Micheal Odoh Jnr
The truth El-rufai and Ribadu should tell the northerners
Anytime the likes of Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Dr Junaid
Mohammed, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Lamido of
Adamawa, Mr. Anthony Sani or any of the members
of the Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders
Forum speak on national issues, there are some
things that are constant in their speeches:
Arrogance, condescension, threats, etc.
Anytime the likes of Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Dr Junaid
Mohammed, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Lamido of
Adamawa, Mr. Anthony Sani or any of the members
of the Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Elders
Forum speak on national issues, there are some
things that are constant in their speeches:
Arrogance, condescension, threats, etc.
If the matter
has to do with national resources, two critical
“words” must be present in their speeches:
“Sharing” and “allocation.”
That makes you wonder: Don’t these “elders” feel
that they are insulting the North by their fixation on
“sharing?” Don’t they feel they are insulting the
North by portraying the region as incapable of taking
care of itself? Don’t the younger generation feel
ridiculed by this unenviable image foisted on them
by these elders? Most times when these comments
fly around, the lone dissenting voice you would hear
is that of Col. Abubakar Umar (retd.), a former
Governor of Kaduna State.
Whenever there is a call for true federalism, regional
autonomy or resource control, you are sure that it will
be resisted vehemently by the North. Ironically, the
South-West that cannot be called an oil-producing
region, except for the little deposit of oil in Ondo
State, supports resource control. The South-East
which cannot really be called an oil-producing region
also supports resource control. The South-South,
being the real oil-producing region, naturally
supports resource control. The South-East and South-
West do not support resource control because they
hope to gain much from oil proceeds from their
regions; no, they support it because they believe that
their lack of oil in large quantities would ginger them
to be more creative and productive in other areas of
life, so as to attain the desired developmental
heights. They know that the sharing of proceeds from
oil has hampered their growth for long.
It was refreshing, therefore, to hear former Vice-
President Atiku Abubakar – who has become a true
apostle of true federalism – urging delegates to the
National Conference to go for true federalism. In a
2012 paper, Abubakar had said inter alia: “I also
want to recall that during the said 1994-95
Constitutional Conference, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, GCON,
the Second Republic Vice-President of this federation,
introduced and canvassed for the concept of
geopolitical zones. I was among those who opposed it
because I thought that Ekwueme, coming from the
defunct Republic of Biafra, wanted to break up the
country again.
But Abubuakar’s lone voice is drowned by the sea of
voices of the Northern elders whose reaction to every
national issue has become predictable.
That is why people like Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, a
former minister of the Federal Capital Territory;
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chairman of the
Economic Financial Crimes Commission; Alhaji Ghali
Na’Abba, a former Speaker of the House of
Representatives; Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, Publisher of
Leadership newspapers need to stand up and change
this sad, old song from Northern elders.
Those who are too emotional and politically partisan
would dismiss the performance of el-Rufai as
minister of the FCT, or Ribadu as the EFCC chairman.
Whatever their shortcomings, both of them acquitted
themselves well in their respective positions. While
el-Rufai transformed Abuja, Ribadu made Nigerians
afraid of corruption; and it is clear that when
compared to most other people who have held
positions of authority, el-Rufai and Ribadu would
come out much cleaner.
Sadly, el-Rufai has been so obsessed with “Operation
Remove Jonathan” that he does not seem to notice
that the North is burning or that there is a huge task
to be done in the North. Why are the likes of el-Rufai
and Ribadu critical in this task? Both men are very
intelligent, well read, young, successful in their
careers and national assignments, progressive in
orientation, change-hungry, etc. The Northern youth
will listen to them. The Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir
Ahmadu Bello, was known to have mobilised the
North to go to school and join the military, civil
service and politics. I knew Barewa College, Zaria
because most Northerners, including heads of state
and presidents, attended it. Today, another group is
mobilising Northern youths to reject education. Even
before Boko Haram came to the limelight, whenever
the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
released the statistics of candidates for its exams,
you would see figures like 120,000 candidates from
Imo State and 3,000 from Jigawa State. Other
Northern states produce similar extremely low
number of applicants in all exams in Nigeria. With
Boko Haram campaign against Western education,
the situation has worsened by far.
But how can anyone call mathematics Western
education? The 1, 2, 3 numerals used all over the
world today for calculation are called Arabic figures
because of their source. Physics, chemistry,
economics, etc, are not Western subjects, for a stone
dropped from a roof in Saudi Arabia would be pulled
down by the force of gravity just like the one dropped
from a British roof.
While he is bashing the Peoples Democratic Party, I
look forward to seeing el-Rufai pay serious attention
to kick-starting the Northern renaissance. He needs
to use his life story to inspire the youth: How his
father died when he was eight years old and an uncle
took care of his schooling; how he went to Barewa
College and came tops, then gained admission to
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he made a
first class in quantity surveying, before attending
other universities; how that Western education gave
him the pedestal to be appointed Director General of
the Bureau for Public Enterprises before he was made
the FCT Minister; and how anybody who pays
attention to education the way Ahmadu Bello advised
would rise to be a leader.
It is sad to see how many Northern youths are finding
the message of Boko Haram sweeter because there
are no compelling messages from other quarters.
Since others are not standing in the gap to offer this
service to the North, el-Rufai should offer it.
I see associations of professionals of the South-East,
South-South and South-West, but I don’t hear of such
groups in the North. El-Rufai and Ribadu should form
such groups that will attract young people of the
North. Members of such groups should visit towns
and villages of the North and create awareness on
the need to go to school to become doctors that save
lives, senators that make laws, and presidents that
lead nations, and that those who don’t go to school
will be condemned to the hard life of labourers or
beggars. Those who have missed out of education
need to be encouraged and mobilised to acquire
some skills or get involved in sports.
Northerners are not lazy people. They may even be
the strongest in Nigeria given the strenuous work
most of them do. Northerners are not less creative:
Sokoto-born Jelani Aliyu of GM Motors in the USA has
wowed the world with his car designs; Gombe-born
Helon Habila won the 2001 Caine Prize. Northerners
are not less enterprising; that the richest man in
Africa and the Black race is a Northerner should tell
us something. Northerners are not less intelligent;
the academic exploits of Beatrice Hamza-Bassey at
the University of Maiduguri and Harvard University
bear testimonies to this.
The problem of the North is not in the individual, but
in the environment created by the elders that think
only of themselves and immediate families. There
needs to emerge a group of young intellectuals who
can call the bluff of the South on issues like quota
system, resource control, regional autonomy, and the
like. This group needs to tell the Northern elders to
stop insulting the North and portraying Northerners
in a bad light.
It is only when the North starts telling the South
bluntly that it can survive and excel without the
South and its much touted oil that the Northern
renaissance will have started. This is the missionary
work the likes of el-Rufai and Ribadu should take
upon themselves to salvage
has to do with national resources, two critical
“words” must be present in their speeches:
“Sharing” and “allocation.”
That makes you wonder: Don’t these “elders” feel
that they are insulting the North by their fixation on
“sharing?” Don’t they feel they are insulting the
North by portraying the region as incapable of taking
care of itself? Don’t the younger generation feel
ridiculed by this unenviable image foisted on them
by these elders? Most times when these comments
fly around, the lone dissenting voice you would hear
is that of Col. Abubakar Umar (retd.), a former
Governor of Kaduna State.
Whenever there is a call for true federalism, regional
autonomy or resource control, you are sure that it will
be resisted vehemently by the North. Ironically, the
South-West that cannot be called an oil-producing
region, except for the little deposit of oil in Ondo
State, supports resource control. The South-East
which cannot really be called an oil-producing region
also supports resource control. The South-South,
being the real oil-producing region, naturally
supports resource control. The South-East and South-
West do not support resource control because they
hope to gain much from oil proceeds from their
regions; no, they support it because they believe that
their lack of oil in large quantities would ginger them
to be more creative and productive in other areas of
life, so as to attain the desired developmental
heights. They know that the sharing of proceeds from
oil has hampered their growth for long.
It was refreshing, therefore, to hear former Vice-
President Atiku Abubakar – who has become a true
apostle of true federalism – urging delegates to the
National Conference to go for true federalism. In a
2012 paper, Abubakar had said inter alia: “I also
want to recall that during the said 1994-95
Constitutional Conference, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, GCON,
the Second Republic Vice-President of this federation,
introduced and canvassed for the concept of
geopolitical zones. I was among those who opposed it
because I thought that Ekwueme, coming from the
defunct Republic of Biafra, wanted to break up the
country again.
But Abubuakar’s lone voice is drowned by the sea of
voices of the Northern elders whose reaction to every
national issue has become predictable.
That is why people like Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, a
former minister of the Federal Capital Territory;
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chairman of the
Economic Financial Crimes Commission; Alhaji Ghali
Na’Abba, a former Speaker of the House of
Representatives; Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, Publisher of
Leadership newspapers need to stand up and change
this sad, old song from Northern elders.
Those who are too emotional and politically partisan
would dismiss the performance of el-Rufai as
minister of the FCT, or Ribadu as the EFCC chairman.
Whatever their shortcomings, both of them acquitted
themselves well in their respective positions. While
el-Rufai transformed Abuja, Ribadu made Nigerians
afraid of corruption; and it is clear that when
compared to most other people who have held
positions of authority, el-Rufai and Ribadu would
come out much cleaner.
Sadly, el-Rufai has been so obsessed with “Operation
Remove Jonathan” that he does not seem to notice
that the North is burning or that there is a huge task
to be done in the North. Why are the likes of el-Rufai
and Ribadu critical in this task? Both men are very
intelligent, well read, young, successful in their
careers and national assignments, progressive in
orientation, change-hungry, etc. The Northern youth
will listen to them. The Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir
Ahmadu Bello, was known to have mobilised the
North to go to school and join the military, civil
service and politics. I knew Barewa College, Zaria
because most Northerners, including heads of state
and presidents, attended it. Today, another group is
mobilising Northern youths to reject education. Even
before Boko Haram came to the limelight, whenever
the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
released the statistics of candidates for its exams,
you would see figures like 120,000 candidates from
Imo State and 3,000 from Jigawa State. Other
Northern states produce similar extremely low
number of applicants in all exams in Nigeria. With
Boko Haram campaign against Western education,
the situation has worsened by far.
But how can anyone call mathematics Western
education? The 1, 2, 3 numerals used all over the
world today for calculation are called Arabic figures
because of their source. Physics, chemistry,
economics, etc, are not Western subjects, for a stone
dropped from a roof in Saudi Arabia would be pulled
down by the force of gravity just like the one dropped
from a British roof.
While he is bashing the Peoples Democratic Party, I
look forward to seeing el-Rufai pay serious attention
to kick-starting the Northern renaissance. He needs
to use his life story to inspire the youth: How his
father died when he was eight years old and an uncle
took care of his schooling; how he went to Barewa
College and came tops, then gained admission to
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he made a
first class in quantity surveying, before attending
other universities; how that Western education gave
him the pedestal to be appointed Director General of
the Bureau for Public Enterprises before he was made
the FCT Minister; and how anybody who pays
attention to education the way Ahmadu Bello advised
would rise to be a leader.
It is sad to see how many Northern youths are finding
the message of Boko Haram sweeter because there
are no compelling messages from other quarters.
Since others are not standing in the gap to offer this
service to the North, el-Rufai should offer it.
I see associations of professionals of the South-East,
South-South and South-West, but I don’t hear of such
groups in the North. El-Rufai and Ribadu should form
such groups that will attract young people of the
North. Members of such groups should visit towns
and villages of the North and create awareness on
the need to go to school to become doctors that save
lives, senators that make laws, and presidents that
lead nations, and that those who don’t go to school
will be condemned to the hard life of labourers or
beggars. Those who have missed out of education
need to be encouraged and mobilised to acquire
some skills or get involved in sports.
Northerners are not lazy people. They may even be
the strongest in Nigeria given the strenuous work
most of them do. Northerners are not less creative:
Sokoto-born Jelani Aliyu of GM Motors in the USA has
wowed the world with his car designs; Gombe-born
Helon Habila won the 2001 Caine Prize. Northerners
are not less enterprising; that the richest man in
Africa and the Black race is a Northerner should tell
us something. Northerners are not less intelligent;
the academic exploits of Beatrice Hamza-Bassey at
the University of Maiduguri and Harvard University
bear testimonies to this.
The problem of the North is not in the individual, but
in the environment created by the elders that think
only of themselves and immediate families. There
needs to emerge a group of young intellectuals who
can call the bluff of the South on issues like quota
system, resource control, regional autonomy, and the
like. This group needs to tell the Northern elders to
stop insulting the North and portraying Northerners
in a bad light.
It is only when the North starts telling the South
bluntly that it can survive and excel without the
South and its much touted oil that the Northern
renaissance will have started. This is the missionary
work the likes of el-Rufai and Ribadu should take
upon themselves to salvage
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