Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet
USAfrica: Why dangerous talk in Kaduna by El-Rufai, Atiku and Tinubu should worry Nigerians.
By Onwuasoanya FCC Jones, is a contributing analyst to USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, US-based professional newspaper published on the Internet and USAfrica magazine, Houston.
One of the banes of Nigeria’s politics and invariably, governance, is the fact that we take a lot of things for granted, and some leaders make reckless jokes of serious matters.
That’s part of why we are not considered a serious nation. If you have ever had a heart to heart talk with someone who isn’t a Nigerian, you should know how we are assessed and seen by many other people.
We are in most part regarded as brilliant people governed mostly by incompetent people. Also, we are among the most patient people in the world, with our political class.
on October 17, 2022 in the northern Nigeria major city of Kaduna, this notion, as unfortunate as it is was reenforced through the speeches of some of Nigeria’s most powerful men and a few women gathered at the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
The politicians came to seek support for what is regarded to be the biggest job in the entire Africa and Black world – becoming President of Nigeria.
Add the NEF event, from the Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to the presidential candidates for the 2023 elections Atiku Abubakar (PDP) to Bola Tinubu (APC), very dangerous and highly divisive statements were made.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Nigerians do not seem quite concerned about the dangerous implications of those comments.
On NASIR EL-RUFAI: Not much for the falsehood he boldly spewed but for the irresponsibility and high sensitivity of the speech, when properly analyzed, Governor of Kaduna State should have by now be explaining to the Kaduna House of Assembly or any of the appropriate authorities why he has to make such a divisive statement. Of course, one didn’t need a video where he personally exonerated Peter Obi of being responsible for his “ordeal” (only required by the federal security agencies to stay in this hotel premises) in Anambra State on the day of election.
Here’s why: he was neither an accredited observer nor a voter in that election.
El-Rufai knows that a governor does not command nigeria’s security agencies, they are federally controlled.
What is most stomach churning about El-Rufai’s statement is its clear tribalistic slant. By saying that “We are Northerners and Northerners are civilized people”, he was clearly saying that Southerners are uncivilized people. And he was cheered by a number of those in that hall. He openly insulted the entire Northerners, including the man who gave him his first major political and government job, retired army General and former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Yes, in describing all Southerners as uncivilized people, no one is spared, including his current “mugu”, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
El-Rufai’s insinuation of having the mechanized division of the Nigerian Army under his command also speaks to his ignorant arrogance in power. The Army, all over the world, even in Confederal unions like the UAE is a centrally commanded institution. For El-Rufai to imagine that he has the powers to deploy even the smallest platoon of the Nigerian Army should give us an insight into the emptiness of the individuals we regard as our leaders.
On ATIKU ABUBAKAR: His promoters call him “the unifier”, but by his latest Kaduna speech and action, Nigeria’s former Vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has accentuated our division more than any other politician in the current era. Evidently, he advertises his own concept of Northern supremacy.
On October 17, 2022 in Kaduna, Atiku didn’t bother selling his candidacy to his audience on the basis of his personal qualifications or experiences in leadership,
but on the basis of being a Northerner and being Fulani. He accused the South of disrespecting the North and the Fulani, and any reasonable person would be forced to ask; how?
The North has almost every valuable position and key appointments in the country.
Especially since 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim and retired army General took over with the APC.
They have had an unbroken seven years plus in power.
During the military era, the North dominated several agencies in the country, Northerners call the shot, and it is not just Northerners, but Northern Muslims and Fulanis. Yet, the South is still cast as the aggressor, by someone who wants to be our President?
On BOLA TINUBU The national leader of the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate has become synonymous with very expensive goofs.
His media handlers have spent more time trying to explain his speeches than
they have telling Nigerians what qualities qualify him for the presidency which he desperately seeks. However, at the same October 17 event in Kaduna, he had a relatively complicated day. He bared his mind, and that includes advertising his scorn for Christianity.
Tinubu’s reference to “a rat eating poisoned Holy Communion” is not a slipup, like his supporters would want to argue, but a deliberate insult on Christianity and our most cherished religious ceremony. Tinubu could have made his ratty inference with rats in Aso Rock or anything else, but he chose to abuse Christians deliberately. He knows how it would have been taken if he had made that inference with Islam or the Mosque, and he wouldn’t dare it. Tinubu, a Yoruba, Southern Nigerian Muslim seems like he is sending a message that Christianity’s most revered item of worship can be ridiculed.
The Blessed Sacrament or the Holy Communion is not like every other item of worship in Christendom, it is the most valuable. It is the Blood and Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and is safeguarded with the utmost respect and reverence. Referring to a “poisoned Holy Communion” is the same as saying that the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ could be so cheap as to be used as a rat bait.
Beyond politics and whatever might be anyone’s interest, it is important that Nigeria’s leaders respect the religious sensitivities and ethnic composition of this country. Politicians and political candidates should be encouraged to be responsible in speech at this critical time.
I believe there should be consequences for those who choose to spew hate and advance friction during this campaign period, and afterwards.
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