This
article is in response to the mischievous rants of Professor Ango Abdullahi http://www.punchng.com/news/we-are-ready-for-break-up-northern-leaders/
and Mallam Adamu Ciroma http://saharareporters.com/news-page/god-will-bring-new-usman-danfodiyo-clean-nigeria-says-adamu-ciroma regarding
the state of affairs in the Disunited Nations of Nigeria. As a teenager in
Port-Harcourt there eventually came a time that my mother could not spank me as
a means of actualizing discipline, however since she was not the primary
enforcer in our household she had always combined the use of talk therapy and ass
whooping. Mother was quick to use such English adages as “A stitch in time
saves nine” to get me to examine my actions and change my ways. But by far her
numero uno admonition to me was Shakespeare’s “To Thine Own Self Be True.” These
words were normally said after letting me know that I could tell her all the
lies in the world but it was more important to remain frank with myself upon
vacating her presence. In my capacity as a social justice activist I would be remiss
if I fail to point out the similarities between my situation as a Nigerian
youngster and the so-called Northern Nigerian leaders like Professor Abdullahi
and Mallam Ciroma.
Consequently,
when old men and jobbers like Alhaji Adamu Ciroma of the Northern Elders Forum
and Professor Abdullahi of the Arewa Elders Forum are busy with the
Mis-Education of northerners and causing rancor in the nation, we the members
of the Nigerian progressive community must stand up and chastise them. This is
all the more imperative because of the void in young progressive voices from
northern Nigeria. Religion, Corruption, and Elitism has been used to manipulate
the influences of youthful future leaders in the north who could have risen up
to join the discourse with moral clarity by demanding justice for all, instead
of those select few. In its place we continue to have these vacuums were people
like Abdullahi and Ciroma, staunch members of Nigeria’s 1% wealthy crooks are
allowed to display their follies and buffoonery. What do we expect when a
highly educated chap like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab alias the underwear bomber,
was only confined to either joining the corruption and elitism of his father’s
generation or to use the Islamic religion as a tool to hate others? How come
young Farouk was not allowed and/or afforded the intellectual decency of
challenging the decadent status quo in the north and in Nigeria?
In Southern
Nigeria, religious leaders like Benson Idahosa, Kumuyi, Father Edeh, Adebayo,
Arinze, Oritsejafor, Stephen Akinola, Amaga, Okogie, Peter Akinola, Ukpai, Olukoya,
Oyakhilome, Oyedepo (slapper/assaulter) cannot tell some of us that the sky is
red and we believe when we can observe with our own eyes that the sky is
actually blue. Advocates for the Sovereign National Conference do not want the
country to breakup. Instead we are demanding for true confederation in the
spirit of the Aburi Accord which General Ojukwu and General Gowon signed in
Ghana, 1967. We demand a Nigeria that is free from the contraptions of the
Northern Military Industry Complex, NMIC. Our federation’s resources should benefit
the larger majority and not the select few who have self-imposed themselves as
Lords over us. For instance President Jonathan should not be championing the
institutionalization of Islamic schools otherwise known as Almajiris through
the building of more such schools. For God sakes these were the steppingstones
of the current Boko Haram insurgencies that have consumed the north. The desires
of the progressive communities are for a nation that trumpets economic justice,
development, equality, selflessness more than nepotism, religion, ethnicity,
and mediocrity.
As such
we cannot seat by and allow men like Professor Ango Abdullahi and Mallam Adamu
Ciroma to use their distorted cognitive dissonance to assemble their perverted
realities without pushing back. These men are analogous to the Republicans in
the United States who are adept at manufacturing their own realities. Nigerian
progressives and our people are not asking for too much when we demand to seat
down and discuss the future of the country. Our goal is to have a functional
democracy as opposed to the plutocracy that we are witnessing that only works
for 1% of our population rather than the other 99%. We want a country where
mundane things function for the regular Nigerians. We demand a nation in which
corrupt criminals like former governors and present governors such as Governors
Peter Odili, Ikedi Ohakim, T.A. Orji, Senator Abubakar Saraki and former
Speaker of the House Dimeji Bankole to mention a few, are not provided with
carte blanche to ruin the nation with their immoral gluttony. Progressives
insist on seating to ascertain why we have petroleum cabals who are looting the
treasury with government accomplices while the Niger Delta swamps are more
polluted than the Gulf of Mexico.
When I
remember the admonition “To Thine Own Self Be true” I realize why my mother the
daughter of a secondary school Principal, Mr. Alaibe Ogan would always remind me
of the truth. Since I was called Alaibe after my grandfather I remain fearless
in advocating for the longings of my countrymen. Fellow Compatriots of the
United Nations of Nigeria require a land where President Goodluck Jonathan’s
ideas of transformation is not just the selective sacking of one state governor
in the person of Timipre Sylva but all and sundry corrupt officials. For
example, our Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke and Central
Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi should have gotten their pink slips months
ago if our president was true to himself and the citizenry. Professor Abdullahi
and Mallam Ciroma should continue to thank their lucky stars that despite
reaching our frustration threshold some of us are still maintaining our
humanity. In the face of frequent provocations they should pray that that day
never comes when we go off the deep end. This is essential because as social
justice activists some of us are not pacifist and might well be driven to our
machinations to counter the northern sponsored Boko Haram and the present
scourges of corruption. These so-called leaders should be glad that at this
juncture we only demand for dialogue cross the table.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a
Social Justice Activist
