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We never forget too. We are keeping tabs on all your utterances. Payback time draws near. Keep mocking us.

CULPRITS: The Indictment Nigerians Were Never Meant to Read

Dele Ogun's "Culprits: The People and the Paper That Made Nigeria" is not a history book. It is a murder investigation. And the body is still warm.

For two hundred years, we have been told that the Fulani jihad was a religious reformation. For a hundred years, we have been told that the 1914 Amalgamation was an act of administrative convenience. For sixty years, we have been told that Nigeria's problems are our own fault, tribalism, corruption, laziness.

Everything you have been told is a lie. Dele Ogun, a London-based constitutional lawyer of thirty years' experience, has done what Nigerian historians have been too afraid to do. He has followed the paper trail. And the paper trail leads straight to Whitehall.

This is not a work of emotion. It is a work of forensic accounting. Ogun, called to the Bar in 1985 and a solicitor in London since 1995, approaches the creation of Nigeria the way a prosecutor approaches a crime scene: with documents, ledgers, treaties, and sworn statements. He owns his own publishing company, Lawless Publications, because no mainstream publisher would touch what he has uncovered.

The book's central argument is simple but devastating. Nigeria's dysfunction is not an accident. It is a mathematical output of a deliberately flawed blueprint designed by the British Empire to maximize extraction.

Ogun writes with the precision of a lawyer and the fire of a prophet. Each chapter is a count in an indictment. Each footnote is a nail in a coffin. And by the time you finish the book, you will understand that the Nigerian state is not a nation, it is a corporation. And you are not a citizen. You are a shareholder with no dividends.

The Hidden Hand: How America Broke the British Empire

Ogun proves that the real driver of African decolonization was not Harold Macmillan's "Winds of Change" speech of 1960. It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American president, who extracted a secret commitment from Winston Churchill in 1941: the liquidation of the British Empire was the price for American entry into World War II.

The Atlantic Charter of August 14, 1941, which pledged self-determination for all colonized peoples, was not a moral awakening. It was a deal. Churchill, desperate to bring America into the war against Hitler, agreed to dismantle the empire his ancestors had spent centuries building. Implementation was delayed only by Roosevelt's death and the onset of the Cold War.

Ogun pulls back the curtain on this geopolitical chess match, revealing that African nations did not win their independence through peaceful negotiation or violent struggle alone. They were handed a pre-packaged form of sovereignty, a flag independence that left all the economic and administrative levers firmly in British hands. Nigeria's constitution was written in London, not Lagos. Its civil service was trained to serve the Crown, not the people. Its military was structured to protect British interests, not Nigerian borders.

This is the first indictment: Nigerian independence was a theatrical performance. The script was written in Whitehall. The audience was the world. And the actors were our own leaders.

The Paper That Condemned Us

Ogun then turns his scalpel to the infamous Paper, the treaties, colonial edicts, and administrative acts that forced over 371 ethnic groups into a single geographic prison. He proves that the 1914 Amalgamation was not a marriage of northern and southern protectorates. It was a corporate bailout.

The landlocked Northern Protectorate was running a massive deficit. The Southern Protectorate held a massive surplus from coastal customs duties. The British solution was to Shackle them together and call it a nation. The North got a lifeline. The South got a burden. And both got a colonial administrator named Lord Lugard, who was less a governor and more a CEO of a failing conglomerate.

Ogun provides the financial ledgers. He reproduces the internal memoranda. He names the civil servants who designed this "extractive blueprint." The goal was never to build a nation. The goal was to build a machine for resource extraction, groundnuts from the North, palm oil from the East, cocoa from the West, and tin from the Plateau. All of it shipped to British factories. All of it processed into British goods. All of it sold back to Nigerians at British prices.

This is the second indictment: Nigeria was not born. It was manufactured. And its manufacturers were not interested in its survival beyond their profit margins.

The Betrayal of the Fulani Elite: A Two-Century Crime

But Ogun does not stop with the British. He names the local collaborators. And here, the book becomes a mirror in which every Hausa person must look.

The British did not invent the emirate system. They inherited it from the Fulani jihad of 1804. And they preserved it because it was the most efficient machine for controlling the Hausa masses. One Fulani emir could collect taxes, enforce order, and deliver groundnuts to the railway station. The British provided weapons and legitimacy. The Fulani provided obedience and information.

The scale of the crime is staggering. By 1900, the Sokoto Caliphate had at least 1 million slaves, and perhaps as many as 2.5 million. This made it the second-largest slave society in the modern world, second only to the American South. Slave-raiding devastated vast regions and almost depopulated the countryside, hampering the commercial activity of major cities like Zaria and Kano. The annual tribute to the Sultan of Sokoto was paid by the Emir of Kano and all other chiefs in the form of slaves, and these slaves were "nearly all raided from the neighbouring outlying villages". Charles H. Robinson, a British observer, reported that 500 slaves could often be seen for sale in the Kano market in a single day. He estimated that if the whole population of the world were brought together, one out of every three hundred would be a Hausa-speaking slave. He also stated that if London were emptied, the city could be filled by the slaves held in captivity in Hausaland.

Ogun documents how the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Kano, and other Fulani traditional rulers were given guarantees of their continued authority under British rule. In exchange, they agreed to suppress any resistance, to deliver taxes, and to ensure that the Hausa masses remained docile. The British called this "Indirect Rule." Ogun calls it what it is: a deal with the devil.

This is the third indictment: The Fulani elite are not innocent victims of colonialism. They are its willing agents. And they have been cashing the checks ever since.

The Betrayal of Abdussalami Bagimbame: The Hyena's Share

Ogun's book resonates powerfully with the story of Malam Abdussalami Bagimbame, a Hausa scholar and one of Usman dan Fodio's most trusted followers. Abdussalami fought in the jihad, helped establish the Caliphate, and then watched as the spoils were divided exclusively among the Fulani elite.

After the death of Shehu Usmanu Danfodiyo, Abdussalami wrote a bitter letter to Sultan Muhammadu Bello, recorded in Bello's own book, Saddur Kalam. Abdussalami drew a map showing how the conquered lands were divided:

·The West went to Abdullahi Danfodiyo, the Shehu's brother

· The South went to Atiku and Buhari, the Shehu's sons

·The East went to Muhammadu Bello, the Shehu's son

·The North went to Aliyu Jaido, the Shehu's son-in-law, and his two sons

Then Abdussalami asked the question that echoes across two centuries: "I, Abdussalami, where is my share?" He stated that he had received nothing but his pre-jihad farm and the plot of land for his grave. He called this "rabon kura" the hyena's share.

The Caliphate's response was swift and brutal. Sultan Muhammadu Bello charged Abdussalami with treason, led a military campaign against him, and had him killed. An arrow pierced Abdussalami as he fled toward Zamfara. The Fulani elite had used the Hausa to fight their war, and then discarded them.

This is not ancient history. This is the DNA of the Nigerian state. The pattern of using Hausa scholars, soldiers, and commoners to secure power, only to push them aside, has never stopped. Ogun's book exposes this pattern at the national level, but it began in the palaces of Sokoto.

This is the fourth indictment: The Nigerian state did not invent exploitation. It inherited it from the Fulani Caliphate. The same elites who betrayed Abdussalami in 1817 are the same elites who betray the Hausa masses today.

The Betrayal by Southern Elites: The Fifth Wall

Ogun does not spare the South either. He exposes how the Yoruba and Igbo elites also collaborated with the British, competing for colonial favors, dividing their own people, and laying the foundation for the ethnic tensions that would explode into civil war in 1967. He names the politicians who signed the pre-independence constitutions without demanding real sovereignty. He names the lawyers who advised the colonial office on how to keep Nigeria together for British benefit.

The Fourth Republic itself, Ogun argues, is not a democracy. It is a managed democracy, a system where elections are held, but outcomes are predetermined; where politicians rotate, but policies remain the same; where the people vote, but the real power resides in the same extractive machinery that Lugard installed in 1914.

This is the fifth indictment: Nigerian elites, across all ethnic groups, have been complicit in the continuation of the colonial project. They have traded the liberation of their people for personal power.

The Orange Union: A Path Forward

The book concludes with a radical proposal: the Orange Union, a true, voluntary federation of ethnic nations, each maintaining its "fullness of identity, self-determination and integrity" under a shared protective union. Ogun explains the metaphor: "As with the fruit, it is a concept whereby humanity enjoys the peaceful harmony of a union within which the separate segments are distinctly and uniquely covered by a soft internal border, while the shared cover is the much firmer peeling acting as the external border to the rest of the world."

This is not secession. This is honesty. Ogun argues that "real nationalists are those who believe in their identities as Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw, Ogoni, Kanuri, etc. organic and God-given identities" that sustained us for thousands of years before the colonialists came and caused their confusion. The "tag of nationalism" has been used as a dirty word by "servants of the colonial confusionists" to keep Nigeria trapped in its original prison.

He points out the hypocrisy: in Britain, it is acceptable to wave the Welsh flag or the Scottish flag without being called a separatist. In Nigeria, to speak of ethnic nations is seen as "the politics of hatred." The Orange Union would allow each ethnic nation to govern its internal affairs, while cooperating on defense, currency, and external trade. It would end the forced marriage that has produced nothing but violence, poverty, and despair.

This is the sixth indictment: The Nigerian state has criminalized the very idea of self-determination, while pretending to be a democracy. The Orange Union is not a threat to peace. It is the only path to peace.

Why Every Hausa Man Must Read This Book

The Hausa are 80 million strong across West Africa. We have the numbers. We have the land. We have the history. We have the economic muscle. What we lack is the will to organize, the courage to confront, and the patience to build.

This book is the weapon we have been waiting for. It proves that our suffering was not ordained by Allah. It was drafted in Whitehall and implemented in the palaces of Sokoto. The Fulani elite were not victims of colonialism. They were junior partners. And they have been junior partners ever since.

Ogun warns that "those behind the Nigerian state see the IPOB leader as a threat to the continuation of Nigeria as it is." The same applies to any Hausa man who asks why he cannot be emir in Kano. The same applies to any Hausa woman who asks why her children must beg on the streets while Fulani children fly to London for university. The Nigerian state was designed to suppress such questions.

Reading Culprits is an act of rebellion. Owning a copy is a declaration of war against the colonial confusion that has kept us enslaved. Sharing it is the first step toward building the Orange Union.

The Verdict

Culprits is a chef-d'œuvr. It is a gripping cinematic detail of the greed of Empire and the lots of its victims even after hundred years. It is essential reading for every Hausa intellectual, every Hausa student, every Hausa farmer who has ever wondered why his people are the permanent servants of a foreign elite.

The problem is not Nigerians. The problem is Nigeria. And the solution is not to wait for a messiah. The solution is to understand the blueprint, dismantle the prison, and build something new.

Ogun has given us the indictment. Now we must sit as the jury. The evidence is overwhelming. The witnesses have testified. The documents have been submitted. The only question remaining is: what is your verdict?

Will you continue to accept the colonial prison? Or will you join the movement to build the Orange Union, a voluntary federation of free Hausa, free Yoruba, free Igbo, free Ijaw, free Ogoni, free Kanuri, and free every other ethnic nation that wishes to govern itself in dignity and peace?

The choice is yours. But make no mistake: silence is a verdict too. And history will judge you for it.

This book is not just a history. It is a manual for liberation. It is the most important book written about Nigeria in the last fifty years. Every Hausa household that can read must own a copy. Every Hausa leader who claims to speak for the people must read it. Every Hausa youth who dreams of a better future must study it.

Khaleed Yazeed
Founder, Wakilin Yamma Youth Development Network
Katsina State, Nigeria
COPIED

samuelson06:
You'll make no example of him. Did the report say the video was seen in any of his social media channels? Did the report say they have a link of the video and that link takes them to VDM's channel? You guys would just be talking without thinking. Is VDM the person that posted the so-called video? So you think you're more intelligent than VDM? You people should go sit down somewhere please. You don't have anything against that guy.

The same thing you said concerning El Rufia, and for the past two months he has been held under DSS gulag, and you have done nothing to help him. Except to mock him additionally.

Mrexcell:
Obi isn't popular but yet defeated ur tinibu in his lagos and even in abuja including inside aso rock the word popular might really mean something else to u.

Let your Obi come and do that again in 2027. Your toxicity has driven well intentioned voters far away from him.

CLOUDRepublic:
All the Promises he made to voters did he also fulfill them
If you had, you would have won the Primaries fair and square

Rather he was busy grabbing helpless people's lands up and down, and jailing them if they protest.

Now power has returned to the people.

Chelsea started the season with series of red cards and they are ending it with the same.

Sunderland is above Chelsea on the league table, and they are playing at home, so it is expected that they will beat Chelsea in this match. Moreso they are playing better than Chelsea's ragtag team.

Biodun1929:
"Obasa remains the best politician I've seen when it comes to giving back to his community... "


Which community in particular, and can you give me examples of what he gave back? I'm genuinely curious, no malicious intent.

He gave you one good example of Obasa's magnanimity to his immediate constituents, the Bokku cheap Supermart, you deliberately decided to ignore that, and you are still MALICIOUSLY asking him to do so.

Are you winch?

It seems Nairaland has run out of useful articles, or what is the purpose of all the mundane topics its mods are pushing to the front page lately?

zoghys:
Just because am not an ethnic bigot like you doesn't make me lesser Yoruba than your like. Paper and internet warrior like you don't know anything about us, the true Omoluabi, who still believe in humanity. Exchanging message with you is a waste of time, enjoy your low esteem life.

The true omoluabi does not denigrate his lineage.

A low esteemed person is one that does not value his culture, his people and his heritage.

There is one Yoruba adage that aptly captures your case, but I won't insult you with it.

zoghys:
Am not one of your co loosers who judge based on ethnicity or tribal affiliation. Am 100 percent Yoruba and precisely Remo, ogun state. I have met with corrupt and drug stricken Yorubas as much as other ethnicity in this country. Am first human, before my religion, colour, gender or tribe. So suck on it and jog on.

Unwanted alien, claiming to be what you are not.

Please you are far away from home, keep trekking on, your destination is still upfront, and not on our noble Remo land

2:0 by Chelsea. Tottenham on hot seat.

Chelsea should be magnanimous tonight by allowing Hotspur to draw to save their face.

The thread so dry. Everyone was busy watching Bournemouth (Arsenal) Vs Man. City game. Arsenal has won this year EPL Cup.

Big congratulations to Arsenal, my prayers were answered for them. I am so happy for them.

Bournemouth were wasting goal chances like kalokalo. At least 4 extra goals should have come from their side.

Drforsuiciders:
Oga if u believe story of a woman, that means i can sell paradise to u. Una neva sabi women at all, a woman will always paint story for d society to believe her without questions

Your comments through the thread showed that you've already sided with the sister-in-law and her SIX children. Six children, not one, but six, yet you are blaming the wife who is enduring this.

I don't believe you are married, because if you are you will understand the strain of living under this kind of situation.

The topic is filled with filthy language, and should be deleted.

Phils:
It seems there may have been underlying issues in the marriage even before the sister-in-law moved in.

Two years without a child should not automatically become a source of pressure, though society in Nigeria often makes it one.

Regarding the food and household expenses, if your Sister is not solely responsible for providing them, she should avoid focusing too much on how fast things are being consumed for now, so she can protect her peace of mind.

On orderliness in the house... With six children from the visitor, some of them should be old enough to assist with dishes and basic cleaning. Your sister can politely involve them in maintaining the house.

Your Sister should have a calm and honest conversation with her husband, explaining how the lack of privacy and the prolonged stay are affecting her emotionally and their marriage. Together, they should discuss possible timelines and arrangements for the sister-in-law to get her own place.

If the environment continues to affect her mental health, you can help her to temporarily engage herself elsewhere in a productive way, for example through further studies, professional development or work, rather than making it look like she is simply running away from the marriage. Leaving a marriage is a major decision and should not be made purely out of frustration or pressure from outsiders.

I sincerely wish her peace, wisdom, and a positive resolution.

You deftly avoided the issue where the sister in law is already accusing the husband of showing too much love to the wife. Thereby planning to take over her brother's home and displacing the wife.

Kobojunkie:
1. Your sister's husband, not the woman in question, is the problem. Your sister should address her husband's lack of respect and possible complete disregard for her opinion directly. 😒

2. Again, the problem is that the root of your sister's marriage to her husband is fraught with no respect for her in the marriage, and all these points back to her relationship with her husband. If she is tired of being disrespected, she can move out of the marriage. However, if the man is not a violent man towards his own children, I suggest your sister work towards getting shared custody of the children as opposed to full custody. That way, the man will also need to make time out to take care of the children who are also his. 😒

3. Your sister needs to make the decision herself. She needs to be tired of the disrespect enough to want to change things for the better for herself. Otherwise, she may come back attacking you, claiming you made her do what she did not want to. So, leave her alone to do this for herself. Only help out where you are able to. 😒

You jumped into resolution without reading the content of the matter under discussion. The marriage has not been blessed with children, yet you are advising on child custody and the husband's treatment of the children.

SAMBARRY:
If you don't have time or resources to raise decent children, close your legs or use condom

Those you are advising cannot be found on Nairaland, but are in different slums across the country. So you should rather visit them there with megaphone to drive your message home.

iwaeda:
They lied they will not change the dates,they way APC will implode. Let me just laugh ahead.

Implosion in your dreams about APC, but in reality cohesion at the end of it all, because there is enough to go round for everybody to eat to satisfaction, as they are the party in power in almost all states in Nigeria.

By the way I am not a friend of Tinubu or of his rogues in power, but just telling you the reality.

Angelfrost:
Please don't be daft.

I practically call out several state governors on this forum for lagging behind Lagos and Abuja all day long.

Unlike you, I don't settle for half measures in the name of religion and ethnicity.

Use your brain before equally mediocre thinking crooks in power use it for you.

Demand for more... You hear?!!

Smh!!!

Mr.Guru on all government and sport matters, all the demands you have been making in the past to your state governors and LG Chairmen, that is if your assertion is true, have they translated to better management of their financials and governance which can rival Lagos State Government? If not, then I repeat, let your anger be more directed to the state of affairs in your own state and LG until they are brought at par with Lagos State.

Angelfrost:
I'm sorry... But, what facilities?!!

Abidjian, Capetown, Kigali, Nairobi, Rabat, and other cities in Africa have 24 hours electricity.

Does Lagos have this?!! Does anywhere in Lagos, even Ikeja or Banana Island enjoy uninterrupted Power supply?!!

Please name those facilities...!

How much does Lagos generate from Tourism compared to other African cities?!!

What is the air quality?!!

What is the livability compared to the nations' capitals or major cities above?!!


In 2026, Lagos is still what you are bragging about in Nigeria, a nation with over 200 million people, and 36 states?!!

Have you no shame nor decency?!!

Use the same energy and anger to advise your own state governor and local government chairman, it will make more sense than being mad about other people's affairs.

Freshtruth:
she will settle me she will have to see my people to returned the diary

Return the dowry, after many months of sleeping with her, where is that done?

Sope otilo, na under Oshodi bridge remains for you.

erai30:
My dinosaur refuses to shed skin

Let us kill it to celebrate Ileya festival. The meat is sweet.

Freshtruth:
Atiku spend money for this gal head that year, Dbanj come still collect national cake join, Emeka Ike still chop too.


I am ready to marry and take good care of her if she will accept I am ready to sell my father bungalow to do a weeding ceremony and move in with her

After selling your papa's bungalow and moving in with her, when she becomes tired of you as usual and throw you out, where will you sleeps then? Under bridge?

heykims:
What's the difference between Portable and this guy?

Portable won multiple boxing belts, your akpi never won nada.

Capis?

Larrycool1234:
I



Abeg who be dis one ?

Abeg who be dis one?

Crystal Palace please give Arsenal the EPL Cup tonight by walloping Man. City silly.

kiddaz:
A little over 4.3 M GBP in a Barclays Trust Fund Account

You get 4.3M GBP in your overseas bank account, and you still get time to yarn dusts on Nairaland, isn't that incredible?