IS THE NORTH TO BLAME --- FOR EVERYTHING??!! BY AMBASSADOR MOUKHTAR GASHASH First Posted December 24, 2011 at 3:51pm The common slogan is: The North is our greatest problem. Well, lets do a reality check. Northern Nigerian leaders and Boko Haram are blamed for trying to sabotage the incumbent Government of Nigerian President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ). But mind you, the Boko Haram saga started during the regime of Jonathans predecessor, Umaru Musa Yaradua. When the sect leader was sending threatening video messages to Yaradua, nobody said that he was sabotaging the Yaradua government; or being backed or sponsored by Northern leaders. He called Yaradua shugaban karya i.e. lying leader, and castigated him in and out. The glee then was that Muslim sects were at each others throats. We have the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC); Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND); Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSSOP) and the OGONI youths. Are they any better than Boko Haram? During Yaraduas era, MEND were bombing oil pipelines and killing people. At no point did anyone say that the South was making Nigeria ungovernable for Yaradua. Such is merely a distraction! In reality however, only a very weak leader and his equally very weak followers, will feel and claim that ANYBODY, worse so, people of a whole region or even section of the country are making the country ungovernable for him/them!! Concentrate and focus on true equitable, dynamic, fearless, incorruptible, responsible, responsive, brave, committed, dedicated, selfless, de-tribalised, de-sectionalised, de-regionalised and courageous leadership, and NOBODY will make the country as a whole or even part of it, ungovernable for you!!! OPC had its fun in the South West, killing thousands of Muslims of Northern extraction. MOSSOP also did so in the South East; while MEND represented the South-South in this orgy of violence. By the way, it is noteworthy that MEND introduced the culture of bombing innocent citizens, the first being the Independence anniversary bombings for which the President unpresidentially came all out in defense of MEND, even after the group claimed responsibility. Yet some people had the audacity to blame Northern elders for maintaining silence on the onslaught facing the country. There were so much outcries over the 2011 post-election crisis in the North. But was it unique, a novel situation, or actually the first of its kind? What about all the various Western Nigerian political crises, including the 1963 crisis, in which the conflicting opposing combatant political groups of Akintola and Awolowo massacred themselves? What about the 1983 crisis where some non-UNDP members were beheaded and their heads were paraded around the streets of Ondo State? The North is blamed and scape-goated for being parasitic on Nigerias oil, and hampering its development. In any case, lest it is easily or conveniently forgotten by such biased and unfair critics, only less than half of the Southern Nigerian states, including only one Yoruba and one Igbo state each, are oil producing states. Hence such so-called parasitism should be fairly extended to these other non oil producing Southern states, apart from the Northern states. The South has been in power for 10 years out of the last 12 years. In fact as we speak, an Ijaw man is President. Rivers state receives a monthly allocation almost equal to 8 Northern states. Rivers state collected N1.5 trillion Naira, over a period of 9 years. In stark contrast, Kano state, with the highest population in the North, of 9 million people, and one of the highest in the country as a whole, collected only 280 billion Naira, or thereabout, in the same period. Yet there are no good schools in Okrika; and no bridge to link Bonny Island to the mainland. Is this still the fault of Northerners? Which Northern leader supervised the squandering of all monies allocated to the oil producing states over the years? Why is nobody concerned about the roles played by people like Odili, Ibori and Alameseigha and a host of other Southern demi-gods? Why cant somebody be decent enough to tell the world what happens to all monies voted for the Ministry of Niger Delta, i.e. the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with its so-called 13% derivation and whatever? When the Jos crisis started, a lot people felt it was right for the Hausas to go because they were not the original indigenes of Plateau State. But Christian Igbos and Yorubas are given indigeneship of Katsina State; and likewise, even in the maligned so-called Sharia-infested Zamfara State. It is only in the North that Grace Bent, a Yoruba woman, is a Senator representing one of the senatorial zones in the Fulani-dominated Adamawa State. It is only in the North that Namadi, an indigene of Edo State, can be a Governor in Kaduna State. Another former originally non-indigene Governor in the North is former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, both of whose parents were originally from Borno state, even though he himself was born and bred in Kano. As a matter of fact, even a former late military Head of State of Nigeria, Sani Abatcha, though born and raised in Kano, has both of his parents hailing from Borno State. From all indications and available evidence, including the above-mentioned facts, it is therefore very clear that as the facts stand up till date, the Northern Region of Nigeria is so far more representative of a true Nigerian nationalism than the South! Moreover, with regards to work and employment, it is on good record that while the Southerners have been gaining all kinds of jobs and employment in the North since the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial days, and continuously; the situation of jobs, work and employment of the Northerners in the South is however a far cry. The Southerners continue to be employed in all kinds of jobs and employment in the North, including being employed in the Ministries and other governmental agencies of virtually all the states in the North, and in some cases even in the Northern local governments. But even up till now, it is possible that there is not a single Northerner employed in the state/local governments of any of the states down south! Instead, virtually all Northerners based in the South are either working with any of the Federal Ministries or their agencies/out-stations, public or private companies, in private business, or merely just short-term visitors! Ogun State for instance, has up to 7 Universities, but its indigenes found the North the most conducive environment to pursue their education, due to the fact that the North has been accommodating and tolerant, even when the students from this and other Southern Nigerian states display total disregard to the Northern culture. Many southerners testify that it is only in the North that one can safely roam about at midnight without the fear of armed robbery, and this is still the situation, notwithstanding the so-called now hijacked Boko Haram malaise. These Southerners also admit that gang rape, kidnapping, ritual killings and all kinds of murders, 419 fraudulent activities, and all kinds of money swindling through the extortion of money under false pretenses; general dishonesty, cheating, and lying, are all relatively rarer in the North, in comparison to the South. Moreover, food, land, transportation, and accommodation, are generally much cheaper in the North, than in the South of Nigeria; yet every evil that comes from bad governance of Nigerian leaders is blamed on the North, and the poor honest and peace-loving Northerners continue to be unfairly, unjustifiably, and wrongly scape-goated by many Southerners. The Southerners concerned mock with disdain at the menace of the Northern almajiranci , i.e. the almajiri nuisance, yet they live in perpetual fear of the southern kidnappings, rapes, and armed robbery. The blaming and scape-goating trick is only a way of defending a son for misusing an opportunity to perform wonders for our dear country. It does not really matter where a leader comes from --- a bad leader is a bad leader, and as Nigerians we should rise above ethnic sentiments.The failure of the Nigerian project is a collective burden, liability, and responsibility on all of us, irrespective of our region, religion, section, ethnic affiliations, or tribal linkages. We have all failed, and apportioning blames or scape-goating the North, its leaders, or Northerners as a whole, is in itself a mark of greater failure. So stop crossing the Niger and Benue Rivers looking for your source of misery when it is right there in front of your door step. Dont blame the North, nor the South, East, or West either! Instead, lets blame ourselves first for tribalism, nepotism, sectionalism, regionalism, and selfishness! And for not knowing the worth of our own dear neighbours, or even human life as a whole in general. EDITED BY IBRAHIM H. ALKALI
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 17:20:45 +0000
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