17th April, 2013
By Osagie Joe
Nigeria could have had her political independence before 1960, but because the northern region was not prepared for it, it was then moved to October 1, 1960.
Since 1960, when Nigeria got her political independence from Britain till date, the Northern region has ruled the country for 39 years out of 52 and half years of our political existence especially through military institutions.
The nearest a southerner was close to becoming a president was in 1993 but the same North annulled the election because they believe they were born to rule for life. When the head of state, the late General Sani Abacha, created nine more states to move the state to 36 and the country structured into six geopolitical zones, each region was to have six state apiece but the Eastern region were given only five states while North west was given seven states.
The old Kano State has 44 Local Government Councils while Jigawa that was carved out of the state has 36 Local Government Councils making it up to 80 Local Government Councils while Lagos State with 20 million population still had 20 Local Government Councils and Bayelsa State, the state crude oil was first discovered has only 8 Local Government Councils. The more Local Government a state has the more allocation for development especially when Northern political leaders have used land mass as basis for local government creation and allocation instead of the conventional population model.
The only thing the northern political elite have done with 39 years in political power is to massively amass wealth for themselves and their families but totally neglect the vast majority of the poor masses who are now murderers in the name of Boko Haram.
Most of the northerner political elites have been crying foul, accusing Jonathan government of neglect and marginalization just because for the first time in our political history a minority from Niger Delta is steering the political wheel.
Few years ago when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was in power, 80% of political offices were occupied by the northerners and nobody raised any eyebrow.
Seventy percent of DGs of federal agencies were northerners and some people are still complaining that years of government neglect of the Northern region was the root cause of the security challenges in the North and that President Jonathan should be held liable for the backwardness in the North.
It was recently revealed that, the political elites in North control 83% of the oil blocs in the soil of the Niger Delta. For example, General Theophilus Danjuma who is an apostle of the Northerner total control and dominance of Nigeria was reported to be very poor and could only boast of one mud hut in 1979 in his village but after years of feasting on the resources of Nigeria he has become one of the leading African billionaires through ownership of oil blocs.
The other day he said he had about N500 million from the oil blocs that he did not know what to do with. Some of these owners of oil blocs collect billions of naira monthly without doing anything.
The criminal war and massacre in Nigeria is a struggle for political power, a struggle for the control of Presidency and a struggle to control Nigeria’s oil wealth.
Before the election of President Jonathan in 2011, the country was inundated with threats from the likes of Dr Datti Ahmed, Adamu Ciroma, General Buhari and others that there would be violence and Nigeria will be ungovernable if Jonathan is elected. Since the madness in the name of Boko Haram started, these men and other agents of Boko Haram arrested by security agents are still walking the streets of northern Nigeria as freemen.
Because, the sponsors of these evil act are running out of resources and also world leaders are beginning to pay closer attention to the evil being perpetuated by the so-called religions bug these elements created to fight President Jonathan’s government, they are now calling for amnesty for the murderers.
The first person to canvass for amnesty for Boko Haram is the sultan of Sokoto, followed by Bola Tinubu, Bola Ajibola, Mallam Ribadu, Speaker of House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, Nasir el-Rufai, Sanusi, Lai Mohammed the ACN spokesperson, Buhari and others.
Tambuwal was quoted as saying that amnesty is a must for Boko Haram and since amnesty was granted to the Niger Delta militants it must be extended to the Boko Haram too. The agitations of the militants then, to some extent, were germane save for the violence. They were being ripped off by multi-nationals, leaving them and their environment destroyed even though their zone produced the oil that provides for the entire country.
They agitated for resource control and also they wanted their lives to be touched by the oil that was being drilled daily from their soil. We all agreed, at some point in their struggle that the Niger Delta region has been neglected for too long. Regardless of the sympathy their plight elicited, their resort to armed banditry was widely condemned in strong terms.
Juxtapose this with the Boko Haram uprising and its attempt to forcefully impose a religious ideology on a secular Nigerian society. The terror, senseless and wanton destruction of life and property they have unleashed on Nigeria in a gutsy bid to oppose not only western education and culture is despicable.
For those religious bigots clamouring for amnesty for those evil doers and murderers called Boko Haram, I will advise them to first visit their own households and slaughter their wives, children and burn down their houses and I will not hesitate to ask for amnesty for Boko Haram. How come those who are asking for amnesty for Boko Haram are all from the same religious background?
We were made to understand that granting Alamieyeseigha political pardon was wrong but granting amnesty to murderers in the name of Boko Haram is ideal. What a contradiction in a wonderful country called Nigeria!
Last month it was reported that a stalwart of ACN in Lagos State, Chief Ayo Akande has said that the Boko Haram menace that has rocked the nation since President Jonathan came to power would disappear within one month if All Progressives Congress, APC, wins the 2015 presidential election.
Though the comment was condemned by well meaning Nigerians, for waiting till 2015 before solving the menace, who told him the country called Nigeria will be in place for his party to administer by 2015?
The APC, if metamorphoses into a political party, will only have 9 states under their control and for them to win or control the government at the centre, they must have at least 25 states under them. Most of the governors who claim to be popular are exiting political power by 2015 and their relevance will increasingly diminish. The problem with President Jonathan is that, instead of demonstrating a strong political will in tackling the menace of Boko Haram and other societal ills, he is trying to please almost everybody because of 2015 election when his current mandate is being frustrated by the same people he is trying to please. Why will the president not declare state of emergency in states like Borno, Kano, Yobe, Niger, Kaduna and Plateau and prosecute Boko Haram sponsors and agents? If the president succumbs to pressure by granting amnesty to those murderers, he will regret it later.
The fight against terrorism is a team effort and should not be left to the ruling party or the sitting president because terrorists are enemies of mankind the world over.
•Joe wrote from Lagos. •E-mail:Osagie2010@yahoo.com