The Ginja View

The political class exhibits itself as a gang of ill-mannered, reprehensible thugs and bandits – many of them parading a string of degrees and letters before or after their names – but uneducated all the same, as to edifying public speech and conduct. So, gangsters that they are, this think-aloud is set to late Coolio’s famous song, Gangsta’s Paradise. The news is never short of their shenanigans or uncouth statements.

Fulani Herdsmen and the Stench of Indirect Hate Speech

Here is a lucid example of how our class of unlearned politicians whip up ethnic sentiments with their barefaced lies intended to engender ethnic pride but which spread hate speech like wildfire. A Fulani former governor of Bauchi state, Isa Yuguda, claims without any shred of evidence that until Fulanis began paying cattle tax in northern Nigeria in 1907, there was no other source of revenue for Nigeria! Hear him: “I have the copy of a paper document on which the then ruler, Lord Lugard signed through the office of Secretary to the Federal Government directing the payment of cattle tax ‘Jangali’ by the Fulani herdsmen on their cattle. Then there wasn’t any source of revenue but the cattle tax, Jangali”. Yuguda was addressing a Fulani ethnic conclave, Baatol Fulaku Sociocultural Development Association, in Bauchi on December 31, 2022 – barely four weeks to general elections.

Yuguda conveniently “forgot” to inform his low literate audience that when Britain strong-armed the Oba of Lagos, then a representative of the Oba of Great Benin, to cede Lagos to them in 1861, taxation ensued causing Lagos chiefs and businesspeople such as Madam Tinubu (no relation to the APC presidential contender) to confront the British. He also “forgot” that as early as 1902 the British were levying taxes in Zaria province, a more commerce inclined principality than Dan Fodio’s Sokoto. Indeed, an examination of sample records of taxation in Plateau province of Norther Nigeria revealed that taxes were levied on “land under cultivation, crops like dawa (guinea com), and livestock”. And the livestock tax provided a meagre proportion of income to colonial rulers.

Of course, with such an ethnic slanted exhortation from Yuguda, his Fulani audience would have left with the impression that Fulani tax built the north and enabled the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Any wonder the cattle cartel Miyetti Allah carries on like they are above the law?

Arewa Collusion, Wike’s Axe and Atiku’s Weird Spin-the-Wheel

Governor Aminu Tambuwal was sabre rattling on December 30. Several newspapers quoted Tambuwal warning the aggrieved PDP G5 governors on supporting a rival party’s presidential candidate. “So, when my colleagues resolve on what to do, I think it is then that the party will now respond on whatever position they have taken,” he said.

It all began in September 2021, when the party’s chairman Iyorcha Ayu emerged, after the party zoned that office to the north. The zoning supported the party’s resolve to zone the presidential candidate to the south as incumbent president Gen (rtd) Muhammadu Buhari is from the north. His predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan was from the south, Jonathan’s predecessor Umaru Yar’Adua was from the north and Yar’Adua’s predecessor Gen (rtd) Olusegun Obasanjo was from the south. So, a convention is clear.

Eight months later, the PDP removed its exclusion of northern contestants from its presidential primary on the written pledge of the chairman to resign if a northerner emerged as flagbearer.  This paved the way for Aminu Tambuwal, who had earlier pledged support to Rivers state governor Wike’s candidacy to renege – five minutes after his own candidacy speech at the party convention! Tambuwal came back to the podium, disrupted protocol, recanted, and handed over his hundreds of delegates for the entire north-west to his Arewa brother, Abubakar Atiku, who had pocketed his north-eastern delegates. That was typically northern. Arewa collusion is the linchpin of northern hegemony. Wike and other southern candidates should have seen that coming. But they failed to cohere and gave victory to Atiku who won 317 of 810 delegates.

Part II. Given Ayu’s earlier pledge, Wike and others expected the party to shake up its hierarchy. It never happened, even after it was as clear as daylight that PDP had slanted to a northern party. Eventually, Wike threw down the gauntlet. Either Ayu goes or the flagbearer should win the presidential elections without five PDP-controlled states, Rivers, Abia Benue, Enugu, Oyo.  They have refused to participate in the party’s presidential campaign and have hamstrung the flagbearer from using their state resources. Additionally, they have received briefings from the other two leading presidential candidates, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, and ruling APC’s Bola Tinubu. Further, they are to announce a poll-changing support for either Obi or Tinubu, just 50 days to the elections.

Part III. Here comes Tambuwal with his rambunctious charge to the G5 governors, which is nothing more than Sabre-rattling. Tambuwal should know. Any action against a governor must commence in his home ward and governors are all-powerful in their states. Wike has clearly demonstrated that. Atiku thought he could side-step Wike, buy his way with his billions and get minions in Rivers state to campaign for him.  Millions have gone down the drain for nought. His campaign offices were sealed, billboards and posters vandalised, and campaign directors have had to flee for life and limb. And weirdly, Atiku continues to prop as party chairman Ayu who had been repudiated by his Benue state governor, ignoring the G5 who seat upon 12.5million registered voters. Indeed, Rivers and Oyo are fifth and sixth most populous registered voters! Atiku weirdly calculates that he would sweep Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto, pocket his north-east zone, get the required 25% of votes in 14 other states and do a last-minute Arewa deal with NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso for Kano’s 5.4 million votes.

Invisible Men, Women, Children in Nasarawa

Shocking news from Nasarawa state: “the state government was not aware of the existence of seven Internally Displaced Persons camps at Karu Local Government Area” that had been existing for seven years! By the way, Karu LGA is cheek-a-jowl with Abuja, FCT. But let’s see how come.

January 1, 2023: LP’s Peter Obi spends the day with IDPs in Wassa, FCT, decrying their neglect by the APC government.

January 2: Executive Secretary of Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Zachary Allumaga, summons a press briefing and announces to journalists that APC Gov. Abdullahi Sule would be visiting some of the camps later that day. He admitted that the state had been unaware of the camps for seven years, even though the LGA provided land for the camps and for the IDPs to farm.

Encore: Arewa IDPs in Arewa land were invisible for seven years until a non-Arewa came visiting! But when its time for votes, Arewa collusion is on the card.

References

Fulani Herdsmen Started Generating Revenue for Nigeria in 1907 – Yuguda. In https://leadership.ng/fulani-herdsmen-started-generating-revenue-for-nigeria-in-1907-yuguda/

The Administration of Colonial Taxation in Zaria Province. In https://samphina.com.ng/administration-colonial-taxation-zaria-province/

Colonial Taxation. In document Social and economic change in colonial north-central Nigeria: The history of Akwanga Division, 1911-1960. (Page 168-190). In https://1library.net/article/colonial-taxation-social-economic-colonial-central-nigeria-history.yn91jdkq

PDP Chairmanship: Oyinlola loses out as party zones office to North. In https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/09/pdp-chairmanship-oyinlola-loses-out-as-party-zones-office-to-north/

Atiku win PDP presidential ticket with 371 votes. In https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/live/world-61596215

PDP Presidential primaries: With 430 delegates to South’s 360, North’s favoured to win. In https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/05/pdp-presidential-primaries-with-430-delegates-to-souths-360-norths-favoured-to-win/

G-5 PDP Governors symbolise integrity, patriotism, equity, fairness, justice – Gov Ortom. In https://dailypost.ng/2022/11/12/g-5-pdp-governors-symbolise-integrity-patriotism-equity-fairness-justice-gov-ortom/

2023: PDP Will Handle Wike When His Candidate Is Unveiled, Says Tambuwal. In https://www.channelstv.com/2022/12/30/pdp-will-handle-wike-after-unveiling-2023-candidate-says-tambuwal/

Atiku’s weird Math. In https://thenationonlineng.net/atikus-weird-math/

INEC Gives Breakdown of Total Registered Voters Across Nigeria. In https://9newsng.com/breaking-inec-gives-breakdown-of-total-registered-voters-across-nigeria/

Peter Obi Visits Wassa IDP Camp, Promises to Tackle Insecurity. In https://www.channelstv.com/2023/01/01/peter-obi-visits-wassa-idp-camp-promises-to-tackle-insecurity/

Peter Obi Spends New Year in FCT IDPs Camp. In https://independent.ng/peter-obi-spends-new-year-in-fct-idps-camp/

Nasarawa govt not aware of IDPs camps at Karu LGA. – NASEMA. In https://authorityngr.com/2023/01/02/nasarawa-govt-not-aware-of-idps-camps-at-karu-lga-nasema/

Nasarawa State uncovers new internally displaced Camps. In https://von.gov.ng/nasarawa-state-uncovers-new-internally-displaced-camps/