The childish attempt by a conglomerate of Northern Nigerian elements to blockade the transport of foodstuffs and cattle to the South-Western region of Nigeria especially is inappropriate and in bad taste.
What seems to have stemmed a retaliatory step to blockade the movement of petroleum products from the South to the North was the unsolicited intervention of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode.
Both arranged a photo-op, where the governor declared that an undeclared quantity required both of them to reconcile the food vendors with the Southern Nigerian consumers of their produce. There is no doubt that they averted a crisis that would have led to the balkanisation of Nigeria.
Members of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra may have been waiting for the Yoruba to mount blockade along the border between the North and the Yoruba nation, so they could activate the Eastern Security Network along the borders of their region with the North.
So, you can see that calling off the food blockade was not really to the advantage of those who prefer the dismemberment of Nigeria. It merely saved Nigeria from the brink of a break-up that some want so badly.
The uncorroborated claim by Bello that the Federal Government agreed to pay N4.75 billion reparation to Fulani who lost property and lives in inter-tribal clashes in the South-West is not sitting quite well with some people.
Much as they acknowledge that goods were damaged and lives were lost during the clashes, they reason that the Federal Government should also consider compensation for damages done to Yorùbá victims of herdsmen assaults.
They cite destruction done to the farm of a former Secretary to the Federal Government, Olú Falae, and the death of Dr. Fatai Aborode, who was killed after he complained that his farm crops were eaten by cows herded by some Fulani in his hometown, Igangan.
How Northern Nigerians, who mounted a food blockade against Southern Nigerians, to protest their, albeit legitimate, losses, never expressed sympathy nor called for reparations for Southern Nigerian victims of rampaging herdsmen and kidnappers is strange and disturbing.
You wonder where the basic humanity that is in every human being flew to in this case of man’s inhumanity to man. Empathy and sympathy are said to be the hallmarks of human beings who are filled with the milk of human kindness.
The claim by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore that the ban imposed on open grazing of cattle by the South-West governors was tantamount to an eviction notice is one of those confrontational spins thrown against efforts to resolve problems.
And when you consider the allegation that Sheikh Ahmad Gumi said that the military usually sent Christian soldiers against bandits, you wonder if he truly set out to resolve the issues or to compound them. It is unbecoming of a man that many South-West Nigerians, including this writer, revere a lot.
The preposterous suggestion by the Sheikh that those who inflict pain on others should be regarded almost like freedom fighters, and not the common criminals that they are, is rather baffling.
Gumi’s interviews on television portray a man who is desperate not to cause offence to outlaws who may no longer be as benign like Robin Hood, but may call off the fragile truce he may have worked out with them.
As a former army captain, who saw action during ECOMOG operations, Gumi cannot be said to be afraid of anyone. It cannot also be said that he would be unable to proficiently use an AK-47, an Uzzi, or any other weapon of war.
But, if he wants the peace of the graveyard, he is welcome to it. But he should not attempt to pull other Nigerians onto his bandwagon. It is a matter of justice to describe a spade as a spade and not a factor of production.
When Gumi appeared to have been lost for appropriate words to respond to journalists on a television show, he declared that journalists were criminals, just because they went with the definition of the law that bandits are criminals, who should be prosecuted and not pampered.
Google says, “Banditry is a type of organised crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an individual or in groups.”
See how the renegades moved from one kidnap to another, even after Gumi had met and appealed to them. As some abductees were released, another set were taken, maybe by other renegade groups.
But more importantly, Gumi needs to read the grace notes of Muhammad Sanusi II, former Emir of Kano, who seems to have identified the problems of Northern Nigeria, even if he is a creation and beneficiary of the Northern Nigerian political establishment.
You must commend Sanusi for attempting to convince his fellow Northern elites that they need to look inwards to solve the problem of the North. Think about the fact that despite holding to the reins of power for most of Nigeria’s national life since Independence in 1960, Northern Nigeria is the most underdeveloped region of the country.
Despite having a higher number of states and local governments, a ploy that tilts the scale of revenue allocation to favour Northern Nigeria, there is relatively higher poverty among the masses, as well as lower economic development.
It is disappointing and regrettable that a majority of the out-of-school children in Nigeria are resident in Northern Nigeria. How this could happen, even in this digital age of the 21st Century, is simply unthinkable and unacceptable.
And rather than make every effort to correct this anomaly for posterity, those concerned appear to be playing the ostrich that buries its head in the sands while its derriere is exposed. Worse, is that they seem to be looking elsewhere for the source of the problem.
But, truth be told, it is beginning to look as if Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar, some governors, like Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, who incidentally deposed Emir Sanusi II, and some other members of the Northern Nigerian political establishment, admit the faults and want to correct them.
Everyone of those members of the Northern political elite who have yet to join the train must remember what Obafemi Awolowo is reported to have said: The children that you neglect to educate will end up as miscreants that will terrorise your own children.
What Northern Nigeria needs now is a Marshall Plan, an economic recovery programme, with focus on free and compulsory education, upgrade of medical facilities and personnel and policies that will hinge its agrarian economy to the relatively more industrialised economy of Southern Nigeria.
And those renegades, their elite choirmasters and enablers, threatening wars against their Southern Nigerian compatriots, must understand that there is no wisdom in threatening to self-destruct or harm others who merely want to get on with their own lives.
The word for beleaguered Southern Nigerians is to stand up to any bully. Somebody says the way to get an aggressor off your back is to fight back; the law allows self-defence
