To the World
Your Majesties,
Dear Sirs,
Dear Madams .....
All is not well in Nigeria. The country is on the verge of imploding. And it is time that the whole world takes note. This letter should serve as a warning. It is intended to bring to your attention, things that you might not be aware of about the situation of the country today. With a population of some 200 million people, when (not if the country implodes), the result will be disastrous. There will be a humanitarian catastrophe of unimaginable dimension. The time to listen to the voices crying out is now.
At the mention of the name Nigeria, the two things that probably come to mind are insecurity and corruption. You have no doubt heard of Boko Haram, and of the extremely corrupt political elites and how they have destroyed what was once a richly endowed and promising nation.
What you might not have heard of is how a minority tribe with less than 9% of Nigeria’s population has overwhelmingly dominated the country politically, militarily and economically, and effectively ruled the nation in a dictatorial fashion.
You might not be aware that the nomadic Fulani tribe (also known as Fula, Fulɓe, Peul, Hilani, Pël, or Fulaw in various languages) has terrorised and oppressed the rest of the country for several decades. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2020, this rather violent tribe represented in northern Nigeria by a group called Miyetti Allah was responsible for an estimated 980 deaths in 2020.
On daily basis, the Fulanis commit heinous crimes, killing innocent people, setting homes and properties on fire, looting houses, raping women and destroying the livelihood of people in the rest of the country.
One might wonder how it is even possible that a tribe of vastly uneducated nomadic herdsmen successfully took full control of the whole country. They are in control of the Nigerian army, the navy, the air-force, and indeed of practically all armed forces and security services of the nation.
Even though crude oil which accounts for nearly 80% of Nigeria’s earning comes from the south, the Fulanis in the north of the country have total control of the funds.
This situation was allowed to happen under the watch of the older generations of the other tribes in Nigeria. The political elites from those other tribes were complicit. They were happy to be bribed by the Fulani leaders who manipulated them to work against their own people.
Corruption has played the key role over the decades and still does now.
Today, the younger generation as well as the Nigerians in diaspora whose situations have been severely damaged by the combination of the extreme kleptomania of the ruling class and the terrorism of the Fulanis are rising up to say, enough is enough.
Background & Context
The total population of the Fulani race is put at between 40 to 50 million and they live in sub-Saharan Africa spreading over several countries. They are 99.5% of Islamic faith and are all bound together by culture and the Fula language. As few as they are, there are several Fulani heads of states in West Africa, the most prominent being Buhari of Nigeria.
Today, the Fulanis from all over Africa claim that the whole of Nigeria is their homeland and, that by right, it belongs to them historically. Encouraged by their tribesmen, over the years there has been a steady influx of non-Nigerian Fulanis into the country. They are heavily armed herdsmen who like the Boko Haram in the north east of the country, hide in forests from where they carry out their atrocities.
The result is that today, no part of Nigeria is safe from Fulani bandits armed with AK47 riffles. Whole villages have been razed to the ground. Farmers and villagers are being chased away from their farms and home. Many roads are no longer safe to travel on as a result of kidnappings by herdsmen, and swaths of forest lands have become no-go areas. Many Nigerians in the south west have fled their homes and have become refugees in neighbouring country of Benin.
The chance of Nigeria ever staying together as one country has been lost – and lost forever. As shocking as this might sound to you, the damage has been done, and it is profound. So much so that no amount of reconciliation efforts will ever stop the breakup.
Thanks to a cocktail of nepotism, tribalism, disrespect for human rights, incredibly bad governance and wanton looting of public funds with impunity, Nigerians are now effectively divided into three distinct groups.
The first consists of the Fulani masters who are in full control of the nation.
The second is the heavily corrupt kleptomaniac political leaders and their cronies, including some of the local traditional leaders. In addition to stealing the public funds, what Nigerian legislators and executives (legislooters and executhieves as they are better known) pay themselves as monthly salaries and expenses would shock decent people around the world. It is as disgusting as it is insane.
The third is made up of three groups. First in the group are Nigerians in diaspora most of who have become too ashamed to claim the country. Then there is the younger generation that has become dangerously restless, having suffered immensely under the system. Added to these are the other disenfranchised Nigerians that form the silent majority, who are no longer willing to remain silent. These are people living below poverty lines who really have nothing left to lose.
The Nigerian version of looting and corruption would shock many. It is brazen, amazingly audacious, systematic and endemic
In this extract from a press interview, a Nigerian human right activist (risking the safety of his life) provides an insightful example of looting of public funds in what might sound unreal to you. (To understand the figures, the exchange rate is circa 400 Nigerian naira to 1US$)
It is not a case of a few bad apples in government. It is a case of struggling to find just one good apple in the basket. And that runs right from the top to the bottom of governance. Nigerian politicians go into government not to serve the people, but to steal their money. It is the general mindset. And the situation has been devastating for the country as a whole.
While for decades, Nigeria has been branded as one of the most corrupt nations on the planet, the truth is that many “non-corrupt” nations have acted as enablers to the blatantly corrupt government officials. It is no secret that many countries have welcomed them with open arms, and there appears to be stiff competition among some of these countries for patronage by Nigerian public funds looters.
Thanks to those corruption-enablers, Nigeria has now expired. Those nations have taken the best of Nigeria and have succeeded in bringing the country to its knees. Today, Nigeria has nothing to show for all the earnings from crude oil. There have been no investments in infrastructure. The best of its human resources has either fled or desperately seeking to flee the country. Many unemployed youths have found themselves turning to crimes as the only way to survive. Too many have died trying to reach Europe for better lives. And people smugglers are doing brisk business. So are the other human traffickers.
Nigeria has a very young population with 50% below the age of 19 and with a median age of 18. There is no future and no hope for these young people. Their parents are disenfranchised by their leaders from all ethnic groups. Their agitation for better governance is constantly brutally suppressed by those with political ambitions and those wanting to keep the status quo. The youths are harassed and intimidated. The latest was the #EndSARS campaign against brutality of security agencies. You might well remember that the peaceful protest was brutally suppressed with loss of lives of young people.
And as for the economy, it is no secret that this has been suffering due to less funds coming from its major source – petroleum. Things have been in freefall for a while. There has been less money to share among the leaders. As a means of meeting this shortfall, they have resorted to borrowing, thus digging the nation deeper into indebtedness, and thereby selling out the future of generations to come.
All the “enabling” countries that are giving credits to Nigeria are being put on notice. It is important for them to know that recovering the debts will be problematic when (not if) Nigeria breaks up into smaller independent nations. They might also wish to know that the credits they provide are not being put into developmental projects but rather being shared among the leaders.
Recently, one of Nigerian state governors warned his colleagues about the perils of continuing to borrow money as well as printing money which they then share. Most of the others do not want to believe that the good time is over. And with enabling nations continuing to grant credits, there is still enough to “share”. Unfortunately, this is sure to end badly.
Nigerian leaders would like the world to believe that the nation's woes result from Christian-Moslem conflicts. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Shocking as it may sound, terrorism in Nigeria, including the Boko Haram insurgency are all instigated by the politicians themselves.
Terrorism is big business. Boko Haram is a gold mine. A money-spinner for the military hierarchy and too many politicians. None of them would like to see it end. The wave of kidnapping is mostly sponsored and it is a commercial venture, with lots of cash changing hands.
Claiming that it is religion-inspired helps them deflect attention from their own activities. The reality is that Moslems and Christians face the same daily struggle for survival – while their leaders, Christians and Moslems live in luxury, fully protected by government-funded security services.
In this short extract from her address, Dr. Naja’Atu Mohammed, a university lecturer and a human rights activist gave a short insight into monetisation of terrorism in Nigeria. The occasion was the 4th annual Bring-Back-Our-Girls Chibok Conference of which she was the chairperson.
Despite all the injustices which they suffered over the years, even before Nigeria gained independence from the British more than 60 years ago, the Yorubas have been among the most passionate and most patriotic Nigerians. Their pride and faith in the country were never shaken as they kept hoping that change would come. But that never happened. Instead, they have watched as a minority tribe in the north of the country, exploited and monopolised the resources of the nation derived mostly from the south.
They have watched, as they not only became second class citizens of the country, but as heavily armed herdsmen turn their lives into hell on their own ancestry land.
Out of selfishness, many Yoruba politicians and traditional rulers have resigned themselves to this situation. They are all benefitting from it. The simplest test to identify such people is to ask what their position is on the quest for self-determination. While they offer no credible solutions other than promoting another well-known kleptomaniac as leader, they are all for maintaining the status quo.
They are opposed to change. With the stolen funds, most of them have their families living in luxury outside the country. They do not have to suffer like those left behind. Any change to the status quo could potentially blunt out their illegal source of funds. And, they do not want that.
But, the Yoruba youths who have been reduced to economic and financial nonentities are no longer prepared to accept the status quo.
Neither is the large silent majority of the populace. And that, not only in Yorubaland, but all across the country. Not only have people lost any hope of a better life, they live in constant fear of the criminal Fulani herdsmen, and the ever worsening terrorism. The youths and the general populace are backed up overwhelmingly by the large diaspora communities which drives the agenda for the creation of a Yoruba nation.
And it is not only the Yorubas that no longer want to be part of Nigeria. Biafra’s quest for self-determination is well known, and today, very much alive. So are the determinations of various other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. And all these people are mostly ready for anything that may come, because they have nothing left to lose.
There is real anger seething in the background. Trouble is brewing. The prospect of inter-ethnic clashes in Nigeria is real. What could potentially be even more devastating will be intra-ethnic clashes. This will pit the more than 80% of the disenfranchised members of the various indigenous nations against members of their own tribes standing in the way of their being liberated. The kleptomaniac ruling elites are failing to read the signs on the wall and are being dismissive, thereby stoking even more anger. In Nigeria today, there is the prospect of a cocktail of intra-ethnic class wars crossed with multiple inter-tribal conflicts in a nation already suffering from terrorists activities, and awash with arms and ammunitions in the hands of wrong people.
You might be wondering how bad the Nigeria’s situation really is.
To answer this question, ORG invites you to watch this video. It shows a federal senator from the ruling APC party breaking it down. Please note how he passionately pleads with his president, breaking down in tears, telling the clueless leadership that the end has come.
To read highlights of the key issues
Your Majesties,
Dear Sirs,
Dear Madams,
Now is the time to understand and come to terms with the reality on the ground in Nigeria. We are appealing to you to take pragmatic steps to ensure that genocide does not happen in Africa's most populous nation.
History must not be allowed to repeat itself. In the 1960s, it was Biafra against the rest of the country. At the time, it was all clear-cut. Not so this time around. Trouble cooked long enough in Rwanda, but was largely ignored. All the signs were there. It is now cooking in Nigeria.
All the signs are there. There is a lot of anger.
After reading this, you can no longer claim to be unaware of it.
