Professor Omo Omoruyi Origins and Methods of Permanent Northern Sovereignty over Southern Nigerias Resources. In his seminal expose on the events of June 12, 1993, entitled, The Tale of June 12: Betrayal of Democratic Rights of Nigeria, Professor Omo Omoruyi went to the British Archives and earthed a can full of worms on the British machinations and manipulations which have resulted in the enslavement of Southern Nigeria. The position can be summarised as follows: Lord Lugard started his career in what became Nigeria from the North as an agent of the Royal Niger Company; by a process of coercion, persuasion and force, he obtained a series of treaties from the Northern traditional rulers and was appointed the High Commissioner for the Northern territories by the company. He welded the North together as one unit; he was later appointed Governor of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria, which were still totally separate entities, with the mandate to amalgamate the two totally foreign territories together as one country. The intention was to unify the administrations of the two protectorates and not its peoples; the reason for the decision of the British Government to amalgamate the two incompatible territories was purely financial or economic. The Northern Protectorate was not economically viable. It had become a great drain on the British tax payer. On the other hand, the Southern Protectorate was not just economically buoyant, it was producing surpluses every year. The British design was, therefore, to remove the Northern financial burden from its own neck and hang it on the neck of the hapless Southern Protectorate; according to Lord Harcourt, the British Colonial Secretary, unification of Nigeria demanded both method and a man. The man was to be Lord Lugard and the method was to be the marriage of the two entities. According to Lord Harcourt: We have released Northern Nigeria from the leading strings of the Treasury. The promising and well conducted youth is now on an allowance on his own and is about to effect an alliance with a Southern lady of means. I have issued the special license and Sir Frederick Lugard will perform the ceremony. May the union be fruitful and the couple constant. Thus, in this marriage, the North, right from the beginning, was to be man and husband and the South, the woman and wife. The use of the term, Youth (man) for the North and Lady (woman) for the South was not an accident, nor an exercise in humour. It was a deadly serious matter, with the game plan being to bring the two parties together in order to give the North political power over the South and permanent control over Southern resources. In the England of the time of Lord Harcourt, married woman had no independent existence outside their marriage. All the womens property and resources automatically became the husbands. The woman could not enter into a contract in her own right. Her husband had to conclude all her contracts on her behalf. Although this position altered by the Married Womens Property Act of 1882, Lord Harcourt had the Common Law position in mind when he decided to marry the young man without means, to the young lady of means. That latter was to provide the wherewithal for the former to live well and be master of the house for the rest of their lives. Omo Omoruyi has lamented as follows, regarding the devastating consequences of this marriage on the Southern lady of means: Today, the Southern Lady of Means is richer and the bridegroom the well conducted youth from the North is poorer and poorer over the years, a situation not even anticipated in 1914. Hence the husband in the typical Nigerian fashion would ensure that the relationship is maintained at all cost, even if it means killing the bride in order to take over her wealth. This is the situation the oil producing part of the South finds itself in today. According to Alhaji Gambo Jimeta, the North (husband) will go to war over oil. The Northern politicians understood the plan perfectly and have implemented it faithfully and fervently since then. They are well focused on how to cling to power, for they know that that is the route to Southern resources. How have they retained power? The formula has been an amazingly simple one: Control of the Army and manipulation of the Census figures. All this, combined with help from British Administrators of Nigeria right up till independence, have assured the North of permanent political power and control of Southern resources.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 11:35:36 +0000
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