Saving the North From Self-Annihilation and the Lies of their Fathers.

INTRODUCTION:

Growing up, I was very deep into the Nigerian Newspapers industry. And I was quite familiar with the Lagos/Ibadan Press Axis epithet coined and popularized by Northern public affairs commentators to decry the slanting of news coverage by the press in favor of the South. The advent of the Internet and social media no doubt exacerbates the existing divide, thus, casting the Northern region, excluding the Middle Belt, as undeserving of nation-wide sympathy or attention in the face of the escalations in Boko Haram's barbarism.

Today, most Souther commentators who find time to write about the security meltdown in the old Northern region of Nigeria, do so only as breaking news - "five Bandits died and four Nigerian Soldiers also died in a fresh attack at Chibok," or "Boko Haram beheaded about 43 farmers," or "a whole village in Zamfara State has been deserted following the invasion by Bandits," or "the Governor of Borno State is lucky to be alive from an assassination plot engineered by Boko Haram sect."Those are some of the headlines that populate Facebook every day.

In other words, though Southern writers or commentators share the news on their Facebook pages, they do so not for an expression of a sense of empathy for the victims. But to showcase the failure of President Buhari in his oath of office to ensure peace and security of lives and properties of every Nigerian. And to dramatize the helplessness of the leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces in its war against Bandits and Boko Haram warriors. They are seen as the victims of the sins of their own brothers who appropriated political power at the top by any means necessary, but lack the wisdom and capacity to make it work? To overcome that perception and ensure compassionate coverage, a few dangerous lies that underscore the danger of our racial divide and intolerance must first be recounted. And that is what this essay is about.

ANALYSIS:

The loss of that sense of empathy for the victims is not by design. It is subconscious. Influenced by the disdain and the misinformation that Northern political leaders have used over the years to pollute the sensibility of their own people into believing that they are fighting a common enemy for a common purpose.

That common enemy is the Southern political leaders and Igbo Military Officers. And the common purpose is religion - their freedom to be Muslim that is never under threat. They want to colonize you, take away your Quran, and impose the Bible on you. In spite of the obscene level of Illiteracy in the North, they were able to propagate that false narrative with the aid of Transistor Radios and Radio Nigeria, Kaduna. You can take away everything from Aboki, but you dare not tamper with his Transistor Radio

So, why you are contending with NEPA for a regular supply of electricity or with NNPC for the availability of gas/petrol to power your generator to be able to watch the new, our Talakawa and Aboki friends and the Fulani nomad somewhere in Enugu forest don't need NEPA or NNPC. There is always a friendly Mallam around the corner hawking batteries and petty stuff. That's how Radio Nigeria Kaduna and the Hausa Service of the BBC have succeeded in their indoctrination, feeding these helpless and underprivileged Northerners with Kafir (infidel) doctrine and the concept of two nations. Because there are no alternative views available to them to debunk the systemic lies, it is very difficult to preach civility or love thy neighbor in the midst of tribal or religious conflict. And that has been the history of Nigeria.

With that indoctrination in place and fully established, no amount of preaching by Southern commentators, decrying the oppression, poor standard of living, or deprivations confronting the average Northerner can strike attention in them. It is about the unfounded lies against freedom of worship. And it is about the bogus narrative by Northern opinion leader and Radio Nigeria Kaduna that Southern political leaders are out to steal political power away from them.

The same reason why a Governor from the North could declare openly that the Almajiri culture is part of their celebrated culture worthy of continuation, and he was never sanctioned. It is on the same premise that President Buhari and his administration could discontinue the Almajiri Integrative Education Initiative brokered by President Goodluck Jonathan, and no one is complaining in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, or Adamawa. So, what exactly is good for you or a national priority? Cornering and embezzling more public funds under your control and sending your children and grandchildren to Grammar School and Universities overseas?

We fight a different fight. The EndSARS struggle was a Southern conspiracy to topple President Buhari. On the other hand, ending kidnapping by armed Fulanis or the destructive proclivities of the Fulani Cattle Nomad is not a national priority. The same reason that annihilating Boko Haram enemy combatants or shooting at sight Terrorist Bandits is not a national priority. Who determines the national priorities? They are the Hausa/Fulani who dominated the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The main reason one Rtd Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, President Jonathan's Chief of Army Staff didn't qualify to lead the war against Boko Haram in the opinion of Rtd General Buhari and Mallam El-Rufai.

That is why today, Northerners are more worried about the motives of EndSARS peaceful protesters than the killings by Boko Haram and the reign of terror of Bandits ravaging Sokoto, Zamfara, and the Katsina State. Also, Southern Social Media and the EndSARS peaceful protester are motivated by a common goal to kick President Buhari out of office. As you read, the prosecution of the participants at the EndSARS protest has taken the magnitude of Treasonable Felony threshold, thus, warranting the deployment of the CBN by the Presidency to do its dirty job. Nigerians should no allow it to happen. It was a peaceful protest before the government hired hoodlums came and embark on a vandalism rampage.

Therefore, to debunk the age-old false narrative that the Quran is under threat and the pervasive misinformation of Southern political leaders coming to take over their God-given political power as historically perfected by Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, and the New Nigerian Newspaper, requires an unbiased approach to the true state of affairs in the North by Northern commentators and opinion leaders. The Quran is not under threat. The Federal Government is not your birthright - Allah did not give it to you. 

Ending these lies is the first approach to creating a sense of equality and brotherly love between the regions and engendering compassionate tones from Southern commentators. Where an eminently qualified Ehibor Osahon from Edo State or Ehijirika Okonkwo from Anambra can comfortably be a Minister of Defense or a Security Adviser to President Buhari, without subjecting him or her to an ethnic or religious test. And where excusing or condemning the pitiful performance of a President and his administration is devoid of political correctness or ethnic factors.  

On those grounds, I must applaud my good friend, Shehu Mustas Shehu, the publisher of the Politico, followed by one of my ardent followers in social media, the former of Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and last but not the least, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, the latest entrant into the struggle. If the custodian of Northern Feudalism is crying out loud, I see no reason why Northerners should not rally around him to embrace radical political reforms and free the North from the stranglehold of the Buhari's pre-amalgamation doctrine.

To be continued.