Who is a Northerner? And that's the question.
A few years ago, Professor Pius Adesanmi published an essay, which I considered thought-provoking. Sadly though, the essay turned out NOT to be thought-provoking, given the unanimity in the tones of the shallow comments that accompanied it on his Facebook's Timeline and on Sahara Reporter where the essay was published.
In unison, they focused, though naively, on the feasibility of him making it in a Presidential race in Nigeria.
His treatise was "Who is a Northerner for the Purpose of the 2015 Presidential Election." If I remember correctly, the essay was published in 2013. The issue he raised then, though it didn't provoke a national debate as deservedly expected then, remains urgent today.
The question he asked is at the core of our national debate as a nation-state and as a federation - who exactly is a Northerner? Must you be a Muslim and a part of the famed Sokoto/Kano Caliphate? Not any more. The cabal rules.
Friends, the recent appointment of the DSS Boss from Katsina State should not be seen as a struggle between Christian and Muslims or South versus North. It is a pattern - a stealthy perpetuation of feudal principles and the nauseating ingrained culture of entitlement taken to the extreme.
Bornu State is a Northern State. Buhari didn't go there to search for eligible candidate. The old Gongola Region is part of the Northern Region. He didn't go there either. What about Abubakar Tafawa Balewa's own Bauchi territory?
The Sokoto Axis and to Zamfara are a part of the Northern Region. Kwara and Kogi are constituents of the Northern Region. The Christians of Southern Kaduna, as well as those in Taraba, Nasarawa, and the old Benue Plateau Region, are by birth and geography elements of the Northern Region.
So, here is the puzzle: when you say, for instance, that it is the turn of the "North" to produce the next President, is anyone on the enumerated regions and categories above eligible to contest as a Northerner? The answer is capital NO. Because he is not "Northern" enough in the calculations of the Buhari of the Northern Region of Nigeria.
And that explains the lopsided nature of the appointments President Buhari has made within the top hierarchy of our Military and security networks since his assumptions of office as President - appointments in total defiance of the fundamentals of Federal Character as well as the egalitarian principles that APC professed prelude to the 2015 Presidential election.
You professed "change." Therefore, represent the change. It's immaterial whether your appointment is supported by precedents or because other former Presidents acted in a similar fashion. Yours is exceptional. A quintessential aberration, if I may add.
So, my friends, this is not about South versus the North or Christians versus Muslims. It is President Buhari of Daura versus Nigerians. He does not represent the "North" and he doesn't represent the Muslim communities of Nigeria. He is a feudal Lord, a pretentious oligarch unparalleled.
Please, guys, be smart. Do a refinement of the narrative. If you approach the struggle from the North against the South perspectives or Muslims against the Christians dated slogans, you will fail as always. That's what himself and the cabal expect you to do.
And when you do as history has thought us that you always do, the Buhari will rally the entire Northern Region and the Christian communities against you. They call it the struggle against Southern dominance and infidels of the North. And he will win. Don't fall for it again.
Please, change the narrative. It's Buhari of Daura region and of the cabal against the rest of us. Against the almajiri population. And against the Talakawas of the entire Nigerian world.
APC, take it or leave it; I just defined the talking points of the 2019 Presidential campaign and election. It is immaterial if he wins. Whatever the outcome is, President Buhari ceases being the President of Nigeria the very day he reneged on his campaign promise of N5000.00 stipends to unemployed Nigerian youths. He stopped being the authentic APC flag bearer the day he unilaterally jettisoned the idea of True Federalism that APC championed vigorously prior to the 2015 Presidential election. And he ceases being the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the day he trusted no other Nigerian other than his family members and friends.
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