Femi
Fani-Kayode writes a series of article on the subject of the dangerous
jihad and violent expansionist ideology prevalent in Northern Nigeria.
This essay is the first part of the series.
This essay
will not be released to or published in the mainstream Nigerian media
because it will be considered as being “too hot”. Yet its message is far
too important for it not to be written or for it to be ignored.
I would urge those that have thin skins,
that are easily excitable, that have an aversion to truth or that are
unduly sensitive to criticism and the ugly realities that we are faced
with in Nigeria today to stop reading now and drop the essay because
they will not be able to cope with its contents.
I am a historian and my intention for
writing it is simply to enlighten, educate and inform rather than to
create rancour, tension, strife, division or stress. I do not seek to
incite anyone and neither do I believe in or advocate violence in any
shape or form.
I have also proffered a solution to what
I consider to be the problem that some of our northern compatriots pose
at the end of the essay.
It is a long contribution so I have
broken it into two parts. Each part is well worth reading and it is my
prayer that you stay with me till the end. Here we go.
A few weeks ago one Mr. Adamu Mohammed wrote an essay on Facebook titled, Your Land Or Your Blood.
The write-up was widely-published in
Nigeria and it was well circulated in the social media. It has indeed
been the subject of much interest and a heated debate.
Permit me to share its contents here. He wrote as follows and kindly overlook the bad grammar and colorful language:
Ever since President
Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of leadership of this great
country Nigeria, we (Hausa-Fulanis) have come under severe media attack
from enemies of progress.
Just because they
are educated than us, they stereotype us with negativity. Just because
they own and control the media, they use the media against us.
But let me make something clear to you stupid fellows hating us, whether you love us or hate us, it doesn’t change anything.
We are who we are
and we will continue to remain like that. We hate you even more and we
can never love you because you are all infidels.
I pity those of you
who keep deluding yourselves that we can love and trust you simply
because you worked against your people to our own advantage, never!
I heard that the stupid Governor of Oyo State, Ajimobi said that they won’t accept the proposed Grazing Bill.
But my message to
the filthy Yoruba pig is that, if you don’t want to give us your cursed
land, we will rear our cattle not only on your farmlands but in your
churches.
And if you try to
stop us, we would killed your chicken hearted men like rabbits then turn
your mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to our sex slaves like we
have always done.
It is either you give the whole of South to us to use as grazing reserve or we soak it with your blood.
And what you would
do like you always do is noise on Facebook and Twitter. You cannot be
united against us because there would always be the likes of Tinubu,
Amaechi and Okorocha in your midst who will divide you for selfishness
and love of money.
Such treacherous characters can’t survive in our midst because we burn them and their families.
I so much detest
Southern Christians because they are the problem of this country. If I
have my way, there won’t be any functional church in this country,
especially in the North.
That’s why I am so much happy with Governor El-rufai who is living up to the expectations of Allah in Kaduna State.
We are not really
pleased with President Muhammadu Buhari who is too slow to implement
everything we asked him to implement in this country for us, he has not
even done 20% of the Northern/Islam agenda, what he is waiting for I
don’t know.
We will make life
unbearable for Igbos like they are in Hell, and yet we won’t let them
have their useless Biafra because the whole of South is a conquered
territory.
We can never see
Yorubas as allies no matter how hard they try to please or serve us
because they are born traitors and infidels.
Those slaves in the
Middle Belt would continue to be willing tools in our hands, and the day
they attempt to raise their heads, we will cut off their heads like
weeds.
I lack words to tell
the inconsequential and always crying Niger Delta because what we are
waiting for is for President Buhari to declare state of emergency in
Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, then we will show them how to use power.
We are at war with
you people but we won’t allow the country to breakup because, natural
resources found in any part of the country is our heritage and
birthright.
We will continue
killing you in large numbers until you are truly submissive to us as
your slave masters. We won’t stop killing you until we fully take-over
your land as a conquered territory.
This is not the time
to mince words, this is not the time to sugarcoat things, and this is
not the time to be economical with the truth, this is nothing but the
truth, ignore it at your own peril.”
As repugnant as they are and as
despicable as he is we must thank Mr. Mohammed for his honesty and for
speaking his mind. His views and intent are self-evident and need no
further analysis or explanation.
The point that needs to be grasped and
fully appreciated though is that his is not the view of a minority or
some inconsequential lunatic fringe in the core north.
His words represent the thinking of
many in the north even though most of them would rather hide it or mask
it rather than voice it out.
Mrs. Mary Ekeh captured the situation
very well when she offered the following counsel about the Grazing
Reserve Bill after she read Mohammed’s essay. She wrote:
Please continue to
pass this leaked information until every Yoruba, Igbo, all tribes and
all Christian parts of Nigeria gets alerted.
This was planned many years by Fulanis as a strategic way to Islamization of Nigeria.
That was why Buhari
continued running for presidency even at his old age because they knew
he is the most possible mean to achieve their goal.
In 1804 – 1808.
Fulanis came in from Guinea to the Northern part of Nigeria, led by
Usman Dan fodio .He lead in jihad against the Hausa kingdoms of the
northern Nigeria.
The forces of Usman
dan Fodio slowly took over more and more of the Hausa kingdoms through
war. By 1810, Fulanis had already conquered all hausas.
They formed boko
haram sect solely for the process, waiting for Buhari or any of their
Fulani brother to come in power but, unfortunately, Goodluck Jonathan
came into power and they became annoyed.
They started their
violence to distract him and whether it was Yoruba or Igbo that was on
the seat during President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime.
The same thing could’ve still happened about Boko Haram. Now their dream has been achieved having their brother on top.
Here is their plan.
They started herdsmen war believing that they have the chance to control
all parts of the country since they are in power and forces.
If Grazing Reserve
Bill is passed and achieved, it means that Fulanis will have a place
mapped out for them in all 36 states of Nigeria.
The next thing is that they will start bringing in their wives and children and take over your land.
Mrs. Ekeh’s analysis is superlative and her admonitions are timely and appropriate.
Permit me to share another contribution
from yet another northern voice who has employed the same colorful
language as Mr. Adamu Mohammed and who suffers from the same hateful
disposition.
His name is Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo and in 2014 he wrote an essay titled, It Is Either The Koran Or The Sword. Like
Mr. Mohammed’s which came two years later, his piece was also widely
circulated and it also generated a heated debate. He wrote as follows:
When I say that the
Presidency must come to the north next year I am referring to the
Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern christian or muslim
minority tribe.
The Christians in
the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the
Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma and all the others are
nothing and the muslim minorities in the north, including the Kanuri,
the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur and all
the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north
and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.
They can grumble,
moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their
bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats
to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that
they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for.
Some of them are
even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one nights sport and
pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam
through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Usman Dan Fodio.
We also captured
Ilorin, killed their local King and installed our Fulani Emir. We took
that ancient town away from the barbarian yoruba and their filthy pagan
gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing
islam on them by force.
It was either the
Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the
good works of our forefathers Allah, through the British, gave us
Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please. Since 1960 we have been
doing that and we intend to continue.
No Goodluck or
anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will
kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africa’s biggest war zone
and refugee camp if they try it.
Many say we are
behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have
economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and
they want to take even that from us.
We must fight and we
will fight back in order to keep it. They have brought in the infidels
from America and the pigs from Israel to help them but they will fail.
The war has just begun, the Mujahadeen are more than ready and by Allah
we shall win.
If they don’t want
an ISIS in Nigeria then they must give us back the Presidency and our
political power. Their soldiers are killing our warriors and our people
every day but mark this: even if it takes one hundred years we will have
our revenge.
Every Fulani man that they kill is a debt that will be repaid even if it takes 100 years. The Fulani have very long memories.”
Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo, like Mr. Adamu
Mohammed that came after him, has expressed a point of view which,
though utterly reprehensible and barbaric, reflects the thinking of many
in the core Muslim north.
These sentiments are regrettable and
unacceptable yet no matter how much we complain about such views or
pretend that they are not representative of the thinking of the majority
in the core Muslim north, we must learn to live with them or deal with
them.
We must also adopt all necessary
measures to enlighten our people about the dangers and challenges that
such sentiments present and we must be ready to do all that is in our
power to defend and protect them.
That is what leaders are meant to do.
Indeed that is the challenge and burden that every southern and Middle
Belt leader in our nation is faced with and carries today.
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from @realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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