Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM) freedom fighter dissociate self from Edwin Clark's peace initiative

New regional militia in Nigeria, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), has warned the Federal Government and its agencies to be wary of overtures for peace in the oil-rich region spearheaded by elder statesman and erstwhile information minister, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark.

In an e-mailed statement on Sunday the nascent militant group dissociated itself from the reported decision by the NDGJM to buy into the peace plans apparently being pursued by the Buhari administration to halt the embarrassing spate of violent agitation signposted by the series of attacks on oil and gas installations in the Niger-Delta.

Specifically, the group said that it has no member by the name of “Odu” alleged to be representing the NDGJM in the reported peace moves with the Federal Government under the Clark-led negotiation initiative, threatening to continue its violent campaign of bombing oil and gas installations outside the creeks and coastal parts of the region.

The octogenarian national Ijaw leader is widely believed to have won the confidence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s team saddled with getting around the knotty issue of restoring enduring peace in the region as one of the visible personages in the area.

Only two weeks ago, Clark convened a Niger Delta stakeholders meeting in Effurun (near Warri), Delta State, was primarily to establish a roadmap for fashioning enduring peace and security in the region.

The round-table event was attended by Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, who used the occasion to reiterate his administration’s real concern about the disruptive activities of the resurgence of militancy in the state and Niger Delta vis-a-vis the direct financial costs to the state in terms of monthly declining revenue from the Federation Account.

However, the NDGJM condemned what it said was an attempt to fraudulently include it in the list of agitating groups he (Clark) had brought to the negotiation table, saying it does not trust the role of Clark alleging that lucre, rather than peace in the Niger-Delta, appeared to be the real interest of elder statesman and politician.

In the statement by “General” Aldo Agbalaja, spokesman of the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, in Asaba on Sunday, the new militia denounced the aforementioned recent stakeholders meeting at PTI Conference Centre, Effurun, as being practically an Ijaw affair as have been the reported negotiation with the country’s central government.

Agbalaja said, “We have warned the Federal Government to be wary of the old man, Chief E.K Clark, and his antics; he can do anything to make dirty money. He and his cohorts, in their desperation to make the unsuspecting government, oil companies and the general public believe they are indeed ‘lords’ of the Delta, created a big fat lie, another charade, in the name of a nonexistent cease fire by the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate.

“For the avoidance of doubts, we have seen no reason to halt our anger against the Nigerian federal government, not when the oppressive system has yet to move a muscle to respond to our requests. We want to categorically say that we have no member, less talking of leader by the name ODU, as quoted by the Vanguard newspaper.

“This said call and the so-called ceasefire is all a job, just like the Ijaw-dominated, Clark-convened Niger Delta stakeholders meeting in Effurun was, they both are meant to justify money they hope to obtain from government. The High Command of the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate uses this medium to alert the world to disregard this fraud. We have our means of communicating, definitely not a call.”

Titled “Clark and Co at Ut Again”, the statement further advised the Nigerian security agencies to go after those who allegedly claimed to have made telephone contact with the NDGJM through the said Odu said to be its leader.

“When we make our next ‘LOUD’ statement, they (security agencies) should go after ODU, who just claimed to be the leader of the mandate”, it said.

The statement also denounced what it called “an Urhobo group, thus the frequent and deliberate characterisation as such by a section of the media”; it claimed that the erroneous tag on the group has prompted “a reckless military invasion of some Urhobo communities”.

It restated its earlier call that residents around oil and gas installations in its target areas should vacate them, saying only it had no immediate plans to halts hostilities.

According to the statement, “We are warning and at the same time appealing to residents around major oil and gas facilities across our region to please evacuate immediately. This warning has become necessary because of the fact that we do not wish any of our people, for whom we have taken up this crusade, to become casualties of our campaign.

All the marked facilities in all the states have been rigged with explosives at strategic points, waiting to be detonated. We are only being slowed down because of the presence of those still living close by. This struggle will only cease when the adversarial Nigerian system yields to reason.”

CBN, Governor Godwin Emefiele reply Emir of Kano Sanusi

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has reacted to commens on foreign exchange policies by the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Sanusi, a former CBN Governor, had at the 15th Joint National Council on Development Planing meeting in Kano, criticized President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement of CBN’s foreign exchange policies, adding that it encourage corruption.

Speaking at the National Institute for Policy and Strategy Studies (NIPSS), shortly after he delivered a lecture titled “Managing Monetary Policy in Turbulent Time,” the CBN governor said it was better to provide creative advice that would help the economy than sitting back criticising.
Emefiele said: “It is easy to criticise from outside but my advice is not to sit back in a garden and call press men and begin to raise criticisms that are untrue and unsubstantiated.

“We need advice of former CBN governors, there are channels they can use but not sit in their garden and call pressmen to raise criticism and say what is not true.”

The CBN governor advised Nigerians to look inwards in order to come out of the present economic predicament.
He lamented that Nigerians spend about £2 billion on their children studying abroad at the detriment of the the nation’s educational sector.
Emefiele further blamed the elite who preferred imported materials to local ones for the current crisis, and wondered why CBN is often condemned whenever it takes decisions to reposition the economy.

“When you introduce a new policy and people do not complain, then that policy is not working. But when policies are introduced and people are shouting and complaining, then the policies have reached the right place.

“It means the policy is working. We should not use our hands to destroy ourselves, we should not use our hands to kill ourselves,” he said.

THE Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate ask residents to vacate oil facilities
From Paul Osuyi, Asaba and Ben Dunno, Warri

THE Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), a militant group has warned residents around major oil and gas facilities across the region to evacuate with immediate effect in order not to end up as casualties of militancy.

NDGJM said all marked facilities in the region have been rigged with explosives at strategic points, waiting to be detonated, adding that the detonation was being held back because of the people in the environment.

“One more time, we are warning and at the same time appealing to residents around major oil and gas facilities across our region to please evacuate immediately.
“This warning has become necessary because of the fact that we do not wish any of our people, for whom we have taken up this crusade, to become casualties of our campaign.
“All the marked facilities in all the states have been rigged with explosives at strategic points, waiting to be detonated.

“We are only being slowed down because of the presence of those still living close by. This struggle will only cease when the adversarial Nigerian system yields to reason,” a statement by the group’s spokesman, Aldo Agbalaja read.

Agbalaja further warned the Federal Government to be wary of Chief Edwin Clark, insisting that the ceasefire declared by the elder statesman on behalf of militants was “a big fat lie, another charade.”
He said Chief Clark and his cohorts were desperate to make money from government, oil companies and the general public out of the present situation in the name of a “non-existent cease fire by the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate.”

He maintained that there was no reason yet for the group to halt its assault against oil facilities when the government was “yet to move a muscle to respond to our requests,” adding the group has no member or talking leader by the name ODU.
“This said call and the so-called ceasefire is all a job, just like the Ijaw-dominated, Clark convened Niger Delta stakeholders meeting in Effurun was, they both are meant to justify money they hope to obtain from government.

“The high command of the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate uses this medium to alert the world to disregard this fraud. We have our means of communicating, definitely not a call.
“With this development, if the Nigerian security system is serious about catching frauds and militants, they should get those who claimed to have spoken on phone with ODU, they should still have his physical contacts.

“When we make our next ‘LOUD’ statement, they should go after ODU, who just claimed to be the leader of the mandate,” the statement added.
It maintained that the group was not an Urhobo as has been reported in a section of the media, noting that as a result of the Urhobo tag, there has been reckless invasion of some Urhobo communities by the military.

The group has also reaffirmed its lack of confidence in the Chief Edwin Clark-led team to dialogue with the federal government. The group insisted it has not appointed anyone or group to go into negotiating with anybody or government on its behalf. The group, in a statement signed by Gen. Aldo Agbalaja, warned the federal government to be wary of the antics of some leaders in the region who out of desperation to make money are capable of doing anything to defraud anyone in the guise of championing the course of the Niger Delta region.

Common Country Analysis: Nigeria deeply divided -Says United Nations
From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka

The United Nations (UN) in a report just released on Nigeria’s Common Country Analysis (CCA), has described the country as deeply divided.
According to the report, which was read during a consultative meeting on the formulation of the UN Development Assistance Framework IV (UNDAF IV) for the South-East geo-political zone in Awka, showed Nigeria as a “divided society on the basis of the plurality of ethnic, religious and regional identities that had tended to define the country’s political existence.”

The report observed that, for decades, different segments of Nigeria’s population had, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalisation, of being short-changed, dominated, oppressed, threatened, or even targeted for elimination.

It also painted a gloomy picture for the country as most of the development and social indices in Nigeria recorded much below acceptable standards.
The major challenges facing Nigeria, according to the report, were constraints of economic growth and social development and lack of good governance. The report also noted that “the situation was exacerbated by the existence of systematic accountability challenges at the federal, states and local government levels.”

It said: “Nigeria is one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the world, with over 80 million or 64 per cent of her population living below poverty line. Poverty and hunger have remained high in rural areas, remote communities and among female-headed households and these cut across the six geo-political zones, with prevalence ranging from approximately 46.9 per cent in the South-West to 74.3 per cent in North-West and North-East.

“Nigeria’s economy is currently in a recession and it is estimated that government revenues have fallen by as much as 33 per cent, which has further resulted in the contraction of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 0.36 per cent in the first three months of 2016.
“The vulnerable macroeconomic environment in Nigeria is affecting investors’ confidence in the domestic economy.”

According to the report, despite Nigeria’s enormous resources, 37 per cent of children under five years old were stunted and 29 per cent underweight due to malnutrition just as only 10 per cent of children aged six to 23 months were fed appropriately based on recommended infant and young children feeding practices.

The report also revealed widespread cases of violence against women and girls, including physical and sexual assault, adding that 42 per cent of the youths were unemployed, “a situation that had led to poverty, helplessness and despair, thereby exposing them to easy target for crime and terrorism,” while over 10 million children of school age were out of schools with no knowledge and skills.
It also said, “despite the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to a number of protocols on sustainable and renewable environment, the country had, over the decades, failed to protect the environment, ecosystem and natural resources.

“Nigeria faces humanitarian and emergency crises of considerable proportions fueled by a combination of factors including climate change, inter-communal conflicts and violence, insurgency, recurring floods, heavy handed tactics of security forces in combating crime and insurgency. The overall consequence is the situation of systematic and chronic internal displacement that has given rise to different humanitarian crises that include the most egregious and dehumanising human rights abuses.”

It, therefore, recommended that “transforming and diversifying Nigeria’s development paths needed a radical and new approach, especially by investing in people and in a strong more dynamic and inclusive productive informal sector,” just as the agency called for a design and support of joint programmes to address good governance, peace and security.

IPOB: The so-called Breakaway Groups Are Buhari’s Phantom Creations -Says Emma Powerful

Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Saturday, September 3, 2016, accused the Muhammadu Buhari-led government of perfecting plans to cause disaffection between the Igbo speaking Biafrans and the Ijaw, and bring them into a collision.

In a statement issued by the pro-Biafra movement’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, and made available to the press in Awka, the group noted that the federal government had seen the unity and seriousness with which the two ethnic nationalities were pursuing the liberation of the Biafran people and therefore decided to create non-existent splinter groups of IPOB towards causing enmity between the Igbo speaking Biafrans and the Ijaw.

The statement alleged that by creating perceived splinter groups of the Indigenous People of Biafra and giving its leader an Ijaw name, the Buhari’s government was attempting to pitch the Igbo against the Ijaw.

“By carefully inserting a fabricated Ijaw name as the leader of this non-existent group of reprobates (for REIPO, Buhari is looking to generate enmity between the Igbo-speaking part of Biafra and the people of Ijaw, the statement read.
“In Buhari’s thinking, he hopes to further make the restoration of Biafra an impossibility by entrenching perpetual enmity among various sections of Biafra land.”

IPOB also berated the leaders of Ohaneze Ndigbo, describing them as political jobbers who were not ashamed of their lowly political status in Nigeria.

The spokesman assured that “those thinking that IPOB is a pushover group are in for a shock. We will make them understand that no amount of divide and rule tactic will prevail.”

He recalled that IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, had on August 10, 2015, predicted the creation of fake groups, and had since then prepared for it.

Some groups had last week alleged that the splinter groups of IPOB were the creation of the federal government through the Department of State Services, DSS.

Nigeria: Federal Government knocks US Congressman, says published letter disparaging, sadly out of tune

The Federal Government on Sunday reacted to the published letter from United States, US Congressman, Tom Marino, to Secretary of State, John Kerry, asking Washington to withhold security assistance to Nigeria over some purported infractions by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
While dismissing the report as sadly out of tune with reality, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued by his special adviser, Segun Adeyemi, said that the Congressman was poorly informed about the issues he commented on.

The statement wondered why Marino did not take the pains to get first hand information from the US Embassy in Nigeria or any other credible source before engaging in what is nothing but a ‘propaganda of his own imagination’.
The minister stated that by asking the US to refrain from selling war planes and other military equipment to Nigeria based on a faulty premise, the Congressman has demonstrated a poor understanding of global security issues.

‘’Insecurity anywhere is insecurity everywhere. Had Congressman Marino understood this, he would not have made the kind of call he made concerning the US security assistance to Nigeria. The Boko Haram insurgency that Nigeria has decisively dealt with under President Muhammadu Buhari is not just a Nigerian problem but a regional and international crisis,’’ he said.

Mohammed maintained that Congressman Marino definitely did not have Nigeria in mind when he wrote his statement.

”An Administration that operates purely on the basis of respect for the rule of law and a strict adherence to constitutional order is not one to deny the citizens of their constitutionally-guaranteed rights. This Administration therefore does not need the goading of Congressman Marino or anyone for that matter to do what is right.
”Concerning running an inclusive government, had Congressman Marino done his home work before dispatching his letter, he would have realized that no part of the country is left out in the distribution of political appointments, for example, or in the appointment of Ministers, which was done in accordance with the Constitution that mandates that the President must appoint at least one minister from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Had the Congressman sought information from credible sources before engaging in a flight of fancy, he would have been presented with a comprehensive information on the appointment of CEOs for Federal Government’s parastatals, agencies and commissions that shows that the appointments were almost evenly matched along the line of the six geo-political zones in the country: With the North West having 51, North Central 46, North East 45, South East 41, South West 45 and South South 45.

‘’The Congressman may wish to note that each geo-political zone comprises 6 states, with the exception of North West (7) and South East (5),” he stated.

The minister described Congressman Marino’s description of the Administration’s anti-corruption efforts as ‘selective’ as a tired argument that clearly shows that the US lawmaker must have appended his signature to someone’s concocted line.

“That line was invented by those seeking to cause an unnecessary distraction from the Administration’s anti-corruption efforts, and it has been roundly rejected. Congressman Marino’s decision to exhume the dead postulation without an iota of proof is a reflection of whose side he has taken in the ongoing efforts to rid Nigeria of corrupt elements.

“Needless to say that the anti-corruption battle will continue unhindered, irrespective of whose ox is gored. And in this fight, only the guilty needs be afraid,’’ he said.

Mohammed concluded by stating that Nigeria is delighted that US Secretary of State John Kerry, to whom the Congressman addressed his letter, is more knowledgeable, better briefed and definitely more hands on concerning Nigerian issues.

NIGERIA AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF A DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENCY (PART 1) - By Femi Fani Kayode
By Femi Fani Kayode
September 5th, 2016
I support Mr. Donald J. Trump's presidential bid because he has admitted publicly that the American-inspired removal of Arab secularist leaders like Saddam Hussein, Muammar Ghadaffi, Hosni Mubarak and, more recently, the attempt to remove Bashir Al Assad were wrong, short-sighted, counter-productive and have led to nothing but chaos.

How many politicians, from either side of America's political divide, have that level of vision and understanding of world affairs?

How many have the courage to admit that succcesive American Presidents, including George W. Bush who was a Republican like him, were wrong on this issue?

Hussein, Ghadaffi, Mubarak and Al Assad were/are, though dictators, moderate Muslims who fought and supressed the Islamist terrorists and islamic fundamentalism in their respective domains.

Since the time they were removed or bogged down in fighting a civil war, as is the case with Assad, the Middle East, north, east and west Africa, Europe and indeed the world has become a far more dangerous place.

The Obama/Clinton/Kerry administration (whom I often refer to as the "evil triumvirate" or the "unholy trinity" helped the islamist terrorists to spread their violence and evil throughout the world more than any other government in the entire history of the United States of America.
The questions that those that doubt my assertions need to answer are as follows:

1. Why did it take the Obama/Clinton/Kerry triumverate literally three years to designate Nigeria's Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation and why is it that they waited until over 100, 000 innocent Nigerians were killed before they did so in 2014.

2. Why did the Obama/Clinton/Kerry triumverate impose an arms embargo on Nigeria when President Goodluck Jonathan was in power and why did they stop the entire western world, including Israel, from selling us arms to fight Boko Haram? Who benfitted from that policy more than Boko Haram itself and those in Nigeria that were using them to discredit and fight the government?

3. Why did the Obama/Clinton/Kelly triumverate encourage their closest Arab allies, including the Saudi Arabians, the Qataris and the Turks, to fund islamist terror groups like the Al Nusra Front and ISIS in Iraq and Syria?

4. Why was Mubarak removed and replaced with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? How could this have been allowed to happen? It could only have happened under the rulership of the triumverate. Mubarak's Egypt was America's greatest ally in North Africa and the Arab world and she was Israel's best friend. When the Muslim Brotherhood came to power they got it so wrong that the Egyptian military had to do a coup, topple them and come back.I am sure that the Obama administration were not too pleased with that because they were very comfortable with the Muslim Brotherhood and they welcomed their islamist agenda and anti-Israerli-sentiments.

5. How can the Obama/Clinton/Kerry triumvirate justify the mess in Libya? They ensured that they toppled Ghadaffi through their Libyan and Gulf Arab state surrogates and European allies and after that Al Qaeda and ISIS moved in and flooded the place.Libya is now in anarchy, turmoil and chaos and the terrorists control more parts of it than the government does.

6. Why did the Obama/Clinton/Kerry triumvirate bring the relationship between Israel and the U.S. to such an all-time low that, for the first time since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, an Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu, visited America in his official capacity without seeking or being granted audience by the President of the United States?

Those that think Clinton will not continue the evil that she and Obama started seven years ago in the name of political correctness and the subtle promotion of radical islam and terror are either dangerously naive or ignorant or both.
Trump has declared that his foreign policy will be focused on one thing: the elimination and destruction of those that espouse terror and radical islam and the protection of those that are victims of radical islam and the jihadi terrorists throughout the world.

He has rejected the Obama/Clinton/Kerry approach of trying to appease the terrorists.That is good enough for me. That is the only way forward if we want a better and safer world.

On 25th August 2016 Mr. Babatunde O. Gbadamosi wrote the following on his Facebook:

"Trump must win. Kerry and the Democrats see Southern Nigeria as Fulani conquered territory, and the Fulanis as our masters.I say a prayer for Donald Trump today: May the Lord of hosts grant him resounding victory in the US Presidential elections, in Jesus' name".

I say a big "amen" to that. The complicity of the Obama administration in what is going on in our country is self-evident.

They have weakened, undermined and further divided our nation by interfering in our internal political affairs and by encouraging and supporting an incompetent, sectional, dictatorial and essentially islamist government whose intention is to intimidate, bully and brow-beat our people into a cowering and grovelling silence, submission, slavery and captivity.

The support that the Obama administration and the Democrats generally appear to be offering the Buhari administration and the dark forces that they represent makes it imperative for any right-thinking person that believes in the secularize of the state, the plurality of our nation, the sanctity of our constitution and laws and the equality of all religious faiths and ethnic nationalities in our country to pray for Trump to prevail.

That the Obama/Clinton/Kerry triumvirate and unholy trinity assisted President Buhari to come to power last year is no longer disputable.

That they had nothing but contempt and disdain for President Goodluck Jonathan simply because he refused to be their puppet, he refused to work for the CIA and for the establishment of a demonic "new world order" and he rejected the notion that gay rights and gay marriage should be given pride of place in our laws and his policies is a matter of fact.

That Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod was paid large sums of money (which according to some reports ran into 10 million US dollars) to assist the Buhari campaign is no longer debatable.

That the Obama administration has turned a blind eye to the massive violation of human rights and civil liberties in our country and the perpetration of mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide against our people cannot be denied.

That the CIA, through its various fronts and surrogates in the international private sector, is quietly selling the idea that the hausa language ought to be the lingual franca of Nigeria and the indigenous language that our nation ought to be identified with is increasingly obvious.

That John Kerry came to Nigeria a couple of weeks ago and insulted the collective sensibilities of the entire south and every self-respecting Christian in the country by visiting the Sultan of Sokoto, a handful of core northern Muslim governors, an "Arewa-loving" Buhari and no-one else is irrefutable.

Not only did the Christian Association of Nigeria condemn this in very strong terms but such was the angst that it provoked that Mr. Kingsly Okah, a respected essayist and political commentator, was constrained to write the following:

"John Kerry came for the Sultan of Sokoto's birthday and not a state visit. He came to perfect the western seed of discord foisted on us by the ouster of President Goodluck Jonathan. He came to lay credence to the American support of an Islamic agenda in Nigeria. He came to endorse genocide being commited by some reprobate Muslims whose foot soldiers are Fulani herdsmen and their grand patron Buhari".

To butress the point Mr. Galadima of the Christian Information Network went further by writing the following to its members. He wrote:

"This is such a significant event that minority nationalities and Christians all over the country MUST digest and act.

1. John Kerry has just confirmed that spiritually, Nigeria is now an lslamic State.

2. His inspiring attacks on corruption, bad governance and all that stuff are thrilling but only a facade. He and the government of the United States of America are here to divert attention from the real thing.

3.They are pushing the absurd narrative that we should blame past governments, who they claim did not tackle poverty etc., for the rise of lslamic terrorism in the north and that the Sokoto Caliphate has always been the region which provides Nigeria with decent human resources for good governance.

Haba!! Please somebody advise me to halt for now. These diversions should be rejected and resisted. The legality of using lslam to kill and destroy in Nigeria must be challenged. This Network should keep this fight alive and on the front burner of national discourse".

Can anyone seriously dispute the veracity of both Okah and Galadima's assertions? Are they not absolutely right?
In a country that is multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual and in a nation in which the south rightfully believes that it is presently under siege and in the process of being systematically enslaved, these things cannot be defended, rationalised or justified under any circumstances.
Not only is it utterly reprehensible but it also confirms the fact that Obama and his triumverate are not only partial to the Muslim north but that they also have a hidden agenda to further divide Nigeria along religious and ethnic lines and perhaps cause another major conflict just as was done in Syria.

A vote for Clinton is a vote to continue this shameless and utterly dangerous policy. Worst still a Clinton victory would ultimately cost Nigeria dearly.

Donald Trump, who is well known for his disdain and contempt for radical Islam, his rigid opposition to islamist intolerance and jihadi terrorism and his concerns about the activities of those that seek to establish a new world caliphate where sharia law is applied to all and where Christians and non-Sunni Muslims are slaughtered and killed, would have none of that.
And neither would he, his Republican party or the evangelical Christian movement in the United States of America, who are solidly behind him, support or engender such an evil agenda. (TO BE CONTINUED).

Olufemi Olu-Kayode is a Nigerian politician, essayist, poet and lawyer

Fulani used forceful imposition of Islam and language to conquer Northern Nigeria. - By Femi Fani Kayode

By Femi Fani Kayode
September 5th, 2016

In the northern part of Nigeria two vessels were used as vehicles for conquest by the Fulani: religion and language.

Islam was imposed by the force of arms and the use of the sword by Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio whilst Hausa, the language of the conquered people of the old Habe kingdom, was adopted as the official language of the new Fulani caliphate.

As brilliant and calculating as ever, the Fulani ruling class insisted that Fulfulde, their own native language, was spoken only by the Fulani themselves.

To them their's was the language of emperors, kings and conquerors and they refused to allow their subjects and vassals to speak or learn it because they considered them to be nothing more than serfs and slaves.

For the conquered it was Hausa that was to be spoken and not Fulfulde because the latter was considered to be too good for them.

There are over 100 distinct and independent ethnic groups in northern Nigeria, each with their own cultural and historical heritage and distinct language, yet they are all compelled to speak Hausa.

Some of them have even forgotten their own native language or never learnt to speak it in the first place. Others do not know who they are or where they are coming from.

Some do not even know that they ever had a language or heritage of their own. Everything for them, from beginning to end, has become Hausa. This speaks volumes.

Ironically the white Boers of apartheid South Africa, who were originally from Holland, adopted the same strategy of linguistic and cultural conquest when they arrived in southern Africa and established their hegemony and racist enclave in the 17th century.

Their native language was Afrikaans (which was a local derivative of the Dutch language) and, like the Fulanis of northern Nigeria, for many generations they ensured that only they were allowed to speak it.

The black South African natives were not taught Afrikaans and they were not allowed to speak it because it was considered to be the language of the elite ruling class and their racial masters.

Allowing them to speak it would bear the implication that they were on the same level as their religious, racial and cultural masters and that was unacceptable.

They were only allowed to communicate in their own native African languages and English. This was very effective and it essentially kept the conquered in their place whilst it exalted the conqueror. That is the power and secret of language and linguistic conquest.

It is for this reason that the people of France, for example, refuse to speak English with you when you are in their country even though their English may be fluent.

They recognize the fact that once they adopt another man's language as being the one that is commonly used in their own land it is an acceptance of subjugation.

They acknowledge the fact that such a concession or, to use a more appropriate word, "submission", is essentially an acceptance and wholehearted espousal of a sinister and subtle form of cultural and linguistic imperialism.

Worst still it is symptomatic of the fact that your own culture and language no longer bears any relevance or has any value.
The English, who are undoubtedly the masters of the game when it comes to the art of cultural and linguistic imperialism, did it successfully to the Scottish, the Welsh and the Irish, all of whom had and spoke their own distinct languages until they were conquered and subjugated and turned into vassal states.

Today few of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish people are able to speak their native languages anymore. The language that they all speak now is English, the language of their oppressors.

Those that imposed and established Hausa as the lingual franca in the north and those that seek to establish it as the lingual franca of Nigeria know what they are doing and why they are doing it and so do their British and, more recently, American friends and allies.

There is a long-term game plan unfolding and a not-so-hidden agenda. Yet sadly it is only those that are discerning, insightful, incisive and historically-literate that can possibly grasp or see it.

It is not for the dull, the unenlightened, the uneducated or the slow. Such souls cannot possibly grasp or understand such complex issues and one can hardly blame them for that because they are simply ignorant.

It is points like this that those in our country that know no better and that believe that hausa is just a "unique language" which should be spoken and adopted by all in our nation fail to comprehend.

Such people fail to appreciate the fact that if you take a man's language and faith away and super-impose another on him, for whatever reason, that man loses his identity, his heritage, his culture and his history and he becomes absolutely nothing.
Once that is achieved he is successfully stripped bare of who and what he once was and all memory of the past is erased. That is tragic.

From the 18th century when the Caliphate was established in northern Nigeria the forceful imposition of islam and the hausa language were used by the Fulani as tools of conquest and what the French describe as the "raison d'etra" (which means "rationale" to dominate and rule over the people of that region.

They used both to reduce the so-called "minorities" of the north to slavery and servitude. They also used both to humiliate them and bring them to their knees.
It was brutal and ugly and it continued right up until the time that there was no more resistance and it was accepted as the norm.

Now they want to do the same thing to the rest of Nigeria. Many fail to appreciate or recognise this because they are shallow.
Yet a failure to fully grasp or appreciate such things will eventually lead to nothing less than slavery.
May God open our eyes, may He continue to guide us and may He give us courage and understanding. Shalom.

Olufemi Olu-Kayode is a Nigerian politician, essayist, poet and lawyer

CHOI BANGALEE DON VEX. . . . . . “My MARRIAGE is my business and it is none of your BUSINESS” – D’banj Tells Nigerians

Nigerian musician Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, popularly Known as DBanj has expressed his displeasure at rumors going around about his marital status and he has warned everyone to stay out of his business. . . . .

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Nigeria has gone beyond repair may die before Brainless Buhari completes reforms – Shehu Sani warns

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, has warned the Federal Government to put short-term measures in place to cushion the effect of the current economic crisis on the Nigerian masses or risk the people dying before he completes his reforms.
The lawmaker, who represents Kaduna-Central Senatorial District at the Senate, told Sunday Punch that many lives would have been lost before the current reforms of the President Muhammadu Buhari government are completed.

According to him, “If you happen to be in a position of power, inasmuch as you want to bring reforms that are painful, you have to understand the need for you to carry the people along because if you keep on bringing reforms and continue to unleash hardship on the people, you may as well say there is a paradise but people need to be alive to reach that paradise.
“If you keep reforming and reforming and the people are suffering and dying, you may reach the Promised Land alone because by that time everyone has died. Of what use would that be?”

Sani, who criticised Buhari for not having an independent economic team to drive the economy out of recession, noted that the goodwill the All Progressives Congress, APC, enjoyed at the polls, which led to the emergence of Buhari as president, was waning fast.

This, he said, is in view of the increasing number of open letters on the hardships being suffered by Nigerians.

His words, “Let me tell you how it started, which is general with all persons who just took power in Nigeria. In 1979 and 1999, when a new president assumed office, he would have the support of all Nigerians. The first stage will be, ‘We support you; we stand by you and we are going to back you.’
“The second stage will be, ‘We are advising you.’ The third stage will be, ‘We are cautioning you.’ At the fourth stage, Nigerians will say, ‘We are warning you.’ The fifth stage will be, ‘We doubt you.’ The sixth stage, it will be, ‘You are incompetent.’ The seventh stage will be, ‘You should go.’

“When you study these stages, you will see that we have moved behind 100 per cent support to “advise.” And with letters flying and criticisms following, it is about “cautioning.” And I think the handwritings are on the wall for everybody to see.”