“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty.” – Thomas Jefferson
The Asaba declaration of May 11th, 2021 was signed by seventeen governors from Southern Nigeria after their meeting in Asaba, Delta state where they announced among other things, a ban on open grazing of cattle in the whole of southern Nigeria.
This part of the declaration is clearly a premeditated quit order notice and a stamp of approval to ethnically cleanse the whole of southern Nigeria of all Fulanis. Let no one tell you anything differently. The exodus north of Fulani herders and their families has already begun, this is very concerning.
Section IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, guarantees the fundamental rights of every citizen to freedom of movement, the right to reside in any part of the country, freedom from discrimination based on ethnicity, place of origin, religion, gender or political opinion.
Profiling, demonizing, vilifying or making punitive laws against a particular ethnic group is reminiscent of what happened in Nazi Germany against Jews and in Rwanda in 1994 where in just 100 days, about 800,000 people were slaughtered by ethnic Hutu extremists who were targeting minority Tutsi Community.
I was shocked that these seventeen governors did not consider the likely negative consequences of their decision to the nation’s national security.
A DOZEN POSERS FOR THE ASABA SEVENTEEN
- The Asaba declaration is unconstitutional, null and void
- Fulanis have lived in southern Nigeria for generations
- Are Fulanis the real cause of all the insecurity in the south?
- The ban on open grazing is just a deceptive ploy
- The real goal is to cleanse southern Nigeria of all Fulanis
- No alternative has been provided for these herders
- Where are they expected to go with their cattle?
- Will enforcement of this ban entail ceasing or killing their cattle?
- What happens to the millions of southerners living in the north?
- Is the south ready for the expulsion of millions of their people from the north?
- Why the deafening silence from southern elders & southerners living peacefully in the north?
- Was the national security implication of this ethnic cleansing policy properly thought through?
If governments can provide land for spare parts dealers, mechanics, motor parks for commercial drivers, markets, abattoirs, hospitals, schools and cemeteries for people of all faiths, it is a national security imperative for herdsmen to be provided land and the required infrastructure for their cattle to graze and for the federal government to work with state governments to come up with an acceptable policy that will solve the recurring conflict between farmers and herders.
Lest we forget, the vast real estate and financial investments all across northern cities and villages by southerners whose people back home are profiling, molesting and killing northerners and who are agitating for secession to “Biafra” and “Yoruba nation”, are made possible thanks to the kindness and hospitality of the various host communities.
KILLINGS OF NORTHERNERS IN THE SOUTH
There has been documented evidence of unprovoked targeted killings of Hausa settlers by IPOB terrorists in Obigbo in Rivers state during EndSARS insurrection.
On 2nd and 3rd April, 2021, seven innocent Hausa Suya sellers were murdered in cold blood by IPOB terrorists in Afor Umuaka Market in Imo state. Also, in Ebonyi state, innocent Fulani families including women and children were pursued into the forest and killed.
Most recently, in Anambra state, Fulani women and children were massacred in their sleep in the most gruesome way and their cattle shot or slaughtered. I have personally interacted with the head of the household of these massacred women and children.
All these atrocities and many more were posted online by the perpetrators who the press conveniently refer to as “unidentified gunmen” instead of IPOB murderers. The silence of Igbo elders, elites and politicians to IPOB’s continuing ethnically targeted killings is very troubling.
In the Southwest, a region that prides itself with having very educated people, Sunday Igboho, an illiterate political thug is causing ethnically targeted mayhem and dictating the political narrative as the leader of the dangerously delusional and fictional entity called “Yoruba Nation.”
The last time I checked, there is only one nation called the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The south-western press repeatedly refers to him as “an activist” instead of the murderous political thug that he is. Again, the silence of Yoruba elders, elites, politicians and the press to the antics of this cowardly political thug is worrisome.
People in the north have so far exercised maximum restraint in the face of all these provocations and killings of their people in the south, thanks largely to the tireless, behind the scene work by their Traditional rulers, Clerics and Elders appealing for calm but, this restraint is not limitless and should not be taken for granted.
Northern governors, their representatives in the NASS, Ministers and politicians are missing in action while their people are being persecuted, killed and crucial decisions that would affect their lives and livelihoods are being taken by the seventeen southern governors.
RESTRUCTURING Vs. STATE GOVERNORS
Does any Nigerian seriously think that Nigeria can be meaningfully restructured before 2023 in this politically and ethically poisonous atmosphere?
Most advocates of restructuring are not even sure what they want. Some falsely believe that restructuring will alter the electoral equation in such a way that someone from their ethnic group becomes the President in 2023. Others are using restructuring and the threat of secession as a blackmail tool for someone from their ethnic group to be “given” the Presidential ticket in 2023.
While serious nations are charting a course forward, our politicians are agitating for Nigeria to revert back to what it was sixty years ago.
The governors that are joining the chorus for restructuring, are the same ones resisting the fundamental foundation required for restructuring which is, granting full financial autonomy to local governments, state houses of assembly and state judiciary. President Muhammadu Buhari signed executive orders authorizing autonomy for these vital organs of government but all the state governors are resisting it.
Governors know that Nigeria can only be restructured by interrogating the 1999 Constitution at the National Assembly (NASS). It is no secret that the vast majority of Members of the NASS got their tickets or even got elected courtesy of their governors. If the governors are really serious about restructuring, they know where to start, not at a political rally in Asaba.
The same Governors that cannot or would not pay workers minimum wage or retirees their pensions and that are illegally retrenching workers, are now agitating for state police which they will undoubtedly use to stifle democracy by persecuting their political opponents, suppressing dissent, rigging elections, anointing their chosen successors and perpetuating their cronies in power.
At a time when the ship of state is drifting, when the nation is facing the worst insecurity of our lifetime and our people are suffering excruciating economic hardships, governance has been put on hold for the scramble for offices in 2023.
Nigeria is at a crossroads, it needs good men and women with maturity, wisdom, courage, honour, integrity and the fear of God in their hearts to steer the drifting ship of state back on course.
May God Almighty Lighten our Burdens, Heal Our Wounds and Bring Peace to Our Land, Amin.
Yusuf is a Professor of Haematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation and former Executive Secretary of NHIS
