By Ayodele Fagbohun

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“Mark my words, war will soon break out in Nigeria – Olusegun Obasanjo. Another civil war in Nigeria has become imminent and inevitable. The reason for its inevitability is simply because Buhari, the Northern Nigeria Fulani oligarchy and the wider network of Fulani in the sub-Saharan Africa have  concluded plans to adopt Nigeria as the home land for all Fulanis in Africa.

“Fulani  people have realized that the wandering and rootless lifestyle of  cattle herding is no longer tenable in the 21st century…”

The above frightening, ominous and reprehensible verdict recently credited to no less an eminent celebrity than the former  Head of State and two term elected president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo   forboding that another civil war is  looming  ought to have been disregarded outrightly as wild and thrown to the dust bin, for it  originated from the unverifiable, and dangerously speculative social media which  must be taken with a pinch of salt.

Strange enough, the presumed author, Olusegun Obasanjo known for his  candour, intrepidity and statesmanship, could not have condescended to social media in addressing  the nation on an issue touching the corporate existence and survival of the country which he (Obasanjo) had fought gallantly to preserve as an  indivisible political entity on grueling civil war.

Characteristically, OBJ used to deploy his familiar letter to the country, either to warn or advise the nation, through only the traditional news media especially newspapers.

More significantly, his sworn  political adversary, Atiku Abubakar (a Fulani) is a prominent contestant from the main opposition party,  People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the outgoing president, Mohammadu  Buhari ( a Fulani) incidentally is  the major player in the political  hand over saga, come 2023.

Thirdly, in the ruling All  Progressives Congress (APC), there is no love lost between the APC  flag bearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Yoruba) and Olusegun  Obasanjo (Yoruba). Incidentally the two are kinsmen.

Apparently OBJ presumably has an ace to grind with those in the corridor of power and the frontline presidential aspirants looking forward to form the next political dispensation.

As far as OBJ is concerned in  the build up  to the  2023 general elections  which ipso facto must usher in a brand new political dispensation, he who comes to equity must come with clean hands  runs a legal maxim.

I stand to be corrected that Obasanjo is the authoritarian head fountain  of despicable Fulanization and Islamization, whatever  bogus name it is called in every political dispensation by his primary military constituency.

OBJ as head of state and elected president deliberately sowed the seed of Fulanisation  insidiously germinated and ripened to a fear some magic old tree ready to consume its victims and clients at the slightest  provocation .

Before the debut  of the unfortunate military rule which exponentially was responsible for the  present unchecked insurgency and gangsterism, there was proven record or evidence of relative peaceful co-existence among the diverse people of the country; the occasional skirmishes around the country not withstanding.

Indeed, the Biafran war of secession was eventually resolved and the nation remained an  indivisible and indissoluble political entity  until precious lives; valuable and immense properties  were destroyed on the battle field,  little innocent children killed by  kwashiorkor and vulnerable segments of the society wantonly decimated.

Information and statistics in the government  gazette (1953) confirmed  that more than two thirds (2/3) of the 17 million Northern people belong  to the six largest ethnic groups viz. Hausa  5.6  million; Fulani 3.1 million, Kanuri 1.3 million; Tiv 800, 000;  Yoruba 500,000; and Nupe 350,000.

The remaining  five million people comprised about 220 linguistic groups,  mainly on the southern fringe  of the Northern region where Hausa culture does not predominate.

It was in the 19th  century  (1804) that one  learned Fulani clan head, Sheikh Usuman dan Fodio by virtue of his sound Islamic jurisprudence, launched a Jihad (holy war) against the persecution of Muslims by his pagan over lord; thus changing power configuration in the North.

The Fulani hijacked the political authority of the region and by extension boasted to   dip Qu’ran to the sea; threatened to overrun the entire country.

Dan Fodio, a charismatic and magnetic personality rallied devout  Muslims  among whom the ‘town Fulani” were predominant and proclaimed the holy war. He was a humble and pious  man of Islamic faith; He was not obsessed with political power. However, Dan Fodio divided the secular  empire between his son, the first  Sultan of Sokoto and his brother, Emir of  Gwandu.

We are told Fulani expansionist policy of  sheer imperialism was halted militarily in the  North East by the Kanuri ethnic group of Bornu. It is very disheartening and unfortunate that these  people of noble character and warlike ancestry have lost the charm, aura and innate power to secure their territory from the predatory and anarchistic,  islamic insurgency funded by international   conspirators, and the local quislings poised to truncate and  destroy our territorial integrity and the hard won  sovereignty.

Going down the memory lane, January 15, 1966 political revolution which was the first military coup led  by Major Kaduna Chukwuma  Nzeogwu claimed the lives of some dramatis personae  of the First Republic. The list included the late Prime Minister, Alhaji  Balewa, Northern regional Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello,  the Sadauna of Sokoto; Western Region Premier and the Are-Ona Kakanfo, Chief Samuel Ladoke  Akintola; Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotieboh and a host of  their trusted lieutenants in the armed forces that  gave backing to the notoriously wicked oligarchy and feudalism.

Major Kaduna Nzeogwu was a Roman Catholic  by faith, born and bred in Kaduna. In accordance with Roman catholic  creed,  Major Nzeogwu vowed  not to go into wedlock until  the nation was rid of endemic corruption, graft, avarice and tribalism. Without mincing words; Nzeogwu valiantly defended the coup insisting that the leading politicians killed in the  wake of the coup deserved to die for bringing  shame to the people;  inflicting  violence, mayhem and untold deprivation and hardship on the nation in all its ramifications.

Major Nzeogwu however promised to install  progressive government in Nigeria. He and his group would set up the  machinery and work  out the modus operandi to release Chief Obafemi  Awolowo and his political associates languishing in jail based on trump -up charges of treasonable felony and conspiracy against the Balewa -led Federal Government.

Unfortunately, the tall dream was thwarted and frustrated  with the entry of reactionary forces, neo-colonialist agents  from the remnants of the conservative  clique just overthrown; and the bloodthirsty; insolent and disgruntled  soldiers of northern extraction on reprisal and revenge mission for  the inevitable killings  of January 15, 1966,

All the strange bedfellows in  unholy alliance finally clamped down on the nation more ignoble, bestial and  corruption infested  government than the previous republics over thrown. What an irony of history!

In his  pretence,  Obasanjo claimed to be a friend of the fallen hero, Major Nzeogwu, who now belongs  to the ages as the acclaimed and celebrated fighter of progressive government in the country.

In contrast, OBJ belongs in spirit,  soul and body to the reactionary cabal; very obsequious  and sympathetic to the cause of self serving longstanding Fulani hegemony and expansionist oligarchy, in spite of their minority status  as elucidated and expressly stated in this piece and its  numerical inferiority compared to other linguistic nationalities put together resident in the defunct Northern Nigeria.

OBJ and his cohorts installed Alhaji Shehu  Usuman  Aliyu Shagari (a Fulani) as a reluctant president and made a mess of the  Second Republic and the nation.

In his ipse dixit,  Obasanjo as out gone military head of State said the best candidate (referring   to Chief  Obafemi Awolowo, Yoruba) might not win in the radio/TV network broadcast on the eve of the  ill-fated 1979 presidential polls.

Ever since, OBJ does not relent by any jolt in rabidly promoting the cause of Fulanisation he is now shamelessly calling on Nigerians to beware of  OBJ is the embodiment and personification of indiscipline and brigandry  traceable to the so called fulanization, a crude concept crafted by him to hood wink the populace and in the process curry cheap popularity from the gullible masses.

It is galling OBJ has no solution to the myriad of problems confronting the nation  of which his administration of almost 12 years; 1976 to 1979 as Military Head of State; 1999 to 2007 as  president, took the lion share of the knotty problem imposed on the nation. He is only adapt and versed in story telling about Central Africa Republic (CAR), France, etc and instilling,  doubt fears and horrors of war on the people.

What is the rationale behind a accomplished former  military generalissimo and ex-president contemplating war again in an environment once ravaged by the civil war and now smarting under insecurity, mayhem, genocidal atrocities, leaving on its trail countless number of people displaced, homeless and lost irretrievably.

No wonder, the late maverick politician and former Governor of old Kaduna State described Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) as an agent provocateur. Having lost  the favour of his friends  of  Fulani extraction that he assisted to grab political power, and fallen flat from the Olympian height, OBJ now turns round to castigate them virulently and not hesitating to declare them as “persona non grata” to be annihilated  politically,  if  not physically.

We are not oblivious of the antics and  stratagem of Fulanis, a powerful minority group  in West African sub region to subjugate their Hausa over lords in  Northern Nigeria mainly due to the  Islamic education and enlightenment acquired in their  environment.

He who wants peace must be prepared for war and vigilance is the price of liberty. The political leadership must be imbued with mental comprehension and  and abjure fear to tackle  headlong and  frontally  the hydra headed monstrous problem of insecurity that may rear its ugly head.

To cup it all, it is imperative that the nation must urgently put in place constitutional reform, enshrine true federalism and organize the constituent states or regions along linguistic/ geographical contiguity as  formulae to foster and promote peace, progress, unity and stability in the country.