Apart from the fact that the Amalgamation of Nigeria took place in 1914 and the nation obtained her independence in 1960, very little else is known by most Nigerians about the background story of their country. Yet, these are the foundational issues that have continued to play major roles in current developments in Nigeria’s national life. When Martin Luther King declared, “We are not makers of history, we are made by history”, what he was alluding to is that past history shapes current events.
Thus, one of the most treasured resources of any nation is
their history. Their nationalism is built around their history and this is what
gives them pride in their heritage. It is the one resource that tells them of
their origins, heroes, the basis of their union, the different trajectories
they have taken and the results they have gotten at different times. It
therefore leads to an appreciation of their starting foundations and how one
administration after another has built on the initial foundational blocks to
get to where they are. So committed are they to their history that, good or
bad, painstaking effort is made to preserve it through books, movies and
sometimes, yearly anniversaries. According to Marcus Garvey, “A people without
the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture, is like a tree without
roots.” This readily explains why our people are completely disoriented and
have lost virtually all values.
While it has become critically important for Nigerians to
become aware of this background history, it has become more so for the Church
as it touches on where the Church is in the scheme of things in the nation and
the danger the denominations and their congregations face. Armed with adequate
information and commitment to prayers, there is no doubt that the Lord will
lead His people and give direction as we resolve to seek Him.
In the Book of Isaiah, the Bible says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Light; those who
dwelt in the land of intense darkness and the shadow of death, upon them has
the Light shined” (Isa 9:2 AMP).
Giving contemporary meaning to this Scripture, the Church of
God in Nigeria has been the one dwelling in the land of intense darkness and
the shadow of death, without knowing it. When George Santayana pronounced his
now famous quote that “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to
repeat it”, it would appear that going by events in Nigeria, there is a
possibility of a more dire twist: that those who do not know their past stand
the possibility of being consumed by it. By the time anyone is through with
reading this piece, the precarious position of the Church will be established
through concrete historical and contemporary events.
IN THE BEGINNING…
The traditional inhabitants of the geographical space now
referred to as Nigeria today were varied: those who may be called the real
indigenes include the Negro stock of Native Aboriginal Africans with un-mixed
origins deriving their several languages from the Niger-Congo family. Notable
among the groups are the Ijaws, Igbos, Yorubas, Kalabaris, Edo, Efiks,
Itshekiri, of the southern part and Junkuns, Tivs, Idoma, etc. from the Middle
Belt who formed and ran different kingdoms over the years. The Hausas lived in
the upper northernmost fringes of what was to become Nigeria. Over time,
another group of the Negroid stock, the Fulani, who were not part of the
traditional inhabitants, who also have a disdain for the Negro stock, came into
Nigeria in the guise of religion. This was through invasion of the Hausa kingdoms.
The traditional inhabitants were largely idol worshippers
until the two major faiths came – Christianity through the South and Islam
through the North. The Fulani, who lived in different parts of West Africa and
historically are from the Futa Jalon area in Guinea, invaded northern Nigeria
through a Jihad in 1804 and upon conquering the Hausa states, subsequently set
up Fulani emirs to rule and dominate them through the Emirate structure and
Sharia as penal code. Incursions were later made southwards around 1835 but
they only succeeded as far as Ilorin on the western flank, through betrayal,
while the indigenous peoples of the Middle Belt resisted them stoutly.
The Fulani have a consistent strategic pattern of migration
which has, till today, not changed. They begin with a peaceful entry into their
environments. Within a short space of time, local officials give them land
grants. While in their new territory, they begin conversions to Islam and in
time, the number of converts increase. While these are going on, no one detects
that the Fulani resent being
ruled by pagans or what they term “imperfect Muslims”. Their next strategy is
to import more Fulanis with the sole purpose of creating revolts or instigating
Jihad against the local rulers and their peoples. With force of arms and
element of surprise, the locals are overpowered and an Emirate with Fulani
rulership is set up with Sharia as the criminal code. After their victories,
the Fulani generally take out their local collaborators from positions of power
and forge alliances with fellow Fulani. The template fits their operation so
far in Nigeria as we speak . This should be an eye-opener to the raging issues
of the grazing reserves, renamed cattle colonies at a time and recently,
finally transmuted to National Livestock Transformation Plan to be established
in predominantly Christian states.
Christianity, on the other hand, came into Nigeria through
Europeans (specifically the British) in the early 1840s through Badagry and
later spread to Abeokuta and beyond. While the intention of the Fulanis was to
get territories and spread Islam as a religion at the same time, the British
also had a dual purpose in coming to Nigeria: the first was religious while the
other was the exploitation of resources of Nigeria through trade and commerce.
The hold of the British on Nigeria began with the
declaration of Lagos as a British colony in 1861. The army was thereafter
brought in to suppress inter-tribal wars that were then a common occurrence and
opposition to British traders and middlemen who were going inland to trade by
the locals. The Military thereafter
became an expedient institution to maintain the political annexation of
Colonies and subdue local authorities while imposing their own rule. This was
to later influence the military intervention in democratic rule.
The British were to get more involved with Nigeria because
competition for colonial territories and scramble for sources of raw materials
and market for finished goods got more intense with the Industrial Revolution.
The British opportunity came through Sir George Tubman Goldie, owner of the
Royal Niger Company (RNC now UAC), who recruited Lord Lugard in 1894 over his
British Charter covering the trading territory over which he had acquired
rights which was seconded in 1886. Lugard’s mandate was to secure the Treaty of
Bornu and to expand the Company's frontier beyond Lake Chad. To further protect
British interests under his command, a West African Frontier Force was raised
with headquarters in Jebba. He declared a Protectorate of Northern Nigeria on
the 1st of January, 1903.
Simultaneously in the South, British interests also
increased through the establishment of the Oil River Protectorate in the Niger
Delta in 1885. They subdued other Empires in the South, essentially the Oyo,
Benin and Arochukwu. By 1888, the South of Nigeria became a British
Protectorate. By 1906, the Yoruba hinterland was conquered and came under
British rule. By 1903, Lugard took over the License issued to UAC at the sum of
£865,000 sterling. He then merged the Colonies in the South under the Southern
Protectorate.
The master stroke that led to the emergence of Nigeria as
one nation took place when Lugard amalgamated the Northern and Southern
Protectorates into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914, sealing the
final fate of the two territories under British rule. Why was this done? Prior
to this time, due to lack of resources in the North, the northern
administration was run through subvention from the British Treasury. At that time
however, the Southern Protectorate was generating a good surplus every year.
Lord Harcourt, after whom Port Harcourt is named, who oversaw the Oil Rivers
Protectorate sent a memo to the British government indicating that the burden
of funding the North could be taken off the British treasury through a marriage
with “a Southern Lady of Means” and Lord Lugard would be responsible for
performing the ceremony. This was the foundation of the Amalgamation.
Through the Amalgamation, the colonial government then used
the resources of the profitable South to run the Affairs of the North and fund
the development of the North at the same time. This was the foundation for the
exploitation of the resources of the South to develop the North which has been
fraudulently perfected decade upon decade since then and has become a major
fault line of the nation state that emerged till today.
From that time, the subjugation of Christianity began as
Lugard agreed to maintain all pledges and undertakings which had been assumed
by the RNC including the Policy of not supporting Christian Missions in the
Muslim North while allowing missionaries in the Middle Belt. This restricted
Western education in the Muslim North.
He supported the Indirect Rule system as it was practiced in India using
the Emirs as different from the Southern system of administration.
SUSTAINING STRATEGIES
What Nigeria is experiencing today is the outworking of the
grand plan by the British based on the perception of the Colonial Grand
Masters. It is clear that they preferred
to hand over to non-indigenous African (Settlers) minority instead of the
African Negroes, the majority. Of particular note, when all these began, was
the disdain in which Lugard held the educated elite of the South, especially
Lagos. The reason for this is not far-fetched. By 1821, the Yorubas had
produced their first graduate. The effect of this was enlightenment that made
them stand before the colonialists as equals and this troubled them. The North
was to produce their first graduate in 1957 and this was a Yoruba northerner
from Kwara. This explains why there can never be any progress in Nigeria as
long as the status quo handed to the Fulani subsists because the terms they
agreed with the British was to continuously make Nigeria economically open to
British exploitation in exchange for continued support to hold on to the reins
of power in Nigeria.
What were the principal strategies adopted by the British to
keep things that way? In order to control and ensure the continuous protection
of the economic and political interest of the colonial master mostly located in
the more educationally advanced but “politically antagonistic” South, the North
was nurtured and brought forth as neo-colonial successor to the titled colonial
masters in continuity of the governing structures. The core North, being an
aristocratic Islamic evangelist resent any form of integration that will
threaten their religion, culture and customs, hence their drive towards
pro-Islamic policies at pre and post-independence. In line with the primary
objectives of the colonial master, it was then imperative that political and
military power should reside with and in the domain of their
successor-in-title. The Caliphate exercises this trust over Nigeria till today.
In advancing their interests, the Fulani in Nigeria,
capitalised on this legacy. The question can then be asked, “Why have the
Fulani succeeded for so long in Nigeria?” The direct answer lies in four
articulated and syndicated Visions which remain most active and are visibly
manifesting in all areas of public life, even after 58 years of “independence”,
triggering the crisis ridden politics and society and accounting for various
agitations concerning marginalization that has not abated till now. What were
these vision statements?
1.
VISION OF
EXPLOITATION: originally introduced by Lord Harcourt (Omoruyi page 300).
According to Harcourt as he spoke about the imperative of the amalgamation, “We have released Northern Nigeria from the
leading strings of the Treasury. The promising and well conducted youth is now
on allowance on his own and he is about to effect an alliance with a Southern
Lady of Means. I have issued the special license and Sir Fredrick Lugard will
perform the ceremony. May the union be fruitful and the couple constant”.
From the starting blocks, the South was programmed to feed the North. They have
kept it that way.
2. VISION OF
SUBJUGATION: This is the origin of the “Born to Rule” philosophy and it was
laid by Lugard. In a report by Lord Lugard to the British Parliament on
Northern Nigeria, he is quoted to have written: “I believed myself that the future of the virile races of this
Protectorate lies largely in the regeneration of the Fulani….. Nor have we the
means at present to administer such a vast country. This then is the policy to which, in my view,
the administration of the Northern Nigeria should give effect, viz, to
regenerate this capable race and mould them to ideas of Justice and mercy, so
that in a future generation, if not in this, they may become worthy instruments
of rule. My desire to utilize the Fulani
as rulers has been described in a former report and has met with the approval
of the Secretary of State… I hope and I believe that with careful guidance,
their sons and grandsons will form invaluable rulers under British supervision
and their superior intelligence can be developed as a useful asset in our
administration”. (Page 26, Paragraph 36 of 1902 Northern Nigerian Report by
Lord Lugard to the British Parliament.
Cited on Page 275 by Sir Olaniwun Ajayi “Nigerian African Failed Asset”.
Evidence confirmed in writing of Memoirs that succeeding Governors of Nigeria
observe this vision in its strictest sense and in all ramifications.)
It is on record that the successors of Lugard continued the
policies and legacy of treating the North as a special partner to the British
and the dominant partner in the Nigerian Project. These continuing policies in
contemporary Nigeria remain at the root of under-development, backwardness,
lopsided federation and lately, the cruel persecution of Christians.
3. VISION OF
SUBORDINATION: In 1804, Othman Dan
Fodio declared that he will dip the Koran into the sea and this has been a
standing mantra with the Caliphate. This has since then been taken as the
Caliphate’s Islamic Condition for Unity by Emirate-in-Council. Thus, in the
Report of 1942 Northern Chiefs Conference and in response to the West African
Student Union’s plea in London for the cooperation of the Northern Rulers with
their Southern Counterparts, the Emir’s response was, “Holding this country together is not possible except by means of the
religion of the Prophet... if they want political unity, let them follow our
religion”. (Cited on Page 238 of
Olanihun Ajayi’s book.)
As further evidence, the late Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa,
during the debates on the Constitutional Conference in Ibadan angrily declared
that if there was a breakdown in independence negotiations, the North will
continue its march towards the sea, which was interrupted by the British
adventure into Nigeria.
4. VISION OF
DOMINATION: The North, taking its bearing from the vision of Lord Lugard
drew up a Manifesto which was articulated in 1960 and succinctly stated by the
Premier of Northern Region, The Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello: “The New nation called Nigeria should be an
estate of our great grandfather, Usman Dan Fodio; we must ruthlessly prevent a
change of power. We must use the
northern minority as willing tools and the South as conquered territory and
never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control of their
future”.
Maybe anyone can understand why they always want to rule and
why, after dividing the country into four regions, rather than rotation among
the four, a North/South rotation equation was used. Either way, others lose.
EFFORTS AT UNITY
Since amalgamation, several efforts by the British and
subsequent governments have not achieved unity. Many people are agreed today
that Nigeria is yet to become a nation. This is because of the differing
ideologies as we earlier described. For instance, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, during
his remarks on unity in 1948, said, “Since 1914, the British have been trying
to make Nigeria into one country but the Nigerian people themselves are
historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and in
their customs and do not show themselves any signs of willingness to unite”.
Awolowo, one of the major actors of independence, in 1947,
had this to say: “Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographic expression.
There are no “Nigerians” in the same sense as there are “English”, Welsh” or
“French”. The word ‘Nigerian’ is merely a distinctive appellation to
distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do
not”.
In a later comment in 1964, after Zik had become Governor
General, his expression of frustration about Nigerian unity came forth in the
following words: “It is better for us and many admirers abroad that we should
disintegrate in peace and not in pieces. Should the politicians fail to heed
this warning, then I will venture to predict that the experience of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo will be a child’s play if ever it comes to our
turn to play such a tragic role.” The issue of Nigerian unity has remained a
mirage and it should be clear where the problem had been coming from. These
were part of the underlying reasons for the Civil War.
NIGERIA TODAY
A number of things
should be clear from the way the Fulani have run Nigeria, fully aided by the
British, their partners in majority subjugation:
1. They make no separation between Islam and politics.
Rather, as someone said authoritatively: “The Fulani have no capacity to be
loyal to anyone except to power and their loyalty to Islam is only to the
extent that it helps them get power”.
2. Secular status is not acceptable to Islamists (radical
Muslims) and a primary ideology is to exclude non-Muslims from strategic
institutions regardless of numerical superiority or rotational/zoning
principles. Thus, while Nigeria is supposed to have a secular Constitution,
favouring no religion or faith, Islamists ensured that the present 1999
Constitution is not neutral. In the
Constitution, the word Sharia is mentioned 73 times; Islam, 28 times;
Grand Kadi, 54 times; Muslim, 10 times; while the words Christ, Christian,
Christianity and Church have no single mention at all. Through the Islamist
agenda, a number of other things have been achieved:
• Ensured that no major political post is filled in Nigeria
without the express approval of the Caliphate. How did this begin? After the
1959 elections, because there was no clear winner, Azikiwe’s party, the NCNC,
entered into an alliance with Ahmadu Bello’s party, the Northern Peoples
Congress (NPC). Azikiwe became Governor General, a mere titular position, while
Ahmadu Bello, who was Premier of Northern Nigeria was required to move to Lagos
to assume office as the Prime Minister. He refused on the basis of the fact
that he was Sultan of Sokoto and deployed Alhaji Tafawa Balewa to represent him
in Lagos. While Balewa was Prime Minister, all appointments and favours were
granted from Sokoto. Till today, this tradition has made Sokoto the seat of
power in Nigeria, enshrined god-fatherism and the use of political power for
personal ends as statecraft in Nigeria.
• Orchestrated movement of
Nigeria's capital from Lagos to the North.
• Took Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Countries
(OIC) More recently, the country was also dragged into the membership of the D8
nations comprising Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and
Turkey, all of which are Islamic countries.
3. In most of the Muslim populated North, Christians are
treated like people without rights. Most of the Churches in the prominent
cities are located on the outskirts of the town. Most of the Churches within
towns have been burnt. Domination of Christians in the North who are indigenes
of their States is a major feature.
4. They entrench strategies to unify the North but divide
the South. To begin with, the colonial masters deliberately began the
strengthening of the North against the South when population figures were
always altered to give the impression that the North is more populous. Then
while they left the North homogenous, they divided the South into the West and
the East. By 1963, they further divided the South by creating the Mid-West. The
statistics of states and local governments in Nigeria in the North and South
are classic confirmations of what started with the British.
5. They always find willing tools among Christians to do
their hatchet jobs with inducements of position, appointment or finances. Look
closely at what is going on in Nigeria even today. When you now place the
discussed template on everything that has happened in Nigeria before and after
independence - coups, appointments, elections and results, name it - you find
the template fits.
Concluding Core-North
Mentality
The North, especially the Hausa Fulani, has come to the
conclusion that they are born to rule while the South is born to serve them. A
columnist, Mohammad Adamu, wrote in Africa Concord Magazine in April 1977:
“What we do know, however, is that God's choice of a people manifest in two
forms, namely direct command (as with the Covenant between God and the Jews)
and tacit approval (as in God's approval of Hausa-Fulani to rule)…. We the
Hausa Fulani are chosen specially by God to rule. No apologies to the Yorubas,
no apologies to the Ibos….. the minorities are not in doubt about this
matter....” (Cited in Page 143 by O.
Ajayi). The slogan of Sokoto State was recently changed from “Born to Rule” to
“Seat of the Caliphate” to mask the agenda.
CURRENT THREATS TO
THE CHURCH
In the face of all these developments unknown to many in
Nigeria, especially the Church, what agenda did the Church or any other part of
the Nigerian nation articulate at any time to counter any of these standing
visions and where is the Church who STILL has the mandate of The Great
Commission and the brief to “Occupy” till Jesus comes, in the scheme of things?
We have remained totally ignorant and oblivious in the ‘Valley of the Shadow of
Death’. Unless the Church arises, and quickly too, it is doubtful whether there
will be major Christian activity anywhere in Nigeria within the next two years
for the following reasons:
1. The persecutions that have been experienced in the Middle
Belt and the Christian parts of the North is actually a Jihad in the making
with the aim of ethnic cleansing to facilitate the takeover of these
communities by the Fulani using the face of Islam. The Boko Haram and more
recently, the Fulani Herdsmen were commissioned by the powers that be in Islam
so that they can work behind the scenes while they look away. This is no
speculation; it is already a reality in many places in the Middle Belt.
2. The grand plan is to execute what they have done so far
in the Middle Belt in other places in the South, starting with the Yoruba
States and when these are overcome (God forbid), there will be a joint swooping
on the East. If they succeed in carrying out this plan, all the fancy
cathedrals of the South may be taken over and converted to mosques as they have
done with more than 400 churches in the UK.
3. For the execution of invasion of the South West, South
South and South East, their foot-soldiers have been massively infiltrating all
the major towns of the South where arrangements have been concluded with
necessary equipment concealed for their dastardly plan.
4. Their plan was to conclude these invasions and transmute
Nigeria into a Fulani empire’ where they will use the instrument of Islam to
set up Emirates in all the cities of the south that will take over their
traditional institutions as they did to the Hausa states in Northern Nigeria.
These plans were however, revealed to various intercessors in Nigeria and their
prayers have so far held matters at bay.
5.The 2019 elections are critical and the reason they are
rabidly interested in securing a Fulani presidency is to complete the work of
the Jihad across the country immediately after they get the mandate and
conclude it before there will be new elections in 2023. They have succeeded
half-way as they have strategically achieved Fulani candidates in the two main
political parties that they have calculated to throw up an undisputed Fulani as
President in 2019.
6. The only antidote to this madness is for the entire
Christian Church to come together. It is sad that ignorant Christians are among
the loudest people clamouring for Fulani candidates and declaring that we have
no other alternative. In the meantime, the Fulani are quiet, enjoying the
foolishness of the generality of the public even as the two candidates run the
show as if they are bitter enemies.
7. Tactfully, and as usual, they are promising the Presidency
to the South West and the East at the same time to get the leaders of both
zones to work energetically for the success of their Fulani candidate. All
these are to keep the leaders from deciphering their agenda.
8. The restructuring of the nation's security architecture
to comprise of almost Fulani to provide cover for the Jihad (as they have done
so far) should remove any doubt in the mind of anyone about the veracity of
this agenda. While this is obvious, through stealth Jihad, they have taken over
virtually all ministries and parastatals in Nigeria and dominate Southern
Nigeria by biological Jihadcum orchestrated migrations.
THE CHURCH: GOING
FORWARD
An understanding of the foregoing issues shows that the
caption in Isaiah 9:2 adequately captures the current state of the Church. The
political life of the nation has been manipulated as the Church went
a-slumbering, competing for cathedrals and preaching prosperity. Now, two
Fulani candidates in the 2019 general elections stare us in the face. For anyone
to believe the promises that are being made that the persecution will stop is
to fail to understand the Islamic concept of Taqquiya - which approves of
Muslims to lie acceptably as long as it is for the propagation of Islam. While
the stance of the current administration is undisguised, the main challenger,
touted as the more liberal of the two candidates, unknown to many, began his
campaign by covenanting at the tomb of Othman Dan Fodio to Islamism before
beginning his campaign in Sokoto.
The only solution is for the entire Christian Church, now
that they have subtly cut off the promising Christian challenger, to now fully
and earnestly look to God for deliverance as He did for the children of Israel
at the bank of the Red Sea. It is a grand deception for anyone to believe that
any Muslim will muster the political will to stop a Jihad, an idea which is
against the tenets of Islam. It is unfortunate, as we speak, that the certain
persons have been tricked to believe that the current government will hand over
to them in 2023. One wonders if they heard of Afonja of Ilorin, Bashorun MKO
Abiola, J. S. Tarka, etc.
While we pray and wait, what is not in doubt is the need for
a high level of networking among pastors and overseers in the country for the
singular purpose of educating their congregations.
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