“Is life so dear or peace so sweet that it must be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but, as for me, give me liberty or give me death” – Patrick Henry, 1775, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 128.
Thank God for COVID-19, all the southern states were on the way to being sold into slavery by the parasitic North represented by Buhari – ably supported by elected senators from the South. The instrument, this time, was the $22.7 billion loan approved by the Lawan-led Senate. Many people had previously urged senators to ask for details before giving approval. But the senators had gone ahead to grant the request for the loan. No other legislature, comprising of elected officials who deeply care for their people, would do that. The classic definition of democracy, as provided by US President Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, tells us that democracy is a government of the people by the people and for the people. Lincoln obviously felt that he did not need to add the word ALL before people.
My readings on the late US President, who incidentally freed slaves, would suggest that he abhorred a system of government, however contrived, in which one segment of the people constitutes parasites on another segment as the North has become on the South in Nigeria. The ‘monkey-work-baboon-chop’ revenue allocation formula, introduced by Gowon (General Ironsi actually left the 50% derivation principle intact) and Pa Awolowo, was the beginning of southern fiscal serfdom. Descendants of Baba Awolowo are bearing the yoke of subjugation today.
“Better a declared enemy than a doubtful ally,” said Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1815 (VBQ p 48) – who must have experienced treachery from people he least expected for selfish interest (2023 virus). The entire southern region of Nigeria is one huge slave-camp – with a few House Slaves (free-minded Americans call them Uncle Toms) elected, selected and/or appointed to hold the rest of us in check. While none of the two major parties had considered redressing the injustice, Buhari’s APC is the one presently moving to ensure the South lives in bondage perpetually. The President is not alone in this quest. He is ably supported by southern leaders of the party. Remember we are referring to elected, selected and appointed leaders of the party. You can cast your imagination wide to draw the list of the traitors of the South. Be honest; don’t leave out the name of your brother or benefactor. Start from the top – Chairman, etc. You will be amazed at the names that will stare you in the face. Those are the real enemies of the South parading themselves as our leaders and great political strategists.
You do not need any other evidence that the entire South is being sold into slavery by politicians re-enacting the historic slave trade, which covered nearly two hundred years and during which traditional rulers (so-called fathers of the people) sold human beings in shiploads to white men for pittance. “History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes” – Voltaire, VBQ, p 93. But just in case you are a true southerner self-deluded as to think that the African slave trade ended with the abolition in the 19th century, then take a look at the table below and despair.
PROPOSED ALLOCATION OF $22.7B LOAN
ZONE AMOUNT %
N.C $6.5bn 36
N.E $300m 2
N.W N6.3bn 35
SUB-TOTAL $13.1bn 73
S.E – –
S.S (- Edo) $4.7bn 26
S.W $200m 1
SUB-TOTAL 4.9bn 27
GRAND TOTAL 18.0bn 100
Lawyers often claim that “facts speak for themselves”. That is only partly true. Some facts need to be explained or interpreted before a lot of people can fully grasp their implications. One example is the table above. There is only one word to describe its authors in the Federal Government – conscienceless. And there are only two words to describe their southern collaborators in the APC – shameless conspirators. Let us now analyse what would have been done with the $22.7 billion loan taken on behalf of Nigerians – if COVID-19 and the foreign lenders have not slammed the door in their faces.
“There are only two families in the world, my old grandmother used to say, the haves and the have-nots” -Miguel de Cervantes, 1547-1616, VBQ, p 87.
The great author of Don Quixote died over 400 years ago. But he might as well have been talking about the proposed allocation of the $22.7billion loan as revealed by the table above. As usual, the Igbo were supposed to receive nothing. Nothing new about that except that it again underlines the fact that the Igbo have remained a conquered people – never mind the nonsense ‘no victor; no vanquished’ slogan. At every available opportunity, the rest of Nigeria is telling the Igbo that they are not wanted. The FG, under Buhari, is the worst. But, don’t tell the Igbo selfish Ministers, Ambassadors, collaborative businessmen and appointed Uncle Toms that truth. They are too busy eating what drops on the floor from the masters’ tables inside the Rock. The people can go to hell.
“Traitors in one’s midst, always highly trusted, always splendid fellows, always the last people to be suspected” – Agatha Christie, VBQ, p 251.
Agatha Christie, the lady of crime thrillers in our younger days in secondary school, always warned us to suspect those above suspicions. The ridiculous argument can be made that the South-East got what it deserved. The zone did not vote for Buhari. That point of view already assumes that the Igbo are not included among the people of Nigeria. Like it or not, they are the salt of Nigeria. At least they contribute more than the North to our commonwealth.
When the newly-born political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, was brought out of the ‘Labour Room’ in 2013, the Action Congress, AC, was the largest group and had more elected officials – Governors, legislators etc – than any other. Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, was the smallest. It had only one Governor in one of the poorest states in Nigeria. Defectors from the PDP and other rag-tag associations joined later. The SW provided the lion’s share of campaign expenses.
Yoruba people who pointed to the antecedents of the CPC leader were assured that the brilliant political strategists of the AC had perfected plans to guarantee that the SW did not end up holding the short end of the stick. We actually believed them. But “men make history, but not just as they please” – (Karl Marx, 1818-1883, VBQ, p 93). History will later record that the mouse swallowed juggernaut. Today, the leaders of the former CPC hold the knife and the yam. They would have shared it in the godless manner indicated above – North-West 35% and South-West 1% — but, for the intervention of COVID-19. Odua was not asleep. Like innocent cattle, fed with grass at intervals while being led to the abattoir, the Yoruba were delivered to their slaughterers by political adventurers in their midst. And, they are not done with us yet. They have set up clandestine political machines to actualise ‘2023 virus’ – as one of their sages aptly put it. They will have their way if we allow them. We must never forget what would have occurred if foreigners did not show our officials the gate.
“You can’t argue on your knees” -Anonymous.
We cannot leave the table without pointing to three more anomalies. First, the South-South allocations exclude any funds for Edo State. The atrocious sharing was done before the Chairman of the party found himself on his hands and knees at the Rock to save his job. It is difficult to see how a man on all fours in front of his saviour can summon the effrontery to query his benefactor about inequitable loan allocations. Edo people can go to blazes.
Second, all the 17 states of the South put together would have received less than either the North-Central or North-East alone. They would have got only 78% of each of the two. Only God knows how the North-East lost out on the bonanza for the North. But that need not delay us here. At any rate, there is still over $4 billion unallocated. Certainly, the NE will not be left behind.
Nothing demonstrates official malevolence better than the fact that while the North would have swallowed about 75 per cent of the loan, the South would be required to provide close to 80 per cent of the funds to repay. The audacity of planned robbery is only matched by the cowardice of the southern political leaders who would not have questioned the sharing formula. No leader of the APC at the federal level would have uttered a word of protest.
This generation of southerners and our descendants will continue to carry the North as a burden for as long as we continue to present ourselves as beasts of burden on which all the consequences of corrupt northern leaders can be placed.
We can never develop this way. Unfortunately, we are not even helping our brothers in the North who need our assistance. A good chunk of the $22.7 billion will merely go to fatten the gluttonous and the morally hypocritical. That is why we must stop following those southern leaders who got us into this servitude. They want us to continue to shovel loads of dollars to the North. The results so far have been more palatial mansions in Daura and more almajiris all over Nigeria. Things cannot go on this way. Otherwise, the South will also breed its own horde of almajiris. The place to start is to recover our land from bandits called herdsmen. They want to settle on our land by force. That is the truth.
(The Vanguard)
