Femi Fani-Kayode, one of the leaders
of thought in Nigeria, writes on the actors in the on-going genocide in
Southern Kaduna. This is the last of a 2-part article. You may read the
first part HERE.
In his book titled Concerning the Government of Our Country and Neighboring Countries in the Sudan,
Nigeria’s first Mahdi, Sheik Usman Dan Fodio, who is the father of the
Fulani Caliphate and leader of the 1804 jihad that overwhelmed and
conquered what is now known as northern Nigeria wrote:
“The government of a country is the
government of its king without question. If the king is a Muslim, his
land is Muslim; if he is an unbeliever, his land is a land of
unbelievers. In these circumstances it is obligatory for anyone to leave
it for another country”.
Could this strange and primitive
rationale be the reason for the creeping attempt to wipe out
Christianity, destroy the Church, slaughter Christians, Islamise the
faithful and enslave the people of the south and Middle Belt in our
country today?
Could this be the ethos and
philosophical bedrock and foundation of the imperative of Islamic
domination and Fulani rule? Have we finally discovered the intellectual
Holy Grail of Fulani raison d’etra?
This brings me to a number of other questions which many harbour but few dare to ask.
The southern region of Nigeria has not
had a Chief Justice of the Federation in 30 years and now that one has
been nominated by the National Judicial Council our core northern
President Muhammadu Buhari has simply refused to confirm him. The
question may be asked, what is the south’s portion in Nigeria?
Such is the suspicion, bedlam and utter
turmoil in our nation today that some are of the view that the solution
to the problems of Nigeria is not just restructuring but a total break
up of the country.
They believe that restructuring may be a
good first step but the final destination has to be a total and
complete break up and divorce.
They argue that this can he done peacefully and quietly or it will eventually be done violently and in a very messy way.
They say that the sooner we do it the easier it will be and that the longer we delay it the more messy it will be.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with them one thing is clear: we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder and we ALL know it.
It is just that we like to pretend. The bottom line is this: things cannot go on the way they are.
Some believe that we should let the four
“liberal” zones (south-west, south-south, south- east and
north-central) come together and form one nation and let the north-west
and north- east zone either go and merge with Chad and Niger Republic or
form their own country.
They argue that we should let the
Christians, the Shiite Muslims and the core northern ethnic minority
tribes that presently live in the north- east and north-west, if they
wish, to relocate, move to the Middle Belt (north-central) and remain
with us in Nigeria.
Interestingly this mass relocation and
migration process was executed in India when she broke into two and
Pakistan was formed just after she got her independence from the
British.
Millions of Muslims who resided in India
moved north to the other side of the country that was to be later
called Pakistan whilst millions of Hindus who resided in the area that
was to be later called Pakistan relocated from there and moved all the
way south to the area that continued to be referred to as India.
Given the terrible carnage that took
place between the Hindus and the Muslims in India before the break-up
the whole thing worked rather well and saved millions of lives.
This was the case even though there were
three border wars between the two countries not too long after the
division and tensions exist between them until today.
Yet had it not been for the break-up the
number of casualties would have been far higher and the victims of the
fratricidal butchery which took place would have been primarily the
civilian population, including women and children, rather than just the
soldiers.
Some believe that we in Nigeria must
take a cue from the Indian, and later Sudanese, examples. They believe
that we must break Nigeria into two before we kill each other to the
last man and woman.
They believe that it is either we
negotiate this and let it be done in an equitable, reasonable,
respectful and orderly manner or we will end up having a violent,
brutal, bloody and long ethnic war in this country which will result in
the final balkanisation and breakup of Nigeria into no less than four or
more pieces.
Whichever way we cannot be compelled to
stay in a nation that is controlled by our collective oppressors and
those that believe that killing others that do not share their faith or
belong to their ethnic group or religious sect for much longer.
They have sucked the nation’s blood dry and killed the host body that they have fed fat on for the last 56 years.
They have killed the spirit of Nigeria
and sacrificed her unity on the altar of greed, hate, religious
intolerance, political domination and false notions of ethnic supremacy.
Their hegemony is an affront to the Living God and it stands against the natural order of things.
It is time for them to go or to be thrown out.
It is only after this happens that we can achieve our full potentials as a nation and that our people can be truly blessed.
Those that control the country and
believe that they own it will NEVER allow restructuring because it
defeats the object of their purpose.
Given that, it is very clear that we are
heading for the rocks because the generation of southern and Middle
Belt Nigerians that come after mine refuse to accept the notion that
they are nothing but glorified slaves and second class citizens.
My generation and those that came before
it were far more ready to compromise with the evil, accept that bogus
notion and just continue to hope for the best.
The result is that we are still waiting
and hoping whilst the grip of our internal colonial masters and their
power is greater today than it has EVER been.
Meanwhile thousands of southerners,
Shiite muslims, Middle Belters and northern Christians have been
slaughtered at the altet and are being butchered by the sponsored ethnic
militias that are known as the Fulani herdsmen. One must ask, how long
are we going to continue watching this evil silently and just keep
hoping for the best?
This sort of thing can only happen in
Nigeria. If people had been subjected to such barbarity and wickedness
in any other country in the world there would have been international
outrage and violent reactions long ago. Yet in Nigeria we respond to it
with nothing but indifference and silence in the name of political
correctness. It is truly pathetic.
The truth is that this “political
correctness” will kill us if we don’t kill it first. We must be prepared
to say the things that we say to one another behind closed doors
publicly as well.
The country needs a dose of truth to
heal its wounds and it also needs focused, strong, honest and decisive
leadership. Those that believe that they were born to kill us at will
and rule us in perpetuity must either accept that they are not our
ethnic masters and stop all this barbarity or they must go.
The truth is that the whole country is
ready to explode. We the older men are the ones that are just still
talking. The younger ones stopped talking long ago and now they are
preparing for war.
I have travelled to many parts of this
country in the last few weeks and months and what I saw and heard
scared me. And I dont scare easily. We must try to keep a lid on it and
talk our way out of this mess before the bullets start flying and reason
and rational thinking goes out of the window.
Those that believe that they own Nigeria
are the greatest obstacle to national cohesion and no one else. The
rest of us can work out our differences, keep our four zones, devolve
power from the centre and establish a 21st century secular modern
nation-state where we are all equal, where the rule of law prevails and
where islamic fundamentalism and ethnic domination has no place.
We must also work out our differences in
the south. It is the division amongst the southerners that feeds and
fuels core northern hegemony. We must all make concessions and set our
differences aside and come together as one against our collective
adversaries.
If we cannot do that and we allow
historical differences and rivalries to abide and flourish then frankly
we deserve to remain as the slaves that they have turned us into. Let us
hope that good reason prevails and that we make the right choices.
Let us hope that we are guided by God
and His Holy Spirit in all our endeavours. Let us hope that we can
muster the courage to say “no more” to ethnic and religious cleansing,
mass murder, bondage, servitude and tyranny.
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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