Country is not necessarily Nation, talk less of Nigeria manufactured into Country by Colonialism

Ipemndoh dan Iyan 

Denial is never a Pathway to finding Answers. It perpetuates itself, obstructs the right Questions, and eludes Answers. Yet, in accepting the Truth of a Question can One find One's Way to the Truth as Answer. Acceptance of what it is, is the only Road to Reality. Ipemndoh dan Iyan© 

Extent of the Nigerian Denial

'Nigerians' are in Denial of how ‘Nigeria’ came to be but Denial cannot make a Lie the Truth. What it does is close the Mind to possible Resolutions of the Conflict(s) One refuses to acknowledge or One decides to redefine. Inevitably,  One is stuck in self-afflicted Disorientation by own calculated Disinformation Enterprise. 'Nigeria' was created into a Country by British Colonialism which also "coined" the Name 'Nigeria'. It was a Concoction of different Nations.1 When 'Nigerians' face this Reality of the Aberration that 'Nigeria' is, they would realize that 'Nigeria' is not a Nation and with this Awareness they should recognize that 'Nigeria', ipso facto, can never be a Nation. We have no Precedent in History of anywhere in our World of how, when and where multiple Nations have forged into a Nation. The Roman Empire might be pointed at as Example but which Roman Empire; Eastern or Western and when the two were united under Constantine I, how long did the combined Empire survive for and where is it today? Nations can come together as a Country, and perhaps survive, as History apprises us of some Countries in the World at present but even then, there are still Frictions within such Countries, as in the Irish and Scottish Questions in the UK, and the Basque Issue in France and Spain. There are many more Instances of uneasy Coexistence within forced Unions. Thus, there can never be a 'Nigeria' at Peace even if not in any "hot War."2 The indivisible 'Nigeria' is simply utopian. 

The fundamental Consequence of Denial, in particular self-denial, is what the World witnessed vividly in the Attack on the Capitol of the United States of America (USA/US) on 6 January 2021. The Refusal to accept that the Republican Party, led by the Demagogue Donald J. Trump Sr, lost the 2020 presidential Election led to the Insurrection against the 'American  Republic' - another Name for the US - on that Day. Trump Sr was not solely responsible though. He simply stoked the Denial that was latent. From this 6 January 2021 Incident, at the least, we learned that Denial ultimately results in Dissonance. 

Before the US Insurrection of 6 January 2021, Nigeria had already experienced its Dissonance - Discord - in the 1967 to 1970 Civil War. Looking at the Country some 50 Years after the End of that War, it appears no Lesson was learnt from that Devastation. The Lesson of that War is the clear Depiction that Nigeria cannot be a viable Territorial-State3 for the following Reasons. (1) Its Human Geography Concoction of many Nations, although contiguous, are historically-hostile to one another. (2) The casual-Hostility, natural between neighbouring Nations coveting one another's Territory, was aggravated into entrenched-Enmity by the forced Merger of these disparate Nations into a Union by Colonialism. (3) the Perception within this Mongrel Union, that became the Country of Nigeria, that the Relationship between its Nations was not, and still not, equitable. (4) The Inevitability that 'Divisibility' of this Abnormality of Union called Nigeria remains the only viable Solution for its varied Peoples rather than the unattainable "Indivisibility" they had fought an internal and quite bloody War over. (5) The Reality that this Notion of the Indivisibility of Nigeria is an Albatross of the unfortunate Kind. 

Entrenched-Enmity masquerading as Advocacy for Equity

It is very clear that IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians hate FulaniNigerians. I) They claim that FulaniNigerians wish to perpetuate themselves forever as the Leaders of Nigeria. However, this Claim is no more than Propagandum because the History of Nigeria does not support the Unreason. II) They insist, lately joined by HausaNigerians, that FulaniNigeria is accountable for all Aspects of Insecurity in the Country because i.e., "this problem of Armed Robbery to Banditry, to Kidnapping, to Killing, to 'Rape', et cetera, started or was exacerbated when FulaniNigerians entered our Region or when they increased their Presence in our Region." The List of the Demonisation of the FulaniNigerian is endless. At no Time has any Evidence been produced. 

When I say 'Evidence', I mean 'Evidence': documentary; caught in the Act sort of Thing or Investigation-led Confirmation of Culpability. That is, 'Evidence'; tangible, substantiable, substantiated. Of course, no such Evidence as I have highlighted is necessary when One is appealing to those of the same Feathers as One. Yes, I have seen Images of Cattle Headers in various Nigerian Media Outlets wielding Assault Rifles but what really is the Authenticity of those Images in Terms of (a) Circumstances (were they carrying Firearms to protect their Herds - Cattle - from rustling (by Rustlers), (b) Locations; (are the Locations really in Nigeria and if so, where exactly) and (c) Times (what Year, which Date)? Even the Identity of the Herders cannot be said to be assumed; are they really Fulani and/or Fulani from Nigeria? 

FulaniNigerians are denigrated and held responsible for all Sorts of Damage for which they could not equitably be held as solely perpetrating. They are the Scapegoats for the social, including economic Difficulties of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when the Blame lies elsewhere. The only why FulaniNigeria is the 'target for Liability' is the same cyclical Hate for the Fulani. I have used the Expression 'cyclical' because the hate-mongering starts from the Viewpoint that the Fulani wish to dominate Nigeria and reiterates that Viewpoint without providing at any Point any systematic expatiation - empirical Evidence - of the Viewpoint that is really no more than Rhetoric. 

The Deliberate Misrepresentation of Global Terrorism Index Report for Propaganda Effect

Okay, I admit that you might find my Observations in the above Section tenuous, after all, "the Global Terrorism Index" (GTI) concluded the Fulani or Fulani Herdsmen or FulaniNigerians as "the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world." Actually, it is not true that the GTI made such a Claim when writing of the "fourth deadliest terrorist group." The GTI did not mention Fulani or Fulani Herdsmen or FulaniNigerians. What it said is as follows: "the fourth most deadly terrorist group of 2014, Fulani militants …". There was no World Hierarchy in that Statement although the Statement itself did not make clear its Basis of Comparison; World (Earth), Hemisphere (Part of the Earth), Africa (Continent), West Africa (Region of the Continent) or Nigeria (Country). Quite sloppy. Nevertheless, the Statement was made in the GTI's 2015 Report.4

IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians are transposing and emphasizing an Assessment made some seven Years ago of Conditions some eight Years back, to the Situation in 2020 and 2021. Yet, in subsequent Reports to its 2015 Findings on Events of 2014, the GTI has reversed its Conclusion of "Fulani militants [as] the fourth deadliest terrorist group" whatever its Basis of Comparison, cloaked to Readers. Importantly, there are philosophical, practical, and semantic Differences between Fulani and Fulani Herdsmen and FulaniNigerians and 'Fulani militants.' There is also a Difference between 'Militant' and "Militia" although the Likes of Judeo-Christian Groups such as the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) have Difficulties in making the Distinction. This is not 'splitting hairs'. There is actually a Distinction in Meaning. It is both a philosophical Distinction as it is a practical one. It is certain that the CSW never even read any GTI Report. Below is what the CSW wrote

The Fulani militia (also known as Fulani herders) come from a nomadic, predominantly Muslim tribe. In 2014 the militia was named the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index.5

In its 2020 Report,6 the GTI made three salient Points. First; it corrected its 2015 Report's wrongful  Description of "Fulani Militants" as a "terrorist group." Second; it debunked the Nonsense of a Fulani "terrorist group" in Nigeria. Both these Reversals are in the Excerpt indented below. 

Events in the GTD [Global Terrorism Database] attributed to ‘Fulani Extremists’ reflect the use of terrorism as a tactic in the conflict between pastoralists and farmers, rather than the existence of an organized terrorist group. 

The third salient Point in the 2020 GTI Report is that Terrorism in Nigeria blamed on FulaniNigerians is on the Decrease. In fact, dwindling since 2016 (and which GTI Reports had been taking Account of). Below is how GTI Report 2020 puts it at various Points: 

Nigeria recorded the second largest reduction in deaths from terrorism in 2019 ... a 39.1 per cent reduction … mainly due to a fall in terrorism deaths attributed to Fulani extremists. 

This reduction occurred despite a small increase in deaths attributed to Boko Haram ... Deaths from terrorism in Nigeria are now 83 per cent lower than at their peak in 2014. Nigeria had the second largest fall in total deaths [between 2018 and 2019], owing largely to a 72 per cent reduction in fatalities attributed to Fulani extremists. Despite this decrease, the number of deaths attributed to Boko Haram increased by 25 per cent from 2018 to 2019. (my Emphasis)

The Browbeating of FulaniNigeria by IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria

In spite of the foregoing Abundance of Information I referred to in the preceding Section on the Decline of Fulani-attributable Violence with which to refute IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria false Insistence of an upward Trend, FulaniNigeria's Spokespersons in various Capacities - State Governors, Legislators (Federal and State), Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) - have simply backfooted themselves into apologizing for ills FulaniNigeria is not culpable for, at least, exclusively. When I read or watch Nigerian Media and I come across Names and/or Persons apprehended by Nigerian Security Services in IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria for the Crimes IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria accuse FulaniNigeria of, I hear Igbo Names and I see Igbo Persons, I hear Yoruba Names and I see Yoruba Persons, I hear Edo Names and I see Edo Persons, I hear Names from the Delta and I see Delta Persons, I hear Names from other Nationalities in Nigeria and I see Persons from other Nationalities in Nigeria. 

I have yet to come across arrested Felons who are FulaniNigerians. Ah yes, IgboNigerians  and YorubaNigerians have the Answer for my not having come across FulaniNigerian arrested Felons; "the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who is Fulani, is aiding and abetting FulaniNigerian Criminals. So is his Attorney-General who is Fulani, as are all his Heads of Government and Presidential Advisers. All Fulani." Ergo, FulaniNigerian Offenders are not apprehended. Of course, it will be unmitigable Gibberish for me to suggest that there are no Fulani Felons. I would not then be different from the IgboNigerians and HausaNigerians and YorubaNigerians I am talking about here. A Felon is a Felon  irrespective of Nationality7 and/or Ethnicity8 (or even racial Origin). 

What exactly do these YorubaNigerian and IgboNigerian hate-mongers believe they can achieve with their blatant Lies and irrational Attitude against FulaniNigerians? There are Heads of Departments, Ministries, Services, and Presidential Advisers in Buhari’s Administration who are IgboNigerian and YorubaNigerian as our unconscionable Hate-Mongers. Do they think lying to gain Sympathy from the Western World, oblivious of what Name belongs to which Nationality in Nigeria, would stop them from being killed if another Civil War broke out in Nigeria? People die in Wars; Combatants and non-Combatants. These Hate-Mongers should forget their uneducated Beliefs about their JuJu - Supernatural Powers/Voodoo - keeping them safe. People die, period. Believe me. IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria, principally, are pushing Nigeria to the Abyss of War with their careless Talk and Unreason. 

Is Muhammadu Buhari really Fulani?

It is about a third true that Muhammadu Buhari is Fulani.9 His Father's Line is Fulani. His matrilineal Lineage comprises Hausa and Kanuri. Buhari can choose to identify as 'Fulani' should he want to or as 'Hausa' or as 'Kanuri' but he has not separated himself from any of these three Identities. Not that it matters which Nation or Ethnicity One belongs for One to do the right Thing or to think with Conscience. I am pretty confident that there are IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians who take Exception to IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria Derogation of FulaniNigerians. I am not sure whether by insisting that Buhari is 'Fulani', IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians are (1) talking out of Ignorance of his Origins or (2) stuck to the Nonsense that the Identity of an Offspring is determined only by the patrilineal Line. I am not certain about IgboNigeria but this Father's Heritage Drivel was not YorubaNigeria's Custom prior to British Colonization. Those familiar with Yoruba History are much aware of this. Remember the Yoruba god 'Sango' - Bade, Jakuta, Shango, Xango - who was also the third Alaafin of Oyo, the greatest ancient Yoruba Empire? His Mother was not Yoruba. She was a Nupe-Fulani Princess. If YorubaNigeria held the Tosh of Father's only Identity prior to colonial Acculturation, how then did Shango become Alaafin? 

Further Examination of the Allegation of FulaniNigeria Hegemony or intentioned Hegemony

That FulaniNigeria desires to secure Ascendancy in Nigeria on one Hand and on the other Hand is responsible for the many Forms of Criminality - they call it "Insecurity" - in Nigeria are mere Excuses for IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians to hide their deep-seated Hatred for FulaniNigerians. This Hate is premised on IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria Nationalisms10 and delusional Sense of  Superiority to FulaniNigeria. These two Peoples cling to Anglo-Western Education to make this Claim yet very few of them speak or write the English Language properly11 - I am talking here of Structure and Tenses not Pronunciation and/or Accent - or deviate from Textbook Regurgitation of their Education even when they profess to hold PhDs wherever from. I can be pretty certain that they suffer this same Inadequacy in any other Western Language with which they earned their academic Qualifications. These are the same Peoples with their vaunted Education who call any Nigerian above the Age of Eighteen (18) Years a "Youth." What is the Point of glorifying yourselves that you have Education when you cannot understand the Significance of: '"full age" means the age of eighteen years and above' from s.29(4)(a) of the current Nigerian Constitution? It is simply pathetic that these so-called educated IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians do not possess the Breadth of Intelligence to realize that the correct Expression to deploy in the Circumstances in which they use the Word "youth" is 'Young People' or 'Young Person(s)'. So much for their Education that adds no value to their individual Knowledge Base or shared Knowledge Depository.

IgboNigeria's deluded Superiority to FulaniNigeria was exposed fully in the Ahiara Declaration of 1 June 1969, about two Years into the Nigerian Civil War of 6 July 1967 to 15 January 1970. Indented below is IgboNigeria's View of "Hausa-Fulani.'' With all its Boast of being smart, it was without the Understanding that the Hausa is not the same as the Fulani. 

… Hausa-Fulani feudal aristocracy preferred anarchy and injustice … Nigeria was a classic example of a neo-colonialist state …  The militant nationalism of the late forties and early fifties had caught the British Imperialists unawares. They hurried to accommodate it by installing the ignorant, decadent and feudalistic Hausa-Fulani oligarchy in power. For the British, the credentials of the Hausa-Fulani were that not having emerged from the Middle Ages they knew nothing about the modern state and the powerful forces that now rule men’s minds. Owing their position to the British, they were servile and submissive. The result was that while Nigerians lived in the illusion of independence, they were still in fact being ruled from Number 10 Downing Street. The British still enjoyed a stranglehold on their economy

There was deliberate Disinformation in the Ahiara Declaration but who cared? The Drafters of the Declaration knew they were lying but their Audience did not comprise rational Individuals. First, all Elections held in the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (1914-1954), and in the Federation of Nigeria (1954-1960) were 'one Person, one vote' and the overall Results based on the general Count of Votes. Second, upon Independence from Colonization, both The Constitution of the Federation of Nigeria, 1960 and The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1963 made clear the Executive Head of State of Nigeria was the President. The President was Nnamdi Azikiwe, an IgboNigerian. Thus, the Ahiara Declaration was dishonest with the Accusation that the British Colonialists imposed on Nigeria a "Hausa-Fulani oligarchy ..." Elections were governed by the Principle of Majority Validation both for the Executive and the Legislature. The so-called "Hausa-Fulani" were in the Majority, period. They are still in the Majority. So, so, simple Logic.

YorubaNigeria started playing its insidious Hand from 2020, camouflaging it as Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN)(Operation Amotekun) Security Apparatus alongside some open but straggling Voices denouncing FulaniNigeria. Its Hostility to FulaniNigeria is yet to be as proclaimed as IgboNigeria's Ahiara Declaration. Might be, it too is waiting to launch a Civil War before coming out boldly with its 'Ibadan Declaration'  ((WNSN) was unfolded in Ibadan). We will see. IgboNigeria has itself come up with something akin to Amotekun. It calls it Ebube Agu. As I have written above, the Indivisibility of Nigeria is not a viable Project. Here is where I am in Agreement with IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria and at loggerheads with FulaniNigeria and HausaNigeria. Paradoxically, it was the latter two which recognized during Colonization that converting the Federation of Nigeria, previously the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria but still a Colony, into an independent Territorial-State of 'Nigeria' was Failure inevitably. Neither the Composition nor the Amalgamation was natural or willing.  

There is de facto Divisibility in Nigeria that might result in another Civil War 

Divisibility does not have to be accomplished by breaking into Civil Wars. It can be done by Negotiation, which would entail Compromises and Sacrifices. However, the hate-mongering Insistence of IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria in attempting to restrict the free Movement of FulaniNigerians in clear Breach of the Freedom of Movement and Residency of all Nigerians under s.41 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (even as amended) is threatening another Civil War. In a Territorial-State, all Citizens have the Right of Freedom of Movement and Residency. They need no Permission on Application to settle anywhere in their Country. They cannot be asked to leave a Region that a Nation or Ethnicity in their Country claims to be its. These miss-road IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians - they claim to be Citizens but do not actually understand the Benefits and Burdens of Citizenship - who are already prohibiting the Movement and Residency of FulaniNigerians in Nigeria are not only breaching the Constitution of Nigeria, they are also flouting Regional Law (Protocol A/P 1/5/79 of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and International Law (Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Some have been criminal about executing their unlawful Demands to displace FulaniNigerians in own Country, Nigeria, while Others in Self-Misdirection have asked or proposed that FulaniNigerians in Regions nonindigenous to them should document themselves by Registration in those Locations to be able to move freely or remain within those Boundaries. The miss-road Entities include Individuals, Advocacy Groups - whatever good they believe themselves doing - and State Governments. A YorubaNigerian State Governor - supposedly an educated Man - even referred to FulaniNigerians in his State as "Foreigners." It is only in Nigeria, the failed Territorial-State, that you can have Individuals, Group Actors and State Governments with the Audacity to breach or propose to emasculate the Rights of Citizens enshrined in the Country's Constitution, in regional Law, and in international Law. Oops, I just thought wrong; the Attempt to infringe on the Right of Citizens in spite of the Constitution and international Law happened in the US with Donald J, Trump Sr after he solidly lost the 2020 presidential Election.

Nigeria is not prepared to be a Territorial-State of the modern World. As IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians desire to restrict the Movement and Residency of FulaniNigerins in Nigeria, there are apparent Ramifications. One; what are the Implications for the regional Freedom of Movement and Residency of other West Africans under ECOWAS Protocol A/P 1/5/79? What kind of Hostility will IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians pose to Africans in general against the Background of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Opportunities for continental Freedoms of (i) Movement and (ii) Residency, inter alia? It is not as if IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians are not resident permanently in other Parts of Nigeria or Africa. I met a number of them in my Journeys to 17 States in Nigeria when Nigeria had only 19 States at which Time I left the Country. I have come across many IgboNigerians and YorubaNigerians in my Travels in Africa. 

I never cease to be amused by the YorubaNigerian Remonstration of not accepting Offence - imagined or real - "ni ile baba wa" (our Father's Land) and the Powers of their 'ogun' - Juju, Power of the Occult, Voodoo, et cetera - against Enemies. I always wonder where these Remonstration and supernatural Powers were when the real Interloper, the European - Oyinbo - Colonizers held them Servants on the same "ile baba wa." Well, as YorubaNigerians themselves say "eni a le mu ni a ledi mo" or alternatively "Eni ole le mu ni ole ledi mo" - one that the Coward can subdue (soft Target), the Coward bullies. So, YorubaNigerians harass FulaniNigerians with the Terrorism of  Victimization. I puzzle similarly where IgboNigeria's Proprietariness was when the European Colonizer was riding roughshod over them on these same Lands they now insist are sacred and exclusive to them. It appears that the YorubaNigerians with the Attitude of "Ile Baba wa" are disoriented by the Conditions and Realities of modern Statehood. The same Confusion assails IgboNigeria. Even if these Peoples were to emerge into Territorial-States, a Preference some in their Populations advocate and which I have no Concerns about, their Countries would still have certain Obligations towards other Countries. Such Obligations include due Regard and Respect for the Citizens of other Countries when they find themselves in this sovereign Igboland or Yorubaland insofar as such Visitors are not in breach of any Statute of the Host Countries. 

The Foundation of Insecurity in Nigeria

The Insecurity of the Nigerian Republic owes primarily to the (a) Abuse of political Office, (b) Corruption especially of the political Elites not excluding Government Workers in high Offices, (c) deliberate Mismanagement of the Economy including the Country's Assets and Funds by Public Servants and elected Officials in order to siphon off - steal - Public Funds, (d) Dereliction of Duty by those elected to govern, and those employed or appointed to high Offices, (e) sheer Deficiency in Innovation by the Federal Government (Executive and Legislative) on how to move the Country forward, (f) incompetent and extra-judicial policing by Corruption-laden and graft-ridden Police Force, and other Law Enforcement Agencies, from Top to Bottom and (g) Bigotry and Xenophobia of YorubaNigeria (and Kin, IgboNigeria) against FulaniNigeria. 

Which Way forward for Nigeria in the Meantime?

I have heard Commentary from a prominent Nigerian arguing that these Incapacities of the Nigerian Republic emerge from the 'failure of Leadership' and that Nigerian political Elites should undergo "training in Leadership." I cannot recollect if he said it exactly like that but the Sense is the same. All prominent Nigerians brought out by Nigerian broadcast Networks disgorge the same Tunnel-Vision. 

The Shortcomings I have noted of Nigeria's Insecurity arise by Choice. A Person chooses or not to partake of any or all of those Ills. Ergo, the Issue is not about 'Nurture' but of 'Nature'. We make Choices based on our natural Inclinations. See George Kelly (1955) for a clearer Understanding of how we arrive at our Preferences.12 Leadership is a natural Inclination. It is innate and it takes many Forms. One cannot learn Leadership because a Leader is born, not taught. If One is born a Leader, One would not be a Perpetrator of the Immoralities I noted earlier. A Leader must never be mistaken for the Person who is in Charge because s/he has been thus promoted or elected. You are not a Leader because you have Control or are in Control. Nah, such a Person is simply a Superordinate. You are a Leader because it is natural with you, period. There are many Aspects to it that if you are born with it, you would respond to developing Events as you would put Food in your Mouth. No Training can prepare you for unforseen or unanticipated Circumstances. Only your natural Quality as a Leader can. 

A Leader is original - innovative and pacesetting not just rehashing established Methods which we all know about. That such Methods rehashed are proven to have worked somewhere is not guarantee that they will work everywhere. Of course, making such Citations of what already works will portray anyone as intelligent. The World is easily fooled by such Pretenders. They suggest themselves capable by talking themselves competent. It is worse if these Charlatans have some big Qualifications to their Names in Addition to having held prestigious Jobs. That is it; the Intimidation is complete. Questions are never asked of their Originality; of what Innovation they have given to the World. They are "brilliant" only in the Safety of the 'Safe'. Excellent at replicating what is out there without Mind to whether it suits the Situation at hand. I call them Rehash-Advocates. Our Rehash-Advocates are not Leaders, believe me. They are confident only about the known, but the World is full of unknowns.  The Leader remedies the Status-Quo with Capability - not necessarily Capacity - to grasp the Qualities in Others, exploit those Qualities  - 'exploit' is not always negative - and appreciate them. The Leader recognizes there are  Opportunities in any given Situation. What is unfortunate is that real Leaders   do not get to Prominence to effect necessary Changes. They are stifled along the Way by the pedestrian Multitude and swept aside. After all, the World is really about 'consensual Validation'; 'I notice you because you mirror me'.  

Ultimately, the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) is responsible for the Security of the Nigerian State and accountable for the Safety and Welfare of Nigerian Peoples. I have never heard any of the prominent Nigerians wheeled out in the Media by the Media make this Claim. Why should they? It is an Assessment they have not come across in their Repositories of Regurgitation. Why do I assert that the Buck of the Management of Nigeria stops with NASS? Members of NASS can make Laws to order the President of Nigeria, in this Case Buhari, take certain Actions to address any Issue in Nigeria. Members of NASS can proceed ordinarily to remove the President from Office if s/he were found not to fit the Purpose. This Authority of NASS Members is enshrined in ss.143 and 144 of the 'Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999' (even as amended). However, NASS Members have elected to be loyal to their political Parties, and be preoccupied in sustaining the Power of their Parties in Government. Members of NASS are the real Enemies of Nigerian Peoples. They are the Ones who truly threaten the "Indivisibility'' of Nigeria. 

Which Way forward Again: for the Anachronism called Nigeria 

Divisibility is not a bad Thing for the colonial Project that Nigeria was. It is the Establishment of 'Nigeria' for the Administration of British colonial trading Posts with contiguous Boundaries that today makes Nigeria an Anachronism. What is Anachronism? It is that which was fit for Purpose in the Past and should be consigned to that Era gone by. The Name of Nigeria itself was plucked from thin Air by a British Journalist, Ms Flora Shaw.  Writing a Piece  in 1897, for 'The Times of London', Shaw “coin[ed] a shorter title for the [merger of the] pagan and Mohammedan [Territories] … of the Royal Niger Company." That "shorter title" was 'Nigeria’, The Lagos Province was not Part of the 'Nigeria' Formula. The Pagan Territories comprised Southern Nigeria and the Mohammedan Territories made up Northern Nigeria. Shaw would write that Southern Nigeria "represent[ed] the lowest civilization of the country" (Nigeria). In 1914, Lord Frederick Lugard, as Governor-General for both the Northern and Southern Territories, collapsed the two Regions into 'Nigeria'. The Royal Niger Company had transferred the Territories to the British Government in 1899 and Lugard had married Shaw in 1902. 

'Nigeria' stopped serving as the administrative Management of British colonial Posts in 1960 when it gained 'Independence'. It would have been prudent then for Nigeria to have separated into its different Nationality Types instead of devising into a Republic the Management Mechanism for colonial trading Posts. Today, this colonial Inheritance of Nigeria in Adaptation to a Country causes unnecessary and avoidable Injury to the different Nations constituting the Country.

In order to maintain the Illusion of Country, 'the People' are distracted from focusing proper Attention at the Ruination of the Contraption of Country forced upon them. Rather, they are reminded by their Leaders by Way of Indoctrination to be guided by the Nationality Differences within the Contraption. The Leaders seed in 'the People' the Propagandum of one Nation bent on subduing the other Nations when the Truth is the recycling of the same Leaders to take Control of the Helm of Government. In Truth, the governing Elites rotate the governing of Nigeria among themselves. With Divisibility, a Country of Igbo People, i.e., Biafra, or one for the Yoruba, e.g., Oduduwa Republic, will not be pointing Fingers of Accusation at each other or at the Fulani for the Failures of the governing of their People by their own People. 

My Interest in the Matter of "Nigeria 

What is my Interest in this Matter of the FulaniNigeria Denunciation by IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria, and lately by HausaNigeria? I am of Fulani Extraction from Nupe in the Nigerian North, but was born in YorubaNigeria. I grew up in the Metropolis in an Area of mixed Population of Kanuri, Hausa, Igbo, Ilorin, and Nupe Peoples. There was no active Discrimination between these Peoples despite not necessarily sharing a common Language of  everyday Communication but for standard English, Pidgin English and Languages indigenous to particular Communities.  I knew from my early Age that I was not Yoruba even though all my Siblings had Yoruba Names from Birth, I think, except for me given one at Age 9 on my Baptism. I spoke metropolitan Yoruba quite well. I never studied it in Elementary School or in Secondary School. I did not bear my Yoruba Name until my Father forced it on me to enter Secondary School in YorubaNigeria. It was particularly annoying that he imposed that Name on me about the same Time he intimated to me that his Origin is Nupe-Fulani and that the Family had migrated to the Town they were claiming to be Indigenous to. YorubaNigerians call the Nupe, "Tapa." I do not know what 'Tapa' means but in most Likelihood it is derogatory, as is the wont of the Yoruba. 

My Family History on my Mother Side is curious and not detailed. I never actually knew where the Mother of my Mother, who took care of me from early Childhood, came from. She was a Judaeo-Christian, but had not been born one. She spoke Yoruba fluently and had Relatives with whom we shared no Blood Ties – as far as a young Child could tell – who were Yoruba. Her older Brother and younger Sister neither spoke nor understood Yoruba. I never knew where my Mother’s Father came from, but he bore a Yoruba Name yet claimed as Home the same Town as my Father's Lineage. My Mother did not assert herself as Yoruba and accepted being Indigene of the Town my paternal Lineage had journeyed to from Nupe. My Mother’s paternal Relatives too never considered themselves Yoruba. In fact, most of them too, neither spoke nor understood Yoruba. My Parents too spoke Yoruba well and you knew it is Language they were comfortable speaking. This Place they were calling Home was in the Midwestern Region when Nigeria at the Time had the other Regions of Eastern, Northern and Western. The Midwestern Region later became Bendel State but was subsequently split into Delta State and Edo State. The Town my Parents adopted as their indigenous Home is in Edo State. Its Inhabitants say they all came from Nupe. I do not believe they all got there from Northern Nigeria. From the Names they bear, some would have journeyed from Igboland and from Yorubaland. I lived in that Town for about Six Months and I noticed that all those born there in my Father’s Generation, and in my Generation, and about 10 Years after my Generation who had never been out of the Town and/or exposed to outside Influences never understood nor spoke Yoruba. In fact, they lived smack in the Middle of Neighbours whose Language they did not understand and who, in turn, did not understand their’s.  

From my Father I knew what he took for his Surname represented my Family Bloodline. Africans did not have Surnames until its Introduction by European Colonization. We had Family Identities explaining our Bloodlines. I said explaining not describing because these Identities told of the Family Groups from which we emerged. My Father’s Father did not have my Father’s Surname, if at all, he had one. I knew one of his three Names was a Title Signifier, if not the Title itself. My Father’s older Brother took one of his Father’s other two Names as Surname. He did not change it to my Father’s Surname until I was about 13 Years old. I had difficulty with the Surname growing up with the Yoruba trying to manipulate it as of Yoruba Origin until my Inquiries revealed that my Grandfather did not bear it because it is a Group Identity, and his older Son reluctantly changed to it to fit in with his younger Brothers, and the Rest of the extended Family. I wish he had stood his ground. I would have understood later as I now do that the name was not even rendered properly by my Father and the extended Family. The Misrepresentation of the Name as Surname, and in form would explicate why the Yoruba insisted on assuming me for Yoruba but for my first Name. 

YorubaNigeria - A General Picture

YorubaNigerians are a dichotomous People. On the one Hand, they want everyone to be Yoruba; bear their Names, speak their Language, et cetera.  0n the other Hand, they deny non-indigenes born in Yorubaland the Entitlement to claim the Yoruba Identity. This was writ large, for example, when Yoruba State Governors excluded Fulani born and bred in Yorubaland from being Part of Amotekun. Thus, the Message is that Amotekun is a Yoruba Vigilante Regime rather than a Community Security Apparatus. The Creation of Amotekun infringed the Nigerian Constitution and Yoruba Leaders made it clear its formation is to counter the Fulani Presence in YorubaNigeria. Despite this confessed Intention of Amotekun, the Nigerian Vice President, Yoruba Yemi Osinbajo, intervened to recognise Amotekun within the Law by retrospective Legislation. Yet, constitutionally there is no Fulaniland or Hausaland or Igboland or Yorubaland in Nigeria. There is just Nigeria for Nigerians. Any Nigerian can belong to any Part of Nigeria. That a Nation is in the Majority occupying a Region in Nigeria does not make that Region exclusively that Nation’s. It is this conscious and deliberate Threat to FulaniNigerians that made me advise MACBAN, as a representative Body for FulaniNigerians, to compose own Vigilante Outfit to counter YorubaNigeria's Amotekun https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1221060330664665088?s=19 & https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1221308735970324480?s=19. I did this at the time when Miyetti Allah was being conciliatory to YorubaNigeria's Intransigence. It is the Animosity and Degradation of FulaniNigeria by IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria in the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (and the Federation of Nigeria) that made my Father hide his Nupe-Fulani Origin from Public View but not from his Children. I am not sure where the body of my extended Family stand(s) on this Truth of being of Fulani Blood. They might claim to be Yoruba since they all have Yoruba Names. I am confident, though, that anyone of my Family Tree preferring to be Yoruba accepts that it is an Issue personal to that anyone and not of Concern to me whatsoever. What I will not condone is the Revision of that Family Tree to what it was never. 

I am certainly not justifying FulaniNigeria Cattle-herding Nomads wreaking Havoc in Nigeria, the Country they call Home. If they did wrong, they did wrong and they must face their 'Just Deserts'. No one has the Right to interfere with the 'inalienable Right' of Others. This is common Human Decency. One does not require Legislation to tell One that. It is natural Law. So, if in Truth FulaniNigeria Cattle-herding Nomads are marauding other Peoples' Properties and/or abridging their Spaces they must be confronted with the full Force of the Law. FulaniNigeria Cattle Herders cannot occupy or traverse Farmlands belonging to other Nigerians for Cattle grazing but deploy their nomadic lifestyle as Excuse for not offering or paying Compensation. It is philosophically wrong and practically law breaking. It is against the Spirit of peaceful Cohabitation. Then again, I have come across the Disquiet around "cattle rustling." Thus, a pertinent Question arises; could a contributing Reason for the Clashes between Farmers and Herders be the rustling of Herders' Cattle during their Movement from the northern Part of the Country to the Southern Part? I have heard a Governor from a northern State recommending Legislation to "ban" such Movements. I am unable to see how this Recommendation does not impinge s.17 and s.41 of the Nigerian Constitution. However, if such Legislation were possible, how would it resolve the Issue of YorubaNigerians driving out FulaniNigerians from FulaniNigeria Settlements in YorubaNigeria? Perhaps the Solution then is for FulaniNigerians to reciprocate in the Manner of their being treated by IgboNigeria and YorubaNigeria? I do not understand Nigeria to be a Country that allows individual Possession of Firearms, as the US does. Ergo, no Community should be so bold in openly brandishing Firearms in Nigeria not to talk of Assault Rifles. So, if FulaniNigeria Cattle-herding Nomads are confirmed as doing this, they are breaking the Law and must promptly be arrested and dealt with under appropriate Nigerian Laws. 

Interpreting IgboNigeria 

On the superficial Level, IgboNigerians are paradoxically excluding as well as imperious. However, on close Examination it becomes clear that their Exclusion of other Peoples is simply the Transference of their Practice of the Caste System at the micro Level of the Igbo Nation to the macro Interaction with others not of Igbo Identity. The Argument of Biafra in its two Phases of (1) the civil War and (2) current Proposal of its Boundaries by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) exposes the Igbo imperial Attitude. Biafra in 1967 to 1970 annexed Peoples who did not see themselves as Igbo but were within the Eastern Region Boundaries. The current Biafran Agitation, according to Nnamdi Kanu of the IPOB, proposes to subsume Peoples from Kogi, and Plateau States - both Northern States and definitely non-Igbo - into Igbo Nation Expansionism. 

Get to know the Fulani 

The History of the Fulani is one of Integration. Our nomadic Heritage does not contain our Identity to Territorial-States and this is why Nigerians can point to Fulanis from outside Nigeria as Culprits for the Insecurity in Nigeria. Whether or not this finger-pointing is justified is another Matter. The Fulani are not controlled or determined or defined by Colonialists' Dispersal of same African Peoples into different geographical Partitions of the African Continent. This was Practice that served the Colonizers and Slavers well in the severing of African Families on Slave Plantations. If anyone is directed by the History of Usman dan Fodio to argue that the Attitude of the Fulani is to conquer then you are not taking Cognizance of the religious Intervention in that Narrative. Before Islam, were the Fulanis not living peacefully among Others with their nomadic Lifestyle? We still do. I met Fulanis on my Journeys in the Republics of The Gambia, Ghana, and Senegal. The Yoruba are a different Story and it showcases their Disunity. They are the same People scattered by Colonialist territorial Demarcations into the Republics of Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, i.e., who see themselves in terms of those Colonial Legacies rather than as a Nation of People. Some of them are even in The Gambia as an indigenous Community but I bet YorubaNigeria would disassociate themselves. 

I am not Nigerian

Yes, I am Nupe of Fulani Origin in Today's Nigeria but I do not consider myself 'Nigerian'. One; I was born before the Geography you now know as Nigeria became independent of the United Kingdom (UK). Two; the Name 'Nigeria' is an Affront to African Identity and African Identification. The Name has no Meaning. It is Inheritance from the British Colonial Master. As the Yoruba might say 'oruko ti o ni itumo or oruko ti o ni isedale.'13 Three; Nigeria has done nothing for me personally. It did not give me my Education or my Self-worth or the Realisation of my Being. I was born a Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC) and it is the UK that gave me the Opportunities to be educated, to have Worth and to actualize myself. UK Taxpayers paid for my Bachelor's Degree but I funded my postgraduate Studies myself. I subsequently discovered that if I had renounced my Nigerian retrospective Citizenship, UK Taxpayers would have funded my Research Degree too. I had two direct Offers for PhD Studies and my Application for an Award was progressed by one University but alas funding by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) was reserved for British Citizens, and rightly so too. I went to Nigeria's Education Offices in London and it was expectedly hopeless, and only another Avenue of spiriting Nigerian Funds out of Nigeria by creating bogus Services.

However, I have to admit that Racism - as is Sexism - elemental to British Society has had an adverse Effect on how far and how much I could progress. I must also acknowledge that Nigerian Elitism carried-over Inheritance from Colonialism the most un-African Characteristic - still extant in British Society - of expected Deference to Authority. This is so, even when such Authority is undeserving. The Authority, whether political Office or Superiority at Work or Title, is presumed to be Dominance in all Spheres of Life - fungible - whereas, in most Cases, the Authority Space is where the Ascendancy ends. Importantly, Nigeria can never again be a Choice of Citizenry for me. Its Administration in all Strands, i.e., its social Organization - Government and Private cutting across Education and Employment - is too cruel, in situ and abroad. Any Opportunity in that Country for personal Advancement is Enablement of individual Enrichment through Corruption. It is this very Attitude that makes Nigeria a poverty-stricken Country. Nigeria should never be a poor Country not to talk of being economically destitute. It is not a Country whose Fortunes were ravaged by the Ups and Downs in the global economic Market. It is a Country savaged Day in, Day out by those in Authority driving the Affairs of the Country. They simply divert the Funds of the Country into individual Pockets. They safeguard themselves from the universal Ire of 'the People' by encouraging them to celebrate the self-pursued Glories of so-called Nigerians resident outside the Country (abroad). Such Manipulation of the Focus of 'the People', en masse, from the perpetual underdevelopment of their Society to the Appropriation of laudable Accomplishment of Persons whose only Connection with Nigeria is the Birth of their Parents there, serves well in enveloping 'the People' in false Consciousness. It frustrates me when those Nigerians of extended Birth then claim Nigeria as their own. The Question is: "if Nigeria were any enabling Country, why did their Parents escape from Nigeria to seek their Fortunes away from Nigeria?" They could not be more disloyal and ungrateful to the Countries of their Birth which also afforded their Parents the Opportunities to be what they could be.

Endnotes

1My 'Nation' is Group Identity founded on common cultural History, and shared Genealogy.   

2Halliday, F., The Making of the Second Cold War, London: Verso, 1983. 

3For the Definition of State, see dan Iyan, I. P., The New World Order 1986 to 1999: The Behaviour of the United States Within United Nations Security Council Responses to Global Conflicts, Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen, Google Books, 2002.

4Institute for Economics & Peace., Global Terrorism Index 2015: Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism, www.economicsandpeace.org

5"Who are the Fulani Militia? - CSW" https://www.csw.org.uk/nigeria-fulanimilitia. 

6Institute for Economics & Peace. Global Terrorism Index 2020: Measuring the Impact of Terrorism, Sydney, November 2020. Available from: http://visionofhumanity.org/reports (7 February 2021). 

7'Nationality' recognizes Belongingness to a Nation.

8My 'Ethnicity' is Group Differentiations within National Identities.

9Ifreke Inyang,. “I have not forgiven Obasanjo and I won’t forget what Babangida did to me” - Interview with Muhammadu Buhari - Daily Post (Nigeria).

10'Nationalism' as we know is the singular Concern about and for the Nation to which one is a Member of, prejudicial to the Circumstances of Members of other Nations. My Use of 'Nationalism' here is at Variance with the conventional but quite erroneous understanding of the 'Nation' from which the Attitude of 'Nationalism' emerges.  

11I have deployed 'properly' here to represent Semantics and Syntax, two of the three Modes of Language Transmission. The third, 'Pragmatics' is localized as is 'Syntax' in certain Cases. See my https://twitter.com/IP_dan_Iyan/status/1291721733209300992?s=19 linking to https://youtu.be/BVT39N9QtOs

12Kelly, G. A. (1955). The Psychology of Personal Constructs: Vol 1 and 2. New York: WW Norton. (A theory of Personality: Vol. 1 & Clinical Diagnosis and Psychotherapy: Vol. 2).

13A Name that has no Meaning or Foundation.

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19 April