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Re: Fulani Oligarchy and the death of Bola Ige By D. S. Dauda, MD Ternopol, Ukraine
With the killing of erstwhile Justice Minister Chief Bola Ige, the Yorubas have once again politically shot themselves in the foot. To anyone with knowledge of Nigeria's history and an ability to analyse events this should come as no surprise. Neither should it be surprising for one to come across writings like those of Mr. Awoniyi and his type whose world is viewed exclusively from behind a myopic ethnic perspective. These are people who never find fault with anything done by another of the same "superior race" and would always find fault with anyone who is not " a shon of their shoil". I shall come back to prove this point later.
Meanwhile I would like to digress a little to focus on the man whose murder inspired Mr. Awoniyi's vituperation. Try as I may, I have nothing good to say on Chief Ige. Fortunately, within his lifetime the man has written and said more than enough to let us know exactly where he stood. Dr. Abubakar Siddique Mohammed of the Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training (CEDDERT), Zaria in his article titled "Chief Bola Ige and the Destabilisation of Nigeria", the contents oof which are available on Ceddert's (http://www.ceddert.com/Article9.htm ) and other websites, adequately sheds light on this issue. Our traditions forbid us to speak evil of the departed, I shall therefore not dwell further on Ige. A critical analysis of Mr. Awoniyi's article can only lead one to the conclusion that it was written by a diseased mind and was meant only to obfuscate and instigate, further spreading the gospel of ethnic hatred and religious bigotry which unfortunately continues to plague our society no thanks to our "intellectual" brethren. That we have been unable meaningfully progress as a nation since independence is undoubtedly due to the fact that we have been ruled by a class of mediocre and downright incompetent people who have managed to "recycle" and make themselves politically relevant over the years. But to shamelessly put the blame on one ethnic group or another betrays a lack of knowledge of basic history, mischievous intent or worse still, both. In the case of Mr. Awoniyi, all pointers lead to the latter.
I shall repeatedly quote from his article to make my case: 1. Awoniyi writes : " There is panic in the Fulani Oligarchy over the style of Obasanjo's governance. It is afraid that if the President completed (sic) two terms in office, its hold on Nigerian politics would be neutralised for ever (sic). Hence, they might even take the desperate step of eliminating him so that power would fall back to a fellow Muslim Northerner. They have done this before. In 1966, they instigated mutiny in the army that led to the brutal murder of General Aguiyi Ironsi." I reply: If , as you would like us to believe, "the Fulani establishment has been the driving force of our politics and has unequivocally set its agenda for the past 41 years" and "Fulani politicians are superior to their counterparts in the rest of Nigeria", then I see no reason why eight years of Obasanjo's style of governance (continued devaluation of the Naira, coupled with rise in inflation, scarcity of petroleum products, security situation in the country and a total disregard for the basic tenets of democracy, characterised by the ever-present Executive-Legislative arms stand-off) should pose a problem for your "Fulani oligarchs". Obasanjo is Obasanjo's number one enemy. So please let's not worry about his being eliminated to make way for a "fellow Muslim Northerner". Awoniyi forgot to add that the "fellow Muslim Northerner" that power fell back to in 1966 was Yakubu Gowon (who, to the best of my knowledge, remains a devout Christian to this day).
2. In his hatred for anything Fulani, he continues: " Chief Adesanya (sic) speech writers elevated Dan Fodio to the rank of Oduduwa, placing a Fulani man who died less than 200 years ago on the same level of the mythical cultural hero of Yorubas". I do not see anything wrong in what Adesanya's speech writers wrote. I do not wish to sound disrespectful, but since when is a "mythical cultural hero" rated above a world-renowned historical figure? Mr. Awoniyi himself admits that Oduduwa is a myth (defined by Microsoft's Encarta Dictionary as 1. n.. somebody or something whose existence is or was widely believed in, but who is fictitious and 2. n. not true or real, but existing only in somebody's imagination). Nonetheless he finds fault with Adesanya for "elevating" a Fulani man to the level of the mythical hero of his "race".
3. Awoniyi: "The professional way in which Bola Ige's elimination was carried out shows that his detractors far beyond Yorubaland were the perpetrators of his demise. The mode of his murder shows that it had nothing to do with the machete and danegun thuggery of the Akande-Omisore rift. It should also be remembered that unknown persons had twice broken into his Abuja office and destroyed documents in the past one year". Here Mr. Awoniyi wants us to believe that his "superior race" lacks the "manpower and expertise" to organise and execute the highly complicated military operation of entering Ige's house and bedroom to fire one shot in the absence of Ige's security men. Yes, only "detractors far beyond Yorubaland" are capable of such "professionalism". The OPC and "Area Boys" are only capable of " machete and danegun thuggery" against helpless unarmed Northerners or Igbo traders or other political opponents. Furthermore, the fact that Ige's office had been broken into and documents destroyed is sufficient proof in his estimation to point at whodunnit.
4. He goes on : "The logic of his elimination marks out the Fulani elite as prime suspects". Awoniyi wants us to forget (or better yet, not know) that Bola Ige stands at the centre of the crisis in AD/Afenifere which derives its origins from that fateful day when the Yoruba leaders in Afenifere in their collective wisdom threw to the dogs the basic principle of democracy (i.e. the right of every individual to choose) and selected Chief Olu Falae instead of Ige as the man to rule Nigeria. His acceptance of a juicy ministerial post in the Obasanjo administration without consulting his "elders" and his role in the formation of the rival Yoruba Council of Elders are all facts of history. We are also to close our eyes to the Akande-Omisore crisis in Osun State which was responsible not only for the deaths of a State House of Assembly member and one of the AD chieftains in the state but also for the mob-justice meted out to Ige in Ile-Ife by his brethren (Fulani inspired, no doubt) just a few days before his murder. That a Yoruba man has come forward to confess his role in the whole affair and that the Police are still investigating the case are all irrelevant. Why bother when you can always blame it on the Fulani?
5. Once again from the horse's mouth: "Southerners must only stop lumping all Northerners together for condemnation for our problems. The South must reach out to the North. Kanuris and Yorubas, for example, are related peoples. All ethnological studies of Nigeria since the beginning of the 20th century have always pointed this out. Why can't Yoruba intellectuals help to make political capital out of this? Why can Southern Christians not reach a strategic consensus with the Christian North, not against Islam but against Fulani-inspired political Islam?" When it suits his purposes all Northerners are to be lumped together for condemnation. When OPC ethnic militia and Area Boys choose to strike, they kill and maim any Northerner - Muslim Christian or Animist. When he says "Yoruba", he chooses to forget or remains blind to the fact that a good number of Yorubas are also Muslims. This is why they cannot use the politics of religion to gain an upper hand because at the end of the day to them all that matters is one's ethnic standing. After all history records what happened in the First Republic when Zik's NCNC won elections in the then Western Region. The facts - Awolowo's failed attempts at the presidency in the Second Republic and more recently the political ping-pong antics of the AD/Afenifere (jumping from the PDP to the APP when it became clear they were not going to call the shots only to leave the APP ostensibly because of "Abacha" politicians and then return when it dawned on them that they were incapable of competing for the Presidency)- have proven time and again that the Yoruba "intellectuals" are incapable of any sensible bridge-building. Awoniyi himself best describes them: "…our leaders are too given to in-fighting, too self-centred, too prone to being satisfied with little achievements. Our scholars are busy fighting for better conditions of service instead of enlightening their people, our popular intellectuals are confused ideologues…" Thank you, I couldn't have put it better.
One can go on and on ad-nauseum. The point here is: Nigerians must be alert to the presence of Awoniyi and his ilk, people who are not interested in truth and who twist facts and events to further their devilish interests. They are everywhere amongst us - in the North as well as in the South, Muslims as well as Christians. If we are to forge ahead as a nation, we must learn to live with one another, cherish our diversity instead of using it as a dividing factor. The lot of the Yoruba cocoa farmer, the Igbo trader or the Fulani herdsman has never had anything to do with who sits in the Presidential Mansion. When our rulers connive to loot and misrule us ethnic considerations are the last things on their minds. It is only when it suits their interests or when they want to contest elections that they remember their race or religion. That is when they bring in ethnic and religious bigots masquerading as "intellectuals" or "journalists" to do their dirty work for them.
The likes of Awoniyi in their enthusiasm even go as far back as to remember that the Kanuris are their brethren and as such can and should be used to their ends. May I suggest they start with their re-union with the most famous and by far the most influential Kanuri family - the Abachas, who they so love to hate. What? Correct me if I'm mistaken Femi, but did I just hear you gasp? A-ha! all along you thought the man was a "Fulani oligarch" and he turns out to be your ethnological brother! Na wa for you..o ! January 2002
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