FEATURE ARTICLE


Samuel Bayo ArowolajuFriday, November 29, 2002
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USA


CALLING ALL SOUTHERNERS
- NOTHING IS LEFT IN NIGERIA


et me first expressed my appreciation for those who by phone calls, letters and e-mails wrote to find out why the ink in my pen suddenly went dry. For public records, let me state that it is not because I have been threatened or harassed to stop writing and it is not because there are no more issues to write about. It is not also true that I have been bought. No. Never. The main reason for my self-imposed leave of absence is that, writing to correct or influence events in Nigeria are like sending a newspaper to a blind and deaf man. By virtue of his physical disability, he can neither read nor hear even when you elect to read to him. So be it with Nigerian leaders and authorities. Rather than talking to the deaf and dumb in Nigeria, I engaged myself in something else for the period of my absence. Like all lovers of decorum, my ego has been bruised by the latest sordid, primitive and animalistic, though considered usual behavior, of the religious bigots from the Northern Nigeria. My first reaction to their mayhem was that, ‘Oh! Our Brothers Have Gone Mad Again.' The only difference this time was the fact that, they have shown the whole world that they are not fit to be called and treated like sane human beings. They have justified or vindicated my earlier stand that no law abiding, peace loving and God-fearing decent people should be grouped with these people in the name of one country. Though this is their modus operandi, yet, this latest act of religious gangsterism has provided the much-needed platform to tell the world why Nigeria should not be one country.

Come to think of their reasons for the recent madness. First, because of their religion, they don't like beautiful women in swimsuits displaying their beautiful legs or athletic bodies in the name of Miss World Contest. Secondly, the timing of the contest coincided with their holy month of Ramadan. Thirdly, A newspaper published an article in a journalist is purporting to have insulted their religious leader by saying he would have allowed the beauty contest or even married one of them for their beauty. The response of the former military Governor of the old and bigger Kaduna State Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar is a necessary and sufficient response to these people whom he described as religious fundamentalist and hypocrites.

Col. Umar himself a full-blooded Fulani, a devout Muslim and Northerner said, "I believe it is the right of Moslems to abstain from any form of participation in the event. The rights of Moslems, however, stop at where the rights of other Nigerians to participate begin. Where they cannot avoid that, they can summon the power of their faith and suppress their hearts and minds from being attracted to the ladies no matter what they wear. Anything more than this would be encroaching on the rights of other Nigerians and would therefore constitute an infringement of such rights." Col. Umar who opined that, attempts by these people to force their religious belief on other Nigerians, constituted a violation of the constitution. He says that the Nigerian Constitution ‘provides that Nigeria is a secular State,' "In fact section 10 of the Constitution is quite clear it says, ‘government of this country cannot adopt any religion as a state religion.' Umar spoke my mind when he added; "I wish to observe that once again this crisis is far from being religiously motivated. It is the handiwork of criminals and political thugs who were out to steal and get at their enemies." May Allah bless you Col. Umar.

Did President Olusegun Obasanjo and other religious apologists hear a sincere, honest, and a bold leader who is religious himself? Every religion without the truth is fake and false. Their faithful are worshiping not the true God of the Universe but the gods of their parochial and perfidious hearts. For too long, these fake religious and political leaders have capitalized on the gullible and illiterate zombies on the streets of the Northern Nigeria and used them to fan the embers of their political interests. You know what, these wicked leaders deliberately created and kept this rapid response force of charlatans in the name of ‘almanjeris' by not giving them education and job, so that they can always be ready-made tools in their hands and the hands of Satan.

For too long, they have hidden under the cloak of Islam, Mohammed and Allah to commit their heinous crimes against the true God and humanity. They have betrayed and dishonored the noble and honorable name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed and his religion of Islam, which means PEACE. They kill and maim in the name of God, shouting ‘Allah-a-Kubir,' meaning God is Great. No God that kills can truly be Great.

These vandals and jackals are no true Moslems and Islam is not their religion. They are and have not been defending and protecting the name of Mohammed. They have been pursing a completely different political agenda with the motto of ‘NORTH FOR THE NORTHERNERS. Their objective is the subjugation of all other Nigerians under their indivisible, autocratic and feudalist power. Unfortunately many southerners who prefer to crawl under the table to eat crumbs will read only their lips. The core content of their message is kept in the dark corners of their deceitful and desperately wicked hearts.

It is not that the South lack visionary men and women who have not had their hands tainted and their eyes beclouded as to point to the way forward. If Nigerian leaders, especially Olusegun Obasanjo has availed themselves of the selfless and honest advice from Nigerian writers especially those from outside Nigeria, who write without inhibitions, Nigeria and Nigerians would have been the best for it. For instance such instances like the latest international shame and ridicule would have been averted. My father told me that; the hunter's dog that is destined for perdition would never hear the hunter's whistle. Nigeria is destined for perdition and nothing will save her.

On October 24, 2001, I published an article in the ‘Nigerianworld' titled "The ‘Talibans' of Northern Nigeria." It was part of my reactions to the shameless but shameful dancing on the dusty and dirty streets of Zamfara State capital after the spineless terrorist attack on the USA, which killed thousands of innocent lives including Nigerians. Part of my submission reads:

"It is time the southerners emancipated themselves from not only mental but also physical slavery in the hands of the northerners. For almost 90 years since the mistake of 1914, we have been rumbling and tumbling, struggling and falling to rise up again. So many innocent lives have been lost in riots, government-sponsored murders and executions, the genocide of the unnecessary civil war and many more state-sponsored terrorism unnoticed but yet with very devastating effects on the lives of the people. Misgovernment and mal-administration caused these, which arose from share ineptitude of the rulers, especially from the Hausa/Fulani group, foisted on us through the system, for which they have resisted change for the better. Yet their motto is 'Born to Rule.' What a shameless pride and arrogance! It is time for a change whether they liked it or not. They have tested and tried our civility and humility for too long. It is time we say, 'we are NOT the fools they think we are.'

"My father told me, son, if at any time in a journey you get to a point that you don't know where you are going, you should remember from where you are coming and quickly retrace your steps back before it is too late. Nigeria has been going in a vicious circle for many years now. We have surely got to that point where it is clear that we don't know where we are going."

"It is time we separated ourselves from the shame and insults the northerners bring upon all other Nigerians especially the southerners, in the name of one Nigeria. It is time to stop this guilt by association. The other time the Sharia people of Zamfara State were celebrating the attack on US. The news was that 'Nigerian celebrates terrorist attack on US'. I felt the guilt by association for days. I felt betrayed and misrepresented by the name 'Nigeria' because, I was always in tears each time I watch the news of the attack on the TV."

In another article titled, "A Tale of Two Countries" published by the ‘Nigerianworld,' on December 19, 2001, I again restated my stand on the present shame called Nigeria. In this article like others I said:

"The question remains how long shall we stand aside and look while our people are daily slaughtered on the streets of this Islamic Republic? How long shall we continue to deceive ourselves in the name of one Nigeria that does not exist anywhere, whether on paper or on the ground? How long shall we stand aside and look, as some groups of religious bigots continue to put the common name we share to disrepute and the mud? Let those who said they are ready to die for one Nigeria go and mark and dig their graves. If they like, they can afford to have their funerals, as Nigeria will surely albeit slowly be a Tale of Two or many Countries." People who read my articles will know I have never hidden my disdain for the continued existence of Nigeria as one country, because it does not profit the greatest number of southerners. In virtually all my write-ups I have called for the dissolution of the unprofitable public or now international liability and disgrace called Nigeria. Only the rogues and armed robbers who have had the opportunities of ruling (or ruining) the people and those who are still in power or corridors of power today from the local through the states and federal government levels will wish that this national and internal embarrassment called Nigeria, survived.

I was an unrepentant advocate and supporter of the Sovereign National Conference, but not anymore. There is nothing to confer about. The die is cast. The bugle of war and the battle drum have sounded. The battle cry is in the air. The battle line is drawn. There is no going back. The die is cast. There is no looking back. Nigeria as we have it today must die and indeed has died. Her remains will be buried in the mass grave with the last victim of the massacre of the Miss World Beauty Contest. What a beautiful way to die. The name Nigeria was given by the girlfriend of Sir Frederick Lugard. Let Nigeria go now because some mischief-makers decided to kill hundreds of people as a way of saying they did want to see a set of more beautiful and more respectable ladies.

Calling all Southerners in Nigeria, Oh! Southerners, nothing is left for you out of Nigeria. Any Southerner that remains in the North may deserve whatever the fundamental maniacs make of him or her. Go home. Go to where you belong. Go to where you can call your own. It is a fleeting illusion to think that one day you will be welcomed or accepted in the North. You have never and you will never be acceptable in the North.

Calling all Southerners any where outside Nigeria. It is time now and now is the time to answer the call. The blood of your brothers and sisters slain on the streets of the North all these years is call on you saying, "Don't let me die in vain." Talking of a Sovereign National Conference is a waste of time. It is like waiting to talk to a group of deaf and dumb people. It is like waiting for more of our loved ones to be murdered by the murderers using the name of Allah. If we don't act now, nobody will act. Those in Nigeria are too busy stealing money to realize what is happening to their kith and kin from the South.

President Olusegun Obasanjo only interest, is in winning elections for the second term; even when the blood of all southerners makes a crimson color of Rivers Niger and Benue. His only concern in the latest slaughter of his people by his sponsors, is the foreign investment they might lose. These to them, means losing another opportunity to make money from bribes from these investors. To him, what caused the latest massacre is irresponsible journalism. Unfortunately he could not see beyond his noise to know that it is nothing but irresponsible presidency or governance. A responsible president or government would have deployed security forces to prevent the carnage from day one, knowing the type of animals we have in human clothing of ‘babariga'. Obasanjo will defend one Nigeria to his grave because he knows, should the South go, he cannot win the governorship of his Gun State, if he has amassed enough money to buy all the votes he needs to win in his Local Government Chairmanship election. The honorable members of the National Assemblies have all lost their honors and decency if they ever took any with them to their offices. They have all become like ‘Ileya' rams and Christmas turkeys in the markets with price tags for whatever they worth. There is therefore no hope in them all, for a savior whom their people are in a dare need.

Oh! Southerners' outsider the boarders of Nigeria, rise up. Let us take our destiny in our own hands. Stand up and fight for your rights. The right to self-determination is a United Nations' defined and protected right. Every person has the right to determine their destiny and under which government and Nation or Country they want to live. If the people of East Timor could be free today, our hope is brighter. Our roads may be harder to travel, because our enemies are stronger but the tougher the struggle, the sweeter the victory. All we are saying is, we don't want to be called Nigerians any more, because we are just NOT. I am not a Nigerian and I am ashamed to be called one. I AM PURE AND SIMPLE A YORUBA.

Let nobody ever think there is a government in Nigeria that is interested in protecting anybody in the hands of the hoodlums across the two great rivers. As long as they are Muslims, any case of murder against them will always be justifiable homicide. As long as they shout ‘Allah-a-Kubir,' any killing by their hands is neither a crime against the state nor a person nor a sin against God. So there is no government that will apprehend or punish them and they believe their god will never punish them.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

We need to come together and start an immediate liberation struggle. We don't have to fight a war if it is avoidable. If this noble desire of ours, is unavoidable because our enemies choose to fight us, we should be prepared to defend our people, our honor and our integrity, which they have trampled upon for decades. We would use any means at our disposal including national and international consultations and support. We should galvanize the international community to our side. Our clarion call simply will be, "we don't want to be Nigerians anymore, and we want our own country, where we will be free." We must be prepared to seek help from any lover of freedom, who believes in our just cause, which is the Liberation of Our Peoples from the shackles and chains of decades of oppression and slavery in our Fathers' Land. We should not be under the illusion that the task is going to be easy, but we must be prepared to lose our lives this time, ones and for all, so that our children and generations to come will keep theirs. As for me, I have decided to dedicate the remaining part of my life, the greatest part of which Nigeria has wasted, to this struggle so that my children would have a country home they will all be proud of. What about you?

We must have the will to rise in one accord and say, enough of this collective shame and guilt by association. The name of Nigeria has lost every conceivable honor, dignity and respect in the comity of nations, because of these peoples' misbehavior. As long as we continue to share the same name and the same boundary, we will continue to be part of the same shame called Nigeria. The earlier we get out of this mess or else it messes us all up and before we know it, we might lose our own individual honor, dignity and respect.

Calling All Southerners, The Struggle Must Begin NOW! As You Have Nothing Else Left In Nigeria For You.

LAST LINE: Have you heard the news? "It is binding on all Muslims wherever they are, to consider the killing of the writer as a religious duty." Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi Zamfara, Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.

Isioma Daniel must not die, but the docile and ineffective Nigerian Government is not capable of protecting her. A country which cannot protect her own very Attorney General and Federal Minister of Justice, can surely not protect a poor journalist that has been sentenced to death by religious zealots who roam the country freely without let or loose. BUT ISIOMA MUST NOT DIE!

In a country where there is effect governance, law and order, Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi should be in jail now awaiting trail for conspiracy and incitement to commit murder. But not in Nigeria, where the Quaran has taken the place of the constitution and Sharia has become the law of the land. THIS IS WHY WE HAVE TO RISE UP AND SHOUT AND FIGHT IF WE HAVE TO, FOR THE LIBERATION OF OUR PEOPLE