By Olufemi Olu-kayode
Opinion
This essay will not be released to or published in the mainstream Nigerian media because it will be considered as being "too hot". Yet its message is far too important for it not to be written or for it to be ignored.
I would urge those that have thin skins, that are easily exciteable, that have an aversion to truth or that are unduly sensitive to criticism and the ugly realities that we are faced with in Nigeria today to stop reading now and drop the essay because they will not be able to cope with its contents.
I am a historian and my intention for writing it is simply to enlighten, educate and inform rather than to create rancour, tension, strife, division or stress. I do not seek to incite anyone and neither do I believe in or advocate violence in any shape or form.
I have also proferred a solution to what I consider to be the problem that some of our northern compatriots pose at the end of the essay.
It is a long contribution so I have broken it into two parts. Each part is well worth reading and it is my prayer that you stay with me till the end. Here we go.
A few weeks ago one Mr. Adamu Mohammed wrote an essay on Facebook titled 'Your Land Or Your Blood'.
The write-up was widely-published in Nigeria and it was well circulated in the social media. It has indeed been the subject of much interest and a heated debate.
Permit me to share its contents here. He wrote as follows and kindly overlook the bad grammer and colorful language:
"Ever since President Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of leadership of this great country Nigeria, we (Hausa-Fulanis) have come under severe media attack from enemies of progress.
Just because they are educated than us, they stereotype us with negativity. Just because they own and control the media, they use the media against us.
But let me make something clear to you stupid fellows hating us, whether you love us or hate us, it doesn't change anything.
We are who we are and we will continue to remain like that. We hate you even more and we can never love you because you are all infidels.
I pity those of you who keep deluding yourselves that we can love and trust you simply because you worked against your people to our own advantage, never!
I heard that the stupid Governor of Oyo State, Ajimobi said that they won't accept the proposed Grazing Bill.
But my message to the filthy Yoruba pig is that, if you don't want to give us your cursed land, we will rear our cattle not only on your farmlands but in your churches.
And if you try to stop us, we would killed your chicken hearted men like rabbits then turn your mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to our sex slaves like we have always done.
It is either you give the whole of South to us to use as grazing reserve or we soak it with your blood.
And what you would do like you always do is noise on Facebook and Twitter. You cannot be united against us because there would always be the likes of Tinubu, Amaechi and Okorocha in your midst who will divide you for selfishness and love of money.
Such treacherous characters can't survive in our midst because we burn them and their families.
I so much detest Southern Christians because they are the problem of this country. If I have my way, there won't be any functional church in this country, especially in the North.
That's why I am so much happy with Governor El-rufai who is living up to the expectations of Allah in Kaduna State.
We are not really pleased with President Muhammadu Buhari who is too slow to implement everything we asked him to implement in this country for us, he has not even done 20% of the Northern/Islam agenda, what he is waiting for I don't know.
We will make life unbearable for Igbos like they are in Hell, and yet we won't let them have their useless Biafra because the whole of South is a conquered territory.
We can never see Yorubas as allies no matter how hard they try to please or serve us because they are born traitors and infidels.
Those slaves in the Middle Belt would continue to be willing tools in our hands, and the day they attempt to raise their heads, we will cut off their heads like weeds.
I lack words to tell the inconsequential and always crying Niger Delta because what we are waiting for is for President Buhari to declare state of emergency in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, then we will show them how to use power.
We are at war with you people but we won't allow the country to breakup because, natural resources found in any part of the country is our heritage and birth right.
We will continue killing you in large numbers until you are truly submissive to us as your slave masters. We won't stop killing you until we fully takeover your land as a conquered territory.
This is not the time to mince words, this is not the time to sugarcoat things, and this is not the time to be economical with the truth, this is nothing but the truth, ignore it at your own peril"- ADAMU MOHAMMED.
As repugnant as they are and as despicable as he is we must thank Mr. Mohammed for his honesty and for speaking his mind. His views and intent are self-evident and need no further analysis or explanation.
The point that needs to be grasped and fully appreciated though is that his is not the view of a minority or some inconsequential lunatic fringe in the core north.
His words represent the thinking of many in the north even though most of them would rather hide it or mask it rather than voice it out.
Mrs. Mary Ekeh captured the situation very well when she offered the following counsel about the Grazing Reserve Bill after she read Mohammed's essay. She wrote:
"Please continue to pass this leaked information until every Yoruba, Igbo, all tribes and all Christian parts of Nigeria gets alerted.
This was planned many years by Fulanis as a strategic way to Islamization of Nigeria.
That was why Buhari continued running for presidency even at his old age because they knew he is the most possible mean to achieve their goal.
In 1804 - 1808. Fulanis came in from Guinea to the Northern part of Nigeria, led by Usman Dan fodio .He lead in jihad against the Hausa kingdoms of the northern Nigeria.
The forces of Usman dan Fodio slowly took over more and more of the Hausa kingdoms through war. By 1810, Fulanis had already conquered all hausas.
They formed boko haram sect solely for the process, waiting for Buhari or any of their Fulani brother to come in power but Unfortunately, Goodluck Jonathan came into power and they became annoyed.
They started their violence to distract him and whether it was Yoruba or Igbo that was on the seat during President Goodluck Jonathan's regime.
The same thing could've still happened about Boko haram. Now their dream has been achieved having their brother on top.
Here is their plan. They started herdsmen war believing that they have the chance to control all parts of the country since they are in power and forces.
If Grazing Reserve Bill is passed and achieved, it means that Fulanis will have a place mapped out for them in all 36 states of Nigeria.
The next thing is that they will start bringing in their wives and children and take over your land"- MARY EKEH.
Mrs. Ekeh's analysis is superlative and her admonitions are timely and appropiate.
Permit me to share another contribution from yet another northern voice who has employed the same colorful language as Mr. Adamu Mohammed and who suffers from the same hateful disposition.
His name is Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo and in 2014 he wrote an essay titled "It Is Either The Koran Or The Sword". Like Mr. Mohammed's which came two years later, his piece was also widely circulated and it also generated a heated debate. He wrote as follows:
”When I say that the Presidency must come to the north next year I am referring to the Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern christian or muslim minority tribe.
The Christians in the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma and all the others are nothing and the muslim minorities in the north, including the Kanuri, the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur and all the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.
They can grumble, moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for.
Some of them are even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one nights sport and pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Usman Dan Fodio.
We also captured Ilorin, killed their local King and installed our Fulani Emir. We took that ancient town away from the barbarian yoruba and their filthy pagan gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing islam on them by force.
It was either the Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the good works of our forefathers Allah, through the British, gave us Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please. Since 1960 we have been doing that and we intend to continue.
No Goodluck or anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africa’s biggest war zone and refugee camp if they try it.
Many say we are behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and they want to take even that from us.
We must fight and we will fight back in order to keep it. They have brought in the infidels from America and the pigs from Israel to help them but they will fail. The war has just begun, the Mujahadeen are more than ready and by Allah we shall win.
If they don’t want an ISIS in Nigeria then they must give us back the Presidency and our political power. Their soldiers are killing our warriors and our people every day but mark this: even if it takes one hundred years we will have our revenge.
Every Fulani man that they kill is a debt that will be repaid even if it takes 100 years. The Fulani have very long memories”- ALIYU GWARZO.
Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo, like Mr. Adamu Mohammed that came after him, has expressed a point of view which, though utterly reprehensible and barbaric, reflects the thinking of many in the core Muslim north.
These sentiments are regrettable and unacceptable yet no matter how much we complain about such views or pretend that they are not representative of the thinking of the majority in the core Muslim north, we must learn to live with them or deal with them.
We must also adopt all necessary measures to enlighten our people about the dangers and challenges that such sentiments present and we must be ready to do all that is in our power to defend and protect them.
That is what leaders are meant to do. Indeed that is the challenge and burden that every southern and Middle Belt leader in our nation is faced with and carries today.
Yet I wonder how those southern leaders who have sold their glory and heritage for a mess of pottage and who have opted to collaborate with our collective enemies and betray their own people feel about the words of men like Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Gwarzo?
I wonder whether the small handful of pitiful yet identifiable key leaders from the south that joined forces with Buhari, supported him during last years election and drank deep from his 'mai chanji magic potion' poisoned chalice have read what these two evil men wrote and what those that share their views and disposition have to say?
And if they did I wonder how they can possibly justify or rationalise their positions or their decision to support a Buhari presidency?
I refer to men like Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Tunde Fashola and so many others. As the south is short-changed, humiliated, marginalised and brought to her knees in this dispensation and as she continues to suffer violence and death and bleeds, their names will be entrenched and engraved in infamy and shame for future generations to see.
Whether they wish to accept it or not history will record and posterity will testify to the fact that these men handed us all over to a small cabal of ultra-conservative Fulani hegemonists and irredentists who not only have a clear intention to subjugate our people and Islamise our nation but who also secretly have as much contempt for them as they do for us.
I wonder whether they got Adamu Mohammed's message and whether they understood what he said? I wonder whether they can comprehend the import of Aliyu Gwarzo's words?
I wonder how they sleep at night knowing all this, seeing what is unfolding in our country and knowing that they have effectively contributed to the enslavement of their own people.
Worst of all is the fact that not one of them can cultivate the courage or dare to publicly condemn the likes of Adamu Mohammed or Aliyu Gwarzo and all that they have said, believe in and stand for.
As a matter of fact they would rather condemn and insult those of us that are prepared to stand up against them and reject and resist their evil intent. What a shame!
If blame were to he apportioned for all the rubbish that is going on in our country today it should start with people like them who have not only sold their souls to the devil but who have also led their people into slavery.
They have lost the privilage to be regarded as or called leaders because these are fellow southerners who simply do not care about the plight of the people of the south.
The Apostle Paul said "Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil, may the Lord repay him according to his works".
May it be the same for those southern leaders who have betrayed their own people, who have mortgaged the future of their own children, who have blighted the stars of their own wards and dependents and who have destroyed the destiny of millions of their own southern compatriots.
Given the words and disposition of men like Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Gwarzo there is only one fact that bears any relevance when it comes to the history of our nation and that fact is that the people of the south and the Middle Belt made a monumental mistake by supporting the north and fighting to keep Nigeria one during our civil war.
That is the long and short of it. We owe the late Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the erstwhile Head of State of Biafra and his entire Igbo race an apology for leaving them in the lurch and not supporting their cause and quest for self-determination when they needed us the most and when they called on us to do so.
Given the fact that so many from the core Muslim north hate us with passion and see us as nothing more than slaves and animals to be ruled over and butchered at will, I believe that we need to go back to the drawing board and divide this country peacefully before we all end up killing ourselves.
I do not believe in restructuring because it is too late for that: I believe in division. I believe that the two zones in the core north should leave Nigeria and go their separate ways whilst the rest of us that constitute the four remaining zones either stay together as one country or break into even smaller units along zonal or ethnic lines.
Self-determination must be the guiding and overiding principle and referendums must be conducted in the various zones to detetmine precisely what the will of the people really is. That is democracy. That is justice. That is equity. And only that can bring lasting peace to our sad, divided and beleagured land.
Those that seek to crucify me for suggesting that we should chart this new course should bear in mind the fact that I am not the first to suggest it and neither will I be the last. Those that doubt the veracity of this assertion should consider the following:
In 1953 the north declared their interest to break off from the rest of Nigeria after they rejected Chief Anthony Enahoro's motion for Nigeria's independence from Great Britain and walked out of Parliament.
They insisted on secession and it took the intervention of the British authorities to get them to sheath their swords and agree to remain in the same country as those they openly described as "southern devils and infidels".
Once again in 1966 the north did the same thing and openly demanded for secession from the south after they effected their northern officers revenge coup on July 29th.
On the night of that "revenge coup" they massacred over 300 Igbo officers in one night together with the Igbo Head of State and the Yoruba Military Governor who refused to leave his side and who insisted on protecting him.
After what was undoubtedly one of the most bloody nights in our entire history and after all the butchery was done, the northern officers that carried out the coup loudly declared "araba", which means "let us share it", "let us tear it apart" or "let us break it up" in hausa.
It took three days of frantic appeals by the British High Commissioner and a handful of American diplomats and southern civil servants to stop them from leaving.
They eventually agreed to stay but they gave one condition: that one of their own, a northern officer by the name of Lt. Col. Yakubu Jack Gowon, should be the Head of State of a united Nigeria even though there were at least three southern officers that were senior to him in rank that were still left on the army.
The conditions were accepted, Gowon became Head of State, the north agreed to stay and Nigeria remained one. Yet the sadly the story did not end there and neither was its end a happy one.
Evidently the cold-blooded murder of three hundred Igbo soldiers was not enough to satisfy their blood lust.
The north still insisted on having its revenge and its pound of flesh for the Igbo coup that took place on January 15th 1966 in which many northern political and military leaders together with a handful of their political and military allies from the west were killed.
Consequently three months after Gowon took power mass murder and genocide was unleashed against the Igbo population that resided in the core north and over 100,000 innocent Igbo civilians, including women and children, were slaughtered in the sanctity of their homes in just a matter of weeks.
Nothing had ever been seen like that before on the African continent. It was brutal, barbaric and horrendous. Innocent civilians, including pregnant women and little babies, were hacked to pieces in shops, hospitals, buses, cars and in their own homes whilst the authorities, and indeed the entire world, stood by silently and did nothing to help them.
This led to a massive exodus of Igbos from the north back to the east and to the declaration of the sovereign State of Biafra (which means "come and join us").
The result of that declaration was the commencement of the most brutal, savage and bloody civil war that the African continent has ever experienced in which no less than three million Igbos, including at least one million young children, were killed all in the name of "keeping Nigeria one". That war lasted for three gruelling years: from 1967 until 1970.
Yet since 1967 when oil was discovered in commercial quantities in a place called Oloibiri in what is now known as the Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria, the north have NEVER called for "araba" or the breaking up of Nigeria again.
Instead they have bullied, intimidated, cheated, killed, maimed and slaughtered others just to keep Nigeria one simply because they are addicted to southern oil. Without the revenues that come from that oil the core north would be probably the poorest, most barren and most desolate region in the whole of Africa. In view of this it is understandable that we have not heard "araba" from.any core northerner again.
They now view anyone that calls for the break up of Nigeria with murderous intent and extreme hatred and they label them as dangerous subversives and uninformed miscreants.
They have labelled them as irresponsible criminals, they have denied them the right to detetmine their own destiny and future and they have resolved to compel them.to remain in Nigeria by the force of arms.
The north appear to have forgotten that they themselves called for secession in 1953 and 1966 and at that time no-one threatened, killed or insulted them for doing so. And neither did anyone try to enslave them or keep them in by the force of arms.
The bottom line is as follows: as long as people like Mr. Adamu Mohammed and Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo exist and as long as they say and do the sort of things that they say and do the people of the south will not rule out the possibility of secession.
We will not sit back idly and silently watch our people being marginalised, islamised, conquered, butchered and enslaved.
We cannot be expected to continue to take the tyranny, violence, subjugation and gratuitous insults that are meted out to us on a daily basis by core Muslim northerners who believe that they were born to rule. We will resist it and we will oppose it in every lawful manner and with evetything that we have got.
In the final analysis if we are attacked and butchered for saying "enough is enough" and for attempting to exercise our right of self-determination, and if the state refuses to protect us, we will have no hesitation in defending ourselves and protecting our people.
The days of keeping Nigeria one by threats, violence and the force of arms and of sealing and cementing our so-called unity by the shedding of southern and Middle Belt blood are long over. We will not take it anymore.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the great patriots, founding fathers and gallant heroes of America during their war of independence and struggle against their English colonial masters, said the following: "when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes a duty".
Patrick Henry, another of the great founding fathers and a noble and righteous man, proclaimed the following words before England's King George 111:
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Another by the name of George Washington, who was a deeply courageous man, the Supreme Commander of the rebel forces and the man who was later elected as the first President of the proud, newly born and independent American nation proclaimed "in God we trust" as he entered the field of battle.
He also shouted "victory or death" as he led the cavalry charge and "you cannot rule without God and the Holy Bible" after he became President.
These were were men who refused to compromise with evil wnd were prepared to offer their lives in their struggle to break the yoke of servitude.
Again Thomas Jefferson said "the tree of liberty is watered by the blood of patriots and tyrants". There are lessons to be learnt here for us all and particularly by the leaders of the south.
And thankfully it appears that a few southern stars like Ayo Fayose, Ike Ekweremadu, Nyesom Wike, Segun Mimiko, Seriake Dickson, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Willie Obiano, Yinka Odumakin, Femi Aribisala and a handful of othes are beginning to learn those lessons, rise up to the occasion and stand up like men.
Yet whatever happens and whether the core Muslim north likes it or not our very own southern "tree of liberty" shall be watered as well and in the end we shall be free.
That same Living God whose name George Washington always invoked before going into battle is with us today and He shall see us through. He shall grant us the strength and power to endure.
He will not forsake us and, at the appointed time, He will grant us victory over our tormentors.
I say this because His name is Faithful and faithful He is. As old as He is, He never changes and He never forsakes His own: that is why they call Him Ancient of Days.
He never loses in battle: that is why they call Him the Man of War and the Lord God of Hosts. He is our strength and our shield, our glory and the lifter of our heads. He is our everything and without Him we are nothing.
In He alone we trust and He will NEVER allow the counsel of ungodly, wicked and bloodthirsty men from the deserts of a distant and barren land called Futa Jallon in modern-day Guinea, like Adamu Mohammed and Aliyu Gwarzo, to stand.
We harbour no fears because in the end we know that shall prevail and our freedom and liberation has been guaranteed.
Their end, and the end of all those that they represent, has already been determined by He that sits above the circles of the earth and that answers by fire and that end will be pitiful: It is just a matter of time.
This essay will not be released to or published in the mainstream Nigerian media because it will be considered as being "too hot". Yet its message is far too important for it not to be written or for it to be ignored.
I would urge those that have thin skins, that are easily exciteable, that have an aversion to truth or that are unduly sensitive to criticism and the ugly realities that we are faced with in Nigeria today to stop reading now and drop the essay because they will not be able to cope with its contents.
I am a historian and my intention for writing it is simply to enlighten, educate and inform rather than to create rancour, tension, strife, division or stress. I do not seek to incite anyone and neither do I believe in or advocate violence in any shape or form.
I have also proferred a solution to what I consider to be the problem that some of our northern compatriots pose at the end of the essay.
It is a long contribution so I have broken it into two parts. Each part is well worth reading and it is my prayer that you stay with me till the end. Here we go.
A few weeks ago one Mr. Adamu Mohammed wrote an essay on Facebook titled 'Your Land Or Your Blood'.
The write-up was widely-published in Nigeria and it was well circulated in the social media. It has indeed been the subject of much interest and a heated debate.
Permit me to share its contents here. He wrote as follows and kindly overlook the bad grammer and colorful language:
"Ever since President Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of leadership of this great country Nigeria, we (Hausa-Fulanis) have come under severe media attack from enemies of progress.
Just because they are educated than us, they stereotype us with negativity. Just because they own and control the media, they use the media against us.
But let me make something clear to you stupid fellows hating us, whether you love us or hate us, it doesn't change anything.
We are who we are and we will continue to remain like that. We hate you even more and we can never love you because you are all infidels.
I pity those of you who keep deluding yourselves that we can love and trust you simply because you worked against your people to our own advantage, never!
I heard that the stupid Governor of Oyo State, Ajimobi said that they won't accept the proposed Grazing Bill.
But my message to the filthy Yoruba pig is that, if you don't want to give us your cursed land, we will rear our cattle not only on your farmlands but in your churches.
And if you try to stop us, we would killed your chicken hearted men like rabbits then turn your mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to our sex slaves like we have always done.
It is either you give the whole of South to us to use as grazing reserve or we soak it with your blood.
And what you would do like you always do is noise on Facebook and Twitter. You cannot be united against us because there would always be the likes of Tinubu, Amaechi and Okorocha in your midst who will divide you for selfishness and love of money.
Such treacherous characters can't survive in our midst because we burn them and their families.
I so much detest Southern Christians because they are the problem of this country. If I have my way, there won't be any functional church in this country, especially in the North.
That's why I am so much happy with Governor El-rufai who is living up to the expectations of Allah in Kaduna State.
We are not really pleased with President Muhammadu Buhari who is too slow to implement everything we asked him to implement in this country for us, he has not even done 20% of the Northern/Islam agenda, what he is waiting for I don't know.
We will make life unbearable for Igbos like they are in Hell, and yet we won't let them have their useless Biafra because the whole of South is a conquered territory.
We can never see Yorubas as allies no matter how hard they try to please or serve us because they are born traitors and infidels.
Those slaves in the Middle Belt would continue to be willing tools in our hands, and the day they attempt to raise their heads, we will cut off their heads like weeds.
I lack words to tell the inconsequential and always crying Niger Delta because what we are waiting for is for President Buhari to declare state of emergency in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, then we will show them how to use power.
We are at war with you people but we won't allow the country to breakup because, natural resources found in any part of the country is our heritage and birth right.
We will continue killing you in large numbers until you are truly submissive to us as your slave masters. We won't stop killing you until we fully takeover your land as a conquered territory.
This is not the time to mince words, this is not the time to sugarcoat things, and this is not the time to be economical with the truth, this is nothing but the truth, ignore it at your own peril"- ADAMU MOHAMMED.
As repugnant as they are and as despicable as he is we must thank Mr. Mohammed for his honesty and for speaking his mind. His views and intent are self-evident and need no further analysis or explanation.
The point that needs to be grasped and fully appreciated though is that his is not the view of a minority or some inconsequential lunatic fringe in the core north.
His words represent the thinking of many in the north even though most of them would rather hide it or mask it rather than voice it out.
Mrs. Mary Ekeh captured the situation very well when she offered the following counsel about the Grazing Reserve Bill after she read Mohammed's essay. She wrote:
"Please continue to pass this leaked information until every Yoruba, Igbo, all tribes and all Christian parts of Nigeria gets alerted.
This was planned many years by Fulanis as a strategic way to Islamization of Nigeria.
That was why Buhari continued running for presidency even at his old age because they knew he is the most possible mean to achieve their goal.
In 1804 - 1808. Fulanis came in from Guinea to the Northern part of Nigeria, led by Usman Dan fodio .He lead in jihad against the Hausa kingdoms of the northern Nigeria.
The forces of Usman dan Fodio slowly took over more and more of the Hausa kingdoms through war. By 1810, Fulanis had already conquered all hausas.
They formed boko haram sect solely for the process, waiting for Buhari or any of their Fulani brother to come in power but Unfortunately, Goodluck Jonathan came into power and they became annoyed.
They started their violence to distract him and whether it was Yoruba or Igbo that was on the seat during President Goodluck Jonathan's regime.
The same thing could've still happened about Boko haram. Now their dream has been achieved having their brother on top.
Here is their plan. They started herdsmen war believing that they have the chance to control all parts of the country since they are in power and forces.
If Grazing Reserve Bill is passed and achieved, it means that Fulanis will have a place mapped out for them in all 36 states of Nigeria.
The next thing is that they will start bringing in their wives and children and take over your land"- MARY EKEH.
Mrs. Ekeh's analysis is superlative and her admonitions are timely and appropiate.
Permit me to share another contribution from yet another northern voice who has employed the same colorful language as Mr. Adamu Mohammed and who suffers from the same hateful disposition.
His name is Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo and in 2014 he wrote an essay titled "It Is Either The Koran Or The Sword". Like Mr. Mohammed's which came two years later, his piece was also widely circulated and it also generated a heated debate. He wrote as follows:
”When I say that the Presidency must come to the north next year I am referring to the Hausa-Fulani core north and not any northern christian or muslim minority tribe.
The Christians in the north such as the Berom, the Tiv, the Kataf, the Jaba, the Zuru, the Sayyawa, the Bachama, the Jukun, the Idoma and all the others are nothing and the muslim minorities in the north, including the Kanuri, the Nupe, the Igbira, the Babur, the Shuwa Arabs, the Marghur and all the others know that when we are talking about leadership in the north and in Nigeria, Allah has given it to us, the Hausa-Fulani.
They can grumble, moan and groan as much as they want but each time they go into their bedrooms to meet their wives and each time they get on their prayer mats to begin their prayers, it is we the Fulani that they think of, that they fear, that they bow to and that they pray for.
Some of them are even ready to give us their wives and daughters for one nights sport and pleasure. They owe us everything. This is because we gave them Islam through the great Jihad waged by Sheik Usman Dan Fodio.
We also captured Ilorin, killed their local King and installed our Fulani Emir. We took that ancient town away from the barbarian yoruba and their filthy pagan gods. We liberated all these places and all these people by imposing islam on them by force.
It was either the Koran or the sword and most of them chose the Koran. In return for the good works of our forefathers Allah, through the British, gave us Nigeria to rule and to do with as we please. Since 1960 we have been doing that and we intend to continue.
No Goodluck or anyone else will stop us from taking back our power next year. We will kill, maim, destroy and turn this country into Africa’s biggest war zone and refugee camp if they try it.
Many say we are behind Boko Haram. My answer is what do you expect? We do not have economic power or intellectual power. All we have is political power and they want to take even that from us.
We must fight and we will fight back in order to keep it. They have brought in the infidels from America and the pigs from Israel to help them but they will fail. The war has just begun, the Mujahadeen are more than ready and by Allah we shall win.
If they don’t want an ISIS in Nigeria then they must give us back the Presidency and our political power. Their soldiers are killing our warriors and our people every day but mark this: even if it takes one hundred years we will have our revenge.
Every Fulani man that they kill is a debt that will be repaid even if it takes 100 years. The Fulani have very long memories”- ALIYU GWARZO.
Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo, like Mr. Adamu Mohammed that came after him, has expressed a point of view which, though utterly reprehensible and barbaric, reflects the thinking of many in the core Muslim north.
These sentiments are regrettable and unacceptable yet no matter how much we complain about such views or pretend that they are not representative of the thinking of the majority in the core Muslim north, we must learn to live with them or deal with them.
We must also adopt all necessary measures to enlighten our people about the dangers and challenges that such sentiments present and we must be ready to do all that is in our power to defend and protect them.
That is what leaders are meant to do. Indeed that is the challenge and burden that every southern and Middle Belt leader in our nation is faced with and carries today.
Yet I wonder how those southern leaders who have sold their glory and heritage for a mess of pottage and who have opted to collaborate with our collective enemies and betray their own people feel about the words of men like Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Gwarzo?
I wonder whether the small handful of pitiful yet identifiable key leaders from the south that joined forces with Buhari, supported him during last years election and drank deep from his 'mai chanji magic potion' poisoned chalice have read what these two evil men wrote and what those that share their views and disposition have to say?
And if they did I wonder how they can possibly justify or rationalise their positions or their decision to support a Buhari presidency?
I refer to men like Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Tunde Fashola and so many others. As the south is short-changed, humiliated, marginalised and brought to her knees in this dispensation and as she continues to suffer violence and death and bleeds, their names will be entrenched and engraved in infamy and shame for future generations to see.
Whether they wish to accept it or not history will record and posterity will testify to the fact that these men handed us all over to a small cabal of ultra-conservative Fulani hegemonists and irredentists who not only have a clear intention to subjugate our people and Islamise our nation but who also secretly have as much contempt for them as they do for us.
I wonder whether they got Adamu Mohammed's message and whether they understood what he said? I wonder whether they can comprehend the import of Aliyu Gwarzo's words?
I wonder how they sleep at night knowing all this, seeing what is unfolding in our country and knowing that they have effectively contributed to the enslavement of their own people.
Worst of all is the fact that not one of them can cultivate the courage or dare to publicly condemn the likes of Adamu Mohammed or Aliyu Gwarzo and all that they have said, believe in and stand for.
As a matter of fact they would rather condemn and insult those of us that are prepared to stand up against them and reject and resist their evil intent. What a shame!
If blame were to he apportioned for all the rubbish that is going on in our country today it should start with people like them who have not only sold their souls to the devil but who have also led their people into slavery.
They have lost the privilage to be regarded as or called leaders because these are fellow southerners who simply do not care about the plight of the people of the south.
The Apostle Paul said "Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil, may the Lord repay him according to his works".
May it be the same for those southern leaders who have betrayed their own people, who have mortgaged the future of their own children, who have blighted the stars of their own wards and dependents and who have destroyed the destiny of millions of their own southern compatriots.
Given the words and disposition of men like Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Gwarzo there is only one fact that bears any relevance when it comes to the history of our nation and that fact is that the people of the south and the Middle Belt made a monumental mistake by supporting the north and fighting to keep Nigeria one during our civil war.
That is the long and short of it. We owe the late Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the erstwhile Head of State of Biafra and his entire Igbo race an apology for leaving them in the lurch and not supporting their cause and quest for self-determination when they needed us the most and when they called on us to do so.
Given the fact that so many from the core Muslim north hate us with passion and see us as nothing more than slaves and animals to be ruled over and butchered at will, I believe that we need to go back to the drawing board and divide this country peacefully before we all end up killing ourselves.
I do not believe in restructuring because it is too late for that: I believe in division. I believe that the two zones in the core north should leave Nigeria and go their separate ways whilst the rest of us that constitute the four remaining zones either stay together as one country or break into even smaller units along zonal or ethnic lines.
Self-determination must be the guiding and overiding principle and referendums must be conducted in the various zones to detetmine precisely what the will of the people really is. That is democracy. That is justice. That is equity. And only that can bring lasting peace to our sad, divided and beleagured land.
Those that seek to crucify me for suggesting that we should chart this new course should bear in mind the fact that I am not the first to suggest it and neither will I be the last. Those that doubt the veracity of this assertion should consider the following:
In 1953 the north declared their interest to break off from the rest of Nigeria after they rejected Chief Anthony Enahoro's motion for Nigeria's independence from Great Britain and walked out of Parliament.
They insisted on secession and it took the intervention of the British authorities to get them to sheath their swords and agree to remain in the same country as those they openly described as "southern devils and infidels".
Once again in 1966 the north did the same thing and openly demanded for secession from the south after they effected their northern officers revenge coup on July 29th.
On the night of that "revenge coup" they massacred over 300 Igbo officers in one night together with the Igbo Head of State and the Yoruba Military Governor who refused to leave his side and who insisted on protecting him.
After what was undoubtedly one of the most bloody nights in our entire history and after all the butchery was done, the northern officers that carried out the coup loudly declared "araba", which means "let us share it", "let us tear it apart" or "let us break it up" in hausa.
It took three days of frantic appeals by the British High Commissioner and a handful of American diplomats and southern civil servants to stop them from leaving.
They eventually agreed to stay but they gave one condition: that one of their own, a northern officer by the name of Lt. Col. Yakubu Jack Gowon, should be the Head of State of a united Nigeria even though there were at least three southern officers that were senior to him in rank that were still left on the army.
The conditions were accepted, Gowon became Head of State, the north agreed to stay and Nigeria remained one. Yet the sadly the story did not end there and neither was its end a happy one.
Evidently the cold-blooded murder of three hundred Igbo soldiers was not enough to satisfy their blood lust.
The north still insisted on having its revenge and its pound of flesh for the Igbo coup that took place on January 15th 1966 in which many northern political and military leaders together with a handful of their political and military allies from the west were killed.
Consequently three months after Gowon took power mass murder and genocide was unleashed against the Igbo population that resided in the core north and over 100,000 innocent Igbo civilians, including women and children, were slaughtered in the sanctity of their homes in just a matter of weeks.
Nothing had ever been seen like that before on the African continent. It was brutal, barbaric and horrendous. Innocent civilians, including pregnant women and little babies, were hacked to pieces in shops, hospitals, buses, cars and in their own homes whilst the authorities, and indeed the entire world, stood by silently and did nothing to help them.
This led to a massive exodus of Igbos from the north back to the east and to the declaration of the sovereign State of Biafra (which means "come and join us").
The result of that declaration was the commencement of the most brutal, savage and bloody civil war that the African continent has ever experienced in which no less than three million Igbos, including at least one million young children, were killed all in the name of "keeping Nigeria one". That war lasted for three gruelling years: from 1967 until 1970.
Yet since 1967 when oil was discovered in commercial quantities in a place called Oloibiri in what is now known as the Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria, the north have NEVER called for "araba" or the breaking up of Nigeria again.
Instead they have bullied, intimidated, cheated, killed, maimed and slaughtered others just to keep Nigeria one simply because they are addicted to southern oil. Without the revenues that come from that oil the core north would be probably the poorest, most barren and most desolate region in the whole of Africa. In view of this it is understandable that we have not heard "araba" from.any core northerner again.
They now view anyone that calls for the break up of Nigeria with murderous intent and extreme hatred and they label them as dangerous subversives and uninformed miscreants.
They have labelled them as irresponsible criminals, they have denied them the right to detetmine their own destiny and future and they have resolved to compel them.to remain in Nigeria by the force of arms.
The north appear to have forgotten that they themselves called for secession in 1953 and 1966 and at that time no-one threatened, killed or insulted them for doing so. And neither did anyone try to enslave them or keep them in by the force of arms.
The bottom line is as follows: as long as people like Mr. Adamu Mohammed and Mr. Aliyu Gwarzo exist and as long as they say and do the sort of things that they say and do the people of the south will not rule out the possibility of secession.
We will not sit back idly and silently watch our people being marginalised, islamised, conquered, butchered and enslaved.
We cannot be expected to continue to take the tyranny, violence, subjugation and gratuitous insults that are meted out to us on a daily basis by core Muslim northerners who believe that they were born to rule. We will resist it and we will oppose it in every lawful manner and with evetything that we have got.
In the final analysis if we are attacked and butchered for saying "enough is enough" and for attempting to exercise our right of self-determination, and if the state refuses to protect us, we will have no hesitation in defending ourselves and protecting our people.
The days of keeping Nigeria one by threats, violence and the force of arms and of sealing and cementing our so-called unity by the shedding of southern and Middle Belt blood are long over. We will not take it anymore.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the great patriots, founding fathers and gallant heroes of America during their war of independence and struggle against their English colonial masters, said the following: "when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes a duty".
Patrick Henry, another of the great founding fathers and a noble and righteous man, proclaimed the following words before England's King George 111:
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Another by the name of George Washington, who was a deeply courageous man, the Supreme Commander of the rebel forces and the man who was later elected as the first President of the proud, newly born and independent American nation proclaimed "in God we trust" as he entered the field of battle.
He also shouted "victory or death" as he led the cavalry charge and "you cannot rule without God and the Holy Bible" after he became President.
These were were men who refused to compromise with evil wnd were prepared to offer their lives in their struggle to break the yoke of servitude.
Again Thomas Jefferson said "the tree of liberty is watered by the blood of patriots and tyrants". There are lessons to be learnt here for us all and particularly by the leaders of the south.
And thankfully it appears that a few southern stars like Ayo Fayose, Ike Ekweremadu, Nyesom Wike, Segun Mimiko, Seriake Dickson, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Willie Obiano, Yinka Odumakin, Femi Aribisala and a handful of othes are beginning to learn those lessons, rise up to the occasion and stand up like men.
Yet whatever happens and whether the core Muslim north likes it or not our very own southern "tree of liberty" shall be watered as well and in the end we shall be free.
That same Living God whose name George Washington always invoked before going into battle is with us today and He shall see us through. He shall grant us the strength and power to endure.
He will not forsake us and, at the appointed time, He will grant us victory over our tormentors.
I say this because His name is Faithful and faithful He is. As old as He is, He never changes and He never forsakes His own: that is why they call Him Ancient of Days.
He never loses in battle: that is why they call Him the Man of War and the Lord God of Hosts. He is our strength and our shield, our glory and the lifter of our heads. He is our everything and without Him we are nothing.
In He alone we trust and He will NEVER allow the counsel of ungodly, wicked and bloodthirsty men from the deserts of a distant and barren land called Futa Jallon in modern-day Guinea, like Adamu Mohammed and Aliyu Gwarzo, to stand.
We harbour no fears because in the end we know that shall prevail and our freedom and liberation has been guaranteed.
Their end, and the end of all those that they represent, has already been determined by He that sits above the circles of the earth and that answers by fire and that end will be pitiful: It is just a matter of time.
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