This concludes the narrative from last week, that following the shift of presidential power to the South, sectional groups like the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, often resort to using the Hausa services of foreign radio stations to whip up anti-government sentiments bordering on  alleged marginalisation of the North, as was the case during the Obasanjo administration. 

THESE foreign Hausa broadcasting services do not even have the semblance of neutrality for which their English language broadcasts are known. They report, for instance, that “the North” has decided to do this or that or has decided not to support or vote for such and such candidate in the 2003 elections. Such sweeping conclusions from spurious and non-existent findings/decisions of imagined “Northerners” are not so common on the local radio stations. However, many a friend in “politics” would talk to one as a matter-of-factly as follows:

“Tun da yanzu mu Yan Arewa mun zama saniyar tatse- a tatse mu, a yar”: As we Northerners have been exploited and discarded.

In one’s own presence they talk about “we, Northerners”, which, of course, one identifies with tokenly, but then they complete those phrases with statements that one could agree or identify with. This is embarrassing and one tries to immediately find an unobvious way to cover the embarrassment. This makes one to start to wonder about the meaning of “Northerners” and who they are. It gives one the feelings that perhaps one is no longer a “Northerner”. But they use the Hausa word “mu” which means the talker and the one being talked to. So it means I am regarded as a “Northerner” and I am shown to share the same views. In that case what is being said is a misrepresentation of my views and the views of a great number of “Northerners”. 

The ‘North’ is a generalised geographical location in Nigeria. However, this geographical location does not exist as a government unit, a political system, a religious denomination, a tribal unit, or, in fact as any unit of anything at all. It is the conceptualised idea of the elite special interest groups who must protect their influence and relevance and who must regain their lost glory. It was only after the coming to power of this new democratic government that the elite groups in the North started to come together to form their special interest groups as a countervailing force to the Afenifere in the South-West zone and to the Ohanaeze in the South-East. The Arewa Consultative, ACF, is the name of the elite groups that selected themselves to form what they see as the vanguard for the “North”.

Maybe groups of this nature had a function during the military administration. It is difficult to see what legitimate functions such groups could play in a democratic setting with multiple political parties. There are 19 states in the “North” and each is headed by an executive governor elected by a majority of the people in the state. These governors, despite their party political differences, meet regularly to discuss issues of common interest to the “North” and to decide on what line of uniform action to take. This is a better and a more suitable democratic group of functionaries to discuss issues of common interest to the “the North” than a gathering of an extremely elitist group, of self-appointed people who carry no mandate whatsoever from the people of “the North”.

Only the (ex-)military elite, the traditional ruling elite and the monied/rich merchant/trading elite groups constitute the ACF, which has no representation from the generality of the people in the “North”. They are friends and associates of one another and selected themselves to form the ACF. They do not relate in any practical way with the majority of the people of the “North”. 

Yet these are the people who led the campaign to portray all the actions and activities of the Federal Government under President Obasanjo as either ill motivated or against the interest of “the North” They created the image of “marginalisation” to portray the present Federal Government as Government of the Yorubas”. I must confess the same scenario is being played out in Nigeria of today. The picture Dr. Ayagi painted at that time is the same picture we are seeing today. 

But does the Presidency need a defence at all? Who remembers what Alhaji Wada Nas (1938-2005) said about the regime of General Sani Abacha or what Chief Michael Kaase Andooka SAN (61) said about President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.

In football what counts are the goals scored not the defence tactics, home support or corner kicks. At the end of the day, what will count is performance. The enduring legacy is nothing but performance.

Concluded