Putting myself in President Buhari's shoes, it appears he epitomises a genuine Fulani fear of southern domination

By Ayo Akinfe

[1] At the moment, nothing polarises Nigerians more than the perceived nepotistic stance of President Muhammadu Buhari. He is seen as an ethnic Fulani champion who is trying to subjugate the other 249 or so ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. His handling of the Fulani herdsmen saga is constantly pointed to as firm evidence of this

 

[2] Some people may call this bad belle but the fact is that nobody had this perception of former Fulani presidents like Shehu Shagari or Umaru Yar'Adua as they were seen as being fair in terms of appointments, the execution of federal projects and treating all Nigerians equally. They were seen as Nigerian presidents. Simple!

 

[3] For some reason, however, President Buhari appears to re-echo the fears that the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) had in the run-up to independence. Despite the move for Nigerian independence first moved in 1951, it took us until 1960 to become sovereign because the NPC feared that the more educated southerners would fill all government positions and they would be left a conquered and dominated people

 

[4] Indeed it was not until 1954 when Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa visited the US, that he managed to come back and convince Ahmadu Bello and the rest of the NPC leadership that Nigeria could indeed survive as an independent state. Balewa's view was that if the multiplicity of ethnic groups in the US could survive as one nation, so too could we. As a result, the NPC changed its slogan to Independence Now from Independence in Our Lifetime

 

[5] Despite this, however, it took two lengthy constitutional conferences in 1957 and 1958 to figure out how Nigeria could work. A carefully balanced structure was put in place to get the nation going. Our complex nature meant that we could not easily sort things out like Ghana, who resolved all their issues in a matter of months and gained their independence in March 1957. Given we are made up of 250 odd ethnic groups, the negotiations had to be tough, with concessions made here and there. Ghana for instance, did not have to address the thorny matter of regional police. Despite us passing a motion for independence way before Ghana, they became sovereign three years before us because they are less diverse and complex

 

[6] Now nearly 60 years on from independence, I ask why these fears of domination are still there. It is simply not possible for southern intellectuals and technocrats to dominate northern Nigeria, so President Buhari's phobia in making 13 of the 15 heads of security agencies northerners is totally unfounded. Even if all the 15 heads of security are southerners, it does not pose any threat whatsoever to northern Nigeria

 

[7] By the same token, what appears to be President Buhari's fear of a southern military attack holds no water. To me it is crystal clear that his refusal to clamp down on Fulani cattle herdsmen, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) and armed bandits currently terrorising Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina States is because he fears that they may be needed to defend northern Nigeria at some stage in the future. All these fears are baseless, unfounded and groundless as during the tenures of Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan, nobody launched any attack on northern Nigeria

 

[8] President Shehu Shagari named Sunday Adewusi as his inspector-general of police, while President Umaru Yar'Adua appointed Mike Okiro and Ogbonnaya Onovo as his. Neither of them suffered any consequences as a result, so President Buhari's paranoia has no foundation whatsoever. Offering Macban $100bn to defend northern Nigeria against attack is just euphorbia of the worst kind. That money would have been better spent on education to prevent Almajiris being recruited into Macban in the first place

 

[9] By the same token, this refusal to delegate authority to the federating units just leads to the incessant growth of poverty. As long as this notion that holding onto an ever-powerful centre is the only means to guarantee security, northern Nigeria will just keep getting poorer and poorer as there is no incentive for the governors to make their states self-reliant. No matter how many local governments you create or doctor census figures, whatever they get out of the federal purse in restricted by global oil prices and Nigeria's petroleum output. It is only a matter of time before the internally generated revenue of Lagos State created from genuine economic activity surpasses Nigeria's total oil proceeds. Maybe that will drive home the futility of this static mindset and force the centre to realise that the way forward is to make Nigeria's states self-reliant

 

[10] President Buhari clearly has a genuine fear and it is clear to me that this paranoia is growing on a daily basis. His recent decision to licence a Fulani radio station, to disarm local vigilante groups who want to protect their communities from Fulani herdsmen and the pronouncement that anyone caught supporting Ipob would be treated as a terrorist and shot on the spot, without the same message being sent to Macban, shows how fearful this administration is. I am trying to put myself in his shoes and I can see a man who is fearful that January 15 1966 may repeat itself. Mr President, I think we need to leave old ghosts in the past where they belong. Nobody has anything to fear from a united Nigeria at ease with itself

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