Last week, three people from the north were
in the news for diametrically opposed reasons.
While Mallam Nasiru El-Rufa’i was in the news for his fifteen hours
detention for the offence of having the audacity to advise Goodluck Jonathan on
the consequences of rigging next year’s elections, Tanko Yakassai was on the
other hand inaugurating his latest moneymaking venture of ‘adopting’ Jonathan
as the candidate of his part of the north.
As a side attraction, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s appearance before the
Senate added spice to a week that proved to be educative to all. Incidentally both Yakassai and Sanusi Lamido
are from Kano. While the two younger men
– El- Rufa’i and Sansusi are critical of the government’s handling of political
and economic issues, Yakassai was trying to outdo Labaran (M)aku in praising
the government of Jonathan as the best thing to ever happen to Nigeria and that
Jonah should be allowed to contest next year.
As a rider, the old man added for good measure that anybody from the
north who has political ambition must shelve it now.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the governor of the
Central Bank and the Banker to the government, accused the government of
systematically haemorrhaging the country’s finances through the methodical robbery
in the oil sector superintended by Jonathan’s darling Minister, Deziani
Madueke, overseen by another untouchable amazon of the cabinet, Ngozi Okonjo
Iweala, who is a master of obfuscation.
Sanusi’s memo is an “ad memoire” to the letter he earlier wrote Jonathan
alerting him of the theft at the NNPC (as if he doesn’t know). The new memo to the Senate alerted Nigerians
on another disappearing act of $20billion dollars from the NNPC and how the
scam is perpetrated through a non-existent kerosene subsidy. This is in addition to the $49.8billion said
to have vanished into thin air last year.
Sanusi’s uncommon action was a very
patriotic action alerting Nigerians and the world on the dangers Jonathan’s
administration posed to the country and that nobody should do the mistake of
trusting the man again with the destiny of the country. The underlying message in all of Sanusi’s
communications is that Jonathan and the ‘gang’ have neither shame nor compunction
when it comes to fleecing the country. Their
understanding of fiscal federalism begins and ends with their pockets. Jonathan is not averse to stealing or
behaving contrary to the laws of the land.
While Sanusi was waving the economic red
flag for Nigerians to see how low we have sunk fiscally, Nasiru El-Rufa’i was a
guest of the SSS, our modern day Gestapo.
His offence? He advised the
government to conduct a credible election in order to avoid crisis. The government has never been comfortable
with anyone telling it the truth and it is becoming apparent that their
reaction is becoming very predictable – unleash the security agents against
such spoilsports. The definition of a
subversive has now being changed from what we know it to whoever is against
Jonathan’s recklessness and his ambition to rule us whether Nigerians like it
or not. We have seen Asari Dokubo
calling for war against the north in the event Jonathan is not returned as
president next year and daring the security agencies to arrest him. After El-Rufa’I’s fifteen hours detention,
and condemnations from within and without the country, Dokubo was invited for a
30-minute tea chat. This clearly shows
that Dokubo is more important than El-Rufa’i to the government, Nasiru’s
acknowledged brilliance notwithstanding.
A thug has more relevance than an acknowledged accomplisher.
While Sanusi and El-Rufa’i are undergoing
their separate mental and physical ordeals in the hands of Jonathan’s kinsmen,
a senile old man was inaugurating what he called Northern Elders Council
(NEC). Tanko Yakassai, a man who have
been in the political field since the days of NEPU in the first republic, is
embarrassing himself in public by denouncing all those having beef with
Jonathan on how he is running the country.
It matters little to Yakassai that the north where he claims to be an
“elder” has been brought to its knees by the same Jonathan he is campaigning
for. It matters little to him and his
coterie of political contractors that the name Jonathan is akin to destruction
of the same magnanimous north that made it possible for an unknown tailor to
dance on the national political scene.
It matters not to Tanko Yakassai, Yusuf Mamman, Hassan Adamu and the
rest of the gang that Jonathan’s kinsmen threatened to ostracise Raymond
Dokpesi and his media empire when he agreed to be Babangida’s campaign Director
General in 2010 before he beat a hasty retreat to their laager. All that matters to them is how much they
will make from their latest venture, no matter the terms and conditions
attached in the MOU. To them the north
is another commodity to be bought and sold for their personal pecuniary gains.
I believe they are envious of (M)aku and
Gulak, which may be responsible for their floating of the NEC. My problem is that I did not see a single
elder among them. May be in a circle
where you have Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark, Boyloaf and the rest of the creek
rats, then they may call themselves elders.
In my part of the north, none of them qualify to be known and addressed
as elders, unless we have another definition of what an elder is. The difference between this group and the
militants of the Niger Delta may not be much.
While Asari & co. specialised in breaking of pipelines to steal oil,
Yakassai and his group have been in the business of breaking peoples’ hopes and
expectations. They are specialists in
breaking their region to the applause of their enemies.
If the bunch is what should be called the
“elders of the north”, then the north is doomed. May the good Lord safe us from this
contraption that is more a Northern Elders Crooks than Northern Elders
Council. Thank God we have the authentic
Northern Elders Forum.
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