A Response To Yinka Leo Ogundiran

A Response To Yinka Leo Ogundiran’s Article ‘A Revolt Against Northern Colonialism’

Mallam M Zakari

It is quite interesting to read Yinka Leo Ogundiran’s article titled ‘A Revolt against Northern Colonialism’ on Gamji Website. I sincerely believe that Yinka is one of the great intellectuals of Prof Wole Soyinka’s hue. His treatise is of great intellectual standing that most of the illiterate people from the Northern part of Nigeria will not be able to read it, or talk of understanding what he is saying in the article. I doubt if the so called Northern intellectuals, such as Dr Bala Y Usman, can be able to understand the import of what Yinka is trying to say. I suspect that Yinka must be one of the great professors of one of the ivy towers of the South-West. (The information at our disposal says that Yinka is a professor in the University of Ibadan).

It is a pity that the North is not that well endowed with intelligentsias of Yinka’s standing. From his flawless composition and great mind, he has thrown a challenge to the ‘mallams’ of Northern extraction to work had or look for help at WAEC as was the case during the last Senior Secondary School Examinations. I guess it was the mallams who were selling the questions papers on the streets of Lagos or providing special centers for the JAMB examinations in Lagos last April.

The quality of the exposé by Yinka is a great reminder that the South West is blessed and has capable hands who can teach the North a lot of things that they did not know. I will want to show case some of the great intellectual contributions by Yinka in his article so as to propel Prof Soyinka to recommend him for a Nobel Prize award. Already, Gen Obasanjo has taxed Nigerian University Commission to produce Nobel Prize candidates as soon as possible. Yinka’s piece comes in handy for presentation for an award by Nobel Prize Committee.

YINKA’S CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

Some of the great contributions by Yinka to knowledge or great quotes are as follows: (Note: No attempt is made to edit the quotes as written by Yinka. With computers, one can lift passages without addition or omission. Sorry, the mallams don’t know this. Please keep it secret.)

a. I am distended to enunciate my personal viewpoint and, maybe, bigotry about this on-going drama at the confab. (‘Bigotry’ , really)

b. My mind retains the image of the South-South delegates and I equally picture the tone and stance of their aggressors. I also came to conclusion where I found myself taking my stand in this national drama. (We know who the ‘aggressors’ are. Do you know them?)

c. At this Juncture, some stimulating conundrums are pertinent: Where is this resource located or, better still, situated? What is the rationale for the restrain against this Clamor? I will leave you to make the judgement in the later part of this treatise. (‘some stimulating conundrums are pertinent:’ May be Yinka was a student of Zikism)

d. From the figures available to us, not facts though, the Northern part is touted to have a higher population more than any other part of the Country, and on that smug of self-delusion, they assume dominance and authority over the rest bulk population of the Country. With this superstition of selfdom, illusion and paradigm, they constantly usurp on the rights of the vast numbers of the populace that emerge anywhere else but the Northern region. (‘…touted to have a higher population’, ‘superstition of seldom’. May be Yinka forgot Chief Abraham Adesanya’s cows and goats calculation.)

e. Since this ongoing saga has reared its ugly head, many Northern leaders have been expressing their Views about the development that has ensued but it's a pity that nobody from the Northern oligarchy has apportioned a REASONABLE Judgement on this debate.(‘Northern leaders’ are different from Northern oligarchy’. It is important to note this differentiation for posterity)

f. And to exacerbate this unfairness from the Northern hegemony, the Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Ahmed Markafi, made these following comments on the 23rd July at the 2005 Civil Service Day Lecture: "Those clamoring for this Resource control should see beyond now and think of tomorrow; they should consider the people at the receiving and of their decision; they should drop the case!"(‘Northern hegemony’- is it over used?)

g. I was also dismayed when I heard the Governor of Adamawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, voicing out his consort in this perfidy. He said the South-South are merely directing their aggressions towards the North! (I did not know that Gen Obasanjo has transferred Gov Adamu to Adamawa State? As Yadudu asked, ‘does the North speak from both side of the mouth?’)

h. Balarabe Musa, Umaru Dikko and Bala Kaoje are not left out of this vicious crusade. Leader of the Northern delegation to the Confab, Umaru Dikko, defiantly denounced that "Issues that have been decided should not be reopened.(Yinka knows that Dr or better still, Mallam Dikko does not know the meaning of decision so he cannot understand why they cannot be reopened.)

i. But whom is Umaru Dikko talking to? His comments underscored the arrogance of the North. And his attitude constitutes a most intolerable presumption and a flagrant insult on the brotherhood that we all proclaim. But for God sake, what manner of human being would publicly open his mouth to say people should not ask for their dear rights? Sensible and reasonable? ( Yinka, give it to them these arrogant Northerns. Who are they to open their mouth in this Nigeria?)

j. Ok, now, let us examine the Justification for this anti-democratic initiative from the North and lets take Kano State as a case study. How much does Kano State contribute to the federation account? The answer is: Nothing! Yet Kano State has 44 Local government, which routinely collects 44 portions of the revenue shared by local government council every Month. The Kano State Government also partakes in sharing of the volume of national income available to the 36 states and the FCT. Note that from the present facts available at the federal Ministry of finance, 93% of the money in the federation account is contributed by 9 oil-producing State and Lagos.(‘This anti-democratic initiative from the North’ The North does not know that they are subhuman and want to extend their luck too far.)

k. The 6 Niger-Delta States have a total of 122 councils whilst the number in Kano State alone, not to mention the numerous other Northern States, is more than one third of this figure - recall that miniature Jigawa State with 28 councils used to be part of Kano.(Look at ‘miniature Jigawa State’ that is not bigger than Yaba-Lagos with 28 LGAs.)

l. I intentionally chose to expose these parts of the embarrassing Statistics in order to underline the cruel exploitation that goes by the name Federal Republic of Nigeria. If Nigeria were truly a federation, these Northerners, would not have brazen the audacity to instigate a subversion of this rightful clamor and craving for equity that these people are asking for.(Yinka, I do not believe you ‘intentionally chose to expose these parts of the embossing Statistics’. You are helping the ‘mallams’ to know Nigeria better.)

m. Another question becomes apposite: why are these parasitic Northern States flaunting their illusory political advantage as if the rest of Nigeria will not survive without Northern States’ vanished groundnut pyramids? This is the corollary of the Military Sabotage of Nigeria Federal system. (‘Another question becomes opposite’! Prof Soyinka will help in explain this great saying for the mallams understanding. ‘Parasitic Northern States’! This is an addition to the ever growing vocabularies for the description of the North)

n. I need not dissipate much energy by beaming light on how 77.7777% rulers of this country have emerged from the North - whose contribution to the national covers is nil. (It is a shame that Tafawa Belewa would create Midwest, Gen Gowon, 12 States, Gen Muhammed 19 states, Gen Babagida 30 states and Gen Abacha 36 states; Gen Obasanjo de Kampe. It is a deservice for Gen Abacha to create Zones. Please, Yinka forgive them for you know they are all mallams.)

o. Assuming all these manifolds of unfairness were expropriated from our sub-conscious system and we jointly come together to nail that cruelty to our past and reasonably embrace equity and equanimity to make up for the past deficiencies, it would have been better, but alas, the Northern part together with some vicious factions of the Yorubas have ably and aptly stigmatized the aspirations of Igbo presidency as an aberration! Yet, the Country gets all it’s Wealth from that Region.( Yinka, I totally agree with you that the Igbos of South South should be given the chance the minorities in the South East should keep quiet. I will like to work with you on this project together with the Yoruba elders)

p. How smug! The Northerners see themselves as the only worthy and benefiting candidates for Aso-Rock tenancy. Yet Nigeria claims to be on ideal State. (Yes, ‘How smug’! With Chief not Gen Obasanjo from Katsina occupying Asso Rock, the tenancy should shift to the south west.)

q. With the present allocation formula of the country, only 13% goes to the Niger-Delta and 87% of the money goes to the Federal Government and other States to distribute among themselves. Even though this distribution pattern is a contradistinction to the abundance of the resources that they are imbued with. (I am totally in support of Yinka’s position. The South West, particularly, Yinka’s home, state, Osun, will gladly surrender their allocations to the South-South since the mallams can’t simply understand. I hope Ola will agree with you.)

r. It’s a plain commonsense to know that the cost of construction in the Niger-Delta region would be exorbitant compared to an extremely arid region; it costs 10 times as much to build a road in most parts of the Niger-Delta than any part of the North. But for mischief and other ulterior intents, the Kano State Governor, who is also the Chairman of the Northen Governors forum, has personally nursed that popular and vicious deprivation which has always been foisted on the Niger-Delta people and therefore, proceeded to exacerbate the shame by opening his mouth to say it. (Yinka should not blame the Governor since he is a mallam and don’t know that it costs ten times to construction 100 Km while he has over 1,000 km to construct in Kano. You know, Bayesia State is about ten times the size of Kano? Don’t mind the mallams for their lack of geographical knowledge).

s. Although this article is not poised at fueling the already-existent ember of discord and dis-equilibrium but it is geared to take an arbitrarily critical stance in all these issues. (Fire on, intention does not matter because these mallams must be told the truth).

t. The Kano State governor ought to know better than the uneducated majority of Northerners. (Yinka had hit the kneel on the head. You know the Governor is a mallam and as such uneducated.)

u. Well, no wonder, someone made this comment about some 3 years ago and I thought it was a word a marble: “Ignorance is not the same as illiteracy. Knowledge is not the same as literacy, or even the same as acquisition of educational certificates, or academic ranks. Some of the most highly educated in this country, by virtue of their certificates and ranks are some of the most ignorant over many crucial areas of natural and human existence and over our national life, like our geography, history, economy and politics”. I personally believe that this expression epitomizes the impending imbroglio. (Yinka needs to read this piece again and may be he will disagree on the issue of highly educated but being the most ignorant.)

v. It's very apparent that despite the intellectual acumen of the very fortunate few Northerners, their ignorance lags with ethnocentric and tribalistic avarice. How regrettable! (Really, there is element of confusion here.)

w. We cannot blame the creator for endowing us with this lucrative and productive natural resource, and hence placing it in the barysphere of the Niger-Delta. (…’the creator for endowing us with lucrative and productive natural resources,’! I really did not know that Osun State is part of South South.)

x. But we ought to thank God for this rich bequest and then use our own endowment of wisdom to proffer solutions to this accompanying natural degradation with revenues from this resource, which we should all do collectively, but the Northern caucus are surprisingly chagrined at the slightest craving by this poor Niger-Delta people to get just some more portions to make up for this natural inadequacy - which is fault of no man. (These mallams, what are they really looking for? Yinka should really move to the North to educate them on how to thank God for the favor being done to them.)

y. We all know that fulanis work so hard; they are truly industrious and illustrious when it comes to the real sense of it. But this innocuous question comes up: How would anyone, a Fulani, react if he is dictated upon by whoever about how he should administer the money he receives from the sale of Cattle he had meticulously and cautiously nurtured from a Calf for at least a period of nothing less than 18-22 months?! (The mallams don’t nurture the cattle. They sit and play draft games all day while the calf nurtures itself. On the other hand, Southerners are toiling day and night digging crude oil which the mallams want to enjoy for doing nothing.)

z. Recently, the Egungun festival was held in Kebbi State, and the attendance was bombarded by people from all works of life, which in turn meant generation of funds from the traditional and cultural event. What percentage of whatever they realized went to Niger-Delta? The answers to all my foregoing questions are always self-evident. (This is news. Kebbi State held ‘Egungun’ festival recently!)

aa. With these concatenations, lets now assume that South-Westerners or South-Southerners now raise eye-brow that Kebbi state and indeed all Northern states keep all the money they make from all these idle activities that are of no meaning and importance to the country as whole but, maybe, significant to them, and also the money they make from their Cattle rearing - although I don't know whether they collect tax or whatever duties from this Nomadic farming, how would these Northern people react to that? (The mallams are fond of ‘idle activities’ like owanbe. They should produce yams, tomatoes and so on which they import from the southern states.)

bb. We all say it with our tongues that we want to live happily together as a nation, yet, at the utmost opportunity for the nation to exchange views and call a round table talk - such as the seemingly illusory Confab, the Northern congress always implacably scuffles off the plans with various ruses and stratagems with their manipulated population. (These mallams of ‘Northern congress’ should swallow their ‘tongues’ so as to allow exchange of views. They should never have a position but only listen to whatever they are told.)

cc. This means: "Colonialism still reigns in the country". The Mallams have avidly evinced themselves as 2nd Colonial masters over the rest of us! But it is strange that their improvised theory of Colonialism or Colonization doesn't involve the development of the Colony - which we all milk from! (The mallams, with their lack of education, are colonial masters! It should never happen)

dd. But to confound this already-embarrassing situation, their contribution to the National cake is just 0.00000%! Well, its nobody's fault that God planted this boastful asset where it lies today,(Lazy mallams!)

ee. I therefore say that the Northerners should gracefully and gratefully accept whatever they are given because the resource in question is not their property and they don't have any right over it. (May be the mallams are ingrates!)

ff. Under the auspices of flaccid Nigeria's system of distribution and allocation, the Custodians of the abundance are punished and allowed to rotten; people who never contributed anything, like Kano, get exhilarating reward; (I thought the South owns everything but being custodians is news. I thought they farmed the oil or created it)

gg. all agents of production are treated with equal deference or indifference as the case may be, even though some are human beings and others are just gross material resources; (I am sure the mallams are the ‘just gross material resources’.)

hh. and those who contribute very little to the aggregate national wealth more often than not, get the lion's share in the course of distribution whilst those who contribute the most may get nothing at all or comparatively very little for their efforts. (Really!)

ii. Again under our federal viscous auspices, greed and naked self-interest are allowed to flourish, breeding in their wake permanent Oppression or what is euphemistically called “deprivation”, as well as the co-existence of extremes of ironic Wealth and Poverty which, in their turn, breed discord, strife, violence and revolution - which is evidently imminent in our Polity. (Good talk. It seems that I have seen this quote before.)

jj. If you think I am too stern with this treatise, you can take a plunge to the Village of Oloibiri in Bayelesa where this so-called resource was discovered in 1956 and then take a drive to Kano and, indeed, many Northern States or towns and compare their road Networks and the living conditions in, Aboh, Nembe, Bomadi, Ankasa, Escravos – all in Niger-Delta with North-East, North-central, North-East or North-whatever, you will form the opinion yourself - that is if you are objective. (‘North-whatever’ is a new zone!)

kk. We have been hearing about the Secretive plots, ploys and plans that Biafran aspiration is still not a former Civil-war agenda. There have been moves going on underneath by some powerful Oligarchs from Niger-Delta to detach themselves from this federalized State. This move, however, must be forestalled by the rest of us by briskly and promptly preferring a Solution to the intrinsic injustices that we visit on these our Niger-Delta compatriots with our ethnocentric and tribalistic greed - Yorubas also concurrent in this vein. (Really! Will the mallams rescue Nigeria again?)

ll. Therefore, a diminution of the Nigeria territory would falsify our vision, dash our hopes and specifically deprive us of the unlimited economic advantage derivable from a united Nigeria. Hence we felt ourselves compelled to fight - and to do so valiantly - "to keep Nigeria one". Similarly, the hope of an assured greater economic prosperity and social well-being in a United Nigeria, in contradistinction to the comparative niggardliness of a fragmented portion of the Country, is the mainspring for the smoothness with which the process is now taking places. (Really!)

mm. We must however whip up patriotic sentiments and lets quickly address these crucial national issues. The Confab should deliberate further to appropriate necessary and deserving measures to these imperative clamors. These people should get what they deserve. Otherwise, the Confab would just be seen as a mere chitchat, which involved the unproductive expenditure of vast sums of money, as a matter of fact, the participants were evidently and politically and hand-picked because I don't think I would have personally conceded my proximity to the delegates representing my state - Osun! That is why you see men like Professor Auwalu Hamisu Yadudu, who was the Legal Adviser to the most vicious and despotic head of State that Nigeria has ever known, Generalissimo Sani Abacha, in the so-called Confab! (Really!)

nn. Leaders of the World's most powerful Countries don't go about intimidating the Citizenry of their Countries with escorts and sirens, but alas, it's ludicrous that the Otta farmer who also doubles as the Chairman of Nepad, gives his lawyer, Chief Afebabalola, unlawful and illegal luxury of escorts and siren that oppresses proletariat which the AU Chairman claims to be serving! It's comical that this Legal luminary of distinction is swimming in ocean of illegal extravagance! Would Baba Iyabo say his lawyer needs special guards, watch or security? OK, well, what about the rest of us that make up 150 million? (I have gone blank since I really don’t know what topic we are discussing again)

oo. Well, angels who live in heaven are enough to watch over us in Nigeria! May God help us in this country. This should also be considered rather than concocting irrational and, indeed, unreasonable propagandas with his unctuous and robot-minded messenger, Femi Fani-Kayode. This lawyer who hails from Ife, who is specialized in disseminating arrant nonsense and propagandas, should always think before he addresses the Public. His haughty and thoughtless approach to many national issues is becoming alarming and embarrassing to the Country as a whole. (The mallams have lost bearing in this discourse for now.)

pp. And back to our egbons from the North, it's high time they stopped profaning that 13% derivation is equitable. They should eschew away any tribalistic sentiment and reasonably adopt good spirit of cordiality and accept the proposed 25%, and consequently brace themselves ahead for the imminent 50% derivation to the Niger-Delta region - which is an inescapable inevitability. (The North is only one tribe!)

Comments

A great mind like Yinka has displayed all that is wrong with our polity and how we view each other in this great country that we have. There is a fundamental flaw in our inability to speak the truth and look at ourselves as equal with differently backgrounds. We have lived as a nation for almost 100 years now but we have refused to learn about ourselves and how we are related but instead we play to the gallery.

Our leadership knows how Nigeria came to existence. Nigeria was created before we became federated. Check through our history and these facts are well documented. Lord Luggard created Nigeria. Tafawa Balewa created Mid-West region. Ironsi felt that Nigeria should be one administrative unit and thereby abolishing the regions which led to our first major political crisis. I know Yinka knows this but he will rather over look that part of our history. As a result of the unification crisis, Gowon created 12 states in order to reduce tension in the country. Gen Muhammed created 19 states without recourse to seeking anybody’s opinion. Everybody was happy. Gen Babangida created a totally of 30 states which brought governance closer to the grass route. Gen Abacha top it up with creation of 36 states.

The desire of our public commentators is to ignore facts of history so as to create misunderstanding among our common folks who are less affected in our political calculus. We always make references to the United States as a typical democracy and federating units without taking our time to really understand how they became a nation. The semblance of our system with that of USA is the 1914 amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorates of which the decision was not made my Nigerians.

I am sure Yinka would have reread his piece and may have discovered that he could have done a better job by doing a simple research into history since he lives within a famous University community. It is no more news for the Northern bashing with headlines such as ‘A Revolt against Northern Colonialism’. Or the concerted effort by Dokpesi’s AIT to dehumanized the North and its citizens. The only luck the North has is that it is not bordering the sea otherwise; all its citizens should have been pushed into the sea for good.

It is a pity that Nigerians have been sucked in by the Confab which has no place in law. The tension and bad blood which it has created was unnecessary since its role was merely advisory. The convener of the conference told everybody who cares to listen that he is seeking advice on how to move the nation forward. I do not believe that one should not be prepared for any activity that requires a discussion but rigid positions and over dramatization usually lead to disappointment particularly when one has told the world that there is no retreat on an issue.

We should sympathize with ourselves when somebody like Dr Mathiew Mbu, Chief Clerk, Mike Akhigbe and a host of others walked out of the conference and an elder statesman, Dr Saraki running after them so that they can return to the conference. Dr Mbu has been part of all conferences that has to do with the future of Nigeria but at over 75 years old, he that should be in the forefront of making Nigeria great is being used for the creation of tension. We should salute great Nigerians such as Dr Joseph Wyas, Adam Oshomole and Gen Samuel Ogbomudia for their steadfastness and leadership during this trying period in our national life.

The Confab has come and gone like all other things, we are back to where we started. We hope that all of us have learnt our lessons. Britain has no constitution but they are at peace with each other. Good governance is our problem not laws. The only advise I can give, as somebody who has seen it all, is for Nigerians to make governments accountable. Nigeria has no problem apart from lack of accountability by our governments and our leadership. So Yinka, redirect your frustration somewhere else but not to the mallams or the Northerners.