OMOREGIE’S FALLACIOUS THESIS ON THE NORTH, THE KANURIS AND BOKO HARAM By Prof. M. Nur Alkali 25th May, 2014 We have read with great disappointment the piece by your guest columnist Mr Henry Omoregie on the back-page of your edition of Tuesday, 29TH of April, 2014 on mainly the above subject matter which was presented in a very incoherent manner, lacking in focus and logic. It is also difficult to understand the motive or objective of that article even though from in-depth reading we conclude that it was partly an attempt to support and exonerate the President His Excellency Dr Goodluck Jonathan from the current escalating crisis in the country and partly to create disaffection amongst the peoples of the north and in particular the Kanuris of Borno who are more at the receiving end of the Boko Haram terrorism. In view of the incoherent nature of that article, it is also clear that he has woefully failed in achieving all those objectives. His reference to the Sardauna Sir Ahmadu Bello as a symbol of northern unity and a great statesman led to his conclusion that his successors in public office have failed. That the Sardauna’s response to Dr Nnamdi Azikwe’s request that they should understand their differences rather than to forget them, was used as a landmark declaration for solving Nigeria’s problems. Be that as it may he evaded the critical question that the Sardauna along with many other northern senior military officers were assassinated by those who were of eastern origin which at the time also included the present south-south where he comes from. Herein lies some of the major crisis this country was plunged into including the Biafran civil war which nearly wrecked the whole of the south-south which is today in the forefront of having its own autonomy and resource control. He also forgot that it was the courageous northern troops alongside with those from the western region including the Late General Muhammad Shuwa from Borno, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Sani Abatcha, General Muhammad Buhari, General Aliyu Muhammad Gusau, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, General Adekunle popularly known as the Black Scorpion, General Alani Akinrinade and many more too numerous to mention, courageously moved in to liberate the south-south from the rebels’ control. The scar left by that invasion is still very much visible within his part of the country. It was General Yakubu Gowon who courageously took that decision and saw to the successful conclusion of the rebellion proclaiming in a typical northern statesmanship language that there were ‘no victors, no vanquished’. The extent of unity, solidarity and courage exhibited by the people of the north during that period has kept the north a one and united people in spite of the pressure to break the region into three zones. The objective was to weaken that organic unity which still remains even with the creation of nineteen states. The north never complained or resisted but kept its spirit of unity to date guided by the patriotic desire to keep the Nigerian nation a one, united, indivisible and indissoluble country. On the allegation that there was a northern plot to undermine the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, your columnist has failed to prove or produce any evidence to justify such claim. Having failed in that he fumbled along and pitched his camp on the Kanuris of Borno whom he called as those responsible for the Boko Haram conflict forgetting that no people have suffered more in this terrorism than the Kanuris of Borno who lost hundreds of thousands of their people through attacks by the insurgents and the military during crossfire operations. He continued to pour his venom on the Kanuris by falsely claiming that there has been conflict between them and the Hausa-Fulani which originated during the Jihad of Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio. New research and works of great scholars in History have proved that there has never been physical conflict between the Sokoto Jihadists and the people of Borno. Rather what happened in the early nineteenth century was an internal rebellion of the Fulbe living under the Sayfawa rule in Borno and inspired by the Jihad of Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio. Indeed Borno has been in existence for the best part of a millennium before the emergence of the Sokoto Caliphate and within that period it had suffered a number of attacks and rebellion by various groups within and outside its territory but had successfully managed its security, control and apparatus to stabilize the polity. Borno had been instrumental to the process of state formation, establishment of peace, stability and unity amongst various peoples of the Central and Western Sudan. Great rulers like Mai Ali Gaji (1470 – 1503) and Idris Alooma (1571-1603), Sheikh Muhammad Al-Amin Elkanemi were great nation-builders who carried the influence and hegemony of Borno to as far north and north east to the Nile Valley to the Tibeste Mountains to as far south to the Benue Valley and the Jukun territory to as far west to Muniyo and Damagaram now in Niger Republic. Within this period, apart from bringing stability and unity to the region they had contributed to the development of many states and kingdoms. As a result of these activities, the Kanuris are found in every part of the north and beyond as far as Yoruba land and Kutigi in Central Nigeria. During the installation of the current Shehu Umar Ibn Abubakar Elkanemi, delegations who had good relationship with Borno attended the ceremony. All northern traditional rulers including the Ngolong Ngas of Angas, the Emir of Lafia His Highness Alhaji Mustapha Agwai were present. His EminenceP, Sultan Abubakar Saad the descendant of Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio was there to grace the occasion and took active part in the ceremonies contrary to his insinuation that the Sultan and the Shehu of Borno are not in friendly terms because of the nineteenth century Jihad. On his alleged conflict over the sighting of the moon between Sokoto and Borno, the Sultan as the President General of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs supported by the Shehu as the Deputy President General of the Council and all other traditional rulers had since resolved this matter under the auspices of the restructured and reinforced Supreme Council. Borno’s past activities, diplomacy and outreach have carried the Kanuris to all parts of the country including the south-south where the Late Shehu of Borno Alhaji Mustapha Elkanemi had been the Chancellor of the University of Port-Harcourt and to date is remembered for his good leadership and friendliness with the people there. The current Shehu Alhaji Umar Ibn Abubakar Garbai Elkanemi has just been recently appointed Chancellor, University of the Niger Delta by the Bayelsa State government. A well educated and holder of two masters’ degrees, he too will leave a great mark of honour and respect among the Niger Deltans. In the contemporary history of Nigeria such great leaders like Sir Kashim Ibrahim, the first indigenous governor of the north, Alhaji Zanna Dipcharima, a Minister of Commerce of the First Republic, Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, the first Minister of Petroleum in the First Republic, Alhaji Kamsulem, the first indigenous Inspector General of Police of Nigeria and many others from Borno who are too numerous to mention have all individually and collectively contributed to the foundation laying of the independent Nigerian State. They were great fighters and brigdge-builders without whose efforts what the people of the south-south now regard as their resource, the oil and the entire Nigerian sovereignty which had come under colonial control could not have been successfully retrieved and developed. Your columnist fumbled again in a reference to the Late General Sani Abatcha as a Kanuri Head of State after whose departure the Kanuris of Borno felt deprived of political power and control. Unfortunately for him neither the Kanuris nor the people of Kano felt that way. General Abatcha was proud of his Kanuri ancestry but absolutely loyal to his Kano citizenship and the Kanawa regard him as a Kanuri of Kano origin. In this way a network of social relationships were built among the Kanuris and the rest of the people of Nigeria and even beyond. Your columnist should be advised if he is a true historian which he claims to familiarise himself with new studies in History and the Social Sciences which have moved away from the Eurocentric views of conflict and crisis and learn from the new Afrocentric approach of peaceful co-existence and harmonious relationship among African societies. As for his reference to the people of Borno as having hatched the Boko Haram insurgency I have already provided a clear and open answer which a simple common sense will prove his thesis wrong. It is the same thing as saying that the Niger Delta conflict during which the first bomb blast in Abuja occurred during the installation of President Goodluck Jonathan was an attempt to undermine his emergence as the President of Nigeria but as our elder statesman Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno told President Goodluck Jonathan during his visit to Maiduguri for a town hall meeting and I quote “Mr President, why are you opposed to dialogue as part of the process of ending this conflict since you yourself are a product of dialogue”. President Goodluck would not have emerged the leader of this country but for the coming together of all Nigerians and the dialogue that brought him to power as President. He along with the cabal surrounding the President will continue to fail in attempting to take away the responsibility from the President of dealing with the current insurgency because as a leader of this country he should accept full responsibility for bringing about peace and harmony in dealing with terrorism. Of course we all feel concerned about this tragedy which has befallen our nation but views such as exonerating the President from responsibility will send a wrong signal to all the people of Nigeria be they Kanuris, Yorubas or Ijaws. I may end this piece by saying that your columnist by his references to the current National Conference may have been disturbed by certain things that come out of the conference which aim to reinforce our unity as against their wishes for the dismemberment of our great nation Nigeria. We continue to pray that people like this who attempted to impose a so-called sovereign National Conference on us and use it as a catalyst to break up Nigeria will never succeed. We pray that God will put them into their right senses. Amin Professor M. Nur Alkali CON, FHSN Member, Borno Elders Forum
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 19:52:47 +0000
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