₦airaland Forum

quimicababes:
WITHER NIGERIA? The Past, The Present, The Future (By Dr Victor Oladokun)

BREAKFAST AT SHERATON
In the weeks, leading up to the just-concluded Nigerian Presidential elections, I recall having breakfast at the Sheraton hotel in Abuja with a very senior Fulani member of the APC. To my mind, he is cerebrally brilliant, highly knowledgeable, tactical, very influential, and at the core of Buhari's inner circle.

This is what he said to me -

"Victor, let me tell you something, these people (referring to Tinubu and Co) think they are using Buhari. I swear, mark my words, Buhari is using everyone of them."

I made a mental note of the certitude with which my guest spoke, keeping in mind that the Fulani by nature are not flippant; neither do they make statements they don't intend to make good on.

The fact of the matter is that without the organizational genius of Bola Tinubu and the heavy financial backing of APC leaders in the South, a Hausa-Fulani President in 2015 was going to be a remote possibility. As such, it was imperative that Tinubu and his political machinery be used to pave the way for Buhari's election. It was a brilliant stroke of genius because it worked.

The bottom line is that for 16 years (between the Administrations of Obasanjo and Jonathan, excluding the 'non-rule' of Yar Adua) the Hausa-Fulani aristocracy had been out in the political cold for 14 years. They could not afford another four.

While the day is still young and events still unfolding, the words of my breakfast companion that morning, still ring in my ears.

POST-ELECTION BLUES
Sadly, just a few months ago, many in the APC camp would not have envisaged some of the scenarios playing out before us, particularly the recent lopsided Presidential appointments favoring Hausa-Fulani over other ethnicities, and the intemperate language of a few key Hausa-Fulani leaders, especially Senator Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, who was once all too glad to ride on Tinubu's political campaign train.

Many within APC are either too embarrassed or too afraid to voice what are already public sentiments.

Within a relatively short span of time following the elections, agitations for breakaway Biafra and Oduduwa Republics have been on the ascendancy. With the annulment of elections in two PDP controlled South-South States, the Niger Delta region is abuzz once again. In the last three years of the Jonathan Administration, Boko Haram snuffed out the lives of 3000 Nigerians. In just six months of Buhari’s return to power, more than one third that number of people have been lost to the Islamic militants.

So, we find ourselves once again in familiar territory of insecurity, fear, ethnic rivalry, religious violence and intimidation, and a general sense of 'wither Nigeria?'

As a nation, the many conscious and unconscious choices we make today will create desired or unintended futures. With their own hands, Nigeria's political leaders will create the Nigeria of the Future. Whether it is the Nigeria we want or not, comes down to daily choices, decisions, strategies, comments, and inputs - social, economic, political, ethnic, and certainly military.

Which takes me back 200 – 300 years in our shared existence.

THE SEEDS OF FULANI DOMINATION
In the 1700s and 1800s, drought and the desertification of the Sahara region, forced many indigenous nomadic Nubian populations to flee southward into what today constitutes West Africa. As they moved south, no attempt was made to respect indigenous ethnic communities or boundaries. Pastoral land was taken over with impunity for grazing and agriculture.

In what is present day Nigeria, the most dominant of these Nubian groups was the Fulani.

In 1804, Usman Dan Fodio began his religious, political, and military expansionist putsch from Sokoto across the swathe of Northern Nigeria all the way down to Ilorin.

Better known as Amir Al Muminin (Commander of the Moslem Faithful) Usman Dan Fodio strategically put in place emirs whose role was to conquer Hausa and Fulani cities, regardless of religious affiliation, and establish an Islamic Caliphate along the lines of the Sunni Maliki school of jurisprudence and Qadiri Sufism.

That putsch continues today in various forms and explains why in the middle belt of Nigeria, attempts have been made to foist emirs and the powerfully symbolic institution of emirship on non Hausa-Fulani and non-Islamic communities. This same attempt in the predominantly Christian enclave of Jos under the Babangida Administration is at the root of much of the violence that has bedeviled this part of Nigeria. Other cities in States such as Bauchi, Gongola, and Adamawa with predominantly Christian communities have simply acquiesced and caved in, over time.

As Nigerians, we must recognize that Usman Dan Fodio essentially created a theocratic Caliphate with a strict interpretation of Islam.

In Tanbih al-ikhwan ’ala ahwal al-Sudan, Dan Fodio wrote: “As for the sultans (local leaders) they are undoubtedly unbelievers, even though they may profess the religion of Islam, because they practice polytheistic rituals and turn people away from the path of God and raise the flag of a worldly kingdom above the banner of Islam. All this is unbelief according to the consensus of opinions.”

Writing in 'Islam outside the Arab World,' David Westerlund states that: “The jihad resulted in a federal theocratic state, with extensive autonomy for emirates, recognizing the spiritual authority of the Caliph or the Sultan of Sokoto.”

THE RISE OF THE HAUSA-FULANI HEGEMONY
The irrefutable fact is that whatever the theological justifications and convictions for Usman Dan Fodio’s 1804 Jihad, it led to the rise of an aristocratic ethnic minority which terrorized a whole region via force of arms rather than just religious persuasion.

Through military conquest, organizational and strategic genius, and a political savvy that allowed Hausa nationalities to subordinate their own will and interests to the Fulani, a powerful Hausa-Fulani or better still Fulani-Hausa hegemony has been in place for more than 200 years.

In the Fulani worldview, Christian Hausas in Northern Nigeria are a potential subversive force that threatens the established religious and political power of the Caliphate in Sokoto. In essence, the Christian Hausa community in Northern Nigeria is the antithesis of everything the Hausa-Fulani aristocratic arrangement stands for. It is for this reason that the Fulani especially have done everything possible on numerous occasions to subordinate, frustrate, persecute, and if necessary exterminate Hausa Christians, whenever the need has arisen.

Aareonakakanfo:
[b]Hmmmn Interesting! I've always wanted to discuss this.
Call them herdsmen,illiterates and blabla but one thing you can take from the Fulani is Intelligence.I'm afraid to say they're politically smarter than every other ethnic group in West-Africa and their influence goes as far as gambia.How these guys were able to do it is a topic for another day

One thing a lot of Yorubas don't understand is this.The Hausa-Fulani guys only used us to gain power and they will dump us
when they deem it fit.

I believe Regional Government is only possible if there's Southern co-operation during elections.I remember the romanis threatening political parties before the election that they won't vote for anyone if they're not guaranteed seats in the Lagos state house of Assembly and I won't even lie to you low-key I was scared because I know the romani population in Lagos is huge

We and the romanis constitute over 65% of the south and If we can speak with one voice by threatening these parties concerning our stand on the issue of regionalism like the romanis did concerning Lagos, I feel it might be granted.The northerners are always in need of a partner.A partner with large population and once the 2 partners they love using to achieve their aims decide to form a duo, then they're doomed but I don't see that relationship happening.It's not about writing articles and carrying placards and that's where a lot of Odua groups are getting wrong.

Another thing that might speed it up is the political unity of all Yoruba states.We need to have a single political party.That's the first step and we'll take it from there[/b]

Aareonakakanfo:
[b]Hmmmn Interesting! I've always wanted to discuss this.

Call them herdsmen,illiterates and blabla but one thing you can take from the Fulani is Intelligence.I'm afraid to say they're politically smarter than every other ethnic group in West-Africa and their influence goes as far as gambia.How these guys were able to do it is a topic for another day

One thing a lot of Yorubas don't understand is this.The Hausa-Fulani guys only used us to gain power and they will dump us
when they deem it fit.

I believe Regional Government is only possible if there's Southern co-operation during elections.I remember the romanis threatening political parties before the election that they won't vote for anyone if they're not guaranteed seats in the Lagos state house of Assembly and I won't even lie to you low-key I was scared because I know the romani population in Lagos is huge

We and the romanis constitute over 65% of the south and If we can speak with one voice by threatening these parties concerning our stand on the issue of regionalism like the romanis did concerning Lagos, I feel it might be granted.The northerners are always in need of a partner.A partner with large population and once the 2 partners they love using to achieve their aims decide to form a duo, then they're doomed but I don't see that relationship happening.It's not about writing articles and carrying placards and that's where a lot of Odua groups are getting it wrong.

Another thing that might speed it up is the political unity of all Yoruba states.We need to have a single political party.That's the first step and we'll take it from there[/b]

Shymm3x:
The big creeks - the glue that binds Nigeria together via oil money.

Salute to the creeks. Those folks deserve better, to be honest.

zimoni:
for your mind abi?

Who says they are not taken

WIZGUY69:


I know how if feels Bro.
same with me (I do have this Hausa Accent). been the fact that I was brought up in the north.
anytime I travelled down to SW, my folks laugh at me whenever I speak ede Yoruba, And I hate when they call me Hausa.

I can never trade my tribe with Anything!!!

Aareonakakanfo:
Shymm3x looking at it from different angles,the northerners have cornered the Government and we've been out-smarted.The only thing we have left is population and I feel we can use it advantageously in the next elections if we are determined

theV0ice:
This is very true. It's unfortunate how they've fared with the kind of leaders that use them to bargain with the center then corner all that they get in the name of their people. NDDC, Min of Niger Delta, 13% derivation......yet nothing to show for it

Go to Port Harcourt and see obscene opulence lying side by side with revolting squalor......it's crazy

Anyways, who am i to judge them?? what have i done to hold our own SW leaders to account?

IlekeHD:
With a profile like this, I'm still trying to understand what Tinubu is up to. I'm finding it hard not to think that he has mistakenly sold Nigeria to the North.

Honestly, there's no hope but the division of this country.

All efforts to establish federalism/regionalism during GEJ ( a diverse administration ) was futile. I have no hope or expectation for this admin.

Shymm3x:
Anyone with humanity in him/her will feel sorry for the poor folks in the region. When you watch certain documentary and how everywhere in that region has been destroyed by oil spillage. You can't but shake ya head in disgust cos these folks are mostly fishermen. Means of livelihood gone and no compensations for being the source of the country's wealth. Sad.

Their elites are worst type of folks ever. And Nigeria doesn't even care about them. Double whammy of wickedness right there.

WIZGUY69:


I know how if feels Bro.
same with me (I do have this Hausa Accent). been the fact that I was brought up in the north.
anytime I travelled down to SW, my folks laugh at me whenever I speak ede Yoruba, And I hate when they call me Hausa.

I can never trade my tribe with Anything!!!

Shymm3x:
I honestly think their influence in West Africa is grossly overrated. Apart from Nigeria, they don't really have that much influence elsewhere. Even in Guinea where they make up over 50% of the population - the Mandinkas who are only a third of their population dominate them there. Then in Senegal and Gambia - Wolof and Mandinka dominate both respectively. Yes, they're everywhere but they only dominate Nigeria. Yorubas can also claim the domination of West Africa cos Benin elects Yorubas all the time and their current president is Yoruba. And the Akus are quite a political force in Sierra Leone.

I doubt Yorubas and Igbos will ever be on the same page. Both are two parallel lines politically. Conversely, even if the two were to work together - they don't have the numbers to compete with the North under the current structure.

Ha!

Amadou Tormani Toure President, Mali, 2002-2012
Tandja Mahamadou President, Niger Republic, 2000-2009
Ahmadou Ahidjo- first President of Cameroon
Macky Sall - President of Senegal 2004-2007

I think Thomas Sankara Former president of Burkina Faso was also Fulani

Do we even need to talk about Nigeria? They own it

Just one normadic tribe oo.

Shymm3x:
We don't have the population to effect anything based on how the country is structured. Yorubas are only in one region, politically. While they own three regions.

Shymm3x:
I honestly think their influence in West Africa is grossly overrated. Apart from Nigeria, they don't really have that much influence elsewhere. Even in Guinea where they make up over 50% of the population - the Mandinkas who are only a third of their population dominate them there. Then in Senegal and Gambia - Wolof and Mandinka dominate both respectively. Yes, they're everywhere but they only dominate Nigeria. Yorubas can also claim the domination of West Africa cos Benin elects Yorubas all the time and their current president is Yoruba. And the Akus are quite a political force in Sierra Leone.

I doubt Yorubas and Igbos will ever be on the same page. Both are two parallel lines politically. Conversely, even if the two were to work together - they don't have the numbers to compete with the North under the current structure.

WIZGUY69:
[size=48]JUST IN![/size]


The President Muhammadu Buhari-led
government has approved the construction of the
$2.4 billion Lagos red line rail project.
According to Lagos State Commissioner for
Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, approving
the right of way for the project had been a
problem for donkey’s years as the Federal
Government in the previous administration was
reluctant to do so.
Bear in mind, the right of way belonged to the
Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC.
“It took us four and half years to get approval for
the project. It took us another four years to get
them to discuss the technicality of the project
with us. The right-of-way has been approved and
we are in full discussion with the bidders,” he
said.
Speaking on the Blue Line Light Rail project, the
commissioner said the government would
complete it by the end of next year.
“We are mindful of the problem of transportation
in Lagos State. Towards the end of next year,
something will happen. Our rail project is 27 km
and we are doing it in phases. We are doing Mile
2 to CMS now and we will do Mile 2 to
Okokomaiko later,” he said.

Shymm3x:
Lol.

Bruddah, I'm trying to introduce you to them.

Shyte, kings get dethroned all the time...so even if they're taken, you should be able to overthrow the current regime as the duke of Ijesha. Ijesha folks gat game. Great folks right there.

I believe the great Sapara Williams was an Ijesha man.

Aareonakakanfo:
Ha!

Amadou Tormani Toure President, Mali, 2002-2012
Tandja Mahamadou President, Niger Republic, 2000-2009
Ahmadou Ahidjo- first President of Cameroon
Macky Sall - President of Senegal 2004-2007

I think Thomas Sankara Former president of Burkina Faso was also Fulani

Do we even need to talk about Nigeria? They own it

Just one normadic tribe oo.

WIZGUY69:
[size=48]JUST IN![/size]


The President Muhammadu Buhari-led
government has approved the construction of the
$2.4 billion Lagos red line rail project.
According to Lagos State Commissioner for
Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, approving
the right of way for the project had been a
problem for donkey’s years as the Federal
Government in the previous administration was
reluctant to do so.
Bear in mind, the right of way belonged to the
Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC.
“It took us four and half years to get approval for
the project. It took us another four years to get
them to discuss the technicality of the project
with us. The right-of-way has been approved and
we are in full discussion with the bidders,” he
said.
Speaking on the Blue Line Light Rail project, the
commissioner said the government would
complete it by the end of next year.
“We are mindful of the problem of transportation
in Lagos State. Towards the end of next year,
something will happen. Our rail project is 27 km
and we are doing it in phases. We are doing Mile
2 to CMS now and we will do Mile 2 to
Okokomaiko later,” he said.

IlekeHD:
You're like shym3x. You both speak Yoruba like s foreigner lol

Shymm3x:
Lol.

Bruddah, I'm trying to introduce you to them.

Shyte, kings get dethroned all the time...so even if they're taken, you should be able to overthrow the current regime as the duke of Ijesha. Ijesha folks gat game. Great folks right there.

I believe the great Sapara Williams was an Ijesha man.

Shymm3x:
This is more of an ego-massaging thing to placate folks with crumbs, after winning on the chessboard.

No one cares about red line rail in a city that depopulation ought to be the primary goal. They'll just end up attracting more locusts to a city that's already snarled-up.

zimoni:
Hahahahaahahahahahah

Shymmex fe pa mi.

My english is poor, I can't speak english like those babes. They are going to Ishiloved me with grammars.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaahah

You are still the Duke of Ijebuland and Okanlomo of Yorubaland.

You can handle the two of them(qui and laud.ate babes) simoultaneously.

tupacshakur:
...proudly Ijesha!

Yesi ere?

Shymm3x:
Lol.

Nah, I'm only interested in Ibadan chics - that's where my ministry is at right now as the Duke of Ibadan chics.

Your English isn't poor - you write better than the overwhelming majority of folks on this forum.

And chics are naturally supposed to be better at pencraft than guys, anyway.

Never feel a chic is better than you. Once you start feeling like that, you won't get these chics. As a guy, you have to always walk around like the best thing since slice bread when you're around chics. Chics get weak when they meet supremely confident guys.

Aareonakakanfo:
Its not looking like the romanis will ever form any co-operation with the north so they will always remain enemies.The only partner left is Yoruba.Since the North knows the only friend they have in the south is Yoruba, they can't afford to underestimate our population