Fani-Kayode and his two Nigerias

In his essay published in the Daily Trust of 31st January 2012, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode reacted to the recent speech by former President Ibrahim Babangida, who had declared his readiness to “fight another war to keep Nigeria together”. Fani-Kayode disagreed and forwarded arguments in support of breaking Nigeria into two countries made of Northern and Southern Nigeria.

According to Fani-Kayode, Nigeria has remained the only “mega-nation” and “forced union of incompatibles” among three countries that “British colonial masters cobbled together at the beginning of the 20th Century”. He identified the others as India, which split into three after independence from Britain, and Sudan, which split into two countries recently. His essay dwelt also on what he termed “violence” and “colonialism” of northerners upon southerners, and the lack of crude oil in the North, which in his opinion, was the reason northerners wanted a unified Nigeria.

Fani-Kayode claims “personal respect and affection for General Babangida”, whose “sincerity of purpose” and “deep sense of patriotism” he has never doubted. He then contradicted himself by wondering if northerners (General Babangida inclusive) would insist on an indivisible Nigeria had there been oil in the North. As for President Goodluck Jonathan, Fani-Kayode confesses to being his critic but he assures us that his “forceful, objective and vigorous” criticisms were borne out of “concern for our country”. He ended by warning the president to beware of a “born to rule” northern “cabal” who would not allow a southerner to “rule in peace”.

Mr. Fani-Kayode’s essay and his attitude towards the North fall far below the standard expected of a former presidential spokesman and two-time minister. His assessment of former President Babangida was patronizing and hypocritical, while his self-approbation can be best described as megalomania. As the title of my essay suggests, i will here repudiate most of his views, but unlike him, i will not make allegations against the people of Southern Nigeria, where he hails from. Instead, i will limit my response to arguments he raised for the break-up of Nigeria, and allegations he made against northerners. In so doing, i will expose his claims as not only lacking basis in fact and common sense, but also smacking of ethnic hatred and Islamophobia.

Fani-Kayode in his essay describes himself as a student of history, and on his website as a lawyer and evangelical Christian. I am not a historian or a cleric, but i know that Britain had instituted colonial rule on the entire Indian subcontinent by 1848, and not in the 20thCentury, as Fani-Kayode claims. I also know that if former British colonies deserve the title of a “mega-nation”, that would go to the 13 North American colonies which joined to form the United States of America in 1776. Over 200 years later, the US is the richest country on Earth; richest in wealth, in race, in culture and in religion. Name any race on Earth and you will find its members in the US. Name any religion or culture and you will find adherents in the US. And name any language, you will find her speakers in the US.

But things have not always been this way for the United States. By 1861 when the country had expanded to over 40 states, the abolition of slavery by a newly-elected president sparked off a 4-year civil war in which the southern states tried unsuccessfully to leave what was once a voluntary union. In the end, the abolitionists won and the union survived, paving the way for America to dominate the world both economically and militarily for close to a century today. In short, whosoever justifies the dissolution of Nigeria on the basis of ethnic and religion differences among her inhabitants is either a liar, or is ignorant.

As part of his arguments for dividing Nigeria, Fani-Kayode cited the partition of British-ruled India soon after independence. But he could not have chosen a worse example. The 1947 partition of India has not solved the problems of religion and multi-ethnicity in that part of the world, either then or now. For instance, Pakistan and India have since fought three wars over Kashmir, and are now nuclear-armed enemies. India has been fighting a communist insurgency in 8 of her 28 states since 1967; an insurgency in the State of Assam since 1970; and numerous smaller conflicts. Pakistan, on its part, ceded its eastern province of East Pakistan, which was renamed Bangladesh after a bloody civil war in 1971; Pakistan is also fighting multiple insurgencies, the most serious being Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Tiny Bangladesh is relatively peaceful, but over-population and ecological problems have combined to retard her progress. Going by Mr. Fani-Kayode’s arguments, both India and Pakistan must be divided further into smaller and smaller units so that peace may reign in each country.

Fani-Kayode was less forth-coming in his allegations that northerners inflict violence and colonialism upon southerners. If he was referring to the Boko Haram Crises currently afflicting some northern states, then he is being mischievous. While i do not have a tally of all victims of massacres and assassinations by Boko Haram, it is no secret that the terrorist group has killed more Muslims than Christians and more northerners than southerners since the crises began three years ago. Yes, the group has exploded bombs in Churches across northern Nigeria, killing mainly Christians in the process. But before they even attacked the first Church in Maiduguri in 2009, they had assassinated dozens of Muslim clerics who had disagreed with their views; they had killed numerous district and ward heads in Maiduguri and environs; and they had targeted policemen, soldiers, prison wardens and politicians in Borno State. In just one attack in January 2011, Boko Haram killed the Borno State ANPP gubernatorial candidate and six other people, including an elder brother of Governor Ali Modu Sherrif, whose brother in-law was also killed earlier. During the recent attack on Kano, 186 people lost their lives and most of these were northerners. As i am writing this, the people of Sokoto live in fear, following the threat by Boko Haram that the city would be their next target. It is then clear that if northerners inflict violence on anyone, it is mostly on fellow northerners.

On the contrary, the southern-based Odua People’s Congress (OPC) killed and maimed mostly northerners during the early years of former President Obasanjo’s government. Yorubas were never their targets, and perhaps for that reason, Fani-Kayode never raised a voice against the OPC, even when the group engaged the Nigeria Police in gun battles in Mushin and Surulere. Yet, he now shamelessly claims that northerners inflict violence upon southerners, and for this reason, Nigeria should be split in two. What mendacity on the part of our evangelist!

The allegation that northerners currently colonize Nigeria is even laughable. Any interested person can walk into the offices of the Federal Character Commission to obtain statistics on all past and current appointments at federal ministries, departments and agencies. We would all be surprised if almost all under-represented states are not in the North-East, North-West, and North-Central zones, and if the over-represented states are not in the South-West, where Fani-Kayode comes from. This lop-sidedness is even worse when it comes to federal revenue allocations, political and ambassadorial appointments, and federally-funded infrastructure developments. So who is colonizing who?

Nigeria will not break-up anytime soon, but assuming Fani-Kayode had his way, i wish to know the boundaries of the two republics he will carve out of Nigeria. Being Yoruba, he may wish for his new country of Southern Nigeria to incorporate Kwara State; after all, his stated objective for dividing Nigeria was to achieve less heterogeneity, as opposed to the current “union of incompatibles”. But Northern Nigeria includes Kwara, as well as Kogi and Benue states. I would wish to know what becomes of Christians in those areas and in Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Kaduna. What of Yoruba Muslims and Muslims in Edo? Would they swap places with Christians in the North? What if they refuse? Would Mr. Fani-Kayode ethnically cleanse those places, considering his reference to the former Yugoslavia where ethnic cleansing took place in the 1990’s? And what happens when smaller groups in each new country demand for their own countries? Would he acquiesce, or would he then borrow ideas from General Babangida and fight to keep his Republic of Southern Nigeria intact?

Femi Fani-Kayode served as Minister of Culture and Tourism and Minister of Aviation during the last year of Obasanjo’s government. However, i remember him more for his inglorious role as a champion of the ill-fated attempt at securing an unconstitutional third-term in office for his boss. By late 2005, Fani-Kayode was at the forefront of the third term propaganda campaign, often engaging in verbal quarrels with leaders of civil society groups that opposed his boss, including Femi Falana and late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. At one point, the US had to step in. Mike Cohen, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, publicly denounced the third term project, and compared Fani-Kayode to Tariq Azeez, Iraq’s information minister under Saddam Hussein. In the end, the national assembly saved our democracy by rejecting the third term bill. From this precedence, it is clear that our former aviation minister never had the interest of Nigeria at heart. It should surprise no one if he now calls for our country’s break-up.

Yet, Nigeria is an indivisible country, going by the dictates of her constitution and the determination of her armed forces. If however, people like Femi Fani-Kayode make good on their threat to divide the country, we northerners can manage our side of the divide as successfully as can be possible. We may not export oil, but neither does Turkey, Egypt or South Africa, which are more advanced and less corrupt than oil-rich Nigeria.