society, 99% follow Islam.
2. They are in conflict with farmers in northern Nigeria’s strategic Middle Belt
It is an ideology that pitches the migrant Hausa-Fulani herdsmen from the north
against the indigenous Christian population of the Middle Belt region. The
migrants, the authors say, are determined not only to keep their own traditions
and culture, but also to make them dominant: the battlegrounds are religious,
political, economic and social.
The stories coming out of the region tell a consistent tale of harassment,
discrimination and outright persecution. In Taraba State, for example, Hausa-
Fulani attacks on Christian communities have caused mass internal
displacement. Thousands of indigenous farmers have scrambled to the state
capital of Jalingo for safety.
Research in three states showed that 88 per cent of victims in Benue State were
Christians, 70 per cent in Taraba State, and 75 per cent in Nasarawa State,
where “Christians are being driven out of their ancestral homes, and those who
refused and stayed were indiscriminately targeted. The vacated lands are being
grabbed by those responsible for the displacement”.152
In recent decades, the Fulani have again grown increasingly radical due to the
influx of radical Islamic preaching by missionaries from Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Attacks can be seen as a continuation of jihad, seeking an Islamic state
throughout Nigeria.
The Catholic Bishops of Kaduna, an area that suffered many attacks in recent
years, recently said, “The Fulani want to subjugate Christians, disintegrate the
country, weaken the Gospel and destroy the social and economic life of the
people. There is a hidden agenda targeted at the Christian majority of southern
Kaduna. This jihad is well-funded, well-planned and executed by agents of
destabilisation”.153
Open Doors’ research further shows that violence increased in the run-up to the
2015 presidential elections and persisted since Muhammadu Buhari, himself a
Fulani, became president. It estimates that the group killed as many as 6,500
people in Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue and Taraba states between 2013
and 2015 alone. The Local Government Areas of Jama’a, Kachia, Kagarko,
Kaura and Sanga in southern Kaduna have been the worst hit. World Watch
Monitor’s sources indicate that more than 50 villages have been attacked in the
last 12 months alone.155
“The crisis here has persisted because of the way and manner the Federal and
State governments, as well as the Security Agents, are handling it,” said Bishop
Joseph Bagobiri of Kafanchan, southern Kaduna, in March this year. “Many of
us are disappointed to see that our political leaders are taking sides and known
to be supporting, directly or indirectly, the Fulani themselves and that is why
they are fast losing the support and trust of the people.”157
“The intervention of the Nigerian government has been slow and haphazard. No
attempt has been made to address key issues. No herdsmen were held
accountable for the atrocities already committed; there was no discussion of
prosecution for perpetrators, nor of compensation, nor provision of security for
victims. Many communities were left displaced and fearful, without any
security,”159 writes Yonas Dembele in a 2016 report for the World Watch
Research unit of Open Doors.
The South South geopolitical zone is made up of six states. These six states are
known as the Niger Delta states. One of the things these states have in common
is that they have the keys to the Nigeria economy - oil. These states are the
major oil producing states in Nigeria. These six states are: ● Akwa Ibom ●
Bayelsa ● Cross River ● Delta ● Edo ● Rivers
Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is not only home to the greater part of Africa’s
largest mangrove forest, but also the source of Nigeria’s oil wealth. Here, in this
amazing network of creeks, and an aquatic splendour comprising marine,
brackish and freshwater ecosystems, lay the operational bases of a kaleidoscope
of ethnic militia and insurgent organizations dedicated to the socio-economic
emancipation of the Niger Delta peoples. These have culminated in the Niger
Delta Crisis. Thus, the area has become a hot bed of violence, insurgency,
kidnapping, hostage-taking, oil pipeline sabotage, crude oil theft, gang wars,
internecine struggles and so much else by way of anarchy and chaos.
The armed struggle, internecine conflict and insurgency in the Niger Delta, all
of which have been subsumed under the general term – Niger Delta crisis, may
be seen in three basic dimensions. As has been mentioned earlier the Niger
Delta region is a pot-pouri of ethnic nationalities. These ethnic groups, while
subscribing to a general interest in the development of the Niger Delta,
nevertheless manifest inclinations towards more specific primordial interests.163
The current conflict in the Niger Delta first arose in the early 1990s over
tensions between foreign oil corporations and a number of the Niger Delta's
minority ethnic groups who feel they are being exploited, particularly the Ogoni
and the Ijaw. In 1999 the country returned to a democratic dispensation under
Obasanjo presidency but yet, ethnic and political unrest which enveloped the
entire 1990s continued unabated.164 Ethnic militia groups in the region were
drawn into conflicts between themselves and the involvements and activities of
the Nigeria Police (notably the Police Mobile Force) and the Nigeria military
led to the militarization of nearly the entire region. Consequently, the insecurity
created by these actors is a major contributor to Nigeria’s ongoing energy
supply crisis because foreign investment in the new power generation plants in
the region is discouraged.
Between 2004 and 2009, the oil industry was hit by the gale of piracy and
kidnappings. But luckily in 2009, a presidential amnesty program accompanied
with support and training of ex-militants proved to be a success. Within this
period, it was understandable for crime victims not to want to seek justice due
to failure of the government to be enthusiastic enough to prosecute those
responsible for human rights abuses. All these changed from 2011 upwards.
The Nigerian nation must realise that Igbos have more than paid for their
“foolishness”. They have been defeated in war, rendered paupers by monetary
policy fiat, their properties declared abandoned and confiscated, kept out of
strategic public sector appointments and deprived of public services. The rest of
the country forced them to remain in Nigeria and has continued to deny them
equity.
The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have conspired to keep
the Igbo out of the scheme of things. In the recent transition when the Igbo
solidly supported the PDP in the hope of an Ekwueme presidency, the North
and South-West treated this as a Biafra agenda. Every rule set for the primaries,
every gentleman´s agreement was set aside to ensure that Obasanjo, not
Ekwueme emerged as the candidate. Things went as far as getting the Federal
Government to hurriedly gazette a pardon. Now, with this government, the
marginalistion of the Igbo is more complete than ever before. The Igbos have
taken all these quietly because, they reason, they brought it upon themselves.
But the nation is sitting on a time-bomb.
After the First World War, the victors treated Germany with the same contempt
Nigeria is treating Igbos. Two decades later, there was a Second World War, far
costlier than the first. Germany was again defeated, but this time, they won a
more honourable peace. Our present political leaders have no sense of History.
There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor
cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were
never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians, are Nigerians, but suffer because of
actions of earlier generations. They will soon decide that it is better to fight their
own war, and may be find an honourable peace, than to remain in this
contemptible state in perpetuity. We better watch it!
The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have exacted their
pound of flesh from the Igbos. For one Sardauna, one Tafawa Balewa, one
Akintola and one Okotie-Eboh, hundreds of thousands of Biafrans (Igbos
mainly) have died and suffered!
The existing Calabar and Port Harcourt seaports in the eastern part of Nigeria
are made redundant and manipulatively inefficient so that the Igbos and other
easterners will be made to use Apapa and Tinkan Island ports thereby enriching
the Lagos state at the expense of the Igbos and the eastern states. Why is River
Niger not dredged to allow Igbo businesses some comfort? Why do successive
Nigerian governments ignore to fix the Calabar and Port Harcourt ports to ease
congestions of Lagos ports, the Igbos are wont to ask?
Oguta Lake in eastern part of Nigeria in Imo state is only about 18 nautical
miles to the Atlantic Ocean. No other body of water in the south and in the
eastern region has that kind of proximity. Yet, the federal government allegedly
refused to give Igbos a seaport. Instead, Buhari was alleged to have plans to
dredge the water from River Niger, extending it to Niger State in the north to
create artificial “seaport” in a “desert” so that when the Igbo traders whose
merchandise arrives Lagos, the goods would be taken to Niger State “seaport”
for clearance. The Igbo traders, upon clearance of their merchandise, would
then transport it down to their various destinations in Biafraland.
In addition, the north already has a “dry port” in Kaduna State in northern
Nigeria. Already, most Igbo traders clear their goods from Kaduna dry port,
travel hundreds and thousands of miles to get to their stations. Some of them die
on the highways as a result of road mishaps. The north has at least two major
international airports – the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport Abuja and
Aminu Kano International airport in Kano. While the West has Murtala
Muhammed International airport, in Lagos, the east central part of Nigeria has
only one airport which the Jonathan administration managed to upgrade to
international status.
Presently, the federal government of Nigeria has downgraded the Enugu airport
to local because the airport is lacking in facilities. But why can’t the federal
government fix the Enugu airport to international standard instead of
downgrading it knowing that it is the only international airport the Igbos has?
The airports in Calabar and Port Harcourt are made to operate not in full
capacity so that the Igbos and other easterners would be compelled to use
Murtala Muhammed International airport in Lagos.
The highest Islamic school in West Africa – Sheikh Ibrahim Nwagui’s
Foundation (School of Arabic and Islamic Studies) – was established in Afikpo
in Ebonyi State in the eastern part of Nigeria’s Biafra-land. One wonders why
such a school was built in Afikpo when Islam is less than 1% in Igboland
(Biafra). Many believe it is one of the agenda of islamization of Biafraland. The
rail line projects in Nigeria under Buhari regime carefully avoided and excluded
the Igbo area (as against the original plan that included it) from the rest of the
country. Why?
The $22.7 billion loans secured by the Buhari-led federal government on the
behalf of Nigeria and Nigerians conspicuously discriminated against the Igbo
race. None of the Igbo-speaking states received a dime. The statistics are as
follow: 165
General: $5,853,900,000.00
President Muhammadu Buhari with his government has signalled its intention to
build railways from Kano to Niger Republic with borrowed Chinese money.
The sum of about $1.96 billion contracts has already been approved of the
proposed project. The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria
(HURIWA), a human rights group described the planned project of
$1,959,744,723.71 contract as a misplaced priority and a grave threat to national
security, insisting that it is fraudulent to borrow from China and build railway
for Niger Republic and then tax Nigerians to pay back. The railways will
connect at least seven cities in Nigeria and one city in Niger Republic and is
expected to start from Kano and pass through Dambatta, Kazaure, Daura,
Mashi, Katsina, Jibia and terminate in Maradi, Niger Republic. The Igbos have
querried that their geopolitical zone does not have federal government presence
and that in the proposed railway projects in the country, the South-East was
carefully avoided, not captioned in the project, among many other denials they
are facing in Nigeria. And now, they and other Nigerians are asking: “… we
condemn this venture as wasteful because of the danger of being used to import
weapons that will set Nigeria ablaze. Whereas there are no such rail lines
linking Lagos to Enugu and Port Harcourt or Maiduguri to Enugu, President
Buhari is investing almost $2bn to build railways for terrorists and bandits to
flood into Nigeria and destabilize the country. Is this government just for the
North? 166 Belatedly, it was gathered that Buhari government had also approved
a railway-highway into Cameroon that will terminate within 300 kilometres of
Yaounde, the capital city. He should be praised for that!
But Nigerians are worried that the 11 out of the 12 stations on the route which
are in Nigeria with the terminal point at the border town of Maradi covering 622
kilometres from Niamey, the capital of Niger, when completed will be express
entry for killer herdsmen and terrorists from Niger. Critics see it also as a plot to
flood Nigeria with illegal aliens for purposes primarily to stage a jihad against
the Igbos and the South of Nigeria, including the Middle Belt and also of
undermining the 2023 polls, right or wrong!
The questions that arise from such governmental decision and recklessness are
germane and fundamental: What is the economic benefit of this project to
Nigeria? Is the Nigerian economy, as it is today, in a state to contain this kind of
wasteful spending? Illegal immigration in Nigeria is a serious problem as
Nigeria’s borders, especially those in the north, have become quite porous;
people from Niger are considered the biggest group of illegal immigrants, and
the problems with illegal influx migrants are seen in the dangers faced by the
host or receiving country, which are social, economic, political and security.
How does the Buhari government intend to contend with the crisis of
identification and an increase in the crime rates, mostly occasioned by the rapid
influx of illegal immigrants? It is also alleged that among the illegal migrants,
there are militants, who enter the nation to carry out terrorist activities. In what
practical ways does the Buhari government intend to interrogate the security
situation in the country to contain crimes if it opens her porous borders to
facilitate or create easy and accessible means of illegal arms trafficking and
migrants? By her actions and behaviour, the Buhari government has made
herself a grave security suspect and ennobler, not victim, of terrorism!
A time was when all the six Ministers in Jonathan’s kitchen Cabinet were all
Igbos. An Igbo man in the person of Anyim Pius Anyim was the Secretary of
the Federation while Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a first-class world renowned
economist, was in charge of Finance, doubling as the coordinating minister for
the nation’s economy. She also is Igbo. Emeka Wogu was in Labour and
Productivity, Berth Nnaji was in Power and Energy. These Igbo sons and
daughters were so powerful during Jonathan administration that they could
influence and largely decide government actions, dictating what would be
discussed at the larger Federal Executive Council meetings. Nigeria then was
literaly in their pockets.
Instead of them to care about the poverty ravaging the Igbo land, the dearth of
infrastructural facilities making the Igbo nation one of the world’s worst
infrastructures, creating a conducive environment for businesses to thrive, etc.,
most of them were busy diverting Billions of Naira into their accounts at home
and abroad.
They left undone the Second Niger Bridge and shared the money allegedly.
They nonchalantly neglected to ensure that the Lagos-Calabar rail lines passing
through nine states – three of them in the South East were executed as they
refused to pay the Chinese the Counter part fund. They allegedly shared the
money.
Other Igbo sons and daughters who occupied juicy positions under Jonathan
included Dieziani Madueke the powerful Minister for Oil. Okiro and Onovo had
the Police under their control while General Ihejirika and later Minimah
controlled the Army.
Others included Senator Ike Ekweremadu – former Deputy Senate President for
almost six years, Emeka Ihedioha – former Deputy Speaker, House of
Representatives for five years, Senator Stella Odua, former Minister of Aviation
for four years and later Osita Chidoka.
Since the present democratic dispensation in 1999, we have witnessed Igbo sons
and daughters occupied enviable positions in governance and yet could not do
any reasonable thing for their geo-political zone. It might interest you to also
know the following:
Who really is marginalising who when all these sons and daughters of Ndigbo
had all the chance in the world to get their kinsmen their fair share of the
National Cake? Or was the cake not shared? Did they not get the slice of their
geo-political region? Of course, they did! But where did it go? Your guess is as
good as mine, “ndewo nu”. And yet, some people are clamouring for a Nigeria
President from Igbo extraction as if the Igbo president, if elected will “kill
lion!”. Most of the politicians in Igbo land are bunch of “efulefus” and
“otulectuals” and “sophisticated morons”!
The point I’m trying to make is that some Igbo politicians are criminally-
minded Caliphate-compliant, only interested after their own belle. Most of them
are criminals on whose foreheads bear the mark of Cain, who suck the breast of
corruption and engage in other banalities, who are hyenas controlling the sheep.
In his interview with BBC Hard Talk published by Republican News, Obasanjo
painstakingly lay to bare why Igbos are very angry with the Nigeria nation even
to the point that the current generation of Igbos are contemplating bearing arms
against the union. It is not hidden that fact that a lot of Igbos, mainly the
younger generation, follow Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB with his secessionist
message. Even those who appear not to follow him due to his perceived
detestable antics and rhetorics appear very sympathetic to his underlying
message – that the Igbos don’t feel wanted in Nigeria, hence, they marginalized,
discriminated against, and ultimately excluded from the scheme of things. In the
said interview, Obasanjo reveals:
“My friends who are not from the East of Nigeria where Igbos come from often ask
me why there is so much anger in the East and among Igbos. Some wonder why,
despite the famed Igbo” wealth’ and enterprise all over Nigeria, the people still
complain that Nigeria is unfair to them. Some insinuate that the anger comes from the
loss of the 2015 election by Jonathan who the Igbos heavily backed…”168
However, one of the conspiracy theories, indeed the latest feeds on the
assumption or suspicion that Jonathan’s loss of power to Buhari in 2015 may
have fuelled the current campaign for Biafra agitators for secession. Obasanjo
thinks differently. So, why is the Igbos mad at Buhari? According to Obasanjo:
“First, for those who think this is all about Jonathan and Buhari. It is not. Igbos were
disappointed that Jonathan did not win. But those whose candidates lose elections
lick their wounds. It is allowed. It happens when your candidate loses election. Why
did the Igbos invest so much emotion in Jonathan, a non-Igbo from Ijaw? It was more
because of the fear of their experience in the past 50 years. Nigeria has placed an
embargo on any Igbo man becoming Nigerian president and Igbos understands this.
Jonathan was the next best thing. Other parts of Nigeria have supported their sons to
the presidency. Some have bombed Nigeria into submission to get their sons to Aso
Rock. Igbos have little capacity to blackmail Nigeria to the presidency. They chose
Jonathan as their “Igbo”. But that’s not to say that they are angry enough because he
lost to contemplate going to war on his behalf. Jonathan was not really the model of a
President the Igbo would go to war for. And even his Ijaw people have accepted his
loss.
So? Igbo anger has been building up in Nigeria since the 70s. As kids, people made
choices in other parts of Nigeria school years based on the narrative of the Igbo
place in Nigeria. They knew about the glass ceiling against Igbos.”169
Obasanjo went further to explain that after the civil war, despite the “No
winner, no vanquished” program of Gowon’s Federal Government, Nigeria
placed glass ceilings and no-go areas for Igbos. The war reconstruction program
was rather observed more in the breach. There was this issue of “abandoned”
property, an apartheid program that was introduced to drive a wedge between
components of the former South-East Nigeria. Though not officially gazetted by
any administration in Nigeria, it was a tacit unwritten agreement by successive
Nigeria leadership for anyone who cared to look. Why do you think that an
average Igbo police officer stays in one position while less qualifies juniors
progressed to become his bosses? Why do you think that no Igbo ever qualify to
become the Inspector General of Police, or lead any division in the armed
forces? Why do you think that when "sensitive" or "lucrative" positions were
shared in Nigeria, Igbos is conspicuously absent? 170
Why do you think that Igbos were only fit enough to be made Minister of
Information until Obasanjo administration came to power? And even recently,
why do you think that when Buhari appointed 47 people to man the critical roles
in his government, no one from the South east was there? Why do you think that
any time there is a federal appointment in Nigeria, it is usually the east that is
left to shout? The evidences of marginalization and exclusion of the Igbos was
there from Buhari first term as a Military Junta to his second coming and any
other time in-between.171And so, when the Igbo elite cried out against
marginalization of Ndigbo, other Nigerians countered by saying no part of
Nigeria was getting enough; claiming that Marginalization was (and is)
universal. But guess what! The Igbo cry of marginalization was an official
policy – it was expected, it was programmed. And so occasionally, certain key
government officials drum it that Igbos should not complain – after all, they
fought a war with Nigeria. Let nobody be deceived by Gowon’s political
gibberish of “No Victor, No Vanquished” verdict. There was truly a “Victor”
and a “Vanquished”. And the Igbos were reminded of that at every turn – at
very appointment, at every national project, the Igbos was propagated with the
glass ceiling in mind to contain them.172
(d) Marginalization through Designation of Toll-Gates in Nigeria:
Designated points to install toll gates in Nigeria.173
Southeast 56 toll gates
South south 21 toll gates
Southwest 22 toll gates
North central 14 toll gates
Northeast 9 toll gates
Northwest 12 toll gates
You must understand something – all Southern politicians are driven by untold
degree of selfishness. While in office, they are all aspiring for the next office.
The strategy to get on the ladder is to sacrifice their people, their towns and
villages and their region. They do everything possible to please the Hausa
Fulani Northerners in order to be favoured. We can go back a little to pull out
some examples.174
(1) *Gov. Peter Odili wanted to run for presidency he squandered River State
money on Northern Emirs and Northern Opinion leaders. At the end, he failed.
(2) *Gen Obasanjo held up all development programs in the South and
promoted infrastructure development in the North in order to get the 3rd term
agenda through*. At the end, he failed.
(5) *Under Jonathan, the then Minister for Aviation, Stella Odua, funded in
full*, the rehabilitation & upgrading of the Kano, Sokoto, Katsina Airports but
Port Harcourt Airport operated from a Tarpaulin, Enugu completely short down.
At the end, AMCON took over all her assets and currently facing EFCC.
(6) *Our brother Ibe Kachukwu was the Chairman of NNPC BOT & Petroleum
Minister* at the same time. He promoted the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas
Pipeline. He rehabilitated the Petroleum institute in Kaduna when the Petroleum
Institute in Warri was not captured in the budget. He was humiliated out of
office.
(8) *The immediate past MD of NDDC and Akwa Ibom State APC
Governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere gave out emergency jobs (contracts) only
to Southern Contractors fronting for Northerners*. NDDC became an ATM for
“the Villa Boys”. Where is he now?
(9) *Rotimi Amaechi is lobbying to be the next Vice President, in 2023*. His
first action is to sell the South and became a saboteur. No wonder why as a
Transport Minister he found it very necessary to build the Lagos-Ibadan- Abuja-
Kaduna-Kano-Katsina Rail line, Calabar – Maiduguri Rail line, Transport
University in Katsina. The Great Eastern Railway line From Port Harcourt via
Aba, Onitsha to Enugu to Okene in his books, is not feasible.
The minister is completing the biggest rail and road line into Niger Republic
and towards the border of Niger Republic and other countries while the roads in
the south are impassable. What Niger Republic has benefited in this
Administration is bigger that all that south south and south east combined. Who
are the MDs of Nigerian Ports Authority and NIMASA?
(10) *The current Petroleum Minister, Chief Timipre Sylva, has initiated the
construction of the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipe line* to facilitate
the building of a Gas Power Station in Abuja and Kaduna and “to turn Kano
into an Industrial Head Quarters”. The man is from Bayelsa State where there is
over 90% unemployment and no electricity light from National Grid.
11)” *Ahmed Tinubu, for his desire to rule Nigeria practically sold the south*
and with his bullion vans rigged Buhari to power.I think History is telling of
him like others?
12) *The number of appointments of people from Niger Republic in Buhari
Administration is bigger than all south combined* and all the National
Assembly members are aware but keep quiet because of future ambition and to
avoid probe.
The Biafrans, mainly the Igbo extraction, have accused the Federal Government
of Nigeria of bias and discrimination against certain businesses belonging to the
Igbos. A few examples will suffice.
When the former Nigerian president – Chief Olusegun Obasanjo – during his
administration encouraged local production of cement, Chief Cletus
Mmadubugwu Ibeto from Nnewi, Anambra State of Nigeria promised to flood
Nigeria market with cement and drastically reduce the price of this product. He,
however, fulfilled his promise in no distance time by flooding the market with
cement which invariably forced its price to crash. Aliyu Dangote, a Fulani from
the Northern part of Nigeria, another well-accomplished businessman, wrote a
petition to Obasanjo challenging the authority of the Federal Government to
grant Ibeto Group license to import 800,000 metric tons of cement. Obasanjo
government later issued a directive that Ibeto Group was not allowed to import
cement but to engage in local production. At this time, Ibeto’s consignment was
stucked in the ship not allowed to offload. However, Dangote Group was
granted import license to import cement. Thousands of staff of Ibeto Group of
Companies was rendered jobless.
In July 2007 when Yar’ Adua succeeded Obasanjo, Ibeto applied afresh for
import allocation for cement and his request was granted. Again, he flooded the
market with quality cement and the prices crashed. Dangote Group filed a
petition at a Federal High Court alleging that Ibeto Company is being given
undue advantage. But those who are in the know claimed that Dangote was only
strategizing to become the only cock that crows in the cement industry by
positioning himself as the only monopoly of the product. Ibeto later filed a
counter-suit. Following judgement on the case, Ibeto was allowed to continue to
import 1.5 metric tons of cement per annum from 1st October 2007 to
September 2019. This was said to be in line with the Federal Government
guarantee on Ministry of Trade and Industry dated 5th of June 2002.
By that judgement, the Federal Government was to pay Ibeto Group the sum of
$40 million (N1.9 billion) then. This amount was said to be a verifiable claim
from a Committee set up by the Federal Government on the matter for
unjustified closure of Ibeto production site between December 2005 and 2007
when it resumed operation. But Dangote Group challenged this ruling claiming
that its rights and interests were affected. Dangote further argues that the
continuation of production of cement by Ibeto Group only made Dangote’s
cement expensive. After thorough investigation, the Federal Court concluded
that the Dangote Group has no locus standi to act in behalf of the Federal
Government and has no statutory mandate of administering, managing, or
enforcing tax compliance therefore lacks the capacity to comment or maintain
the legal action or release in the case. It further reveals that the suit filed by
Ibeto Group was not fraudulent. It argued that Dangote’s Group is not a
nominee of the Federal Government acting on her behalf therefore ague that
Dangote Group lacks the statutory mandate of administering, managing or
enforcing tax compliance and therefore lack the legal status to comment or
maintain legal action and seek the release of the case.
The irony of Ibeto’s battle with Obasanjo’s regime was that it was Obasanjo
who banned the importation of bagged cement and in a bid to create jobs in
Nigeria, asked the stakeholders to build bagging terminals as well as invest in
Greenfield production – total manufacturing of cement from limestones.
Inexplicably, just four months after Obasanjo commissioned the N12 billion
bagging terminals with patronage booming, the same Obasanjo closed it. The
Igbos cried foul! It took the coming of Yar’ Adua administration to re-open
Ibeto’s factory and by so doing, his financial floodgate!
When Buhari came into power, Ibeto applied for foreign exchange (forex) hard
currency from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable him run his
business effectively. He was denied. Dangote applied and was granted. No
reasonable explanation was given for this preferential treatment. Dangote Group
has been enjoying all manner of waivers from the Federal Government.
The rapid growth of the retail business encouraged Emzor Chemists Limited to
venture into the importation and wholesale of assorted pharmaceuticals. The
idea to manufacture locally came later and this was predicated on the need to
develop local capability, create jobs and provide high quality pharmaceutical
products and services to the Nigerian people at prices that are not only
affordable but represent value.
Emzor Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd. started pilot production in 1985. By 1988 it had
become an established pharmaceutical manufacturing company especially with
the introduction of Emzor Paracetamol which is today a leading brand of
analgesic not only in Nigeria but across Sub Saharan Africa.
The company’s factory is located in the Isolo industrial area of Lagos with
facilities to make a wide variety of high quality pharmaceutical products that
meet international standards at affordable and competitive prices. All Emzor
products meet the highest international standards and are duly registered with
NAFDAC.
From the modest beginning with four (4) products in 1987, Emzor now
manufacture a wide range of products in the analgesic, anti-malaria,
vitamin/haematinics/multivitamin supplement, anti-helmintic, antibiotics and
therapeutic categories. The company has in its stable more than 80 different
products.
Today, Emzor has become a household name in Nigeria and a leader in the
pharmaceutical market that is known for quality products at prices that offer real
value. These products are widely distributed throughout Nigeria and the West
African coast. Our commitment is to produce and deliver flawless products on
time and every time.
c) Innoson Group
*Innoson group Vs GTBank: 30 Key Points you need to know about their
dispute: 178*
*1* At all Material time, Innoson Nigeria Ltd operates a Current Account with
GTBank.
*2* – Innoson obtained, and had repaid same, a loan of N1.3billion from GTB
which was secured with a legal mortgage of its properties valued at more than
N1.4 billion.
*3* – Innoson discovered that GTBank imposed excess and unlawful charges in
its Current account.
*4* Innoson Group Complained to GTBank on his discovery of access charges
on his account.
*5* – Both parties (Innoson and GTBank) agreed to invite an independent
auditing firm that will be agreed by both parties.
*6*- At the end , MULTI-WINGS Consulting Firm of Auditors was invited to
properly audit Innoson Nigeria Ltd Current account No 0043753636 domiciled
with Nnewi Branch of GTBank . The audit covers a period from March 2004 to
Dec 2011.
*7* – After the account was audited, it was discovered that GTBank has been
illegally deducting excess bank charges on its overdraft facility to the Innoson
to the tune of seven hundred and Eighty-Six Million, Two Hundred and Five
Thousand , Nine Hundred and Fifty-Five Naira , Ninety Nine kobo
(N786,205,955.99).
*8* – GTBank was shocked at the audit report when the report was forwarded
to it .They replied in their letter to Innoson on 20th January , 2012 that it will
investigate the issue raised and will get back to Innoson on the Conclusion of its
investigation .
*9* – In the month of September 2012 , GTBank wrote to Innoson that from
their personal audit report , the excess bank charges was Five Hundred and
Fifty-Nine Million , three Hundred and Seventy-Two naira ,Nine kobo ( N
559.3Million).
*10* – Innoson agreed to their version and decided to accept payment from it in
the spirit of amicable resolution.
*11*- Innoson also requested that the said agreed amount of N559.3million be
paid with a 22% interest rate because Innoson had been repaying all his loan
with GTBank at 22% interest rate.
*12* – GTBank refused and said that the best they can repay excess and illegal
deduction is at 7% interest rate. This led to another disagreement between
Innoson and GTBank.
*13* – As a result, in 2012, Innoson sued GTBank at Federal High Court Awka
with Suit No : FHC/Awk/Cs/2012 .
*14* – Federal High Court, Awka delivered Judgement in favour of Innoson in
excess of N4.7billion against GTBank.
Delivering Judgement in suit no : FHC /Awk/ CS / 139/2012 , the FHC awarded
N4.7billion to Innoson Motors against GTBank .
*The court also ordered GTBank to pay 22 % (percent ) interest on the
Judgement debt until all the payment had been made to Innoson .*
*15* – In 2013, GTBank appealed against the judgement to the Court of
Appeal, Enugu Division, appoxite appeal No: CA/E/288/2013.
*16* – The Court of Appeal , Enugu in a Considered ruling ordered GTBank to
pay the Judgement debt of N6billion Inclusive of the accrued interest and any
interest that would subsequently accrue thereon into an interest yielding account
in the Name of the Chief Registrar of the Court .
*17* – In its various affidavits, particularly at the Court of Appeal in suit no :
CA/E/288/2013 , GTBank deposed that if it pays the outstanding Judgement
debt of N6billion , much less the N8.5billion , it could go bankrupt and be out
of business.
*18* – GTBank went to the Supreme Court .The case is still in the Supreme
Court , while the Judgement debt is about N8billion now to be paid to Innoson
by GTBank.
*Other Cases:*
IBADAN Cases: Innoson /GTBank/Nigerian Custom Service:
*19* – Nigerian Customs Service Auctioned Innoson goods.
*20* – Innoson challenged the action Nigerian Custom Service for auctioning
its goods at Federal High Court, Ibadan.
*21* – On July 29 ,2011, In a Garnishee Order Absolute , the Federal High
Court sitting in Ibadan ordered GTBank to Pay Innoson #2,048,737,443,67
(#2billion) from Nigerian Customs account in GTBank .
*22* – Rather than Comply with the Garnishee Order Absolute of the Court ,
GTBank on February 6, 2015 appealed the Judgement , but the Court of Appeal
in Appeal no. CA/1/258/2011 affirmed the Judgement of the Federal High Court
and ordered GTBank to pay the Judgement debt of #2,048,737,443.67
(#2.048billion) to Innoson.
*23* – GTBank , instead , appealed to the Supreme Court against the Court of
Appeal’s decision where GTBank claimed through a motion in suit no : Sc
/694/2014, that the Court of Appeal Judgement in Ibadan (CA/I/258/2011) was
procured by suspicious means .
*24* – On May 12, 2017, Supreme Court in its wisdom and rightly, dismissed
that unfounded and exasperating claim of GTB against Innoson.
*25* – As a result, Innoson commenced a N400 billion suit against GTBank, in
the suit No: FCT /HC/CV/2448/2017 at the High Court of the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja.
OTHER ISSUES
**26* – Consequently in order to save itself from paying the outstanding
Judgement debts to Innoson the GTBbank filed a petition against Innoson
alleging forgery which led to the suit No : FHC /L/565C/2015 by Police .
In all, Innoson has won two High Court cases and two Appeal Court cases all
against GTBank.
Innoson as at today has Judgement debt over about N10 billion based on 22%
interest rate against GTBank.
*(iv)* If EFCC should arrest any of the parties, shouldn’t GTBank who
dubiously deducted Innoson money from his account and have debt of about N8
billion to pay Innoson that they should arrest?
REFERENCES
At independence in 1960, the impression was created that “all” Nigerians opted
for Liberal Democracy as the national ideology. As the years progressed, it
became clear that some citizens of the Arab stock were more in favour of a
system of rule of which an “important ingredient is the application of the
Muslim Law”.1
Many of the political, religious, traditional and military leaders from the
Muslim North, while paying lip service to democracy, were insidiously working
to undermine democracy and promote Sharia, which is based on Islam and is
patterned after the Arabian culture, to which the North has been exposed to for
hundreds of years.
The Islamization Agenda was solidified in the period 1975 – 1999 under the
military rule, of which majority of the military heads of state were Muslims
from the North. The Muslim Military leaders favoured an Islamic model of
ideology because it promoted dictatorship. They set up an “invisible”
government which operates behind the scene in the Presidency and constantly
undermines liberal democracy while promoting Sharia. The “invisible
government” is still active till today.3
The invasion of the nation by Islamic terrorism and smuggling of Sharia into the
1999 Constitution, thereby creating a dual ideology for the nation, are
reflections of the activities of the “invisible government”. Boko Haram,
membership of Nigeria in OIC, Islam in Africa Organization, the D8 group, as
well as compromise of Section 10 of the Constitution on separation of state and
religion, are all interwoven conspiracies to abolish Liberal Democracy in
Nigeria and declare Sharia as the national ideology and the nation as an Islamic
state.4
What defines Nigeria’s identity? What roles do states and government play in
defining our identity? What roles do language and religion play in defining that
identity? How do we shape the agenda for the 21st century of our country?
Every country in the world derives its identity and system of governance from
its national ideology. Countries with Sharia ideology have a system of
governance and way of life different from countries with communist ideology
which is also different from countries with democratic ideology and so on. No
country has two conflicting ideologies except, of course, Nigeria.
It suffices that at the root of the insecurity, distrust and mutual suspicion in
Nigeria is the conflict between Liberal Democracy and Sharia ideology. As a
nation, Nigeria was established upon the principles and practice of Liberal
Democracy. According to the Willink’s Commission Report of 1958:
“The whole structure of the proceedings leading to independence is based on the
belief that Nigeria meant to follow the road of liberal democracy and parliamentary
government and to base part of the structure on the opposite assumption is to invite
government to do their worst. But if the road is followed (liberal democracy and
parliamentary government), votes will count and in the last resort it is votes that will
win fair treatment for minorities.”5
Bearing in mind the huge ethnic, cultural, religious, and racial diversities in
Nigeria, it was deemed necessary that an all accommodating ideology would be
required to ensure justice, equality, and fairness for all the divergent groups in
the nation. Unfortunately, a group known as “Islamists” has been working
surreptitiously over the years to supplant Liberal Democracy with Sharia as the
“source of legislation” in Nigeria, over and above the Constitution.
The present day state of global Islam makes it imperative for a distinction to be
made between Islam and Islamism. While Islam is a religion, Islamism,
otherwise called “political Islam”, “is a set of ideologies that holds that Islam is
not only a religion but a political system”. 6 As a political system, Islamists insist
that Islam is meant to dominate the environment in which it is practiced. In a
sharply divergent society like Nigeria, any attempt to implement the principles
of Islamism portends great danger for the nation.
The British, in their characteristic divide and rule policy, left Nigeria with
democracy in the hands of Islamists, knowing full well that democracy and
Islamism cannot peacefully co-habit. The challenge facing Nigeria today is how
to resolve this apparent contradiction that has created a conflict of ideologies for
the nation. If we continue in this trajectory, Nigeria is sadly and inadvertently
moving into avoidable calamity hence the need for a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission to be established by law.
It is instructive to note that many Arab nations have found Islamism an extreme
way of religious expression and have taken steps to ban it. Examples are Egypt
and Tunisia. After the Arab Spring revolution, both nations voted Islamists into
power and within a few months, staged another revolution to oust them. Even
the United Arabs Emirates is on record to have denounced the extremism
associated with Islamism when it alerted Britain on the dangers of giving
oxygen to what Britain does not understand. It is therefore a cause for concern
that in Nigeria, a multi-cultural and multi religious nation, Islamism should be
thriving.8
1. Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, in one of his video releases,
said in 2012, “…This war in not political. It is religious. It is between
Muslims and unbelievers (arna). It will stop when Islamic religion is the
determinant in governance in Nigeria or, in the alternative, when all fighters
are annihilated and no one is left to continue the fight. I warn all Muslims at
this juncture that any Muslim who assists an unbeliever in this war should
consider himself an unbeliever and should consider himself dead.”15
Therefore, when the President of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs said in
a foreign land (which is in itself a treasonable statement) that he does not
believe in the Nigerian Constitution (which guarantees freedom of religious
conviction), but he believes only in the Koran (which forbids freedom of
worship through Sharia’s “ridda”), could not the statement of the Sultan be
interpreted as an endorsement of Jihad? 20
Added to the above are the big questions begging for answers: Who is funding
and equipping the Islamic insurgents? And more importantly, who is shielding
them from prosecution?
We would not wish to belabour these issues but rather appeal to the
distinguished leaders of Islam, who have stepped forward to be identified, to
join us in putting Nigeria first. Nigeria is a Secular State according to Section
10 of the Constitution, but a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious
society. The diversity in the country should be harnessed for progress and
prosperity and not resisted thus leading to disintegration of the country. It is
wishful thinking for anyone to imagine the possibility of imposing one religion
or one culture on 389 Ethnic Nationalities in Nigeria.
In June 2018, the Amnesty International also accused the Nigerian Government
of encouraging the killings going on. The report stated: “Rights group, Amnesty
International, says the failure of Nigerian government to hold murderers to
account is encouraging them and fueling rising insecurity across the country.
The group made the observation on Thursday through a statement signed by its
media officer, Isa Sanusi. It said independently verified estimated figures
showed at least 1813 people have been murdered in 17 states in the country this
year, double the 894 people killed in 2017”.21
“According to the group, the death tolls reflect killings as a result of farmers-
herders conflict, communal clashes, Boko Haram attacks and banditry. “We are
gravely concerned about the rising spate of killings across the country,
especially the communal clashes between farmers and herders and attacks by
bandits across at least 17 states,” the statement quoted Osai Ojigho, Director
Amnesty International Nigeria. “The authorities have a responsibility to protect
lives and properties, but they are clearly not doing enough going by what is
happening,”22 Mr Ojigho said.
Open Doors International Organization said: “Open Doors raised the issue of
escalating violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt where, because of the violence and
the doubling of fatalities, villagers have started to abandon their homes and flee
for safety. In the Plateau State, 1,885 Christians were killed by the Fulani
herdsmen. The atrocities of the Fulani herdsmen were declared ‘genocide’ by
the Nigerian House of Representatives in 2018. However, despite this
designation, the Nigerian government has not taken any decisive steps to
address the situation and the attacks continue to this day”.23
Judgement on Open-Grazing
The Federal Government’s letter was also said to have indicated that “the
issues of grazing routes is historically central to these conflicts …”
This explains why Fulani in West Africa now claim ownership to land in
Nigeria as they form part of the Ummah. Other Fulanis in West Africa are on
Jihad in Nigeria, which explains why an adviser to Buhari advised Nigerians to
give up their lands to the Fulani for grazing rather than be killed. The inference
is that we have two choices, keep the land and be killed or vacate the land and
live. This is Jihad.
Influence of Culture
The undersigned Solomon Asemota, SAN who also signed the earlier petition to
the APPG on IFoRB appeared before the High Commissioner when he was
Justice of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. His Excellency knows that
Solomon Asemota, SAN is not a Northerner and the Asemotas are Edos from
the South South region of Nigeria. NCEF does not know where the High
Commissioner got his Northern Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) in answer to
such an important issue confronting Nigeria – conflict of ideology that has
consumed thousands of lives and displaced millions of people.28
The NCEF can only attribute the conduct of His Excellency to culture influence.
The High Commissioner and most other members of the NCEF were part of
manpower development established by the British for Nigeria’s independence
that formed the nucleus of the three arms of government – Legislative,
Executive (including the Armed Forces, Police and Civil Service) and Judiciary
at independence in 1960. 29
President Buhari was not in this category in that he joined the Army in 1962
after independence. The High Commissioner was a student at Independence in
1960.
As a group, NCEF was able to appreciate fully where Nigeria got it wrong. The
High Commissioner in his letter tried to downplay the status, importance and
influence of the members of the group by reducing them to representing a
section of the country by changing the word National to Northern. By this act,
we are clear in our minds that the High Commissioner did not appreciate – he
too is part of the group of Nigerians, who the Islamists, who regard western
education as a sacrilege (Boko-Haram), refer to as “useful idiots”.30
We do not expect that culture influence would change a learned friend and
brother from common law culture to Sharia law culture that made His
Excellency to reduce an ideological problem to a lesser one of riot between
Muslims and Christians. His Excellency the “High Commissioner” was reported
to have said “the Northern Christian Elders Forum had made allegations against
the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari whom this group said was
practising bigotry”. 31
President Buhari’s administration is far more than bigotry that in a country with
equal number of Christians and Muslims in population that constitute over 80%
of Nigeria’s total population, that Muslims should occupy the following key and
strategic offices including Ministers of Interior, Finance, Defence, Justice,
National Security Adviser, Chief of Army, and Air-Force Staff, Inspector
General of Police, Director General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps,
Director General, Department of State Security, Chairman Independent
National Electoral Commission, Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, President
Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge High
Court of Federal Capital Territory.32
If this is not bigotry, then it must be “Stealth Jihad” by President Buhari, the
same stealth jihad which seemed to have caught up with His Excellency, the
High Commissioner of Nigeria to the UK who we knew was once an erudite
scholar and judge. He seemed to have succumbed to the influence of the culture
of Sharia now being imposed on Nigeria. 33
How NCEF wished that the High Commissioner had used his intellect, training
and knowledge to bear, on the conflicting ideologies of Democracy and Sharia
in Nigeria and how it is affecting the country, men and women and what may
happen to future generation of Nigerians. Educated Christians must change the
perception of “useful idiots” to “useful neighbours”. We must all – Christians,
Muslims and Animists ensure that our education reflects in our day to day life.
In the case of a lawyer, we must be learned at all times.34
Conclusion:
It is very clear that the above facts constitute Jihad on a section of the Nigerian
populis – non-Islamists that which include Christians, non Islamist Muslims and
Animists. There are two types of Jihad: A Conventional Jihad which meant the
constant state of war since 1914 that must exist between the Dar-el-Islam and
Dar-el-Harb since the 8th and 9th century. “Fight in the name of Allah and in the
“path of Allah”, “combat those who disbelieve in Allah”. Conventional Jihad
fits Boko-haram and Fulani Herdsmen based on available evidence contained in
this presentation. 35
A Stealth Jihad which is the same as violent jihad. The object of stealth jihad is
the same as conventional jihad – subjugation of Dar-el-Harb which will result in
non-Muslim world being subsumed under Dar-el-Islam. Some of the actions
enumerated earlier suggest stealth including actions of the present
administration such as refusal to sign the Electoral Act authorising the use of
Card Readers for election purposes, especially in the known fact that Sharia law
is incompatible with democracy because one tenets of Islam provides that “any
system of man-made law is considered illicit under Islamic law for whose
adherents Allah already has provided the only law permitted which is Sharia”. 36
4. Issues of Concern
In the build up to the 2015 elections, majority of Nigerians expressed great hope
that there would be CHANGE in the nation. However, ten months after the new
government was sworn into office, credible apprehension can be expressed
given the policy direction of the new administration. We hope that the build-up
to these policies do not result in full blown Sharia which President Muhammadu
Buhari had promised Muslims in Nigeria.
This brazen authoritarian and imperious stride of President Buhari was the latest
action in a series of carefully planned onslaught on Nigeria’s hard earned
democracy by an extremely power hungry and anxious President and the cabal
that feeds fat around him as February 16, 2019 was drawing nearer.
The fact that the unlawful suspension of Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was
announced just as it became public knowledge that the CJN was constituting the
election petition tribunals is not lost on discerning Nigerians and the
international community. This act of desperation is geared towards affecting the
outcome of the 2019 Presidential elections. Indeed, it is not just the CJN that
has been “suspended”, it is the Nigerian Constitution that has been infracted
and, in effect, suspended, under the guise of the suspension of the CJN.
The case involving the legality or otherwise of the charges against Chief Justice
Walter Onnoghen is in court, as it should be. So far, the judiciary has ruled in
Justice Onnoghen’s favour. So, why not allow the court to adjudicate on the
matter? What is the pressing urgency about this matter?
The Muhammadu Buhari administration has serially violated court orders, going
against the rule of law especially in three known cases.
Various courts have granted Col. Dasuki bail on at least six different occasions;
the Buhari led government has persistently refused to comply with the court
orders.
The above, and many more that did not make it into this very short letter, are
the unfortunate actions of the Government of a man who merely pays lip service
to being a reformed democrat.
b) Including Nigeria in the Saudi Arabia Military Coalition of
“Muslim/Arab” nations would appear that the Foreign Policy thrust of the
present administration is to make Nigeria a satellite state of Saudi Arabia. The
strengthening of the nation’s democracy and security for all should remain the
greatest priority of Government. This we see to have been negated by the
President’s fiat/unilateral decision to enlist Nigeria in the 34 nations
Muslim/Arab coalition. Given the emotive and sensitive nature of this unilateral
Executive decision, it should have been handled by Mr President in line with
our democratic culture through popular discussion and participation by the
citizenry, or at the very least, through the National Assembly.
We wish to remind Mr President that he was brought to power through the votes
of Nigerians, Christians inclusive. Mr President should kindly remember that
the over 50% non-Muslims in Nigeria did not vote for the nation to transmute
into a Sharia compliant nation. Mr President assured Nigerians that he is “a
convert” to democracy but we are disturbed by the direction of his
administration.
It appears the angst against this new legislation is its Section 839 (1) and (2) has
spurned bitter commentaries against government, suggesting that it is a
document whose main agenda was to Islamize Nigeria. That section which the
ecumenical warlords found offensive to their practice of Christianity relates to
Trustees of Non-Governmental Organizations, (NGOs) which purports to give
government officials the power to remove the board of trustees and even close
the accounts of any church without recourse to the courts. Nigeria seems to have
been quaking ever since, with these religionists mounting the pulpit to denounce
CAMA as designed from the pit of hell.46
What the foregoing provision means is that, rather than the practice before now
when NGOs, among which churches and mosques were ranked, operated as
Lords of the Manor and had overarching powers over their organizations,
henceforth, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has the power to lawfully
place on suspension trustees of any of the above associations principally on
grounds stated above. Specifically, the trustees shall be suspended “by an order
of Court” which can only be actioned “upon the petition of the Commission” or
“members consisting of one-fifth of the association” alleging mismanagement
of their organizations’ funds.
Some observers have noted that, under the Buhari administration, CAMA is
only another attempt primarily aimed at caging churches in Nigeria. It would be
recalled that in late 2016/early 2017, the Financial Regulations Council, waving
the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria Act No. 6 of 2011, had announced a
maximum period of 20 years for the head of all registered churches, mosques,
and civil society organisations. Had that regulation been implemented, all the
notable church leaders in the country would not have been spared if not the
public uproar that forced the government to beat a quick retreat.
My fear is that the government, though appears to have decidedly kept these
regulations in the cooler, but will have to invoke them at the oppotuned time.
But there are some fundamental questions we need to ask: Where were the
church leaders when the CAMA bill, for instance, was making its rounds in the
National Assembly? How many representations did they make to the
legislators? Are there no Christians in the NASS? Is there any notable church
leader who does not have members in the NASS? What efforts did they make to
kill the bill before it became law? Is this not the same country where the Vice
President is not just a Christian but also a senior pastor? 49
How many times did the church leaders picket the National Assembly on
account of these obnoxious laws and regulations? What advocacies did they
embark upon? How many press conferences did they address on the issue?
Where were the CAN, PFN and such other leaders of Christendom? What is
their relevance if they cannot undertake the simple task of defending their own
interest? Will someone who shirks the responsibility of defending his own
interests be minded to defend someone else’s?
It must however be said that the Buhari administration’s proclivity for mis-
governance and pristine cronyism may not totally allow one to apply the right
cudgel on this misguided opposition to this section of CAMA 2020. If you sit
the religious barons down to a discussion, they are likely to offer as alibi to their
dissention to the law the infamous antecedent of Buhari Fulanizing every
appointment and his tendency to want to use CAMA 2020 to foist his known
mindset on the church. As puerile as the argument may be, Buhari may give
shine to the suspicion.
These same barons failed woefully in getting spiritual intercession for the
affliction of COVID-19 and were totally absent with appropriate succour when
the pandemic ravaged their Nigerian faithful from whom they have collected
even before colonial infiltration into the Nigerian social and political space.
Crying foul on a law that is aimed at bringing sanity to their greed is
tendentious. They should take a step forward and see their congregation
laughing at their folly.51
Even though it has not been tested, it is obvious that the particular provision of
CAMA 2020’s intendment is to curtail the massive looting, money laundering
and manipulation by Nigerian pastors. They explore and exploit the
hopelessness in the land brought about by equally wicked and selfish successive
governments and use the twine of prosperity and blissful eternal life to empty
the wallets of their congregants at Bible-point. If not, the sensationalist
harangue of this provision of CAMA 2020 is needless, unless the church barons
are admitting that they are running the churches fraudulently. Hyping the
narrative that, by virtue of the law, the “Islamist government” wanted to appoint
“unbelievers” to preside over the church will not hold water. This is because the
provisions are not ambiguous at all. Only fraudulently-run churches need to be
afraid.52
First, the law gives the right to suspend trustees of the church to the CAC and
the church members themselves and the petition, which must be signed by
either the commission or church members, must give evidence of fraud. Even at
that, it is the church that would effects the suspension.
My take in all of this is that the law as it is presented in a society that respects
the rule of law and has no skeleton in her capboard is a desirable one. But in a
society were political and governmental vultures feast, where the current
holders of power is an unmitigated disaster, where plans had already been
uncovered of attempts to Fulanise and Islamize the country, there are fears that
such regulations could be invoked to harm the targeted victim(s). Critics have
already posited that full-blown dictatorship has started to bare its fangs.
Wealthy and influential church leaders who command the attention of millions
of followers not only in Nigeria but also all over the world are seen as critical
opinion moulders who must be silenced way ahead of 2023 so that the cabals
dictating the pace of things in Nigeria can have it smooth sailing from now on.
We have heard Oyedepo roar over issues that touch his soul again and again.
But the Government’s response – that Oyedepo obey or get himself another
country – is most reckless and patently irresponsible. I’m particularly not
surprised at that response! No government properly so-called talks to its citizens
that way. Only an army of occupation behaves like that! But I did not get the
riposte I expected from the Bishop! Oh yes, a new country is on the way; a
brand new country of the free born is in the offing! A country that we can truly
call ours; not this contraption that the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, described
as a mere geographical expression and which has bluntly refused to come of
age!
We are also amazed that the Senate failed to pass the Gender and Equal
Opportunity Bill into law. We strongly recommend that this Bill should be re-
introduced and passed into law urgently.55
One reason adduced to justify the perennial attacks of the Fulani herdsmen is
the argument that they seek grazing fields for their cattle and as a result engage
in conflicts with farmers. It was therefore proposed that ancestral lands of other
ethnic groups should be allocated to them as grazing fields.
However, the most sensible and economically wise approach would be to build
ranches for the herdsmen in their states of origin. This makes more sense and it
is the internationally approved best practice under the circumstances. Other
nations of the world consume beef yet, nomads do not drive herds of cattle all
over the nation in the 21st century.
We find it curious that the Federal Government of Nigeria that has pledged total
support for a two state solution to the Israel – Palestinian conflict, as well as
support for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), is not addressing
the demand of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for a state of their own.
The latest in the series of attacks on the IPOB occurred on 9th February, 2016
when over twenty two members of the Movement were killed by soldiers during
a prayer meeting in Aba. And in September 2017, the Nigerian army carried out
an operation dubbed “Operation Python Dance”, invaded the home of the IPOB
leader, killed more than thirty IPOB members and miraculously the leader
escaped.
The latest constitution of Nigeria that was created to rule our country was
accepted in 1999. This document became the fourth in Nigerian history to
appear in the law field. However, there is a huge history before that constitution
and its power. A lot of things have been changed, modified or even disappeared
from the life and laws of Nigerians.
Diagnosing Nigeria’s ailment, Tony Nnadi, one of the finest intellectuals and a
foremost Constitutional lawyer with specialty in jurisprudence, has likened the
Nigerian government, any government, to a Company with its inherent “Memo”
and “Article of Association”. It is the sole responsibility of the owners of the
Company to decide, define and submit both the articles and the memorandum of
association of the company in question. What happened to Nigeria is that the
owners (different nationalities that make up Nigeria) ought to be independent in
their own right. They are actually the shareholders of the corporate Company
called Nigeria. Who are these share holders? They are the Eastern Region
otherwise known as the Biafra, the Yoruba nation otherwise called the Oodua
people in the South West, the North Central (the Middle Belters), and the core
North (the Arewas). The article and memorandum of association (otherwise
called Nigeria Constitution) ought to be formulated by these Stakeholders.
Using the same analogy, the three components of a building (Nigeria) are the
foundation, vertical structure and the roofing structure. The definition of the
union (the polity) is the foundation (the Constitution). It is the foundation that
defines and moderates the politics (the vertical column). The roof of the
building represents the policy-statements and discussions arising from that
politics. Those three components could be collapsed into the three components
illuminated in the definition of democracy – Government “of the people”
(foundation – the people in exercise of their sovereignty decide the ultimate
rules called the Constitution), “by the people” (having so decided the politics
that happens in a state is governed by the Constitution); “for the people” (the
politics – is where the people begins to get benefits.) Nigeria’s so-called
“Democracy” does not pass any of these tests.
By 1966, the military toppled the Enterprise called Nigeria and removed the
owners (different nationalities) from the “Ownership” of the “memo” and
“Articles of Association” called Nigeria and the Federal Government now
becomes the “Owner” of everybody and everything progressively to the point
where we now have 68 items in the Exclusive List which emasculated the rest
of the component parts, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
in Abuja processes who governs other parts of the country, where states (and
regions) cannot defend themselves but depended on Abuja for their security
which was an abysmal failure, where all the economic assets belong to the
Centre, controlled by the Fulani hegemonists, where the Supreme Court decides
cases in remote nooks and crannies of the country, etc.
It was in 1967 that the four regions which were broken into twelve states and
their assets progressively sequestered by the Federal government, seized to be a
Federation. But we kept pretending such that in 1975 Murtala Muhammed
seized power from Gowon, invited Rotimi Williams and handed down to him
instructions arising from the festivals of the killing field and how the victors in
the Nigeria/Biafra war want to lord it over the rest of us. Rotimi Williams in
turn drafted in Ben Nwabueze and they went with others to formulate what we
now known as the 1979 Constitution.
Stake holders have querried the authenticity and intendment of the 1999
Constitution as the products of the people of Nigeria. Regrettably, the peoples
of Nigeria have never made a constitution for themselves. The Nigerian
government has always made a Constitution for the people. This is wrong!
All the agitations in Nigeria – the separatist demand for an independent Biafran
nation through the Indegenous People of Nigeria (IPOB) etc, the Oodua
Peoples’ Congress (OPC) and the demand for restructuring, regional security
outfit snowballing into the latest Oodua South West movement for Oduduwa
Republic, the Middle Belt agitations, the Niger-Delta agitations through the
Niger Delta Volunteer Force led by Asari Dokubo, MEND, Avengers, etc are
all borne out of their constitutional grievances. When Tony Nnadi reportedly
asked Asari Dokubo why he blew up oil pipelines, Asari retorted: “I did not
know how the assets in Ijaw land became the property of the Northerners and
their foreign friends”; their oil and gas under the control of the North through
Shell, Chevron, Mobile, etc.
Before Obasanjo came, OPC had enough weapons to push the police out of the
way. The police personnels hide their uniforms to go to work. The OPC is now
asking: how did the internal security of the Yoruba nation evidently became the
exclusive business of people from outside the Yoruba land, especially those
perceived as their enemies? When a Yoruba leader was asked similar question,
he retorted: “How can you have the internal security of the Yoruba nation in the
hands of those who do not wish us well”, apparently referring to the need for
state police.
The imposed 1999 Constitution for Nigeria has 98 items in the Legislative List.
68-Items therein are reserved for Exclusive Legislative List. The remaining 30
items are in the Concurrent List for both the Federal and State governments. In
the event of clash of interests between the two, the Constitution gives the
Federal Government the prerogative of Right. In other words, effectively the
federal government has authority of all the 98 items.
The federal government does not need to operate all the present MDA’s like
agriculture, health, education, commerce and industry, prisons, solid minerals,
power, housing works; and agencies such as FRSC which usurped the motor
licensing, plate number and driving license from the board of internal revenues
of state governments.
That is why the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has become a tool of Fulani
herdsmen, which is using impressing upon it to use public fund for importation
of grasses, nutrients and other medicals; in addition to sponsoring a bill to
develop the so-called “grazing reserves”. We are therefore calling for
restructuring the country to reinvent true and fiscal federalism in order to put a
stop to these aberrations.
The Constitution in its Exclusive List puts the matter of Arms/Ammunition and
the matter of Police also in the hands of the Federal Government. The carnage
and ethnic cleansing going on in the Middle Belt and the South could not defend
themselves because the right to instruments of coercion is in the hands of the
Fulani-control Federal Government. Eastern Nigeria complains about
constitutional grievances. The Middle Belt and even the Sharia North had their
constitutional grievances. The Sharia Northern states complain that they live
their quiet life and Nigeria came and imposed democracy on them. The reason
why people are being killed in the Middle Belt and cannot defend themselves is
because the Constitution grants an exclusive preserve of arms and ammunition
to the Federal Government led by the Fulanis. It removes the instruments of
coercion from the states and given to the Federal Government. The case of
former Anambra State governor that was sequestered by his political godfather
who relied on the federal might to kidnap the executive governor of Anambra
State.
The economic assets in Nigeria have been sequestered by the Constitution. The
Federal Government with the seaports and airports under her control
emasculated the eastern seaports in Calabar and Port Harcourt, making the
people of the region use the Lagos sea and airports in their international
transactions. Eastern region used to generate electricity using the Oji River built
a power plant. About 80% businessmen are from the South East and are
sequestered by various toll-gates in the South East and the South South regions.
Marginalization has forced many youths from the South to migrate to other
climes especially to Europe, America, Asia and other African countries, seeking
for greener pasture.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called on members of the National
Assembly to reject the National Water Resources Bill before the Assembly in
the interest of the country describing it as another version of the rejected RUGA
policy to grab land for pastoralists.
The Governor insisted that the bill which sought to bring all water sources
(surface and underground) as well as river banks under the control of the
Federal Government through its agencies was anti-federalism and also negated
the right of Nigerians to their God-given resources.
He stated that “the bill, in addition to its provisions which are at variance with
the Land Use Act, is a disguised land-grabbing legislation designed to grant
pastoralists unhindered access to river basins, adjacent marine and coastal
environments across the country. “The bill is another version of Ruga which
objective is to create grazing areas in the 36 states of the federation for herders
and their livestock.”61
Upon the initiation of this process, Nigeria became a “Disputed Project” with
the proclamation of a Constitutional Force Majeure consequent upon which the
influential USA House of Representatives non-partisan Tom Lantos Human
Rights Commission held an important hearing on “Conflict and Killings in
Nigeria’s Middle Belt”.
“The hearing lasted for nearly four hours and a recording is available on the
internet. The list of witnesses to this hearing is quite impressive and included R.H.
Baroness Cox, UK Member of Parliament and Co-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary
Group for Freedom of Religion and Thought, Ms Annigje (Ann) Buwalda, Executive
Director, Jubilee Campaign USA, plus H.E. William Avenya, Bishop of Gboko,
Nigeria. The long and short of it is that this hearing provided evidence that Nigeria
has very severe security and human rights challenges, has no effective civilian
security, no effective police protection, and terrorists appear to enjoy freedom of
movement. All this meaning that organised criminals are terrorising Nigerians across
the country.”63
Finally, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing came to the
conclusion that the Nigerian government was not providing security for
Nigerians. Here is a sample of what was said:
“…Jubilee Campaign submits for the record our detailed Brief that we provided to
the International Criminal court and in which we argue that genocide has taken place
in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. It is our finding that Boko Haram and Fulani militants
are committing acts of genocide. Fulani militants pose a mortal threat to the
predominantly Christian farming tribes in the Middle Belt and surrounding states, but
the Nigerian government is failing both to protect the victims of Fulani militant
violence and to bring the perpetrators to justice according to its duty. As a member of
the Genocide Convention, it is time for the United States to place pressure on Nigeria
to end the impunity and offer security to the victims in communities in Nigeria
vulnerable to Fulani militant attacks and violence…”65
This hearing confirms what Nigerians know through experience. Nigeria is such
a terrifying state that the ruling elite who should address the insecurity
situations choose rather to send their own children abroad mainly to Western
countries to enjoy the safety and peace there. Dubai has suddenly become a
place of refuge for Buhari’s wife and other emebers of the family, with reports
that spouses of the ruling class have decided to partake of the carefree lifestyle
there in complete disregard to our stark economic realities, rather than be in
Nigeria.
The custodians of the Constitutional Force Majeure strategy are Movement for
New Nigeria (MNN) an Alliance of self-determination organisations that
comprises of Lower Niger Congress (South East and South South bloc), Ìlànà
Ọmọ Oòduà (South West bloc), and Middle Belt Congress (Middle Belt bloc).
Through this Constitutional Force Majeure process, MNN has begun to re-
educate Nigerians to see that they deserve to enjoy security, human rights and
civil liberties within Nigeria, and do not need to flee abroad in order to get
them. Nigerians, especially the youth are now seeing that they are the Owners,
and that elected officials are the hired Managers, employed by the Owners via
elections to bring about good for the society.69
On December 16, 2020, the MNN, an alliance of the Middle Belt, Yorubaland,
and Lower Niger (otherwise known as the Biafraland) issued a
PROCLAMATION of the CONSTITUTIONAL GRIEVANCES,
DECLARATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL FORCE MAJEURE AND
DEMAND FOR TRANSITIONING PROCESS FOR ORDERLY
RECONFIGURATION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS OF THE
FEDERATION OF NIGERIA! The proclamation is titled: CORRECTING
THE MISTAKES OF 1914.
The 5 Demands:
Recommendations72
14. REFERENCES
“Questions will be asked by posterity about what we did with our past. Every looter must be
made to suffer for their sins. They have stolen our yesterday. They have hands on our today.
Their eyes are still at our tomorrow”. – Journalist Iteveh Ekpokpobe
1. An Introduction
Nothing goes for nothing anything anymore. And, nothing is done in gratis any
more. Nigeria society is perverse and permissive. Our society is morally sick
and it stinks. Our desire for money, our crave for wealth is increasingly
insatiable. We are no longer satisfied with our wages. We are today living a
false life style in a vain society; a society where morons are barons, a society
where thieves are chiefs, a society where ´monkey de work, baboon the chop`.
In the opinion of many Nigerians, corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten
deeply into the fabric of the society. Corruption and abuse of office in Nigeria
are deeply rooted and entrenched in the Nigerian society which encourages and
rationalizes it.
There seems to be certain corruptive residual that makes the line dividing the
“saints” and the villain in Nigeria, a thin one indeed. They seem to be, from an
analysis of the pattern, the degree of occurrence and ready disposition to
rationalization of corruption, that the abuse of public office is already a way of
life in Nigeria. This worm continues to get nourished with each and every
public holder.
Corruption disease has had an unequal spread across board – both the “high”
and “mighty” as well as ordinary Nigerians are not immune from its scourge.
From public office to private home, Nigerians actively encourage corrupt
practices. The uncertainties prevalent in the Nigerian society, it would seem, is
catalytic to the general perception of public office, as God-given chance to
make up for years of deprivation. So, people who get into public offices at
whatever level, seek to ensure themselves and their families against vagaries by
looting and abusing their offices. From outside of his immediate family and
friends, pressures are brought to bear on the public office-holder to fulfill
certain social expectations. He or she must live the status of the office. In a
society where wealth is synonymous with kingship, wisdom and unbridled
influence, it is difficult for the public officer who is personally not inclined to
loot and/or abuse his office, to stand up to the sneers and jeers of a people who
see in him all that they have ever known as failure. It would seem the officer`s
personal “failure” not to convert public funds or misapply his office in other
people`s favor, is a social disgrace, a disappointment to his people. The officer`s
first allegiance as dictated by social expectations, is to himself, his nuclear and
extended family, his friends, his village, his state and his country, in that order.
And the hunger for money and the good things of life is an ever-abiding one.
So, he never manages to fully satisfy the first hierarchy of social list to find
enough will to attend to the others. But then, the public is better disposed to
forgiving and forgetting, even glorifying the “sin” of corruption and abuse of
office if he shows ample evidence of having taken good care of himself and the
immediate concentric ring of family, friends and hangers-on.
Corruption has grown so widespread and sophisticated that it not only threatens
to undermine the very fabric of the Nigerian society, but indeed, actually did
undermine it. In recent times, some concerned Nigerians were driven to a state
of suspended animation by recoveries made by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC). Our newsstands, including our social media, were
inundated with news of discoveries of monies stashed both within and outside
our shores. For instance, in a Lagos home in Ikoyi, EFCC finds $43 million,
N23 million and £27,000 hidden and concealed. These sums amount to about
$50 million or N 13 billion in our local currency at the time of their discovery.
Nobody has come to claim the money and EFCC has not told Nigerians who
“owns” the money.3
In the Shell authorities probe, top authorities know part of 1.3 billion Nigerian
oil deals would go to convicted money launderer.10 Even Patience Jonathan was
withheld from withdrawing the sum of $5.9 million found in one of her
accounts.11 Where did she get such money? But what marvel me are the
attitudes of Nigerians. Most Nigerians just laugh it off and hiss. These are very
recent discoveries not to talk of mountain of corrupt practices in the past.
Buhari said in 2019 Presidential Campaign that he will investigate the former
President Olusegun Obasanjo administration for the $16.5 billion electricity
project wasted and not properly accounted for. But surprisingly under the
Buhari administration, within five years, President Buhari had made available
through the Disco/Genco electricity supplier companies the whopping sum of
NGN 1.7 trillion (Government figure). The Federal government through the
Central Bank also set aside $2 billion for solar energy, contracting the German
energy giant – Siemen to generate some 2,000 mega watts with $2 billion. 14 It
would be recalled that it was Siemen that assisted Egypt to build 14,000 mega
watts for $9 billion. 15 In all of these the electricity supply in Nigeria is largely
epileptic, with most sections of the country without electricity for months and
years.
The Senate had disclosed that the Nigerian police and staffers of the Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC) shared N3.14 billion as relief for the
COVID-19 pandemic.19 Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi (APC Ekiti North),
chairman of the Senate adhoc committee investigating alleged N40 billion
illegally expended by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC
made this disclosure to the Senate. Pondei who had admitted before members of
the Senate adhoc committee that N3.14 billion was spent by the NDDC on
COVID-19, said the money was paid to the police, NDDC staff, youths, men
and women to cushion the negative effects of the pandemic and to avoid
violence in the Niger Delta region. Many Nigerians believe this sum was one of
the innumerable ways of fleecing the country dry.20 (see Solomon Ayado,
“Police, NDDC Staff Shared N3.14 billion for COVID-19, says Senate”,
BusinessDay, July 9, 2020).
Between 2015 and 2019, Nigeria made $206 billion in oil sales and yet
borrowed the sum of $81 billion the same period. What have we done with what
we have acquired? Where is the development? This is a nation where the
Nigeria National Petrolem Corporation (NNPC) spent NGN 36 billion (NGN
36, 000,000,000) on pipeline repairs while NGN 8 billion (NGN 8,000,000,000)
stolen in 5 months.21 (see Michael Eboh, “NNPC spent N36bn on pipeline
repairs, N8bn petrol stolen in 5 months” Vanguard, August 8, 2020).
Since Buhari came to power in 2015, we have watched, are watching his regime
descend into full-scale looting of Nigeria. The Buhari administration has
sparked outrage in the land after approving a somewhat scandalous N797.23
billion for rebuilding of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road. The road which is 375
km long will cost N12.12 billion per kilometer. It was initially awarded in 2020
at N155 billion to Julius Berger.
Kabir Abubakar, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on
Works said it was inflated by over N60 billion. Some companies at the time had
quoted N90 billion for the same job.
In a revision of the scope of the contract, Minister of Works, Raji Fashola said
the cost has been hijacked up to N797.23 billion, more than 4 times the initial
cost (Abankula, “Buhari Government Approves N12.12 billion to rebuild one
kilometer of road”, PM, 8 March, 2021)
Alhaji Umar Ganduje, an APC governor of Kano state was caught on camera
concealing $ 5 million bribe in his babariga cloth in the government house in
Kano State. He is notoriously being referred to afterwards as “Gandollar” and
his babariga coth as the new bullion van for “Alhaji Bureau de change” for
Kano state.22 (The video published by Daily Nigerian, an online newspaper,
showed the governor receiving bundles of dollars and putting them into his
white dress known as ‘babanriga’ in the northern part of Nigeria. See
TheCable, October 15, 2018)
The Jagaban of Lagos, ex-Governor Ahmed Tinubu’s company, Alpha Beta was
accused of money laundering to the tune of NGN 100 billion, tax evasion and
fraud.24 And during the 2019 presidential election, at the eve of the election, two
bullion vans were spotted at Tinubu house believed of carrying monies meant to
use in bribing prospective voters to lure them into voting President Buhari into
power. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) however, has
received a petition from an activist Deji Adeyanju a convener of Concerned
Nigerians to investigate the source of money conveyed in bullion vans to the
home of the All Progressive Congress (APC) National Leader Bola Tinubu on
the eve of the 2019 presidential election.25
After submitting his petition, Deji was quoted as saying: “To the best of our
knowledge, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a private citizen who ordinarily should
not be seen with a convoy of Bullion Vans.” The petition reads, “The
commission would recall that it was reported all over the news that Bullion
Vans allegedly containing an undisclosed amount of cash were seen entering the
home of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State on the eve of
Nigeria presidential elections. Tinubu himself admitted to this fact while
responding to questioning by journalists.” It is therefore germane and
fundamental to ask: What are Bullion Vans doing in the house of Asiwaju Bola
Ahmed Tinubu? Who owns the content, believing to be cash in the Bullion
Vans that were seen entering his house on the eve of Nigerian presidential
elections? Has the commission, based on its core mandates, investigated the
source of the Bullion Vans? Is Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s house now a bank where
Bullion Vans take money to? 26
Adeyanju who called on the commission to swing into action and begin an
investigation into the appearance of those Bullion Vans, however, avers: “We
cannot as a nation have two separate rules for fighting corruption, one for those
opposed to the ruling party and another for supporters of the government.” He
however noted that: “If properly investigated and prosecuted diligently will
assure Nigerians of the commission’s willingness to fight corruption that is
devoid of party affiliations.”27 In another development, Tinubu’s Alpha Beta is
said to be responsible for collecting the Lagos State allocations from Abuja in
the behalf of the Lagos State government. The company is also said to be
collecting taxes (levies) for government and whatever she declares that she
collected is what the government will take. That should not be!
Specifically, the politicians who are currently either under probe or prosecution
for allegedly diverting government funds did separately vowed to ensure Buhari
remains in power until 2023.
The eight politicians include the senator representing Nasarawa West at the
National Assembly, Abdullahi Adamu; the senator representing Sokoto North
and former Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko; ex-Senate Minority
Leader and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, who
recently defected from the PDP to the APC; and a former Governor of Abia
State, Orji Uzor Kalu.29
Others include the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Babachir Lawal; the former Governor of Rivers State and Director-
General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation in 2015, Rotimi Amaechi; the
Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari; and former National Chairman of
the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff.30
Former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aliyu Wamakko abandoned his godson
and successor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal due to NGN 15billion fraud allegations
against his administration currently being investigated by the EFCC. He was in
charge of Buhari’s campaign in Sokoto State and during the presidential
campaign in 2019. He held a massive rally on behalf of Buhari in order to prove
to the President that Governor Aminu Tambuwal’s defection would be of no
effect.32
The former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Gowswill Akpabio, has been under
probe by the EFCC for over three years based on allegations that he diverted
over N100bn from the coffers of the state between 2007 and 2015. He joined
the APC to avoid prosecution and was welcomed into the APC by the President
himself.33
Orji Uzor Kalu who governed Abia State from 1999 to 2007, was one of the
most influential politicians in the South-East during his time in government.
After leaving the PDP, he formed the Progressive Peoples Alliance from where
he contested and lost a senatorial election in 2015 and later defected to All
Progressive Congress (APC). However, the former governor has been having a
running legal battle with the EFCC since leaving office.
The EFCC alleged that Kalu and the others committed fraud between August
2001 and October 2005. It accused Kalu of utilising his company (Slok Nigeria
Limited) to retain in the account of First Inland Bank, now First City Monument
Bank, the sum of N200m.34 The commission said that the sum formed part of
funds illegally derived from the coffers of the Abia State government. The
EFCC also said that the accused retained, in different bank accounts, about
N2.5bn belonging to the state government, adding that he diverted about N3.2bn
from the coffers of the same government. Regardless of his travails, the former
governor did evrything to ensure that Buhari was re-elected in 2019.
In another development, the successor of Orji Uzo Kalu and former Abia state
governor and current senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief T. A.
Orji (TA), and his sons are alleged to have stolen more than 500 billion naira
from the state’s coffers. The alleged fraud happened through the 8 years he
governed Abia state.
Recently, there were reports that a Nigeria court has ordered the Economic and
Financial Crimes Comission (EFCC) to recover from the former governor of
Imo State Senator Rochas Okorocha properties believed to have been
improperly appropriated when he was governor of Imo State. They included the
following:
N59.6 billion taken from the local government system by Okorocha.
The Eastern Palm University built with Imo money but personalized by Okorocha.
The N96 billion being the stolen portion of Imo’s IGR for eight years.
Vast expanse of land on the Sam Mbakwe Airport road acquired by the Government
for the purpose of attracting a Naval Base.
The Adapalm in Ohaji which Okorocha leased out to investors and left in ruins till
date.o
The Concorde Hotels, an enviable investment of the State which was acquired by
Okorocha through some proxies.
WODDI Wellness Center owned by Okorocha’s wife, Nkechi, built on the former
Imo State Secretariat Annex, a land forcefully acquired from the State by Uche
Nwosu as Commissioner for Lands.
The Reach FM owned by Uche Nwosu, without any known legitimate means of
owning such huge property.
The multi billion Naira Farmers Market built by Geraldine, Okorocha’s sister, on a
land belonging to the State.
Over twenty-five plots State land acquired by Uche Nwosu upon which El Freeda
Foundation was built. This is the Foundation through which billions of Naira have
been laundered out of the State.
Municipal Plaza owned by Nkechi Okorocha built on a land forcefully acquired from
a civil servant by Uche Nwosu.
Spibat Estate most of which land was forcefully taken from Mbieri people by
Okorocha.
House of Freeda Malls in Owerri, Abuja and Lagos built by Uloma, Uche Nwosu’s
wife.
Multi million worth poultry farm beside Shoprite owned by Uche Nwosu on a land
forcefully acquired.
N800 million given to Okorocha’s sister, Geraldine per annum, for Christmas trees.
N600 million diverted through the supposed renovation of the Imo State Secretariat.
N18 billion looted through the alleged construction of primary school blocks across
the State.
Recovery of all the markets in the State which Okorocha has claimed 30%
ownership.
Recovery of the ISOPADEC funds and the 13% oil derivation funds which amount to
over N20 billion.
A probe into and recovery of over N120 billion diverted through failed road projects.
There is no single road project done by Okorocha that is not a failure.
Recovery of hundreds of plots of land taken from the State by Okorocha and family,
spread across the state.
Recovery of Imo’s security votes which Okorocha personalized for eight years.
Babachir Lawal, notoriously known and called by his detractors as “the grass
cutter” was the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
was accused by the Senate ad hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis
in the North-East, led by Senator Shehu Sani, of awarding a N223m consultancy
contract for the removal of invasive plant species in Komadugu, Yobe Water
Channels to his company, Rholavision Engineering in contravention of Section
43(iii) and (iv) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
Although he was later probed by the EFCC, Babachir was among the key
figures that ran Buhari’s re-election campaign in Adamawa State. The former
SGF was having a leadership tussle with Governor Jibrilla Bindow over who
should lead Buhari’s campaign in the state.
The lion of the Niger Delta – Rotimi Amaechi was the Director-General of the
Buhari Campaign Organisation in 2015, was also charged with the task of
ensuring that Buhari is elected a second time.
The Minister of Transport, who is the face of the Buhari campaign, was indicted
by the Justice George Omeregi-led Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry
set up to investigate the sale of state assets.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had alleged that $150m (N30bn at the
time) was spent on Buhari’s campaign in 2015.37
Abdul’aziz Yari has been engaged in a fierce battle with the EFCC for over a
year following allegations that he diverted nearly N680m which formed part of
the Paris Club refund due to his state.38
In July 2017, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered an interim forfeiture of the
sums of N500m and $500,000 (N180m) said to have been looted from the Paris
Club refunds made by the Federal Government in favour of the 36 states of the
federation.39
The sums of money said to have been recovered from two firms, First
Generation Mortgage Bank Limited, and Gosh Projects Limited, were allegedly
linked to the governor.
The EFCC also alleged, in an affidavit filed in support of its ex parte application
seeking the interim forfeiture of the sums of money, that the N500m was
diverted to offset Yari’s personal loan obtained from the First Generation
Mortgage Bank Limited.40
Ex-minister Sheriff and others are under investigation for allegedly receiving
N450m out of the N23bn ($115m) bribe allegedly disbursed by a former
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the build-up
to the 2015 elections.41
He has been grilled several times by the EFCC but was never charged. His
private jet was also impounded by the commission but later released to him.
The spree and the speed of looting and raping the country is “unchecked” by all
norms or political prudence – “Magugate” and “Malamigate” – the two most
recent high profile corruption cases trending. Aso Rock is now grand zero for
open robbery of Nigerian Treasury. Critics have asked: Isn’t it better to have a
minister for wholesale looting of Nigeria, just to make the work of looting looks
tidy? By appointing a minister for wholesale corruption, Buhari will only shape
his legacy! After all, Buhari is what survives him. Was it not Senator Akpabio
that declared flatly that the NDDC is an ATM where people withdraw money to
contest elections? No wonder he was alleged to have paid some NGN 16 billion
to have his nomination as a minister cleared! 42
The Chief Justice of the Federation, Tanko was said to have allegedly collected
some NGN 2.5 billion bribe from Senator Hope Uzodinma, the man who came
4th position in the 2019 gubernatorial election in Imo State, to make him the
Governor in a controversial judgement. This accusation could not be proven and
there is presently no evidence to support such claims.43
It was said that Idi Amin Dada of Uganda once asked the central bank governor
of his country to print more Ugandan notes to cushion the effects of inflation in
Uganda at the time of his reign. But in Nigeria, at least two times within living
memory, individuals walked up to the central bank of Nigeria and demanded
and were given monies belonging to the commonwealth of Nigerian citizens.
The first was the former maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha who ordered the
then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to issue him monies at different
points and times during his regime. More than twenty years after his regime,
Nigeria is still repatriating stolen funds directly collected by Abacha or those
acting on his behalf.
The second occasion was Isa Funtua. Isa Funtua never held any political office
save the fact that he belonged to the much-dreaded “Cabals” in Aso Rock,
dictating proceedings from behind. He was an in-law to President Muhammadu
Buhari. Isa Funtua was said to have gone to the Central Bank of Nigeria and
collected some $400 million to buy Etisalat for himself! Since this allegation
was made by the leader of the Indigenous Peoples’ of Biafra (IPOB) and some
other individuals, nobody had made attempts to reprove such claims. Isa Funtua
was the man in charge of all the black-market exchange in Nigeria, collecting
money at government rate and resold with huge financial gain at the black
market. But, this is Nigeria! 45
It has been allegedly certified that the sum of NGN 806 billion (NGN
806,000,000,000) was criminally taken from innocent and industrious people of
old Eastern Nigeria (Biafra) in the past 50 months (August 2015 – October
2019)47 (see International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, a
renowned Rights, Democracy and Security Watchdog based in Igboland). The
group demanded refund of the extorted NGN 806 billion, account for hundreds
of individuals slain and maimed in Eastern Nigeria or face more law suits,
others.
It maintains that the operations of the Nigerian Police Force and the Army-led
military in two geo-political zones that comprise the old Eastern region are
needless, worthless, unwarranted, provocative, act of war, genocidal and laden
with ethno-religious ulterior motives.48
It would be recalled that in the August 2017, Senator Isa Misau, a retired
Deputy Police Superintendant representing Bauchi South District made a
weighty and shocking allegations and disclosure that the Federal Government
refused to thoroughly and conclusively investigate the criminal NGN 500
billion illegally extracted from innocent citizens of the old Eastern Region.51
Many Nigerians maintain that the gap between President Muhammadu Buhari’s
words and his actions could be likened to the gap between heaven and earth.
Not a few Nigerians believe that security issue in Nigeria has been
compromised. Reno Omokri is one of them.
Taking to his twitter account, Omokri querried: “Why should Boko Haram
graduate, while students cannot …”55 Obviously reacting to the news of the
Federal government integrating 601 ex-Boko Haram terrorists into the Nigerian
society, Omokri reacts: “It is horrifying to see photos of the so-called repentant
Boko Haram members … wore fresh graduation clothes made available by the
federal government while prestige people were on the ground to mark their
graduation. Graduation came in a time the president said no schools should
open and students will not write their WASSCE” 56 This is Nigeria where “little,
little drops of follies make a mighty idiot”.
This is Nigeria where snake allegedly swallowed N3657 million from JAMB
office vault, and monkey ate up some NGN 70 million kept by a Senator in his
farm. 58
The anti-graft agency listed other assets recovered in the Agricultural Ministry
to include 18 buildings, 12 business premises, and 25 plots of land. He said
under the Open Treasury Portal review carried out between January to August
15, 2020 out of 268 Ministries, Departments, and Agenda (MDAs), 72 of them
had cumulative infractions of NGN90 million. He said while 33 MDAs tendered
explanations that NGN4.1 billion was transferred to sub-TSA, NGN4.2 bn paid
to individuals had no satisfactory explanations.60
It was Bishop Hassan Matthew Kukah who reminded us of the paradox of life
that Nigeria represents. Bishop Kukah wrote: “Nigerian educational systems
have surprising outcomes. The smartest students pass with First Class and get
admitted to Medical and Engineering Schools. The Second Class students get
MBAs and LLBs to manage the First Class students. The Third Class students
enter politics and rule both the First and Second Class students. The Failures
enter the Underworld of crimes and control the politicians and businesses. And
best of all, those who did not attend school become Prophets and Imams and
everybody follows them. What a paradox of life. This can only happen in
Nigeria where corruption is the order of the day”.61
It was the late iconic Nigerian musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti that produced a
song titled “Confusion Break Bone”. It perfectly depicts the picture of the
Buhari government; …no coordination in government! The Minister of Justice
is fighting with an agency under him, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) is fighting
Nigerian Post Office (NIPOST), Minister of Communication is fighting
Diaspora Commission, the Ministry of Niger Delta is fighting Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC). It is a Fuji house of commotion that we
now have. And no patriot can be comfortable with the state of affairs that we
found ourselves. 62
Nations, like life itself, is not governed by miracles but by laws and principles.
It was Apostle Johnson Suleiman who said that “when something happens once,
it can be termed an accident. When it happens twice, it can be seen as a
coincidence. When it happens thrice, it is a programme; when it happens a
fourth time, it is an agenda. It happens a fifth time, it definitely has sponsors”.
The continuous and persistent slaughtering of unarmed Nigerians by terrorists
and bandits can no longer be rationalisable. Was it not General Sani Abacha that
said if a bomb is dropped at a place and the government could not trace and
apprehend the perpetrators and take control of the security situation there, then
the government is an accomplice?
Many Nigerians believe that the nation’s security architecture has been
compromised. Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, a former Deputy Governor of the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), alleges that repentant terrorists told him that a serving
northern governor was the leader of Boko Haram. Mailafia, who was the
presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2019 election,
said the terrorists moved weapons even during the COVID-19 lockdown. 64 A
terrorist was arrested and his phone seized and while searching through the
phone, it was discovered that a recent communication was made by the terrorist
just before he was picked up, and it was discovered that the person he called and
was engaging in communication was a colonel in Nigerian Army. Obadiah also
claimed in the interview which has now gone viral that some sections of the
north are planning to launch a civil war in 2022 in a ploy to retain power to the
Moslem north. He further claimed that the Kaduna killings are only a test-run of
what would happen to the entire South if left unchecked.
It would also be recalled that the Zamfara State Governor, Yari reported an
“intels” to relevant authorities on security matters regarding an impending
invasion and massacre of the citizens in his state by terrorists. The authorities
ignored his warning. The terrorists came and massacred the people in the state.
Also the case of Uzo Uwani in Enugu is similar to that of Zamfara. The body
language of the Buhari administration is suggestive of the fact that it is in league
with the criminals.
A large section of Nigerians wondered why the Kano State Government was
bent on ensuring that blasphemers were killed while those who looted the public
treasury were allowed to go scot free. Why are those supporting the killing of
blasphemers silent when a video went viral showing Governor Umar Ganduje
allegedly stuffing his babariga with dollars?
Aisha Yesufu tweeted, “Can someone please tell me how many rapists have
been sentenced to death by the Sharia courts in Nigeria? Or, how many corrupt
politicians have been sentenced to death. The same Sharia courts that have
professional witnesses in front of their doors that one man can hire? If Sharia
courts and the judges practice Sharia laws as they should, even non-Muslims
will bring their cases there!”65
Suleiman wondered why Nigeria pardons terrorists but orders death for
blasphemy. He tweeted, “A country that pardons terrorists want to kill a man for
blasphemy. I am sure even Saudi Arabia is shocked … the worst form of
deception is self deceit.”66
In almost every Western country, there is severe concern about Nigerian-based
crime called “419” in Nigerian parlance. The problem has become so serious
that the Central Bank of Nigeria publishes frequent warnings in the newspapers
across the world. This document is in itself probably the strangest document
ever to originate from a Central Bank: “You have been warned several times
before! You have been warned again!” – Central Bank of Nigeria advertisement
in September 1997 warning against “419” frauds.67
Recently one Raymond Abbas, aka “Hushpuppy” was arrested in Dubai over
Internet Fraud. He was arrested all side his alleged co-conspirators following an
overnight raid of his apartments in Dubai on June 10. Emirati police and
prosecutors said that about NGN 16 billion was found in cash out of an
estimated NGN 168 billion online scam linked to the syndicate.68
The Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office, Central District of California
has detailed how Nigeria’s ‘super cop’ Abba Kyari was paid by notorious
internet fraudster, Hushpuppi to arrest his partner. Kyari was indicted in
Hushpuppy’s $1.1 million fraud. The US Court has ordered the FBI to arrest
and repatriate Kyari to the US to answer for his alleged crimes.
Many Nigerians have asked the Nigerian leaders to publish details of corruption
probes, a call the leadership are very hesitant and reluctant to heed. Meanwhile
the Nigerian activists have sued the Senate President and House of
Representative Speaker over “failure to publish details of corruption probes”.
Journalist Iteveh Ekpokpobe raised concerns which I’ve been pondering in the
innermost recesses of my soul: “Questions will be asked by posterity about what
we did with our past. Every looter must be made to suffer for their sins. They
have stolen our yesterday. They have hands on our today. Their eyes are still at
our tomorrow”. Haba!
According to OPEC, Nigeria has almost 40 billion barrels of proven oil reserve.
After nearly 50 years of exploration, the oil and gas sector continues to play a
significant role in the economy and accounts for some 65% of total revenue to
the government. With a maximum crude oil production capacity of 2.5 million
barrels per day, Nigeria is Africa's largest producer of oil, and the 13th largest
oil producing country in the world. The country has faced significant challenges
in managing the sector such as the unaccountable use of revenues and
corruption. Nigeria EITI has been effective in strengthening public debate and
promoting policy options around signature bonuses, unpaid royalties, crude oil
and refined products theft. It has identified USD 9.8 billion owed to the Federal
Government, of which USD 2.4 billion has been recovered through Nigeria
EITI’s efforts.79 (NIETI report on 2018 Annual Progress Report)
According to NEITI, crude oil and refined product worth $41.9 billion were
stolen from Nigeria in the last ten years between 2009 and 2018. The
breakdown is as follows: 80
As Nigerians are wondering where these thieves are getting these monies from
and the kind of business they do, a foreign Journal, Maxone Magazine, vol. 1,
No. 20 further exposed the Reckless Spenders and the names of Nigeria corrupt
leaders and their loots, including monies discovered in foreign banks and how
they are painting Dubai red with our money. Some of these thieves were spotted
cruising with our money in Amani Club Dubai and Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai
where an accommodation per night is between $1,500 and $28,000 (NGN 4.5m)
respectively. Entry free alone to Amani Club is $1,500. A good number of
exquisitely expensive properties in Dubai are owned by Nigerian politicians.85
The trending news as at the time of writing this report is that Magu is currently
being interrogated by a presidential probe panel headed by retired Justice Ayo
Salami over allegations of mismanagement and lack of transparency in
managing recovered assets by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC).86
Whether all the assets could be properly accounted for by the Ag.
Chairman.
To confirm if any of the assets have been diverted to the benefit of
the Ag. Chairman, his family, relation, friends or favoured staff.
To recover any such diverted assets and return back to the EFCC or
appropriate government agency.
The committee was also to investigate and report on corruption and
money laundering allegations involving Magu and Bureau De
Change operators, as well as some of his associates; as per the
intelligence reports and petitions.
It was to audit the Assets and Finances of the EFCC as a legal
entity from 2015-2020, with a view to establish compliance or
otherwise with procurement procedures of the EFCC in line with
the provisions of the Procurement Act.
However, new facts have emerged on how interest rates accruing
from N550 billion recovered by the EFCC in the period under
review were allegedly re-looted.
Magu is now expected to disclose the whereabouts of the missing
interest funds running into millions of naira.
NAN also observed that the Final Report of Presidential
Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA) that covered
the period of May 29, 2015, to Nov. 22, 2018, had also confirmed
the concerns of the public about contradictory recovery figures
emanating from Magu.
“It is quite disturbing that conflicting figures are being circulated in
the public space by EFCC as the amount of recovered funds.
“For Foreign currency recoveries, EFCC reported a total naira
equivalent of N46,038,882,509.87, while the naira equivalent of
the foreign currency lodgments were N37,533,764,195.66,
representing a shortfall of N8,505,118,314.21.
“These inconsistencies cast a serious doubt on the accuracy of
figures submitted by the EFCC. It is the committee’s view that the
EFCC cannot be said to have fully accounted for cash recoveries
made by it.
“While EFCC reported total Naira recoveries of
N504,154,184,744.04, the actual bank lodgments were
N543,511,792,863.47. These discrepancies mean that EFCC’s
actual lodgment exceeded its reported recoveries by
N39,357,608,119.43.
“It must be pointed out that the discrepancy of more than thirty
nine billion naira does not include interest accrued in this account
since it was opened.
“It therefore cast serious doubt on the credibility of the figures and
means that substantial amount of money has not been accurately
accounted for.
“Failure to report on the interest on actual lodgments clearly
establishes that interest element of over N550 billion has been re-
looted relating to the period under review.
“This is an apparent case of manipulation of data in a very brazen
and unprofessional manner and this has greatly eroded the public
confidence in the anti-corruption efforts,’’ the report stated in part.
NAN also reports that the PCARA revealed how the investigative
reports on EFCC’s activities by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence
Unit (NFIU) exposed acts of corruption and money laundering
against some EFCC officials, including Magu.
“The NFIU reports established that the Acting Chairman has been
using different sources to siphon money from the EFCC, and in
some cases collecting bribes from suspects.
“The report has shown that a particular Bureau de Change, owned
by Ahmed Ibrahim Shanono linked to the Acting Chairman based
in Kaduna has more than 158 accounts and has been receiving huge
sums of funds.
“The link to Magu was also established by the payment of N28
million to FALANA who is a close associate and ally of the Acting
Chairman,’’ the PCARA report further revealed.
NAN reports that the Salami probe panel is expected to continue
sitting on Monday while Magu’s lawyer, Mr Oluwatosin Ojaomo,
had on Friday applied for an administrative bail for his client, who
is facing corruption and other charges before the panel.87
According to media reports, panic grills Magu over Dubai properties and the
sales of 157 oil tankers. Highlights on the allegations indicated that Magu was:
88
He was released on bail after 10 days of detention, saying that the directive of
the presidential panel investigating corruption allegations against him were
fabricated and his detention a case of dog-eat-dog.
The trending news at the time of writing this report are alleged financial
recklessness and misappropriation of N81 billion leveled against the Interim
Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC).93
According to the report credited to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on May
5, the Senate set up the ad hoc committee to investigate the IMC of the NDDC
over alleged misappropriation of N81 billion. 94
SOME Niger Delta leaders and crusaders have decried the alleged financial
recklessness and accusations of mismanagement of billions of naira by the
Interim Management Committee (IMC) which they believed was progammed to
fail.
Conduit pipe
“Any credible audit of the NDDC would amount to auditing the role of the
Presidency in developing the Niger Delta…”96
Meanwhile, the chairman of the panel, Ojo had made more revelations of
various significant expenditures. According to him, the IMC, contrary to the
alleged mismanagement of N40 billion for which the investigation was
conceived spent extra funds on some sundry items. The items, he said, included
Community relations — N1.3bn; Condolences — N122.9m; Consultancy –
N83m; COVlD—19 — N3.14 billion; DTA – N486million; Impress – N790.9
million; Lassa fever — N1.956 billion; Legal services — N900million and
Maintenance – N220million. Others were Oversea travel – N85.6 million;
Project public communication – Nl.121 billion; Security – N744m; Staffing
related payments N8.8 billion and Stakeholders engagement (Feb 18- May 31,
2020) N248million. The money is totaled N81.5 billion.97
In his reaction, Pondei said that the figures did not reflect the true situation. He
said it was only N59 billion that had been spent by his administration between
March 2020 when he assumed office and May, 2020. He said:
“I reject the allegations of financial recklessness. Whilst no man can do everything
perfectly, I state categorically that all I have done is trying to reposition and
restructure the NDDC. That is the mandate of the Interim Management Committee.
Even a blind person will know that the issues are due to the plugging of leakages and
the end of business as usual…” 98
Saturday Vanguard recalls that in May 2020 when the allegations against Tunji-
Ojo made the rounds, the lawmaker called a press conference and denied them,
describing them as cheap blackmail against his person.
Recently, one Joy Nunieh, the former managing director (MD) of Niger Delta
Development Commission from October 29, 2019 to February 19 th 2020 took
the Minister for Niger Delta affairs to the cleaners as she exposed the
underbelly of the minister and the commission. Amongst her numerous
allegations, she alleged that the “Water Hyscent distil contract ballooned from
NGN 5 billion to NGN 50 billion when Akpabio become a minister.102
The National Assembly invited the officials of the NDDC to unravel the
circumstances surrounding the purported misappropriation of NGN 40 billion
only to find out that the misappropriated fund was NGN 81.5 billion. The
NDDC acting managing director, Kemebradi Kumo Pondei collapsed at the
National Assembly during probe of the activities of NDDC. It was gathered that
between January and May 2020, the sum of NGN 81.5 billion was spent by the
NDDP. The breakdown is as follows: 103
When the Minister for Niger Delta, Senator Akpabio was being quizzed by the
National Assembly, it was revealed that the principal officers of the National
Assembly were indicted and actively involved in the whole scam. Chairman,
Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi of the
Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Delta North was alleged of owning
companies used for fake contracts at the NDDC. Nwaoboshi was accused of
collecting contracts from the NDDC with 11 different companies without
executing them.104
One Charles Odili alleged that Senator Nwaoboshi used 11 different companies
as fronts to secure for himself NGN3.6 billion in September, 2016. Odili
alleged, the contract was the “biggest single case of looting the Commission’s
resources”.105
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godwill Akpabio at last reveals
the senators and members of the House of Representative who are beneficiaries
of various unexecuted contracts from the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC).
Also the Minister listed Mutu’s name against 74 projects which included
various emergency road projects in Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, and Rivers
states.
According to him, most of the contracts they were arm-twisted to pay, “were
never done or sometimes, never completed.”109
The list of contracts, benefiting firms and when the money was paid was
published in Abass Jimoh, “Nigeria: NDDC – Pondei Lists Contracts Paid
Under ‘Duress’ to Get National Assembly Budget Approval”, DailyTrust, 8
August, 2020.110
Pondei had alleged that “this blackmail scheme explains why the 2019 Budget
of the NDDC was passed by the NASS Committee in March, 2020”, adding
that, “we are talking about a budget that was billed to expire in May, 2020.111
This implication is that the management of the NDDC had only five weeks, to
implement the budget of one fiscal year, and present a performance report on
the same budget.
Corruption in the Oil Sector
Frank also urged the National Assembly to thoroughly probe the fraud in the oil
sector as it has gone beyond mere reports in the media.
He queried why such huge amount of money gotten from the oil rich Niger
Delta region could be stolen while the region is lacking development in good
education, hospital, good roads and industrialization.
His tweets:
“$800million Sales of Crude Funds stolen as alleged by an online media Pointblank.
Gen Muhammadu Buhari @MBuhari should resign as Petroleum Minister and
President of this country. Under his watch, he has failed the citizens and Nigerians
cannot breathe anymore. I call on the oil producing community and Niger Delta
Region at large to protest this current looting…”113, Timi Frank stated.
The petition which was addressed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader McConnell,
Leader McCarthy and Leader Schumer was titled: Corruption, Looting In
Central Bank Of Nigeria: A Call For A Special Congressional Hearing,
Investigation, Sanctions On Godwin Emefiele And Others, was also copied the
US State Department, Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA,
and Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and signed by Mr. Jackson Ude, a
Nigerian-American media specialist, activist, good governance advocate and
recipient of the Peace Ambassador Award of the Centre for Peace Studies
(CPS), Sri Lanka who is also the Coordinator of NYPF, U.S/Caribbean
chapter.177
According to the the petitioners, between 2015 and 2016, under Emefiele’s
watch, CBN conspired with Nigeria’s oil corporation, Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to illegally divert $24,263,008.56 meant to be
shared to 36 states of the federation, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and the
774 local councils.114
The group also accused the CBN of allegedly awarding a contract for the
expansion of its parking lot to Bulet International Limited, a company owned by
Ismaila Isa Funtua, an ally and confidant of President Muhammadu Buhari at a
whopping sum of N30 billion (the equivalent of $77.5million) in 2019; stressing
that no parking lot extension contract costs that much in the United States. The
NYPF alleged that the said contract violated Nigeria’s procurement laws.116
The petitioners alleged that Emefiele has been running the CBN with top
members of the Buhari cabal led by Isa Funtua, who died recently, and also the
former Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Abba Kyari, Attorney General and
Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, Mamman Daura, Lawan Daura,
Babagana Kingibe, Nasir Danu and a few others who are all from the Northern
part of Nigeria.117
The group which is affiliated to global anti-corruption networks alleged that Isa
Funtua and the cabal have been running a black-market forex cartel worth $800
million every week since the beginning of the Buhari administration in 2015.
“This continued until late 2017 when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo scaled it
down to $500 million when the President was away for medicals,” the petition
alleged.118
Urging the US Congress to move into action, the petitioners made the following
demands: 119
According to the group, all necessary contacts within the US Congress had been
established and that they are prepared to testify under oath in Congress and
provide all necessary documents to aid the speedy investigations of all the
claims, adding, we are “willing to use all legal means necessary in bringing an
end to corruption in Nigeria to give her young population a new lease of life for
a better future.”120
According to Sunday Punch of August 23, 2020, the case files of 15 high-
profile individuals, including the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma,
Senator Peter Nwabaoshi, and others facing graft and other criminal charges
have disappeared.121
The missing files also included the non-declaration of assets and possession of
foreign accounts cases against Anambra North senator, Stella Oduah; the
President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick; and four other
NFF officials as well Akwa Ibom North-East Senator, Bassey Akpan, among
others.122
Our leaders, from the President, members of the federal and state legislatures,
governors, revenue generating agencies, etc., everyone is aware and knows
about this provision. Again, the Constitution in Section 80 makes it clear that
no money should be spent out of the consolidated revenue fund of the federation
or any other public fund except upon the authorisation of the National
Assembly.
However, some agencies operate above the law on a yearly basis and get away
with a fiscal murder. The office of the Auditor General of the Federation, an
office established by the same constitution states in the 2014-2017 federal audit
reports that three agencies- the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the
Department of Petroleum Resources and the Federal Inland Revenue Services
withheld a total sum of N5.785 trillion. The NNPC is holding on to N4.501tn,
DPR N334bn while the FIRS held on to N951bn. They have since failed,
refused and neglected to make these humungous sums available to the three
tiers of government.124
Reports have indicted the three deviant agencies for ignoring sections 80 and
162 of the constitution and took extra-legal steps to violate the law. This raises
the fundamental questions: Why are these sections often obeyed in the breach?
Why is no one being brought to account for flagrant disregard of constitutional
provisions? Spending without appropriation and in clear disregard of the duty to
remit to the distributable pool account is an original sin against the constitution
for which the culprits do not deserve an extra day on their seat after the crime
has been established. But this is Nigeria! And, for the President of the
Federation to spend money without appropriation is an impeachable offence for
it is an attempt to combine executive and legislative powers and such a
combination is the hallmark of dictatorship.125
This is a fact in the public domain at a time the federal government is virtually
bankrupt and borrows to pay salaries as well borrows to pay back the due
portions of previous loans – debt service and not even the repayment of the
capital. If this money is recovered, it would offset the 2020 federal deficit. The
N5.785tn is just a part of the unremitted funds reported in the audit reports and
if all the due unremitted sums for the four years are put together, it could be as
much as the 2020 federal budget.126
In a normal situation, the Accountant General of the Federation and the Minister
of Finance should follow up these monies, recover and put them back into the
Federation Account. And as Eze Onyekpere explained that this is not a normal
but an absurd and abnormal situation! Therefore, beyond the Accountant-
General and Minister of Finance, the President, Major General Muhammadu
Buhari (retd.), by virtue of his broad powers under S.5 of the 1999 Constitution,
should give clear orders that all due sums should be paid into the Federation
Account. This recommendation is also based on the fact that the key agency
responsible for the bulk of the deductions — the NNPC– is directly under his
supervision as the Minister of Petroleum. Furthermore, the unauthorised
deductions make a strong case for the expeditious enactment of the governance
and administrative reforms proposed in the Petroleum Industry Bill to enable
the NNPC or its equivalent to operate like a commercial firm. The PIB has been
delayed for over 20 years without any reasonable explanation and the last time a
governance bill was passed, the President refused assent based on specious
reasons.127
The case of the NNPC is even most absurd. In the last couple of years, the
backlog of joint venture cash calls and new ones are being paid for through the
deployment of excess crude oil which the major international oil companies are
allowed to take to offset due debts. So, what exactly informs the NNPC’s refusal
to pay due sums into the Federation Account? A nation that keeps borrowing to
meet basic mandates cannot be bleeding with unremitted sums and no one is
being held accountable. No one is in jail for these scams, no one is apologising to
Nigerians and indeed, unremitted sums have not been returned. Alternatively, are
the NNPC, DPR and FIRS stating that the Auditor-General reported without any
empirical evidence or went outside his mandate? No, we cannot continue this
charade.128
Isn’t it surprising that the states that are shortchanged by these unauthorised
deductions have kept quiet and have not mounted any vigorous challenge to
these infractions. It is the expectation that states should challenge this
“customary practice” at the Supreme Court. Apparently, because the Auditor-
General of the Federation takes on the cabals and grand fathers of corruption,
the bill to strengthen his office, provide more resources and logistics for the
office to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance of duties
has also been in the works for over 15 years, Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and
Buhari refused assent to the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill and none of
them gave any reason for their refusal.
This was contained in a keynote address by the Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji
Owasanoye at the Second National Summit on Diminishing Corruption with the
theme: “Together Against Corruption and the Launch of the National Ethics and
Integrity Policy” held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The ICPC chairman made the startling revelation in the presence of President
Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, the Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Justice Tanko Mohammed, and the Chairman of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi (virtually) and other top government
officials.
He noted that government officials violated the sanctity of the Treasury Single
Account (TSA) by perpetrating illegalities.130
The Discoveries
Prof. Owasanoye said under the Open Treasury Portal review that was carried
out between January and August 15, 2020, out of 268 Ministries, Departments
and Agencies (MDAs), 72 of them had cumulative infractions running into
billions.133
He said while 33 MDAs tendered explanations that N4.1 billion was transferred
to something called sub-TSA, N4.2 billion paid to individuals had no
satisfactory explanations.134
Prof. Owasanoye also said in the education sector, 78 MDAs were reviewed and
common cases of misuse of funds were uncovered.136
Contacted, the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of
Education, Mr Ben Bem Goong, said right from the start of the school feeding
programme, it was never domiciled in the ministry and therefore could not
comment on the allegations by the ICPC boss.
“It (school feeding) was first in the office of the Vice President and when the ministry
of humanitarian was created, it was moved there.
That is why the minister has not been answering anything relating to school feeding.
The ministry has never been part of it,” he said.138
He said the commission recovered N16 billion from the ministry of agriculture
paid into individual accounts for non-official purposes.141
He said:
“We have restrained or recovered by administrative or court interim and final orders
assets above N3 billion facilitated recovery of $173,000 by the whistleblower unit of
FMFB&P from an erring oil company retrained £160,000 in a UK-bank in an
ongoing interim forfeiture. These figures exclude quantum of recoveries on return or
contractors to site as a result of projects tracking initiatives.
“It should, however, be noted that some of these assets are subjected to ongoing
cases and where suspects proved their cases physical or liquid assets will be released
in accordance with laid down laws, guidelines or court directives,” he said.142
Unlike NASS under Saraki who dutifully checkmated the Executive branch, the
present Lawal-led "alleluia-members" of the Legislative branch are of a
different lot. Their real nature was brought to the fore and they danced naked in
the market square for Nigerians to see and behold their ugliness, their nudity.
The whole world was appalled, almost in a state of suspended animation, when
the Lawal-led Legislature, under sixty minutes, approved a foreign loan of
$22.7 billion and on the same day approves $5.5 billion in foreign loan to
President Muhammadu Buhari. 145
It would be recalled that the proposal for $22.7 billion was first brought before
the then Saraki-led Legislature. The Senate requested for details of the
Executive plans on what to use the loans for and all the nitty gritty involved, or
should involve in the loan. The Buhari government failed to convince the
Legislature of the need for the loan. It was subsequently rejected. This same
rejected loan-request was what Lawal-led Legislature swiftly approved
unchecked. Nigerians were waiting to hear the nitty gritty of Buhari's $5.5
billion loan only to hear that the $22.7 billion loan had been factored in through
the back door and approved.
Yet, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), the agency responsible
for repairing broken federal roads across Nigeria earmarked by the federal
government in all the 36 states plus Abuja (FCT) only budgeted some NGN
36.6 billion.147 What a nation!
Some humongous amount was also voted for the Nigeria Television Authority
(NTA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for some
digitalization exercise and other spurious reasons. Some billions were slated for
the EFCC and the NIMC. And yet, at this time of national and global
emergency, the budgets of health and those of education were slashed
substantially.
Even for the sake of argument, there is lop-sidedness in the loan itself. You
have a loan that is about 11 - 12 trillion naira and some parts of the country,
specifically the South-East and some parts of North East were not captured in
the loan and yet this is a loan obtained in the name of all Nigerians and must be
repaid by "Nigerians" especially from proceeds that comes from the Southern
parts of Nigeria notably the South East. This is certainly a satanic verse of the
policy drivers of the present administration.
The "alleluia-boys" of the National Assembly only recently permitted Mr.
President to borrow some NGN 850 billion in the domestic market 148; not up to
3 weeks, the government got another approval for Mr. President to borrow
another $3.5 billion149 (about NGN 1 trillion) from the IMF. Yet, not up to a
month later, the "alleluia boys" further approved some $5 billion for the
government. More than 80% of the projects tied to these borrowings are about
NGN 15 trillion and they were not economically viable projects. What it simply
means is that we are borrowing for consumption, period! Most of us are yet to
understand the nitty gritty of the loans which were said to have a moratorium of
4-5 years.
It has been five years of pain for Nigerians that all the bad indices in our socio-
political and financial lifestyles as a country had been activated.
With the volume of foreign loans being accumulated by Buhari and his APC
government, our nation and her people have been plummeted and placed on the
international auction market.
Buhari’s move to take a fresh $5.513 billion (NGN 2.1 billion) loan in addition
to an earlier $22.79 billion (NGN 8.5 trillion), the size of 2020 budget and
without operable repayment plans, will totally compromise the fiscal integrity
of our nation and open her up for economic annexation by foreign creditors.
This is in addition to NGN 850 billion from the capital market.
In this fiscal year, the Buhari administration cannot muster the capacity to
harness the huge resources available in our country to generate even half of the
sum of its own budget, but has been shopping for foreign loans.
The presidency is practically driving the nation to the brinks while exposing
Nigerians to the risk of modern day slavery by mortgaging our future to
economic appropriation by foreign interests.
Unfortunately and regrettably too, the lives of the ordinary Nigerians, in spite
the deluge in loans, in whose behalf they claim to be amassing these debts, have
become far worse now than the Buhari and his APC government met it in 2015.
More distressing is the fact that this administration cannot account for the loan
taken so far.
It is painful to observe that the gains made by previous administrations have
been opened up, like prodigal son, for pillaging by the APC leaders and the
cabal in the presidency.
In all of these loans, the Lawal-led Legislature is conniving with the criminal
APC Executive-led Buhari government to undermine the interests of Nigeria
and Nigerians.
It is my plea that the National Assembly should use its legislative instruments to
check the unbridled appetite for foreign loans. Otherwise, corruption and
recklessness will "kill Nigeria to death". But in all of these, why are Nigerian
youths scared to interrogate the system and insist that the right thing be done or
be forced to be done?
Not too long ago, James Ibori, it was who raped and impregnated himself with
the wealth and resources of his people - the Delta State. He was protected and
prevented from being prosecuted and sentenced in Nigeria (what do you
expect?), but was duly sentenced to terms of imprisonment in the UK which he
dutifully and rightfully served. Upon his return to Nigeria, he was heralded by
the very Delta people he raped economically. The whole community, including
the so-called traditional rulers, heralded his arrival, comparing him to Jesus
Christ to his Delta people. That was a nonsensical piece of ridiculous, arrant and
stupendous nonsense! A man who stole you blind and caused millions of
destinies of Deltans despatched to Golgotha was ingloriously celebrated by the
very people he raped, what a society!
The same thing happened in the case of Alamasiegba of Bayelsa State, who
stole and stole, until Satan himself protested against him and was jailed in the
UK, disguised as a woman and "spirited" himself down to the only safe-heavens
for criminals the world over - Nigeria during Obasanjo administration. He was
ingloriously given an undeserved state pardon by the then President Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan who could not provide the basic necessities of life for his
Otueke community - no light, no water, no good road, nothing!
The cumulative damage from the actions of these criminals on the innocent,
underprivileged members of the society is better imagined than told. And
nothing happens; and nothing will ever happen because we are talking about
Nigeria. There is no place in the whole world where public servants behave as
irresponsible as they do in Nigeria, and yet nothing happens!
The former Governor of Rivers State once declared authoritatively that political
leaders steal state funds because Nigerians do not stone them. Amaechi said: "...
If you see a thief and you allow him to be stealing, what have you done? You
have stoned nobody; that is why we are stealing. Who have you stoned ... ?"150
The latest of this madness and extreme stupidity and demonstration of crass
ignorance and hopelessness which drove me to a state of suspended animation
happened in Abia State when the former Governor, Orji Uzoh Kalu, who was
accused and duly convicted for stealing the resources of the state and was
temporarily released on some administrative technicalities, visited the very state
he impoverished, and the very vulnerable elements he stole from, the very
wretched of the earth, whose destinies have been warped and desecrated were
sing his praises. These are nothing but glorified fools, congenital idiots,
pusillanimous simpletons, subservient mediocre accursed by the gods. They
were sing praises to a criminal whose actions and inactions have held them
bound, hostage, impoverished. What a people! What a country!!
In 2019, Orji Ujor Kanu, the present Senator and chief whip of the 9th
Assembly and an APC stalwart and also a former governor of Abia State
between 1999 and 2007 was accused and convicted for short-changing his state
with the sum of NGN 7.62 billion, for multiple sentences ranging from three
years to five years on 27 counts. The Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced
him to a maximum of 12 years imprisonment, but as a serving senator – in fact
the chief whip of the 9th National Assembly in the Senate – he still draws his
salary and emoluments that runs in millions and billions even while in prison. In
some climes, he’ll not only lose his salaries and emoluments but also his
position as a senator; criminals making laws for the citizens to obey (legislating
to steal). I’m not surprised at all when the court rules that the money be
recovered and paid to the federal government instead of the victim state,
because we are talking about Nigeria.
3.Conclusion
A society whose young people are asleep will never rise; such a society can
never fulfil its potentials. The attitude of an average Nigerian, especially the
youth is: "siddon look!" Are Nigerians fundamentally different from any other
people in the world? Where is the life we've lost in living? We're afraid of
death! Rubbish, as if we are living a "life"! In the long run of eternity, should it
really matter whether we live long or short on earth, since eternity is but a
passing moment? What really matter, and should matter, is everything what
stewardship we give of the days at our disposal. Whether we are today suffering
pain or enjoying pleasurable health will make little difference a thousand years
from now. But how our pain and pleasure, weakness or health are related to
faith and love will make all the difference.
Listen: If Nigerians must be free, we must stop cooperating with an evil system.
It is only a feeble expression of one's desire that right should prevail. It is
wisdom for Nigerians not to leave the right to chance nor wish it to prevail
through the power of majority. Let me remind us of the powerful proclamation
made by Douglass:
"The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet
made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. . . if there is no
struggle, there is no progress; those who profess to favour freedom and yet
deprecate agitation are men who want crops without ploughing up the ground;
they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the
awful roar of its many waters ... Power concedes nothing without a demand. It
never did and never will. . . Men may not get all they paid for in this world, but
they must certainly pay for all they get. If we are to get free from the oppression
and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by
labour, by sacrifice and if need be, by our lives and the lives of others".151
So, the ball is in our court. As we lay our bed, so shall we lie on it. If we do the
needful, freedom's (democracy) road will prevail. Dalu nu! Shine your eyes!!
Ka Chineke mezie okwu!!!
4. References
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), voted out in the 2015 general elections,
controlled the centre from transition in 1999 till 2015. It took a coalition of
three major opposition political parties (the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP), as well as a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)
which merged together to become the All Progressives Congress (APC) to vote
the PDP out of power.
Politics at the centre is more lucrative and very competitive due to the
concentration of and access to resources. Members of the ruling party at the
centre are usually appointed to positions such as heads of ministries,
departments and agencies of government. Due to a high level of corruption and
impunity, appointed and elected public officials have almost limitless access to
public resources. By implication and historically, the ruling party at the centre
has more funds to run party activities, including elections. As one of the three
arms of government at the centre, the federal parliament is also well funded and
has its budget drawn as “first-line charge” from the federation budget as a
measure of its independence.
Members of the federal parliament enjoy very lucrative salaries and allowances
which rank as one of the highest in the world. Nonetheless, corruption scandals
still pervade the National Assembly, suggesting underhand dealings by MPs in
the course of oversight functions. The questions that beg answers are legion:
Why does the National Assembly have persistent reputation for corruption?
Corruption has been the greatest bane of the Legislative Branch since the return
of democracy in 1999. As the branch of government saddled with the duty of
financial appropriation and supervision of the execution of the budget, it is
worrisome that the lawmakers cannot seem to stand up to their call to duty.3
The National Assembly has been enmeshed, since the beginning of our
democratic journey in 1999, in various allegations of corruption both moral and
financial. In the last 12 years, it is quite disturbing that Nigerians have been
regaled with graft allegations emanating from an institution that is supposed to
be one of the strongest fulcrums of democracy.4
The first dose of moral corruption in the National Assembly was publicly
witnessed in 1999 shortly after restoration of democracy. Alhaji Salisu Buhari,
the then Speaker of the first assembly, was accused of certificate forgery.
Subsequently, the then Senate President of the same first assembly, late Senator
Evan Enwerem, was accused of allegations that bordered on his true identity.
He too was later swept out of office.5
Senator Chuba Okadigbo, who succeeded Senator Ewerem, was also removed
under circumstances that somehow corruption-related. It appears that one of the
biggest corruption allegations that have rocked the National Assembly was the
N54 million bribery allegations under the leadership of Senator Adolphus
Wabara as Senate President. Allegedly, the Ministry of Education bribed the
Education Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives to enable
them (committees) increase its budget. Wabara was forced to step down
following pressure from the Presidency and the Senate.6
Also thrown out of office over sundry allegations levelled against her was the
first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Ette and
some principal officers of the house. Mrs. Ette was replaced by Dimeji Bankole
as Speaker but was subsequently kicked out with his Deputy, Hon Bayero
Nafada over corruption charges and were arrested by the Economic and
Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) after Hon Dino Melaye and his group
blew the whistle on their alleged misappropriation of funds.7
Examples are legion and this need not detain us as some of them have already
been captured under Chapter 4 with the caption: “Nigeria in the belly of the
Vultures”.
Indeed, one can justifiably describe the national legislature since the return to
civilian rule in 1999 as the Mecca of corruption. Remember, Nasir el-Rufai,
former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, accused senators of demanding a
bribe of N54 million to facilitate his confirmation as minister. Although el-
Rufai cowardly apologised to the senate, it was obvious that federal
‘lawmakers’ are exploiting their privileged position for corrupt enrichment. The
Elumelu committee that investigated the N5 billion electrification scam was
fatally compromised when its chairman and his deputy, Ndudi Elumelu and
Nicholas Ugbane respectively, were accused of corruption. Thus, it is clear that
since 1999 the lawmaking arm of the federal government has bastardised its
oversight mandate on government ministries, parastatals and agencies. As a
result, when senators or House members embark on probes, Nigerians believe,
correctly in my view, that the ‘legislators’ are either looking for an opportunity
to be ‘settled’ or are executing the hidden agenda of political and business
cabals that want to checkmate the leadership of any government agency,
perhaps for planning to investigate and expose their nefarious business dealings.
And because the history of probes in Nigeria reveals that indicted VIPs usually
get away with criminality, many Nigerians would likely dismiss the current
scandal as a meaningless circus with the refrain: “we have been through this
before.” Yet, irrespective of ample justification for cynicism, it is still
worthwhile to critically examine the issues that arise from this case and discuss
reasons why it has been difficult to really to reduce official corruption to a
manageable level.
The current trend at the Senate of the National Assembly is the increasing
numbers of former state governors being elected as senators. According to a
civil society practitioner held that “having been governors for constitutional two
terms, of four years each, ex-governors have enough funds to facilitate elections
into the senate, even with their dwindled political profiles”.10
This is evident in the fact that 26 ex-governors are currently members of the
senate. This contributes to the turnover rate in parliament, an issue which needs
to be dealt with.
One of the World’s finest and most respected magazines, “The Economist” have
suggested that the Nigeria’s federal legislator may afterall be regarded as one of
the highest paid the world over. In a new report released, it has reported that
Nigerian federal legislators with a basic salary of $189,500 per annum
(N30.6m) were the highest paid lawmakers in the world.11
A careful examination of data from the International Monetary Fund and The
Economist magazine of London, clearly show that lawmakers' basic salary
expressed as a ratio of the Gross Domestic Product per person across countries
of the world is among the highest.
Juxtaposing the annual salaries of legislators from different parts of the world
with those of Nigeria lawmakers it shows that he $189,500 earned annually by
each Nigerian legislator is estimated to be 52 per cent higher than what Kenya
legislators, who are the second highest paid lawmakers, earned.14
The figures put salaries collected by Nigerian senators and members of the
House of Representatives way ahead of those received by fellow
parliamentarians in the 29 countries whose data was analysed by the
magazine.15
Only Australian lawmakers, with $201,200 annual salary, according to the data
receive higher amounts compared to Nigerian legislators, but their salaries are
only 3 times their country's GDP per person.18
Other yearly salary details published by the Economist are those of lawmakers
in Ghana ($46,500), Indonesia ($65,800), Thailand ($43,800), India ($11,200),
Italy ($182,000), Bangladesh ($4,000), Israel ($114,800), Hong Kong
($130,700), Japan ($149,700), Singapore ($154,000), Canada ($154,000), New
Zealand ($112,500), Germany ($119,500), Ireland ($120,400), Pakistan
($3,500), Malaysia ($25,300), Sweden ($99,300), Sri Lanka ($5,100), Spain
($43,900) and Norway ($138,000).19
Statistics have shown that Nigerian legislators were able to collect such
humonguous sum due principally to criminal allowances allotted to self in
complete disregard to the nation’s stark economic realities. Based on the
RMAFC documents dated February 2007, which are the subsisting approved
packages for National Assembly members, the lawmakers' allowances include
accommodation (Senator N4m, Rep N3.97m), vehicle loan (Senator N8m, Rep
N6.948m), furniture (Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m) and severance gratuity
(Senator N6m, Rep N5.956m), which are due once in four years.20
Other allowances, which are payable every year, are car maintenance (Senator
N1.52m, Rep N595,563), constituency (Senator N5m, Rep N1.687m), domestic
staff (Senator N1.5m, Rep N1.488m), personal assistant (Senator N506,600;
Rep N496,303), entertainment (Senator N202,640, Rep N198,521), recess
(Senator N202,640; Rep N198,521), utilities (Senator N607,920; Rep
N397,042), newspaper/periodicals (Senator N303,960; Rep N297,781), house
maintenance (Senator N101,320; Rep N99,260) and ward robe (Senator
N405,280; Rep N397,402)21
There are also estacode (Senator $600, Rep $550) and duty tour allowance
(Senator N23,000; Rep N21,000) payable per day when a lawmaker is on
official trip.22
The Executives
An elected Nigerian president and/or governor through universal suffrage is
both the head of state and head of government, leading the Federal Executive
Council, or cabinet; in the case of the Federal Government and for states, the
chief executive superintending the state executive council as well as the chief
security officer in the state.
The heads of the executive ministries are nominated by the President and then
presented to the Senate. Section 147 (6) of the 1999 Constitution gives the
Senate 21 days to complete the screening for confirmation or rejection by a
simple majority.25 According to Section 147 (5) of the constitution the only
qualification for one to be appointed as Minister is that the person must be
“qualified for election into the House of Representatives”. 26 If approved, they
receive their commission scroll, are sworn in and then begin their duties.
The heads of the executive departments and most other senior federal officers at
cabinet or sub-cabinet level receive their salary under a fixed pay plan as
reviewed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission
(RMAFC).27 The annual basic salary of a substantive minister is ₦2,026,400
(₦168,866:66 per month).28
However, the following allowances are officially granted to executive officers
as follows:29
The president of Nigeria annual salary officially is about fourteen million Naira
(N14,000,000).30
What this means is that Nigerian president do receive at least one million naira
every month. However, other privileges like hardship (approximately N1.8
million) and consistency (approximately N8.8 million) yearly do abound for the
commander in chief. He also enjoys duty tour allowance, medical allowance,
accommodation, and furniture. The salary earn by a Nigerian president should
not be confused with other regular allowances such as: Fueling; Utilities;
Entertainment; Security; Domestic staff; Special assistant; Personal Assistant;
Travel; Hardship and much more.31
The State Executives
To the naïve and uninitiated, the above salary scale of the executive branch in
Nigeria is quite reasonable and considerate; but to those in the know the cost of
maintaining the chief executives in Nigeria (including those of Mr. President
and the Governors) coupled with the so-called “security votes” are simply
scandalous and these remained in secrecy. Evidently, these sums run in billions
and trillions in both domestic and hard currencies and these are a well-guarded
secret between and amongst members of the executive body.
Figures, according to the former EFCC boss, have revealed that Nigeria's past
military dictators stole approximately $400 billion over the 39 years they were
in power. This is only the military leaders alone. The democratically elected
ones do not fare any better. Corruption and abuse of office, on the one hand and
the cost of maintaining an overbloated democracy in Nigeria are the satanic
verses that put the final nail on Nigeria’s economic coffin.
Let nobody be deceived, Nigeria runs one of the costliest types of democracy
the world over and bears a democratic overload and deficit she do not really
bargained for. That is a story for another day!
There are two fundamental areas the executive branch of government conspires
to send the country to Golgotha – wholesale looting of the nation’s resources
through outright graft, including both direct and indirect stealing, on the one
hand, and on the other, the cost of politics in Nigeria.
At this juncture, I would like to bring our attention to one basic concern – the
issue of “security votes” to both federal and states.
It would be recalled that billions and trillion of local and foreign currencies
have been officially appropriated and gazetted for security purposes in our
Budgets to the Ministry of Defence and their sister agencies. Yet, Nigeria is the
third most unsafe place to live on earth. From Chibok kidnap in Borno, to Buni
Yadi and Dapchi massacres in Yobe, to banditry and kidnapping across the
country, and extending to wholesale kidnapping of the Kankara boys in Kastina,
nowhere is safe in Nigeria any longer. Yet, billions are officially budgeted for
security annually.
Yet, our leaders say there is increasing need for proper state security financing.
“In Nigeria, there has been increased funding for internal security through the last
few decades. Recent statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria show that the sum of
N2.13 trillion and N2.69 trillion have been spent on defence and internal security
respectively between 1970 and 2014, yet insecurity has been on the rise, particularly
insurgency, terrorism, kidnapping, border attacks and cybercrimes. This has raised
public concern on the legality, utility, essence, accountability and impact of security
votes on national security, development, and cohesion.”34
Investigations have revealed that huge sums of money allotted to the presidency
and state governors as “security votes” that runs in billions were
unappropriated, unaudited, and unaccounted for. According to Ekpa Stanley
Ekpa:
“Security votes are budgetary items to be spent on matters or operations that demand
confidentiality in deterring, neutralizing, or containing threats or harmful conducts
against a nation-state or a subnational government… Security votes are sue generis
items in the federal or state government budgets. This class of appropriation is not
specified or discoverable from the Appropriation Act, unlike regular budgetary items.
Ordinarily, only public institutions with Continuous Core Security Functions (CCSF)
are eligible for security votes. Unfortunately, other MDAs without any mandate to
deal with covert security operations have continued to receive appropriations for
security votes without accounting for same.35
Experience have shown that the “security vote” theory only serves as the
conduit pipes personal aggrandisement and corruption, promotes criminal
conduct leading to abuse of public trust.
“If this were to be the intent of those that introduced security votes in our polity, then
how do we hold those who spend this funds accountable, and do we measure the
impact of the provision of welfare and palliative interventions for the people – for
poverty and social injustice are the core root causes of insecurity and social
instability. This theory only seems to enjoy the convenience of widening the negative
culture of using security votes as conduit pipes for personal enrichment and
corruption. This creates criminal conduct of abuse of public trust, more so as the
Court of Appeal in Nyame v. FRN has expressly held that “security votes, being
government funds to be used for the security of the state, must be accounted for by the
recipient.”38
SOUTH EAST
Imo State: N4 billion per annum; N333, 333, 333 million monthly
Enugu State: N 600 million monthly; N7, 200, 000,000 billion yearly
billion annually.
Abia State: N 700,000, 000 million per month, N 8.4 billion per annum
SOUTH SOUTH
Edo State: N 900 million monthly (as at 2008/ Could be more), N10.8
billion annually.
SOUTH WEST
Lagos State: N 1.429 billion monthly and N 17.149 billion yearly (N 15.559
Protection).
Oyo State: Not specified, but the Governor draws his security votes from
annually.
annually)
Kaduna State: N 4.8 billion annually (N 2.16 billion as security vote and
NORTH CENTRAL
others.
Niger State: Not Specified but the Governor draws his security vote from
The former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi spoke my mind as well
as the minds of most Nigerians when he revealed that political office holders
steal state funds because Nigerians do not stone them. Amaechi disclosed this in
Lagos during an event organized to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela challenged
Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable. He said:
“…. If you see a thief and you allow him to be stealing, what have you done?
You have stoned nobody; that is why we are stealing. Who have you stoned?
They came out and started dancing oil subsidy. They told you that they stole N
2.3 trillion, what did you do?”40
Not only was the Federal Government heavily indebted, not even one out of the
36 states including the Federal Capital Territory is debt-free. A perusal of the
states’ indebtedness would shock even the most ardent optimist as follows:
4. ANAMBRA 2, 612,431,503.89
Salary structure of Nigerian Chief Justices, Judges, and Other Judicial Officers
A recent report has shown that Nigerian judges, chief justice and other judicial
officers gulp N33.47 billion as annual remuneration. The report released by the
Economic Confidential, a financial magazine shows that CJN, federal and state
judicial officers have in the past one year received a total of N33.47 billion as
salaries and allowances. 42
The report also included the regular and non-regular allowances - vehicle
maintenance and fuel, personal assistants, domestic staff, entertainment, utilities
allowances, hardship allowance, outfit and newspapers allowances - for 934
judicial officers in Nigeria.43
It also showed that while the CJN receives an annual salary of N3.36 million, he
or she is to be provided with vehicle maintenance and fueling, domestic staff,
entertainment, utilities and newspapers just like the president of the country.44
The chief justice of Nigeria is also entitled to receive 25 % of his annual basic
salary, this percentage is reserved for personal assistant and outfit each at
N840,993.13. 45
The CJN also receives 50% of his annual basic salary which N1,681,986.25 as
hardship allowance, likewise allowances for furniture, annual leave, severance
gratuity and vehicle loan at 10%, 300% and 400% of his annual leave
respectively. Furthermore, his duty tour allowance is fixed at N50,000 and
$2000 per night for local and foreign travels. 46
However, other officials like justices of the Supreme Court and the president of
the Court of Appeal are all placed on N2.47 million annual salary while the a
justice of the appellate court, chief judge of the Federal High Court, chief judge
of the Federal Capital Territory, Judge of the FHC, the president of the National
Industrial Court, grand Khadi of the sharia courts and it appeal court and their
colleagues in the customary courts are on an annual salary of N1.99 million.47
Then for the judges of the Federal High Court, National Industrial Court, FCT
High Court, State High Courts, FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, FCT Customary
Court of Appeal, Khadi state Sharia Court of Appeal and State Customary Court
of Appeal all earn N1.80 million annually. 48
For the judges, aside the Chief Justice of Nigeria, they receive 75% of their
annual salaries as vehicle maintenance and fuelling, 25% for personal assistant,
50% as hardship allowance, 75% for domestic staff and 45% for entertainment.
49
Other allowances received are 30% of their annual salaries as for utilities, 25%
for outfit and 15% for newspapers. 50
The judges also get 200% for accommodation once a year, 300% of annual
salary for furniture, 10% for annual leave, 300% as severance gratuity and
400% for vehicle loan which is however optional for non-regular allowances.51
All the justices of the Supreme Court and the president of the Court of Appeal
are entitled to N35,000.00 and $1300 per night as duty tour allowance within
and outside the country respectively. 52
Also, justices of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of Federal High Court, Chief
Judge of the FCT, Judge of the Federal High Court, President of the National
Industrial Court, Grand Khadi of the FCT Sharia Court of Appeal, President
FCT Customary Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of States, Grand Khadi state
Sharia Court of Appeal and President state Customary Court of Appeal all have
N30,000 as duty tour allowances each within the country and $1,100 as
estacode. 53
Other judges outside the above are entitled to N25,000.00 as duty tour
allowances per night within the country and $800 for estacode when they travel
out of the country per night.54
In this book, we are not unaware of money politics and vote-buying and their
negative effects on governance in Nigeria. Good governance can thrive only
when based on transparency, accountability, and popular participation. The
importance of money to run elections in terms of campaign, printing of party
manifestoes, emblems and other services is well recognized, but the excessive
use of money with the aim of purchasing votes is inimical to good governance.
This is because once excessive use of money is employed to influence the
outcome of elections; the election becomes synonymous with the gentle art of
‘getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to
protect one from the other. The situation such as this injures good governance.56
In its final report on the 2003 National Assembly and presidential elections in
Nigeria, the COG noted: “It is clear that in Nigeria, as in many other countries,
there is a strong ‘money culture’ which affects the political landscape at all
levels. Politicians went as far as acquiring local newspapers and broadcasting
stations to advance access to the media.”57 In its observation report of the 2007
Elections, the EUEOM cited several instances of illegal use of money during
campaigns and elections proper. In one instance, an incumbent governor was
videotaped using government vehicles to campaign, from which he threw
bundles of money into the crowds58 (EUEOM, 2007).
The report emphasised INEC’s lack of capacity, beyond the audit of political
party accounts to prosecute parties and candidates for breaches of campaign
finance rules
APGA Presidency
According to Falodi (2016) the revelation that the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA) to former President Goodluck Jonathan shows that
public funds of US $2.1billion meant for equipping the Nigeria military were
diverted to finance party activities for the 2015 general elections. 68 In the same
vein, there were allegations that the former governor of Plateau State – Joshua
Dariye, diverted state ecological funds to campaign activities of his party, the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The use of public funds for party activities is
said to cut across all political parties; however, the practice is associated more
with parties in power 69 (Falodi, 2016).
These humongous sums did not include the costs that various political parties
spend (or rather waste?) on obtaining Normination Forms, bribing party
bigwigs, printing and displaying colourful posters, media adverts, renting
crowds, foot soldiers and hiring of thugs! Added to these costs were sundry
logistics on transportation, paying for venues and feeding their supporters, etc.
We must be realistic enough to agree with Yakubu on why the cost of elections
keep ballooning and also that the task of meeting such extensive expenditure
has increasingly challenged the national resources of many countries in the
ECOWAS Sub- region.
“In fact, some countries are finding it tasking to fund the elections. It is against this
background that the Governing Board of ECONEC inaugurated the study to explore
what can be done as election managers, working together with national stakeholders
and development partners, to find ways to reduce the cost of elections.”78 ibid
The truth of the matter is that Nigeria cannot afford this prodigality by wasting
stupendous sums of our national patrimony just to get politicians elected to
public offices. No! Prof. Anthonia Simbine, an INEC National Commissioner
once said that the level of money in politics “is responsible for the kinds of
governance we have at any given time. If you make an investment, you would
want to reap from that.”79 Well said. We simply cannot afford and sustain good
governance with the humongous costs of accessing political power, the obscene
costs of conducting elections and the high pay packages of politicians in power.
We have witnessed, are witnessing the high dependency syndrome of the poor
electorates on their so called elected representatives.
“… those who they erroneously believe as doing them some favour when they dole
out raw cash, instead of strengthening the institutions that would drastically reduce
the twin evils of poverty and ignorance”80.ibid
On the other hand, according to data prepared by the National Institute for
Legislative Studies (NILS), with 67m registered voters in 2015 general
elections, Nigeria spent $625m.84
The 2019 general elections budget is about $50m higher than what Nigeria
spent during 2015 elections.85 And, according to official documents, from 1999
to 2018, the INEC had received N450bn as an electoral expenditure from the
federal government.86 These figures exclude other monies INEC got from
international organisations working on election areas over the period. Through
the National Assembly, the federal government of Nigeria approves money
(electoral expenditure) for INEC during election years, outside of its traditional
budgetary allocations.
It suffices that Nigeria spent more than India, UK and many other nations.
Nigeria’s elections cost higher than the $600m the Electoral Commission of
India (ECI) spent during the 2014 general elections in which 553.8m people
voted out of 815m registered voters.87 It is also evident that the cost of
conducting elections in Nigeria is quite higher than those of bigger economies
such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. For instance, Canada spent
$375m on electoral expenditure where 17.5m voted.88 The United Kingdom
spent £113m during its 2010 parliamentary elections in which 45.6m voted.
£28.6m was the cost of distributing candidates’ mailings, and £84.6m for the
conduct of the poll.89
In 2012 general elections, Kenya with 14.3m registered voters, spent $427m and
$499m in 2017,90 while Australia, with 14.7m voters, spent $197.6m for the
House of Representatives and half of Senate elections in 2013.91
While defending the 2018 budget estimates of the electoral body in January,
INEC chairman Professor Mahmud Yakubu had said that
“…the exact cost of the 2019 general elections, which would hold across the 119,999
polling units in the country, could only be arrived at after the passage of electoral act
by the National Assembly. The N242.45bn proposal was made by the president after
the transmission of a new version of the amendment made to the 2010 electoral act by
the National Assembly”.92
Further analysis of the official documents revealed that INEC’s highest total
budgetary expenditure was during the 2015 elections where she spent a total of
N236.7bn from 2012 to 2015.95 The electoral commission spent about N212.6bn
from 2008 and 201196; N84.6bn from 2004 to 200797, and N54.2bn from 2000 to
200398, according to the INEC data.
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) chief said Nigeria
must “stop wasting public funds in every election circle and build a credible
system like other countries where conducting an election is not an avenue for
money-making.”101 Rafsanjani advised that the Buhari government must at the
end give assurance of electoral transparency and absence of manipulation and
violence.
Comparative analysis shows that the 2019 election budget is enough to fund the
dualisation, reconstruction and rehabilitation of 62 key economic roads across
the six geo-political zones of the country. In addition, the election budget is
about 44 times higher than what the 36 federal universities will spend on capital
projects in 2018.
Over the years, political parties capitalized on election periods to make money
from candidates through the sales of expression of interest and nomination
forms. Though the costs of these forms are excluded from what constitute the
limit of election spending, they are sold at exorbitant fees that makes it tough
for anyone but the very rich to obtain them. While it is reasonable that funds be
charged to ascertain that only serious candidates obtain them, in reality the
enormity of the cost is a barrier to participation in politics. President
Muhammadu Buhari reportedly obtained a loan facility from his bank to
purchase the forms. For the APC, which was formed less than two years before
the elections, candidates had to pay N27.5 million for the forms. Insinuation by
political analysts was that the high price tag was intended to stop Buhari’s
candidature102 (Oladimeji, 2014).
The high cost associated with politics, as reflected by the nomination form, has
the implication of hindering the participation of credible and patriotic Nigerians
with genuine intentions to serve the country, but with limited financial means.
Though some political parties exempt women from paying nomination fees, as a
measure to encourage female participation, yet down the line the costs of
participation makes it tough for some of them to continue the race effectively to
the very end.
In Oyo state, late Chief Lamidi Adedibu once openly boasted to have sponsored
every successful politician, including the governor and federal and state
legislators104 (HRW, 2007). Getting the support of godfathers does not come
cheap, whether in monetary terms, which have to be paid in advance, or through
a commitment to regular returns of a percentage of certain budget lines of state
resources, usually the vote for security. The godfathers are typically above the
law and able to mobilize support, money and violence for candidates.
In 2003, Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra state attracted the anger of his
godfather Chris Uba when he reneged on terms of agreements after emerging
victorious at the polls. Again, the impeachment of Governor Rashidi Ladoja of
Oyo state in 2006 was facilitated by his godfather, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, as
punishment for not paying him N15 million monthly from the state security
budget.105
Most delegates vote for the candidates that offer the highest amount of cash. For
instance, the over 8,000 delegates who participated in the APC presidential
primary in Lagos state before the 2015 elections allegedly made US$5,000 each
from the candidates, just for the three days of the primaries 106. Delegates were
supposed to have received US$2,000 each from the Atiku Abubakar group and
also US$3,000 each from the Buhari group107 (Onyekpere, 2015). In addition to
bribing delegates with money, their hotel accommodations for the duration of
the primaries and other logistics are taken care of by the candidates.
Having invested huge funds, candidates and their supporters have only one
mind-set: to win the election, and win at all costs. The candidates and sponsors
are not prepared to lose the huge sum invested in the process. Therefore,
elections become prone to violence, fraudulent practices and all forms of
irregularity. They explore every available means, including violence,
intimidation and vote buying, as well as rigging to ensure victory. Most electors
stay away from voting to keep safe. In such a scenario, the outcome of elections
hardly reflects the wishes of the electorates. Election credibility becomes a
difficult objective to attain no matter the professional competence of the
EMB.112
The high cost and potential for the outbreak of violence contributes to the low
participation of women in politics.
Political entrepreneurs do not believe women could win elections and will not
want to invest money in them. An MP averred that “women do not go too far in
the electoral process as they usually opt out due to the lack of financial means
necessary for mobilizing supporters”. Though they constitute almost 50 per cent
of Nigeria’s population, the percentage of women elected to parliament and
other elective positions in the country have neverreflected this numerical
strength.113
In the same vein, the country is deprived of the potential of the youth as they are
disconnected from a process through which they could be prepared for
leadership. Except those with personal wealth or from a rich family, it is tough
for the youth to participate in politics.
Mediatization of campaigns
Table 4: PDP and APC media expenses for the 2015 elections (Source:
Centre for Social Justice) 116
This was a loophole which parties and candidates abused. Private individuals
lavished funds on parties and consequently on election campaigns. This led to
the emergence of the money-bag phenomenon in Nigerian politics and
subsequently the overthrow of the second republic. 119 (Adeyi, 2014). The
narrative was not different with the 1993 elections that would have ushered the
country back to democratic governance. Despite the well-orchestrated transition
programme, there was no guideline toregulate campaign finance, a trap which
saw an end to the transition process.
The APC for its part attempted involving ordinary Nigerians in raising funds for
its presidential candidate through five platforms, including: donation via
dedicated bank accounts; an electronic donation platform, targeted at young
people who are computer savvy; donation of a maximum of N100 per time by
means of text messages to dedicated numbers; purchase of the party ringtone for
which N100 was deducted per time; and the use of scratch cards through which
supporters could donate between N100 and N1,500 each 122(Times, 2015).
By these direct donations, the APC planned to make N10 billion. On the other
hand, the party expected N40 billion in donations from its elected members at
the federal and state levels, hoping to pool a total of N50 billion in donations.
This is several billion naira above the ceiling of one billion naira per
presidential candidate, which contravenes regulatory provisions and also calls
into question the donation and expenses limits as provided for in the Electoral
Act 2010.
It has been more than a year after the 2015 elections, but there has been no
investigation, arrest or prosecution of individuals for breaching campaign
finance regulations, despite apparent occurrences. The PDP had donations
running into several billions from serving governors, elected officials and party
members. Corporate organisations donated funds to the party in breach of the
law, but INEC failed to raise the red flag.
The culture of impunity and recklessness on the part of political parties and
candidates was therefore encouraged, with the consequent abuse of party
finance provisions. In situations where offenders belonged to the ruling party,
prosecution was virtually impossible. As a result, elected government officials
did not see problems in converting government funds to personal uses or to
fund party and campaign activities. The on-going revelations emanating from
the probe of the office of ONSA would not, in all probability, have been
possible but for the change of government. With the culture of corruption and
lawlessness which pervades the Nigerian polity, cost of politics can only soar
beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. 128
Political culture
Corruption and the embezzlement of public funds by the political class were the
usual excuses by the military for the coups which truncated democratic
governance in Nigeria at various times. This categorization of politicians as
very corrupt was reinforced over time by the reckless lifestyles of elected and
appointed public officers. Since the return to democratic governance in 1999,
the financial profiles of politicians became very high.
Lack of volunteerism
The volunteer culture is still not very popular in Nigeria, at least not with
political parties. Party and candidate campaign team members are regularly
fully compensated. Individuals and groups lobby to be part of campaign teams
of high-profile parties and candidates for ancillary benefits and not as
uncompensated volunteers. The higher the position candidates are vying for, the
higher the cost involved in mobilizing local campaign teams from one region,
state, local government, and ward, to the other. Compensated campaign team
members constitute a major cost of entry into politics as they have to be paid,
accommodated, fed and transported throughout the duration of the campaign
and beyond. An MP noted that “politicians pay students’ transportation
fees, as well as, feeding allowances, for participating at rallies”135
Demands from constituents are regular occurrences which the politicians have
to deal with. Constituents recognise politicians as their representatives at the
federal and state levels and believe their responsibilities, direct or indirect,
include dealing with their concerns, including personal ones.
Officially, using members of the parliament as a case study, the MPs are
expected to maintain constituency offices for which provisions are made by
federal government. Also, they are expected to go on know-your-constituency
meetings and to stimulate input of constituents on bills as well as to identify
pressing needs to be considered for constituency projects which are funded by
the federal government through direct implementation. However, demands are
regularly made on MPs by constituents to support and contribute to community
development efforts. To meet these demands, MPs have to draw from their
personal incomes.
Regardless of the input of the MPs into constituency development, in terms of
the provision of infrastructure, the personal needs of their constituents as well as
those of the elders are usually required to be met. The MP has to “settle” in
order to continue to be in the good books of the constituents whose demands
include, but are not limited to: school fees, medical bills, employment
opportunities and holy pilgrimage trips, among many others. The situation is
compounded by privileged constituents who also demand to be serviced
financially. Such leaders can easily withdraw their supports if not “treated
well”. According to some of the MPs,
“… only very few of the phone calls received on a daily basis are not personal-
demand-driven. The demands are always there and will continue to be there, because
Nigerians sees politicians as very rich people with lots of money to spare. Moreover,
emphasis has been shifting from physical infrastructural development to a new
concept of stomach infrastructure.”136
As such the MPs are also motivated to make as much money as possible to take
care of the demands from the constituents. The situation puts undue pressure on
the MPs and encourages corruption. The inability of serving MPs to “settle”
godfathers and VIPs in the constituency as much as expected usually leads to
counter votes from the constituents during re-election bids, and possible
replacement by a fresh and more ambitious candidate who is more willing to
meet the demands of the constituents. This has caused a rapid turnover in
parliament, which is a concern to most stakeholders. As reflected in the eighth
assembly, of the 360 members of the House of Representatives, only 85 (23.61
per cent) were returned, while out of 109 senators, only 33 (30.28 per cent)
retained their seats137 (Guardian, 2015). A respondent held that
“… right now the rate of turnover is becoming a concern because it is not just about
non-performance in terms of bills or motions but more about how much money
parliamentarians are able to give the leaders per time”. 138
MPs are also often required to make donations to political parties for various
reasons, including elections. Ahead of the 2015 elections, while the APC
requested donations from elected party members, including MPs, for the
election of President Muhammadu Buhari, three PDP members made the same
requests for the re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Although the amounts donated by MPs were not reported, 21 governors of the
PDP were reported to have donated N50 million each 139(Vanguard, 2014). For
its part, the APC expected its elected officials, including governors, members
of federal parliament, and state parliaments to contribute N40 billion.
In other words, every naira of public funds must be spent in a way that
collective, not private welfare of citizens is maximized. In the absence of strong
political institutions, the reduced cost of governance could only come if a
benevolent set of public officers is in power. Since this is highly unlikely, we
need to place institutional constraints on public office holders and technocrats in
a way that minimizes the extraction of rent from the state.
Over the years, Nigerians have always associated security vote with governors
and nursed the belief that it is prone to abuse, as well as, resulting to a
duplication of the votes allocated to the security agencies in the budget.
It is, however, astonishing to find security vote as an item running through all
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). More surprisingly, as found by
Nzeshi (2012) even agencies whose primary functions revolves around security
have security vote allocations in the budget. There have also been cases of
duplicated budgetary provisions under various sub-heads to attract more
allocations that would be eventually siphoned at the end of the fiscal calendar
(Nzeshi, 2012). Similarly, budgets are usually filled with wasteful expenditure
from which great savings can be made. There were also too many MDAs
collecting huge sums of money through the budget and delivering little or no
tangible services.
The task of reducing cost of governance for revenue assurance at states level
does not rest on the executive, legislature and judiciary alone. It is task
demanding the collective effort of all stakeholders.
Recommendations
3. There is the need for merging, restructuring and even repealing their enabling
laws to ensure that nonessential agencies ceased to exist to prune down wasteful
expenditure.
4. There is the need to continue the implementation of the monetisation of
benefits by ensuring that the practice of purchasing fleet of cars for public
officers was discouraged, except ambulances, Black Maria, and Hilux vans. The
continued implementation of the monetisation programme will save resources
and cut down expenditure.
6. Regulatory agencies and authorities in Nigeria should ensure that all salaries
and allowances of civil servants, public servants including political office
holders conform to due process, constitutional provisions and existing financial
rules and regulations. This will no doubt reduce friction and instability within
the entire system.
8. One of the major costs of governance, is the larger than optimal size of the
executive cabinet. It is possible to reduce the cost of governance by ensuring an
optimal size of cabinet, where merit and core competence are the primary
reasons for appointment to serve in public offices.
REFERENCES
1. Barrack Obama (2006), “The Audacity of Hope”, New York: Vintage
Books.
2. John C. Green (2006) “The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right and
the 2004 Elections”, USA: (Georgetown University Press) (ISBN
1589011090)
3. “National Assembly and Allegations of Corruption”, Vanguard, 27
March, 2012.
4. “National Assembly and Allegations of Corruption”, Vanguard, 27
March, 2012.
5. “National Assembly and Allegations of Corruption”, Vanguard, 27
March, 2012.
6. Former Senate President Adolphus Wabara was impeached over a NGN
54 million bribe from the Ministry of Education. See Vanguard 2012;
www.wfd.org
7. “National Assembly and Allegations of Corruption”, Vanguard, 27
March, 2012.
8. Kemi Yesufu, “Hembe: Exit of Controversial Lawmaker”, TheSun, 4
July 2017
9. Adesuwa Tsan, “Nigeria: House of Representatives Suspends Farouk
Lawan Over Three Million Bribery Scandal”, Leadership, 15 June,
2012.
10.Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Parliamentary Politics in Nigeria”,
Westminster Foundation for Democracy Artillery House, 11-19
Artillery Row, London, SW1P 1RT @WFD_Democracy |
@WestminsterFoundation, www.wfd.org
11.John Thomas Didymus, “Economist: Nigerian Legislators are Highest
Paid in the World”, DigitalJournal, 23 July, 2013.
12.John Thomas Didymus, “Economist: Nigerian Legislators are Highest
Paid in the World”, DigitalJournal, 23 July, 2013.
13.Habeeb I. Pindiga, “Nigerian Lawmakers Top Salaries Chart”, Daily
Trust, 22 July, 2013.
14.The Economist quoted in Habeeb I. Pindiga, “Nigerian Lawmakers Top
Salaries Chart”, Daily Trust, 22 July, 2013.
15.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
16.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
17.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
18.Habeeb I. Pindiga, “Nigerian Lawmakers Top Salaries Chart”, Daily
Trust, 22 July, 2013.
19.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
20.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
21.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
22.The RainbowNigeria, “Nigerian Lawmakers Are Highest Paid
Globally”, ModernGhana MG, 25 July, 2013.
23.“Ministers’ Statutory Powers and Duties Acts” Wikipedia, 14 May,
2019.
24.“List of Federal Ministers of Nigeria, Permanent Secreataries and their
Ministries”, State House Office of the President, Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 16 January, 2017.
25.See Section 147 (6) of the 1999 Constitution
26.See Section 147 (5) of the 1999 Constitution
27.“Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay” RMAFC, Wikipedia, 15 May,
2019.
28.“Salaries of Political Office Holders”, Wikipedia, 15 May, 2019.
29.“Salaries of Political Office Holders”, Wikipedia, 15 May, 2019.
30.See Government Gazette. See also www.xtremeloaded.com
31.See Government Gazette. See also www.xtremeloaded.com
32.Chizoba Ikenwa, “Nigerian Governors Salary: How Much Do
Governors in Nigeria Earn (2021), nigerianinfopedia.com, 11 January,
2020.
33.“Military Squanders $400 bn in 40 Years – EFCC Boss” Nigeria’s
EFCC, 18 May, 2005. See also David Blair, “£220 billion Stolen by
Nigeria’s Corrupt Rulers”, The Daily Telegragh, 25 June, 2005.
34.Ekpa Stanley Ekpa, “Security Votes and National Interest”, The Nation,
25 December, 2020.
35.Ekpa Stanley Ekpa, “Security Votes and National Interest”, The Nation,
25 December, 2020.
36.Ekpa Stanley Ekpa, “Security Votes and National Interest”, The Nation,
25 December, 2020.
37.Ekpa Stanley Ekpa, “Security Votes and National Interest”, The Nation,
25 December, 2020.
38.Ekpa Stanley Ekpa, “Security Votes and National Interest”, The Nation,
25 December, 2020.
39.Charles Akujieze (2019), “Nigeria: An Experiment in Nation Building”,
London: AuthorHouse Publications.
40.Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi quoted in Charles Akujieze (2019), ibid.
41.Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi quoted in Charles Akujieze (2019), ibid.
42.Economic Confidential, a financial magazine made the revelation that
the CJN, Federal and State Judicial Officers received a total of
N33.47bn as salaries and allowances for the past one year.
43.Economic Confidential, a financial magazine made the revelation that
the CJN, Federal and State Judicial Officers received a total of
N33.47bn as salaries and allowances for the past one year.
44.Economic Confidential, a financial magazine made the revelation that
the CJN, Federal and State Judicial Officers received a total of
N33.47bn as salaries and allowances for the past one year.
45.Economic Confidential, a financial magazine made the revelation that
the CJN, Federal and State Judicial Officers received a total of
N33.47bn as salaries and allowances for the past one year.
46.Economic Confidential, a financial magazine made the revelation that
the CJN, Federal and State Judicial Officers received a total of
N33.47bn as salaries and allowances for the past one year.
47.Jide Adeyoge Franklin, “Salary Structure of Nigerian Chief Justices,
Judges and Other Judicial Officers Leaked”, nigerianinfopedia.com
48.Jide Adeyoge Franklin, “Salary Structure of Nigerian Chief Justices,
Judges and Other Judicial Officers Leaked”, nigerianinfopedia.com
49.Jide Adeyoge Franklin, “Salary Structure of Nigerian Chief Justices,
Judges and Other Judicial Officers Leaked”, nigerianinfopedia.com
50.Jide Adeyoge Franklin, “Salary Structure of Nigerian Chief Justices,
Judges and Other Judicial Officers Leaked”, nigerianinfopedia.com
51.Jide Adeyoge Franklin, “Salary Structure of Nigerian Chief Justices,
Judges and Other Judicial Officers Leaked”, nigerianinfopedia.com
52.Jide Adeyoge Franklin, “Salary Structure of Nigerian Chief Justices,
Judges and Other Judicial Officers Leaked”, nigerianinfopedia.com
53.Nnenna Ibe, “What Nigerian chief justices, judges and other judicial
officers”, LegitNews, 2017.
54.Nnenna Ibe, “What Nigerian chief justices, judges and other judicial
officers”, LegitNews, 2017.
55.Kubiat Umana, “Money Politics in Nigeria: Causes and Effect”,
ResearchCyber, 28 November, 2018.
56.Kubiat Umana, “Money Politics in Nigeria: Causes and Effect”,
ResearchCyber, 28 November, 2018.
57.Commonwealth Observer Group (2003), “The national assembly and
presidential elections in Nigeria 12 and 19 April 2003”. London:
Commonwealth Secretariat.
58.Europe Union Election Observation Mission (2007), “Nigeria: Final
Report on 2007 General Elections, Brussels:EU
59.Regarding the 2011 elections, the NDI made those observations and
concern.
60.See Section 225, sub-sections (1-6) of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). See also, Section 225 (3) (a)
and (b) as well as 225 (4) and also Section 226 (1 – 3).
61.See the Electoral Act (2010) of Nigeria.
62.See the Electoral Act (2010) of Nigeria.
63.Witnesses testify that the conduct of Nigeria’s general election of 2015
was done devoid of due process of established law guiding the election.
64.Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
65.Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
66.Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
67.The Table shows the 2015 Elections with regards to the costs advanced
by notably Nigeria’s leading political parties in the purchase of “Parties
Expression of Interest Form as well as Nomination Form”.
68.Falodi, F. (2016,). Counting Issues from $2.1bn Arms Fund Diversion”,
16 January. Lagos: Lagos State
69.Falodi, F. (2016,). Counting Issues from $2.1bn Arms Fund Diversion”,
16 January. Lagos: Lagos State
70.Ehi Ekhator, “2011 Elections Cost Nigeria N122.9 bn – INEC”, The
StandardGazette, 17 October, 2014.
71.ENewsNigeria, “INEC: ‘2015 General Elections Cost Nigeria N108.8
billion”, 6 October, 2016.
72.Omeiza Ajayi, “Another Look at the 2019 INEC’s Election Budget”,
Vanguard, 18 August, 2018.
73.Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
74.Emmanuel Aziken et al., “2015 Election Cost N 1trillion – INEC”,
Vanguard, 1 February, 2017.
75.Professor Bolade Eyinla, the Chief Technical Adviser to INEC at the
opening of the conference organised by the Westminster Foundation for
Democracy made some revelation on the high cost of general elections.
76.Ayo Baje, “High Costs of Conducting Elections in Nigeria”, The
Guardian, 28, February, 2019.
77.INEC Chairman made those remarks and made further explanations on
why such extensive expenditure has increasingly challenged the
national resources of many countries in the ECOWAS sub-regions.
78.Ayo Baje, op. cit
79.Professor Anthonia Simbine, an INEC National Commissioner once
said that the level of money in politics is responsible for the kinds of
governance we have at any given time. If you make an investment, you
want to reap from that.
80.Ayo Baje, op. cit.
81.Ayo Baje, ibid.
82.Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, et al., “Buhari Demands N242 bn for 2019
Elections”, The Guardian, 18 July, 2018.
83.Yusuf “2019: Buhari Seeks N242 for General Elections”,
OsunDefender, 18 July, 2018.
84.Yusuf “2019: Buhari Seeks N242bn for General Elections”,
OsunDefender, 18 July, 2018.
85.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
86.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
87.Webmaster, “2019 Elections Set to be Nigeria’s Most Expensive”,
Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
88.Alex Enemanna, “2019 and Burden of Citizens”, OrientalTimes, 29
January, 2019.
89.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
90.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
91.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
92.Professor Mahmud Yakubu, INEC Chairman made those revelations
while defending the 2018 budget estimates of the electoral body in
January, 2019.
93.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
94.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
95.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
96.Nurudeen M. Abdullah, “Nigeria: 2019 Elections Set to be the
Country’s Most Expensive”, Daily Trust, 3 August, 2018.
97.Alex Enemanna, “2019 and Burden of Citizens”, OrientalTimes, 29
January, 2019.
98.Alex Enemanna, “2019 and Burden of Citizens”, OrientalTimes, 29
January, 2019.
99.President Buhari has been severely criticized in supervising a country
wherein, in the midst of abject poverty and helplessness, continues to
promote scandalous spending in elections as exemplifies in the monies
voted for the 2019 general election in Nigeria – the most expensive
ever!
100. One Rasanjani had expressed dismay over recurring fraudulent
electoral outcomes and violence which the 2019 budget represented,
lacking in integrity.
101. The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Chief
made the following advise.
102. W. Oladimeji (2014), “2015: Party Nominations and Monetisation
of Elective Offices, National Mirror.
103. For decades, Kwara politics had been dominated by the Saraki
political family. That dominance was entrenched by Dr. Olusola Saraki,
Senate Majority Leader in Nigeria's Second Republic (1979 -1983) and
the Godfather of Kwara politics for decades. In 2003, the immensely
charismatic and popular Dr. Olusola Saraki "installed" his first son, Dr.
Bukola Saraki as Governor of the state. The son will later replace the
father as the Godfather of Kwara politics. The Saraki political
machinery had a strong hold on the entire state, such that nobody could
aspire to any position if such a person was not endorsed by the Saraki
Godfather machinery. The ordinary people of Ilorin and other parts of
the state depended on the Saraki family, and the man they called
"Oloye" for their survival. Saraki, the father, did not disappoint them.
His longevity as a power broker was a function of his mastery of
populism and the common touch and his dexterity in building bridges to
the centre. See Reuben Abati, “Nigeria: Governance Beyond COVID-
19 – Back to Kwara” PremiumTimes, 23, June, 2020.
104. Oladimeji,W. (2014). 2015, op. cit.
105. Human Rights Watch. (2007). Criminal politics: violence,
“godfathers” and corruption in Nigeria. Abuja: HRW.
106. Oluniyi D. Ajao, “Governor Rashidi Lodoja of Oyo State
Impeached”, TechAfrica, 12 January, 2006.
107. Segun Adebowale, “800 Delegates to Converge in Lagos for APC
Presidential Primaries”, Eagles, 4 December, 2014. See also
PremiumTimes, 3 December, 2014.
108. E. Onyekpere, (2015), “Still above the ceiling” (a report on
campaign finance and use of state administrative resources in the 2015
election). Abuja: Centre for Social Justice.
109. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
110. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
111. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
112. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
113. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
114. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
115. Tayo Agunbiade, “Participation of Women in Politics: The Nigeria
Context”, TheCable, 26 August, 2020. These figures are as collated
by the FMWASD Zonal Empowerment Offices for women political
empowerment when a number of cases involving women were still
unresolved at the Elections Petitions Tribunals as at date of this
compilation i.e. four months after the elections. See also 2015 figure
culled from a conference paper titled “Men without women: an analysis
of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria”, by Nse Etim Akpan,
Department of Political Science, Federal Polytechnic Wukari, Wukari,
Taraba State, Nigeria.
116. Emmanuel Ikechi Onah, “Monetisation of Electoral Politics and the
Challenge of Political Exclusion in Nigeria”, Commonwealth and
Comparative Politics, published online, 23 May, 2018.
117. See Centre for Social Justice, “PDP and APC Media Expences for
2015 Elections.
118. See Table explaining the Total Traceable Spending of APC and
PDP Presidential Candidates.
119. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
120. V. A. Adeyi, (2014), “Money, Parties and Democracy in Nigeria”,
in Political Parties and Democracy in Nigeria, Kuru: National Institute
of Policy and Strategic Studies, pp. 289-313
121. See the Electoral Act of 2002, 2006, and 2010 – Sections 91 (9);
Section 93 (2) (b).
122. Vanguard, (2014) “Naira Rain at Jonathan’s Fundraiser”, 21
December 21.
123. Vanguard, (2015) “Dollars for monarchs”, 16 March.
124. See Electoral Act (2006) and (2010).
125. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
126. Mo Ibrahim Foundation 2015. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is an
African foundation, established in 2006 with one focus: the critical
importance of governance and leadership for Africa. It is our conviction
that governance and leadership lie at the heart of any tangible and
shared improvement in the quality of life of African citizens.
127. Mo Ibrahim Foundation 2015.
128. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
129. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
130. Sunday Akinfenwa, “The crowd and Deceits at Political Rallies”,
ElevateNewsNigeria, 8 December, 2018.
131. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
132. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
133. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
134. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
135. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
136. Adebowale Olorunmola, “Cost of Politics in Nigeria”, Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, www.wfd.org.
137. Guardian; 2015
138. Ibid
139. Vanguard, (2014). Naira Rain at Jonathan’s Fundraiser”, 21
December 21.
140. Aluaigba, P. M. (2015), “Taming a Lion: Monitoring Campaign
Finances of Political Parties Prior to the 2015 elections in Nigeria”, The
2015 General Elections in Nigeria: The Real Issues, Abuja. 27 to 28
July 2015 Abuja: Electoral Institute of Nigeria, p. 23.
141. Osmond Chigozie Agu, “Democracy and Cost of Governance in
Nigeria” Journal of Culture, Society and Development – An Open
Access International Journal.
1. A Preliminary Statement:
The clouds are gathering, the vultures are circling and our land is red with
the blood of the innocent. From the rolling hills of Taraba to the Plateau of
Jos; from the Escravos Rivers to the Ogoja River, from Ogota Lake to Lake
Chad; from Aso Rock to Olumo Rock, all I hear is the cry of the bereaved,
all I see is desolation and all I smell is the stench of suffering. How did a
once proud nation fall so low? How did the hope of Africa crash? How did
the African giant fall like the Biblical Goliath? Who did this to us? And how
can we recover from this? How can we rescue our once great nation from
this calamity?
Who still remembers the green and white flag that once flew proud? Who
still believes that our constitution, no matter how imperfect, guides our
affairs as a people? Daily our brightest seek greener pastures in safer climes
and daily our people are told they are not welcome even by our neighbour
countries that once depended on us.1
Ours has largely been an experiment in which a lot has been invested but
very little to show for it.
We have stumbled from one crisis to another, from one military coup to
another and we have refused to learn from such experiences. And in view of
the prevailing circumstances of our time, there is nothing that suggests that
we are on the path of redemption. There is nothing that suggests we are on
the path of recovery; for the voice of reason is constantly being challenged
by the collective voice of looters.
Evidently, Nigeria has been in a decade long war with the Boko Haram
terrorist group. At some point they controlled several local governments
within Nigeria, but our gallant troop succeeded in retaking most of the
captured areas. Just when we thought we had mostly eliminated the threat to
our nation, they regrouped and changed their strategy from capturing vast
swathes of Nigerian territory to attacking soft targets.
This is made easy for them because of our porous borders and the forest
vegetation in some areas of North Eastern Nigeria.
Attacks such as these have increased in recent times and the casualties are
rising daily. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in this
senseless war that has cost our nation over a trillion naira in defence
expenditure and trillions in economic loss.
Whilst grappling with the carnage in the North East, we are yet confronted
with the menace of the murderers masked as herders who are ravaging our
farming communities.
As if things are not bad enough, our country Nigeria is known as the kidnap
capital of the world. No one is safe from this and whilst several reasons have
been adduced to the rise in kidnappings, we all know that our country is no
longer the same. We can no longer pretend that all is well.
It was Thomas Sankara who once said: “You cannot carryout fundamental
change without a certain amount of madness”. The #EndSARS movement is
an attempt by the ordinary Nigerians to force the government to carryout
fundamental changes for a better society. The National Pivot quoted Gani
Adams as saying: “We knew Nigeria is finished the very moment the US
released its intelligence report on Nigeria”.2
Chief Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land has said the very
moment intelligence reports by the US showed how insincere the Buhari
administration is in its fight against terrorist groups in the country, it became
clear that Nigeria is finished. In his interview with New Telegraph, Gani
disclosed that it is evident that the current government is up to something by
not doing anything about reports of ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorists infiltrating
southern parts of the country. He therefore said that the Yorubas want to
leave Nigeria union before it is too late.3
An Introduction:
It seems to me that the basic distinction between God and the devil is lies.
No wonder, the Holy Book of Judeo-Christian religion admonishes the
faithful to always strive for the truth, because only the truth we know and
apply will set us free.
First and foremost, we must appreciate the fact that Nigeria is a house built
on a mirage because the amalgamation of the former two British
protectorates – the North and the South – was a fraud. And, sooner or later,
the country will go the way of other amalgamations like India, Sudan, and
others have went unless a genuine reconstruction, reconciliation and
rehabilitation is truthfully carried out by way of restructuring. Even at that,
the issue of restructuring is rather belated. But is Buhari government even
interested and committed to restructuring the country?
It was Fredrick Bashir, a French philosopher, who said that when blunder
becomes a way of life, those who benefit from it will create a legal code to
authorize it and the moral authority to justify it. It is not in my character to
write in order to provoke. I write because our time on earth is too short and
each moment we are not our truest selves; each time we pretend to be what
we are not, each moment we say what we do not mean because we imagine
that is what somebody wants us to say or write in order to be “politically
correct”, then we are wasting our time on Earth.
How would these threats be carried out? What strategy are they going to
employ in achieving their aim? The Fulani Nationalist Movement went
further to reveal:
“We must take the battle to the homes of the infidels. We must use everything we
have. Whether you’re a boy, a lady, a man, or a woman, all Muslims of Fulani
Origin must take this as a duty.
We must sharpen our fighting weapons. Everything is a weapon. Your Okada,
knives, hands, the trailers you drive, the tankers with fuel, food you sell, the house
of the infidels that you guard, study very well and wait for our order.
Exploit the weaknesses of the infidels: they are lousy, lack discipline, sleep like
fools, love parties and dances, lack focus and mostly unobservant and
unarmed…”8
There is no iota of doubt that the Fulanis meant every word that proceeded from
their mouths as some of the strategies have already been tested and some are
currently been subjected to tests as I write.
The partisanship of the Nigeria armed forces towards the troublers of the
Nigerian nation and her unity is a sore point this administration has not really
succeeded in abdicating herself from. How could he have claimed to have loved
his country when he parades the highest degree of nepotism such that never had
existed before in Nigeria’s history, which indeed is the worst form of
corruption?
Buhari released hundreds of Boko Haram fighters from prison claiming that
they are reformed and a few days later not less than 30 Nigerians were blown up
by the same Boko Haram in Borno State. The victims included young students,
women, infants, and babies were among those that were blown up in the Auno
atrocity. Still on the 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.
Today, the number of innocent Nigerians who have been slaughtered by Boko
Haram alone could not really be correctly ascertained.
President Buhari had released not less than 1,400 terrorists who have murdered,
butchered, slaughtered, tortured, and maimed his soldiers, and terrorised his
people over the last 5 years. Today this figure is inferior to reality. Many
concerned Nigerians are yet to understand the “wisdom” in releasing murderers
while those who committed lesser crimes are dotted in various prisons in the
country. Many critics have accused the presidency of trading in the blood of
Nigeria people, indulging in all manner of barbarity, suppression of dissent,
persecution of his perceived enemies.
Granted that no nation drops from heaven; and that it is the fate of nations, at
some points in their lives, to go through the funniest and crucible of suffering.
This present leadership of Nigeria, without intending to be unnecessarily
cynical, is an apology to humanity.
Buhari government is yet to come to terms with the culture of death prevalent in
the country – the menace of Boko Haram insurgency, the orge of massacres and
heinous crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen
against indigenous communities, the menace of the bandits and criminals in
nooks and crannies of the country, the police and army brutality against the
innocent citizens of the nation, and the incessant and unabated killings of
unarmed Nigerians by members of the Special Armed Robbery Squad (SARS),
and most recently the massacre of innocent Nigerian youths protesting for better
standards of living at the Lekki Toll Gate on Tuesday, the 20th of October by
members of Nigerian Army etc.
After 60 years of bloodletting, blood has become part and parcel of our culture
of existence. Nigeria is littered with the very sharp pieces of broken promises.
Yesterday’s dreams have virtually become Nigeria’s worst nightmares.
The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, in his audio message to
Nigerians demanded that: “President Buhari should be impeached for fragrant
violation of the Constitution. Nigerians feel collectively violated”. 10
Many concerned and illustrious Nigerians and friends of Nigeria have called for
restructuring as the only possible panacea to keep Nigeria united and
progressive. Regrettably, however, President Buhari government has labelled
those calling for restructuring as unpatriotic. But are those calling for
restructuring the country really unpatriotic? Put differently, in what important
sense are those calling for a restructured Nigeria be said to be unpatriotic?
Dele Fatorimi, a Nigerian author queried rather ironically: How do you demand
patriotism from a man whom you have denied citizenship? He went further to
ask: Is there really a nation? Probing further, he enquired: “You have to be a
nation … a citizen before you’re unpatriotic!” Patriotism is found in citizenship.
So, when you are not considered a citizen ab initio how can you be patriotic?
The demand for restructuring is a demand for citizenship – treat every Nigerian
equally irrespective of tribe, creed or sex. It is simply recognition of our
common humanity within a given political sphere called Nigeria. To every
disadvantaged Nigerian, restructuring is a demand for equalization.12
Granted that there is an agenda of the Fulanis to Islamize Nigeria, but this could
not have been possible without a tacit complicity of some elites from other
nationalities, hence it is also about a class issue. Those who have surreptitiously
usurped our citizenship are not necessarily Fulani or Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo,
etc. In a significant sense, it is a group of elites, a criminal class conspiracy
who have become the vampires, the vultures who, in Nigerian parlance, have
come to be known as “the cabals”. These cabals are spearheaded and
superintended by Northern political class and are Caliphate-compliant.
And so, when President Buhari calls the demand for restructuring unpatriotic,
he was indirectly saying the citizens of Nigeria are unpatriotically asking to be
treated as “citizens”.
The continuous call for succession by the Biafra’s and recently by the
Oduduwas is the only perceived avenue to have their genuine grievances find
expression. There can never be unity where others have been suppressed,
subdued, subjugated. Where there is no justice, unity is far-fetched. Nnamdi
Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is perceived as
speaking the language of the extreme. This is so because those who speak the
language of the moderate are not listened to by the Nigerian state.
For avoidance of doubt, the grievances of IPOB and those of the Oduaa
Republic agitators are genuine. The Nigeria-state only resort to the creation of
unviable states, creating talk-shops, not addressing the fundamental concern of
those demands which is to be treated equally as citizens! The question: “Who is
a Nigerian?” is a question the political ruling class have not really answered.
The first condition of humanity is justice.
Any nation whose people feel perpetually aggrieved by the governance system,
that nation or state would continually be in a state of war. How could you have
40 Custom checkpoints from Lagos (in the South-West) to Lokoja (Middle
Belt), and yet in all northern states there is no single Custom checkpoint? All
the borders in the Southern Nigeria are closed whilst those in the northern
Nigeria remain perpetually open. All the COVID-19 palliatives distributed to all
other states in Nigeria, those of the South East zone were denied. But what
reason do they have? The northern elites said the zone has her people who send
relief from abroad to aid their people back home.
The Federal Government has secured $7.5 billion loan for the construction of
standard rail gauge from Lagos to Kano, an official has said. The $7.5 billion is
part of the $30 billion loan the federal government seeks to take and for which it
has sought approval from the National Assembly. The minister of
Transportation said that $1. 4 billion of the loans were for the construction of
the rail gauge from Lagos to Ibadan, while $6. 1 billion would be used on
Ibadan–Ilorin–Minna-Kaduna– Kano line.13
The minister added that Kaura Namoda–Funtua rail line would also be revived.
Admittedly, President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has commenced
the construction of a 230 km link road from Enugu to Cameroon bridge. The
funding which was initiated in the 2017 funding by the Federal government on
the Nigeria- Cameroon Bridge will link Enugu to Bamenda in Cameroon. The
government should be commended for this!
(https://ng.opera.news/comments/s51160aad201220en_ng)
In our experiment with democracy, the essence of the rule of law in the country
is lost. President Buhari and his government do not respect the rule of law.
Equalisation can only occur when the laws rule. If the laws are not allowed to
rule, or selectionally applied, even when restructured, it would still not yield
expected dividend.
The only way to end SARS is when the policemen know that any shot fired
through their officially assigned gun must be accounted for and consequences
must be meted out. It is only when the policemen realise that the person he was
(is) shooting is a citizen in relation to whom they must offer an account, not
only to the state but to the family of the persons he has killed. The only reason
the Nigeria police kill with impunity is that he knows there would be no
consequences. The Nigeria state is structured in such a way that it only protects
the rulers and the rich.
Some elites especially from the north have advised that the call for restructuring
should be channelled through the National Assembly. This request is not
realizable because the members of the National Assembly are beneficiaries of
the corrupt system and therefore, are unlikely to affect any reasonable change.
There is a disproportionate representation between the North and the South to
the advantage of the former. Even if this is not the case, how do you expect
ravenous wolves to become vegetarians? How can the beneficiaries of a corrupt
system be the ones to initiate changes? It is not the duty of the oppressors to
liberate the oppressed. It is the responsibility of the oppressed to fight for their
freedom from their oppressors.
There are those who claim that it is rather too late to restructure Nigeria. They
believe that restructuring is a scam to keep people clued to the criminal
enterprise called Nigeria. They believe that Nigeria had never worked; it is not
working and will never work because we are of different nationalities, with
different cultural and religious background hence different people with
irreconcilable backgrounds.
Peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice. Nigerians,
especially the youths have been on the streets, registering their displeasure over
the abnormalities in the land. The #EndSARS and #EndNigeria protests are
spontaneous revolutionary movements presently convulsiving General Buhari’s
Presidency to its foundation.
The protests have persisted nationwide despite the disbandment of the police
formation by the Inspector General of the Police.
In a video broadcast entitled, The Way of Peace, the trained medical doctor-
turned preacher said: there can be no peace in the face of hunger and
suppression.
According to him,
“There is no peace where there is massive injustice, unfairness and lack of
equity. There can be no peace in the face of oppression, suppression and
subjugation of one people by another. There can be no peace in the face of
nepotism, tribalism, regionalism, religionism and every form of such prejudice.
There can be no peace in the midst of deprivation, poverty and hunger.”15
Dr. Enenche also decried how a section of the country is in charge of juicy
positions in government while other zones look helplessly.
On the way forward, the cleric called for equity, fairness and justice.
He added,
“People have clamoured for restructuring. It is the devolution of power;
otherwise, there may be dissolution of union. It happened in other places and we
pray and trust God it doesn’t happen in our nation.
“It is not time to play the ostrich and hide the under. What is not confronted
cannot be conquered. In medicine we called something the debridement of wound
you expose wounds in order to repair them. “It is time to tell the truth because
people have been suppressed, subdued, subjugated and treated as if they don’t
reason.
“Nigeria is one of the most intelligent nations in the world. Our doctors and our
professionals are the most intelligent in the world. It is time for us to sit up and
say these things must be corrected.”16
The cleric urged protesters not to go violent while expressing their anger.
In the Beginning:
Formed in February 2013, the All Progressive Congress (APC) party is the
result of a merger of Nigeria's three biggest opposition parties – the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the
All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP - a faction of then ruling People's
Democratic Party.16-18 The resolution was signed by Tom Ikimi, who represented
the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of the APGA; Ibrahim Shekarau,
the Chairman of ANPP's Merger Committee; and Garba Shehu, the Chairman of
CPC's Merger Committee.19 Ironically, less than 2 years before the party's
historic victory in the 2015 elections, Messrs. Annie Okonkwo, Tom Ikimi and
Ibrahim Shekarau resigned from the party and joined the PDP. 20-22
The party received approval from the nation's Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) on 31 July 2013 to become a political party and
subsequently withdrew the operating licenses of the three parties that merged
(the ACN, CPC and ANPP).
In March 2013, it was reported that two other associations – African Peoples
Congress and All Patriotic Citizens – also applied for INEC registration,
adopting APC as an acronym as well, reportedly "a development interpreted to
be a move to thwart the successful coalition of the opposition parties, ahead of
the 2015 general elections."23 It was reported in April 2013 that the party was
considering changing their name to the All Progressive Congress of Nigeria
(APCN) to avoid further complications.24
Prior to the elections, the All Progressives Congress was formed as an alliance
of four opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for
Progressive Change, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, and the All Progressives
Grand Alliance.25
Its primaries, also held on 10 December, were won by retired Major General
Muhammadu Buhari 26-29 who defeated Kano State Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Imo State Governor
Rochas Okorocha and newspaper editor Sam Nda-Isaiah. 30 On 17 December,
APC chose Professor Yemi Osinbajo as the running mate of General M.
Buhari.31-32
As of February 2015, "Though the APC's voter base is in the north, it enjoys
support all over the country, unlike the opposition in 2011."33
Prior to the formation of the APC and its victory in the 2015 elections,
Muhammadu Buhari had previously contested (and subsequently lost) the
Nigerian presidential elections of 2003 and 2007 as the presidential nominee of
the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the 2011 Nigerian presidential
election as the presidential nominee of the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC). Following the election widespread violence took place in the northern
parts of the country.34 Goodluck Jonathan was declared the winner on 19 April. 35
The elections was reported in the international media as having run smoothly
with relatively little violence or voter fraud in contrast to previous elections, in
particular the widely disputed 2007 election.36 The United States State
Department said the election was "successful" and a "substantial improvement"
over 2007, although it added that vote rigging and fraud also took place.37
Buhari was supported by The Economist "with a heavy heart" as "the least
awful" option; the newspaper was scathing about the repression and economic
policy of Buhari's previous regime, but praised his subsequent adherence to
democratic process, anti-corruption stance, and the legitimacy he held in the
Muslim North as a stronger platform with which to combat Boko Haram.38
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo supported Muhammadu Buhari in 2015
despite being aware that he “knows next to nothing,” Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the
former governor of Osun State, has said. “The last person to accept Buhari’s
candidature was Obasanjo and I say that one with every emphasis because I was
involved. Yes, Baba (Obasanjo) had fallen out with Jonathan. His projection
then was ‘any option but Jonathan’. That was his stand.
“Taking a look at those candidates from other parties, there was no other person
we felt could handle the delicate governance of Nigeria better than Buhari,
among the contenders that time. That was why the choice of Buhari became the
order.
“That, coupled with the fact that he had been at the helm of affairs in the country
before under the military, so he has that edge over all others. But Baba
(Obasanjo) was the last to subscribe to the idea.
“I can tell you that it took a team of Saraki, Amosun, Bola Tinubu, Kashim, Imam
and myself, that went and bombarded Baba (Obasanjo) at Ota, around 7 a.m.,
before he succumbed to our pressure.”39
Capitalizing on the situation at the time, Buhari came with three basic mandates
which he presented as a testament to Nigerians in seeking their vote for the
presidential election in 2015. The three cardinal objectives were – (1) to fight
corruption, (2) to revive Nigeria’s economy, and (3) to arrest the insecurity in
the country.
From the benefit of hingesight, the Buhari-led APC government has failed
woefully in all. The Buhari government is the most corrupt government ever.
Indices speak for self. In the recent report of the Transparency International
Corruption Index, Nigeria under Buhari scored 149th position – the worst rating
for Nigeria ever. Even under his government report, we had the most damning
official report to have ever emanated from the auditor general in any Nigeria’s
past administrations. Based on the government’s Auditor-General of the
Federation’s damning report, Buhari should have resigned if he is truly a man of
integrity and honour.
On the economy, the government has not fared any better but worse. Using the
five universal criteria for micro-economic assessments, the government is found
wanting. For instance using the GDP as a unit of an assessment, the Nigeria
nation under Buhari had at least fallen two times under “recession”. The right
word is “depression”, not “recession”. The situation has gone beyond the issue
of poor GDP and graduating into hyper inflation, unprecedented level of
unemployment in the country, unprecedented level of debts (already in debt-
trap; the next stage would be debt crisis), etc.
On February 19, 2018 at 5:30 pm, 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years old were
kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls'
Science and Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi. Dapchi is located in
Bulabulin, Yunusari Local Government area of Yobe State, in the northeast part
of Nigeria.43
A total of 344 boys were kidnapped from their school – Government Boys
Science Secondary School in Kankara local government area of Katsina State
by gunmen on Dec 11, 2020.44 Following the kidnapping, President
Muhammadu Buhari came under severe criticism on social media, particularly
Twitter, where the hash tag #BringBackOurBoys trended. Indeed, this is not the
Buhari we knew.
On the 26th of February, 2021, the Police in Zamfara confirmed that about three-
hundred and seventeen (317) students were abducted from the Government
Girls Science Secondary School Jangebe in Jangebe, Zamfara State, less than
two weeks after 42 people, including 27 students, were abducted in a similar
incident.45
Village after village, community after community, state after state and region
after region, the level of insecurity in the country under this administration
makes the average Nigerian a walking corpse each day and makes the country
the third most unsafe place to live on earth; and by the way the security
situation worsens each passing day, Nigeria is most likely to overtake countries
before it – Afghanistan and Iraq. This is frightening!
Obadiah said:
“They are fighting a demographic Jihad to ensure that the North is the demographic
majority by subterfuge. And then they will have a free license to call the shots in
perpetuity. They have allowed hundreds of thousands of killers to invade our country.
They are everywhere now.”(see George Ogbolu, “Northerners Using NIN to Pursue
Evil Fulanization/Islamization Agenda – Mailafia” NaijaNews.com)
Baraje was the former PDP chairman, who also once served as the party’s
national secretary as well as the chairman of the breakaway faction of PDP that
formed the nucleus of the current ruling party: “We brought in Fulani from
Mali, Sierra Leone, Senegal, others to win 2015 election, after election, they
refused to leave”. 47
According to him, the Fulani men causing havoc in the country are not
aboriginal to Nigeria.
“We are not asking the right question on how the same Fulani we have been
living with suddenly turned out a menace… We also must ask how they had access
to their guns…The security agencies have not been open about the nature of the
problem. “They have made arrests. Why haven’t they told the public who the
terrorists are? …
“After the election, the Fulani have refused to leave. I and other like minds wrote
and warned those we started APC with that this was going to happen but nobody
listened,” he explained.48
It would be recalled that Miyetti Allah once made a public proclamation in the
wake of RUGA controversy that any indigenous community that want peace in
their community and state must provide land for the Fulani. In other words,
“surrender your land or die”. This effrontery was repeated by Buhari’s media
spokeman, Femi Adesina advising members of the indigenous communities to
surrender their lands instead of being killed.
Miyetti Allah is a collaborator and in league with Buhari’s APC who funded the
later with NGN100 billion belong to the commonwealth. Why must the Buhari
government give such a humonguous amount to a terrorist organisation?
Having carefully investigated the criminal activities that led to the death of Pa
Fasoranti’s daughter along the Ondo-Lagos axis, the Ondo State government
unequivocally and unapologetically declared that the Public Relations Officer
(PRO) of Miyetti Allah led the criminal gang that murdered the lady. Nothing
has been done by the authority yet.51
The Police Authority has revealed that in Plateau State, some herdsmen were
arrested with some sophisticated military rifles. The riffle numbers were known
and confirmed to be those of the Nigeria Army. No prosecution, no punishment
for wrong possession of arms. Who is the Commander-in-Chief – Buhari!
It was retired Col. Nyiam who once narrated how the Fulani herders were
repelled in an attack in Ogoja, were using riffles belonging to the Nigeria Army
from the barrack in that vicinity; and the soldiers came to collect their riffle
back later. Who should be held responsible for the activities of the armed forces
– Buhari?
The former deputy governor of the Central bank, Obediah Mailafia had once
publicly declared that repentant terrorists have told him that one of the northern
governors is one of the leaders of Boko Haram.53
According to an official report on the trial in Dubai where some Nigerians were
accused and convicted for financing terrorism, there were allusions that some
highly placed government officials was indicted.54
Fulani herdsmen have claimed that the government supplies them with
weapons.
In a viral video recorded during one of the several meetings between popular
Islamic clerics, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, one of the herdsmen, addressing the
crowd on behalf of his fellow herders, claimed that cows don’t give birth to
guns.
He said that they were only herdsmen and did not know what guns were until
the government started supplying them with AK-47.
According to him “I swear to the Almighty Allah that it’s the government that is
giving arms to us. Fulani don’t know what gun is,” he said in Fulani to the
applause of others.
“We are only herdsmen. Cows don’t give birth to guns. I swear to Allah, we are
on our own and the government supplies AK47 to us. I am not afraid to say the
truth.”55
Sheik Gumi who interfaced and negotiated a truce between the government and
the terrorist was asked how he managed to know where the terrorists are in the
bush and how come the Nigeria government did not know; he quickly retorted:
the security agencies know where they are! The question is: if the security
agencies are in the know, why didn’t they go after them?
The OPC members were part of a joint security team that apprehended an
alleged notorious Fulani herder, Abdullah Wakilu, at Ayete in Oyo State.
A source, who was privy to Wakili’s arrest, said a top presidential aide had
warned some traditional rulers in Ayete and Ibarapaland not to touch Wakilu. 57-
59
“I told the OPC guys not to arrest Wakilu because the Oba of Ayete told me that
there is a presidential order on Wakili and that he should not be touched.
“When the team that went to arrest Wakili got there, I was called and I told them
that members of our group should back down from the operation and that those
going there to apprehend Wakilu would be arrested”.
Islamization Is Likened to Football Game with One Goal
Mouth - Islamization
From all available evidences and deduced rational conclusions, one is tempted
to agree with the following conclusions:
Whoever you are – President, Governor, Politician, Almajiri – the one and only
ultimate goal is Islamization of Nigeria.
*The Strikers:
In the Islamization game, the strikers are the killers – they kill, rape, maim and
cause collateral damages. They carry the weapons of warfare. They don't hide
their extremism. And they are the ones that score the goal. Some Politicians are
also in this category implimenting the Jihad not by force but using their offices,
persecuting Christians and other non-Moslems and Southerners, especially the
South-East.
Those under this group of strikers included but not necessarily limited to the
following:
Boko Haram
ISWAP
Fulani Killer Herdsmen
Some Politicians
*Midfielders
Players at this position are the sponsors; they supply guns, cash and logistics to
the strikers. Though they are not visible, some are business men and some are
politicians. At the Islamization game, the players in the mid-field do not
necessarily need to know the strikers. But in most cases they know them. The
identities of these mid-fielders are hardly revealed for security reasons.
Those in this group included but not necessarily limited to the following:
*Defenders
These defenders go all out to stoutly defend the strikers, claiming that the
strikers – Boko Harams, ISWAP, Fulani hersmen, Bandits, and even the Nigeria
army – are not Muslims. But it is so obvious they can't deny the perpetrators
ISWAP, Fulani herdsmen or Boko Haram are Muslims, and yet they defend
them anyway. They claim these perpetrators are not Muslims because they have
killed more Muslims than Christians. At this wing in the field of “Fulanization”
and “Islamization” agenda, deception plays a significant role. This is the
position moderate Muslims are found. Also found in this position are
politicians, students, civil servants, academia, security operatives, traditional
rulers and close friends. The defenders in some cases know the midfielders but
they don't know the strikers in most cases. The defenders are also those that will
insult you on social media because you post about the atrocities of the strikers.60
JNI
MURIC
AREWA
Facebook warriors
Goalkeepers
These are people who claim that they have been living with with their hosts
over years peacefully. They tell you “our cows even enter their farms to give the
natives 'kashin shanu' or manure. We don't know where those strikers come
from.” The goalkeepers in most cases don’t know the midfielders but they know
the strikers because they accommodate them before any attack and they point
the targets to them. It is the Goal Keepers that will move away a week before
any attack. They move mostly in the night.61
Recently, two Igbo officers – Lt. Col. ND Okeke and Lt. Col. Ajah – together
with 44 other predominantly Southern and Middle Belt Christian officers were
reported to have lost their lives in a high-level conspiracy conceived and carried
out by the senior military officers of the Fulani extraction in the Nigeria Army.63
Just recently, Nigerians were awashed with the reprehensible news of how the
Nigeria Airforce jet had bombed officers and men, mistaking them for Boko
Haram terrorists and these men were predominantly Igbo Christians from South
and Middle Belt regions. Not a few smelt a rat suspecting a carefully
orchestrated plan to exterminate officers of the South and Middle Belt.64
Stage 1:
The Commanding Officer (Administration) in the Nigeria Army – Lt. Col. ND
Okeke and said to be holding security meeting along side other 43 Southern
Christian officers in Borno in the orders from the Military High Command. A
few minutes later, high ranking personnel of well-armed Boko Haram
merceneries but dressed in the rank of Major-Generals having been granted
access by higher conspiracy of the Nigeria Military Command under the Fulani,
were given access to the meeting.65
Thinking they were senior officers, Lt. Col. Okeke and 43 other officers stood
to welcome them in. But they were mistaken. Within a few minutes, all of them
were slaughtered. The sight was so horrifying that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Jega ordered that no report, picture or video of the incident should ever be
published, posted or shared; threatening to court-martial anyone who dare to
disobey his orders. Why were there no single Fulani officer in the meeting and
how come no Fulani was a victim? Not a few Nigerians have concluded that
what played out was only a ploy to exterminate Southern and Middle Belt
Officers.66
Stage 2:
In another development, it was gathered that Lt. Col. Ajah was in the battle field
in Borno against the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists. But Lt. Col. Ajah-led
Nigeria military personnel were poorly equipped to confront the better-equipped
with state-of-the-art military equipments of the Boko Haram. Majority of the
Nigerian soldiers on the battlefield were Southerners and those from Middle
Belt. Boko Haram insurgents were said to have overwhelmed the Ajah-led
soldiers and he quickly called for reinforcements. Instead of the Nigeria High
Military Command to send regular soldiers, they mobilized a battalion of Boko
Haram and ISIS merceneries and got them well equipped. And like Lt. Col.
Okeke, Lt. Col. Ajah was mistaken. He opened the channel only for his men to
be slaughtered.67
Stage 3:
Soldiers who escaped who escaped “the Stage 2 pogrom” took to their heels and
immediately reported what had transpired in the conspiracy and sabotage.
Instead, the Fulani officer-agent detailed to accomplish the mission quickly sent
signal and the Airforce was sent to wipe off the remaining escaping soldier-
survivors. THIS WAS THE NEWS OF MISTAKEN BOMBING OF
SOLDIERS ON BATTLE GROUND BY THE AIRFORCE. It was nothing but
an “inside-job”.68
Stage 4:
The Buhari-led administration is in final stage for full islamization of the South
and the Middle Belt. Virtually all the positions that matter in Nigeria, whether
politically or economically were in full control of the Fulanis. The evidence will
be forwarded later.
Stage 5:69
Late 2021 to Mid-2022 have been slated for the commencement of the
final elimination of Southern and Middle Belt officers and men in the
Nigeria Army.
There would be appointment of Fulani Police Commissioners in all
Southern/Middle Belt states.
The Nigeria Army would merge with the Boko Haram terrorists and
become one force.
Stage 6:70
Stage 7:71
Invade Yorubaland forests
Invade Lagos and Ogun
Take over Seaports and access the Sea and import more arms from
Turkey.
Eliminate prominent Yoruba leaders and decimate their youths.
Declare Lagos Emirate.
Stage 8:72
Stage 9:73
Action Plan:
There is need for the Middle Belt and the South to unite and fight a common
enemy.
All the saboteurs including the governors of the South and Middle Belt must be
flushed out and dealt with.
Evidently, the average Nigerian perceives and portrays the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad (SARS) in Nigeria as a money-making terrorist squad with no
accountability. Some of the most infamous SARS center are Awkuzu SARS in
Anambra State, the inhuman abbatoir in Abuja and other notorious SARS in
Lagos and Port Harcourt, etc and so many others across the country. The
iniquity of SARS in Nigeria has increased; it is increasing and must be
checkmated. The Nigeria youths have cried out to the authorities to end the
activities of SARS which included extra-judicial killings, extortions,
dehumanisations, corruption etc. hence the #EndSARS outcry across the states
of Nigeria.
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police force as the
name implies, was officially formed and charged years ago to take
responsibility of combating armed robbery, kidnapping and other
criminal/violent-related activities perpetrated within the civilian society by
criminals. But most unfortunately, it has metamorphosed into a deadly terror
arm of the Nigerian police that arrogantly engages in harassing, oppressing,
extorting, brutalizing, maiming and killing those they are supposed to protect
and fight for. These SARS operatives disappointingly, dress and operate like
criminals under the federal government's cover. 77
They have corruptively assumed the position of Moral Judges against the people
with their indiscriminate arrests, public/private humiliation and torture of
persons for being decently dressed, driving good cars, wearing different
fashionable hairstyles/beards, using good mobile phones, putting on jeans
trousers, etcetera. Most of these police officers that brandish variety of weapons
which include axes, machetes, hammers, cutters, assault rifle guns with double
magazines, lawlessly and persistently, going by their antecedents, allegedly get
involved in criminal activities on daily basis in Nigeria. They wield enormous
powers of tyranny against the people. A situation where supposed security
professionals blatantly get contracted to unleash terror on perceived enemies,
randomly stop road users for illegitimate searches and even threaten them to
have their mobile phones unlocked or get shot, is to say the least, most
mischievous.78
#EndSARSNow# has over the time, been trending but the Nigerian government
has bluntly given deaf ears to the demand of the people. The police
administrative hierarchy has equally absolutely done nothing to curb the
criminal excesses and menace of these operatives. These institutionalized
monsters have brazenly become a terroristic force that target unsuspecting
victims at gun points, forcing them to nearby banks to make withdrawals with
their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards for settlement.80-81
Background Studies:
"Today, I am now reasonably convinced that the entire melodrama was meticulously
planned and masterfully executed in order for some people to paint President
Goodluck Jonathan as pathetically incompetent, and the reason his government must
be sacked urgently.
I confess to believing the full narrative at the time, like most Nigerians, hence my
almost fanatical support for Major General Muhammadu Buhari, in that sad period
of our nascent democracy.
I wish to express my sincere apologies once again for believing that tale by moonlight
and for being amongst those who plunged Nigeria into this unmitigated disaster from
which we may not fully recover in decades to come unless God decides to deliver us
miraculously. " – Dele Momodu (Hope For Nigeria).
Buhari’s penchant for sacrificing Nigeria’s interest for those of his ancestral
roots – Niger Republic did not start today. It would be recalled how, as military
head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari in 1985, voted against Peter Onu, an
Igbo man, who was Nigeria’s candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the
Organisation of African Unity, in favour of Ide Oumarou, a Fulani from Niger
Republic.83
This was speculated as the last straw that brokes the carmels’ back as the army
moved against him and toppled his government.
Nigerians are asking: Is Buhari from Niger Republic? This is because the way
he and his family economically exploit Nigeria, while treating Nigerians with
disdain leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
“In fact, the last official act that Buhari undertook before jetting off to London to
romance with his doctors was the naming of a very major artery road in Abuja (the
Outer Southern Expressway) as the ‘Mahamadou Issoufou Expressway’ in honour of
the President of the Republic of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou.
What is so special about Niger Republic to Buhari and his cabal, that in this period of
a lack of funds, when our foreign debt has risen from $7 billion in 2015, to $34
billion in 2021, and we are the world headquarters for extreme poverty, that he must
award a $1.9 billion contract to build a railway in Niger Republic.85
Buhari closed Nigeria borders in the Southern part of Nigeria whilst the borders
in the northern region were not closed. The major security challenges in the
country come from the Northern region of the country. Why were the borders in
the north left untouched?
Nigeria has been dubbed as the world headquarters for poverty; Nigeria denies
its citizens some of the luxuries and necessities of life and yet could afford to
build a multi-billion dollar project for its neighbour – Niger Republic. Nigerians
are yet to come to terms on how come Buhari presidency had to use $1.9 billion
to build a railway line for a country where the GDP is not even at par with the
GDP of Anambra State. Yet, Anambra State and the entire South-East region do
not have a standard-guage railway! The only international airport at Enugu was
downgraded but construction is on-going to upgrade the facilities. The
allegation has been that the Buhari-led government, nay previous Nigeria
governments save Yar’Adua/Goodluck administrations, never intended to allow
the Igbos have neither an international airport nor a seaport.
The trending news today is that the self-help efforts to build one of the best
international cargo airports in Anambra State were scuttled by the Buhari-led
federal government. Why has the federal government refuse to grant an
international status to Anambra airport even when the airport meets all the
necessary requirements in terms of facilities it acquires? Why did the federal
government of Nigeria refuse to allow the South-East have at least one
international airport even when other geo-political regions have theirs – the
North has at least 7(though only 3 are currently in operation), the West has
Murtala Mohammed International airport in Lagos and others, the South-South
has Calabar and Port Harcourt International airports though rendered
deliberately ineffectual and largely inoperable by the federal government. But
the South-East was bluntly refused to own one save the Akanu Ibiam
International Airport in Enugu but now downgraded, why?
What makes Nigerians believe that if evidence did not matter in General
Abacha’s case, why should it matter in General Buratai’s case? Why should
evidence matter in General Dambazau’s case? Did Nigerians forget so soon
how Buhari allowed retired Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako who stole the
commonwealth of Adamawa State dry not to be detained? Are they surprised
that the case has since receded into the background?
But for someone under whose nose $2.8 billion disappeared when he was
Petroleum Minister in 1978, this ought not to be too strange. For someone who
fails to account for the 100 Billion naira Petroleum Trust Fund that he presided
over under the same Abacha, this should not be strange. For someone who led
Nigerians in a lie that he did not have a house in Abuja when the contrary is
true, why should this be news?
How can Nigerians not know by now that Buhari is a recidivous nepotist?
Otherwise, how can a man who claims to fight a war against corruption fill his
cabinet with corrupt elements and eat at the same table with born again crooks?
Have Nigerians forgotten the Kwankwanzos, the Fasholas, the Amaechis, the
Fayemis, the Dambazaus, the Dalongs of this world? How can Nigerians expect
justice and fairness from Buhari with his history?
Specifically, Gen Buhari in his address told the fighters that “the British
handed Nigeria over to us the Fulanis at independence. The land (Nigeria)
belongs to us. We must reclaim what belongs to us.” 91 He added that at the
event that Jonathan Goodluck won the election, the Fulani machinery must
fight until they regain control of the country. He allegedly assured them that
the Nigerian Army was behind them.
In the camps, brand new pick-up trucks, generators etc were provided them.
Nigerian Airforce helicopters were used to provide them essential supplies
like food, water, drinks and even arms and ammunitions.
The Mercenary at the various camps decided to go about to find food for
themselves by robbing people, going into farm lands and kidnapping. Miyetti
Allah made several efforts to contact El Rufai and Dambazzo to appeal to
them to provide money to return these fighters to where they came from. All
efforts proved abortive. The mercenaries at this point vacated their organised
camps and took to crime. 93
The criminal gangs which emanated from these mercenaries were at this
point described as “Bandits” in order to differentiate them from other
notorious terrorist groups like Fulani Herdsmen, Boko Haram etc.
Following the untold destruction and killings which the Bandits carried out
especially in Katsina and Zamfara, the Northern leaders in conjunction with
officials of Nigerian government requested Miyetti Allah to intervene and
remove the bandits from Nigeria. Miyetti Allah in return demanded some
150 Billion Naira to settle the bandits and evacuate them. The government
turned the offer down and restricted itself to the payment of 100 Billion
Naira.94
Shamefully Godwin Emefiele raised 100 Billion Naira for the settlement as a
condition for his re-appointment as the Central bank Governor.95
Miyetti Allah collected the money and purportedly distributed it but nothing
changed.
Never in the history of Nigeria has any President been so insensitive and
naïve to the plight of Nigerians than President Muhammadu Buhari; nor is
there any comparison in our history of the kind of ethnic agenda the Buhari
government represents and espouses. A list of positions held by the
Northerners in Nigeria in Buhari’s government suffices here.101
Are you aware that both the Chairmen of the Senate and Reps committee on the
Army and the Airforce are from the “North?”
We are not done yet. Look at that list again and you get the worst shock of your
life.
A Reminiscence
And will someone inform Mr. Lai Mohammed that none of the federations that
were structured the way Nigeria is now ever lived to tell their stories?
Besides a holistic “Police Reform”, Nigerian Youths also demand for the
following:
*Judicial Reform*
*A People's Constitution*
*Electoral Reform*
*Civil Service Reform*
*Access to opportunities*
*End to Quota System*
*Reduction in the Cost of Governance*
*Health Sector Reform*
*Education Sector Reform*
*End to the State of Origin Requirement*
*Transparency in Government business,* etc.
(6) Muhammadu Buhari, the Northern Nigeria Fulani oligarchs and the
wider network of Fulani in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Nigeria’s 5th and 12th President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, is well-known for
telling truth to power. His legendary “letter writing” to erring incumbent
presidents drawing their attention on sensitive areas of concern of a bewildered
Nigeria nation is well known.
In one of his “telling truth to power” message to the current drivers of Nigeria-
nation in Aso Rock and the entire Nigerians, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo draws
attention to another possible civil war in Nigeria which he said has become
imminent and inevitable. According to him, the reason for its inevitability is
simply because Muhammadu Buhari, the Northern Nigeria Fulani oligarchs and
the wider network of Fulani in Sub-Saharan Africa have concluded plans to
adopt Nigeria as the homeland for all Fulani in Africa.103
Fulani have suddenly realised that the wandering and rootless lifestyle of cattle
herding, in the 21st century, is no longer tenable. To the Fulanis, they suddenly
come to the realisation that they need to have land to call home and rear cattle
and that land should and must be Nigeria. On the contrary, however, the
indigenous peoples of Nigeria have clearly, vehemently and stridently opposed
this diabolic plan and both sides are mobilising for war.104
A line has been drawn; a battle must be fought! The Fulani won’t relent and the
indigenous people will not give up their land.
It would be recalled that the Central African Republic (CAR) has gone through
exact experience that Nigeria is going through right now in the hands of the
Fulani. In the obvious attempt to destroy the chokehold the Fulani in the Central
African Republic (CAR) had on the politics and economy of their country, the
country was decimated by the killings and destruction carried out by rival gangs
in the street. Unfortunately and regrettably too, even though the Fulani
hegemony over the CAR has been defeated, the street gangs that defeated the
armed forces have turned on one another and themselves, unable to rise above
petty gang warfare to rebuild their nation.107
Indeed, the Fulani have become “blight” on Africa and its biggest country
Nigeria. Experience has shown that the Fulani have continue to pull down every
nation wherever it has any populations due to her inability to break out of its
centuries old cow herding and wandering culture. Some countries in West
Africa, Ghana and their ancestral home Guinea have been said to have mastered
the brutal tactics of dealing with Fulani and the later have learnt the bitter lesson
by staying away from these countries.108
Following the pattern of their ethnocentric politics, the Fulani in the CAR had
seized control of the commanding heights of the country’s military and financial
institutions, the foreign exchange trade, the mining and export of gold and
above all the governing structures of Government. One Mitchel Djotodia, a hare
brained military officer and his Fulani faction seized power in a brazen coup by
a demographic minority. All the non-Fulani military officers were flushed out of
the forces, all the mineral deposits in the country were seized by Fulani
merchants, non-Fulani traders were barred from trading in foreign exchange and
the entire top echelon of the Civil Service were occupied by Fulani by as much
as 83%. This invariably is a repeat performance of what is playing out in
Nigeria today.109
France – the evil genius and former colonial master of CAR watched them do
all these over the years and did not raise a protest. As in Nigeria, the Fulani
were just 3% of the population of CAR, tucked in the desert recesses of the
nation’s Northwest. There was a conspiracy of silence as no world or regional
power raised a whimper even though the ethnic groups of the rich southern
forest regions roiled.110
In CAR the Fulani went even beyond the provocative as they are doing now in
Nigeria.
“They started seizing ethnic lands, raiding churches and killing worshippers, the
most brazen being the attack on Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in a town near
Bangui the capital, where dozens of Catholic faithful were massacred during mass.
The Fulani used their cattle bases allotted by Government to launch attacks and gun
fights on the surrounding communities for robberies and ransom paying kidnaps as is
happening now in Nigeria.
Again, as is happening in Nigeria today, the purpose of all the action of the Fulani
was simple; to transfer all wealth available in the CAR by all and every means and
place it in the hands and control of the Fulani.”111
The Fulani elite are raiding the Central Bank, buying dollars and other
currencies at heavily discounted rates.
Other Fulani are raiding the NNPC, ploughing through the vaults and
trading Nigerian crude for personal gain.
The educated wing are mowing down governing structures, taking
forceful charge and control of all commanding heights of Government
and the armed forces.
The uneducated Fulani herdsmen are engaged in kidnapping for ransom
and now primed to take over ethnic lands, spreading themselves across
the nation in settlements acquired with public funds to terrorise
indigenous populations.
On that fateful day in Bangui in 2013 when the fight started, everyone expected
a complete annihilation of youth on the streets but surprisingly and
unexpecyedly, the youth took the fight straight to the Guard Brigade near the
Presidential Palace.
Corpses of dead soldiers were seen littering the streets while some were cut to
pieces in the evening of that fateful day. The streets of Bangui had become the
play ground and the killing field of the youth of Bangui by night fall. The entire
Presidential Guards of the army of the CAR was decimated, in disarray running
to their ethnic base in the far north and President Djotodia, the Fulani tyrant had
abdicated and run away from the Presidential Palace and Capital, Bangui, just
within three days of street fighting.114
The only reason for tyrants to survive is when the people live in fear and choose
to tolerate them. The Buhari Government is assuredly counting on deploying the
Nigerian armed forces against the many ethnicities where the RUGA will be
sited, starting off with the minority groups. But the indigenous ethnic
nationalities must not allow him to succeed.
Buhari’s plan is to deploy Nigerian troops to subdue Nigerian people for the
benefit of Fulani will not succeed if the ethnic nationalities will do the needful.
The case of Central African Republic is a lesson the drivers in Aso Rock refuse
to learn but which also provides a veritable lesson on how to deal with the
unrelenting Fulani menace. The previous experience in the “war” between the
Niger Delta/Boko Haram and the Nigeria Army, if anything have shown that the
Nigeria army is not invincible in a fight with local forces. If anything, the
Nigeria Army will likely disintegrate if made to fight in many fronts at once –
against the Biafrans’ Eastern Security Network (combined with the Niger Delta
forces in defence of the Eastern Region), the Oduduwas with her Amotekun
regional security network to defend the Western flank of the nation from Fulani
invasion and the underdogs of the Middle Belters do same for her region). It
would be a gross mistake for the drivers of the nation in Aso Rock to think that
they could to re-enact the 1967 version of the civil war. Such thinking is
suicidal! 115
“It is a known truth that the Fulani will not relent in their quest for the conquest of
Nigeria until they have seized all sources of income and made everyone else
subservient to their rule and hegemony.
The Fulani in Nigeria, in nearly a century of political and economic ascendancy have
acquired so much power and money that it will defeat the purpose of such acquisition
if they don’t deploy it for the very purpose for the grasp for power, which is the
conquest of Nigeria for the overlordship of the Fulani.
The final stage of the grand plan to subdue Nigeria for Fulani overlordship is afoot
and Buhari and his people cannot back out now. So a war has to be fought to resolve
matters”.116
The RUGA monstrosity is very much at work and the next thing now, it
appears, is to start the deployment of troops to protect RUGA in their various
locations of development.
When death is bent on destroying a dog, it would forbide the dog from
perceiving the foul smell of excretta. It was bound to happen that, one day, the
Fulani who have been taking so much out of Nigeria and have succeeded in
binding Nigeria hand and foot politically and economically, will take the wrong
step into the abyss. The logical culmination of all the rapaciousness would be
the last ditch attempt at the ultimate land grab, to seize the lands belonging to
indigenous communities and hand it over to Fulani. This must not be allowed.
For the fact that the Fulani are not indigenous to Nigeria, they have no land in
Nigeria. They are migrants into Nigeria.
The decision by the Fulani to seize land by force in Nigeria can only lead to war
in the many places where this seizure will happen. The people must resist as of
necessity. They have done so in the Central Africa Republic and reduced the
country to rubble and they will do it again in Nigeria.
The possible deployment of police and soldiers by the Buhari government to
defend the RUGA settlements in Nigeria would instigate war. Since the Fulani
have no land to hold dear and protect in Nigeria and owing to the fact that
Fulani have no stake or investment in the project called Nigeria and will not
care if Nigeria burns; they appear very willing to let Nigeria burn if the people
are not willing to submit to their overlordship.
Consequently, the Fulani are likely minded to adopt a scorched earth policy to
obliterate Nigeria since they have nothing to lose. Did they not do it in CAR?
They are most likely to do same in Nigeria. It will be the responsibility of the
indigenous people of Nigeria to find common grounds to protect the land of
their ancestral inheritance and prevent the Fulani from putting a knife on their
unity and their need to bind themselves together in one nation, even as separate
independent nations if need be; but they cannot do this without first containing
the Fulani. Fulani will try to divide them.
Buhari and the Fulani oligarchs are counting strongly on deploying the armed
forces to quell insurrection that will arise from this massive land grab; that
unfortunately will be the Achilles heel of their grand plan. Once soldiers are
armed to put down these insurrections, they will turn against their commanders
to defend their communities. Nigerians should therefore expect to behold the
great unravelling of their armed forces.
Do the Fulani have the firepower, the men and the capacity to fight? In the
entire history of the Nigerian armed forces, the Hausa/Fulani officers and
enlisted men have always been promoted far beyond their qualifications and
competencies. The capacity to fight and man the different departments of
modern warfare will be put to overwhelming test in any ensuing encounter.
“The Fulani never fight an enemy in a frontal war. They attack isolated and
undefended villages. In any direct confrontation, they run away. It was evident even
in the battle of Bangui. Well armed Fulani soldiers could not take on street gangs
with flint guns and machetes. It has also shown in the war against Boko Haram. The
poor performance of commanders of their ethnic stock is a bad joke among soldiers
in the front.
Hausa/Fulani soldier had to be sorted out and protected from slaughter by Boko
Haram forces. This is not to talk of unending betrayals of their Christian colleagues
and commanders in the battlefront.
Buhari, a Fulani irredentist, will use to his advantage and for the benifits of his
agenda to divide, the ethnic and religious cleavages among the people of Nigeria. But
the people ought to know that the Fulani are friends to no one and that a Fulani
friend today can become an adversary tomorrow. You are only friend to Fulani for as
long as you continue to serve a purpose in their overall plan.
Let the talk cease and the battle begin.”117
REFERENCES
“Any ‘amends’ that does not begin with letting the thoroughly despised East be by
themselves in their ancestral space, in unfettered Self-Determination, should have at the least
started with the wholesale jettisoning of the Imposed Master-Servant Constitutional Order,
but the wickedness that prevails in Nigeria had not permitted that line of thought since
almost 5 decades. For the East to live, the murderous Nigeria must now die”. – Tony Nnadi
Secretary General of the Lower Niger Congress
1. Introduction
Some years ago, the word “restructuring” was the exclusive lingo of pro-
democracy groups like the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the Pro-
National Conference Organisation (PRONACO), and The Patriots. The leading
individual voices in this call emerged mainly from the southern part of the
country, including the likes of Chief Rotimi Williams, Chief Gani Fawehinmi
and Chief Anthony Enahoro, all of blessed memory. Others included the likes of
Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Prof. Wole Soyinka and Chief Emeka Anyaoku.
However, in more recent times, leaders from the northern part of the country
have increasingly lent their voices to this call. From former vice president,
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who has aired this opinion since around 2012 1, to a
former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa 2, and, most
surprisingly, former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida 3, the call for
restructuring appears to be reaching a tipping point.
Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that the restructuring of the polity is implied in
the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the government has, for
a long time, been silent on the matter and has, very often, drawn the attention of
Nigerians back to the tripod-like policy agenda of President Buhari, namely,
anti-corruption, security, and job creation through diversification. However,
after much evasion, the APC, reluctantly, eventually constituted a ten-member
committee headed by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the current Governor of Kaduna
State, to address the increased agitations for restructuring.4
According to its 2015 election manifesto, the All Peoples’ Congress (APC)
professed desire to restructure the country. It said:
“As a change agent, APC intends to cleanse her closet to halt the dangerous drift of
Nigeria to a failed state, with a conscious plan for a post-oil economy in Nigeria. To
achieve this laudable programme, APC government shall restructure the country,
devolve power to the units with the best practices of federalism and eliminate
unintended paralysis of the centre”.5
The passion and the ferocity with which the Northern Caucus of the Senate
rejected the bill on devolution of powers which is necessary for Atiku’s
relentless call for the restructuring of the nation will appreciate the guts he has
to make such a call, being from the same part of the nation. But is Atiku’s call
for restructuring a threat to the North? I don’t think so. If anything, it is rather a
blessing to it and the entire nation. It will resolve a number of issues:
1. It will put to rest the continuous notion that the north is indigent and has
little or nothing to contribute to the national purse. But is the North truly
indigent? The answer is No! The truth is that the oil revenue which
largely comes from the Niger Delta region has blinded their eyes from
seeing their strengths and endowments and restructuring will be an eye
opener.
2. It will also douse tension in the land by fixing our skewed federal system.
Why do you think the Arewa Youths issued a quit notice to the Igbos
living in the North? Shouldn’t we address the reasons which are sustained
by IPOB by wanting to be granted a referendum in order to take Biafra
out of the commonwealth of Nigeria nation? Like Nnamdi Kanu puts it, if
you consider the quest for secession or self-determination, will you blame
IPOB?
The simplest solution to the Arewa Youth quit notice as well as IPOB’s
quest for self-determination lie with Atiku’s quest and call for
restructuring because it will douse the growing tension in the land. What
Nnamdi Kanu and others had sought for, in my view, is a better structure
where all are equal and not the Animal Kingdom experience (which he
calls a Zoo) where some animals are considered and treated as being
more equal than others. Genuine restructuring will fix that, I suppose.
3. One of the most important benefits of restructuring is Diversification of
the Economy. Once restructured, our economy will know true
diversification. Nigeria is blessed with more than 40 mineral resources
waiting to be tapped. The North and the Middle Belt are richly endowed
with a fair share, if not greater share, but the oil revenues and monies
from the centre have blinded the people and institutions to the real
prospects. They have gold, uranium, diamond and assorted solid minerals
buried beneath the soil. They have man power which when developed
would be a major source of wealth to the region, in addition to being the
food basket of the nation. After all, experts have warned of possible
disappearance of oil as a major economic force even as some advanced
nations have started manufacturing automobiles that would be powered
by electricity in the near future.
Gold is a natural resource deposit mainly found in the Northern part of
Nigeria, West Africa which is prominently located in Iperindo in Osun
State and other areas near Maru, Tsohon Birnin Gwari-Kwaga, Gurmana,
Anka, Malele, Bin Yauri and Okolom-Dogondaji.
Though it’s not dominant in the country, other states with smaller
deposits include; Abia, Abuja, Bauchi, Edo, Cross River, Niger, Sokoto,
Osun, Oyo State, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara.
Taraba State is losing millions of naira to illegal mining of precious
stones on a daily basis. The illegal mining is taking place in three local
government areas – the Nguroje area of the Sarduana local government
area, Yorro and Karim Lamido local government areas of the state. It was
gathered that at the Mayo Sina site in Nguroje, blue sapphire worth over
NGN 100 million is sold to foreigners on a daily basis. This illegal
business has been on for the past six years with the full knowledge of the
authorities. Apart from the gemstone, other deposits of solid minerals
such as tourmaline, topaz, uranium, galena, limestone are yet to be
exploited. Each of the 16 local government areas of the state had deposits
of solid minerals but the government failed to put policy guidelines in
place for its development.
One thing is certain; once the system is restructured, the minds of our
Governors and/or state or regional managers as the case may be, would
be put to work. Internally generated revenue would be better for it and the
space for foreign direct investment (which by the way is going through
unending threat by real or predicted insecurities) and increase our
national earnings which will in turn fix our foreign exchange problems.
But the major question remains: Why is Atiku Abubakar in the frontline of the
vanguard whilst the majority of the northern ruling class are either neutral or
against it?
It would be recalled that in 2010, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) presented a
“Contract to Save and Transform Nigeria” to then President Goodluck Jonathan
which, among other demands, made a case for devolution of powers, called for
a review of the revenue formula, and advocated the convocation of a national
conference towards the creation of a draft constitution that would be adopted
through a referendum. Following the inaction of the government, the group
subsequently convened a Dialogue of the Nobles attended by Donald Duke,
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Dr.
Oby Ezekwesili, and Fola Adeola, among others. As part of a series of
dialogues, in a bid to seek the best of the North and the best of the South as an
alternative to the then incumbent administration, the group also engaged the
major candidates ahead of the 2011 elections in search of commitment to the
restructuring of the nation, among other desirables.6
Amongst the available contenders then, the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) chose Buhari as the presidential flag bearer of the party. And, on January
15, 2011, Buhari invited Pastor Tunde Bakare to be his running mate. Initially,
Bakare declined the offer but later changed his mind to accept it. Bakare’s
eventual acceptance was contingent on the mutual understanding that the
restructuring of Nigeria would be top on the agenda.
This was reflected prominently in the manifesto of the Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC) in which the party promised the initiation of “action to amend
our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to
states and local governments in order to entrench Federalism and the Federal
spirit”. This provision subsequently made its way into the APC manifesto.
In 2014, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) took their demands for restructuring to
the National Conference, where a case was made for a unicameral parliamentary
system of government to reduce the cost of governance, and for a federal
structure comprised of a strong central government with six geopolitical zones
as federating units. In addition, the SNG sponsored a Nigerian Charter for
National Reconciliation and Integration as the basis of our union as a nation, as
against Decree 24 of 1999 by which the current constitution was promulgated.
The conference adopted, after heated debate, a modified presidential system that
would harness the separation of powers inherent in the presidential system,
while guaranteeing the needed cooperation between both arms of government as
intended in the parliamentary system of government. SNG recommended the
selection of the Vice President from the legislature and advocated the
institutionalization of the principle of zoning in the Electoral Act. Furthermore,
the Nigerian Charter for National Reconciliation and Integration was
unanimously adopted.
The nation was very close to the brink of disaster and fortunately, by divine
intervention through the efforts of distinguished Nigerians, the international
community, and through a demonstration of statesmanship unprecedented in
Nigeria’s history, Nigeria scaled through the 2015 elections by a hair’s breadth.
Mindful of our narrow escape and the festering socio-political and economic
challenges, soon after the inauguration of this administration in 2015, the SNG
submitted to Mr. President an extensive document that called for a Presidential
Commission for National Reconciliation, Reintegration and Restructuring
comprised of eminent Nigerians, and guided by the Nigerian Charter for
National Reconciliation and Integration which was adopted by the 2014
National Conference.8
The efforts of the SNG have been inspired by their belief that, as a nation,
Nigerians are better off together and should find acceptable ways to stay
together. According to them, they are driven by an urgent responsibility to find,
within the constitution, pathways to a more perfect union. Having laid this
background they proceeded to further simplify the seemingly complicated but,
indeed, simple concept of restructuring.10
The Conservatives
The Devolutionists
The Secessionists
Let’s now examine these positions and then proceed to present some
prescription on the way forward for Nigeria.
The major proponents of this position include Nigeria’s former president Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo and Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
The Conservatives are generally satisfied with the systems and structures of
governance, current challenges notwithstanding. They generally hold the view
that attitudinal adjustments, not necessarily systemic or structural changes, are
required. The conservatives posited that what Nigerians need is a “restructuring
of the mind” and not the governmental structures.
The economic structure reformists frown at the focus on politics and emphasize
the need to restructure the systems and structures of economic governance, in
order to diversify from an oil-based economy, reduce the size and bureaucracy
of government, and loosen government’s grip on the economy through the
privatization of key sectors while the government simply plays the role of a
facilitator. Proponents include policy and economic experts like Dr. Oby
Ezekwesili, who has said: “We need economic governance as the basis for any
political grouping the country may need”, or, in the words of James Carville,
chief strategist for the Bill Clinton campaign in 1992: “It’s the economy,
stupid.”
Political System Reformists make a case for such constitutional changes that
include a unicameral, rather than a bicameral, legislature to reduce the size of
government. Others prescribe part-time legislature while some make a strong
case for the parliamentary system of government or, as the 2014 National
Conference resolved, a modified parliamentary system.
At the last National Conference, 18 demands for state creation were approved,
taking the possible number of states in the nation to 54. Some advocates are
regionalists deploying multi-state strategies in the quest for equitable allocation
of resources to the respective regions from the centre, including the leaders of
the South-East calling for one more state so each region would have six states
apiece except the North-West, which has seven. The Middle Belt states seeking
regional autonomy from the North-Central also fall into this category. They
recognize that, given the current revenue allocation system, the more states a
region has, the more allocation goes to that region or geopolitical zone. Other
advocates of state creation are motivated by the need to give geographical
expression to ethnic identities.
This is a more radical group that swings between devolution and secession.
They include the Niger Delta activists and militants demanding outright
resource control, which is the exclusive right to regulate the exploitation of
resources in a geographical area. Their clamour simply reminds us that we need
a more pragmatic resource distribution and management system.
The Regional Federalists argue not only that the current system falls short of
true federalism, as the devolutionists point out, but also that the vast majority of
the current 36 states are not viable. Recent reports indicate that Lagos State,
where the commercial activities of Nigeria are concentrated, generates more
internal revenue than 32 states combined.14 This school of thought therefore
makes a case for the integration of states along geopolitical zone-lines to create
economies of scale. A number of options have been thrown up as to possible
number of zones but the six geopolitical zone-formula featuring the North-
West, North-Central, North-East, South-West, South-South and South-East, has
been the most advocated. Proponents envisage a strong central government
catering for matters like defence, foreign affairs and monetary management,
with six strong zone-federating units having concurrent legislative powers in
such matters as policing, mineral resource management, electricity generation,
and transportation. Groups such as Afenifere are inclined in this direction,
taking a cue from the 1963 Constitution.
These are those calling for Biafra Republic, Oduduwa Republic, Arewa
Republic, Ijaw Republic, Ogoni Republic and so on. This is because sectional
identities have survived independence and are still reflected in our social
interactions and intensified by perceptions of marginalization. Decades after the
civil war, we are yet to forge true nationhood and Nigerians still tend to think of
themselves as Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas, Fulanis, Kanuris, Tivs, Idomas, Nupes,
Ijaws, Edos, Urhobos, and so on, within the Nigerian state.
Some of the on-going calls for restructuring are motivated by the aim of finding
geographical expressions for these sociocultural identities. Although we can
compel statehood by show of force, we cannot force true nationhood into
existence. Relationship cannot be legislated; it can only be cultivated.
Nationhood can be built only through good and equitable governance.
Therefore, those asking for the opportunity to negotiate their existence within
the Nigerian state based on their ethnic or cultural identities have a right to do
so, as captured in international legal instruments such as the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Nigeria is a
signatory.
The fundamental question should be: How best do we organize ourselves for
equitable, peaceful and productive coexistence?
3. Pathway to a New Nigeria
Reality denied comes back to haunt. Reality is that Nigeria is NOT working.
The fault-lines are so glaring that denying it makes one a buffoon. Nigeria is a
broken nation – the only country on earth operating two irreconcilable
ideologies (democracy and Islam), a country were corruption and sleaze are
second religion, a country that has enshrined in her constitution tenets of
federalism but operated as a unitary system, a country whose many of the elites
and public servants behave and operate as irresponsible than any other nation
the world over, a country that has been so “iberiberised” that cows are given a
pre-eminent status over and above her citizens, in short, a country that many
now refer to as a “zoo”. From healthcare to education, mismanagement to
corruption, ethno-religious crisis to fulanisation of Nigeria and islamization of
black Africa, etc. The most pathetic person in the world is one who has sight but
no vision.
In spite of the glaring and most conspicuous fault-lines, some individuals have
continued to maintain that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable. Is Nigeria’s unity as
copiously stated and enjoined by some Nigerians not really negotiable? Put
differently, in what important sense is the unity of this artificial creation, with
heterogeneous socio-political background, multi-creed nations called Nigeria,
not negotiable? If the “unity” of Nigeria is not negotiable, is the freedom of her
people negotiable?
President Muhammadu Buhari, upon his return to the nation after his three-
month medical vacation to the UK addressed the nation and reiterated that the
unity of Nigeria is not negotiable. It is a red-line that must not be crossed by any
mortal, living or dead!
The differences and volatility between the North and the South dates back to the
pre-independence days! The North-South dimension of the Nigeria question
was brought, once again, to the fore at the 2014 National Conference, and one
of the participants, Tunde Bakare claimed he saw first-hand the degree of
volatility in the relationship between the North and South of Nigeria. As
delegates convened to seek acceptable solutions to our nation’s structural and
functional problems, they were greeted with a position paper titled ‘Key Issues
Before Northern Delegates.’16
The document, which had been prepared by northern delegates, argued that,
since 1914, the North had contributed more to the national economy than the
South but had received less in terms of budgetary allocations; it also argued that
the North had, over time, sacrificed its interests to allow for a Nigerian state.
The document not only sought to demand more for the North at the expense of
the South, it also pre-emptively attempted to paralyse the position of the South
even before the commencement of deliberations. It sought to condition the
South to negotiate from a position of weakness.
Expectedly, the southern delegates were taken aback and poised to hit back in
reaction against the North. Some had become impatient in the face of the
perceived opposition of the North to progressive proposals from the South and
were already humming separatist tunes 18, but some Southerners were convinced
that was not the best approach.
Pastor Tunde Bakare’s reference to this experience in his narrative of the North-
South dimension of Nigerian Question is because it brought to the fore the
plethora of unresolved issues seething beneath the relationship between the
North and the South like a keg of gunpowder;
“… it brought to the fore the North-South dimension of the Nigeria Question, or what
you may also call the North-South Question; it brought to the fore the frosty relations
between northern and southern Nigeria even before the 1914 amalgamation. The
North-South Question encompasses the unresolved differences and grievances, the
mutual distrust and suspicion, and the power struggles between the two major
geopolitical divisions in the country. It has been a tumultuous quest for an acceptable
basis of coexistence and interaction.”19
Historically, and as Bakare remniscences, the dissonance between the North and
South of Nigeria traces its origin to the southward advance of the Sokoto
Caliphate in the 18th century. Opinion leaders in the South see this southward
advance as a manifestation of an imperialist agenda with a persisting legacy.20
“The North-South trust deficit was further widened prior to and following the
amalgamation as the colonial administration isolated the colonies along sectional
lines, especially the North-South geopolitical lines. When the southern part of Nigeria
began to demonstrate considerable radicalism, the colonial masters became wary of
this influence spreading northward. They therefore deliberately hindered the inflow
of Christian missions and western education to the northern part of the country…”21
Years before becoming prime minister, Tafawa Balewa said while addressing
the Legislative Council in 1948:
“Since 1914, the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one
country, but the Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their
backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs and do not show themselves any
sign of willingness to unite…Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the
country.”23
Furthermore, some years later, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Northern
Region, said:
“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather Uthman
Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in
the North as willing tools and the South as a conquered territory and never allow
them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their future.”24
In the bid to close the developmental gap between the North and South, the
Northern region soon adopted what it called the “Northernization policy.” 30 By
this policy, northerners were given priority consideration for public service
roles. Where there was no qualified northerner, the opportunity would be
extended to an expatriate on a contractual basis. Nigerians from other parts of
the country would only be considered, again on a contractual basis, where no
expatriate could take on the role.31
Another serious tensions and antagonism between and around the North-South
Question was the issue of an acceptable national census for Nigeria. Since the
first census in 1921 all through to the 2006 census, population counting in
Nigeria has always been controversial sometimes resulting in violence.33
The reason is not far-fetched. Population figures determine how many seats
each constituent part gets in a representative government, and they also
determine revenue allocations. More than these, in an ethnically charged
electoral system, they are predictive of election results.
“The ethnic construct of political parties in Nigeria also served to heighten North-
South tensions. Political parties in Nigeria began to take on a sectional undertone
when the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) was formed in 1949. The NPC was
formed in apparent rejection of the avowed nationalist inclination of the pre-existing
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) established by southern
leaders in 1944. This ethnic undertone of political parties set the stage for post-
independence election disputes and political intrigues between the North and the
South. It was against this backdrop of politically motivated mutual suspicion that the
first coup and countercoup were prosecuted. The ensuing violent actions and
reactions around these events climaxed in the Nigerian Civil War that claimed the
lives of many Nigerians.”34
Even after the civil war, the North-South Question remained unresolved. The
resulting military era only perpetuated northern dominance in the political
space. As a result, since independence, although thirteen individuals have
served either as presidents or heads of state, only four of them have been from
the South.
More questions arose with respect to North-South relations when the June 12,
1993 elections were annulled. They became even more complex when, five
years later, General Sani Abacha, who was notorious for clamping down on
mainly southern opposition to his dictatorship, died as Head of State. Matters
became more complicated when the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential
elections, Chief M.K.O. Abiola (GCFR), died a month later.
The North-South Question has been at the heart of every allegation of sectional
interest in federal government policies and programmes; it was at the heart of
the Northern perception of marginalisation during the presidency of President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan;36 it was at the heart of the ultimatum given by certain
northern youth groups to the Igbos to vacate the North by October 2017; 37 it is
at the heart of the outcry over perceived lopsided appointments by President
Muhammadu Buhari;38 it is at the heart of the bickering over revenue allocation;
the demand for resource control; the herder-farmer conflict; and the clamour
for self-determination by various groups in the country, from the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) to the Niger Delta Avengers.
Introduction:
The Meeting of the Nigeria’s Supreme Military Council at Aburi Ghana on the
4 – 5 January, 1967 did make the following observations: 42
Eastern delegate:
As the then military Governor of the eastern region at the time Ojukwu was in
attendance. The FMG delegation arrived, smiling and looking extremely happy
and anxious to pacify their former brother-in-arms Ojukwu. Colonels Adebayo
and Gowon even offered to embrace Ojukwu who appeared still stung by the
terrible massacres of his Igbo kinsmen in northern Nigeria the previous year and
was in no mood to embrace his former colleagues. And as max Siollum
observed, the contrast in the demeanor of the participants was in itself a
microcosm of what took place over the course of the next two days.
“While the federal delegation behaved as if the Aburi conference was a social
gathering to reunite former friends who had fallen out in a social tiff, Ojukwu saw the
conference for what it really was: a historic constitutional debate that would
determine Nigeria’s future social and political structure.”44
Paradoxically and surprisingly too, the Colonels accepted the logic of Ojukwu’s
argument. The problem then (as it still is in Nigeria today) is that Nigeria is so
large, diverse and unwieldy that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to
find a leader who can elicit popularity and a following throughout, or most of
the country. Amazingly too, Gowon accepted Ojukwu’s thesis, but whether he
really understood the constitutional implications of what he was agreeing to, is
another issue.
Gowon was effectively sanctioning measures which would paralyse his own powers.
Lt-Colonel Katsina and Colonel Adebayo also agreed and were attracted to the
concept of regional autonomy. Adebayo agreed so enthusiastically that he advocated
a “repeal [of] those Decrees that were passed after 15th January, 1966 but I think we
should revert to what the country was as at 14th January, 1966, that is regional
autonomy”.47
Furthermore, Ojukwu preferred a titular Head of State that would act only with
the concurrence of the various regional governments: “what I envisage that
whoever is at the top is a constitutional chap – constitutional within the context
of the military government. That is, he is a titular head, but he would only act
where, say when we have met and taken a decision”.48
Ojukwu, having got what he wanted, was not content with the agreement to be
an oral one (even though it had been taped). He insisted that “we must write it
down in our decisions quite categorically that the legislative and executive
authority of the Federal Military Government shall be vested in the Supreme
Military Council because previously it had been vested in the Supreme
Commander”.49
It appeared that the reason for this nuanced request from Ojukwu is that Gowon
was now the Supreme Commander. By vesting official authority in the SMC (of
which Ojukwu was a member) rather than the Supreme Commander Gowon,
Ojukwu could ensure that no official decisions could be taken without his
consent. To signify the limited powers that would be exercised by the Head of
State envisaged, Ojukwu proposed that the diluted phrase “Commander-in-
Chief” should be used to address the Head of State as opposed to “Supreme
Commander” (a phrase signifying immense power). The title “Commander-in-
Chief” has been employed by every Nigerian Head of State subsequent to
Aburi.50
I want to believe that, while the other delegates arrived at Aburi with a simple,
but unformulated idea that somehow, Nigeria must stay together, “Ojukwu was
the only participant who knew what he wanted, and he secured the signatures of
the SMC to documents which would have had the effect of turning Nigeria into
little more than a customs union”.51
The fulcrum of the agreement at Aburi was that each region would be
responsible for its own affairs, and that the FMG would be responsible for
matters that affected the entire country: a simple enough concept. Afterwards
the officers toasted their reconciliation and agreement with champagne.52
Finally, it appeared that no one at Aburi (other than Ojukwu) really understood
the constitutional implications of what had been agreed. Ojukwu was obviously
delighted with this – hence why he was in such a hurry to implement the
decisions taken, and why the Federal Government had to renege on them.53
“Some have argued that Ojukwu took the SMC for a ride by using his superior
intelligence to trap the SMC officers into an agreement they did not understand.
Ojukwu was engaged in a constitutional debate by himself against five military
officers, and two police officers, yet still got his way. He can hardly be faulted for
outwitting opponents that outnumbered him by seven to one. Questions might be
asked of the other SMC members of greater numerical strength who allowed Ojukwu
to extract such substantial concessions from them.”54
The Supreme Military Council subsequently met at Aburi, Ghana, on 4
and 5 January, 1967.
Agreements on the Meeting:
It had been recognized by the Military leaders that the meeting would: 55
What is more? I agree with Max that the debate transcript is sufficiently detailed
to serve as a constitution in waiting. To learn from the debates and mistakes of
the past may ensure a better future for Nigeria. What Nigeria needs is a
“constitutional chap” of the type envisaged by Ojukwu back at Aburi. As
Ojukwu said “It is better that we move slightly apart and survive, it is much
worse that we move closer and perish in the collision.”
1. A single term of six years for the President; the office of President should
rotate among the six geo-political zones of Nigeria;
2. Regional system of government;
3. Constitutional review: Ndigbo demands a new people-oriented
Constitution for Nigeria. Under this, there should be a Constitutional
Conference backed by a law enacted by the National Assembly where the
people of Nigeria would agree on a new, truly federal Constitution;
4. Advocate for a presidential system of government, under which the
various regions should determine the type of government to operate at
that level;
5. Five Vice-Presidents, one from each of the geo-political zones or
Regions, except the Region or zone of the President and each also to
serve for a fixed term of six years. Each of the five Vice-Presidents will
be assigned supervisory responsibility over two or more ministries such
as Defence, Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Infrastructure and
Works, so as to give every zone a sense of belonging and a strong voice
in major decision making;
6. Six regional governments, each comprising the current states within each
zone and other states that might be enshrined in the constitution as the
basis for sharing national political, economic and social amenities, offices
and opportunities in an equitable manner among the zones;
7. Ndigbo demand that Nigeria give effect to the recommendation of the
2014 National Conference which states that “in the spirit of
reconciliation, equity, fair play and justice, there shall be created an
additional state for the South East zone; and all other requests for state
creation shall be considered on merit. One additional state in the South
East should be irreducible minimum. But the states remain the basis for
sharing resources and opportunities in Nigeria, we demand an equal
number of states per geo-political zone or region
8. Ndigbo advocate that Local Governments should be scrapped from the
Constitution of the Federation and should be in the exclusive list of the
Regional/State Constitution;
9. Whether the Regions or States become the federating units, and whether
or not equal numbers of states created in each zone, Ndigbo demand that
equality of the six geopolitical zones should be enshrined in the
Constitution. Politically, representation at the federal cabinet as well as
the twin chambers of the federal legislature should be based on equality
of zones or regions. Furthermore, sharing of revenues, distribution of
infrastructures by the Federal Government, and federal character
principles will be applied on the basis of equality of zones;
10.The concept of state of origin should be scrapped from the Constitution of
the Federation and replaced with state of residence. As an alternative,
minimum residency and civic rights and responsibilities should include
that any child born of Nigerian parents anywhere in Nigeria will acquire
the indigene-ship rights of the area at birth, any Nigeria citizen who has
resided in any part of Nigeria and paid taxes there for a period of ten
years can acquire the indigene-ship rights of the area, except for the right
to their traditional stool;
11.There should be a two or three-tier police structure with defined
responsibilities namely, a Police Force for the Federation and controlled
by the Federal Government, and the Regional/State Constitutions to
establish separate Police Forces for each region and each state. The Police
Force at every level will be headed by a non-partisan professional. The
power to appoint and remove such a head of police will be vested in an
independent body;
12.There should be a truly federal system that given control of resources to
the component units and replaces the current system of unconditional
transfers with conditional transfers from the centre. States should have
control over all the natural resources within their territory. Fiscal
federalism presupposes the revocation of the Land Use Act of 1978, the
Solid Minerals Act, as well as the various Petroleum/Gas Acts and
amendments since 1969. The right of ownership, control and exploitation
of these and other assets should be returned to the states and/or federating
units;
13.The taxation powers of the various tiers of government should be
reviewed to give the federating units greater flexibility and scope to
generate revenue internally. States within the federating units should
collect and keep 50% of rents, royalties and profit taxes on minerals
derived from their states; pay 20% to the Regional Government, and 30%
to the Federal Government; provided that each tier of government will
save at least 5% of the receipts from natural/mineral resources as Future
Generation Fund;
14.The Federal Government should set aside 40% of revenue collected from
the states/regions as a Distributable Pool Account (DPA). The balance of
60% plus 60% of its own independent revenues such as customs duties,
federal VAT, federal income tax, etc. will be deployed to its diminished
responsibilities. The sharing of DPA should be equitable and should
replace the present unconditional revenue allocation to the states and
local governments;
15.Nigeria must maintain an appropriate balance between merit and
affirmative action in the conduct of natural and regional/state affairs, and
the distribution of appointments, amenities, opportunities, and privileges
among constituent parts. For example, while 60% should be resolved for
merit, 40% could be reserved to ensure federal character principle or
affirmation. The Federal Character Commission should be replaced with
Merit and Equal Opportunities Commission;
16.Elections into the office of the President and the Federal Legislature
should be conducted by the electoral bodies set up by the Regional/State
Constitution or laws.
On the Economic development, Ohanaeze Ndigbo will assist the full realization
of “Enyimba Economic City” Aba, the revamp of Enugu coal mine,
resuscitation of Port Harcourt – Maiduguri railways with rail links and
connections with all igbo state capitals and commercial cities especially
Onitsha-owerri-Aba link, the new leadership lauds President Muhammadu
Buhari’s developmental strides in Southeast especially upgrading of Akanu
ibiam international airport Enugu and approval of Ebonyi state international
airport, the reopening of Onitsha dry seaport after 47 years and establishment of
another seaport in akwaete in Ukwa west 15km to Atlantic ocean, the new
leadership demand from President Muhammadu Buhari an additional state for
the Southeast.58
It is the contention of the Ohaneze that on the 2023 general elections, Nigerian
President of Igbo extraction will heal all wounds, all marginalization, all
aggression and more evidently rejig Nigeria to regain her rightful position
amongst the comity of World’s Superpowers as the engine room of Africa’s
Superpower. Ohaneze, therefore, urge all political parties to adopt Igbo as their
flag bearers in the 2023 Presidential elections.59
However, it is apposite to point out that the majority of the Igbos especially the
youths distanced themselves from anything Nigeria. All they want is
referendum to decide whether or not to remain in the so-called united Nigeria or
have the opportunity to decide their own destiny in another independent
political enclave called Biafra. Years of consistent and progressive
marginalisation of the people in every department of national life, coupled with
the feelings of being unwanted in Nigeria project and fatally wounded by the
strong feelings and fear of being “fulanized” and ultimately “islamized”, most
Igbos are opting for secession as against restructuring. According to them, it is
too late to restructure Nigeria. They have no trust in the behind the scene drivers
of Nigeria’s destiny.
It is against this background that I decide to state the minds and opinion of the
majority of the Igbos as recapitulated and encapsulated in write-up done by Dr.
Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya, titled, “Analysing/Deconstructing Ohaneze
Ndigbo’s so-called Igbo Position on Restructuring the Nigerian Federation”.
According to Dr. Clifford, what Ohanaeze hid from the public was the common
threads that ran through these two declarations – Ohanaeze made reference to
two outstanding declarations namely; (i) Ibadan Declaration of September 7,
2017 and (ii) Uturu Communique of World Igbo Summit of October 30th, 2016
and they are61;
According to Dr. Clifford, Ohanaeze Ndigbo does not speak for the Igbos and
was never empowered or authorized to do so by either the generality of the
Igbos or any of the various Igbo-centric organizations. The world must know
that Ohanaeze Ndigbo by its charter, organizational structure, and raison d’être,
is a voluntary Igbo-centric socio-cultural organization which was registered by
the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria in 1976 and its membership is
optional for any Igbo-speaking person.62
According to some aggrieved Igbos, Ohanaeze is a voluntary organization that
does not have the mandate of the Igbos to speak on their behalf and there is
nowhere in any Laws of Nigeria, Federal and State, where Ohanaeze is
mandated to be the mouthpiece of the Igbos.
According to Dr. Clifford and others who shared his views on the so-called
Ekwueme Square Declaration, Ohanaeze Ndigbo got it wrong on the following
points;
2) They went further to state that Igbos do not want a Constitutional Conference
but outright exit from Nigeria. The first order of business in any socio-political
discourse pertaining to Nigeria is the rejection and repudiation of the fraudulent
and now-disputed 1999 Constitution. It is laughable and confusing as well that
Ohanaeze is calling for a new Constitution on the one hand but on the other
hand, it is subjecting the new Constitution to ratification by a National
Assembly. The question is: How will this National Assembly come into place to
ratify the new Constitution? Or is it the National Assembly that will be there
courtesy of the current fraudulent 1999 Constitution? A Constitution is made by
the people and ratified by the people and not ratified by a National Assembly
put in place by a disputed and rejected Constitution.64
Opposition finally submitted that Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s summit and the document
generated therefrom fell short of the expectations of the Igbos.
According to speakers at the summit who took turns to submit that Nigeria,
having experienced military and civil administration with no meaningful
development for its people, needed to be steered away from a unitary political
arrangement that had stifled progress and development.
The meeting tagged: ‘Yoruba Summit’ attracted South-West leaders, governors,
former governors, traditional rulers, parliamentarians, Yoruba socio-cultural
groups, professional bodies, market leaders, youth groups and friends of the
Yoruba race.
Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, Chairman of the summit, in his opening remarks,
asserted that restructuring of Nigeria would curb the over concentration of
power at the centre.
According to him, Nigeria witnessed its greatest and fastest economic, political
and educational development during the self-government and the First
Republic.70
“Each of the regions was fairly autonomous and could legislate over a
number of items which have today been taken over by the Federal
Government.
“None of the constitutions fashioned out by the military reflects the ideals
which informed the making of the 1954, 1960 and 1963 Constitutions.
What the military did to those constitutions weaken the component states,
destroy or impair their power to develop and sustain themselves.
“It is therefore correct to state that the military and their civilian apologist
either by design of by accident have planted the seeds of national
disintegration and disharmony,” Babalola said.
His continued71:
“The agitation for secession is an ill wind that does no good. No matter
the motive of the conveners of Berlin Conference, we have lived together
for over 100 years having been married by fiat of the Europeans.
“It is better to dialogue and restructure the country. No woman wants
dissolution of a marriage if the parties live in comfort and are prosperous.
It is incumbent on the leaders to make the country so prosperous that
nobody would agitate for secession.’’
A senior advocate of Nigeria, Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, moved a motion for
the adoption of the communique, which was unanimously adopted by those
present at the event.73 (See Ibadan Declaration on Restructuring Nigeria titled:
“Yoruba Nation Unify Position On Restructuring, Demand A Return To
Regionalism” Yoruba Agenda summit held in Ibadan, by Yoruba leaders in the
South-west region that converged on the Adamansingba Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo
State.)
However, there have been many groups among the Yorubas agitating for Odua
Republic, insisting that restructuring the country is rather too late.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the apex socio-cultural organization for
Northern Nigeria, has kicked against calls by senators and governors from the
South, for restructuring of the country, state police and ban on open grazing.
Their main argument was that some of those calling for restructuring are also
championing the call for disintegration of the country.
(7) The Road to Freedom - Movement for New/No Nigeria (MNN) &
Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination
(NINAS)
If you are trapped or enslaved, in order to get your freedom you first must have
a plan and devise your escape route. The indigenous people of Nigeria have
been trapped up in a Union that produces retardation (backwardness),
corruption, terrorism, fear, and a system that is Apartheid in nature, favouring
some over others, and breeding mediocrity in all things. We have had enough of
it! We want to live free, able to control our lives and our future. MNN-NINAS
are that road to freedom.
MNN is the Movement for New/(No) Nigeria that is, an Alliance comprising of
Middle Belt Congress (MBC), Ilana Omo Oodua (IOO – the Yoruba), and
Lower Niger Congress (LNC). Although each work in individual Blocs, they
come together as the MNN Alliance. It is this MNN Alliance that is the
custodian of our Strategy, the pathway for us to achieve self-determination and
independence, that is: FREEDOM! 74
NINAS stands for the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-
determination. This is the joint multi-ethnic Alliance of the indigenous
PEOPLES that comprise the MNN Alliance territory. That is, the indigenous
PEOPLES of Middle Belt, Oodua and Lower Niger Blocs, in Alliance.
From 1999, the MNN Alliance identified the Mechanisms that keep us
enslaved, the Imposed 1999 Constitution being chief amongst the Mechanisms
and the Alliance’s Strategy is a non-violent, internationally acceptable means to
remove those Mechanisms. It includes Self-determination for each of the
indigenous ethnic nationalities in our Alliance Territory, thus NINAS (as
explained above).75
Freedom from Nigeria is a community and community action for NINAS and
our international friends, seeking freedom from all that Nigeria represents,
through Self-determination for the indigenous ethnic nationalities in our
Alliance.
The Road to Freedom has already been worked out for us by MNN Alliance.
People who are enslaved and entrapped have a duty to themselves and their
children, to get involved in their own rescue. Such work cannot be left to others
to do while we lie back and watch. There is work to do. There is rising of
awareness to do. Like everything in life, this all needs money too, so we
ourselves must be prepared to fund our own rescue. Our children are relying on
us to prepare a good future for them. So we must act as if we love them.
NOTE: Although these are general words in English vocabulary, here we define
them specifically as they apply to Nigeria, and to the Nigerian context.
Ethnic Nationalities: United Nations provides the basis upon which ethnic
groups are identified by ethnic nationality distinct from citizenship or country of
legal nationality but race, colour, language, religion, customs of dress or eating,
tribe, or various combinations of these characteristics.
In the context of Nigeria, the MNN/NINAS have defined 4 ethnic nationalities:
Sharia North, Yoruba, Middle Belt and Lower Niger.
Force Majeure: a legal term for when something unusual happens that prevents
a contract from being honoured. In the context of the 1999 Nigerian
Constitution, the changes made to the 1963 Constitution that took away the
autonomy of the regions and their self-governance was not made by the will of
the people but by military decree and so is not for the people by the people and
so fraudulent and not binding. Another example is when Arewa took up Islamic
Sharia in a Union supposed to be a secular one, it means the social
contract/Constitution got broken, and so can no longer be kept.
REFERENCES
“If we have a faith worth living for, it is a faith worth dying for. Don’t YOUcompromise the
faith that WE are living and dying for” – Arch Bishop Ben Kwashi
1. Background Studies
For individuals, groups and states, the use of terror or violence has served, is
serving different purposes. In a fundamental sense, terrorism or the use of terror
is not entirely a new phenomenon. The impact of terrorism reverberates in
almost all nooks and crannies of the earth. Ironically, efforts geared towards
curbing terrorism and terror open new vistas.
The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Nigeria has arisen; it’s rising with little
or no sign of abetting. It suffices that one of the greatest security challenges
facing Nigeria is acts of terrorism perpetrated by the Boko Haram and the
Fulani herders.1
Between 2003 and 2004, this terrorist group received very little attention from
local and international media and scholars, even when it intermittently launched
loosely coordinated hit-and-run attacks on police posts in remote parts of Borno
and Yobe states, north-eastern Nigeria.
In July 2009, Boko Haram terrorist group received world attention when it
staged a violent anti-government uprising that killed over 800 people including
civilians, group’s members, and security personnel. The revolt attracted one of
the heaviest and ruthless security crackdowns in Nigerian history.
“The five-day revolt ended only when BH’s charismatic leader, Mohammed Yusuf,
was captured and subsequently executed by the police while in custody. The events
that occurred in 2009 are important for understanding the current phase of BH,
particularly the cause of its grievance against the Nigerian government. The group
felt that the killing of Yusuf under police custody was unjust and extrajudicial, and
vied to avenge the death of their leader and other members who perished through
police shooting during the 2009 uprising. To this end, over the past years, the group’s
tactics have evolved from poorly planned open confrontations with state security
forces to increasing use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), targeted
assassinations, ambush, drive-by shootings and suicide bombings.”3
Boko Haram attacks have focused mainly on security and law enforcement
agents – police, soldiers, civil defence and prison warders, among others.
Civilians, critical public infrastructure, community and religious leaders,
politicians, centres of worship, markets, public schools, hospitals, tertiary
institutions, media houses and other civilian targets that have nothing to do with
the government have also been targeted. Although Boko Haram insurgency
started as a national crisis, it however gained international character due to four
important developments:4
First, the alleged declaration in March 2010 by the Boko Haram, that it is
joining Al Qaeda to avenge the murder of some of its members and leaders in
a series of explosions across Nigeria.
Second, the suicide attack at the United Nations building in Abuja, on 26
August 2011, demonstrated its tendency to target foreign interests in Nigeria.
Third, the designation of three of its leaders – Abubakar Shekau, Abubakar
Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi – as global terrorists by the US State
Department on 21 June 2012, representing the international dimension of the
group.
Fourth, the 19 February 2013 kidnapping of seven members of a French
family – Moulin-Fournier family – in Dabanga, northern Cameroon, by the
BH.
Controversy dog the exact date of BH emergence. The historical root of the BH,
though not completely exclusive, could be traced to three major contending
accounts:5
2000
2001
September 7–17 – 2001 Jos riots – nearly 1,000 people are killed
following sectarian rioting between Christians and Muslims in Jos, Plateau
State.
2002
November 20–23 – Miss World riots – around 250 are killed during
rioting by Islamists across northern Nigeria as a response to an article
deemed blasphemous.
2004
2008
November 28–29 – 2008 Jos riots – 381 people are killed in sectarian
rioting between Christians and Muslims in Jos.
2010
January 17 – March 7 – 2010 Jos riots – around 992 people are killed in
sectarian rioting between Christians and Muslims in Jos.
Timeline of the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria
2009
July 26–29 – 2009 Boko Haram uprising – nearly 1,000 people are killed
in clashes between Boko Haram militants and Nigerian soldiers in four
locations in the north of the country – Bauchi in Bauchi State, Maiduguri in
Borno State, Potiskum in Yobe State and Wudil in Kano State – beginning
the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
2010
September 7 – Bauchi prison break – 5 people are killed and 721 inmates
are freed from prison in Bauchi by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.
December 29 – Boko Haram killed three police officers and two civilians
in Maiduguri.
2011
August 19 – Boko Haram attack in Maiduguri killed three police and one
civilian.
November 4 – 2011 Damaturu attacks – between 100 and 150 people are
killed in a series of coordinated assaults in northern Nigeria.
December 17 – Boko Haram battled with the police in Kano killing three
police and four militants.
2012
During 2012, 792 people were killed as a result of the Boko Haram
insurgency.
January
January 9 – Boko Haram killed four police officers and four civilian in
Potiskum.
January 20 – January 2012 Northern Nigeria attacks, 183 people, of
whom at least 150 are civilians and 32 are police officers, are killed in Kano
State by Boko Haram gunmen.
February
April
June
July
August
August 5 – Boko haram killed six soldiers and two civilian in a suicide
bombing of a convoy in Damaturu.
August 8 – Two Nigerian soldiers and one civilian are killed in a mosque
in an apparent reprisal attack for yesterday's massacre.
September
October
November
2013
January
February
March
April
April 16 – 2013 Baga massacre – 187 people are killed in Baga in Borno
State. It is unclear whether the Nigerian military or Boko Haram is
responsible for the massacre.
May
June
June – 9 children are killed in Maiduguri and 13 students and teachers are
killed in Damaturu by Boko Haram.
June 30 – Ondo prison break – 2 people are killed and 121 inmates escape
following a prison break in Ondo State. Claims that Boko Haram took part in
the attack are dispelled.
July
July 6 – Yobe State school shooting – more than 42 are killed by Boko
Haram gunmen in a Yobe State school. Boko Haram also attacked a police
station and a bank in the town of Karim Lamido killing three police officers.
July 27 – 20 people were killed by Boko Haram in the town of Baga.
August
August 4–5 – Boko Haram attacked military base in the town of Malam
Fatori and a police station in the town of Bama. The attack left 32 terrorists,
Two soldiers, and one police officer dead.
September
October
October 5 – The Nigerian military and Boko haram battled in the city of
Damboa killing 20 people.
October – Government forces raid rebel camps, killing around 101 Boko
Haram fighters.
October 29 – Boko Haram raids Damaturu. At least 128 people are killed
(95 militants, 23 soldiers, 8 policemen, and 2 civilians).
November
December
December 2 – Boko Haram attacked several military bases in Maiduguri
killed several people.
2014
January
February
February 15 – Izghe attack – 106 killed the village of Izghe, Borno State
by Boko Haram gunmen.
April
May
May 5 – 2014 Gamboru Ngala attack – at least 300 people are killed in
the twin towns of Gamboru and Ngala in Borno State by Boko Haram
militants.
May 20 – 2014 Jos bombings – at least 118 villagers are killed by car
bombs in the city of Jos.
June
June 23–25 – June 2014 central Nigeria attacks – around 171 people are
killed in a series of attacks in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.
June 26 – Over 100 militants are killed by the Nigerian military during a
raid on two Boko Haram camps.
July
September
October
November
December
December 6 – Minna prison break, 270 prisoners are freed from a prison
in Minna. Boko Haram is not suspected to be involved in the attack.
December 11–30 people are killed and houses are destroyed by Boko
Haram militants in Gajiganna, Borno State.
2015
January
January 3 – Fleeing villagers from a remote part of the Borno State report
that Boko Haram had three days prior kidnapped around 40 boys and young
men.
January 5 – News emerges that two days prior hundreds of Boko Haram
militants had overrun several towns in northeast Nigeria and captured the
military base in Baga.
January 11 – More female suicide bombers, this time two, and again each
believed to be around 10 years old, kill themselves and three others at a
market in the northeastern city of Potiskum, Nigeria.
January 18 – Boko Haram militants kidnap 80 people and kill three others
from villages in north Cameroon.
February
February 1 – Boko Haram again attacks the capital city of Borno State,
Maiduguri. This time, the city is attacked from four out of the five sides. The
attack is unsuccessful, but many civilians inside the city panic. Also, a
suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber kills himself and eight others at the
residence of a politician in Potiskum. Another suicide bomber kills five
people outside a mosque in Gombe.
February 2 – A female suicide bomber attacks minutes after the President
of Nigeria leaves an election rally in the city of Gombe resulting in at least
one death and eighteen people injured.
February 6 – 2015 Niger raid – Boko Haram forces launch raids on the
towns of Bosso and Diffa, both in Niger, marking the first time that the
group has attacked the country. The Chadian military assists the Nigerien
Armed Forces in repelling the attack. 5 Nigeriens are killed while the
government claims 109 Boko Haram militants are killed as well.
February 7 – Nigeria postpones its general election for six weeks to allow
its armed forces to control parts of the country currently controlled by Boko
Haram.
February 13 – Boko Haram militants attack Chad for the first time after
30 fighters crossed Lake Chad in four motorboats and attacked the village of
Ngouboua. Chad recently joined Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon in a military
coalition against Boko Haram.
March
March 7 – Five suicide bomb blasts leave 54 dead and 143 wounded in
Maiduguri. After the explosions, Boko Haram formally declares allegiance
to Islamic State.
March 7 – Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
March 8 – Forces from Niger and Chad launch a ground and air offensive
against Boko Haram Islamist militants in northeastern Nigeria.
March 17 – The Nigerian military reclaims the small city of Bama from
Boko Haram.
April
May
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June
June 12 – Several days of nighttime raids on six remote villages that left
at least 37 people dead in Northeastern Nigeria.
June 17 – Chad bans burqas and tinted cars – Chad has banned people
from wearing the full-face veil, following two suicide bomb attacks on
Monday. They also banned vehicles with tinted windows.
July
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July 1–2 – July 2015 Kukawa massacre – Boko Haram militants attacked
mosques between July 1 and 2. Forty-eight men and boys were killed on the
1st at one mosque in Kukawa. Seventeen were wounded in the attack.
Ninety-seven others, mostly men, were killed in numerous mosques on the
2nd, with a number of women and young girls killed in their homes. An
unknown number were wounded.
July 6 – 5 July 2015 Nigeria attacks – Two bomb attacks in Jos left at
least 44 people dead.
August
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September
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October
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November
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December
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2016
January
29 January –
31 January –
February
9 February –
19 February – Two suicide bombers kill at least 24 people and injure 112
others at a market in northern Cameroon.
March
March – Three female suicide bombers killed 22 people and injured 18 in
Umarari Village, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Borno State.
26 March – At least four people were killed during a Boko Haram raid in
the remote village of Tumpun near Lassa in Askira/Uba Local Government
Area.
30 March – Six soldiers of the Niger Armed Forces were killed and three
others wounded in southeastern Niger in an attack attributed to Boko Haram.
April
5 April –
In an attack in Izige, Nigeria, Boko Haram killed three soldiers and two
vigilante members, but were subsequently forced to retreat by the military.
May
June
6 June – ten fisherman are cut down by Boko Haram in Darak, Cameroon
June – At least 4 females were killed and several abducted after many
Boko Haram militants attacked a village. Some sources say the number of
those kidnapped is four. Many houses were burned down and shot at.
Vigilantes followed the attackers and rescued one of the kidnapped after a
gun battle. A vigilante was injured in Kau-Tuva, Nigeria.
June –
At least 24 people were killed and at least 10 injured after Boko Haram
militants attacked a funeral in Kuda, Nigeria
July
4 July – Two people were injured when Nigerian troops shot and killed
three female suicide bombers who were targeting internally displaced
persons in northern Nigeria. The injuries came as a result of one of the
suicide bomber's vest exploding.[152]
8 July – At least 9 people were killed and "dozens" injured after a suicide
bombing attack on a Mosque in Borno. There was also a second suicide
bombing at another Mosque.
9 July – Boko Haram militants raided a town with guns and explosives,
killing 7 people and damaging buildings.
August
21 August –
August – A land mine planted by Islamist group Boko Haram killed four
Chadian soldiers on patrol near Chad's border with Niger on Saturday,
security sources said.
September
September – The Nigerian army has dispelled reports that 8 people were
killed in an attack by Boko Haram fighters in Borno state.
September –
Four soldiers and civilian JTF members died in Borno towns of Miyanti
and Dareljamal in Kaduna State after an ambush on the army by the
insurgents.
Boko Haram members attacked a Chad National Army position near the
border with Niger. They killed four soldiers and injured six others. Seven
terrorist were killed too.
September –
The Nigerian Army has suffered fresh setbacks in the fight against
terrorists and gunmen with several soldiers and support staff killed during
separate incidents in Borno and Kaduna States.
October
November
1 November – Nine civilians were killed when a car bomb exploded near
a military checkpoint in Northern Nigeria in Gubio.
4 people have died and 6 others injured after 2 suicide bombers exploded
an improvised explosive device in Maiduguri.
At least five Nigerien soldiers were killed and three others injured in a
terrorist attack in Banibagou, Niger.
Two civilians were killed, three soldiers injured and 100 houses were set
on fire when Boko Haram fighters raided a village in Far North Region, in
Cameroon.
16 November – One other soldier died and eight others were injured in
the Boko Haram ambush that led to the death of B.U. Umar, a lieutenant
colonel.
2017
January
14 January –
21 January – Boko Haram killed two soldiers and wounded seven others
in an attack on a military base in southeast Niger.
25 January –
A suicide bomb attack Borno killed three and wounded two others.
A man was killed and three others injured in a Boko Haram attack in
Fotokol, Far North Region, Cameroon.
February
7 February –
Two attempted suicide attack were foiled. The two attackers were
arrested.
11 February –
Boko Haram invaded a village in Borno State and set ablaze dozens of
residential houses and a man suspected to be trapped in the attack.
March
April
May
5 May –
13 May – One person was killed and another injured by suicide bombers
at the University of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria.
May – At least 7 people are dead and more than 40 injured from gunshots
in separate attacks by Boko haram militant group rampaging within recently
liberated Borno communities.
June
2 June – 4 people are dead after two suicide bombers attacked a camp for
those displaced by Boko Haram extremist violence in the region.
8 June – At least fourteen persons were killed and 24 were injured as
Boko Haram suicide bombers staged multiple attacks targeting mosques
where Muslim worshippers were praying. The attack occurred while soldiers
were trying to repel another group of Boko Haram fighters, who were trying
to invade the city.
9 June –
Two teenagers were killed, all boys, and three others injured when a
bomb concealed in a polythene bag exploded.
10 June – Ten members of the Nigerian jihadist group raided the village
of Hambagba, near Gwoza, on the Cameroon border, kidnapping six people
and killing four others.
14 June – Boko Haram raided the villages of Komdi and Tuyan, near
Chibok, kidnapping six people and killing ten others.
June – At least 12 people have died and 11 others have been wounded in
attacks by five suicide women in the Nigerian state of Borno, in the northeast
of the country.
June – Suspected Boko Haram militants killed two people and wounded
six others in an ambush on a police convoy in northeast Nigeria's Borno
state.
29 June – Suicide bombers killed two people and wounded ten others in
two blasts in a refugee camp near the city of Diffa, in Niger.
30 June – A civilian was killed when two Boko Haram suicide bombers
blew themselves up in the city of Kerawa, in Niger.
July
1 July – A civilian was killed when four Boko Haram suicide bombers
blew themselves up in the city of Mora, in Cameroon.
3 July –
Boko Haram Islamist militants killed nine people and abducted dozens
more in southern Niger.
11 July –
Four Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 19 people and injured 23 in the
northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri.
17 July – Three Boko Haram female suicide bombers killed 8 people and
injured 15 in the city of Maiduguri, in Borno State.
July – At least eight people are dead after female suicide bombers
attacked two displaced persons camps in Maiduguri.
26 July –
Two gendarmes were killed and several others injured during a Boko
Haram attack in the Far North Region near the Nigerian border.
28 July – One civilian and four Boko Haram terrorists have been killed in
a bomb attack in Meme.
29 July – 14 people were killed and 15 others were injured when two
suicide bombers blew up themselves in Dikwa, Nigeria.
August
4 August – Three suicide bombers detonated explosives at the Simari area
of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, killing themselves and wounding two
members of the civilian joint task force.
13 August –
Boko Haram gunmen have killed four people and torched homes in a
night time raid on a village in restive north-eastern Nigeria.
Two tractor drivers were killed by Boko Haram insurgents in Jere Local
Government Area of Borno.
August –
A least four people died and eight others were injured when two terrorists
attacked Maiduguri.
30 August – A person was killed, two others were injured and nine were
kidnapped in coordinated attacks carried out by Boko Haram militants.
September
3 September – Boko Haram insurgents attacked an IDP camp in Borno
State, killing eleven people and injuring three persons while also kidnaping
four before fleeing. The attackers used swords and sharp knives to carry out
the acts.
8 September –
At least seven people were killed when Boko Haram jihadists attacked a
camp for people displaced by the conflict in northeast Nigeria.
September – A female suicide bomber killed five people when she blew
herself up in a mosque in northeast Nigeria. Three other worshippers were
injured in the attack.
October
October – A suicide bomber kills 13 people and injures five others in the
northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. According to the police, 13 more
civilians were injured in separate attacks.
30 October –
Four people, including a mother and her two children, were killed and
nine others were injured when a vehicle hit a mine planted by Boko Haram
terrorists in Banki, Nigeria.
November
1 November – Six people were killed and two wounded by a Boko Haram
suicide attack on a mosque in the village of Zamga.
15 November – At least ten people have been killed and dozens injured in
a suicide attack in a popular market in Maiduguri.
December
11 December – Two civilians and the bomber were killed when suicide
bombing attacked a mosque after morning prayers in far northern Cameroon.
2018
January
8 January –
11 January –
Four people were killed and two others kidnapped in separate overnight
attacks in the far north of Cameroon. Another one was wounded.
15 January –
Six people were killed by gunmen who also abducted five girls who
joined the loggers to collect firewood from the Jinene woods.
Five people, including two suspected fighters of the terror group Boko
Haram, were killed in an attack near Nigeria's north-eastern town of
Madagali. Two others were critically injured.
16 January – At least two civilians were killed and a dozen others injured
in a suicide attack near a mosque in the Far North Region.
17 January –
Two suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 12 people and injured
65 others in an attack in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri.
January – At least three people were killed when Boko Haram attacked
the Hyambula village in northeast Adamawa state. Five others were injured
in the attack.
January – At least two soldiers were killed overnight while fighting off an
attack by suspected Boko Haram jihadists in southeast Niger.
February
4 February –
Six people were killed and two others injured in the Cameroonian town of
Hitawa (Far North), following an attack by Boko Haram.
20 February – At least six people were killed and five others injured in a
Boko Haram attack in the department of Mayo Tsanaga in Cameroon's Far
North region.
27 February – Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded when a
suicide bomber drove into their patrol vehicle in the Lake Chad region of
Nigeria.
March
1 March –
5 March –
Insurgents attacked two farmers on their farm and slit their throats in the
village of Gudda in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno state.
6 March –
Four loggers were killed when they stepped on a landmine left by Boko
Haram near Dikwa, 90 km east of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
March – At least five people, including four suicide bombers, were killed
and 13 others injured when terrorists attacked Muna Zawuya in the Mafa
Local Government Area of Borno state.
April
1 April –
Terrorists attacked a village in the town of Limani near the border with
Nigeria in northern Cameroon, killing one person and burning several huts.
22 April – Boko Haram jihadists shot dead 18 forest workers who had
been collecting firewood in Borno State, near the town of Gamboru, on the
border with Cameroon. In another incident, a vehicle carrying civilians
travelling in a nearby army convoy hit a mine placed by insurgents, killing
three people and wounding eleven others near the village of Wumbi.
May
3 May –
At least four people were killed and nine others injured when four suicide
bombers attacked Mainari Shuwa and neighbouring Mainari Kanuri in the
Konduga local government area of Borno state.
At least twenty huts were set on fire and a man was killed in the Mayo-
Sava department in the Far North region of Cameroon.
5 May – At least 12 people were killed, while 20 others were injured
when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque in
Mabanda in the Far North region of Cameroon.
May – At least three people were killed and seven others injured when
two suicide bombers attacked a community in the Konduga Local
government area in the state of Borno in Nigeria.
June–December
4 June – Three suicide bombers, two women and a man blew themselves
up in Diffa in southeast Niger. The first explosion took place near a mosque,
the second near a Koran school and the third not far from a business centre.
Nine people were killed and 38 others injured in the attacks.
11 June – At least two people were killed and four others injured when a
Boko Haram suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the city of
Maiduguri in the Nigerian state of Borno.
13 June – A trader was killed by Boko Haram terrorists armed with
machetes and firearms in the village of Alhadjiri in the department of Mayo-
Sava in Cameroon's Far North region.
16 June –
At least 43 people were killed and 84 others injured when six female
suicide bombers detonated their explosives in the Damboa local government
area in the Nigerian state of Borno.
18 June – Boko Haram militants killed nine soldiers and wounded two
others when they attacked the town of Gajiram, headquarters of the local
government of Nganzai in northeastern Nigeria.
20 June – Fifteen people were injured when two suicide bombers attacked
military barracks in the city of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria.
26 June –
At least seven people were killed while dozens sustained injuries when
Boko Haram militants attacked them at a village in the local government
area of Damboa in the Nigerian state of Borno.
June – Boko Haram jihadists killed four people and injured four others
during an attack on a camp for displaced civilians in Banki in the local
government area of Bama in Borno State, Nigeria. Two terrorists were also
killed in the fight and the others fled. Later, two soldiers were wounded
when their patrol vehicle hit a landmine planted by the fleeing jihadists in
the village of Freetown, nine kilometers away.
2019
19 July – Six aid workers were kidnapped and a driver killed when
militants stopped their vehicle in northeast Nigeria.
August – ISWAP insurgents killed eight soldiers in the Gasarwa area near
Lake Chad in Borno State.
13 December – ISWAP executed four of the six aid workers it has held
hostage since capturing them in July. A fifth had been executed in
September, while only one Action Against Hunger staff member remains
alive.
2020
3 January – Local sources reported that 50 people may have been killed
in an attack by Boko Haram on an island in Lake Chad in late December.
7 January – Twenty soldiers were killed and more than 1,000 people
displaced when a town in Borno State, Nigeria, was attacked by ISWAP
militants.
16 January – Three aid workers and other civilians who were kidnapped
on December 22 in northeast Nigeria were released by an unspecified
militant group.
4 March – Four police officers and two militiamen were killed by Boko
Haram militants during a raid on an army base in Damboa, Borno State,
Nigeria.
5 April – Two Boko Haram suicide bombers killed seven civilians and
themselves in Amchide, Far North Region, Cameroon.
6 April – MNJTF troops attacked Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region
killing 19 terrorists.
9 April – President Idriss Déby of Chad said his country's troops will no
longer engage in military operations abroad in order to focus on fighting
militants and rebels at home. Chad is part of MNJTF, which focuses on
fighting extremists in the Lake Chad region, and the G5 Sahel force, which
focuses on fighting extremists in the Sahel region. Thousands of Chadian
soldiers will withdraw from bases in Niger, Mali, and Nigeria by April 22.
16 April – At least 44 suspected Boko Haram militants were fatally
poisoned while imprisoned in Chad. It was not clear how or why they were
poisoned.
18 May – Twelve soldiers were killed and at least ten more wounded
after Boko Haram militants attacked their outpost northeast of Diffa, Niger.
Seven of the attackers were "neutralized".
June – Boko Haram ambushed and killed nine Nigerian soldiers in the
town of Damboa.
2 July – Two civilians were killed and an aid helicopter damaged after
militants raided Damasak, Borno State, Nigeria.
7 July – An ambush conducted by ISWAP on a Nigerian military convoy
at Bulabulin village, Borno State, Nigeria, killed at least 35 soldiers and left
more than 18 injured and 30 missing. The government claimed at least 17
insurgents were killed in the battle.
22 July – Five aid workers were executed by armed men who had
kidnapped them last month in Borno State, Nigeria.
9 August – Kouré shooting – ISWAP killed six French aid workers and
two Nigerien civilians in Kouré, Tillabéri Region, Niger.
1 September – At least seven people were killed and more than 14 were
wounded when a suicide bomber exploded in an IDP camp in Goldavi, Far
North region, Cameroon.
20 December – Five Nigerian soldiers were killed when boko haram fired
a RPG at a vehicle in a convoy two other vehicles were captured by Boko
Haram in the same attacks.
2021
January, two attacks took place in northern Nigeria. One in the village of
Chabal, leaving 2 policemen dead and two abducted. The second attack
occurred in Dikwa, resulting in the deaths of 2 soldiers and leaving two
female police officers abducted.
They also liberated Talala, which was seized in 2013 by militants and
became their second largest camp, right behind the Lake Chad region.
Besides Talala they also liberated Buk, Gorgi and overran camps in
Kidari, Argude, Takwala, Chowalta and Galdekore.
Two high profile ISWAP commanders, Modu Sulum and Ameer Modu
Borzogo, fled along with some fighters during intense fighting but serveral
other commanders and fighters have been killed and many abducted hostages
were rescued.
Also on February 16, an attack was carried out against the headquarters
of a militia supporting the Nigerian army in Gubio, Borno State, in
northeastern Nigeria. There was an exchange of fire. Three soldiers were
killed and several others were wounded. The other soldiers fled. ISIS
operatives seized weapons and ammunition and set fire to vehicles.
March 1, ISWAP took over the town of Dikwa for several hours after
forcing government forces out of the settlement. Whilst in Dikwa, the
militants attacked a Nigerian army base killing six soldiers. The returned the
next day killing another 2 soldiers.
Also on March 1, ISWAP took over the town of Bukarti, Yobe state. IS
militants also attacked a Nigerian army convoy near Geidam, Yobe state.
The attack left 2 Nigerian soldiers dead.
March 6, a armed Boko Haram sect invaded Rumirgo community of
Askira Uba local government area of Borno state, causing the death of two
civilians and a security personnel and carted away with a tanker vehicle
loaded with petrol.
March 14, IS's Amaq Agency released photos of an attack they conducted
against Nigerian soldiers and special forces. At least 12 Nigerian army
personnel were killed in the attack and at least one was captured.
March 15, the Nigerian army killed 41 Boko Haram militants during an
anti-terror operation between Gulwa and Musuri villages in the northeastern
part of the country. Four Nigerian soldiers were also killed in the operation.
March 20, ISWAP forces attacked a Nigerian army post in Wulgo. One
Nigerian soldier was killed and several others were wounded. IS militants
seized weapons and ammunition.
March 21, ISWAP operatives attacked the town of Goniri near the Niger-
Nigerian border. IS operatives burned down several buildings and killed 2
militiamen during the attack.
• Culled from Timeline of the Boko Haram insurgency from Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia.
Counter-Terrorism Measures
Understandably, Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant group, between June 2012 and
April 2013, suffered some significant reversals and setbacks. This invariably led
to the change in tactics in responds to the rise and collapse of Ansar Eddine in
neighboring Mali and the decrease in its own ability to project force inside
Nigeria. The Nigerian government and armed forces, after much hesitation
during 2010-2012, have to some extent developed a policy of containment with
regard to Boko Haram by employing a classic stick and carrot approach.
Nigerian security forces used blunt force attacks on the group’s bases and safe
houses throughout the north—resulting in the killings of substantial numbers of
militants, as well as causing high civilian casualties—while also offering an
amnesty, which was rejected. 7
For the very first time during this period, Boko Haram has demonstrated
verifiable connections with radical groups in northern Mali—al-Qa`ida in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa
(MUJAO) and Ansar Eddine—and has caused to have generated what appears
to be a break-off Salafi-jihadi organization of more globalist tendencies,
Jama`at Ansar al-Muslimin fi Bilad al-Sudan (known as Ansaru). 8 Unlike Boko
Haram, which is based in northeastern Nigeria, Ansaru has operated in and
around Kano, the heartland of the Hausa-Fulani, in north-central Nigeria. The
beginning of Ansaru is likely connected with the paradigmatic suicide attacks
Boko Haram employed throughout the north and central regions, which killed
many Muslims during the fall of 2011 and spring of 2012. 9 For instance, in June
2012, Ansaru leader Abu Usmatul al-Ansari stated: “Islam forbids [the] killing
of innocent people including non-Muslims. This is our belief and we stand for
it.”10
Patterns of Operation
Anti-terrorism actors in Nigeria against Boko Haram are three-fold – the
Nigerian government, army and police; the Muslim political and religious elites
in northern Nigeria; and the Christian (largely Igbo) minorities in the north and
central regions of the country. Expectedly, Boko Haram has repeatedly struck at
all three targets between June 2012 and April 2013; however, no one has
claimed responsibility for a suicide attack since December 22, 2012.
Boko Haram’s geographic pattern of operations has shifted since the beginning
of June 2012. Of the group’s 29-claimed 5 operations since June 2012, 15 of
these operations were in its home region of Borno and Yobe states (northeastern
Nigeria), while five were in Kano, and four in Kaduna and Zaria. All of the
Kaduna and Zaria operations (all attacks against churches), however, occurred
prior to November 25, 2012. Of these 29 operations, 19 were directed against
Christians—including massacres of Christian villagers throughout northern
Nigeria, suicide attacks and other gun and machete attacks against churches,
Christian gatherings, or Christian neighborhoods. Boko Haram’s leader
Abubakar Shekau stated: “We are also at war with Christians because the whole
world knows what they did to us,” adding that “the group’s successes in killing
innocent civilians indicates they [i.e., Boko Haram] are on the right path.11
It is worth noting, however, that a number of the targets chosen by Boko Haram
have been secular in nature and relate to the group’s adherence to “enjoining the
right and forbidding the wrong” (al-amr bi-l-ma`ruf wa-l-nahy `an al-munkar).
These operations include: attacks against polio inoculation workers on February
8, 2013; the murders and beheadings of three North Korean doctors on February
10, 2013; attacks against park rangers in Sambisa Park (possibly because they
threatened Boko Haram’s base in the area); a campaign against sellers of bush
meat in Maiduguri in January 2013, in which 23 people were killed; 12 and a
suicide campaign against the telephone companies of Kano (Airtel and MTN)
on December 22, 2012. True to the group’s primary opposition to secular non-
Islamic education, some of its operations against Christians have been directed
against schools or universities, in which the Christian students have been
singled out for execution.13
Also revealing are the types of weapons used by Boko Haram – the spring,
summer and fall of 2012 were all characterized by heavy use of suicide attacks
(a total of seven recorded suicide attacks during this period, in addition to those
utilized previously), but there have been no suicide attacks since the attack on
the phone system in Kano on December 22, 2012. Perhaps this change in tactics
has resulted from the discovery of a bomb-making factory by the Nigerian
authorities in early December 2012.14
The appearance of Ansaru, in lieu could have made the use of suicide attacks
doctrinally problematic (because of their indiscriminate nature). Ansaru, for
example, claims that it is against the killing of civilians, as opposed to Boko
Haram’s more indiscriminate targeting selection.
One should also note the similarity to Ansaru in the use of kidnappings. Ansaru
kidnapped seven foreigners on February 16, 2013, and executed them on March
9,15while Boko Haram then kidnapped a French family of seven (including four
children) in Cameroon on February 19, 2013, and then transported them to
Nigeria, where they were freed on April 18. 16 In both cases, the kidnappings
were directed at the outer world and not at Nigerian targets. According to
Ansaru, the executions were revenge for “atrocities done to the religion of Allah
by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali.” 17
Boko Haram said that the kidnapping of the French family was in revenge for
the French invasion of northern Mali.18
The most striking conclusions from Boko Haram’s operations during the period
June 2012-April 2013 is the inability (or unwillingness) of the group to carry
out the paradigmatic suicide operations that characterized its rise during the
period 2010-2012. To a large extent, Boko Haram has been confined to the
region of Borno and Yobe states (northeastern Nigeria), with occasional
operations in Kano (north central Nigeria). There have been none of the major
operations that regularly occurred in Abuja or Jos (which is largely Christian,
and is a flashpoint for Muslim-Christian tension). While Boko Haram retains
the ability to carry out deadly operations in its home base region, it appears to
have been cut off from the rest of the country.19
Looking at the larger strategic picture, the future for Boko Haram is not bright.
For most of 2012 until the French invasion of Mali in January 2013, Boko
Haram’s publicity was negated by the successes of Ansar Eddine in Mali (with
effects also in Algeria, Niger and Mauritania). While Boko Haram has only
been able to execute guerrilla attacks, Ansar Eddine was able to hold a
significant piece of northern Mali, including important local cities such as
Timbuktu and Gao, for a period of almost a year. While Ansar Eddine benefits
from close connections with the larger world of radical Islam (including at least
a nominal tie to al-Qa`ida), Boko Haram was likely bereft of such connections
at least until 2012.22
Nevertheless, signs that Boko Haram is developing close connections with the
larger field of radical Islam have grown during this recent period. For the first
time, on November 29, 2012, Abubakar Shekau issued a video in Arabic; all of
his previous videos had been in Hausa. 23 When Boko Haram was temporarily
squeezed in February 2013, Shekau is believed to have briefly sought refuge
with Ansar Eddine in northern Mali; it is possible that with his return to Nigeria,
he brought more of a mainstreaming of Boko Haram within worldwide Salafi-
jihadism.* Additionally, the kidnapping of the French family from Cameroon
signals the willingness of Boko Haram to operate outside of Nigeria’s
boundaries for the first time, and to execute attacks for the cause of Ansar
Eddine or AQIM.24
Conclusion
Boko Haram has been contained to a large extent within northeastern Nigeria.
Although it remains extremely deadly in that region—especially to the Christian
population—it does not seem to have broadened its appeal during the past year.
Indeed, northern Muslim politicians who were suspected of supporting Boko
Haram during 2011-2012 have carefully distanced themselves from the group,
especially as Boko Haram’s message has become more toxic within the context
of Nigerian politics.25 The closest parallel to Boko Haram’s trajectory is that of
the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines—originally also a jihadist organization
which has now developed into more of a criminal element (with Islamic
rationales for operations).26
Such a trajectory raises the question of whether the amnesty offered by the
Nigerian government—effective with regard to the Niger Delta militants in
southern Nigeria—will have any effect on Boko Haram. Most likely it will not
because Boko Haram has developed a sufficiently hardened group of supporters
who are willing to continue their operations even if (hypothetically) the
leadership were to accept an amnesty. In developing ties to Ansar Eddine and
other West and North African radicals, Boko Haram sees the future—after the
French withdrawal from Mali—as being favorable for the continued success of
Salafi-jihadism. As a result, Boko Haram likely sees no reason to surrender at
this time.
Background Studies:
Historically Fulani pastoralists have grazed in lands around the arid Sahel
regions of West Africa, partly because of the environmental conditions that
limit the amount of land for agricultural purposes, leading to less intense
competition for land between farmers and herders. However, after recurrent
droughts in the arid Sahel regions, Fulani pastoralists have gradually moved
southwards to the Guinea savanna and the tropical forest areas, resulting in
competition for grazing routes with farmers. 30Farmers have also moved north
with the increase in population. 31
Fulani pastoralists started migrating into northern Nigeria from the Senegambia
region around the thirteenth or fourteenth century. 32 After the Uthman dan
Fodio jihad, the Fulani became integrated into the Hausa culture of Northern
Nigeria. Thereafter, during the dry season when the tsetse fly population is
reduced, Fulani pastoralists began to drive their cattle into the Middle Belt zone
dominated by non-Hausa groups, returning to the north at the onset of the rainy
season. But while managing the herd and driving cattle, cattle grazing on
farmlands sometimes occurs, leading to destruction of crops and becoming a
source of conflict.
Nigeria's implementation of the land use act of 1978 allowed the state or federal
government the right to assign and lease land and also gave indigenes the right
to apply and be given a certificate of occupancy to claim ownership of their
ancestral lands. 33 This placed the pastoral Fulani in a difficult position because
most did not apply for lands of occupancy of their grazing routes, and recurring
transhumance movement led to encroachment on the properties of others. The
Nigeria government designed some areas as grazing routes but this has not
reduced clashes. From 1996 to 2006 about 121 people lost their lives in Bauchi
and Gombe states as a result of conflicts between pastoralists and farmers. 34
Thousands of people have been killed since 2016 in clashes between farmers
and semi-nomadic herders. 35
‘Tope Oriola who teaches criminology and terrorism studies at the University of
Alberta, Canada and also a joint editor-in-chief of African Security, in an article
titled: “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”, explained that there
has never been a better time to reconfigure Nigeria than now. This is because
the issue of Fulani herders has brought out long-standing tensions in the polity.
From all appearances, I want to believe that President Muhammadu Buhari and
his government seem intent on taking Nigeria on the slippery, slippery slope to
Rwanda of 1994 — ethnic conflict and genocide. It would be recalled that in
2018, a Benue State delegation visited President Muhammadu Buhari after the
New Year Day massacre to ventilate their grievances over the menace of the
Fulani herders. After listening to them, Buhari pleaded with them thus: “I ask
you in the name of God to accommodate your country men. You can also be
assured that I am just as worried and concerned with the situation”. 36 To the
grieving and long-suffering Benue people, President Buhari’s response
amounted to an unwritten tacit agreement and support with his tribes’ men.
In 2015, the world body ranked Fulani militants masquerading as herders as the
fourth most lethal terrorist group in the world — behind only Boko Haram, ISIS
and al-Shabaab. There is no reasonable, genuine sign that President Buhari has
done anything to address the security situation in the country so far if indeed he
was truly worried about the menace of his tribe’s men. Yet, this is the same
Presidency that has been quick to condemn anti-open-grazing laws and
anything, including mosquito bites, affecting Fulani herders and the
anachronistic practice of transhumance. It was therefore in this important sense
that Tope wrote: “Through his and the government’s utterances and criminal
silence, Muhammadu Buhari appears to construe himself as herder-in-chief
rather than commander-in-chief, and the president of the Fulani people. Other
Nigerian ethnic groups and law-abiding Fulani people can no longer claim they
have a president.”37
A story was shared how the farm of a retired General was mercilessly invaded
by Fulani herders on multiple occasions. Cattle ate his crops and herders cut
root tubers to feed their flock. He lost millions of naira. Other farmers nearby
were also affected. They urged the General to intervene. The General was said
to have visited the police headquarters in the State. The police commissioner
told him he had also lost his crops to herdsmen. The Commissioner complained
to the General that his hands were tied and that he could not arrest the herders.
He informed the General that the state command had on two occasions arrested
herdsmen caught feeding cattle on citizens’ farms but he received orders from
“the Presidency” to release the suspects.38
Understandably, the Buhari government could not have asked the herders to
destroy people’s farms. However, as Tope critically examines: “ … inaction of
security agents, deployment of soldiers to beat villagers to accommodate
herders and the fear within security agencies that arresting criminal herders
could mean the end of their careers indicate culpability at best and at worst a
sinister intentionality at the highest levels of government. President Buhari has
done a major disservice to his beloved ethnic group. The failure to check the
excesses of the herdsmen has led to more brazen conduct of the herdsmen —
rape, kidnapping and gruesome killings — and negative perception and stigma
across Nigeria.”39 Even the Sultan of Sokoto has argued that seven or eight out
of 10 kidnappers in Nigeria are Fulani.40 The term “Fulani herdsmen” is fast
becoming a criminal franchise — some non-Fulanis are capitalising on the
negative social evaluation and identity to commit crimes and pin it on the
Fulani.41
In his article titled: “The Gulf Between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, Akinkuolie
Rasheed explained how the Fulani nation is the only ethnic group in West
Africa that has produced Heads of State in at least five different African
countries – current President of Senegal, Macky Sall, the current President of
Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the present President of Gambia, Adamu Barrow,
the current Vice President of Sierra Leone, Mohammed Jalloh, the former
President of Cameroon, Ahmadu Ahidjo, the former President of Burkina Faso,
Thomas Sankara, the former Prime Minister of Mali, Boubu Cisse, Diallo Telli
a Fulani from Guinea-Conakry was the first Secretary General of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU).42
For most of the 60 years of Nigeria’s Indepencence, Fulanis have ruled Nigeria
as President, Vice President or kingmakers. According to Fulani legend and
folklore, the people migrated from the Futa Djalon Highland in Guinea-
Conakry, where they constitute about 40% of the population. Even though the
Fulanis do not hold top political positions in Guinea-Conakry, they are the
intellectuals, entrepreneurs, estate developers, business moguls, skilled artisans,
professionals, mining magnates and technocrats. Their influence also extends to
neighboring Sierra-Leone, where they hold high political positions.45
We have observed that Fulani elites in Nigeria have isolated themselves from
their herder kinsmen, and trivialized the plight of those who are herding and
gathering as: ‘their way of life or destiny’. Fulani herders and poor are now
hounded from state to state and community to community in Nigeria, accused of
being responsible for kidnappings, murders and all criminal activities,
irrespective of who committed the crimes. Most of the Fulani herders
unfortunately are pre-teens and teenagers, who should be in school. And this is
particularly tragic because the poverty cycle will not end, except the children
are educated.48
The kidnappings, killings attributed to Fulani herders may just be the tip of the
iceberg of Nigeria’s security problems. It may even be diverting attention from
the actual perpetrators of these crimes. I can recall that, as far back as 1998 (23
years ago) bandits from Chad, mainly the defeated enemies of Idris Debby were
terrorizing towns and travellers along the Baga-Monguno- Maiduguri road. It
was extremely dangerous to travel at anytime of the day on that road axis.49
“I was part of the Nigerian delegation that went to Baga- Borno State to set up the
multi national task force with the armies of Chad and Niger republic to curb banditry
in the region. That was 11 years before the outbreak of the Boko Haram war and
widespread insecurity in Nigeria. The Chadian bandits with other terror groups have
now migrated down south and to other parts of Nigeria, disguised as Fulani herders
or hiding behind them to carry out the military style operations, which certainly
cannot be the handiwork of pre-teens and teenage Fulani herders seen on the cattle
trails all over Nigeria. Of course, there are Fulani kidnappers and other copycat
raiding bands, and making a lot of money by taking people hostage on the highways
or are accomplices to the crimes.” 50
Because of the weak security system and the minimal risk involved, kidnapping
has become an all comers business and a free for all. Individuals have been
busted for organizing their own kidnapping to extort money from family
members.
Fulani herders and poor are now fighting for survival in Nigeria and their
salvation can only come from their affluent kinsmen, a challenge which
hopefully they will undertake as a moral obligation. The herders must now be
settled in ranches and the children enrolled in schools to break the poverty cycle
and prevent them from swelling the ranks of insurgents.
The conflict over grazing land in Southern Nigeria, which has limited space is
therefore avoidable and unnecessary. However, the success of the ranching
system in the North will encourage other states to willingly adopt this type of
animal husbandry for economic reasons.
The enrollment of Fulani children in schools should be mandatory because of
the enormous benefits and public good. This is achievable within a short period
of time, if done in an imaginative and pragmatic manner.
MACBAN (Miyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria) and the Sarki
Fulanis in communities should be commended for standing out to represent the
interests of Fulani herders. But, their efforts are not enough to handle the huge
existential problem of the herders in Nigeria. Fulani rulers must get involved.
Distancing themselves from the crisis is unhelpful and morally wrong. Fulani
herders must be integrated into the mainstream of the Nigerian social and
economic society. They must be given the opportunity to live a normal dignified
life in Nigeria.
The report explained that out of the 23 local government areas in the state, the
rampaging herdsmen have invaded and occupied 14 and may invade the
remaining nine unless urgent measures are taken to curb the menace.53
Our findings, confirmed by residents, security officials and the state governor,
also showed that in the North-east Senatorial District of the state, the herdsmen
have invaded Katsina-Ala, Kwande, Logo, Ukum; leaving out Vandeikya,
Konshisha and Ushongo.54
In Benue North-east Senatorial District, the killer herdsmen have attacked all
the other local government councils except Gboko.55
The council areas invaded and occupied by the killer herdsmen include Guma,
Gwer-West, Gwer-East, Buruku, Tarka and Makurdi local government
councils.56
The invasion of Ogbadibo, Agatu and Apa local government areas in Benue
South Senatorial District are however believed to be the most brutal.57
On February 29, for instance, the herdsmen invaded several Agatu villages and
farm settlements in broad daylight, gunning down children, women, men and
the elderly.
At the time the gunshots subsided, over 500 villagers were reportedly massacred
and over 7000 were displaced in 10 villages including Aila, Okokolo, Akwu,
Adagbo, Odugbehon and Odejo.58
The Paramount Ruler of Logo Local Government Area, Jimmy Memme, said
that between July 1 and 16, the herdsmen murdered over 85 persons, including
women and children, from six out of the 10 wards in the area.59
Many Benue indigenes expressed sadness that while the herdsmen had been
killing residents and plundering their communities, the federal government
recently commissioned a military task force to protect herdsmen and their cattle
in Zamfara State.60
In fact, according to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index, Fulani herdsmen are the
fourth deadliest militant group in the world with a record killing of 1229 people
in 2014.62
Below is a timeline of herdsmen attack across Nigeria from 2012 till date: 63
Joining an inglorious membership of a long (and still growing) list that includes
Boko Haram, cultists, herdsmen, kidnappers and militants, the term “Bandits”
have been admitted as the new bogeyman for insecurity in Nigeria. From
Birnin-Gwari in Kaduna to Tsafe in Zamfara, and to other parts of the North-
West (Nigeria) in particular, bandits are offered as the unfortunate expression
for an intolerable carnage, and the inexplicable haplessness of a Federal
Government that doesn’t appear to care for much. “As this lamentable state
metastasises, it may be worthwhile to reflect on banditry in Nigeria.”64
In his history of organised crime in Nigeria, Stephen Ellis’ book, “This Present
Darkness” traces post-independence banditry in Nigeria to “shortly before the
civil war, when government broke down in some parts of the Western Region
and there was a blurred line between political violence, crime, and organised
insurgency.”67 And Chidi Odinkalu further explains: “At the end of the war, the
military regime of Gowon failed to manage demobilisation. As demobilised
combatants from the war returned home to nothing to do, outlawry became
appealing.”68
Not only confined to southern part of Nigeria, urban banditry also featured in
the North. Three armed men robbed a bank in Kano of £27,750 in April 1970.70
The speed of public executions rises sharply. Over 400 armed robbers had been
publicly executed by firing squad by 1976. Under the regime of Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari in 1984, there were at least 338 such executions. Over
1,200 of such executions took place in 12 years between 1984 and 1996.
Around the same time, drug trafficking emerged as a major factor in outlawry in
Nigeria.71
First, public universities in Nigeria became fertile breeding grounds for outlaws.
The story of how this came about lies in the history of competition between
university-based confraternities. The Pyrates Confraternity, the oldest of these
confraternities in Nigeria would be forced to leave the universities about 1986.
In 1965 or so, the Supreme Eiye Confraternity (National Association of
Airlords) emerged in Lagos as rival to the Pyrates. 1972 witnessed the birth of
In Ibadan, the National Association of Sealords, better known as the
Buccaneers, in Ibadan. The University of Calabar produced the Klansmen
Confraternity and in the University of Port Harcourt, the Vikings emerged. The
growth of these groups coincided with the emergence of articulate civic
activism in the universities led by the National Union of Nigerian Students, later
known as the National Association of Nigerian students. Military rulers used
these cults to disrupt official student activism. Competing groups in the politics
of university administration also found them useful. In the Niger Delta, Stephen
Ellis recalls, they “became a factor in the region’s politics.”74
The military government of General Sani Abacha introduced guns to quell civic
advocacy for resource justice in the Niger Delta region. Hence, the Joint
(Military) Task Force was deployed in 1994. Nearly a quarter of a century later,
the guns are everywhere and the JTF is mired in an interminable mission.
Nigeria’s Defence Minister, Mansur Dan-Ali, a retired one-Star General,
himself also from Zamfara State, complained on December 21, 2018: “The
issue of (sic) drug abuse, unemployment and governance amongst others
contributes to the deplorable security situation in Zamfara State.”78
Nigerians are constantly awash as bandits have taken over parts of the country,
especially the North West, in a determined effort to make banditry the most
lucrative industry in the country. While bandits are united in their efforts and
are growing bolder, the governors of the states are divided. While some
governors see the bandits as victims of ethnic cleansing, others argue that there
should be negotiations, amnesty and compensation for them.79
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was one governor whose position
stands out reinforcing what Owei Lakemfa referred to as truth in the DNA of
falsehood.
It would be recalled that in 2016 as bandits ravaged Kaduna State, Governor El-
Rufai, rather than use or rely on the security forces to restore law and order,
choose to negotiate and pay off the killers, in some cases sending state funds to
pay them in neigbouring countries as he personally confessed. He told
journalists this rather bizarre story himself:
“For Southern Kaduna, we didn’t understand what was going on and we decided to
set up a committee under Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (retd) to find out what was going
on there. What was established was that the root of the problem has a history starting
from the 2011 post-election violence.
“Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards the Middle Belt
and Southern Nigeria. The moment the rains start around March, April, they start
moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries.
“Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern
Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them.
Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in
14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle. So many of these
people were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to
revenge. So a lot of what was happening in Southern Kaduna was actually from
outside Nigeria… We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going
round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger Republic and so on to
tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem
paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging them to stop killing.
“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have
forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they
have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said
no problem, and we paid some.”80
Nigerians want to know and have the record of the foreign herders he paid as
well as the local farmers and citizens, some of who were also killed with their
farms and homes destroyed. What is the identity of the killers El-Rufai claimed
to have paid and how much were they paid? How are we sure that they did not
use the so-called compensation to buy more arms. However, what is certain is
that the terror attacks did not abate. That was the position of El-Rufai then.
Today, many northern state governors are still re-echoing similar views.
Jerrywright Ukwu, in his piece, “NGOs accuse some Northern Governors of
Turning Kidnapping into Business”, explained that more condemnations
continue to trail decisions by authorities in northern Nigerian to negotiate with
bandits. A group of civil society organisations in the north has rejected the
move saying it is a form of corruption; further accusing some northern
governors of using the abductions as a source of siphoning public funds.81
While speaking at the briefing, the co-convener of the coalition, Mr. Ibrahim
Waiya, alleged that political actors in north Nigeria have devised a new strategy
to swindling public resources through negotiation with bandits.82
ThisDay quoted him as saying: “We believed that negotiation with bandits is
not the best option because it is another form of corruption. “Because of the
corruption involved, the governors, who are also benefiting from the loot, will
never want the government to deploy a full military application to end the
banditry.”83
In what appears a U-turn from his earlier stand, I was enamoured with El-
Rufai’s principled, foresighted and statesmanlike position as he disagrees with
his colleagues, arguing that bandits are criminals who must face the wrath of the
law and justice. He said rather than negotiating with them, bandits and other
criminal elements “must be degraded and decimated to a state of unconditional
submission to constituted authority”.84 He submitted that criminal gangs,
bandits, insurgents and ethno-religious militias in making a conscious decision
to challenge the country’s sovereignty and terrorise the citizenry must be wiped
out immediately and without hesitation. He says banditry has driven farmers
from their land, putting food security at risk, displaced communities, stolen
property and deprived people of their right to life and that a stop must be put to
these criminal acts so the people can live in peace.85
He also made the sensible argument that policing a large country like Nigeria
with a 923,768 square-kilometre land-mass in a unitary manner is not
pragmatic. So, the establishment of state police and other levels of policing are
inevitable.
He regretted the lack of synergy among the governors in the North West on how
to fight banditry, pointing out that a: “State like Zamfara adopted a policy of
dialogue with the gunmen, giving them amnesty, which I don’t believe in. With
this, we have differences on how to tackle the situation.” 87 He submits that: “It
is deceitful to believe that a person who is now counting millions as gains from
ransom will embrace dialogue and return to his previous lifestyle where he saw
little money occasionally.”88
He warned his fellow governors who are prevaricating that if they do not unite
and let the Federal Government provide the states with soldiers and police to go
after the bandits in the forests and eliminate them it will be difficult to defeat
banditry.
So which of the El-Rufai positions is his true position? Is it the one he made
five years ago when he presented the bandits as victims for whom he crossed
borders into countries like Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal not only
to ask them to forgive Nigerians, but also pay them to stop coming to kill
Nigerians, or what he is espousing now which is that these killers are mere
criminals with whom there should be no negotiations, no amnesty given and no
ransom paid? Did he have a change of mind, in which case he needs to so
express and explain why? I think as humans, we can make mistakes, but he
should own up to his mistakes and not to act as if this has always been his
position.89
REFERENCES
1. Given the importance of clarity and definition in this regard, for the
purposes of this presentation, terrorism had been defined as the
premeditated use or threat of use of violence by an individual or group to
cause fear, destruction or death, especially against unarmed targets,
property or infrastructure in a state, intended to compel those in authority
to respond to the demands and expectations of the individual or group
behind such violent acts. Their demands or expectations may be for a
change in status quo in terms of the political, economic, ideological,
religious or social order within the affected state or for a change in the
(in) actions or policies of the affected state in relation to its interaction
with other group or states. See also Terna Loryue Venda, “Terrorism and
Internal Security in Nigeria: The Boko Haram Challenges”,
intellektualtourist.wordpress.com
2. Feedom C Onuoha, “Boko Haram’s Tactical Evolution”, African
Defence Forum, Vol. 4, No. 4, (2012), p. 28.
3. The Jihadi Websites Monitoring Group, “Africa” Periodical Review,
http://www.ict.org.il/Portals/0/Internet%20Monitoring
%20Group/JWMG_Periodical_ Review_March_2010_No.2.pdf, 2
March 2010, p. 14
4. See for instance, A.Adesoji, The Boko Haram uprising and Islamic
revivalism in Nigeria, Africa Spectrum, Vol. 45, No. 2, (2010), pp.95-
108; M.O. Sodipo, “Mitigating Radicalism in Northern Nigeria”, Africa
Security Brief, No 26, (2013).
5. F. Chothia, Who are Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists? BBC, 11 January
2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13809501; Y. Ndege and
A. Essa, The rise of Nigeria’s Boko Haram, Al Jazeera, 30 September
2013,
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/09/201397155225146644.ht
ml [accessed 8 January 2014]
6. see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Boko_Haram_insurgency
7. David Cook, “Boko Haram: Reversals and Retrenchment”, Combating
Terrorism Centre, April 2013, Vo. 6, Issue 4.
8. “Nigeria’s Boko Haram Rejects Jonathan’s Amnesty Idea,” BBC, April
11, 2013; Tim Cocks and Isaac Abrak, “Heavy Fighting in Northeast
Nigeria, Death Toll Unclear,” Reuters, April 22, 2013.
9. Eric Schmitt, “American Commander Details Al Qaeda’s Strength in
Mali,” New York Times, December 3, 2012; Mark Doyle, “Africa’s
Islamist Militants ‘Co-ordinate Efforts,’” BBC, June 26, 2012.
10. “Multiple Bomb Blasts Hit Northern Nigerian City of Kano,” Los
Angeles Times, January 20, 2012.
11. “New Islamist Group Emerges in Nigeria, Claims ‘Different’
Understanding of Jihad,” al-Arabiya, June 3, 2012. Although one can
note that Ansaru’s methodology does not preclude the slaughter of
Westerners—such as the seven British, Lebanese, Italian and Filipino
hostages it killed on March 9, 2013—there are close parallels in the
splintering between Boko Haram and Ansaru and the Algerian paradigm
of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Salafist Group for Preaching
and Combat (GSPC) in 1997. In this latter case, the GIA’s indiscriminate
killings of civilians led to the breakup of the parent group and the
establishment of a new strategy that was to avoid indiscriminate killings,
at least initially. Ansaru has stated that it will not target Muslims or
Nigerian governmental bodies (which is not entirely consistent with their
record), or even Christian churches, but said that the “rampant massacre
of Muslims in Nigeria will no longer be tolerated and that they will never
attack any religion or government institution that did not attack them and
their religion.” These comments should be seen as an implicit critique on
the part of mainstream Hausa-Fulani radicals located in and around Kano
against Boko Haram. For the ethnic angle, see Freedom C. Onuoha,
“Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan: Nigeria’s Evolving
Militant Group,” Al Jazeera Center for Studies, April 7, 2013. Most Boko
Haram members are believed to be of Kanuri ethnicity (spread in the
region of Borno, and into Cameroon and Chad).
12. There are a large number of violent operations that take place in northern
and central Nigeria which may or may not be the work of Boko Haram
(because local rivalries between Muslims and Christians and/or tribes
versus settled are also a factor). Therefore, to assess its methodology,
only those operations for which it has taken credit will be discussed.
13. “Malam Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram Leader-Proclaim War With
Christians,” Nigerian Civil Right Movement, March 20, 2013.
14.Bush meat is from animals caught in the wild, which is popular
throughout Africa. These animals are not slaughtered according to the
Islamic laws of halal.
15. “Boko Haram Massacres Christian Students in Nigeria,” CBN News,
October 7, 2012.
16.“Gunmen Kill Five in Borno as Sect Leader Speaks on Global Jihad,”
Osun Defender, December 1, 2012.
17. Tim Cocks, “Nigerian Islamist Group Posts Video of Hostages’ Bodies,”
Reuters, March 11, 2013. One should note that Ansaru has kidnapped
other Westerners in the past.
18.“Kidnappers Free French Family Abducted in Cameroon, Officials Say,”
CNN, April 19, 2013.
19.Ibid.
20.John Irish and Bate Felix, “Islamists Threaten to Kill French Kidnapped
in Cameroon,” Reuters, February 25, 2013; “Video Claims French
Family Kidnapped by Boko Haram,” France24, February 26, 2013.
21.The recent revelation of a plot to blow up the Third Bridge in Lagos in
April 2013, however, would be, if true, a major move toward operations
in the south. See “Boko Haram Planned To Bomb Third Mainland
Bridge,” Nigeria News, April 9, 2013.
22.“Nigeria to Pursue Boko Haram Financiers,” United Press International,
August 22, 2012; “Boko Haram’s Funding Sources Uncovered,”
AllAfrica.com, February 14, 2012.
23.“Northern Leaders not Supporting Boko Haram Killings –ACF,” Punch,
April 5, 2013. As far as gauging Boko Haram’s actual support, this is
problematic. One only has the Gallup poll of February 2012, which
revealed that approximately 34% of the interviewees in northeastern
Nigeria held views identified as anti-Western. See “Northern Nigerians
Differ With Boko Haram,” NOI Polls, February 13, 2012. This, however,
does not reveal Boko Haram’s actual support, but it is interesting that this
number is higher than the other northern regions (but only half of the
68% negativity in the southeast, the region of the Delta).
24.Schmitt; Doyle. Some believe that there has been a connection with al-
Shabab in Somalia, leading to the use of suicide attacks during the period
of 2010-present, and the unique martyrdom video of September 18, 2011.
There is no significant evidence, however, that this was the case.
25.J. Smith, “Boko Haram Leader Salutes Global Jihadists in Video: SITE,”
Agence France-Presse, November 29, 2012.
26. “Are Abu Sayyaf Rebels Linked to Bin Laden?” Voice of America,
October 29, 2009.
27.Ismail Iro (1994), “From Nomadism to Sedentarism: An Analysis of
Development Constraints and Public Policy Issues in the Socio-Economic
Transformation of the Pastoral Fulani of Nigeria”, (Thesis) Howard
University.
28.Ismail Iro (1994), “From Nomadism to Sedentarism: An Analysis of
Development Constraints and Public Policy Issues in the Socio-Economic
Transformation of the Pastoral Fulani of Nigeria”, (Thesis) Howard
University.
29.Ismail Iro (1994), “From Nomadism to Sedentarism: An Analysis of
Development Constraints and Public Policy Issues in the Socio-Economic
Transformation of the Pastoral Fulani of Nigeria”, (Thesis) Howard
University.
30.Steve Tonah (2002), “Fulani Pastoralists, Indigenous Farmers and the
Contest for Land in Northern Ghana”, Africa Spectrum, p. 37.
31.Emmanuel Akinwotu, “Nigeria’s Farmers and Herders Fight a Deadly
Battle for Scarce Resources”, The New York Times, Achieved from the
original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
32.Steve Tonah (2002), “Fulani Pastoralists, Indigenous Farmers and the
Contest for Land in Northern Ghana”, Africa Spectrum, p. 37.
33. https://ctc.usma.edu/boko-haram-reversals-and-retrenchment/
34. https://ctc.usma.edu/boko-haram-reversals-and-retrenchment/
35.https://ctc.usma.edu/boko-haram-reversals-and-retrenchment/
36.’Tope Oriola, “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”,
PremiumTimes, 12 February, 2021.
37.’Tope Oriola, “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”,
PremiumTimes, 12 February, 2021.
38.’Tope Oriola, “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”,
PremiumTimes, 12 February, 2021.
39.’Tope Oriola, “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”,
PremiumTimes, 12 February, 2021.
40.’Tope Oriola, “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”,
PremiumTimes, 12 February, 2021.
41.’Tope Oriola, “Criminal Fulani Herders and Insecurity in Nigeria”,
PremiumTimes, 12 February, 2021.
42.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
43.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
44.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
45.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
46.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
47.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
48.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
49.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
50.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
51.Rasheed Akinkuolie, “The Gulf between Fulani Rulers and Herders”, The
Guardian, 16 February, 2021.
52.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
53.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
54.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
55.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
56.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
57.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
58.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
59.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
60.The statistics of the killings was obtained from local journalists,
community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation
(MAFO). See also Infographics prepared by Adekunle Adedeji and David
Ndukwe.
61. Gbaradi, “Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue State between
2013 and 2016”, Gbaradi, “Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue
State between 2013 and 2016”, www.gbaradi.com
62.Gbaradi, “Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue State between
2013 and 2016”, Gbaradi, “Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue
State between 2013 and 2016”, www.gbaradi.com
63.Gbaradi, “Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue State between
2013 and 2016”, Gbaradi, “Fulani Herders: Timeline on Attacks in Benue
State between 2013 and 2016”, www.gbaradi.com
64.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
65.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
66.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
67.Stephen Ellis (2018), “This Present Dackness: A History of Nigerian
Organised Crime”, Oxford University Press, USA.
68.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
69.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
70.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
71.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
72.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
73.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
74.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
75.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
76.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
77.Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, “Banditry in Nigeria: A Brief History
of a Long War”, Punch, 27 December, 2018.
78.Nigeria’s former Defence Minister, Minsur Dan-Ali have laid complaint
that the issue of drug abuse, unemployment and governance amongst
others contribute to the deplorable security situation in Zamfara State.
79.Owei Lakemfa, “Truth in the DNA of Falsehood”, Vanguard, 22 March,
2021
80.In 2016, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State told journalists his
rather bizzare story of how he sent state funds across to pay bandits from
neighbouring countries to desuade them from attacking his citizens in
Nigeria.
81.Jerrywright Ukwu, “NGO’s Accuse Some Northern Governors of
TurningKidnapping into Business”, LegitNews, March 2021.
82.Jerrywright Ukwu, “NGO’s Accuse Some Northern Governors of
TurningKidnapping into Business”, LegitNews, March 2021.
83.See ThisDay Report on how some northern governors siphon billions of
naira under the pretext of settling Bandits and criminal elements to
release kidnapped victims.
84.El-Rufai made a U-turn calling that Bandits and other criminal elements
“must be degraded, and decimated to a state of unconditional submission
to constituted authority”.
85. Owei Lakemfa, “Truth in the DNA of Falsehood”, Vanguard, 22 March,
2021
86.Owei Lakemfa, “Truth in the DNA of Falsehood”, Vanguard, 22 March,
2021
87.Owei Lakemfa, “Truth in the DNA of Falsehood”, Vanguard, 22 March,
2021
88.Owei Lakemfa, “Truth in the DNA of Falsehood”, Vanguard, 22 March,
2021
89.Owei Lakemfa, “Truth in the DNA of Falsehood”, Vanguard, 22 March,
2021
PART FOUR: MORAL OBLIGATION TO RESIST
COLLECTIVE EVIL
“Fulanis have declared war against indigenous Nigerians and grabbing our
lands in North and Middle Belt and we playing games with Buhari… the game should
be up now!” – General T.Y. Danjuma
These three words are relational – death, grief and tears! Each of these words
begets the other. In that order, death comes first because it is the agent
provocateur. Tears come last because they flow limitless as the loss of a loved
one becomes a personal bereavement to millions of well-wishers.1
Between death and tears is grief because when it descends, it stings and clings
permanently. Such was the grief which struck Governor Orthom of Benue State
and the people of Benue on the day the mass burial of the 73 men, women and
children massacred by the suspected killer – Fulani herdsmen. And the grief
worsened thereafter because the killings had continued unabated. While the
Federal Government under Buhari watch is procrastinating in taking decisive
actions to stop the carnage. 2
The Nimbo massacre in Enugu State left a good number of families in the state
and other concerned Nigerians in a state of bereavement. 3 Killings in Taraba,
Abia and other communities in Nigeria and the one in Plateau State that claimed
the lives of some 200 innocent Nigerians including men, women, (including
pregnant ones) and children have exposed the injustice being visited on the
innocent citizens through the war of genocide by a group that clearly appeared
to have the backing of some conspiratorial patrons. 4
And, when the body language of officialdom suggested bias or tacit support for
the agent provocateur, some poodles misread the horizon and play along.
So, instead of making statements that should help to douse tension, they
justified the killings through hate speech, including verbal insults by describing
an embattled governor whose subjects were decimated as a “drowning man”,
feeling that such was the officially recognized position. And so the orgy of
killings continued with its attendant griefs and tears among the helpless natives.5
The security situation in Nigeria is such that every living Nigerian is a walking
corpse on each side of his grave because the activities of the Fulani herdsmen
have rendered the country killing field. All these are happening under the watch
of Buhari and no serious effort to address the situation. It is quite obvious that
the security architecture of the country have been compromised. But is
President Muhammadu Buhari actually incompetent? Put differently, in what
important sense can we ascribe incompetency to Buhari and his APC
government?
The Fulani jihadist group is likened to ‘Sudanese Janjaweed’ and different from
‘machete and dagger-armed’ wandering cattle herders or the ‘Fulani Herdsmen’.
The age-long grazing networks of the Herdsmen, spanning the country’s
rainforest regions of Southeast, South-south, Southwest and North-central
including Christian parts of Northwest and Northeast, will in the nearest future,
if not months away, serve as area intelligence and grounds for full scale jihadist
attacks or violence in old Eastern Nigeria and other Christian settlements in the
Southwest, FCT, etc.9
Under these, too, the country’s four main Jihadist groups: militant Herdsmen,
Boko Haram, ISWAP and Ansaru; and even embryonic “Zamfara/Birnin
Gwari” Terror Bandits with state cover and protection can successfully launch
jihadist attacks anywhere in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, the Fulani Herdsmen
in the country are today serving as ‘rain forest intelligence suppliers’ to the four
main jihadist groups. It must also be remembered that the movement for
formation of jihadist department within the ranks of the country’s primitive
cattle herders or ‘Fulani Herdsmen’ was dated back to 2001, two years after
Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999. 10
Aided by forests’ mapping exercise reportedly carried out by the Nigerian Army
in 2015, it has become much easier for the jihadist Herdsmen to infiltrate and
occupy (using night movements) the marked Southern bushes and forests
including those located in Southeast and South-south. These they now do with
alarming speed with backing from malicious members of the country’s security
forces. Since then, they have become ‘untouchable’ and vicariously, if not
directly aided by the state to invade, confiscate, loot, plunder and takeover any
land(s) or property(ies); and abduct, torture and kill any person or group of
persons or rape and sexually abused (including forced pregnancies for jihadist
intents) any woman or group of women of sexually active age bracket. It must
be recalled that the Nigerian Army had reportedly carried out forests’ mapping
throughout Nigeria in 2015, originally for purpose of ‘effective
counterinsurgency operations’. Critics say the exercise was later found to be
reportedly done for religiously malicious motives.13
Nigeria’s Fulani Herdsmen presently operate under the three major umbrellas of
‘the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria-MACBAN’, ‘the
Miyatti Allah Koutal Hore Association of Nigeria’ and ‘the Fulani Nationality
Movement-FUNAM’; all federally registered organizations in Nigeria.
‘MACBAN’, for instance, was registered on 12th Feb 1986, while ‘Fulani
Koutal Hore’ got registered around 2010. The jihadist intents of the Fulani
Herdsmen took another dimension in 2018 when they announced the renaming
in Fulfulde and Arabic and formal occupation of indigenous communities and
villages violently attacked and seized from Christian dominated populations in
Plateau State mostly between 2010 and 2015; with eight others earlier seized in
2001. In the Vanguard Newspaper report of 30th June 2018, no fewer than 54
communities mostly belonging to Berom Tribe were renamed. Also renamed
were eight communities in the State attacked and seized between September 7
and 10, 2001. In Southern Kaduna (32 villages lost between 2016 and May
2020), Plateau and Benue States, no fewer than 300 Christian communities and
villages have been devastatingly attacked and razed by the Fulani Jihadists.14
Nigeria’s 36 States & FCT Ranked in Order of Land Surface Area (Km2)
Reflect on this: 15
1. Niger State 76,363KM²
2. Borno State 70,898KM²
3. Taraba State 54,473KM²
4. Kaduna State 46,053KM²
5. Bauchi State 45,837KM²
6. Yobe State 45,502KM²
7. Zamfara State 39,762KM²
8. Adamawa State 36,917KM²
9. Kwara State 36,825KM²
10.Kebbi State 36,800KM²
11.Benue State 34,059KM²
12.Plateau State 30,913KM²
13.Kogi State 29,833KM²
14.Oyo State 28,454KM²
15.Nasarawa State 27,117KM²
16.Sokoto State 25,973KM²
17.Katsina State 24,192KM²
18.Jigawa State 23,154KM²
19.Cross River State 20,156KM²
20.Kano State 20,131KM²
21.Gombe State 18,768KM²
22.Edo State 17,802KM²
23.Delta State 17,698KM²
24.Ogun State 16,762KM²
25.Ondo State 15,500KM²
26.Rivers State 11,077KM²
27.Bayelsa State 10,773KM²
28.Osun State 9,251KM²
29.Federal Capital Territory 7,315KM²
30.Enugu State 7,161KM²
31.Akwa Ibom State 7,081KM²
32.Ekiti State 6,353KM²
33.Abia State 6,320KM²
34.Ebonyi State 5,670KM²
35.Imo State 5,530KM²
36.Anambra State 4,844KM²
37.Lagos State 3,345KM²
Consider this: 16
Anambra + Enugu + Abia + Imo + Ebonyi = 29,525KM²
Kogi = 29,833KM²
Ogun + Oyo + Osun + Ondo + Ekiti = 76,320KM²
Lagos = 3,345KM²
Niger alone = 76,363KM²
Niger State = Entire Southwest States - Lagos
The entire Southeast is a little less than Kogi State only.
A Preliminary Statement:
Terrorism remains the worst form of crime against humanity as the bastardly
acts are often targeted at a defenceless populations, often for flimsy reasons like
drawing attention to a cause or enacting a political change or gaining political
leadership.
The world today has identified various type of terrorism: State terrorism,
terrorism rooted in ideology (left or right), criminal terrorism, dissent terrorism
and religious terrorism.
All of these are, however, new to our country until the last two decades when
the last two - religious and dissent Terrorism, crept into Nigeria, and since then,
Nigeria’s peace has been stolen.
Apart of these notable crimes i.e “Terrorism” and “Insurgency” other forms of
criminality in Nigeria such as the gruesome activities of the Fulani herdsmen,
ritual killings/murder, kidnapping, gang violence, rape etc. call for urgent
concern as they constitute gross impediments to the growth and development of
the Nigerian economy and its role as the main hub of economic activities in the
West African sub region.
Nigerians have advanced several reasons for this state of affairs ranging from
high level unemployment to acute poverty in the land, ill equipped Police Force,
ineffective Policing or what the sultan of Sokoto referred to as the collapse of
internal security architecture. Quite frankly the solution to all our several
security challenges lies in our adoption of a people-oriented security network.
Apart from the Gowon administration which had (in war time) the misfortune of
the pogrom what some call attempt at ethnic cleansing, no other government in
Nigeria’s history has really had the lives and properties of its citizens so much
at risk as under this unfortunate propagandist regime of President Muhammadu
Buhari-led APC government. Something has to be done. Pracctically, some
sections of the country has opted out of the police of the nation – the Amotekun
regional security outfit for the Western region of the country, the Eastern
Security Network instituted by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB superintending the
eastern region, and the Operation “Shege-Ka-Fasa” for the northern region. All
these are symptoms of a very big malaise in our society.
The Nigerian Police Force is legally constituted to maintain law and order in
our society. The Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service (otherwise
known as the Department of State Security) which are part of the executive
organ of government are organs constitutionally instituted to guarantee law and
order and provide security in our society, under the Police Act, Cap. 359 and the
National Security Agencies Act, Cap 279, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria,
1990 which are Existing laws under section 315 of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.17 Under and by virtue of section 4 of the
Police Act:
The security situation in Nigeria has now reached a critical stage with the
insurgency in the North-East spreading rapidly to other parts of Northern
Nigeria. Similarly, there are communal clashes in the Middle Belt kidnappings
in the South-West, thugs and cultists are having a field day in the South-South.19
It would be recalled that the existence of state police, other than the central
police is not new in Nigeria. It existed during the First Republic as Regional and
Native Authority Police Forces. As Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie reminds
us, “The officers were derived from the communities and with the advantage of
shared common language and culture, crime prevention and containment at the
early stages were relatively easy. Federal police officers, on the other hand, till
date are posted randomly to states where the cooperation of the local populace
is essential in carrying out effective policing.”19
The abolition of regional and native authority police to form a unified police
force significantly weakened security at the grass roots level, and in some cases
badly managed local crises eventually escalated to major insurgencies. It is
therefore in this important sense that the restoration of state police as another
tier of law enforcement has become imperative.
The governor as the Chief Security Officer of the state will control the state
police in collaboration with traditional rulers and local government authorities.
Recruitment exercise should also follow the federal one and the two could co-
exist simultaneously, each with its job-description as prescribed by law.
However, one of the major complaints against the state police is the abusive use
of the force by state chief executives to oppress political opponents. This should
not normally happen, since the overriding interest of a political leader is to rule
over a state, where the people go about their daily activities in peace and the
government is also at peace. Even without the use of state police, bad politicians
and leaders still use thugs to harass and intimidate their people and political
rivals.
The state police can become a legal and constitutional body by an Act of
National Assembly, which the lawmakers would willingly pass into law in the
national interest, especially if it will promote the cause of peace.
“The decision of the Federal Government to organise community
policing under the leadership of a Police Commissioner is a good
decision, but this can only be an interim measure to stop the
deteriorating security situation in some parts of the country.
Community policing is also confronted with the challenges of
discipline, training, remuneration, management, organisational
structure and legality. The personnel could however be screened and
those who qualify and are found suitable may be coopted into the state
police force.
The overriding advantages of a state police cannot be overemphasised.
The threats posed by insurgents, murderers, bandits, kidnappers,
suicide bombers and other criminals are real and all measures in
whatever form taken to confront these threats should be
embraced.”20(Punch, 3 June, 2019)
The way to really confirm what Obasanjo was referring to is to revisit the past
of the Nigerian army and the ramparts it guards. If the military had respect for
human rights and if it were representative of all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria
Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s mandate would not have been annulled in 1993 and
sustained after 1993; Professor Omo Omoruyi would not have been served with
death notice for speaking too much in defense of June 12, 1993 presidential
election, for the sole aim of covering the facts. Chief MKO Abiola would not
have been allowed to die in Abacha’s gulag; General Obasanjo would not have
been framed up and later jailed; the Ogoni 9 including Ken Saro Wiwa would
not have been victims of extra-judicial execution; Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, the
wife of Chief M.K.O. Abiola would not have been murdered; many Nigerians
would not have been forced into exile. The same reason why Dr. Alex
Ekwueme was frustrated and forced out of the People Democratic Party (PDP)
was the same reason for the annulment of June 12 presidential election.
Possibly, the reason why Olu Falae was not accepted was the same reason for
the annulment of June 12 elections. The main reasons why General Obasanjo
could be President were the same reasons why Chief Abiola could not be. Dr.
Ekwueme and Chief Olu Falae, like MKO Abiola met the “written”
qualifications for becoming the President but they did not meet the “unwritten”
qualifications which Obasanjo met. Which are these unwritten qualifications?
These are the issues in the annulment. They are part and parcel of the ramparts
being guarded by the military. 22
This is the moment of truth. Now, it is glaring that the present composition of
the armed forces of Nigeria does not really favor a Southerner becoming the
president of Nigeria since he would be completely at the mercy of the Northern-
dominated armed forces. The solution lies in the fundamental restructuring of
the so-called Nigerian Armed Forces. If anyone is in doubt of this truth, ask
General Obasanjo and especially Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of their
experiences if they would be willing and eager to tell their tales! Osinbajo, the
acting President of Nigeria is currently under the mercy of the cabals in Aso
Rock who are bent in frustrating him:
“First, there is an urgent need for a fundamental restructuring of the
armed forces to make the so-called Nigerian military representative of
the Nigerian ethnic nationalities. It is a fundamental issue which is at
the root of the survival of the federal system. This is an opportunity for
the areas marginalized since 1970 to make sure that they are not left
out this time and complain later. Specifically, Ndigbo, the Southern
minorities and the Yoruba should ensure that the pre-eminent
leadership of the army by a section of the country is not allowed to
perpetuate itself at the expense of others. The Federal Character
Commission should be involved in determining the composition … to
ensure that they meet the Federal Character of Nigeria. The National
Assembly should ensure that the Federal Character Commission does
its work. This is one guarantee to ensure that we are not just
producing a new set of a political army drawn exclusively from one
part of the country. Second, there is an urgent need for a fundamental
re-orientation of the armed forces to make the officers and men
accountable to a democratic order.”23
The training program of the armed forces should be part of the fundamental re-
orientation of the political class and a fundamental restructuring of the society.
The relationship between the fundamental reorientation of the armed forces and
the political class on the one hand, and the fundamental restructuring of the
society on the other should not be neglected. As it were, those relationships are
at the root of the lingering political problems in Nigeria crying for discussions
and resolutions. We need to address these problems if democracy is to survive
in Nigeria.24
The same way this government mismanaged our diversity, it has mismanaged
the agitation for a more equitable Nigeria. Many calm people who were not
traditionally with Igboho now sympathise with him – and the government
should be worried. Making an Igboho out of majority of the Yorubas is what the
Buhari government has done. Everyone, outside those who benefit from the
dysfunctional present, has sat up. Nigerians are now more aware that they live
in a very wicked country where region and religion determine what is right and
what is wrong. They see that what the Nigeria-state is doing to the southern
strongmen who are taking it on is to melt their steel. And positions are getting
hardened. The more the threat, the stronger the resolve to challenge it!
Most Yoruba youths appear to have been hardened by the way the Buhari
government is treating Sunday Igboho. As a commentator once said: “I hope
this government – the president, his cabal, everybody – know that the usually
‘well-behaved’ south west has spinned out of control. The Abuja people think
they are too far away to suffer the vibrations of the threats in town. They may
be right. The walls around them are too impregnable for the rabble to breach.”
Why is it difficult for the Nigerian state to sit back and ask itself the reason
people like Igboho have crowds and street support? Why was there no Igboho
throughout the day before yesterday when Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a Fulani
from Buhari’s Katsina State, was president of Nigeria? Are Igboho’s Yoruba
agitation activities that bad as to justify the very wicked treatment he and his
cats and his household got from the Buhari government? Or is he just being
taught a lesson for being too stubborn and foolhardy?
Background Studies:
There are not less than 350 Igbo communities, villages and other locations now
invaded and permanently occupied by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and
‘imported’ Shuwa Arabs, also called ‘Cowmen’ in Arabic. The number of Igbo
communities forcibly occupied by the Jihadists has recorded exponential
increase from about 139 in August 2019 to alarming 350 in May 2020. 124 The
jihadist occupation is vicariously, if not directly aided by the Government of
Nigeria and its security agencies especially the Army and the Police. By the
combined accounts of the Association of the Eastern Town Unions, the Alaigbo
Dev Foundation and the Eastern Outlook Newspaper, “as at August 2019, 139
Igbo communities, villages and locations have been occupied by Fulani
Herdsmen, out of which Enugu State has the highest number with 56, followed
by Anambra with 24, Imo 17, Ebonyi 12 and Abia seven. In Igbo areas of Delta
and Rivers, there are 15 in Delta and nine in Rivers”.125
But in our recent detailed review and update, the number has exponentially
increased from 139 in August 2019 to not less than 350 in May 2020, out of
which 318 were factually located and presented below while 38 others were
added as ‘dark figures’ or “factually existing but not captured figures” 126. The
’32 added dark figures’ are likely to be found in Imo and Ebonyi States, with a
fraction in Enugu State. The breakdown of the current figure of 350 invaded and
occupied Igbo Communities show that Enugu State has the largest number with
72 communities, followed by Anambra with 70, Imo 61, Abia 43, Ebonyi 36,
Igbo Delta 21 and Igbo Rivers 15; totaling 318 and 350 when added with a
‘dark figure’ of 32.127
The Research Did Not Include Northern “Economic Refugees” In Igbo Land
Not setting the record straight at this point in time would expressly mean
creating escape routes for the Govs and community leaders. Another purpose of
this research work is to intellectualize the consciousness of the general Igbo
population to the effect that such violent invasion and occupation are not
ordinary. They are done with clear jihadist intents and defy all geographical and
geopolitical excuses. It is also one of the purposes of this research work to
expose the conspiracy of the Igbo Govs and community leaders and the
hypocrisy of the today’s church leaders (today’s ‘faith profiteers’) in Igbo Land.
This work is further intended to alert the ‘attentive’ Igbo public (policy makers,
political actors and the educated class) and the ‘un-attentive’ Igbo public or
larger population to be on extreme alert, as the old saying goes “Hausa abatago
Awka”. Setting the record straight in this respect will further make the general
Igbo population to be in the know of those who have abominably compromised
to sell the Igbo Nation out to jihadist enemies.
The movement of Fulani Jihadists commenced in 2016, but reached its peak
between 2017 and 2019. The movement had involved: non state actor ‘move in
and settle or occupy’ and state actor ‘security forces aided yearly movement’,
facilitated through the Nigerian military’s annual regional exercises, usually
held between Sept and Oct-Dec. The exercises, which first commenced in 2016,
were initially code named: ‘Python Dance’ for Southeast and ‘Crocodile Smile’
for South-south; and later renamed in 2019 as ‘Atiliogwu Udo’ for Southeast.
Through the combination of the reported Nigerian Army forests’ mapping of
2015, state security forces aided movement of the jihadists and the existing
Fulani grazing routes and networks throughout the country’s rainforest regions,
not less than 350 communities, villages and other locations in Igbo Land have
been invaded and violently occupied by the Fulani jihadists as at May 2020.131
First is the fact that Igbo Land has the least land allocation in Nigeria with
29,525km2 and estimated 20,000 others for her outpost population; as against a
Northern State of Niger that has 76,363km2; roughly three times more than that
of the entire five States of the Southeast. So land issue is out of it. Second is the
fact that the Buhari Presidency had in the same 2016 when the movement for
jihad in old Eastern Nigeria started, requested to govern Nigeria with
‘emergency powers’; thereby tending to castrate the Constitution including its
Human Rights Chapter. Since then, the 1999 Constitution has been applied in
such mode alongside the country’s various treaty laws. Third is that the
Nigerian Army had in same 2016 announced the introduction of ‘Army
Ranching’ throughout the country’s military formations. This was how Fulani
Herdsmen seemingly became a branch of the Nigerian Army and other security
agencies.132
It must be clearly understood that violent invasion and occupation of not less
than 350 Igbo communities, villages and other locations by Jihadist Herdsmen
has the trio of state and security backing and conspiracy of Igbo Govs and most
of the community leaders. Community leaders include traditional rulers and
presidents general of the town unions and the Government appointed or selected
chairmen of various local government areas. The Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen
movement Southward is also heavily funded clandestinely. Such conspiratorial
involvements of the Govs, community leaders and council chairmen include
‘conspiracy of silence’, inaction, cover-up, ‘donation’ of lands or procurement
of same through moles or compromised third parties, receiving criminal cash
sums from leaders of the Jihadists or collection of monthly royalties, and
exhibition of fears and cowardice, among others. As a matter of fact, the Igbo
Govs saw all these coming but covered same up so as to ‘retain’ and ‘finish
their office tenures’. 135
There are only few instances in Igbo Land where community leaders including
traditional rulers and presidents general resisted and still resist them. These few
communities include Arondizogu in Ideato South LGA (ikpa-ocha debacle),
Issele-Ukwu in Aniocha North LGA (Delta) and Umuchu in Aguata LGA. In
Issele-Ukwu, a mole was hired to procure and ‘donate’ a parcel of land for
“private Hausa Market” but the Community stood its ground in the contrary. In
Umuchu, a group of violent Fulani Herdsmen, accompanied by an Army officer,
were caught recently negotiating a forest path in the Community in a bid to
settle in same. The police authorities in the areas were alerted and on
interrogation, they claimed to have come from ‘Abia’ and after a phone call
with the Abia State Police Command, they were ordered to be returned to Abia
State while the Army officer was picked and taken to Anambra State Police
Command headquarters, Awka for further investigation.136
In Umuzu, Ogbaru LGA of Anambra State, a sum of N200, 000 was recently
paid to Fulani Herdsmen for ‘their two missing cows’. In Umunnachi,
Dunukofia LGA of Anambra State, a highly placed citizen and personality of
international repute recently told Intersociety that the Fulani Herdsmen have
just invaded and settled at the top of a hill from where they monitor local
maidens and young married women farming in the farms for possible abduction
and sexual violence including rape and forced pregnancies. It was also found
that some times, the natives and leaders of concerned Igbo communities are
taken unawares by the Jihadists, only to wake up one morning to discover that
their distant farmlands and forests have been taken over by the Jihadist
Herdsmen. News of their occupation only breaks out when some of their natives
are reported missing, or abducted, or raped, or killed.137
It is strongly suspected too that the Herdsmen have infiltrated and settled in
Ukpo, Lilu, Akwa Ihedi and Unubi (in Nnewi South LGA); all owing to their
difficult terrains or topographies. Other Anambra Communities involved are
Amanuke, Ugbene, Ugbenu, Amansii, Urum, Ukwuru, Isu Aniocha and
Mgbakwu, all in Awka North LGA; and Umuawuru, Awka, Isiagu, Ntoko,
Ndikpa and Nibo in Awka South LGA. In Anambra East LGA, they have
infiltrated and settled in Aguleri, Nando, Nsugbe and Igbariam and in
Aghamelum (Ayamelum) LGA, they forcibly settle in the whole eight
communities of Anaku, Omor, Umueje, Omasi, Igbakwu, Umumbo, Umuerum
and Ifite-Ogwari.141
Imo: 61 Locations: Onuimo, Ehime and Isiala Mbano, Ndegwu and Orogwe in
Owerri West, Ogbaku in Mbaitoli LGA, Amakaohia-Ubi and Obokofia (Owerri
West LGA), Obudi-Agwa Community (Ohaji/Egbema LGA), Okohia Village of
Umuduruodu-Okwelle (Onuimo LGA), Ejemekwuru, Eziorsu, Izombe and
Agwa Communities (Oguta LGA), Nkwerre, Eziama, Obaire, Amaigbo and
Umozu in Nkwerre and Nwangele Local Government Areas, Oru (Ahiazu
Mbaise), Ikpa-Ocha (Arondizogu-Ideato South LGA) and Agbala Community
(Owerri North LGA), Umuekune-Irete Community (Owerri West LGA),
Umuchima, Ugwuaku-Ezinnachi and Umuowa-Ibu (Okigwe LGA), Umuoma
(Ihitte Uboma LGA), Naze Cluster (Nekede) and Nekede Old Road Forest.142
IPOB added that the aim and objective of the new security outfit is to halt
criminal activity and terrorists attack in Biafraland. IPOB’s statement read,
“We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB, under the command
and leadership of our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to announce with
delight, that IPOB has floated a special security network to guard and protect the
whole of Biafraland from the rampaging killer herdsmen terrorists activities and
other criminal groups in our land.” 150
What is the aim and objective of the newly established Esatern Security
Network?
Since the South East and South South governors have failed to float a regional
security outfit unlike their counterparts in the South West despite the worsening
insecurity in the country, the leadership of IPOB decided not to wait endlessly
while our mothers and sisters are continually raped and slaughtered like fowls
by terrorists in our land.
“We can’t watch helplessly while those we are agitating to liberate from bondage are
gradually being eliminated by terrorists. “We therefore, advise every robber,
kidnapper and other criminals to steer clear from Biafra land or brace up for the
worst. We must defend Biafra land no matter the price.”151
It is literally embedded with the strength of a roaring lion, like that of a leopard
in Amotekun.
REFERENCES
PART FIVE:
WHEN TYRANNY BECOMES A LAW,
REBELLION BECOMES A DUTY
1. Background Studies
After a series of pogroms in which people from the former Eastern Region of
Nigeria living in other parts of that country were massacred between 1966 and
1967, the region seceded in 1967 and proclaimed an independent Republic of
Biafra. A bitter war ensued as Nigeria fought to foil the secession of the oil-rich
region. After three years of war and the loss of more than two million lives, the
nascent republic lost its struggle for independence and was reabsorbed into
Nigeria in January 1970. The leader of the republic, Oxford educated General
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, went into exile, but later returned to
Nigeria in 1983 under special pardon. In 1969 Biafra adopted one of the most
progressive national constitutions in Africa at the time. The Constitution or
"Principles" drew heavily from traditional communal modes of governance but
was also informed by progressive political developments in other parts of the
world in the 1960s, and the ideology of "Non-alignment" adopted by several
post-colonial states during the Cold War. It also provided a platform for the
country to criticise the West for its role in the plight of the rest of the world and
to set out the ideals of the young nation.
Document
The tract encourages the Biafran people to persist in their efforts, assuring them
of the moral value of their sacrifices. Ojukwu emphasizes the difference
between this revolution and other revolutions, in that the world seems to be
unified against their cause; economic and political interests, as well as racist
indifference to the suffering of black-skinned noncombatants, are the especial
challenges of the Biafran movement. The "Nigerianism" against which they
were struggling was merely a system of opportunism and exploitation:
“Our struggle has far-reaching significance. It is the latest recrudescence in our time
of the age-old struggle of the black man for his full stature as man. We are the latest
victims of a wicked collusion between the three traditional scourges of the black man
- racism, Arab-Muslim expansionism and white economic imperialism. Playing a
subsidiary role is Bolshevik Russia seeking for a place in the African sun. Our
struggle is a total and vehement rejection of all those evils which blighted Nigeria,
evils which were bound to lead to the disintegration of that ill-fated federation. Our
struggle is not a mere resistance - that would be purely negative. It is a positive
commitment to build a healthy, dynamic and progressive state, such as would be the
pride of black men the world over...”5
When the Nigerians violated our basic human rights and liberties, we decided
reluctantly but bravely to found our own state, to exercise our inalienable right
to self-determination as our only remaining hope for survival as a people. Yet,
because we are black, we are denied by the white powers the exercise of this
right which they themselves have proclaimed inalienable. In our struggle we
have learnt that the right of self-determination is inalienable, but only to the
white man.6
51 years after Nigeria-Biafra civil war, the guns may have been silent, but are
the people silent? After 51 years of the civil war, there is nothing to suggest that
the people of Biafra are fully integrated and are genuinely part and parcel of the
commonwealth called Nigeria. The basis of unity in Nigeria is conspicuously
absent. Unity is or should be based on the willingness of the people to be part of
the union, and on the willingness of the government to be fair to all its citizens.
A government which refuses to protect some of its citizens cannot claim to be
fair and has abdicated its responsibility. Therefore the people who have been
rejected have the right to choose the type of government they want to live
under, and in their own independent state where they can be guaranteed
protection and feel secure. That was the case for Biafra.
The basic case for Biafra’s secession from the Nigerian Federation is predicated
on the fact that people from the Eastern Region can no longer feel safe in other
parts of the Federation. They are not accepted as citizens of Nigeria by other
citizens of Nigeria. Not only is it impossible for Igbos and people of related
tribes to live in assurance of personal safety if they work outside Biafra; it
would also be impossible for any representative of these people to move freely
and without fear in any other part of the Federation of Nigeria.13
Are these fears not genuine and deep-seated? Can anyone say they are
groundless? The rights and wrongs of the original coup d’etat, the rights and
wrongs of the attitudes taken by different groups in the politics of pre- and post-
coup Nigeria, are all irrelevant to the fear which the Igbo people and others
from the region feel.
And Biafrans in Eastern Nigeria can point to too many bereaved homes, too
many maimed people, for anyone to deny the reasonable grounds for their fears.
It is these fears, which are the root cause both for the secession, and for the
fanaticism with which the people of Eastern Nigeria have defended the country
they declared to be independent.
Fears such as now exist among the Igbo people, do not disappear because
someone says they are unjustified, or says that the rest of Nigeria does not want
to exterminate Igbos. Such words have even less effect when the speakers have
made no attempt to bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice, and when troops
under the control of the Federal Nigerian authorities continue to ill-treat, or
allow others to ill-treat, any Igbo who comes within their power. The only way
to remove the Easterners’ fear is for the Nigerian authorities to accept its
existence, to acknowledge the reason for it, and then talk on terms of equality
with those involved on the way forward.
When people have genuine reason to be afraid how can you reassure them
through the barrel of a gun? Why not engaged with them in a genuine heart-to-
heart discussion with a view of winning them over? It is no use the Federal
authorities demanding that the persecuted should come as a supplicant for
mercy, by first renouncing their secession from the political unit. It is important
to note that secession was declared because the Igbo people and other easterners
felt it to be there only defence against extermination. In their minds, therefore, a
demand that they should renounce secession before talks begin is equivalent to a
demand that they should announce their willingness to be exterminated. If they
are wrong in this belief, they have to be convinced. And they can only be
convinced by talks leading to new institutional arrangements, which take
account of their fears.14
The people of Biafra have announced their willingness to talk to the Nigerian
authorities without any conditions. They cannot renounce their secession before
talks, but they do not demand that Nigerians should recognize it; they ask for
talks without conditions. But the Federal authorities have refused to talk except
on the basis of Biafra surrender. And as the Biafra’s believe they will be
massacred if they surrender, the Federal authorities are really refusing to talk at
all. But do human beings voluntarily walk towards what they believe to be
certain death? I have my doubts!
“The Federal Government argues that in demanding the renunciation of secession
before talks, and indeed in its entire ‘police action,’ it is defending the territorial
integrity of Nigeria. On this ground it argues also that it has the right to demand
support from all other governments, and especially other African governments. For
every state, and every state authority, has a duty to defend the sovereignty and
integrity of its nation; this is a central part of the function of a national
government.”15
Unfortunately, Africa accepted the validity of this point, for African states have
more reason than most to fear the effects of disintegration. It was on these
grounds that Africa watched the massacre of tens of thousands of people,
watched millions being made into refugees, watched the employment of
mercenaries by both sides in the civil war, and accepted repeated rebuffs of its
offers to help by mediation or conciliation.
But for how long should this continue? Africa fought for freedom on the
grounds of individual liberty and equality, and on the grounds that every people
must have the right to determine for themselves the conditions under which they
would be governed. We accepted the boundaries we inherited from colonialism,
and within them we each worked out for ourselves the constitutional and other
arrangements, which we felt to be appropriate to the most essential function of a
state - that is the safeguarding of life and liberty for its inhabitants.
When the Federation of Nigeria became independent in 1960, the same policy
was adopted by all its peoples. They accepted the Federal structure which had
been established under the colonial system, and declared their intention to work
together. Indeed, the Southern States of the Federation - which include Biafra -
delayed their own demands for independence until the North was ready to join
them. At the insistence of the North also, the original suggestion of the National
Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) that Nigeria should be broken
up into many small states with a strong centre, was abandoned. The South
accepted a structure, which virtually allowed the more populous North to
dominate the rest.16
But the constitution of the Federation of Nigeria was broken in January, 1966,
by the first military coup. All hope of its resuscitation was removed by the
second coup, and even more by the pogroms of September and October, 1966.
These events altered the whole basis of the society; after them it was impossible
for political and economic relations between the different parts of the old
Federation to be restored. That meant that Nigerian unity could only be
salvaged from the wreck of inter-tribal violence and fear by a constitution
drawn up in the light of what happened, and which was generally acceptable to
all the major elements of the society under the new circumstances. A
completely new start had to be made, for the basis of the state had been
dissolved in the complete breakdown of law and order, and the inter-tribal
violence, which existed.17
The Aburi Conference could have provided the new start, which was necessary
if the unity of Nigeria was to be maintained. But before the end of the same
month, Gowon was restating his commitment to the creation of new states, and
his determination to oppose any form of confederation. And on the last day of
January, the Federal military authorities were already giving administrative
reasons for the delay in the implementation of the Agreements reached at Aburi.
It was in the middle of March before a constitutional decree was issued which
was supposed to regularize the position in accordance with the decisions taken
there.19
But unfortunately this Decree also included a new clause - which had not been
agreed upon - and which gave the Federal authorities reserved powers over the
Regions, and thus completely nullified the whole operation. Nor had any
payment been made by the Federal Government to back up the monetary
commitment for rehabilitation, which it had accepted in the Ghana meeting.
In short, the necessity for an arrangement, which would take account of the
fears created during 1966 was accepted at Aburi, and renounced thereafter by
the Federal authorities. Yet they now claim to be defending the integrity of the
country in which they failed to guarantee the most elementary safety of the
twelve million people of Eastern Nigeria. These people had been massacred in
other parts of Nigeria without the Federal authorities apparently having neither
the will nor the power to protect them.20
When they retreated to their homeland they were expected to accept the
domination of the same people who instigated, or allowed, their persecution in
the country which they are being told is theirs - i.e., Nigeria.
Surely, when a whole people are rejected by the majority of the state in which
they live, they must have the right to live under a different kind of arrangement
which does secure their existence. States are made to serve people; governments
are established to protect the citizens of a state against external enemies and
internal wrongdoers.21
It is on those grounds that people surrender their right and power of self-defence
to the government of the state in which they live. But when the machinery of the
state, and the powers of the government, is turned against a whole group of
society on grounds of racial, tribal, or religious prejudice, then the victims have
the right to take back the powers they have surrendered, and defend themselves.
For while people have a duty to defend the integrity of their state, and even to
die in its defence, this duty stems from the fact that it is theirs, and that it is
important to their well-being and to the future of their children. When the state
ceases to stand for honour, the protection, and the well-being of all its citizens,
then it is no longer the instrument of those it has rejected. In such a case the
people have the right to create another instrument for their protection - in other
words, to create another state. This right cannot be abrogated by constitutions,
or by outsiders.22
The basis of statehood and of unity can only be general acceptance by the
participants. When more than twelve million people then were well convinced
that they were rejected, and that there was no longer any basis for unity between
them and other groups of people, then that unity has ceased to exist. You cannot
kill thousands of people, and keep on killing more, in the name of unity. There
is no unity between the dead and those who killed them; and there is no unity in
slavery or domination.
Africa needs unity. We need unity over the whole continent, and in the
meantime we need unity within the existing states of Africa. It is a tragedy
when we experience a setback to our goal of unity. But the basis of our need for
unity, and the reason for our desire for it, is the greater well-being, and the
greater security, of the people of Africa. Unity by conquest is impossible. It is
not practicable; and even if military might could force the acceptance of a
particular authority, the purpose of unity would have been destroyed. For the
purpose of unity, its justification is the service of all the people who are united
together. The general consent of all the people involved is the only basis on
which unity in Africa can be maintained or extended.23
The fact that the Federation of Nigeria was created in 1960 with the consent of
all the people does not alter that fact. That Federation, and the basis of consent,
has since been destroyed.
Nor is this the first time the world has seen a reduction in political unity. We
have seen the creation of the Mali Federation, the creation of a union between
Egypt and Syria, and the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. And we have also seen the dissolution of all these attempts at unity,
and the consequent recognition of the separate nations, which were once
involved. The world has also seen the creation of India and Pakistan out of what
was once the Indian Empire. We have all recognized both of these nation states
and done our best to help them deal with the millions of people made homeless
by the conflict and division. None of these things mean that we like these
examples of greater disunity. They mean that we recognize that in all these
cases the people are unwilling to remain in one political unit.
“Tanzania recognizes Senegal, Mali, Egypt, Syria, Malawi, Zambia, Pakistan and
India. What right have we to refuse, in the name of unity, to recognize Biafra? For
years the people of that state struggled to maintain unity with the other people in the
Federation of Nigeria; even after the pogroms of 1966 they tried to work out a new
form of unity which would guarantee their safety; they have demonstrated by ten
months of bitter fighting that they have decided upon a new political organization and
are willing to defend it.”24
The world has taken it upon itself to utter many ill-informed criticisms of the
Jews of Europe for going to their deaths without any concerted struggle. But out
of sympathy for the suffering of these people, and in recognition of the world’s
failure to take action at the appropriate time, the United Nations established the
state of Israel in a territory, which belonged to the Arabs for thousands of years.
It was felt that only by the establishment of a Jewish homeland, and a Jewish
national state, could Jews be expected to live in the world under conditions of
human equality.
“Tanzania has recognized the state of Israel and will continue to do so because of its
belief that every people must have some place in the world where they are not liable
to be rejected by their fellow citizens. But the Biafra’s have now suffered the same
kind of rejection within their state that the Jews of Germany experienced.
Fortunately, they already had a homeland. They have retreated to it for their own
protection, and for the same reason - after all other efforts had failed - they have
declared it to be an independent state.
In the light of these circumstances, Tanzania feels obliged to recognize the setback to
African unity, which has occurred. We therefore recognize the state of Biafra as an
independent sovereign entity, and as a member of the community of nations. Only by
this act of recognition can we remain true to our conviction that the purpose of
society, and of all political organization, is the service of man.”25
But unity can only be based on the general consent of the people involved. The
people must feel that this state, or this nation, is theirs; and they must be willing
to have their quarrels in that context. In as much as a large number of the people
of any such political unit stop believing that the state is theirs and that the
government is their instrument, then the unit are no longer viable. It will not
receive the loyalty of its citizens.
It is, indeed, the citizen’s duty to serve, and if necessary to die for, his country
and his stems from the fact that it is his and that its government is the
instrument of himself and his fellow citizens. The duty stems, in other words,
from the common denominator of accepted statehood, and from the state
government’s responsibility to protect all the citizens and serve them all. For
states, and governments, exist for men and for the service of man. They exist for
the citizens’ protection, their welfare, and the future well-being of their
children. There is no other justification for states and governments except
man.28
Whether the Easterners are correct in their belief that they have been rejected is
a matter for argument. But they do have this belief. And if they are wrong, they
have to be convinced that they are wrong. They will not be convinced by being
shot. Nor will their acceptance as part of the Federation be demonstrated by the
use of Federal power to bomb schools and hospitals in the areas to which people
have fled from persecution.30
The Biafra’s now feel that they cannot live under conditions of personal security
in the present Nigerian Federation. As they were unable to achieve an
agreement on a new form of association, they have therefore claimed the right
to govern themselves. The Biafra’s are not claiming the right to govern anyone
else. They have not said that they must govern the Federation as the only way of
protecting themselves. They have simply withdrawn their consent to the system
under which they used to be governed because that system cannot guarantee the
safety of lives and properties.
Biafra is not now operating under the control of a democratic government, any
more than Nigeria is. But the mass support for the establishment and defence of
Biafra is obvious. This is not a case of a few leaders declaring secession for
their own private glory. Indeed, by the Aburi Agreement the leaders of Biafra
showed a greater reluctance to give up hope of some form of unity with Nigeria
than the masses possessed. But the agreement was not implemented.
Evidently, the Igbos indeed made the most determined attempt to secede from
Nigeria but they were not the first of Nigeria’s main ethnic groups to demand
secession. They were, in fact, the last. The first people who wanted to pull out
of the federation were northern Nigerians, for no apparent reason, other than the
fact that their region was more backward in terms of education and economic
development than the other two regions - East and West in the south - and
therefore could not compete with the rest of the country for jobs and other
opportunities on the basis of merit.
It would be recalled that the northerners, as far back as 1950, argued that the
amalgamation of the North and the South was a “a big mistake,” and that the
country should return to the boundaries established in 1914 when the two parts
were virtually different colonies in terms of administration. Each had its own,
separate, colonial administration. And throughout the 1950s, they continued to
make secessionist demands, now and then, and seriously threatened to withdraw
from the federation unless independence was granted on their terms and the
federal government was dominated by them. Southerners conceded, in order to
save the federation from falling apart.31
A few years after independence in the late sixties, northerners wanted to secede
and, in fact, almost did, during the second military coup of July 1966 executed
by northern military officers who, with the full backing of Northern politicians
and other leaders, almost dissolved the Nigerian federation and declared
independence for the North.
Lagos, the federal capital of Nigeria until the 1980s, had been designated as
federal territory by the colonial authorities since its founding, and was therefore
not under the jurisdiction of the Western Region. And when British Colonial
Secretary Oliver Lyttelton ruled that Lagos would remain federal territory,
Awolowo stormed out of the conference in London, threatening secession of the
Western Region from the rest of Nigeria. Had the British not been in control of
Nigeria, the Western Region would probably have seceded from the
federation.33
As late as the 1990s, threats of secession also resonate from all parts of Nigeria
and continued through the years, although in varying degrees and in muted form
in some cases, as different ethnic groups complained of marginalization by
other groups in the giant federation. The Igbos, who never regained their former
position when they were reintegrated into the Nigerian society after the end of
the civil war (1967 - 1970), talked of another Biafra or an alternative
arrangement - including confederation - which would give them complete
control over their own destiny and equal access to power and the nation’s
resources within the federation to end their marginalization. And other
Nigerians, especially the Hausa-Fulani, were determined to keep the Igbos on
the periphery after Biafra lost the war; a policy of marginalization and
containment of the Igbos which continued through the years even after the
1990s.34 As George Ayittey states in his book Africa in Chaos:
“In Nigeria, this insidious tribalism has retrogressively evolved into what Nigerian
columnist Igonikon Jack called a ‘full-blown tribal-apartheid,’ in which people of a
particular tribal, regional, or religious origin enjoy more privileges than their fellow
indigenous compatriots, the Christian Ibos of the Southeast. The Ibos, who lost the
Biafran War, are the most disadvantaged and discriminated against. The
Northerners, who are of the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group and predominantly Muslim,
have ruled Nigeria for 31 out of 35 years of independence (won in October 1960) and
the military has also been dominated by the Northerners for 25 years.”35
His candidacy was backed and bankrolled by powerful northern generals and
politicians, including former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida - one of the
richest men in the world, reportedly worth more than $30 billion siphoned off
from petrodollars - who felt that, as a fellow soldier and former military ruler
himself (he was Nigeria’s head of state from 1975 - 1979), he would be
sympathetic to them and protect their interests. And, to certain degree, they
were not disappointed.37
But the transfer of political power to the south also had other consequences.
Although northerners remained influential and the dominant force in the
federation headed by a southerner - the vice president was a northerner, as was
the defence minister and other key cabinet members and other high-ranking
officials - the mere fact that the presidency had been handed over to the south
rankled many northern Nigerians, including former military rulers. They were
determined to undermine the new dispensation and found a ready weapon in
religion.38
All this, together with the marginalization of many ethnic groups in the
federation, led many people to question whether Nigeria would really be able to
survive as a nation, prompting some to ask: Should Nigeria break up?
The threat to Nigerian existence came from other groups as well, besides the
three major ones - the Igbos whose independent Republic of Biafra lasted for
about three years; the Yorubas who felt marginalized even under the democratic
presidency of a fellow Yoruba, Olusegun Obasanjo, which many of them
believed was controlled by northern generals and political heavyweights; and
the Hausa-Fulani and other northern Muslims who resorted to religion,
employing Islamic law as a guerrilla tactic to undermine federal authority in
their states and force southern Christians to leave Northern Nigeria and return to
the south; a religious and ethnic conflict which cost thousands of lives between
1999 and 2002 in the northern states, especially Kano and Kaduna.41
The Ogonis and other groups in the oil-producing states of the Niger Delta
were, and continue to be, some of the most exploited and marginalized groups
in Nigeria. In spite of the vast amount of oil pumped right from under their feet,
earning Nigeria billions of dollars every year, they are among the poorest
people in the world. They get nothing, or only a trickle, from the federal
government and the oil companies. But such neglect also has had dire
consequences. Groups of Ogoni and Ijaw youths among others have resorted to
sabotage through the years, targeting pipelines and other oil installations, and
kidnapping oil company employees, to dramatize their plight and extract
concessions from the federal government and oil companies.42
The militants have not only demanded money for development and provision of
basic services, but also for cleaning up pollution. The environmental devastation
wrought by the oil companies with the blessings of the federal government has
taken a heavy toll on the people of the oil-producing states in terms of lost lives,
disease, polluted water and dwindling fish supplies as well as lost vegetation.
The neglect has been going on for decades since oil was found in the Niger
Delta in the 1950s and has prompted some members of these minority groups to
demand secession. And their minority status in a federation dominated by the
three main groups - the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and the Igbo - only
compounds the problem.43
One of the Niger Delta residents who eloquently expressed their plight was Ken
Saro-Wiwa, an Ogoni writer and activist of international stature, who was
hanged in November 1985 by the putative military dictator Sani Abacha
because of his relentless campaign against the depredations suffered by the
people of the oil-producing states at the hands of the oil companies and the
federal government; their plight compounded by their minority status. As he
stated in one of his last statements, in an interview with a Nigerian newspaper,
the Lagos-based Guardian: “My only regret is that I was born a minority in
Nigeria.”44
The idea of establishing independent ethno-states is probably very appealing to
oppressed ethnic groups, but terrifying to African countries almost all of which
are multiethnic societies. It may even be argued that they are multi-national
states, if ethnic groups are considered to be nations, or micro-nations.45
On the 26th of May 1967, when the Eastern Region of Nigeria voted to secede,
consequent upon which the then military governor of the region, Lt. Col.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, made an announcement declaring Biafra
an independent state in the name of The Federal Republic of Biafra, some
curious minds ask: “Can Africa be better unified on the basis of a colonial
boundaries or could a lasting unity be achieved on the basis of self-
determination for the various African peoples?
Backed by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, the Federal Military
Government under Yakubu Gowon, waged a brutal war against the breakaway
republic of Biafra for almost three years. By the time the republic finally
surrendered on 12 January, 1970, a catalogue of human and material loses were
recorded as a result of a devastating blockade of the “land-locked” territory, for
many Biafra had become a symbol: of the exhaustion of colonial optimisms, of
the horrors of civil wars, of the starving African child and of the emergence of a
new sensibility that in the 1970s would help to produce both an Journal of
Genocide Research, 201446
The Nigerian civil war raised but could not answer these fundamental questions
about the nature and direction of decolonization, and their possible application
to the south-eastern region of the country. Instead, it only brings to the fore the
ambiguity and contested nature of sovereignty and self-determination, and the
ability of groups such as the Igbos to exploit their indeterminacy in an effort to
achieve their aims. In this book, we shall highlight these ambiguities by
examining the nature of Biafran claim to self-determination and the critique of
its opponents, as well as the ways in which these claims and counterclaims
evolved over the course of the civil war, especially in response to charges of
genocide made by Biafran supporters. Finally, this book will explore the lessons
that both sympathizers (supporters) and critics (opponents) of Biafra drew from
its collapse regarding the nature and limits of self-determination. 48
In the early 1960s, the rapid decolonization of much of Africa brought to the
fore many of the most pressing questions concerning the nature and limits of
self-determination. In 1960, at the founding conference of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU), anti-colonial leaders heatedly debated whether the pan-
African ideals of unity, anti-colonialism and self-determination required the
maintenance of colonial borders or their dissolution in favour of pan-African
federation or some other formation. The OAU eventually took a strong and
unequivocal stance in favour of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
member states and the preservation of existing borders partly out of fear of state
fragmentation and partly at the insistence of smaller states fearful of border
disputes with and territorial claims by their larger neighbours. While insisting
on the ‘inalienable right of all people to control their own destiny’ the charter
placed respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity among its founding
principles. Given the ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity of many
postcolonial states and the often arbitrary definition of colonial borders, both of
which raised the specter that acknowledging a right of secession might lead to
the unraveling of the postcolonial African system, this, indeed, was a reasonable
stance. But it appears many African countries bought into the idea as one
Kenyan official told an OAU summit conference in 1963 that ‘the principle of
self-determination has relevance where foreign domination is the issue. It has no
relevance where the issue is territorial disintegration by dissident citizens’. 51
The stance of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) reflected the deep
unease spawned by the Congolese civil war (1961-63) and the attempted
secession of Katanga province, justified by Moi se Tshombe’ on the basis of the
universally recognized right to self-determination.
“… The secessionist state of Katanga indirectly backed by numerous western
governments and mining firms, was defeated in January 1963, just a few months
before the OAU’s formation. Many African leaders saw the Katanga secession as an
attempt by former colonial powers to foster the emergence of weak postcolonial states
and postcolonial self-determination (at least as best described by them) as a mask for
the promotion of imperial and commercial interests. Katanga served as a powerful, if
sometimes contradictory, precedent for Biafran leaders and their supporters, who
pointed to its existence both as a justification for their own attempt at secession and
as a counterpoint to what they argued were the more legitimate circumstances
animating their claims. The Congo crisis also underlined the political economy of
self-determination claims and the ways that these often served as shorthand for
conflicts over the control of vital natural resources such as oil and other extractive
commodities. The Nigerian civil war erupted less than a year after the UN General
Assembly adopted the covenants on civil and political rights and economic, social,
cultural rights, capping fifteen years of often bitter negotiations in the Human Rights
Committee. Article I of each covenant famously declared that ‘[a]ll peoples have the
right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political
status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development’. The
covenants enshrined self-determination as the ‘first right’ from which all others
derived, though its substantive meaning remained unclear and open to fierce
contestation.”52
From the very beginning, the Biafran leaders anchored their claims to
legitimacy on these terms. Biafran leaders made a four-fold argument defending
their right to self-determination.53
They cast their efforts as the latest chapter in the history of African
decolonization and as part of ‘the heroic struggles of all peoples all
over the world for their national freedom’, all of which ‘have been
motivated under identical impulses of self-determination’.
Perhaps, more importantly, they suggested that self-defined
linguistic and ‘tribal’ groups, rather than colonial borders, were the
logical units of organization and governance in Africa. In short,
Biafran officials rejected the imperial premises of decolonization
and argued that ‘progressive’ African leaders should be willing to
consider solutions that accorded to African rather than
metropolitan realities. As such, they argued, the ‘best hope for a
satisfactory solution to the problems of Nigeria lies in the
recognition and preservation of the separate identity of the various
tribal or linguistic groupings and their rights to develop each along
its own line and at its own pace’. The emphasis on minority rights
hearkened back to the post-World War I period, when the
European powers employed similar logic to justify the creation of
ethnically or linguistically homogeneous states out of the remnants
of the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires. It also reflected the often
regional and ethnic character of the Nigerian decolonization
process. As Bonny Ibhawoh has observed, the Freedom Charter
drawn up in 1943 by the National Council for Nigeria and the
Cameroons 9and based on the 1941 Atlantic Charter) ‘particularly
stressed the right to self-determination’. Biafran leaders
emphasized this long history of regionalism, noting that in
negotiations over a new constitution following the 1966 military
coup, representatives of the north, west and eastern states had
insisted, as the north’s proposal put it, that the ‘right of self-
determination of all people in the country must be accepted’ and
that ‘these rights include the right of any State within the country
to secede’.
Following from above, Biafran leaders insisted ‘that recognition of
Biafra’ sovereignty’ was ‘in keeping with the best practice of the
concept of territorial integrity of all nations’, the actual intent of
which was to ‘neutralize the ambitions of those states which adhere
to it with regards to the territories of one another’ – in order words,
to prevent strong states from absorbing their smaller, weaker
neighbors. Even the OAU charter, they insisted, recognized ‘the
right of a new state to emerge from a state through a process of
self-determination’ and did not explicitly rule out secession in all
instances. In any case, the history of British-sponsored federations
(West Indies, Malaysia, Central African Republics etc.), suggested
both that colonially sponsored federations were doomed to fail and
that their dissolution could be accomplished without bloodshed.
Finally, Biafran officials suggested that the Nigerian state, which
had proved unable and unwilling to protect residents of Eastern
Nigeria and afford them full democratic rights, had forfeited their
loyalty. ‘When the Nigerians violated our basic rights and liberties’
argued columnist Simon Anekwe, ‘we decided reluctantly but
bravely to found our own state, to exercise our inalienable right to
self-determination as our only remaining hope for survival as a
people’. Here Biafran secessionists made a novel case that the
violation of their right to liberal, individual self-determination by
the Nigerian state compelled them to exercise their right to
collective self-determination. Such an argument flies in the face of
the claims by human right scholars that by the 1960s anti-colonial
leaders had abandoned individual or liberal understandings of self-
determination in favor of collective ones. Throughout the civil war,
self-identified Biafrans continued to insist on both the right to
liberal, individual self-determination within Nigeria, through the
exercise of local self-rule, and their right to exit it through an act of
collective self-determination.
Only five nations officially recognized Biafra – Haiti, Tanzania, Ivory Coast,
Gabon and Zambia – and they did so for a wide range of reasons. It is worthy to
note that Julius Nyerere’s Tanzania offered the most significant support and
encouragement, extending official recognition to the Republic of Biafra in April
1968 band framing his decision in terms of support for self-determination.
“Tanzanian officials were careful to reiterate their support for Nigeria’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity as well, observing that in service of these principles ‘Africa
has watched the massacre of tens of thousands of people, has watched the
employment of mercenaries by both sides in the current civil war, and had accepted
repeated rebuffs of its offers to help by mediation or conciliation’. The fundamental
question raised by the Nigerian civil war, as it would be raised by the East Pakistan
crisis a few years later, was whether there existed a threshold of state repression
beyond which a people ‘have the right to create another state’. In this case, Nyerere
suggested the answer was yes, though he stated both publicly and privately that
recognition was intended as a spur to negotiations, not a solution to the conflict. He
argued that the denial of individual self-determination to Igbos by the Nigerian
government legitimized an act of collective self-determination, though not necessarily
liberal democracy …” 57
50 years after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, the call by activists for independence
of the former eastern Nigeria otherwise known as Biafra still resonates but
successive Nigerian governments attempt to contain it.
On 30th of May 2020, pro-Biafra groups and their supporters celebrated the
anniversary of the declaration of the Biafran Republic on May 30, 1967, by Col.
Odumegwu Ojukwu—a 33-year-old Oxford University-educated historian-
turned-military officer. During this period, public events were cancelled and
private memories were shared with others. Prayers were said in remembrance of
the dead, the war’s victims and survivors as well as posts and images on social
media were made, sparking more support for the Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB), a group that has long been agitating for an independent state of Biafra.69
It would be recalled that for more than five years now, IPOB and other pro-
Biafra groups have been organizing peaceful protests across the country and
demanding self-determination. Led by Nnamdi Kanu, a British Nigerian
activist, IPOB blames the central government for leaving the region
marginalized and consequently seeking a peaceful referendum to break away
from Nigeria and create a separate state. But the present government led by
Muhammadu Buhari had zero tolerance on anyone seeking to balkanize the
Nigerian state and he made no pretense about that; insisting that the unity of
Nigeria is not negotiable! 70
Kanu was released in April 2017 with stringent bail conditions that restricted his
movements after spending more than 18 months in jail, but yet the agitation
grew even louder with more peaceful protests and rallies.
In his book, “Biafra’s Struggle for Survival – A Personal Account of the War”,
Christopher Ejiofor, a former Biafran soldier and military advisor to Ojukwu,
said:
“There was sadness in the heart of every single Igbo family. Nobody in the Eastern
Region had not lost somebody,… The blood of the innocent children who died due to
starvation during the war is still seeking vengeance.”74
Ejiofor went further to say: “The Nigerian-Biafra civil war should have never
happened in my estimation.”75
It would be recalled that after the 1994 Rwanda genocide that led to the deaths
of some 800,000 people, the Rwandan government set up the memorials and
national day of remembrance in Rwanda. On the contrary, Nigeria doesn’t see
the need to officially commemorate the war in honour of the dead following the
genocide orchestrated by the blood festivals between 1967 and 1970. However,
there are private efforts—such as the Centre for Memories, located in the
former Biafra capital city of Enugu, which holds exhibitions each year to
commemorate the war—and there have been past gestures.76
The Biafra agitation, now led by mostly young people, is just getting hotter as
the days go by. Yet, even after five decades, the present government, like most
of those before it, has no interest in reconciliatory moves such as holding a
roundtable dialogue with the agitators or in leading a national conversation to
address the grievances that have left the country still divided. Agitators believe
a new breakaway is imminent—but the government’s answer may yet again be
the use of force.
Nigerians were shocked to receive the news that the leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) was abducted and have been arraigned in court to face
his charges of treasonable felony. A lot of controversy and conspiracy theories
followed his re-arrest. His younger brother, Kingsley was the first person to
confirm that Nnamdi Kanu was actually arrested in Kenya.
Following his re-arrest, Kingsley said Kanu has been “subjected to the most
serious violations of international law” because of his quest for self-
determination. Explaining further, Kingsley narrated:
“Whilst visiting Kenya, Nnamdi Kanu was detained and handed over to the
Nigerian authorities who then flew him to Nigeria,” he said.
“My brother has been subject to extraordinary rendition by Kenya and
Nigeria. They have violated the most basic principles of the rule of law.
Extraordinary rendition is one of the most serious crimes states can commit.
“Both Nigeria and Kenya must be held to account. I demand justice for my
brother, Nnamdi Kanu.”77
In another development, Kanu’s lawyer who visited the IPOB leader at the
custody of the Department of State Service, DSS, said his client was arrested
and detained for eight days by Kenya’s Special Police Force, before he was
eventually handed over to their Nigerian counterpart.
Recall that the DSS had earlier permitted Kanu’s legal team to visit the fugitive
where he is been detained.
Shortly after the visit on Friday evening, Ejiofor said his client was arrested in
Kenya on June 18 but was detained and tortured until last Sunday when he was
flown back to the country.
According to him, Malami “…has shown himself to be a bigot who does not
understand what it means to live in a pluralistic society governed by the dictates
of the rule of law,” he wrote.
He also requested the international community and leaders of nations to use all
their power to ensure “real consequences for these arbitrary violations of
internationally accepted democratic norms and rules that govern civilized
people.”
Expressing his concern in what is playing out in the land he was born, Madu
added: 79
“Nigeria is burning, and the people of Nigeria, except those who are holding
the country down, want out.
“You cannot destroy the hope and aspirations of a people destined for
greatness and expect them to bow down in servitude.
“You cannot destroy a generation of people and expect them not to fight for
their freedom. The power of guns, state-sponsored terrorism will not achieve
peace or the preservation of Nigeria.
“The Igbo and other ethnic groups in Nigeria who are calling for Nigeria to
be renegotiated do not seek violence or war. They seek peace. They seek
progress and the advancement of their people. They seek fairness, safety,
equity, and justice for their people.
“They seek the opportunity for their children to grow up and achieve their
God-given abundant potential.
“They seek the rise of a people with the work ethic, intellect and capacity to
be a truly global super power on the continent of Africa. They seek dignity
over inhumane treatment. They seek life over death.
“Friends of the black world must unite and liberate the people of Nigeria
from this bondage and from the claws of corrupt and inept politicians who
have no business being near the corridor of Nigeria’s political power.”80
REFERENCES
“By means of your democracy, we shall invade you; by means of our religion, we shall
dominate you” – An Islamic Scholar stunned Christian audience
1. Background Studies
Since 2020: Boko Haram killed 43,000; Islamist Fulani killed 19,000.2
Since June 2015: 12,000 Christians killed; 2000 Churches burnt down.3
January – June 2020: Southern Kaduna 300 Christian massacred (this
figure is inferior to reality today).4
May 2020: 350 Igbo Villages were Occupy by Fulani herders and
militias.5
The world has witnessed, in recent six years, two clear cases of genocide
atrocities. The first occurred in Syria and Iraq, perpetrated by Daesh against
religious minorities such as the Yazidis and Christians. Myanmar is another
place were genocide atrocities perpetrated by the Burmese military against the
Rohingya Muslims and other religious minorities. Yet, there are evolving
stations where mass atrocities may be occurring and that appear to be neglected.
One such example is in Nigeria.8
Nonetheless, the atrocities perpetrated by Boko Haram are not the only mass
atrocities in Nigeria that require urgent attention.
There are several steps that need to be taken to address the atrocities and the
APPG’s report maps these, including comprehensive investigations and
prosecutions. However, the comprehensive response will not happen until we
recognize, once and for all, the nature and severity of the atrocities. The crimes
must be recognized for what they are and “a most misleading campaign” is not
that name.14
In terms of lives lost, families separated, people imprisoned, and churches shut
down, the 21st century has, so far, been the worst period of persecution against
Christians in recorded history. Among the hottest persecution hot-spots is
Nigeria. According to religious freedom watchdog Open Doors USA, Nigeria
ranks at #12 worldwide for persecution of Christians.15
Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram is the known villain in Nigeria, and
justifiably so. They are among the most brutal Islamist radical terror groups in
the world. Just last week, attacks in northeaster Nigeria by a Boko Haram
splinter-group left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead. Back in January, the
group beheaded Nigerian pastor Lawan Andimi. Kidnapped from his village
and forced to negotiate for his release with the government, Andimi wouldn’t
break. Instead, he turned his hostage video into a stunning testimony to Christ.16
Though Boko Haram is indeed gratuitously offensive and evil but much of the
recent bloodshed in Nigeria has been perpetrated by militant Hausa-Fulani
herdsmen. This exclusively composed Muslim ethnic group specializes in night
raids on Christian villages in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. In June 2019, Nigerian
Christian leaders claimed that “over 6,000 persons—mostly children, women
and the aged—[have been] maimed and killed in night raids by armed Fulani
herdsmen.” They also described the “continuous abduction of under-aged
Christian girls by Muslim youths” for forced marriages.17
Nigeria ranks one of the worst nations in the world when it comes to Christian
persecution on Open Doors USA's 2020 World Watch List. Accordingly, the
Chief Executive Officer of Open Doors USA, David Curry, has warned during a
press event that the rise of Islamic extremism in Nigeria is spilling over into
Cameroon and Burkina Faso.18 (https://www.christiantoday.com/newsletter
The U.S. State Department added Nigeria for the first time to its "special watch
list" of countries that tolerate severe religious freedom violations in December,
2019.
Several human rights and religious freedom activists are calling on U.S.
President Donald Trump to appoint a special envoy to monitor the situation in
Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region.
In January, 2020 following the beheading of Rev. Lawan Andimi at the hands
of Boko Haram, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) issued sharp words of
criticism for the Nigerian federal government due to its inability (or rather
unwillingness) to thwart attacks and abductions carried out against Christians by
Boko Haram and the Islamic State's West Africa Province in Nigeria's
northeast.
“Andimi, a Church of the Brethren pastor and chairman of CAN's chapter in the
Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, was abducted by alleged Boko
Haram militants in early January.
Days later he appeared in a ransom video pleading with church and government
leaders to secure his release. However, the pastor was said to have been executed
because the underserved Christian community could not raise enough funds to meet
the ransom demands of his captors. Additionally, sources say that Andimi refused to
renounce his faith in Christ.”20
Clearly, genocide is what Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsman are after in
Nigeria. Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, however, denies this. In a
recently issued statement, he insisted that “false allegations of persecution of
Christians” are “a most misleading campaign.” President Buhari, by the way, is
the son of a Fulani chief.
Some voices in the international arena are taking the plight of Nigerian
Christians seriously. The U.K. Parliament released a report putting the G-word
front and centre. Entitled, “Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?” the report issues a
stirring call to Britain and the world “to speak out on behalf of all the survivors
and victims of violence,” and “to highlight the seriousness of the situation and
the level of injustice that Nigerian Christians face.”23
Describing the report in Forbes (and by the way, good for Forbes for covering
this story), one human rights activist called for “comprehensive investigations
and prosecutions” by bodies like the International Criminal Court. But, she
insisted, the first step has to be that the world admits “the nature and severity of
the atrocities. The crimes must be recognized for what they are and ‘a most
misleading campaign’ is not that name.”24
The U.S. must lead the way. Earlier in his administration President Trump
issued an Executive Order which made religious freedom a foreign policy and
national security priority. It’s now time to make act on those words. Nigerian
Christians can’t afford to wait much longer.
Besides calling this crisis what it is – genocide, the U.S. could ease the process
for asylum-seekers and immigrants from Nigeria. Nigeria was among the six
countries President Trump added to the travel and immigration ban in February,
2020 and, currently, Nigerian refugees hoping to flee to the United States must
prove their need by submitting an exhaustive stack of paperwork. Those in
danger should not have to go to so much trouble to demonstrate what the world
should already know.
Kester made reference to the latest letter, a copy made available to Modern
Diplomacy, titled “Calling For Urgent International Intervention To Stop State
Protected Fulani & Other Jihadists From Wiping Out Christians In Nigeria” and
was addressed to H.E. (Mr.) Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United
Nations, Rt. Hon (Madam) Patricia Scotland, QC Secretary General of
Commonwealth, H.E. (Ms) Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the Int’l
Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor, ICC Headquarters, among others.25
It said in part: “We, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of
Law, are a federally registered human rights group in Nigeria, formed in 2008
with thematic mandate of campaigning for promotion and advancement of
democracy and accountable governance, civil liberties and rule of law and
public security and safety”.26
In its latest letter, a copy made available to Modern Diplomacy, titled “Calling
For Urgent International Intervention To Stop State Protected Fulani & Other
Jihadists From Wiping Out Christians In Nigeria” and was addressed to His
Excellency (Mr.) Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations,
Rt. Hon (Madam) Patricia Scotland, QC Secretary General of Commonwealth,
His Excellency (Ms) Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the Int’l Criminal
Court Office of the Prosecutor, ICC Headquarters, among others, Intersociety
said:28
That Christians are at high risk of being wiped out by state protected
Islamic Jihadists, especially the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, parented by
three major Fulani associations (Miyatti Allah, FUNAM and Fulani
Houta lHore), all recognized and registered till date by the present central
Government of Nigeria. Other jihadist groups massacring Christians in
Nigeria are: Boko Haram, ISWAP, Ansaru and Jihadist “Bandits”. Of the
named Jihadist groups, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen enjoy full state cover
and protection and are also independently found dominating other jihadist
groups.30
That from January to July 2020, Jihadist Herdsmen have been responsible
for no fewer than 1,027 Christian deaths and destruction or burning of
thousands of houses and hundreds of worship and learning centres
belonging to Christians. All their victims since 2015 and before then are
Christians. The Jihadist group is further responsible for over 15,000
Christian deaths and destruction or burning of at least 1,500 churches and
Christian learning centres in Nigeria since 2009.31
That combined with anti-Christian killings by other Jihadists including
Boko Haram, ISWAP, Ansaru and Jihadist “Bandits”, over 32,000
Christian lives and more than 17,000 churches and Christian schools have
been lost since July 2009. Owing to the inaction and strongly suspected
conspiratorial role of the present central Government of Nigeria since
mid-2015, the number of Jihadist groups in Nigeria has also increased
dangerously and uncontrollably from three (BH, Ansaru and Herdsmen)
in mid-2015 to not less than 20 including splinter and autonomous
jihadist groups.32
That this is to the extent that they now operate, kill, maim, torture, rape,
massacre and convert Christians and loot, plunder, burn and destroy their
churches and other properties at will; with Nigeria’s central Government
and its security forces looking the other side or doing little or nothing.33
That specifically, Your Excellences’, a total of1,421 Christians have been
hacked to death by Nigeria’s Jihadists in Jan-July 2020; a period of seven
months. The breakdown of the massacre carefully monitored by
Intersociety, shows that Jihadist Herdsmen accounted for 1,027 Christian
deaths, Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP)
310 Christian deaths and Jihadist Ansaru and Jihadist “Bandits” over 60
Christian deaths. Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen also accounted for over 9,000
Christian deaths since mid-2015 when the present Government of Nigeria
came on board.34
That in Southern Kaduna alone, 683 Christian lives have been lost to
Jihadist Herdsmen in the past 570 days or 19 months (1st Jan 2019-31st
July 2020). Not less than 363 Christian lives were also lost to Fulani
Jihadists in the past seven years or 1st Jan-31st July 2020 and in July
2020, alone, no fewer than 175 Christians were butchered by the same
Jihadist group in the State.35
For more details, Your Excellences’, please access the follow links
concerning the on-going butchering of Christians in Nigeria and strongly
suspected complicity of the present central Government of Nigeria and
some State Governments in the troubled areas including the present
Government of Kaduna State.36
o Our latest report, dated 3rd August 2020: 1,421 Christians Hacked
To Death By Nigeria’s Jihadists In Jan-July 2020:
o Our updated Statistical Data File backing our recent reports on
massacre of Christians in Nigeria, updated on 3rd August
2020:http://intersocieng.org/phocadownload/2019/file
%20containing%20statistical%20sources2-converted%20new.pdf
o Our recent statement, exposing eight major indicators vicariously
and directly linking the present central Government of Nigeria to
Fulani & BH Jihadist in the country, dated 31st July
2020:http://intersociety-ng.org/component/k2/item/558-eight-
major-indicators-vicariously-linking-the-present-government-of-
nigeria-to-herdsmen–bh-jihadism
o Our recent letter to Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police urging
the NPF to intervene and end ceaseless massacre of Christians in
Southern Kaduna, dated 22nd July 2020: http://intersociety-
ng.org/component/k2/item/557-killing-of-300-christians-in-200-
days-of-2020-1st-jan-20th-july-2020-in-southern-kaduna
o Our updated version of the periodically reviewed reports on
massacre of Christians in Nigeria, released on 12th July and
updated on 24th July 2020 (1,202 Nigeria’s Christians Hacked to
Death by Jihadists in Jan-June 2020): http://intersociety-
ng.org/component/k2/item/556-nigeria
Our writing, Your Excellences’ is in recognition of Your Excellences’’
respective international mandates for promotion and sustenance of global
peace, security and stability. Going by enormous powers and
responsibilities at Your Excellences’’ disposal, it will be gravely
calamitous to sit and watch by and allow Nigeria, a country of multi-
ethnicity and religions with explosive population of over 200m people; to
explode into ‘complex humanitarian emergencies’; incapable of being
managed if allowed to explode.37
To UN Secretary General: We therefore urge the Secretary General of
UN, H.E., and Antonio Guterres, to consider the situation in Nigeria as
dicey and a time-bomb and adopt effective measures to reverse same.
These include investigating the massacre of Christians in Nigeria by the
country’s Jihadists and the role of the present Government of Nigeria as
well as doing the needful by briefing the UN Security Council and
recommending to same to act without further delays. Totality of these is
in line with the Principles and Purposes of the United Nations including
international peace and security. The situation in Nigeria is a serious
threat to international peace and security under the UN’s Principles and
Purposes.38
To Commonwealth Secretary General: We urge the Secretary General of
the Commonwealth, Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland, QC, to act by
investigating the state actor and non-state actor roles in the Nigeria’s anti-
Christian butcheries. The Secretary General is reminded about the Harare
Commonwealth Declaration (1991) which affirmed that human rights are
among the fundamental political values of the Commonwealth. … The
Commonwealth Charter, agreed to by the Commonwealth’s Heads of
Government in 2012 also underscores the commitment of Member States
to Commonwealth principles and values inclusive of human rights.
Nigeria, as a key member of Commonwealth, must not be allowed to
transform into and exist as a jungle.39
To the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor: We urge the Chief Prosecutor of ICC,
H.E. (Ms) Fatou Bensouda to break its long years of silence and inaction
regarding the on-going butcheries in Nigeria. The delays by the ICC to do
the needful in Nigeria since 2010 when it “opened its investigations on
Nigeria” are technically responsible for the loss of over 32, 000
Christians and 17,000 churches and Christian schools and tens of
thousands of Christian houses and hectares of their ancestral lands.40
Such delays are also technically responsible for the massacre of
thousands of Muslims by fellow Muslim radicals including victims of
Jihadist Banditry attacks and state actor massacre of over 1300 Shiite
Muslims and over 480 Judeo-Christians dominated by Igbo citizens. In
line with the plain wording and language of the ICC Statute of 1998,
ratified by Nigeria in Sept 2001, “crimes against humanity including
massacre of Christians; war crimes and genocide (including anti-Christian
butcheries) have been committed in ‘industrial scale’ in Nigeria by state
actors and non-state actors and are still on-going”. We, therefore, urge the
ICC to act immediately.41
However, it is important to state that these claims largely verified and verifiable
have been challenged by some vested interests.
1. Jos 1945
2. Kano genocide 1953
3. 1966 pogroms- over 60,000 civilians were killed
4. May 29th 1967- over 200,000 civilians were killed.
5. 1967-70 – over 3, 100,000 killed during the bloody civil war (including
the Asaba Genocide).
6. Kano 1980
7. Maiduguri 1982
8. Jimeta 1984
9. Gombe 1985
10.Zaria 1987
11.Kaduna & Kafanchan 1991
12.Bauchi & Katsina 1991
13.Kano 1991
14.Zangon-Kataf 1992
15.Funtua 1993
16.Kano 1994
17.Kaduna 2000
18.Kaduna 2001
19.Maiduguri 2001
20.Jos Maiden Crisis-Setember 2001
21.Kaduna 2002
22.Jos-November 2008
23.Beheading of Gideon Akaluka in December of 1996 in a POLICE
STATION in Kano
24.Saint Moritz killed December 2001
25.Post April 2011 Presidential Election: 10 youth-corps men & women and
numerous citizens murdered because a Christian Southerner was elected.
26.Jos Christmas Eve 2010
27.Madalla Christmas day 2011
28.Mubi January 6 2012
The many Igbo deaths were caused by Boko Haram (which of course has the
full backing of the northern elites).
And the list goes on. By the time you read this more would have died. The
situation is getting out of hand and the Nigerian government has shown that it
lacks the will and the capability to protect the life and property of Igbos in
Nigeria, and those of other Nigerians.
The killings must stop. If you are Igbo and you are still playing the ostrich, it
could be you tomorrow, me, or your loved ones.
Hardly had the world honoured the memory of the 21 st anniversary of the
liberation of Auschwitz and made the customary solemn declaration of
‘Never, Never Again’ in 1966 than Nigeria desecrate that season of
reflection, sympathy and hope. The Igbo (Biafra) genocide – otherwise
perceived as the foundational genocide of post-(European) conquest of
Africa – was planned and executed by Nigerian military officers, the police,
Hausa-Fulani emirs, Muslim clerics and intellectuals, civil servants,
journalists, politicians and other public.44 This also doubles as Africa’s most
devastating genocide of the 20th century where at least some 3.1 million Igbo
people, a quarter of this nation’s population at the time, were murdered
between 29 May 1966 and 12 January 1970.
Unfortunately and regrettably too, Africa and the world have refused to
demand accountability from the perpetrators of these heinous crimes –
clearly crimes against humanity and many of these criminals have
subsequently seized and pillaged the rich Nigeria economy and brought the
country on its knees. The consequences for these crimes for Africa have
been catastrophic. Several regimes elsewhere in Africa appear to have been
emboldened and ‘convinced’ of the conclusions that they have drawn from
this crime by their Nigerian counterpart:
“We can murder targeted constituent people(s) at will within the state we control …
Haul off their prized property and livelihood … Comprehensively destroy their cities,
towns, villages, communities – precisely their age long, priceless, inheritance ...
There will be no sanctions from Africa – and the world”.46
Consequently, as Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe puts it, “the Igbo genocide becomes
the clearing site for the haunting killing fields that would snake across the
African geographical landscape in the subsequent 40 years, with the murders
of additional 12 million Africans, since January 1970, by regimes in further
genocide in Rwanda, Darfur and Zaïre/Democratic Republic of Congo and
other killings in Liberia, Ethiopia, Congo Republic, Somalia, Uganda, Sierra
Leone, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, South Sudan and Burundi.” 56
With clinical precision, Adekunle duly carried through his threat both on his
‘everything that moves’-targeting, especially in south Igboland where his
forces slaughtered hundreds of thousands, and on the ‘things that do not
move’-assault category. Indeed, Adekunle’s gratuitous destruction of the
famed Igbo economic infrastructure, one of the most advanced in Africa of
the era, was indescribably barbaric.
Yet, as Ekwe-Ekwe writes, despite the huffing and puffing, the raving
commanding brute is essentially a coward who lacks the courage to face up
to a world totally outraged by his gruesome crime. Instead, Obasanjo, the
quintessential Caliban, cringes into a stupor and beacons to his Prospero,
British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (as he, Obansanjo, indeed
unashamedly acknowledges in his My Command), 53 to ‘sort out’ the raging
international outcry generated by the destruction of the ICRC plane...
Britain was said to have been deeply riled by the Igbo lead role in terminating
its occupation of Nigeria and had since sought to ‘punish’ them for this. A
senior British foreign office official was adamant that his government’s position
on international relief supply effort to the encircled and bombarded Igbo was to
‘show conspicuous zeal in relief while in fact letting the little buggers starve
out’.57 Indeed as the slaughtering of the Igbo progressively worsened, Prime
Minister Wilson was unashamedly unfazed when he informed Clyde Ferguson
(United States State Department special coordinator for relief to Biafra) that he,
Harold Wilson, ‘would accept a half million dead Biafra’s if that was what it
took’ Nigeria to destroy the Igbo resistance to the genocide. Such was the
grotesquely expressed diminution of African life made by a supposedly leading
politician of the world of the 1960s – barely 20 years after the deplorable
perpetration of the Jewish genocide. As the final tally of its murder of the Igbo
demonstrates, Nigeria probably had the perverted satisfaction of having
performed far in excess of Wilson’s grim target… Predictably, it was to Wilson
that the Nigerians turned to, in 1969, to ‘sort out’ the international revulsion
generated by the latter’s destruction of the ICRC aircraft as we have already
stated.58
Arms Ban
Without British active involvement in the perpetration of the Igbo genocide, it
was highly unlikely that this crime would have been committed. Nigeria did not
have an arms-manufacturing capacity then to embark on this terror without
external support. Forty-five years on, Nigeria still does not have such an internal
military capability. It still relies heavily on Britain, currently the world’s leading
arms exporter to Africa, for its supplies. 59 One immediate move that Britain,
the West, and the rest of the world can make to support the on-going efforts by
peoples in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa to rid themselves of the genocide-
state is to ban all arms sales to Nigeria and the rest of Africa. 60 Nigeria and other
Africa genocide-states require the political and diplomatic support from abroad
and the deadly array of arms ever streaming into their arsenal from Britain and
elsewhere to exist and terrorise the people(s) in their territories. This is part of
the cardinal and enduring lessons of the Igbo genocide. The legacy has indeed
been catastrophic.
Background Studies:
Libya, Syria and Afghanistan were reported as the deadliest places on earth.
And, according to global medical and security specialists, International SOS has
projected that these places would retain the record by the end of 2021.62
For over a decade Nigeria has been struggling with insecurity. Against
reasonable expectations six years ago when President Muhammadu Buhari was
voted in, things have deteriorated.
The situation in the South East, also the hotbed of resurgent separatist agitations
in the last few years, has deteriorated so sharply that the five states in the
region, home to Nigeria’s third largest ethnic nationality, have virtually become
a war zone.
Two states, Imo and Anambra (the most populous states in the region), have
witnessed, is witnessing the most brazen and extraordinary assaults by
“unknown gunmen”, the latest official description for violent criminals who
have overwhelmed the security forces for whatever perceived wrongs they want
to avenge. The dangerous anti-North rhetoric by the Indigenous People of
Biafra, IPOB, has indeed inflamed passions and appears to have inspired the
brutal murders of innocent residents from the North.66
The cohorts bought party tickets and wherever they could not buy votes during
the election, bullied or suborned their way to office. Now the fruit of their
corrupt harvest is keeping the region’s teeth on edge. Also, the boys used as
electoral fodder by politicians have not only become men, they have become
monsters.
“Buhari’s tone-deafness and insensitivity have not helped matters. He has
mismanaged the country’s ethnic diversity so badly that however loudly other
nationalities may complain, none has been treated as shabbily, unfairly and
disdainfully as the Igbo.
It’s been argued in some quarters that the Igbo have no reason to complain because
Nigeria gave them extraordinary opportunities before the civil war. That’s nonsense.
The Igbo earned what they got before the war on merit and bona fides. After the war,
they fought to re-establish themselves by the straps of their own shoes. They are not
asking for quota or preferential treatment, but justice and equity.”69
And so, when the President insists that he has nothing against Igbos and invokes
his government’s infrastructure record as witness, yet unbeknown to him, what
he does by soft power – like passing over the Igbo man who is the next most
qualified general after the death of the former army chief or his recent tweet,
which evokes unpleasant memories of the civil war, or referring to an
indigenous people as a dot in a circle – makes it difficult to believe him.70
Worse still, Buhari does not seem to make a distinction between the so-called
“separationists” and their sympathisers on the one hand, and on the other, South
Easterners genuinely alarmed and repulsed by the mayhem being unleashed on
the region.
The so-called elites in the region have not helped matters. They have been
driven into silence and have been increasingly viewed and suspected to be
willing tools in the hands of their political masters in the north. Virtually all the
leaders of the region, rightly or wrongly, have been tagged Caliphate-compliant,
only doing the biddings of their political god-fathers just to remain relevant and
be allowed to rule.
“They have preyed on the youth with their politics of opportunism and mismanaged
the legacy of enterprise and industry inherited from their past. They have squandered
state resources on a scale that defies belief. Perhaps the icon of this madness was
former Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State who built a statue to every known
god of profligacy.”71
Nnamdi Kanu has only cynically exploited the catastrophic gaps in the failure of
leadership at the national and state levels.
The Elder disclosed that so far, over 5,000 Igbo youths have been killed in the
South East, while more than 10,000 others are languishing in horrible detention
camps in different parts of Nigeria under questionable circumstances. Yet, none
of the victims was a member of IPOB and ESN.72
The Elders alleged that non Igbos are fuelling the crisis in the region so they
could destabilize the region and make Nigerians and the world believe that the
region is not in peace and won’t be able to produce the next President in 2023.
According to him:
“The current military onslaught against the Igbos will not bring the much needed
peace and stability in the South East in particular and Nigeria in general. Rather,
dialogue, consultations, conferences , respect for one another, rule of law and
fundamental human rights, democracy, accountability, transparency and good
governance, as well as immediate restructuring of the country, resource control,
equity, justice and fairness in all government policies, programmes, projects and
appointments in the public service are the most feasible path to sanity, peace, unity
and progress of Nigeria.
“We, therefore, call on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, the United Nations, the
European Union, African Union, ECOWAS, United States of America, United
Kingdom, Russia, China and the entire international community to take urgent and
necessary actions to stop the current genocide against the Igbos in the South East and
other parts of the South-South in the interest of peace, stability and unity of Nigeria.
“The use of military force has never restored peace anywhere, hence the need to
explore dialogue and other effective strategies that have worked elsewhere. The Igbo
Elders Council are available and ready to be part of this process if given the
opportunity to participate. ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ is a utilitarian adage in this
context and at this time.”73
The Elders, however, insisted that current militarization and wide spread
carnage in the South East have precipitated unprecedented fear, tension and
untold hardships on the people in the zone, thereby aggravating the security
challenges in the land.
“We condemn without any reservation the destruction of public property in the South
East because it’s not in our character to indulge in arson and brigandage. We
believe, however, that it’s unfair and unjust to use a sledge hammer to kill harmless
flies as many victims of this joint security agencies onslaught are innocent Igbo
youths and other citizens, who have become victims of circumstances.”74
The Elders said that available information to them had revealed that despite the
recent directive of the National Security Adviser (NSA) Gen Baba Gana
Mungono (Rtd) to dismantle all check points throughout the federation, the
security agencies in the South East still stop motorists at illegal checkpoints,
search them in most dehumanizing manner in the guise of fishing out presumed
members of IPOB and ESN, arrest youths, especially boys and march them to
unknown destinations, most of whom never return alive.75
Recently, there were heavily alarming stories of the arrival of several military
aircraft at the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri. The Nigeria Army brought war
equipment shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari threatened to “speak to”
the Igbo people of the South East “in the language they understand”. 77
Shortly before their arrival, the South-East has witnessed, is witnessing wanton
destructions of lives and properties mostly belonging to the police and other
government institutions. Many police personnel and the soldiers have lost their
lives due to the activities of the unknown gunmen in the region. The police
operatives and the soldiers in the region appeared to have been completely
overwhelmed. They no longer report on duty wearing their uniforms for safety
measures. Their presence in the cities and towns of the region has been declared
persona non-grata by the IPOB elements who accused the police and the
soldiers of exploitation and extra-judicial killings of the indigenous people of
the land.
The military was first invited by the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, to
fish out those he referred to as the trouble makers in Orlu. They raked the
bushes after heavy air bombardment in search of the operatives of the Eastern
Security Network (ESN). The military recorded some casualties after their
engagement with the ESN operatives.
The response of the security operatives in the area was quite beserk. As I’m
writing, a great deal of extra-judicial killings of the young Igbo sons and
daughters has been going on under the pretence of securing the area and
fighting crimes. It has been reported that security operatives have been
dispatched to all nooks and crannies of the geo-political space, sort out young
Igbo men and execute them extra-judicially under the pretence of bursting
crimes. A lot of civilian casualties have been reported. A lot more have been
reported missing. Hear is Reno Omokri Tweet;
“The report that 90% of those killed by security forces in the SE are innocent is a
vindication of what I said a month ago. You can’t quell the Eastern uprising by killing
the innocent. You are speaking “the language they understand” to people who don’t
understand”.78
And just recently, the military (Air force officers) invaded an Igbo-dominated
Ladipo spare parts market killing and maiming innocent traders over an issue of
a kick-starter spare part bought from an Igbo trader from Ladipo spare parts
market in January, 2021. The military officer claims that the spare part is
developing faults and wants replaced but was not given some attention and
respect. He then organised his men and unleashed mayhem on traders in the
market for the “sin” of trader who sold the spare part to him since the governing
body in the market did not show him enough respect and recognition and
promptly acceded to his request. This left the Ladipo market in a state of
pandemonium and confusion.
Unless sanity comes into play, the systematic slaughter of innocent, unarmed
people and the destruction of their properties will continue in the heart of Igbo
land and elsewhere where Igbos are domiciled and do their businesses. So, why
has the relationship between the Federal Government and the Igbo nation within
six years of Buhari presidency deteriorated to the point where a second civil war
is being talked about?
An Appraisal:
Looking at Buhari’s six years in power, did the Igbo nation make a mistake in
withholding their votes from him? Did their vote for Shehu Shagari, Olusegun
Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’ Adua and Goodluck Jonathan who were not their
kinsmen not supposed to be a patriotic expression of their “Nigerianness”? Is it
possible that Igbo rejection of, and resistance to Fulanisation is at the root of the
problem? They said “no” to RUGA and every effort to take their land and give
to the Fulani pastoralists who have been killing and destroying farmlands
without the Federal Government raising a finger to stop them. Why would the
South East, which is smaller in landmass than most states in the North but with
over 40 million people, yield the little they have to violent strangers and
foreigners? If the situation were reversed, would the president and his people
accept the treatment they are forcing down other people’s throats?
Another “sin” of the Igbo was that the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB,
which the Federal Government has popularised among the Igbo youth and
elders alike, formed the Eastern Security Network, ESN, to guard their forests
where no less than 350 herdsmen camps were identified immediately after the
COVID-19 shutdowns last year. ESN has never attacked law-abiding and
peaceful Northerners or anyone in Igboland. Even Mazi Nnamdi Kanu strictly
forbids attacks on law abiding and peaceful Northerners residing in the South
East. So, when a top northern politician, Ahmed Gulak, the former political
adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan was blamed on the activities of
the unknown gunmen in the East, the governor of Imo State pointed declared
that it was a political assassination that has nothing to do with any element in
the East. Even the son of the slain Gulak collaborated with the suspicion of the
leader of IPOB that Gen. Monguno (retired) should be held responsible for the
death.
ESN operatives are strictly in the forests protecting the land and the people
because the law enforcement agencies refused to do their job. Instead, they
allowed these cancerous elements in the name of Fulani herders to flood
Southern forests during the lockdowns. Self- defence is the first law of nature.
Who indeed in his right senses would fault Igbo people for developing a
template for self-defence?
Yet another “sin” is the activities of the so-called unknown gunmen. I can never
excuse the activities of these terror gangs who have been killing law
enforcement officers and destroying police and security establishments and
electoral edifices. How I wish we knew who these people were! The security
and law enforcement agencies should do their work.
There is always the temptation to blame Igbo youth for the activities of the
unknown gunmen, but strangely, Governor Hope Uzodimma, an arch enemy of
IPOB, has disclosed that 70 per cent of people arrested for the attacks in Imo
State “are not Igbo”! Who are they? Is it possible that some of the attacks were
sponsored by enemies of the Igbo nation as a pretext to punish them for their
above-mentioned “sins”? 79
We have shouted ourselves hoarse that if Buhari means well towards Igbo
people, he can still solve the security situation in the South by tackling it at the
roots. He keeps asking: “What do these people want”? We (Nigerians) want him
to end his extreme nepotism and bring back our Nigeria. It is not true that
Nigeria belongs to the Fulani; it can NEVER happen. Nigeria belongs to all of
us! We want this Fulanisation agenda dropped immediately. It will not work. It
will only expose innocent people to danger and destruction. There is enough
land in the North where the Fulani are indigenous to, for the establishment of
countless RUGA and all its romanticised benefits. Don’t force it on those who
don’t want it.89
Again, the Northern political leaders should seriously consider the question of a
referendum? It is a democratic and peaceful demand. A referendum will give
the Minorities of the South-South the “opportunity to reject Biafra”. It will also
enable the Igbo people who have property all over Nigeria to shun Biafra. But if
they opt for a tiny, landlocked Biafra where (as we hear) they will starve, kill
themselves and perish, why not let them? Those who hate them will achieve
their objective of Igbo extermination by letting them go into Biafra and perish.
Why not allow nature to do your dirty work for you?
May I sound a note of warning! Those who are watching with excitement the
deployment of the military against fellow Nigerians, the unarmed Igbo
population, should get ready. Whatever goes round comes round. Fulanisation is
not only aimed at Igbo land. They also want yours. They are also killing you.
The difference is that, unlike the Igbo people, you are crying and expecting your
prospective conquerors to save you!
“Yoruba, Ijaw and other Nigerians should be thanking God for the Igbos;
they are the reason Nigeria hasn’t been Islamized yet”. – Olusegun
Obasanjo
Buhari gave an interview and called people from Niger Republic “my first
cousins”, and in the same interview, he insults Nigerians of Southeastern Igbo
origin, denigrating them as a dot in circle, and repeating his genocidal line of
speaking to them “in a language they understand”. Remember, he once vowed
not to treat those who gave him 97% of votes in his electoral victory the same
way he treats those who gave him 5% of the votes. 97% +5% = 102%!
Nigerians should be discerning enough to enquire and know about the 2%
leftover which he attempts to surreptitiously smuggle into Nigeria through
subterfuge for his Fulanisation agenda to take over the forests of the South-East
and others in the South. How does he or any reasonable, conscientious human
expect the Igbos not to want to seek for self-determination in the face of such
obvious hatred, injustice and man’s inhumanity to man?
Words are potent determiners of peace and war. They can draw kola nuts from
the pocket of the pleased; they can also provoke bullets from the barrel of the
insulted.
He claims to have been assured by “the elderly people” and “the youths” from
the south-south part of the country that the region has no intention of seceding.
According to Buhari, IPOB will not have “access to anywhere” even if they
eventually secede from the country.
The president then reiterated his statement that IPOB members will be treated in
the “language that they understand”.
“I was encouraged by what I heard, nobody told me. Two statements from the south
south: one by the elderly people, they said this time around there would be no
(secession). And again the youth made the same statement; such encouragement,”
Buhari said.
“So that IPOB is just like a dot in a circle… Even if they want to exit, they’ll have no
access to anywhere. And the way they are spread all over the country, having
businesses and properties. I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about.”
“In any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll
organise the police and the military to pursue them.”81
IPOB has been agitating for the secession of the south-east. Recently, unknown
gunmen, suspected to be members of IPOB recently took up arms against the
country, attacking security formations and public property.
In an interview with BBC Pidgin, El-Rufai said those demanding swift attacks
on bandits as has been done to Kanu and his IPOB were wrong. He spoke as if
northern bandits and terrorists are ghosts without tractable tracts. According to
him:
“No! No! No! No! People are comparing apples to oranges. Nnamdi Kanu is the
leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation. He is identifiable, in constant
communication and everyone knows where he is. Let’s take Boko Haram for instance.
Shekau was in hiding and for the past 10 years and the military had been waging a
war to get him. It is not like Shekau was in Saudi Arabia, sitting in one place,
tweeting about the break-up of Nigeria or asking Boko Haram to go and kill Helen
and Nasir el-Rufai. Nnamdi Kanu is in one place while Shekau is waging guerrilla
warfare. The insurgency is still going on and the Federal Government is not giving
up. Regarding bandits, they are not centralised under one leadership. Who is the
head of the bandits? Who is the equivalent of Nnamdi Kanu with banditry? Bandits
are just collections of independent criminals. It is a business for them. It is not a case
of Nigeria must break up. I want to challenge anyone to tell me the central leader of
bandits in the same position as Kanu.” 82(see John Ogunsemore, “Comparing bandits
to IPOB like comparing apples to oranges – El-Rufai” The Herald, 11 July, 2021)
Now, how more insensitive can people be and how many more Nnamdi Kanu
and Sunday Igboho have this arrogance of sectional power created? Indeed,
democracy kills; there is poison in its medicine.
REFERENCES