Yesterday we were greeted with the news of the passing of the pontiff of the Catholic Church. May God rest his soul. While still in sobriety, this morning has greeted us with the utter rubbish that was hurled at us from the mouth of one Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, about his days in government and why he decidedly resigned from his duty as a political advisor to Mr. President. I’m very suspicious that he was thrown out. He went on to say the North would soon come together to chart a roadmap for 2027. I sincerely hope that they plan to chart a roadmap for the presidency to remain in the South, for at least four years from 2027; as anything otherwise would amount to abuse and a call for a fight. By now, this North- South rotation business should have rested. For Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a habitue in our land, originally from Mauritania gathers the balls to preach about our country to us, to the extent of using his North to threaten our collective sufferance, then we sure are in trouble. His bravado shows that we have surrendered this country to those who were never part of our heritage, our history, and our foundation, but who have been so patronised that they assume certain notional positions in our country, that emboldens them to insult us to our faces. This foreigner now warns sternly that the North will act decisively. Such brazen declaration actually came out of the buccaneers cavity of a man whose political interest has never shown dominance in the outcomes of voting in his polling unit in Zaria where he claims to be his origin; not even when his younger brother Datti Baba-Ahmed ran as Vice President. This strange behavior supports the wonders shall never end saw. It is indeed an exhibition of sheer idiocy.
It has become absolutely vital that a few cautionary words be sent to Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and those who think like him, that Nigeria is no longer wired in that all-North categorisation. Nigeria is now segmented into six ALL IMPORTANT geopolitical zones and no one single zone can intimidate the other about political superiority. When President Muhammadu Buhari became a professional at running elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011, despite and in spite of all the famed followership, and more than 100% grip on the votes from the North, he was never elected. He only got out of the tunnel of his concatenated ill luck when the incumbent president, prevailed on hm to come to a merger, to better his chances and we all know the rest of the story. And so, the All Progressives’ Congress- APC was birthed. The political artistry of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other chieftains of the APC was brilliant and advantageous enough to defeating an incumbent President, Jonathan, on the platform of a BRAND NEW PARTY in 2015. That win could easily have been seen as a disgrace, depending on how it is viewed. Importantly, it was the brainchild of our current president. Before then, Muhammadu Buhari, was already inured to failure at the polls; because all he considered was his North. Had Hakeem Baba-Ahmed not come to Nigeria by then? Is this news to him? Or has the northern voter population grown lately?
At best, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed was a meddlesome officious Interloper who was never part of the Tinubu Campaign in 2023, who parasitically grabbed the offer of a political appointment courtesy of Mr President’s resolve to run an inclusive government, without qualms. He reminds me of those ones who are described as, “anywhere belle face” politicians; those waiting for the till before they make a kill.
I would have been enamoured of Hakeem Baba-Ahmed if he had boasted of convoking a summit that would address the precarious and original situations of the North, which they now export to the South- armed banditry, insecurity, poverty, educational backwardness, kidnapping, almajiri syndrome, illicit drugs, killings and exploitations. It would have been rock solid commendations to his credit if he promoted a beam light on the ugly narratives that have dominated public discourse in the entire country about the activities in and from the North. To wake up to this nuisance of a threat of his, does not at all redound to his credit. This squeamish idea of political superiority appears to be perpetuating. Even common sense dictates that the South should run its term of eight years. With all the huge challenges emanating from the North left untreated, his ogles the office in Abuja. For several years, gold exploitation in Zamfara and other parts of the North has been in the hands of private individuals shrouded by all the orchestrated armed banditry to allow the trade flourish; a trade that has yielded nothing but economic brigandage. How have they handled it? If Baba-Ahmed were that concerned about National growth, he ought to have called for an emergency discourse on the plights of the North and her army of almajiri coupled with the incessant insecurity in the region. What elder statesmen do during periods of anomie is rally support around the government and its institutions to generate ideas that will obliterate and or mitigate the political and economic challenges disrupting the system. Unfortunately, that is not happening; instead one foreigner greets us with threats about how the nation will be run going forward; a political inconsequential existing in our land on the basis of kindness and hospitality.
The reasonable political actors from the North know in their hearts that President Tinubu has brought a new dimension to leadership in the country. Instead of pampering the challenges with a laissez faire attitude like his predecessor’s, he has taken the bull by the horn from day one, matching bold actions with our problems. Since assuming office, he’s scored many firsts, and achieved many feats, in several aspects of our national life. It may not be Uhuru yet, but to suggest that the government is not doing anything, is to be economical with the truth and divisive in intentions. He’s made huge budgetary provisions for tackling insecurity, a huge investment in our educational sector, health sector, job creation and infrastructural renewal, several cuts above the inherited tokenism of the past. President Tinubu’s bold leadership emanations have brought new perspectives to the fore. Even though he hasn’t got to the desired destination, Nigeria’s current polices have shifted away from previous jerry built arrangements that couldn’t endure the test of time. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal road is a handy reference to President Tinubu’s bold ambition. The economic importance of that singular road cannot be over-emphasized; to say the least, it has become the courageous stimulus to re- ignite our economic recovery initiatives and job creation efforts.
Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, stop this arrogance of power and concentrate your energies on therapeutic engagements that would help heal the wounds in the land. All this pussy-footing about- the North this, the North that, will not lead us to building national cohesion to stimulate national enterprise. Great men help the government build institutions that would impact the well-being of the people not threaten it with their imaginations and warped notions. After General Buhari’s serial failed attempts at the presidency when he clutched unto his North-alone diadem, is it not pellucid for any mind that is not wonky to reckon that no geopolitical zone can go it alone? Nigeria has to be a collective endeavour to be able to weave together the centripetal and centrifugal forces to generate positive movements. If the Hakeem Baba-Ahmeds of this world could help proffer solutions to the prevailing armed banditry and kidnapping in the North, coupled with Boko Haram, they would have added a feather to their caps and moved up several notches in political relevance. He and his like should use the North to show good example of how they can make Nigeria great. They should go and repair the North while they wait for their turn. Enough of this crass arrogance of political superiority. There’s even nothing to point to as assessments or judgement of the contents of their mental dosage. Nigeria is now made up of intertwined relationships and cross cultural realities, from the North to the South, East to West, such that no one Zone or conclave can go it alone in terms of political and electoral domination. Common sense must come to the table.
What I crave to see is for the North and her political leaders to point at how they have bettered the lot of the average Northern poor, before they begin to pick the perks in other people’s eyes. I want to see a coalition against poverty, against insecurity and all other vices that are ravaging the North and else where in Nigeria. Such coalition should be bold to unveil the record of performance of her previous leaders and the impact they made to add value to the economic well-being of the North. This arrogance of coalition against the South must simply stop. This political superiority mentality must give way for a more robust, symbiotic and reasoned understanding that we need ourselves to till the same soil for more harvests for our people. No zone can operate at the level of political island. Buhari tried it, he failed woefully. Anybody that seeks to contest election must as a matter of urgency, see Nigeria from the prism of nationalistic patriotism and not prebendal politics of old that apparently encourages ethnic chauvinism. A new Nigeria is possible if we dwell less on our clannish attachments and promote a sense of collectivism that will help enhance national cohesion for the good of all. The like of Hakeem Baba-Ahmed should be treated with utmost disdain which is befitting for those who want to drag us backward and stymied our growth on the basis of their identity. We are Nigeria, and we need ourselves to flourish and grow national dialogue and conversation.
*Prince Afegbua is a Public Affairs Analyst/Commentator.
