In
this explosive piece, Reno Omokri has called on the Nigerian people to
unite against their oppressors and those holding the country hostage.
President Muhammadu Buhari
When we in the South say that the Hausa people of Northern Nigeria
are our enemies we really ought to be aware that we are just playing
into the divide and rule strategy of the oligarchs who have been the
powers behind the throne in Nigeria for decades and who want the North
and the South to be suspicious of each so they can play one side against
the other and continue to dominate us to our detriment.
Now if you are a Southerner, ask yourself who are these so called Hausa people that are dominating us?
Of the thirteen Prime Ministers, heads of state and Presidents that
have either ruled or led Nigeria since her independence from Great
Britain in 1960, not one of those leaders have been Hausa by tribe.
Tafawa Balewa, our first prime minister was from a small minority
tribe called Gere in Bauchi state, known in the singular form as Bagere.
Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi was Igbo by tribe from Abia state. General Yakubu Gowon is Angas by tribe from Plateau state.
Murtala Mohammed was Fulani from Kano state. President Olusegun
Obasanjo is Yoruba from Ogun state. President Shehu Shagari is a Fulani
from Sokoto state.
President Muhammadu Buhari is a Fulani Katsina state. President Ibrahim Babangida is a Gwari from Niger state.
Ernest Shonekan is Yoruba from Ogun state. Sani Abacha was Kanuri
although he claimed Kano as his state because he was brought up there.
Abdulsalami Abubakar is the only Hausa leader we have ever had. Yet
was he a dictator? Was he domineering? Capital no. In office he was a
God fearing ruler who treated every part of Nigeria equally and ushered
in the Fourth Republic which has been our longest democratic experience
ever. Abdulsalami is and was a good man.
Does his image fit the stereotype of the mean and monstrous Hausa
man? No. abdulsalami is more humane than some people who even call
themselves clergymen! If he had wanted to stay on in power you and I
would not have been able to stop him. More than President Obasanjo,
General Abdulsalami
Abubakar is our own Mandela!
After him we had the second Olusegun Obasanjo administration which was succeeded by the Umaru Musa Yar'adua
administration. President Yar'adua was a Fulani from Katsina state.
He was succeeded by President Goodluck Jonathan, a minority Ogbia (a minority clan within a minority tribe).
He has been succeeded by President Muhammadu Buhari who is a Fulani from Katsina as previously noted.
From the above, some persons may want to adjust Hausa domination and make it Fulani domination, but that again is another Myth!
Of the four Fulanis who have either ruled or led Nigeria, two of
them were reluctant Presidents. President Shehu Shagari, who I have met
physically, never wanted to be President of Nigeria. That is what he
meant by the title of his own autobiography, 'Beckoned to Serve'. All he
wanted was to be a Senator. He was prevailed upon by the defunct
National Party of Nigeria (NPN) to run as their flag bearer. He was a
reluctant President.
Ditto for the late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua. He never wanted
to be President. He wanted to retire as a chemistry lecturer in Katsina.
He was persuaded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to be the flag
bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and even during the
Presidential campaigns of 2007, President Obasanjo campaigned for
Yar'adua more than Yar'adua campaigned for himself!
Now of the remaining two Fulani leaders, President Muhammadu Buhari
tried three times to be Nigeria's President and three times he failed
because he largely depended on the Hausa-Fulani (there is really nothing
like Hausa-Fulani, it is a creation of the Lagos-Ibadan press. You are
either Hausa or Fulani).
The fact of history is that in 2015, the then candidate Buhari's
victory depended on God who used two Southwestern Yoruba men, Bola Ahmed
Tinubu and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In other words, what the North could not do for President Buhari
was done for him by two South-westerners. So ask yourself who is
dominating who?
And in fact, Hausa is more of a language than it is a tribe. It is a
language that connects the people of Northern Nigeria. A lot of these
people that we in the South view as Hausa are not Hausa. They have their
own individual ethnic nationalities.
But when we in the South resist them and band them all as Hausa,
they have no choice but to fall back on that identity and unite on it to
also resist us in the South.
You cannot expect people you do not like to love you. And
government cannot force us to love each other. Government cannot
legislate patriotism.
You and I must learn to understand each other and grow to love each whether we are from the North or South.
When the oppressed people of Nigeria unite against their oppressors
it is then they will know that the masses are the only dominant power
bloc in Nigeria.
Until then, enjoy your imaginary Hausa enemies!
Omokri is the founder
of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California, author of
Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept and the host of
Transformation with Reno Omokri
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