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ACF: Chief Obasanjo
is not our enemy (II)
By MUHAMMAD RABIU H. AJUMAWA
Obviously, there are people in the ACF whose intentions are genuine for what
the forum stand for, but in my view the strategies adapted are old fashioned
and completely oblivious of the oppression, suppression, subjugation, human
right abuses, and other vices being perpetrated by those who ought to show
example in the region. Somehow because of the improved funding of the local
government councils and the states there ought to have been remarkable
changes in the grassroots, yet there are hardly any meaningful dividends of
democracy. It should be borne in mind that the old fashioned strategy of
producing a scapegoat in an innocent person is no longer tenable and this is
why I believe our President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo does not deserve
negative propaganda.
It is important to note that the north cannot go on ruling or imposing
itself on others. No, it is quite impossible, the earlier we stop deceiving
ourselves over this illusion the better. And those who are chanting war
slogans believing that it is either the north or nobody, must stop
henceforth, because the region is not as it was before. Even among ourselves
we know the north and/or many of its people are now bad. Those who started
blowing the whistle and decried the antics of the region were the
middle-belt citizens. Some years ago people like JS Tarka, Mr. Chia Surma,
Ambassador Jolly Tanko Yusuf, (RIP) and some others had variously, charged
the region or the core north of a series of atrocities. As Mr. Surma once
said during a meeting in Kaduna in the 90s, and which is still fresh in our
minds, was that the north needs to reconcile with itself more than with any
other part of the nation. It may therefore help if the ACF is reminded of
the genesis of setting up the Northern Council of Elders for Reconciliation
and National Unity (NCERNU). One of the reasons was that the core North has
abandoned honesty, patriotism and compromise as the region’s first premier
symbolized. This is very much true even as at today.
A lot of things need to be cleared and put in proper perspective if some of
these propaganda campaigns embarked upon to bring back the ideologies of the
old northern region can be impacted in the minds of the people. I asked
myself a few questions, such as must Chief Obasanjo transform himself into a
northerner before the cessation of campaign of hatred or hostilities against
him is announced? Must every Nigerian leader especially those from outside
the region accept and entrench hegemony or oligarchy before a peace truce or
peace pact is agreed with him? Does Nigeria belong to a particular section
of the country? Those who are criticizing the president, are they
representing our interests? The irony of all these propaganda campaigns
against the president in my opinion is because the man is striving to build
a sustainable democratic culture where the high and low in the country are
answerable to the laws of the land. We have already started witnessing
corrupt officials crumbling, billions of Naira fritted away have been
recovered. If the ACF wants to carry everybody along it could embrace this
war against corruption and identify itself with the on going reforms in the
country.
Democracy as we were told is about give and take, live and let live,
compromise, mutual understanding, mutual respect, sacrifices, and serving
people positively. In my view if previous regional political champions
and/or gladiators in the persons of Mallam Aminu Kano, the Sardauna of
Sokoto, Tafawa Balewa, and others (RIP), were alive today, they would not
have problem in endorsing the leadership styles and qualities of Chief
Obasanjo. And if in the 60s and 70s the north had accommodated to a large
extent the interests of all the people/communities, today self-serving
individuals have taken over the region and only reforms as embarked upon by
Mr. President can bring back the glory of the region and the country in
general.
In a nutshell, this is not saying there are no good people who are well
intentioned in our regional associations as earlier pointed, but it should
be noted that some of the criticisms against the president shows that some
people are interested in turning the region or the core north to another
evil empire similar to what happened to the eastern bloc nations during the
days of Soviet Union where the rights of the people in those countries were
emasculated and imprisonment and/or killings became the verdict of those
activists who were pestering for freedom and human rights. We all know that
hegemony, cabalism, oligarchy or feudal barons’ cannot be sustained forever
because the new world order is steering towards openness, peace,
interdependence for the end’ benefit of all mankind.
We must learn to accept others whether they are from this region or not and
whether they are Muslims or not, especially now that it has become clear
that the power we had previously, shamefully ended in serving the desires of
a few people while it had on a large scale hindered or unresolved the
economic and educational backwardness of our people. It will assist if we
see the emergence’ of Chief Obasanjo as a rennaisance period for upliftment
towards greatness, taking into cognizance the magnanimity of his policy
which has given rise to the boosted fiscal allocations of the entire region.
But it appears our plight is self inflicted just as his Excellency Gov.
Bafarawa has pointed out via the comments he made on the BBC. Our so called
regional leaders are determined to see us lagging behind while they took
delight in diverting our attention in making a scapegoat in Mr. President.
Thank God Almighty that with the world that has become a global village an
average person can access information and swiftly verify where blame is
suppose to go.
After the historic and famous declaration of His Excellency the Governor of
Sokoto state, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa on the BBC, many of us are constraint
to believe that our backwardness as a region was deliberate. Of course,
stories were flying around on how the governor was pressured to fine tuned
his statement, incidentally many of us believed he was courageous enough to
say the truth unlike many of his peers. Even without telling, there are some
people who are still interested in having slaves as their Yandaba (thugs),
hired killers, etc, and this is why they are doing everything possible to
defeat or block the efforts of the president to guarantee our march towards
civilization.
It is really worrisome to observe these northern associations pointing
accusing fingers at other people outside the region as enemies of her north,
whereas in real sense these claims are just nothing but a mirage. For
instance, in my first sojourn as a civil servant many years ago before
joining the university services, I was brainwashed with an idea that
southerners are enemies of the north. Later became disillusioned to the
efficacy of what I was told, especially after seeing what sonic of my
northern seniors were doing. Viler a few years, I left and took up
appointment with Bayero University, Kano, with a belief that the academic
environment may be different, I found out the environment has been infested
also by agents of divide and rule who sustain their relevance by promoting
sycophancy as well as the north-south dichotomy.
Invariably, it has become clear that the under privileged in the north are
hypnotized into believing that Chief Obasanjo and other southerners have an
ill feelings toward us, largely because the basic weapon (functional
education) that would have provided the people the mental capability to
evaluate and/or analyze situations, has been made inaccessible by self
serving elites who are using the loopholes in the laws and procedures as
well as their immunity to suppress the less privileged. It is apparently
because of this phenomenon that these greedy elites incite the unenlightened
ones in the region to kill the Igbos and steal their properties in the name
of Islam or regional hegemony. Unmindful of the fact that there is the need
for people to understand that every Nigerian soul is precious and that there
are also capable men and women in the south who can provide better
leadership if given the opportunity. In my opinion Chief Obasanjo is one of
such people.
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER
25 2006