The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos
Metropolitan See, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, has outlined his reasons
the recent claim made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo about alleged
Fulanization of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari may a reality.
Okogie questioned the leadership
of President Buhari while lamenting that “the security situation in Nigeria has
become worse than deplorable.”
The cleric noted that Nigeria was
being attacked; wondering if this was how the citizens will be watching while
the country becomes more inhabitable than it has ever been in her history.
This was contained in a statement
he entitled: “Nigeria is under attack” on Tuesday where he backed Obasanjo’s
claims on “Fulanisation and Islamisation.”
He said that Obasanjo was
“pointing to an open secret, and that there is a synergy between Boko Haram,
herdsmen and ISIS.
Okogie’s statement added, “On a
Monday in September 2015, former Finance Minister, Chief Olu Falae, was on his
farm in Ilado near Akure when some armed men came looking for him.
“At gunpoint, they abducted him
and held him until the following Thursday. At the age of 77, he was made to
walk several kilometres. He was made to sleep in the rain.
“According to his own account
published in some national dailies, every half an hour, his armed abductors
threatened: ‘Baba, we are going to kill you. If you don’t give us money we are
going to kill you.’
“By 2018, herdsmen were wreaking
havoc in the states of the middle belt of Nigeria.
“Then, a retired Chief of Army
Staff, a veteran of military intervention in Nigerian politics, General
Theophilus Danjuma, warned that there was ethnic cleansing in the middle belt.
“Having lost confidence in the
government’s willingness or ability to deal with the situation, General Danjuma
called on the people of the middle belt to take responsibility for their own
security.
“The reaction of aides to the
President of the Federal Republic was to insult him and call him names he did
not deserve to bear.
“Recently, former President
Obasanjo added his voice to those of Chief Falae, Gen. Danjuma and many others,
voices warning us of heightened insecurity in our country. President Obasanjo
spoke of ‘Fulanisation and Islamisation.’
“But in what has become a typical
reaction from aides to President Buhari, President Obasanjo’s concerns were not
addressed. What he received were gratuitous insults from President Buhari’s
aides.
“Nonetheless, it is highly
significant that one of President Obasanjo’s most virulent critiques, Professor
Wole Soyinka, urged the federal government to address the issues he raised.
“The issue is neither the
character nor the political affiliation of those who are speaking. The issue is
insecurity and the government’s inability or unwillingness to address the
issue.
“Nigeria in her vastness is
within the firm grips of kidnappers, armed robbers, herdsmen, bandits and
insurgents. ‘Government officials tell us that Boko Haram has been “technically
defeated”.
“But there is a wide abyss
between government propaganda and the experience of the citizen. Despite
government propaganda, Boko Haram, with frequent and convincing repetition,
demonstrates that it has more firepower than the Nigerian military.
“Our highways are unsafe. A major
highway like the Abuja-Kaduna Road has become a theatre of operation for
kidnappers.
“The northwestern states of
Zamfara and Katsina have become utterly unsafe. They have been taken over by armed
bandits. Yet, all that presidential aides have to offer concerned Nigerians is
insolence.
“Shortly after Chief Falae’s
abduction, Nigerians woke up to hear of clandestine and illegal importation of
arms into Nigeria.
“There were reports that arrests
were made. But Nigerians no longer hear of any judicial process to which these
importers are being subjected. The matter appears to have died. Little wonder
we now live in a Nigeria saturated with ammunition.
“How on earth can we claim to be
living in a democratic polity when presidential aides forget or ignore the fact
that the President was put in office by the votes of the people?
“For if they knew the principles
of democracy; they would not be disrespectful to Nigerians who happen to hold
views divergent from those of government on how affairs of state are to be
handled.
“One would have thought that, by
now, four years since 2015, presidential aides would have grasped the
difference between insolence and competence.
“One does not need to hold any
brief for former President Obasanjo to know that his concerns on this matter
are genuine. One only needs to read carefully the text of his intervention.
“One need not be his friend or
political ally to observe that there are one-sided actions on the part of the
government in matters of security.
“Well-meaning Nigerians express
concerns that herdsmen are treated with kid gloves and allowed to get away with
murder while some other agitators are called terrorists, proscribed and gunned
down.
“A ‘technically defeated’ Boko
Haram continues to hold Leah Sharibu in captivity while the federal government
secured the release of her Muslim schoolmates and the release of Zainab Aliyu
and Ibrahim Abubakar from death row in Saudi Arabia.
“Obasanjo is pointing to an open
secret, and that is: there is a synergy between Boko Haram, herdsmen and ISIS.
“This synergy, leading to a
gradual implementation of the Islamisation agenda of ISIS, is what is being
referred to as Fulanisation and Islamisation.
“It is about the imposition by
ISIS of its own version of Islam. Whoever opposes it, be that person Christian
or Muslim or Fulani, is eliminated.
“The security situation in
Nigeria has become worse than deplorable. Nigeria is being attacked. Is this
how we all will be watching while our country becomes more inhabitable than it
has ever been in her history? Is there leadership in this country?
“If so, what type of leadership
do we have? It is the responsibility of the president and his aides to address
the situation in ways that are manifestly even-handed. There are fears that
some people have taken over this country. We are held hostage on our land.
“This country is in the hands of
invaders, bandits, herdsmen and kidnappers. Nigeria is under attack. Will the
President and Commander in Chief show leadership?”
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