“The future will have no pity for those men who, possessing the exceptional privilege of being able to speak words of truth to their oppressors, have taken refuge in an attitude of passivity, of mute indifference, and sometimes of cold complicity.” -Franz Fanon
Nigeria is bleeding and there is no doubt and contention about that.
Though the politicians may pretend all is well,the citizens especially those who live in the Southern parts of the country knew all is not well.
But like Franz Fanons saying “they choose to remain in mute passivity.”
They have been so since Nigeria got independence in 1960.
It is an undeniable fact that late sage Obafemi Awolowo,in several of his campaigns for Presidency lamented that the education gap between the North and South must be bridged if the country is to move forward and achieve greatness.
As for him,the North like the Southern parts of the country also possess brilliant children who if given education can excel and bridged the yawning education gap which he believes is a major contribution to ignorance and poverty.
Said he,” An ignorant and uneducated person is the easiest prey to economic and political enslavement”.
As if responding to Awos hypothesis,Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, between 2009 -2015, invested a humongous amount of N15billion in Almajiri education programme aimed at bridging the yawning education gap in the North.
However,in an apparent elite conspiracy, Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s 15th head of state, abandoned the initiative invested in buildings and equipment leaving them to waste.
Today,it is an.open secret that the North is reaping the consequences of the seed of ignorance and poverty sown by its ruling elite.
From the North East to North West and North Central everywhere is bleeding.
No thanks to mass poverty which has triggered recruitment of idle Northern youths into Boko Haram,kidnapping, banditry and religious insurgency.
Eleven years ago, at the inception of the late Muahammadu Buharis administration,the United Nations came out with a fearsome remark that out of about 11 million out of school children in Nigeria, 10.5 million are from the North.
In apparent realisation of this revelation, Buhari pleaded with the UNICEF to focus attention of its educational and humanitarian assitance on the North.
Today, three years after he left power and eleven years after the UN bodies made good Buharis pleadings, there are about 12 million of such children in the region.
Instead of moving from forward, the North is taking several steps backward and dragging the South down with it.
It is an open fact that the Norths culture of Almajiri formed a reasonable percentage of the out of school children who today are the recruiting ground Boko Haram,Banditry ,kidnapping and other Islamic insurgents ravaging the North and by extension Nigeria diverting attention from development .
Today, most states in the North spend more money on curbing the sad effects of lack of education and poverty which the North after over four decades in power has refused to address .
The Northern elite have done this for both selfish and religious reasons.
But then, since Nigeria is a federation bonded together by the National anthem of being our brothers keeper, we have allowed ethno religious sentiments to blind us from addressing the source of our collective problem.
Though,the Boko Haram insurgency started from the North about 25 years ago ravaging the vast governed and ungoverned territories, the effect has spilled to the South which leaders kept quite in mute passivity.
It is apparent they are afraid of calling Norhern leaders out to solve the problem created by their outdated religious cum social system which has promoted grinding poverty.
According to a Yoruba dage, “if your neighbour is eating poisonous ant and you refused to talk or react for no justifiable reason,then you have to accommodate noise from his rumbling stomach at night.”
Today,the South has been besieged by heartless and violent northern youths who have turned kidnapping,banditry and terrorism to an art such that Southern cities and towns can no longer go to bed with two eyes closed. Neither can they go to farm or travel at night.
In effect,the North has inflicted the South with its failures .
It is apparent that this has the support of the elite which ignited and supported insurgency to gain political power.
There is no argument about the fact that the grinding poverty which religious and cultural problems the Northern ruling political,religious and elite class has created has become a burden to the Seventeen Southern states.
To prove the culpability of the Northern elite in the growth of insurgency,Katsina State Government in the full glare of the public paid N30 million as ransome to release 300 school boys abducted from a boarding school in Kankara located in Katsina State. A clear example of state connivance and support for evil as money realized by bandits has further empowered them to do more exploits.
Earlier this week,Katsina State Government officials received the body of General Rabe Abubakar who died in the custody of kidnappers with the later walking away .
A clear case of state complicity.
But then in the midst of this malevolence,religious extremism found expression and ISIS and ISWAP fundamentalists from the sahel capitalized on the state culpability and use kidnapping as an opportunity to propagate dangerous religious extremism, killing ,maiming and occupying ungoverned and governed spaces in the North as a prelude to go down South and dip the Koran into the sea.
In all these developments,the Southern political establishment has refused to tell the ruling class in the North the truth about their inadequacies which today has succeeded in endeagering the Nigerian state.
Had the Southern political elite come out in unison to tell the North the truth,situation today could have been different.
It is also as clear as crystal ball that because of the crave for power to rule Nigeria, the Southern political leaders are afraid to talk about the burden which the Norths criminal promotion of poverty and it’s associate ills have brought on the nation.
Why are the Southern leaders espevially Governors afraid ?
Alimajiri voting still represent the instrument for gaining votes by the Northern region to super impose its preferred President over Nigeria.
To an average Southern leader and governors keen on ruling Nigeria, Northern elite inadequacy is a no- go area.
Is it possible to use an inappropriate way to get legitimacy?
Could a Southern president turn its back on the Northern political and reliious establishment controlling the masses to change their ways on getting to power in view of the country’s military and political configuration?
But since Nigeria is a federation,why has Southern Governors and leaders who have the mandate of their people to guarrantee their aafety and well being, refused to take steps to stop mass movement of the Norths wretched of the earth to Southern Nigeria ?.
Take a trip to Ogun/Lagos boundary at Kara before the long Bridge, everyday you see trailer loads of cows struggling for space with intinerant Northern youths escaping from the North to Lagos and other Southern states.
If you aren’t satisfied, move down to Agege Abbatoir .
There,to every trailer load of cows ,same set of youths struggle for space with the cows for sale.
Interestingly, the long trailers depart to the North after emptying it’s human and animal content.
The youths never return to the North.
Migration is a world wide phenomenon but when it is not controlled within a multi lingual , multi cultural and multi ethnic space like Nigeria,chances are that open and violent conflicts are a constant feature.
It is now apparent that the angry Norhern youths who are desperate to make a living populating our cities,set their own rules,promote arbitrariness,inflict violence which in a way stems from their deprivation in the North.
Encounter an ‘Aboki’ Okada rider in Lagos and his violent and a angry attitude tells story of his previous battle to earn a living since poverty drove him down South.
But the most dangerous disease affecting the South especially hitherto peacefully South West is the influx of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists which last May 15 sent a strong signal to the visionless governors that they are here to occupy their territory.
The abduction of the 48 teachers and students of three schools in Orire local government area of Oyo state has turned hitherto peaceful South West States into a dangerous and restless region to life.
The successful operation of the kidnappers over a month ago, is what is needed to expose the weakness of security apparatus of a region whose governors got a warning in June 2020 when the terrorists invaded Owo catholic Church and killed several worshippers for no just cause.
Thanks to late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu who rose up, provided leadership and made the formation of South West Regionsl outfit-Amotekun a reality.
It is evident now that since Akeredolus courageous step and his demise,the six governors in mute complicity have turned the once dreadful Amotekun into a toy- carrying outfit parading the cities with their vehicles but left our forests wide open for terrorists and bandits from the North to take control.
Brigadier General Kunle Togun, former Director of Directorate of Military Intelligence and now commander of Oyo Amotekun laid the blame for the free reign of terrorists in Oyo and other South West States to attitude of the Governors to playing politics with security”.
He identified the flawed patrol strategy which left out the known dangerous zones in the region.
As for him,stationing Amotekun vans in center of cities instead of patrolling the whole state has turned the outfit to a decoration of sort..a dog that can neither bark nor bite.
He also accused the governors of ignoring specific intelligence blueprint which laid out specific areas requiring 12-24 metres guard.
Lastly, Togun described the Amotekun outfit as a political posturing outfit with its vehicles used for photo ops.
It shouldn’t be surprising to those who can reason that Governor Seyi Makinde who spoke against state police describing it as distraction also has the same attitude to Amotekun operations until the terrorists struck under his belly.
That he launched his bid for Presidency days after the Oyo kidnap incidence is a pointer playing to the gallery by South West governors.
They prefer to pursue bigger offices with Northern support than ensuring the safety of their people now under siege.
For how long will governors from South West continue to play politics even when their South East counterparts have buckled up after decimation of IPOB terrorists.
But then ,why has the Southern Governors forum refused to come out to tell their Northern counterparts of their grave shortcomings.
While it is true that meeting and solidarity of Southern Governors was frustrated under the Unitaristic rule of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, are they still under the same bond by incumbent President Bola Tinubu who has demonstrated his support for Forest rangers and State Police.
Since Tinubu himself has told all governors to protect their region why are Southern Governors afraid to send back the youths of the North who have come to disrupt their peace as a result of failure of leadership from their home region?.
By accommodating the youthful, dangerous miscreants from the Sahel who came in through the North, the Southern Governors have abdicated their responsibility to ensure security of the people who voted them into power.
Why is it difficult for other Southern Governors to quietly pick the rejects of the North from our midst as Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu of Lagos has done last week.
Another important step is for Southern Governors to ban operation of motorcycles otherwise known as Okadas from our midst.
Okada has proven the easiest courier used as spy by terrorists and kidnappers and instrument to commit havoc.
Today, 70% of Okada riders in Southern metroloolis especially Lagos and its Ogun suburbs, are aliens who came in through Northern open borders.
They are the first line of operation of kidnappers, bandits and terrorists who have succeeded in recruiting unscrupulous elements in the south to carry out their nefarious activities.
Southern Governors should stop playing politics of 2027 presidential election to act.
There is life after 2027 and the first step to pursue restructuring of our polity is through our security apparatus which has compromised our well being.
Southern Governors should wake up from their slumber and prevent those who have no value for life to waste our children and threaten our future.
Time to act decisively is Now!