First in the news, were the people of Zamfara state in the ‘Islamic Republic of Northern Nigeria’ when they put on their dancing shoes and took to their dusty streets to celebrate the Sept.11 suicide terrorist attack on the United States of America. This attack by a group of godless, spineless animals unleashed terror in the air and on the land, killing in the process more than 5,000 people from more than 60 different countries including Nigeria of course. Yet some people under a godless and unholy religion, ignorance and illiteracy, barbarism and savagery could go out rejoicing the untimely and unwarranted death of thousands of innocent people. They were no Muslims and their religion was never Islam, they were a bunch of hell-fire-bound sadists whose god is Beelzebub.

No one knew that the celebration in Zamfara was a dress rehearsal for their despicable plan for a more contemptible, loathsome and beastly actions that were to come. The streets of Jos and environs were the next theater for their monstrosity, wildness and beastliness, for which more than 500 people were reportedly killed to appease their immoral and evil god. On their trails were burnt Churches, homes, business and other valuable property. In a way not to out do Kano, the Sharia capital of Northern Nigeria, hell was let loose while the almajiris (the street beggars) or do we call them Northern Nigeria mujahedeens, under the sponsorship of the masters, unleashed mayhem on the its streets. One Datti Ahmed, the President of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria has wittingly or unwittingly claimed responsibility for the wanton destruction of lives and property in the pro-Taliban riots in Kano. Also by inference he could be linked to the killing and looting in Jos few weeks ago, during demonstrations in support of the terrorist acts in the USA. The reason given by ‘Taliban’ Ahmed for the riots, was the Nigeria’s ‘hasty’ support for the United States of America’s anti- terrorist effort in Afghanistan.

The news coming from the North is baffling. There was this importation of arms and ammunition to the tune of $10million by the Sharia states. Again at a meeting of northern Islamic scholars in Gusau in Sokoto State on October 20, 2001, the Nigerian Muslims were asked to ‘prepare for a jihad’. One of the fundamentalist leaders at the meeting Sheikh Yakubu Musa from Katsina State said ‘every Muslim should see himself as Osama bin Laden’, that if America should killed him, "many Osama bin Ladens will surface in the world’. This is not just a call for support for terrorism but an indication that Musa and his like are sponsoring international terrorism. His last order at the meeting was, ‘Nigerian Muslims must therefore not go to sleep’ but constantly be in an awakened preparedness to be called out for war at any time. This is serious! The big question now is, the called out for jihad is against whom? Surely it is not against the American or Afghanistan or the Nigerian government. If the most recent past is any thing to go by as a good guide for the future, then we can say that the jihad will be against the southerners and whatever they represent. Then that was the purpose of the acquisition of arms by the Sharia States part of which must been tested recently.

From all indications, the recent riots were carefully planned, meticulously targeted and militarily executed against the southerners and whatever they stand for. One could therefore come to an irrefutable conclusion that their excused Nigeria’s government supports for the war against terrorism is nothing but a smoke screen for the riots. It was yet another opportunity by the Northerners to say by their actions which speaks louder than their words, "To your Tents Oh! Southerners, We don’t want you in the North". Otherwise, why were the interests of Nigerian or American governments not attacked in the riots while only the southerners, their Churches, homes, business and property were destroyed. How many of the rioters in Kano or the shameless street dancers in Zamfara can located Afghanistan on the world map, or even ever heard the word ‘Taliban’.

Also shamelessly supporting the riots in Nigeria, the terrorist acts against USA and therefore the International Terror Inc. a.k.a. Al Qaeda under its Founder, President and CEO Osama bin Laden, is Abubakar Rimi an appointed official of the Nigerian government as the Chairman of the Nigerian Security and Minting Company. Rimi opened its mouth too wide and spoke from both ends, when he blamed President Obasanjo’s support for the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, which is about 5,000 miles from Nigeria, as the cause of the riots in Northern Nigeria. I was taken aback when Rimi said that Obasanjo’s support for war against terrorism was ‘unguarded’ and ‘irresponsible’. I feel like saying this is treason. My question is where were the Rimis, the Datti Ahmeds, the Sannis, the Musas and other Northern leaders during the Gulf War against Iraq.

They saw nothing wrong in Nigeria’s support for the war against Iraq as led by America then because a northerner Muslim was the President, who had the opportunity of selling more Nigerian oil and filling their individual pockets with extra petro-dollars. Or was Iraq not another Islamic country like Afghanistan? Or did Nigeria not support the war against Iraq? Oh! You shameless Hypocrites!

Abubakar Rimi using his own words has been most unguarded and irresponsible and therefore not fit to hold any public office in the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria today. This is not even the Chairmanship of the most sensitive Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company responsible for printing all sensitive and security documentation in Nigeria including the Nigeria Passport and money. How are we sure Rimi has not printed or will not print Nigerian Passports and delivered them in bulk to Osama bin Laden for his army of terrorists’ use all over the world thereby destroying the little credibility this government has been able to build for Nigeria and Nigerians?

It will be recalled that most of the terrorists that struck in the USA as others the entire world depend mostly on faked passports and identities. Funding international terrorism will be an easy pass time for anybody who officially presides over the printing and minting of any country’s money and other security documentation. In the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians, in the best interest of the Nigerian government and in the best interest of President Obasanjo personally and officially, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi should immediately be removed as the Chairman of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company and his tenure investigated for possible security breach. President Obasanjo is just being a compassionate leader. Otherwise, there is no reason why Datti Ahmed, Abubakar Rimi, Sheikh Yakubu Musa and their collaborators should not be behind bars now. They should be of an intensive investigation for conspiracy for acts of international terrorism and possible extradition to New York to say what they know or know not about the September 11 act of terrorism against the USA.

Now to the big question asked by the Reggae Legend late Bob Marley, "How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look? Ooh some say its just part of it, we got to fulfill the book Wont you help to sing, another song of freedom, Redemption Song". How long shall the northerners continue to kill the southerners while we stand aside and look? Some say it’s just in the name of one yeye Nigeria national unity. I say ‘YEYE’ national unity because I don’t see any so-called deceitful Nigeria national unity. The gospel truth is Nigeria has never been one, it is not one and it will never be one. Yes, it is therefore time to sing this song of freedom, our redemption song. The south can no longer stand aside and look while the lives of their kith and kin are destroyed in the north, their Churches, homes and property burned in the name a unity which has long become a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained. It is like a devil’s lake to a thirsty cattle Fulani man on the hot, dry, sunny, dusty Sokoto road.

My father told me never to deceive myself even if my best friend is deceiving me. That is not what is happening in Nigeria. The British as colonial overlords deceived us for their greatest advantage for as long as they chose. Our leaders of the first republic, including the respected Great Zik and Awo built on the foundation for one Nigeria crookedly and wobblingly set on the sands from the Sahara desert. But Jesus told his followers that only a foolish man would build his house on the sand, as the first rain that comes would wash away every trace and effort at house building. Yet the military with their brutish imprudence and years of unlimited and unrestrained bestiality and stealing coerced the good people of Nigeria to abandoned their nations or regional interest and promote a Nigerian interest that never existed. Today it a misnomer to talk of Nigerian culture as it is to talk of Nigeria’s unity instead of Igbo or Huasa or Fulani or Ijaw or Tiv or Yoruba culture. I remember growing up in the West to know and have pride in our regional Coat of Arm and Constitution. These were symbols of our regional autonomy and therefore catalyst for our tremendous growth and development then in that part of Nigeria. The West had the proud nickname or slogan of a ‘Pace Setter’. They had the first of things like the Liberty Stadium, Television station is black Africa, minimum wage, housing estate and even the Pilgrim Welfare Board in spite of the fact that Chief Awolowo, as the leader was a Christian. Is that not wonderful! But the ‘Buffalo soldiers’ came and rob us of not only our autonomy, our liberty and our freedom but along with these our growth and development and pride of identity. What a shame!

Today it is shameful that the two languages (English and Arabic) on the Nigerian currency were never spoken or understood by my forefathers. The greatest shame however lies in the motto of the Nigerian Army, the weapon of oppression in the hands of the Northerners. Today 41 years after independence, is still written in Arabic. There are retired Generals, Colonels and Majors who don’t know the motto of the Nigeria Army because they could not read Arabic with which it is written. Let any interested observer check the crest of the Nigerian Army to see if he/she will not find the Arabic letters there. Why not in English, after all English is the country’s official language? It suits the interests of the Hausa/Fulani any way because the army is theirs (the Northern Army N.A.), and Arabic is their official language. But what of the other more than 200 other ethnic groups that cannot speak or read Arabic. They can go to blazes the mujahedeens would say as they careless. That is how to ‘Go On With One Nigeria’.

Can anyone really show me one thing that actually unites Nigeria as one? No not language, not culture, not religion, not tradition, not education, not politics, not history or ancestral origin, not geography, not land or resources. Not even sports, as they don’t allow their females to participate in track and field events because of the way sport’s ladies would dress up. Economically and socially we are light years apart. Absolutely nothing! I can go on and on and on and yet find nothing that qualifies us to be one country. Then why should the southerners continue to die in the hands of their declared common enemy in the name of one Nigeria? Because that is what suites the northerners, as they are the only group that reaps the fruits of one Nigeria, even where they do not sow. They have become endemic parasites and hangers on to the southerners.

Let us take the current issue of terrorism in isolation and see how much the north and south in Nigeria have in common. While the southerners have joined every civilized nation and people in mourning the lost of lives in the US and supporting every reasonable efforts at eliminating global terrorism, the northerners were dancing and rejoicing for the innocent lives lost. The evil people have extended the evils of the evil day to the people from southern Nigeria, killing and looting and destroying their property for their support for the US. How could that be one country? Between 1980 and now there have been about 16 violent riots organized and directed against the southerners by the northerners under the guise of religion. During which time thousands of lives have been lost and hundred of Churches, homes and property of the victims worth millions of dollars destroyed. Painfully up till now, no government has ever considered paying any single compensation to the victims or their relatives. That is how to be a one Nigeria the Hausa/Fulani way. That is the way to promote one Nigeria, after all, no northerner any where in Nigeria has ever been a victim of religious riot or vandalism.

This writer had been an unrepentant supporter of a Sovereign National Conference as the only chance for a negotiated resolution of Nigeria problems. Many well meaning lovers and not suckers of Nigeria especially and mostly from the south and middle belt have cried and shouted even from rooftops for the convening of a Sovereign National Conference. But the Hausa/Fulani for their own selfish ends, like the doomed hunter’s dog will not listen to the voice of reason. They have resisted it with all the vigor left in them and they seem to be wining. They have always wanted to have their ways as the ways for Nigeria and other Nigerians if they ever recognize and respect others. They are so cocky, proud and arrogant believing they are born to rule, even if the only qualification is the blood of Hausa/Fulani in their veins.

They have made themselves the untouchables of Nigeria. Even as criminals, they must be above the laws, after all the laws are only made for the southerners. Or how else do one explains this. Five ex-generals were summoned by a legally constituted Oputa panel of inquiry to testify on allegations made against them for their past deeds. Two of them, Theophilous Yakubu Danjuma and Olusegun Obasanjo both Christians and non-Hausa/Fulani respected the laws of the land and the people and attended even as current Minister of Defense and President respectively. Three others, Muhammad Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar all Muslims from the untouchable Hausa/Fulani group snubbed the laws and the people of Nigeria with impunity. That is the type of one Nigeria they want as long as they are Hausa/Fulani, they should always have their ways.

These are people who ordinarily should be on the wanted list or in the jail of the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity. The death of MKO Abiola in detention; Dele Giwa killed by a letter bomb addressed from the President; the death in a so-called military plane crash of hundred of young Army Officers (mostly from the south and middle belt) and the execution of Bartholomew Owoh and his friend on a retroactive decree by the Buhari regime are traceable to the feet of these northern untouchable generals. Is it a coincident that the perpetrators are from the Hausa/Fulani north and their victims southerners? That is one Nigeria for you in the Hausa/Fulani way.

I have to report here that I have changed my mind about the Sovereign National Conference. I don’t belief in it anymore as a way of solving the Nigerian problems. There is no point talking to the deaf and dumb. It is a waste of time, resources and efforts to convene such a conference, especially since the Hausa/Fulani does not belief in it. I think the south should just find a way of saying good-bye. All those ethnic groups who feel they are compatible and comfortable staying together can negotiate the means of a mutual co-existence for a truly united new country. Nigeria as a country as it is constituted cannot survive in peace, harmony and progress. This experiment in nation building is destined to collapse, as the foundation was not set on truth and honesty. It was never according to the will, interest and common good of the federating units of Nigeria.

The other alternative is for the West to complete eight years of the presidency, followed by another eight years by the East and another eight years by the Southern Minorities, before the north can ever taste the presidency again in Nigeria. May be this may drum some sanity and humility to their heads. If this is acceptable which I am sure will not because of whom they think they are – born to rule, then the south can play the next line of Bob Marley’s song. ‘Emancipate yourself from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our mind.’

Nothing can be truer than this truth. It is time the southerners emancipated themselves from not only mental but also physical slavery from 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. Some 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 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 like it or not. The have shot themselves on their foot. They have burnt their own tails and they need to smell the odor. They have tried and tested 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 gets 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 close too many years now. We have surely got to that point where it is clear that we don’t know where we are going. But thank God the Hausa/Fulanis should know from where they have been leading us. If they don’t, fine no problem. The Yoruba, the Igbo, the Edos, the Ijaws, Tivs and Edomas and the Junkuns and the other wonderful people of Nigeria who have been victims of the Hausa/Fulani oppression for years, surely know from where they are coming.

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. Now the news again is "Nigeria rally support for Taliban’. Again we are all guilt by association. Like the times of Abacha also a Hausa/Fulani, most of us are again loosing or have lost our pride of identity with the word Nigeria. It might be worst than that time unless something urgent and drastic is done. It might get to a point where any holder of a Nigerian passport is either not allowed visa or entry into the US or other countries building coalition against global terrorism. After no foreign immigration officer knows the difference between a northern and southern Nigerian. The pity or the irony of it all is that besides going to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage, most of all the northern Nigeria Taliban and Osama bin Laden's mujahedeen hardly go out of their harem to other countries. What will they be looking for? They don’t need any other greener pasture other than their sun baked, Sahara desert encroached and sandy pastures.

My own generation and those of the people before me have been wasted. Not because of their laziness or lack of resources human and natural but because they are southerners and most unfortunately because of the ineptitude and perfidy and corruption of their northern oppressors. It is time to come together to emancipate ourselves from this mental slavery not because of ourselves anymore because it is too late for us already, but for the sake of our children and generations to come. Now is the time to stand up to shout:

NO NEVER AGAIN will our children suffer the pains and agonies and shame and frustration and deprivation their fathers suffered.

NO NEVER AGAIN will our children suffer in the midst of plenty as we’re suffering. NO NEVER AGAIN shall they be thirsty in the midst of fresh water.

Lets in one accord rise up and shout our hearts out and say:

NO NEVER AGAIN will our children eat bones when their fathers are butchers.

NO NEVER AGAIN will they go out naked when their mom are textile makers.

NO NEVER AGAIN will our children be strangers in their fathers’ land.

NO! NEVER AGAIN!

Yes it is time to Stand Up and Get Up and Fight for Our Rights. It is time we celebrate our own ILEYA not the Nigerian Muslim way this time. ILEYA is a Yoruba word for it’s is time to go home. Coincidentally it is the same Yoruba word for a Muslim festival. Our own ILEYA this time will be to really go home. It will be ‘To your tents Oh! Nigerians’ as there in no inheritance to share with the ‘Talibans’ of Northern Nigeria.

Enough Is Surely Enough.

October 2001