I deliberately chose an American informal/colloquial expression in the title of this article to demonstrate from the outset, how ridiculous it sounds to hear people, that is, some Southerner Nigerians make the comment that Northerners believe that they are ‘born to rule Nigeria’.

In the last couple of years in particular, a lot of us Northerners have become quite familiar with this remark that, especially the so-called Hausa/Fulani have arrogated to themselves, the right to rule Nigeria. You could just see how the neck vein of the proponents of this belief swells to the size of a goiter as they launch into some eye-popping tirade when this subject comes up.

The issue was once again brought to my attention recently, via an email that has been making the rounds, which contained an article entitled “[ICAN-NG] THE NORTH AND THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF NIGERIA---A MUST READ! “. The article—which the author doesn’t seem too proud to claim by refusing to state his/her name upfront---made references to some comments purportedly made by Sir Ahamadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, in which he supposedly declared/revealed the “Northerners’ born to rule” manifesto. The evidentiary proof, according to the nameless author is the following:

“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate from our great-grand father Othoman Dan Fodio. We must RUTHLESSLY prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities of the North as willing tools, and the South as conquered territories and never allow them to have control of their future”
This ‘fatwa-like’ remark was said to have been made by Sardauna on October 12, 1960, and the author claimed that the quote came out of a magazine called PARROT (what an apt name for a source of information of this nature) issued on the same day. As Nigerians will say, this is ‘arrant nonsense’!

In this article, I will engage in both qualitative (i.e. narrative) and quantitative (i.e. statistical) analyses of this alleged northern arrogation of power, in order to properly address this prevailing anti-Northerners, anti-Muslims, and anti-Hausa/Fulani acrimony pervading the country.

QUALITATIVE (Narrative) ANALYSIS

Sardauna was well known for speaking his mind, but even then, it is doubtful, if not inconceivable that he could have uttered the quote above. Apart from the fact that the remark lacks the kind of political sophistication that one would expect from the caliber of Sardauna, when put in the context of early 1960s Nigeria, this quote screams ‘utter insidious fabrication’ from someone too crude and inept, trying to sow mischief. I would say, this is a case of sending a boy to do a man’s job. Now I have to spend precious time poking holes in the shoddy job done by this dullard, while at the same time correcting the misinformation aimed at his/her intended audience.

First, let’s begin with the spelling ‘Othoman Dan Fodio’. Anyone familiar enough with Nigerian political history will know that the correct spelling should take one of these forms: Usman Dan Fodio (correct Hausa spelling); or Uthman Dan Fodio; or Usman Dan Fuduye (Francophone African spelling); or Usman ibn Fodio (Afro-Arabic spelling). So, where did this author get ‘Othoman’? From an Orientalist?

Secondly, when Sardauna made this remark, what were the responses of his southern counterparts after reading such inflammatory comment at this time of Nigeria’s formative period? Let’s keep in mind that even now, in the year 2012, some Southerners never fail to denigrate Northerners as illiterate, backward, unsophisticated, nothing but ‘cattle herders’, how much more in the early 1960s, when Sardauna supposedly made this comment? Wouldn’t the Southern Premiers have come out in full swing with their Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard education to ‘put our Mallam in his place’? But the author somehow failed to come up with any appropriate retort or fiery response from the “highly educated”, and “more sophisticated” Premiers of Western and Eastern regions. Not even belligerent Awolowo or the erudite Azikiwe came up with an equally apt and response? How could they have let this ‘Cattle Herder” get away with such derogatory, and provocative comment? The nameless author went on to add:

“Note that the 'do or die' election of 1959 did not give the North the required majority to form Government until Eastern Nigeria (Today's South-East and South-South) came to the rescue.”
So, here we have the author telling us that one year before Sardauna made the previous condescending remark; the Southerners had generously subjugated themselves to his northern party, by literally handing the party the votes needed to form majority government. What were they thinking, with all that advanced education? Were these Southerners just too magnanimous, and for what reason? The author of this diatribe apparently does not understand the concept of parliamentary system and coalition government. An agreement between two political parties (NPC and NCNC) to form a majority government in a parliamentary system was hardly a generous sacrifice on the part of the Eastern Nigerians.

The usual argument in support of this anti-North campaign is that for 37+ years, Northerners were at the helm of affairs in Nigeria. But, for the bulk of those years, Nigeria was ruled by the military--an organization that had members from both the North and the South. In fact, the very first military coup in Nigeria (January 1966) was carried out by Southerners (Ibos), who pointedly massacred polticians and military officers who were not from their own part of the country. Strangely enough, Nzeogwu, the cold-blooded murderous mastermind of the coup, was not only reported be the protégé of Sardauna, but, even he never mentioned that he was motivated by Sardauna’s ‘born to rule’ manifesto. In addition, the brutal killing of Sardauna was gallantly avenged partly by those “minority Northerners” that he supposedly had blatantly described with the condescending words “willing tools”. Furthermore, I am yet to find any citation, where even Ojukwu, in all his struggles for the state of Biafra, ever mentioned this purported remark by Sardauna.

Another point worth noting is that, since most of the 37+ years of rule by Northerners was achieved through military coups, what prevented the southern military officers from staging their own coup in the intevening years? Was it that the spirit of ‘born to rule’ was so much in favour of the Hausa/Fulani officers that their coup could never fail? Or were they just brazen, and brave enough to put their lives on the line, and bear the consequences, only to have their southern counterparts and their descendants come out whining and distorting history years later?

If indeed there was anything resembling Northerners’ ”born to rule” manifesto put together by Sardauna, and expected to be maintained by “Northerners”, particularly, Hausa/Fulani, then they must have failed woefully, or they never believed in it. Here is why:

ALONG CAME YAKUBU GOWON (1966)

Throughout the unfolding events of the July 1966 counter coup, Murtala Muhammed, a Hausa/Fulani man was one of the, if not ‘the central figure’ in this event. He was in the thick and thin of it all, barking orders and following his own game plan. However, despite reports of some heated exchanges between him and Yakubu Gowon, when the dust finally settled, it was Yakubu Gowon, a member of the minority tribe that was chosen as the head of state. Could these brave Hausa/Fulani soldiers who put their lives on the line, quickly forget the ‘born to rule’ injunction from Sardauna? They will just hand over the rulership to a non-Hausa/Fulani, when barely 6 years earlier; they supposedly have been instructed to arrogate power to themselves, ‘RUTHLESSLY’. Recall also that not only did these northern military officers fail to maintain that ‘born to rule’ agenda, but they also went to war under the command and leadership of a non-Hausa/Fulani head of state. Could the claim of northerners or Hausa/Fulani arrogation of power be anymore illogical?

ALONG CAME OBASANJO (1976)

In the 1976 failed Dimka coup, when Murtala Muhammed was lying in the pool of his own blood, and Shehu Yar’Adua and T.Y. Danjuma were busy putting down the coup, Murtala’s own second in command, Obasanjo was hiding under a rock somwehere (as he remained incommunicado for some crtitical hours). It would have been easy for the Northerners to excercise their ‘born to rule’ agenda, by simply handing the mantle of leaderhip to, say, Shehu Yar’Adua, or T.Y. Danjuma (who was actually urged to take over, but he declined, preferring to follow order of seniority). Instead, they waited for frazzled Obasanjo to crawl out of his hiding place, and appointed him as the new head of state. Not only that, they stood by him to steady his shaky hands and build his confidence. I wonder why the Northerners or the Hausa/Fulani did not dig up that ‘PARROT’ magazine to remind themselves of what Sardauna had instructed them?

ALONG CAME MKO ABIOLA (1993)

In the 1993 presidential primaries for Socical Democratic Party, M.K.O. Abiola, a Southerner defeated two Northerners (Baba Kingibe, and Atiku Abubakar) to secure the nomination for his party. He then went on to defeat yet another Hausa/Fulani, Bashir Tofa in the June 12, 1993 presidential elections. According to some accounts, Abiola was even well voted for in Tofa’s home state of Kano. I wonder what happened to that Northerners’ born to rule agenda?

ALONG CAME OBASANJO AGAIN (1999)

Let us remember that in 1998, a handful of Northerners (Rtd. Generals Babangida, Danjuma, Yakasai, etc.), Muslims and Christians went clear across Nigeria to a filthy prison in the dark crevices of the city of Yola to scrape up from the floor, a decaying convict of southern origin, and a Christian (Rtd. General Olusegun Obasanjo). Against everything that was right and just, they gazetted a pardon for him, and resuscitated his malnourished body with better than prison food; they made him shed that striped prison uniform and provided him with an assortment of quality clothing; they gave him seed money from their own ill-gotten wealth in order for him to run for election in 1999. They didn’t stop there, they made sure that this southern Christian was successfully foisted on Nigeria, even against the will of his own southern people. And we know how he rewarded these Northerners with generous amount of mischief and machinations.

Now, query: What happened to that purported ‘born to rule’ manifesto that Sardauna left behind for these Northerners?

THEN CAME JONAH (2010)

In 2010, when Goodluck Jonathan vacated his sense of honor, if he ever had any, and decided that his own party’s zoning arrangement did not apply to him, despite records proving that he was signatory number 32, Nigeria was suddenly informed that there had been a long standing Northern ‘born to rule’ mentality. We saw manipulative, passive-aggressive, callous serpent—Jonah played victim and dragged Nigeria into his own party’s zoning brouhaha, and the NPLF (Northern People Leadeship Forum), under the leadership of Adamu Ciroma, stupidly helped him foul up the air with their PDP in-fighting, with the result that the phrase ‘born to rule’ entered the Nigerian political lexicon. No doubt, the war of words between the two cretins--Ciroma vs. Jonah, was the one factor that brought these fighting words to the forefront.

In spite of Jonah’s willingness to wink at his people of Ijaw ‘nation’, and other Southerners, egging them on as they yelp ‘Northern born to rule’, the same two-faced, diabolic man was enlisting the help of Northerners to help him secure a win in the presidential election. And some of them obliged! With the tacit agreement, in fact, blatant acquiescense of some Northerners, Emirs included--some of whom could even trace their family lineage to Sardauna himself, we saw Northerners served as foot solders for the serpent from the South-South (By the way South-South is not a geographic point, it doesn’t exist even on a 16-point compass). The Northerners, including the likes of Haliru Bello, a Hausa/Fulani man from Sarduana’s own place of origin, who were supposed to have that ‘born to rule’ mentality engrained in them, became Jonah’s errant boys. They were frequently dispatched with “gifts/messages” to shameless northern traditional rulers, politicians, and other chief ballot riggers, so much so that when the elections were held, Jonah claimed that he secured close to 500,000 votes in the home state of Sardauna himself! .

These same ‘born to rule’ Northerners, worked fervently against one of their very own--Muhammadu Buhari, in favour of a southern Christian--Jonah. The level of acrimony the Northern elites displayed against Buhari was more than palpable. In fact, one of his most brutal antagonist was that self-loathing Sule Lamido, governor of Jigawa state, and a fellow Fulani! He even went as far as to declare that if Jonah was not elected president, Nigeria will break up! I wonder what the Southerners think of this remark, especially since they had tried to blame the post election riots on Buhari. Better yet, what does the SSS think of it?

Again, query: What happened to that purported ‘born to rule’ manifesto that Sardauna left behind for these Northerners?

If we were to believe that the 2011 presidential election was fair, then we will recall that Jonah claimed that he was able to get the required 25% of votes from many of the 19 northern states. Yet, not even one of the three Northern candidates was able to secure a win in southern states, except for Ribadu, who managed to win one state in the South West. Ironically, even Nuhu Ribadu, who was the flag-bearer for the ACN party could not secure a win in the southern state of Lagos, where his own party was head-quartered! It is therefore, amusing to note that despite the foregoing narration showing how the Northerners or Hausa/Fulani have collaborated with Southerners or the so-called “northern minority tribes”, some people are still ranting about Northern/Hausa/Fulani domination.

The full article is available here: http://www.gamji.com/article9000/NEWS9621.htm

op, i'll comment shortly...let me finish breaking this firewood

If an Arab man can write Usman Dan Fodio in his own Arabic pronunciation/words and a francophone will do same,,,,,,,,,,

Tell me what will prevent a Calabar man from writting Othoman as Usman or an Igbo man using Usuman for Usman?

Abeg park well joor even Sokoto is using Born To Rule as its Slogan.

We saw manipulative, passive-aggressive, callous serpent—Jonah most of the points are subjective but the italicised is on point

zimoni:
Why did your people Cancel June 12 Presidential Election?


Lobatan.

Ibb anull the election, he's a minority. Did any core northerner[born to rule hausa/fulani] pressure Ibb?

_

when Sardauna made this remark, what were the responses of his southern counterparts after reading such inflammatory comment at this time of Nigeria’s formative period? Let’s keep in mind that even now, in the year 2012, some Southerners never fail to denigrate Northerners as illiterate, backward, unsophisticated, nothing but ‘cattle herders’, how much more in the early 1960s, when Sardauna supposedly made this comment? Wouldn’t the Southern Premiers have come out in full swing with their Oxford,Cambridge, and Harvard education to ‘put our Mallam in his place’?

But the author somehow failed to come up with any appropriate retort or fiery response from the “highly educated”, and “more sophisticated” Premiers of Western and Eastern regions. Not even belligerent Awolowo or the erudite Azikiwe came up with an equally apt and response? How could they have let this ‘Cattle Herder” get away with such derogatory, and provocative comment?


I ask similar question last year, none of the bigots reply appropriately.

www.nairaland.com/1977382/sir-ahmadu-bellos-statement-made#27643308

A7:
when Sardauna made this remark, what were the responses of his southern counterparts after reading such inflammatory comment at this time of Nigeria’s formative period? Let’s keep in mind that even now, in the year 2012, some Southerners never fail to denigrate Northerners as illiterate, backward, unsophisticated, nothing but ‘cattle herders’, how much more in the early 1960s, when Sardauna supposedly made this comment? Wouldn’t the Southern Premiers have come out in full swing with their Oxford,Cambridge, and Harvard education to ‘put our Mallam in his place’?

But the author somehow failed to come up with any appropriate retort or fiery response from the “highly educated”, and “more sophisticated” Premiers of Western and Eastern regions. Not even belligerent Awolowo or the erudite Azikiwe came up with an equally apt and response? How could they have let this ‘Cattle Herder” get away with such derogatory, and provocative comment?


I ask similar question last year, none of the bigots reply appropriately.

www.nairaland.com/1977382/sir-ahmadu-bellos-statement-made#27643308

Silence is the BEST answer to a FoOL.