This Nonsense Has to Stop Now!

This Day

24 April 2011

This Nonsense Has to Stop Now!

Simon Kolawole

Finally, I am beginning to question my convictions about the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria. After fifty years of independence and almost 100 years of amalgamation, Nigeria is still in shreds despite several efforts to stitch a country together. Hawkers of hate and vendors of violence always seem to have the upper hand.

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The only positive I could take out is that there were no reprisals in the South. This, as little as it may appear, has doused what might have become a widespread national calamity. I shiver at the thought of what might have been.

By the way, I am a believer in Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I started dreaming of a Buhari presidency in 1998. I supported him wholeheartedly against ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 and against Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007. But I saw certain things in the run-up to the 2011 presidential election that toned down my enthusiasm. First, I was very uncomfortable with the ethnic and religious undertone to the mobilisation for him. I kept getting reports of the messages being preached against President Goodluck Jonathan by Northern clerics on the ground that he is a “kafir”. I was further put off by the use of sheer intimidation and blackmail by Buhari’s supporters to force people to support their man.

Most importantly, I was highly discouraged by the failure of Buhari to factor the South into his political calculations. Since 2003, he had never won anything in the South.  If you’re going to be president of Nigeria, you have to reach out to all. Nobody is ever going to be president of Nigeria by appealing to only the people from his region and religion. ...