THE SHROUD SHOULDN'T BE TOO FAR AWAY. By Gora Albehui Dauda

"The mines left behind by the British are begining to detonate and the ramifications are devastating." Gora Albehui Dauda.

"My fear is not for the ethnic nationalities but for the geographical space called Nigeria.

"There is obviously a conspiracy of silence by the government of Muhammadu Buhuri to the extent that neither the government officials nor the government controlled press reports on the massive slaughter at the hands of the Fulani militia, terrorists and bandits alike. 

The Fulani themselves have hung on tenaciously to that falsehood ever since  believing that they own Nigeria and can behave as they wish particularly now that they have a Fulani president calling the shots in Aso Rock, how wrong can they be?.. 

If I had not joined the Nigerian Army when I did at that time of old, when there was still a NATION to serve, I would probably not have under the prevailing circumstance that we have found ourselves. If anyone were to speak to me about being patriotic, I will immediately enquire from such what exactly he/she means by being patriotic and to who? I will follow up with yet another enquiry as to who amongst those who have, used one trick or another to occupy public office will lay claim to being.patriotic.

As young officers of the Nigerian Army, we could literally walk into a storm in the defense of Nigeria and for a trurh, a few of our colleagues did just that and paid the supreme penalty. May their precious souls Rest in the peace of the Lord. Yours sincerely has been retired for about 10 years now and has watched this once lovely country drain away into a state of near irrelevance both at home and in the comity of nations. 

Chinua Achebe's novel "There Was A Country" mostly and aptly speaks of  the contradictions and travails of "a nation" but Nigeria's is much worse. Could it have been that the departing British drained us of our senses or why did this once promising country go down so quickly? To continue blaming the British or everyone else except ourselves is not only stupid but misses the point. 

The component parts may not have been meant to be in this unholy marriage but we did all agree to it anyway and therefore it has been up to us to make it work but we have not.  Even if we desired that the marriage worked, the British delibrately had planted mines along the pathway. 

That Nigeria is currently hemorrahging and dying a slow painful death is not on account of any natural disasters or afflictions but lack of capacity in the governance process. Had our leaders been smart enough to identify the mines the British left behind, only then would they have embarked on removing them so they could have clear paths to traverse through. Had  they been more pragmatic, focused and alive to their responsibilities, we would not have been in the current mess of insecurity and hopelessness.

The Nigerian Military did well to have kept this country together since after the Civil War. Recall that  for the purpose of executing the Civil War, the strength of the military witnessed a huge increase. Prior to the War, there were not more than 4 Battalions deployed on a regional basis for national defense. Not long after the War, and because of the threat assessment which was poor, there was the argument that there needed to be the demobilization of the military especially the land army to a more manageable size. The threat assessment at that time was only limited to our neighborhood, it was therefore a short term assessment and to that extent limited. At that time, it appeared perfect since in truth no neighbour of ours could threaten Nigeria without massive military and economic assistance sourced from another foreign country. To that extent, both the Military and strategic planners were completely blind to the realities currently unfolding before our eyes. Our leaders yielded to largely foreign rethoric and or reasoning which informed the mass demobilization. External influence justifiably informed the demobilization for.the fear that Nigeria did not require such a large Army when infact, Nigeria needed to have maintained the troops level or increased the strength. 

Those foreign nations that effectively encouraged the exercise did so not because they loved Nigeria that much, but because they had their interest within the continent to protect Nobody foresaw the rise of the Islamic State and the affiliates just as nobody could have foretold how swift these terrorists organization would advance to occupying territory. Boko Haram started as a joke but complacency on the part of government played the role of an incubator and within a short period they had become a major threat to the country. 

If the truth be told, government appeared either to be in sympathy with the terrorists simply because they were Islamists. From directing their attacks on Christian targets and their property, they began to attack Muslim too. Kidnapping of Secondary School students for ransom became their new tactics. 

Initially, governments claimed not to have been yielding to the demand for ransom payments but the claim turned out to be untrue. In due time, the terrorists and insurgents who to date the government chooses to call BANDITS  have extended their sphere of influence across Nigeria and nowhere is safe. In all of this, the Federal government did not appear to have a strategy for dealing with the worsening insecurity. For a truth, the government evidently has been interested in pursuing  or advancing only the interest of the  Fulani.

There is clearly in my humble view no will on the part of the government to bring to an end either the insurgency that has been ongoing in the Northeast or the mix of terrorism and the banditry behind the lines. It would appear that as the Military is bogged down in the Northeast, a security vacuum was created which the foreign Fulani militia as well as the terrorists groups have been busy exploiting. Whole villages have been razed down and the remaining inhabitants who managed to escape the slaughter have effectively been supplanted. Communities on the Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara and Katsina States have borne the brunt of the Fulani adventure in Nigeria with divastating consequences. This huge loss of innocent lives as well as property is uncalled for. The madness of the invading Fulani does not stop at killing, maiming and raping, it has been extended to include the delibrate destruction of crops. Fulani herders see nothing wrong in cutting down maize or guinea corn farms to feed their cows. 

The most heinous of crimes is that as the harvest season is starting, some of the Fulani go to farmlands where the crops have been heaped to dry only to set the heaps on fire mostly at night. If such does not amount to crimes against humanity, what does? There is obviously a conspiracy of silence by the government of Muhammadu Buhuri to the extent that neither the government officials nor the government controlled press reports on the massive slaughter at the hands of the Fulani militia, terrorists and bandits alike. Happily, the privately owned media has been doing a great job reporting all that has been going on. Clearly, a form of aparthied has been  playing out in Nigeria since Buhari became president for whilst certain characters are at liberty to say whatever they wish and some, in open romance with the kidnapping cartels, others who speak differently are quickly hunted down by the government's hunting dogs. 

One very fatal error of judgement the Fulami strategic thinkers have made is believing and trying to follow through the dubious claim that Nigeria is theirs.  Their behaviour during the Buhari era has all but exposed their underbelly to the extent they have lost the trust of other ethnic groups. 

Without having to play the clairvoyant, business will never be as usual between the Fulani and the other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. What manner of Nigeria there will be that is, if there will be a territory called by that name after Buhari is gone can only be left to the realms of conjecture.

The make belief that the territory of Nigeria belongs to the Fulani who themselves only arrived what later became Nigeria in the early 19 Century under the dubious claim of purifying Islam and eventually supplanted the Hausa leadership of that time was the most deadly landmine the British planted before vacating Nigeria. The Fulani themselves have hung on tenaciously to that falsehood ever since  believing that they own Nigeria and can behave as they wish particularly now that they have a Fulani president calling the shots in Aso Rock, how wrong can they be?.. The mines left behind by the British are begining to detonate and the ramifications are devastating. All manners of characters including Mauritanians are helping to advance that falsehood. Yes, numbers matter in a democracy but those under reference by the Mauritanians are higly contested and at best dubious. It is detestable for a people to continue to hold on to what they know is false.  Their elite who should be the apostle of truth are not helping matters by remaining taciturn in the face of the falsehood being bandied around. We shall keep reminding the Fulani that they left their ancestral homeland in the Guinea and SeneGambia region. The falsehood that Nigeria is their land through conquest is akin to believing that the sun rises in the West and sets in the East. Where do we go from here? It is evident that either the government or a cartel within the government are benefiting handsomely from what is happening. It is intriguing if the government is still living under the illusion that there are enough personnel under arms to restore peace to the motherland. The only sensible approach remains to put many more young men and perhaps women under arms as happened during the Civil War if peace is to be restored. My fear is not for the ethnic nationalities but for the geographical space called Nigeria. As the insecurity continues to worsen, it will be wise to source the shroud with which Nigeria will be buried as that time is nigh. To God Be The Glory.

Gora Albehui Dauda