On the debut of this column, I must begin by pointing out that one is gripped by unimaginable painful emotions reminiscing on the once peaceful Northern Nigeria and the mess we are in today. We are really living in agony, just as Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah argued last week.
All the indices of development and progress in our region are consistently negative, thereby compounding our problems at an alarming scale. The Northern elite have had endless opportunities to transform and transport us to a higher platform than we are today, instead they only helped in inciting self-destruction. All we hear in gatherings is a constant flashback on the historical exploits and good deeds of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the first and last Premier of the defunct Northern Region.
The elite tell all kinds of lies, spawn mischief and pretend to be genuine leaders but their actions and practices go contrary to the virtues and honesty associated with the administration of the old North. They preach peace and morality in the day, but at night actively participate in mischief, immorality and indiscipline that are crippling the region. The high level of atrocities they have exposed us to in pursuit of their selfish interests, be they Christian or Muslim, are better left unsaid.
We are living witnesses to what is going on in the region. The collapse of moral values and positive culture is still ongoing with impunity, bereft of shame and revulsion.
But how did we get here? A perfect picture of the situation has been well documented by the late Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, Bishop Kukah and host of other intellectuals. Usman taught us how the various members of the elite class manipulated religion for the consolidation of their economic and political interests. Kukah did the same, citing several anecdotes to support his argument. The most viable point I want to stress is that our problems are well-known and, sadly, hypocrisy and mischief have blinded our eyes even as attempts are being made to correct the situation.
Our challenges are purely an elitist creation because of insensitivity and a lack of good leadership to consolidate on the template laid by our past leaders. All we are left with today are the repercussions of a failed leadership as exhibited by leaders that emerged after the collapse of the First Republic in 1966.
To some scholars, our problems became more visible after the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello due to the failure to incorporate his philosophies by emerging leaders that took over the affairs of the region. According to Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, they introduced a mix of religion and ethnicity in the struggle for power and made it a tool of social and political mobilisation. In the process, they divided the unsuspecting people along religious and ethnic lines and inculcated hate and fanaticism while they comfortably looted and ruined the common weal.
My intervention is simple: the younger generation needs to shelve aside parochial sentiments and reconstruct a new system that will lead to the rebirth of a new North. This generation must, as a matter of urgency, participate in a new discourse on Northern Nigeria.