The Fulani to Fulani succession plot (from Muhammadu Buhari to Atiku Abubakar) is as ominous as the all-Moslem ticket of Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shetima. Both are plots of subjugation and must be equally condemned, given our circumstances.
By Emma Nwosu
The frenzy of the 2023 general elections keeps exposing people you thought were sincere about the unity of Nigeria as pretenders. One of the most surprising victims is Mukhtar Shagari, former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State and former PDP Minister of Water Resources, who, on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today,’ on December 6, 2022, joined the ranks of those with the born-to-rule mindset (such as Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Bala Mohammed and Mohammed Hayatudeen, who think that we are bereft of discernment) by playing down on the Fulani to Fulani succession plot.
Muktar spoke eloquently against the APC all-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidency as an unpardonable marginalization of Christians – as if he truly believed in fairness and the equality of all Nigerians. But when Seun Okinbaloye, the host, brought the analogy down to Atiku Abubakar, a Fulani Moslem, bidding to succeed Muhammadu Buhari, another Fulani Moslem, from the same Northern Region, he began to stutter and equivocate, then parried the question of domination and injustice and went ahead to proffer Atiku as the best candidate for the 2023 Presidency, which is a big lie.
Atiku is actually the least qualified, in terms of character, previous performance, age and education. Nigeria is stuck in the mud because our leaders are too overwhelmed by selfish interest to address the root of our challenges.
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The Fulani to Fulani succession plot (from Muhammadu Buhari to Atiku Abubakar) is as ominous as the all-Moslem ticket of Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shetima. Both are plots of subjugation and must be equally condemned, given our circumstances. Apparently, banking on numerical advantage, the Northern Elders Forum (speaking through Professor Ango Abdullahi) do not see anything bad in it. We will wait and see.
We are a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, formed as a pure federation, on the tripod of North, East and West, initially. What we have seen and heard since 1960, as well as the experience of other rainbow countries, all make rotation of the Presidency and other strategic political offices imperative as the most sensible template to give every part of Nigeria a sense of belonging and worth.
Rotation could only be repudiated when the concessionary quota system and Sharia are dumped, with essential powers and resources returned to federating units and everything is returned to pure competition. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. No one can eat his cake and still have it.
Otherwise, Southerners would finally realize that the future is irredeemably grim for them in the union (as amplified by Peter Omonua in The Guardian of January 11, 12 and 13, 2023) and may be forced to unite to de-amalgamate Nigeria, as a last resort, in order to fulfil their universally-acclaimed potential before it is too late.
As for the Moslem-Moslem ticket, scholars know that Islam does not reckon much with the separation of religion from government and always seeks to dominate wherever it meets other religions. Accordingly, there is hardly any Moslem leader who would not tend towards Islamization of the country.
Nigeria’s Moslem leaders, military and civilian, have been intentional about Islamization – from strategic appointments in the machinery of government to enlistment of the country in international Islamic organizations, down to hijab in educational institutions. That propensity would become worse if given further berth by a Moslem-Moslem presidency – regardless of assurances to the contrary. It is an evil plot. Nothing should be spared to restore the secularity of Nigeria.