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Monday, 18 September 2017
Saturday, 9 September 2017
Femi Adesina: What has happened to us as a people?
Hearing some Nigerians speak (whether based at home or in
the Diaspora) you discern that they are "in the gall of bitterness and in
the bondage of iniquity." They spew out things that give them away as
"whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men's bones."
What happened to grace? Where did decency disappear to? Are words not to be seasoned with salt again? What has happened to us as a people? The more rotten, the better, it seems. The fouler and odoriferous the cesspit, the more attractive, followed by applause. That seems to be the philosophy of some people today, and it doesn't matter who they are. High or low. But we cannot continue that way, if we want to be acceptable to God, and to our fellow human beings. National development does not come by a sudden flight. You work at it.
The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.
In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.
However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don't think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition.
On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that we had exited from economic recession. It was cheery news for majority of Nigerians, save for those in the gall of bitterness. They spat in the sky, and collected the spittle with their faces. Who gave Nigeria the permission to exit recession? Who gave her the audacity of hope? How can the economy attempt to rebound, when it should sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay? They were in the doldrums, unhappy because good news came for the country. In their befuddled minds, Nigeria must never see a silver lining in the sky. The ravening clouds must ever remain victorious, must forever possess the sky, simply because of primordial reasons. The party in power is not my own, so why should Nigeria make progress under it? The President in office was not the one I voted for, so why should he succeed? He does not speak my language, he is not of my religion or ethnic stock, so why must Nigeria prosper under him? They, therefore, throw all sorts of tantrums, like a child whose lollipop is taken away, and attempt to rubbish the news on exit from recession. And those same people would canvass for a restructuring of the polity. Big mistake. Wrong priority. They need to have their minds restructured first, so that they have goodwill towards their own country, and towards all men. Left to them, they wish that when NBS releases results for the next quarter, Nigeria should have gone back into recession. Filthy dreamers! Awful imaginations! They need a restructuring of their minds, and quickly, too.
Some people spend their lifetime expecting thunderstorms and hurricanes, so they never enjoy showers of blessing. Their addled minds expect negative news, so they never enjoy good tidings. They are the type that swallow poison, and then begin to hope that it will kill the person next door. Restructuring, restructuring, that is what such minds need.
Chase after him. If you catch up with him, kill him. If he outruns you, poison his footsteps. That is the chant in most parts of the country today. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hate has become their natural language. When they speak hateful words, they speak their native language, their mother tongue. Don't mind the elevated offices they occupy now, or which they have occupied in the past. They are in the throes, in the paroxysms of bitterness. Only a restructuring of the mind can save them. My dear senior friend, Ikemba Obosima, from Imo State, has good counsel for them, in a text message he sent to one of them recently, which he copied me:"Pain will follow him who speaks or acts with evil thoughts, as does the wheel of the foot of him who draws the cart. He is greater man who conquers self than he who kills a thousand men in war...Love will purify the heart of him who is beloved as truly as it purifies the heart of he who loves." But will they listen? If they have not danced too far, and have not become like the dog fated to get lost, which refuses to hear the whistle of the hunter. Let them return home, to sanity.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced our descent into recession. They embraced the news, almost with sickening glee. Now, the same agency has announced exit, and they begin to question its impartiality. What kind of people are they? They want to hear only bad news? May their minds be restructured, lest bad news dog their footsteps. Malediction? Am I cursing anybody? Not at all. Just a warning, and a call to new attitude, new thoughts, new conduct. The things we expect have a way of coming upon us. Ask the biblical Job. "What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me."(Job 3:25).
One of the characteristics of a hateful mind is that it conjures a lot of mischief, and purveys same as truth. And the gullible laps it up. During the health challenge of our dear President, a thing common to any mortal, big or small, of high or low estate, they filled the land with evil tidings. Oh, he is on life support machine. No, he is dead and long buried. He will never return to that office, I swear. And then, God did what He knows how to do best. He showed the Deus ex machina, His Invisible Hands. Now, the reputation of those people is hanging on life support. If only men would restructure their minds!
President Buhari says exit from recession is cheery news, but until the life of the average Nigerian is positively touched by the economy, he doesn't consider the job done. Very good. Even the NBS, which brought the good news, says the economy is still fragile, and the good work must continue, so that we don't slide back. That is exactly what this government would do. That is the motive behind the ERGP (Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan). So, let nobody be filled with diabolic thoughts. Government does not feel it is there yet. Action stations! All hands on deck.
A final word for haters, wailers, purveyors of fake news, or whatever you choose to call them. Evil minds wax worse and worse. A hater would envy others unnecessarily. He would conjure evil thoughts that would poison his system. He would manifest all sorts of negative tendencies that turn him into a proper child of the Devil. And at the end of it all, his master welcomes him home with open arms. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." (Dante's Inferno). And there will be plenty weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
What happened to grace? Where did decency disappear to? Are words not to be seasoned with salt again? What has happened to us as a people? The more rotten, the better, it seems. The fouler and odoriferous the cesspit, the more attractive, followed by applause. That seems to be the philosophy of some people today, and it doesn't matter who they are. High or low. But we cannot continue that way, if we want to be acceptable to God, and to our fellow human beings. National development does not come by a sudden flight. You work at it.
The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.
In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.
However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don't think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition.
On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that we had exited from economic recession. It was cheery news for majority of Nigerians, save for those in the gall of bitterness. They spat in the sky, and collected the spittle with their faces. Who gave Nigeria the permission to exit recession? Who gave her the audacity of hope? How can the economy attempt to rebound, when it should sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay? They were in the doldrums, unhappy because good news came for the country. In their befuddled minds, Nigeria must never see a silver lining in the sky. The ravening clouds must ever remain victorious, must forever possess the sky, simply because of primordial reasons. The party in power is not my own, so why should Nigeria make progress under it? The President in office was not the one I voted for, so why should he succeed? He does not speak my language, he is not of my religion or ethnic stock, so why must Nigeria prosper under him? They, therefore, throw all sorts of tantrums, like a child whose lollipop is taken away, and attempt to rubbish the news on exit from recession. And those same people would canvass for a restructuring of the polity. Big mistake. Wrong priority. They need to have their minds restructured first, so that they have goodwill towards their own country, and towards all men. Left to them, they wish that when NBS releases results for the next quarter, Nigeria should have gone back into recession. Filthy dreamers! Awful imaginations! They need a restructuring of their minds, and quickly, too.
Some people spend their lifetime expecting thunderstorms and hurricanes, so they never enjoy showers of blessing. Their addled minds expect negative news, so they never enjoy good tidings. They are the type that swallow poison, and then begin to hope that it will kill the person next door. Restructuring, restructuring, that is what such minds need.
Chase after him. If you catch up with him, kill him. If he outruns you, poison his footsteps. That is the chant in most parts of the country today. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hate has become their natural language. When they speak hateful words, they speak their native language, their mother tongue. Don't mind the elevated offices they occupy now, or which they have occupied in the past. They are in the throes, in the paroxysms of bitterness. Only a restructuring of the mind can save them. My dear senior friend, Ikemba Obosima, from Imo State, has good counsel for them, in a text message he sent to one of them recently, which he copied me:"Pain will follow him who speaks or acts with evil thoughts, as does the wheel of the foot of him who draws the cart. He is greater man who conquers self than he who kills a thousand men in war...Love will purify the heart of him who is beloved as truly as it purifies the heart of he who loves." But will they listen? If they have not danced too far, and have not become like the dog fated to get lost, which refuses to hear the whistle of the hunter. Let them return home, to sanity.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced our descent into recession. They embraced the news, almost with sickening glee. Now, the same agency has announced exit, and they begin to question its impartiality. What kind of people are they? They want to hear only bad news? May their minds be restructured, lest bad news dog their footsteps. Malediction? Am I cursing anybody? Not at all. Just a warning, and a call to new attitude, new thoughts, new conduct. The things we expect have a way of coming upon us. Ask the biblical Job. "What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me."(Job 3:25).
One of the characteristics of a hateful mind is that it conjures a lot of mischief, and purveys same as truth. And the gullible laps it up. During the health challenge of our dear President, a thing common to any mortal, big or small, of high or low estate, they filled the land with evil tidings. Oh, he is on life support machine. No, he is dead and long buried. He will never return to that office, I swear. And then, God did what He knows how to do best. He showed the Deus ex machina, His Invisible Hands. Now, the reputation of those people is hanging on life support. If only men would restructure their minds!
President Buhari says exit from recession is cheery news, but until the life of the average Nigerian is positively touched by the economy, he doesn't consider the job done. Very good. Even the NBS, which brought the good news, says the economy is still fragile, and the good work must continue, so that we don't slide back. That is exactly what this government would do. That is the motive behind the ERGP (Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan). So, let nobody be filled with diabolic thoughts. Government does not feel it is there yet. Action stations! All hands on deck.
A final word for haters, wailers, purveyors of fake news, or whatever you choose to call them. Evil minds wax worse and worse. A hater would envy others unnecessarily. He would conjure evil thoughts that would poison his system. He would manifest all sorts of negative tendencies that turn him into a proper child of the Devil. And at the end of it all, his master welcomes him home with open arms. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." (Dante's Inferno). And there will be plenty weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
Femi Adesina
is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
Saturday, 2 September 2017
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Buhari's Government is A Congress Of Baboons And Colony Of Monkeys - Femi Fani-Kayode

On August 3rd 1857, in what
can only be described as one of the most profound, moving, passionate and
inspiring speeches in human history, Frederick Douglas, the former black slave
and the great freedom fighter and philosopher said, inter alia, the following:
“Let
me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. 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.
The conflict has been
exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other
tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle
there is no progress.
Those
who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning.
They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
This
struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral
and physical, but it must be a struggle.
Power
concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out
just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact
measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will
continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
On August 3rd 1857, in what
can only be described as one of the most profound, moving, passionate and
inspiring speeches in human history, Frederick Douglas, the former black slave
and the great freedom fighter and philosopher said, inter alia, the following:
“Let
me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. 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.
The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time
being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does
nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress.
Those
who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning.
They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
This
struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both
moral and physical, but it must be a struggle.
Power
concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out
just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact
measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will
continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they
oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North and
held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages
and make no resistance, either moral or physical.
Men
may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all
they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us,
we must pay for their removal.
We
must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our
lives and the lives of others”.
These
powerful and insightful words are as true and as relevant today as they were
150 years ago when they were first spoken.
They are words that have
universal application to humanity and that have been recited and repeatedly
chanted like a haunting and inspiring mantra by virtually every notable
prisoner of conscience, freedom fighter and agitator for equity, liberty and
human rights over the last one hundred and fifty years.
They
are particularly relevant in the Nigeria of today where tyranny and injustice
runs deep, where any form of resistance or opposition is regarded as subversion
and is met with brutality and lethal force and where any telling criticism of
the ruling APC party, government officials or the President is regarded as
“hate speech” that must be supressed.
Permit
me to give just one example of the latter in this contribution which, in my
view, clearly reflects the nervous and obsessive disposition, the sheer madness
and the sociopathic narcissism of the Buhari administration.
.
A
few days ago I had a revealing, probing and in-depth interview with a leading
television station about President Muhammedu Buhari, his record in office over
the last two years, his health and his governent.
Lai
Mohammed, our notoriously excitable and mendatious Minister of Information, was
so upset and disturbed by the contents of that discussion that he personally
called the television station that recorded it and told them that the
government would close them down if they dared to air it.
His
call was followed by an equally threatening one from the chief executive of the
Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation who issued the same threat.
Yet
it did not stop there. Femi Adesina, the President’s spokesman, almost
defecated in his pants when he got a whisper of some of the things that I had
revealed and he wondered out loud how I managed to get all the facts and
information that I shared during the interview.
He
begged the station not to air it as well and also threatened them with dire
consequences if they did so. Sadly the station in question got cold feet, succumbed
to the threats and fell for the blackmail.
I
am not surprised by this and neither do I blame them for doing so. I say this
because they, more than any other, have been subjected to all manner of
harrasment over the years yet despite that they remain one of the most
balanced, professional, forthright and courageous media outfits in the country
till today.
They
are indeed the first amongst equals but they also know the monsters that they
are dealing with when it comes to the Buhari administration and they appreciate
the fact that they have to be extreemly careful even when it comes to reporting
what are essentially notorious facts.
They
have to be even more careful when it comes to allowing strong opposition
figures like yours truly and other non-conformists and perceived enemies of the
government to use their powerful platform to air their personal opinions and
strong dissenting views.
The
truth is that this government is vicious and dangerous and, in my view, they
are only one step away from “disappearing” (Argentinian style) media
practitioners, publishers, essayists, columnists and writers that are not
prepared to bow down to their unholy will and lick their filthy, unclean and
unwashed posterior.
Simply
put they are a chicken-hearted government that are terrified of their own
shadow.
They
are a government of uncircumcised Philistines who were put in power by heathans
and unbelievers and who attract and enjoy the support of every low-life and
apostate from the south side of hell.
Nothing
terrifies them more than public scrutiny and the glorious light of
accountability and truth.
From
the top to the bottom they are all the same: gangsterish and paranoid
charlatans who flourish in darkness and who thrive in division, conflict, lies,
deceit, suppression, threats, murder, violence and intimidation.
Femi
Adesina’s cowardice and perfidy particularly is nothing new. This is the same
man that threatened the publisher of two leading national newspapers to close
my weekly column and that has been begging and offering inducements to
virtually every online magazine that I write for to stop publishing my essays.
That
is how fearful, feeble, powerless, shameless, cowardly and paranoid the Buhari
government has become. That is the level of their depravity and that is the
level that they have degenerated to.
They
cannot take criticism and they cannot bear any form of factual and in-depth
analysis of their abysmal and woeful performance.
They
do not have the stomach or intellectual stamina for a strong and lively
challenge, for what I would describe as “hardtalk” or indeed for any form of
virile debate and contentious public discourse.
Simply
put they behave like a congress of baboons and a colony of monkeys. They always
run away from a real fight and a real debate and they are terrified of those
that are ready to take them on.
Instead
of attempting to defend themselves in the court of public opinion they seek to
silence the opposition by the power of their might and they seek to supress
dissent, muscle the media and bury the truth.
Despite
their sheer desperation to hold on to power at any cost and to cower the people
and in spite of their despicable, tyrannical and inglorious mindset I have the
following to say to them: like satan, your time is short.
You
oppress the people and whip them into line, not by good works or inspiring
leadership, but through the usage of nothing but intimidation, lies, threats,
blackmail, disinformation, witchunts, fear, hate, division and terror. Your
tactics are as despicable as they are deplorable.
Yet
despite your subjugation and tyranny it will soon be over for you. The earth
and the heavens have rejected you, the elemental forces oppose you and the
Nigerian people secretly despise you. This is the doing of the Lord and it is
marvelous in our sight.
You
cannot wash away the blood that you have shed. You cannot erase the memory of
your failures and your atrocities and those that you have humiliated,
destroyed, insulted, tortured, incarcerated and subjected to persecution and
the most vicious and callous media trials.
You
cannot silence the voice of the voiceless, you cannot intimidate the servant of
truth and you cannot supress the champion of the oppressed.
The
finger of the Lord has marked you down for shame, torment and destruction and
the sword of the Lord has wounded you beyond redemption. The rats were just the
beginning. More miracles and wonders will soon come.
The
truth is that no matter how hard you try to put out the raging fire and the
crisis of confidence that has afflicted you it will not stop.
Your days are numbered and your end is nigh. The Ancient of
Days has spoken and He shall perfect it.
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.
Saturday, 1 July 2017
Femi Fani-Kayode: The Cry Of The Almajiri – Part 2
To the people of the south-west, south-south, south-east
and the Middle belt I say the following.
We must be steadfast and
strong. We must look to our God and draw our courage and inspiration from Him.
We must take off the gloves and get down to some hard work.
We must forge closer ties
and remain united.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder and resist these hegemonist and born-to-rule devils with every fibre of our being.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder and resist these hegemonist and born-to-rule devils with every fibre of our being.
The Holy Bible says that the
blessing of the Lord resides where there is unity.
It tells us that the power
of God flows where and when there is unity between believers and when those
that share common values and a common world view are in one accord.
That is why the north spends
a good deal of its time trying to sow seeds of division between the ethnic
nationalities of the south. They feed on and draw strength from our petty
rivalries and internal divisions.
Yet the truth is as follows.
We all know it but no-one wants to say it. And that truth is that the answer to
Nigeria’s problems is not just in restructuring because too much innocent blood
has been spilt and shed by our collective oppressors over the last years fifty
seven years.
Restructuring is only the
first step and it is nothing but a means to an end. Essentially it is just a
temporary and ephemeral palliative. It is a good first step in what will be a
long and hopefully peaceful journey to an expected and better end.
The final and lasting
solution to our numerous problems is either a complete break up of the nation
into five or six pieces at the very worse or the implementation of what has
come to be known as the “Gideon Orkar” solution where the two core northern
zones of the north-west and the north-east are excised and expelled from the
federation at the very best.
Either of the two options
are fine by me. Too much innocent blood has been shed over the years by the
internal colonislists for anything else to suffice.
There can no longer be any
genuine love and true fellowship between us. And if we say that there is or
that there can be then we are just fooling ourselves and pretending.
Why should we continue to be
our brother’s keeper when that brother hates us so much?
The bottom line is that
there is no longer any basis for unity between the north and the south.
Between the Hausa Fulani
core north and the rest of the country there is no love lost!
The great Greek philosopher
Plato once said, “no-one is more hated than he who speaks truth”.
He is absolutely right. Yet
despite that I have spoken the truth on this matter anyway and I stand to be
corrected. I have spoken that bitter truth because I refuse to be
intimidated or to be bound by political correctness.
Love me or hate me and take
it or leave it. And despite the hatred and the insults that will come as a
consequence of speaking truth, posterity will prove me right and judge me
kindly.
Meanwhile I laugh when I
read the obscene words and hear the obnoxious and self-serving cry of the almajiri.
They have said that “the
Yoruba are chronic backstabbers” and that is an insult that they will live to
regret. When will these creatures learn that they need Nigeria far more than
Nigeria needs them?
The time of glorifying
themselves and feeding their vain and fanciful delusions of grandeur will soon
be over.
Until then we shall continue
to look unto the hills from whence our help and we shall continue to call on
the Lord of Hosts and the Ancient of Days to deliver us from these hateful
Arewa demons.
Permit me to end this
contribution with the words of Pastor Bayo Oladeji who is the spokesman of the
President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). On 29th June he wrote:
“When we told you that
Christians are being marginalised and being descriminated against in the North,
they said we are lying. We dare them to publish name of public schools in the
North where Christian Religious Education is being taught; name of states where
churches are being given the CofO of their land; name of states where
Christians are given support for holy pilgrimages as it is being done for the
Muslims they are keeping quiet! Yet they are paying lips service to the unity
of Nigeria. As long as a group of people or a section of the country are being
treated as second class citizens, the unity of the country will remain a
mirage!”
May those that dispute the
fact that we have a major and festering problem in this country and that unity
between the core Muslim north and the rest of the country is nothing but a vain
illusion consider Oladeji’s insghtful words.
The great Fench writer and
philosopher Voltaire said, “to know who rules over you simply find out who you
cannot criticise”.
Those slaves that find it
difficult to challenge or criticise the northerners and their numerous excesses
and acts of tyranny clearly know who their masters are. May God help them
before it is too late.
I would rather die on my
feet as a free man than live on my knees as a slave.(CONCLUDED).
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.
Femi Fani-Kayode: The Cry Of The Almajiri – Part 1
On June 27th 2017 in Daura, Katsina State one Tanko
Abdullahi and one Mohammed Shehu, after a meeting of the Arewa Youth
Council, issued the following statement. They said:
“We are very much
aware that all the attacks against President Muhammadu Buhari were planted in
the media by the Yoruba and spread by southerners generally just to discredit
the north in order to pave way for their son, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to
become President.
“But their plans will
fail insha Allah. We shall resist every of such plans and ensure by all means
possible, that the north completes its eight-year tenure and possibly even
continue after then, and that the federal structure of Nigeria as it currently
is, is not tampered with by secession mongers and their collaborators.
“Having given power
to the Yoruba on a platter of gold in 1999 as a way of compensating them for
the June 12 saga, it is quite worrisome and unfortunate that they have lived up
to their legendary reputation of backstabbing and betrayal by supporting the
divisive calls for restructuring or dismemberment of the nation against the
will and desire of the north.
“We gave the late
Chief MKO Abiola the mandate in 1993 but shortly after that, as it is with the
Yoruba as a culture, they immediately started circling around Abiola plotting
on how to emasculate the north and strip us of every access we had to the
politics and economy of this nation.
“They had also raised
a secret army of their elites to carry out these sinister plans against the
north if Abiola eventually became President. It was this army that was
unleashed on the nation in the guise of NADECO during the June 12 impasse.
“May we remind the
Yoruba that without the willingness and magnanimity of the north, there was no
way Abiola could have purportedly won that election, and that all the Yoruba
have now as assets in the south west, especially Lagos, were given to them by
our leaders out of our own usual magnanimity.
“However, time and
time again, the Yoruba have always turned their back on us whenever their
support is needed. They have chosen to pitch tent with the Igbo this time
around just to spite us, but we shall not succumb to their antics”.
Their words are laced with
hate, fuelled by ignorance, filled with contempt, propelled by hubristic pride
and garnished with the arrogance of Atilla the Hun: indeed they have spoken
like the true almajiris that they are.
Meanwhile let us look at the
facts.
12 million children are out of
school in Nigeria. Out of the 12 million, 10 million are from the north whilst
Kano state alone has 3 million beggars.
Nigeria has the highest
number of young girls suffering from Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) in the world.
And 90 per cent of those young girls are from the north.
According to the UNDP 72 per
cent of northern Nigerians are living below the poverty line.
According to UNICEF if
Nigeria were to ever break up the core north would be the poorest and most
barren place on the African continent.
According to Nasir El Rufai, the
Governor of Kaduna state in northern Nigeria, if the north-western zone of the
country were to ever find itself on its own it would be poorer and more ravaged
by war than Afghanistan.
According to the World
Terror Index Boko Haram and the Fulani militias are the first and fourth “most
deadly terrorist organisations in the world” respectively and they both come
from northern Nigeria.
According to UNESCO 65
million Nigerians, which represents 50 per cent of the total population!) are
stark illiterates and 55 million of them are from the north.
According to UNICEF the
heartland and base of pedophiia, child sex, child slavery and child marriage on
the African continent is northern Nigeria.
According to President
Donald Trump of the United States of America “northern Nigeria is one of the
most dangerous places for Christians to live in the world” and “Christians are
murdered there in their thousands every year whilst Churches are blown up and
burnt down”.
According to CNN “the
bastion of radical Islam, Islamic terror and Islamic fundamentalism in Africa
is northern Nigeria”.
According to Governor Yari
of Zamfara state in north western Nigeria the north has been afflicted with all
manner of diseases and epidemics, including meningitis, as a consequence of
their many sins against Allah.
According to Acting
President Yemi Osinbajo the northern states “have the highest infant and
maternal mortality rates in the country, the lowest rate of child enrolment in
schools, the highest number of unemployed young people, the highest levels of
poverty and faces the challenge of inter-ethic and inter-religious conflict
including the Boko Haram terrorism.”
All these daunting
challenges, disturbing facts and alarming statistics and instead of putting
their house in order the Arewa Youth Coalition not only threaten the Igbo with
mass murder and genocide and order them to leave the north by October 1st but
they have also gone a step further by insulting the Yoruba and accused us of
being “serial traitors” and of “trying to impose Osinbajo on Nigeria as
President”.
This is the same Osinbajo
that has bent over backwards to appease them, that has taken all their insults
and provocations and that has resolved to accept the fact that he is more a
co-ordinator of government affairs than an Acting President.
I really do wonder what
these young northerners really want?
They issue quit notices to
fellow Nigerians and they are still going about freely and with AK47 and
daggers stained with the blood of their innocent compatriots.
They issue statements
insulting their compatriots by calling them ungrateful backstabbers even after
stabbing and butchering them to death .
They tell the world that
Yoruba Muslims are not real Muslims and that they will never allow them to lead
in prayers in the mosque.
I ask again what do these
young northerners really want?
Do they really believe that
the rest of us are interested in THEIR Nigeria anymore? To many the unity of
Nigeria is not sacrosanct and neither do we insist on it at the cost of our
lives, our future, our self-respect and our dignity.
This position has been
confirmed and reaffirmed by the General Alani Akinrinade-led Yoruba Assembly,
the Odua People’s Congress, the Odua Liberation Movement and Afenifere itself.
We may love Nigeria but we
are not prepared to sacrifice our liberty on the alter as a sacrifice to her
gods and neither are we prepared to be treated like animals or a people that
have no history or do not know where they are coming from. The Yoruba culture
and race are irresistible and irrepressible.
The influence and power of
the ancient Yoruba empire and people stretches from South America, the
Caribbean, West Africa, various parts of western Europe and other parts of the
world till today.
We come from an ancient
lineage of empire and tradition which is thousands of years old and which
pre-dates Christianity and Islam. We are well-educated, focused and strong.
We have never been conquered
in battle and we have never lost a war to a foreign aggressor or usurper. We
are slow to anger but irresistible in battle.
We are a proud and noble
race from an illustrious and royal heritage: se bow to no other. That is who
and what we are.
If Nigeria remaining one
means that we must live as slaves and serfs whilst the north laud it over us
and insult us every day then we say let her break and let us go our separate
ways before we kill each other.
It is only in this country
that those with a blood-lust, the perverted, the depraved, the lazy, the
parasitic, the barren, the poor and the diseased insist on leading and ruling
over the peace-loving, the sane, the wholesome, the righteous, the generous,
the kind, the accomodating, the hard-working, the productive, the prosperous
and the healthy.
In view of these racist,
divisive and provocative rantings and sentiments from the northern youths
(which in my view have the tacit support and backing of their traditional
rulers, political elite, trusted leaders and revered elders) those of us from
other parts of the country must wake up, smell the coffee, get our act together
and rise up to the challenge and to the occasion.
This is the time for men and
women of valour and strength to step up to the plate and redeem the honor of
their kith and kin. This is the time to say “enough is enough!” (TO BE
CONTINUED).
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.
Friday, 16 June 2017
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