An open letter to #Northern #Leaders (1) By Aliyu Musa Dear Sirs, I am writing in the sincere hope that you will act with utmost urgency to stop the drift in a region where life has effectively lost value and man is brutishly subjecting fellow man to scandalous cruelty. In this respect I am referring to the violence that has engulfed the north since the July 2009 ‘suppression’ of the first phase of the Boko Haram violence. You will find that I have directed this message to Northern leaders. By leaders I mean everyone that is, was or is thought to be in any position of leadership or authority and can speak for or influence thoughts in the North. Therefore, it is a missive to past and present leaders in politics and civil service, serving and retired military and paramilitary officers, Muslim and Christian clerics, business leaders, teachers at all levels, journalists, trade unionists and Rights activists, students and every professional from or sympathetic to or with a stake in the region. A friend and I were once taking stock of developments in the region since the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the #Sardauna of Sokoto, a man whose generosity doubtlessly impacted on our lives immensely. It was with a great shock that we realized that those who benefitted most from his vision and selflessness and were hoped to continue this act of altruism have done almost nothing for the region and people. #Gamji’s days were full of intense but healthy competitions among the regions that constituted #Nigeria. For example, while the southwest under the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi #Awolowo’s Action Group was actively investing in people from the grassroots Sardauna, I was told, travelled from village to village and house-to-house to personally recruit many of you into the strategic professions that prepared you for essential roles in the hope that you will replicate the gesture to successive generations of Northerners. It was through this effort many of you became leaders in politics, military, judiciary, civil service, academia and so on. You did not have to pay fees for training locally or abroad. Irrespective of tribe, religion or social status, I heard, you were awarded scholarships. And because you were pioneers from the region in all the fields you found yourselves your rise was almost effortlessly smooth. Sirs, pardon my vulgarity, but if you contrast your situations then to those that confront many of us today you will appreciate that you have not done much to reciprocate Gamji’s action. Only, maybe, a handful of you actively offer support to people outside of your own family and cohorts, despite being in positions to successfully champion Gamji’s dream. So, because you either have no dreams for the region or don’t know how to translate those to reality you allowed Sardauna’s to practically collapse, including schools and infrastructures. Now, we are left with groups like Boko Haram, claiming to speak for the region and people but ironically decimating its population more than any plague did in the region’s entire history. But we all know Boko Haram is a franchise, conveniently deployed to achieve a certain agenda to which you may or may not be privy. But my and others’ frustration with you is that you seem almost completely mute in the face of all this in spite of your enormous influence and power. Recently marauders who claimed to be Boko Haram insurgents torched primary schools, the very few still not in total ruins, in Yobe and Borno states. So, children who should be in school were either harmed or kept out of education at a time states in other regions are making basic education not only free but also compulsory. Nothing happened to apprehend and bring the culprits to justice or compensate the victims. Then secondary schools became a target and teenage pupils were slaughtered heartlessly. And we all buried our heads in the sand. Terror, now emboldened by our conspiratorial silence, goes for the jugular; it invades tertiary institutions to vent its sadism on poor students. Last week it had a stopover at the College of Agriculture, Gujba in Yobe State, callously taking the lives of no fewer than 50 innocent students. Not unexpectedly though, we have carried on with life as if nothing happened. The government, in its usual show of disinterest went on partying to mark 53 years of our independence from external colonizers not minding that we are internally colonized. But do I blame the government? I don’t. You are silent; we are mute as if we have no stake at all. But we are all wrong. I do not believe in reincarnation but if, for the purpose of this matter, the late Sardauna were to come back to life what would he say? How would he feel about this brazen betrayal ?
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 07:16:57 +0000
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