Yet
I wonder how those southern leaders who have sold their glory and heritage for
a mess of pottage and who have opted to collaborate with our collective enemies
and betray their own people feel about the words of men like Mr. Mohammed and
Mr. Gwarzo? I wonder whether the small handful of pitiful yet identifiable key
leaders from the south that joined forces with Buhari, supported him during
last years election and drank deep from his ‘mai chanji magic potion’ poisoned
chalice have read what these two evil men wrote and what those that share their
views and disposition have to say? And if they did I wonder how they can
possibly justify or rationalise their positions or their decision to support a
Buhari presidency? I refer to men like Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Tunde
Fashola and so many others. As the south is short-changed, humiliated,
marginalised and brought to her knees in this dispensation and as she continues
to suffer violence and death and bleeds, their names will be entrenched and
engraved in infamy and shame for future generations to see. Whether they wish
to accept it or not history will record and posterity will testify to the fact
that these men handed us all over to a small cabal of ultra-conservative Fulani
hegemonists and irredentists who not only have a clear intention to subjugate
our people and Islamize our nation but who also secretly have as much contempt
for them as they do for us. I wonder whether they got Adamu Mohammed’s message
and whether they understood what he said? I wonder whether they can comprehend
the import of Aliyu Gwarzo’s words?
I
wonder how they sleep at night knowing all this, seeing what is unfolding in
our country and knowing that they have effectively contributed to the
enslavement of their own people. Worst of all is the fact that not one of them
can cultivate the courage or dare to publicly condemn the likes of Adamu
Mohammed or Aliyu Gwarzo and all that they have said, believe in and stand for.
As a matter of fact they would rather condemn and insult those of us that are
prepared to stand up against them and reject and resist their evil intent. What
a shame! If blame were to he apportioned for all the rubbish that is going on
in our country today it should start with people like them who have not only
sold their souls to the devil but who have also led their people into slavery.
They have lost the privilege to be regarded as or called leaders because these
are fellow southerners who simply do not care about the plight of the people of
the south. The Apostle Paul said “Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil, may
the Lord repay him according to his works”. May it be the same for those
southern leaders who have betrayed their own people, who have mortgaged the
future of their own children, who have blighted the stars of their own wards
and dependants and who have destroyed the destiny of millions of their own
southern compatriots.
Given
the words and disposition of men like Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Gwarzo there is only
one fact that bears any relevance when it comes to the history of our nation
and that fact is that the people of the south and the Middle Belt made a
monumental mistake by supporting the north and fighting to keep Nigeria one
during our civil war. That is the long and short of it. We owe the late Colonel
Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the erstwhile Head of State of Biafra and his entire
Igbo race an apology for leaving them in the lurch and not supporting their
cause and quest for self-determination when they needed us the most and when
they called on us to do so. Given the fact that so many from the core Muslim
north hate us with passion and see us as nothing more than slaves and animals
to be ruled over and butchered at will, I believe that we need to go back to
the drawing board and divide this country peacefully before we all end up
killing ourselves. I do not believe in restructuring because it is too late for
that: I believe in division. I believe that the two zones in the core north
should leave Nigeria and go their separate ways whilst the rest of us that
constitute the four remaining zones either stay together as one country or
break into even smaller units along zonal or ethnic lines. Self-determination
must be the guiding and overriding principle and referendums must be conducted
in the various zones to determine precisely what the will of the people really
is. That is democracy. That is justice. That is equity. And only that can bring
lasting peace to our sad, divided and beleaguered land.
Those that seek to crucify me for suggesting that we
should chart this new course should bear in mind the fact that I am not the
first to suggest it and neither will I be the last. Those that doubt the
veracity of this assertion should consider the following: In 1953 the north
declared their interest to break off from the rest of Nigeria after they
rejected Chief Anthony Enahoro’s motion for Nigeria’s independence from Great
Britain and walked out of Parliament. They insisted on secession and it took
the intervention of the British authorities to get them to sheath their swords
and agree to remain in the same country as those they openly described as
“southern devils and infidels”. Once again in 1966 the north did the same thing
and openly demanded for secession from the south after they effected their
northern officers revenge coup on July 29th. On the night of that “revenge
coup” they massacred over 300 Igbo officers in one night together with the Igbo
Head of State and the Yoruba Military Governor who refused to leave his side
and who insisted on protecting him. After what was undoubtedly one of the most
bloody nights in our entire history and after all the butchery was done, the
northern officers that carried out the coup loudly declared “Araba”, which
means “let us share it”, “let us tear it apart” or “let us break it up” in
Hausa. It took three days of frantic appeals by the British High Commissioner
and a handful of American diplomats and southern civil servants to stop them
from leaving. They eventually agreed to stay but they gave one condition: that
one of their own, a northern officer by the name of Lt. Col. Yakubu Jack Gowon,
should be the Head of State of a united Nigeria even though there were at least
three southern officers that were senior to him in rank that were still left on
the army. The conditions were accepted, Gowon became Head of State, the north
agreed to stay and Nigeria remained one. Yet the sadly the story did not end
there and neither was its end a happy one.
Evidently the cold-blooded murder of three hundred
Igbo soldiers was not enough to satisfy their blood lust.
The north still insisted on having its revenge and its
pound of flesh for the Igbo coup that took place on January 15th 1966 in which
many northern political and military leaders together with a handful of their
political and military allies from the west were killed. Consequently three
months after Gowon took power mass murder and genocide was unleashed against
the Igbo population that resided in the core north and over 100,000 innocent
Igbo civilians, including women and children, were slaughtered in the sanctity
of their homes in just a matter of weeks. Nothing had ever been seen like that
before on the African continent. It was brutal, barbaric and horrendous.
Innocent civilians, including pregnant women and little babies, were hacked to
pieces in shops, hospitals, buses, cars and in their own homes whilst the
authorities, and indeed the entire world, stood by silently and did nothing to
help them. This led to a massive exodus of Igbos from the north back to the
east and to the declaration of the sovereign State of Biafra (which means “come
and join us”). The result of that declaration was the commencement of the most
brutal, savage and bloody civil war that the African continent has ever
experienced in which no less than three million Igbos, including at least one
million young children, were killed all in the name of “keeping Nigeria one”.
That war lasted for three gruelling years: from 1967 until 1970. Yet since 1967
when oil was discovered in commercial quantities in a place called Oloibiri in
what is now known as the Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria, the north have
NEVER called for “Araba” or the breaking up of Nigeria again.
Instead they have bullied, intimidated, cheated,
killed, maimed and slaughtered others just to keep Nigeria one simply because
they are addicted to southern oil. Without the revenues that come from that oil
the core north would be probably the poorest, most barren and most desolate
region in the whole of Africa. In view of this it is understandable that we
have not heard “Araba” from.any core northerner again. They now view anyone
that calls for the break up of Nigeria with murderous intent and extreme hatred
and they label them as dangerous subversives and uninformed miscreants. They
have labelled them.as irresponsible criminals, they have denied them the right
to determine their own destiny and future and they have resolved to compel
them.to remain in Nigeria by the force of arms. The north appear to have
forgotten that they themselves called for secession in 1953 and 1966 and at
that time no-one threatened, killed or insulted them for doing so. And neither
did anyone try to enslave them or keep them in by the force of arms. The bottom
line is as follows: as long as people like Mr. Adamu Mohammed and Mr. Aliyu
Gwarzo exist and as long as they say and do the sort of things that they say
and do the people of the south will not rule out the possibility of secession.
We will not sit back idly and silently watch our people being marginalised,
Islamism, conquered, butchered and enslaved. We cannot be expected to continue
to take the tyranny, violence, subjugation and gratuitous insults that are
meted out to us on a daily basis by core Muslim northerners who believe that they
were born to rule. We will resist it and we will oppose it in every lawful
manner and with everything that we have got. In the final analysis if we are
attacked and butchered for saying “enough is enough” and for attempting to
exercise our right of self-determination, and if the state refuses to protect
us, we will have no hesitation in defending ourselves and protecting our
people. The days of keeping Nigeria one by threats, violence and the force of
arms and of sealing and cementing our so-called unity by the shedding of
southern and Middle Belt blood are long over. We will not take it anymore.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the great patriots, founding fathers and gallant
heroes of America during their war of independence and struggle against their
English colonial masters, said the following: “when tyranny becomes law,
rebellion becomes a duty”.
Patrick Henry, another of the great founding fathers
and a noble and righteous man, proclaimed the following words before England’s
King George 111: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the
price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Another by
the name of George Washington, who was a deeply courageous man, the Supreme
Commander of the rebel forces and the man who was later elected as the first
President of the proud, newly born and independent American nation proclaimed
“in God we trust” as he entered the field of battle. He also shouted “victory
or death” as he led the cavalry charge and “you cannot rule without God and the
Holy Bible” after he became President. These were men who refused to compromise
with evil and were prepared to offer their lives in their struggle to break the
yoke of servitude. Again Thomas Jefferson said “the tree of liberty is watered
by the blood of patriots and tyrants”. There are lessons to be learnt here for
us all and particularly by the leaders of the south. And thankfully it appears
that a few southern stars like Ayo Fayose, Ike Ekweremadu, Nyesom Wike, Segun
Mimiko, Seriake Dickson, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Willie Obiano, Yinka Odumakin, Femi
Aribisala and a handful of othes are beginning to learn those lessons, rise up
to the occasion and stand up like men. Yet whatever happens and whether the
core Muslim north likes it or not our very own southern “tree of liberty” shall
be watered as well and in the end we shall be free. That same Living God whose
name George Washington always invoked before going into battle is with us today
and He shall see us through. He shall grant us the strength and power to
endure. He will not forsake us and, at the appointed time, He will grant us
victory over our tormentors.
I say this because His name is Faithful and faithful
He is. As old as He is, He never changes and He never forsakes His own: that is
why they call Him Ancient of Days. He never loses in battle: that is why they
call Him the Man of War and the Lord God of Hosts. He is our strength and our
shield, our glory and the lifter of our heads. He is our everything and without
Him we are nothing. In He alone we trust and He will NEVER allow the counsel of
ungodly, wicked and bloodthirsty men from the deserts of a distant and barren
land called Futa Jallon in modern-day Guinea, like Adamu Mohammed and Aliyu
Gwarzo, to stand. We harbour no fears because in the end we know that shall
prevail and our freedom and liberation has been guaranteed. Their end, and the
end of all those that they represent, has already been determined by He that
sits above the circles of the earth and that answers by fire and that end will
be pitiful: It is just a matter of time.
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