“There can only be the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No matter what anyone says, Nigeria is a country and a country it should remain. You don’t live together for 50 to 100 years and not become a country. It does not matter if some of us are Muslims and some are Christians: we are all Nigerians. It does not matter if some of us speak Hausa and some speak Yoruba: we are all Nigerians. Our diversity is our strength. That is the beauty of Nigeria. It cannot be re-engineered. Nigeria is a blessed country, carefully-crafted by divine ordinance.” – Femi Aribisala
I have resisted getting involved in the puerile argument put forward by Dr Femi Aribisala to support his proposition that, “Nigeria cannot do without the North”. But I couldn’t resist any longer. So here we go.
Context Matters
In the context of the myriad problems facing Nigeria as a politically charged and ideologically divided society, the unsecured borders, the high insecurity to lives and properties, the unprecedented high level of poverty among the people; the heart-rending crying and the shedding of sorrowful tears for the loss of loved ones killed in cold blood in their own homes and on their own beds; and the gnashing of teeth that are the lots of fellow countrymen and women, What demon or satanic force put the choice of this particular topic in the mind of one of our celebrated columnist?
What is the intention of Dr Femi Aribisala? I can only speculate. I suspect it might be to douse the raging fire of awareness gaining ground across the country that Nigeria is not working and that it is high time we faced the reality of restructuring or disbanding the country.
How could Dr Aribisala, with the array of impressive curriculum vitae under his belt, failed to understand this contemporary truth about Nigeria? How can he afford to bury his head in the sand and pretend he cannot see or hear or feel the immense suffering that have inundated the indigenous people across the length and breadth of Nigeria?
Creation of Nigeria is not by Divine Ordinance
Dr Aribisala wrote, “Nigeria is a blessed country, carefully-crafted by divine ordinance.”
A “divine ordinance” in the creation of Nigeria? This is the typical jejune argument we hear daily from lazy irritant politicians. This pedestrian declaration is not something that should be found in the worldview of a celebrated scholar.
Everyone in Nigeria by now ought to have known that Nigeria’s creation was a fraudulent and deceptive enterprise; and that the creation was motivated by the colonialists’ beastly greed and insatiable lust for what belongs to others.
For Dr Aribisala to throw in the prophecies and pseudo-scientific predictions of the enemies of Nigeria from Goldman Sachs, United States, and United Nations, as supporting evidences for his lazy proposition is a real blow beneath the belt – a blatant fowl.
Facts and Fiction
Dr Aribisala should be told if he doesn’t know (which I doubt very much), no ‘Nigerian’ is against Nigeria remaining and continuing as a progressive country doing what a normal country does for her citizens – protecting lives and properties; safeguarding territorial borders and territory; and providing safe and conducive environment for her citizens to evolve and to develop their natural potentials to the highest level of their desires.
But when any country is doing practically the opposite of the sacred duties assigned to her by the citizens, there is no reason why such a country should be kept going for a day longer than necessary. It must be restructured if possible or be dismantled if restructuring is impossible.
If Dr Aribisala does not know or he is subconsciously deluding himself about the Nigerian Questions, the awakened ones among ‘Nigerians’ know that some forces within and outside Nigeria are behind the creation of the suffering and hardships that the indigenous people of Nigeria are facing right now.
The awakened ones know that the way and manner Nigeria was designed, structured and sustained since 1914 are principally to serve as a British ‘Vacuum’ Horse. Unlike the Greek Trojan Horse that brought in an army to conquer and take over Troy, the British Vacuum Horse was left behind to vacuum clean and siphon away till eternity the wealth of Nigeria from the indigenous people of the country.
In order to do this successfully, the indigenous people must be held down by putting a heavy burden on their head and invisible chains around their legs and hands. The phantom country called Nigeria is the albatross on the head of the indigenous people in the geographical space. The empty educational curriculum and bigoted religious brainwashing are the invisible chains. Without taking this deadly burden off our necks, and the invisible chains off our hands, legs and mind, the indigenous people trapped within the geographical space called Nigeria are not going anywhere good either now or in the foreseeable future.
If a celebrated columnist, who was ‘trained’ in one of the best colleges in Britain, has held responsible position in the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs for many years and yet he is unable to connect the dots of geopolitics with regard to Africa and Nigeria in particular, then we need to ask, where is the salvation of Africans going to come from? Where are the body of fearless African intelligentsia who will spearhead the African renaissance or rebirth or revival or rejuvenation of the mind?
African Elites as Mercenaries
As it were, we seem to have a large army of mercenaries among Africans who are parading about as elite and eggheads, insulting left and right the intelligence of other “unlettered” Africans. They carry themselves about with childish pride as the mountain of useless certificates and medals of international awards around their collars heavily weigh them down. The training, not education, they were ‘gifted’ never prepared them for critical thinking and they have refused to prepare themselves by reeducating themselves so as to be able to unshackle the chains of colonial indoctrination and brainwashing called education.
Look around Africa, you will find them all over the continent clogging the doors and blocking the windows as they prevent the precious rays of light of enlightenment from streaming into Africa.
They are forever very useful to their masters as Judas Goat that have been trained to corral their people into the neo-colonial pens called countries; preventing the awakened ones from escaping from the pen; and leading their blind, deaf and dumb racial brethren into the global slaughter house prepared for Africans as the World Government is being put together.
If not as mercenaries, how can anyone with love in his/her soul look at the present state of Nigeria and has the sadistic gut to announce:
“There can only be the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No matter what anyone says, Nigeria is a country and a country it should remain. . . Our diversity is our strength. That is the beauty of Nigeria. It cannot be re-engineered.”
Can you perceive the infernal cruelty in the voice that would say at this moment in the history of Nigeria that, “It [Nigeria] cannot be re-engineered.” That statement is definitely a “satanic verse”. It must have sneaked into the essay to reveal without a shadow of doubt the sadistic intent of the writer.
How can anyone well informed about Nigeria’s contemporary history wrote that Nigeria “cannot be re-engineered”? Not at a time when murderous marauders, killer bandits, cutthroat and rapists Herdsmen are raiding and sacking villages and communities one after the other. Yet one of our celebrated eggheads is implying from the tone of his essay that there is no cause for alarm. There is no need to worry, that everything is under control.
That only a few thousands have been killed so far, only a few thousands have been sacked from their communities, and only a few thousands are in the Internally Displaced Camps for Refugees all over the country. There is nothing to see here folks. Nothing to worry about to warrant the “re-engineering” or restructuring of Nigeria; everything is fine; and everyone can go home now and face your business. Nigeria is fine, not just fine but super fine.
As I said in the opening paragraph, I didn’t want to get involved in the foolishness of the writer because of the anger that welled within me as I read the essay. But I know deep down in my heart that love demands from us to correct our brethren when they go astray from the truth. What is the truth of Nigeria today?
The Truth About Nigeria
The truth of the moment in Nigeria is: That Nigeria is not working for the indigenous people occupying its geographical space;
- That there are too much savage bloodletting and barbaric massacre of the innocents going on daily in the country;
- That the government of Nigeria has failed woefully and has therefore put its people in serious existential jeopardy;
- That from all the indices of development, Nigeria has failed to measure up, leading to profound poverty and debilitating hardship for its people; and
- That there ought to be, and urgently too, fundamental changes to the political and economic structures, the master-slave ideology and the corrupt management styles of the powers-that-be in the country since these are the significant missteps that have led to the abject failure of the Nigeria State as a worthwhile project.
It is sad to say this, but if the trend of anarchy and other macabre events going on in the country are not stopped forthwith, the next predictable step open to the indigenous population of the land will be nothing short of collective suicide.
I hope Dr Femi Aribisala will grasp the seriousness of the issues at stake now. It is necessary to still give him a benefit of the doubt that the essay was forced out of him by some “satanic power” and that it was never written based on self-conviction.
It is not for the first time that the eggheads in our continent have led Africans astray. It is either due to a lack of rigorous scholarship on their part or they have opened themselves up to blackmail by their past discretions. For whatever their problems are, we must continuously be on the watch out when our African elites put on the robe of a Judas Goat to perform their masters’ duties. We must expose their plan as it is being hatched before it gets to the implementation level.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”. My African people say, “If the enemy within your household doesn’t get you killed by snitching on you, the enemies from outside will never succeed.”
In The Spirit of Truth
SAM ABBD ISRAEL
SAM ABBD ISRAEL 