A Friendly Chat With An Old
Friend by Femi Fani-Kayode
Following discussion took
place on my Facebook friends page on May 2nd 2016. Since it is already in the
public realm I have taken the liberty of sharing it in my column as well.
Though we have not seen
much of each other for a while I have known Alhaji Muktari Shinkafi for the
better part of the last 35 years and we are more like brothers than friends.
We spent a lot of time
together in our youth and in those heady and blissful days of the early and
mid-1980’s when I was still at Cambridge University and when I spent most of my
leisure time playing polo at the Lagos Polo Club or at the Guards Polo Club in
the U.K., eating caviar and drinking champagne. We had great fun in those days
and Nigeria was a much better and happier place than it is now.
At that time Lagos was
something of a melting pot and everybody that was anybody in the country had a
home there. These were the days before Abuja was built and Lagos was still our
nations capital.
Most people were very
comfortable then because the naira was still strong at approximately two naira
to one dollar. It was often the case that people would travel to London, the
South of France or the Bahamas for long weekends with their loved ones and be
back in Lagos for Monday morning. Then of course there was late night chicken
suya in Obalende which was always a delight. I wonder if they still have that?
More importantly it really
didn’t matter which part of the country you came from or what your religious
faith was because nobody cared in those days.
The only thing that
mattered was whether you had a good education, a good pedigree and whether you
had class. Whether you were a northerner, a southerner, a Christian or a Muslim
didn’t matter at all. Lagos was home to all and we loved it.
It was in that pleasant
setting that Muktari and I became close together with a large number of other
Polo Club buffs.
His older brother, a legend
in intelligence circles and in the world of spying, the former head of
Nigeria’s dreaded spy agency the NSO, a much loved and revered elder statesman
and the former Presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican
Convention, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, the Marafan Sokoto, brought me into politics
in 1989 and he was my leader and political mentor for many years.
Simply put Marafan was like
a second father to me. He was a an arch-conservative and a man of immense
discipline and courage and all of us at the Lagos Polo Club were in absolute
awe of him. When he walked in the room with his head held up high there would
be pin drop silence as we all stood up.
We were his boys and we
were all very proud of that fact. I learnt everything from him from the art of
politics to the murky and grey world of espionage.
In addition to that I had
the distinct honor and privilege of being appointed as his Special Assistant in
1992 when he ran for the Presidency before General Ibrahim Babangida banned
him, General Shehu Musa Yaradua (who was the presidential flag bearer for the
rival Social Democratic Party) and all the other “old breed” politicians from
contesting.
I have nothing but the
deepest respect and affection for the Shinkafi family and that remains so till
today. I was therefore delighted when Muktari made his contributions on my
Facebook wall.
The conversation was prompted
by the fact that I posted some graphic pictures of the victims of the Fulani
herdsmen in Agatu and Enugu. Those pictures can still be seen on my Facebook
friends page.
Muktari did not feel that
it was appropriate to post the pictures and the following conversation took
place between him and I on the thread.
I believe that it was an
interesting discussion which brought out two distinct and separate perspectives
(if you like call them the northern and southern ones) to the whole issue of
the Fulani herdsmen.
I believe that both sides
have something to learn from one another on this issue which is why I chose to
share it with my readers. Enjoy!
MUKTARI SHINKAFI wrote:
“Since we already have the
Senate and House of Representatives in place, it will be easier to bring the
issue next week of dividing Nigeria immediately after the budget issue.
The division of the country
should be proposed based on six Geo-political zones based on the following
basis and natural / human resources to sustain each zone.
1. South south oil, sea
port,
2. South west, service
industry, sea port, agriculture
3. South east . Oil,,
commerce
4. Middle belt.
Agriculture, solid minerals
5. North east. Oil,
agriculture
6. North west. Oil,
strategic solid minerals, agriculture.
We in the north don’t
deserve this negative propaganda and name-calling.
Let us separate peacefully
for the sake of our children since even after the separation, we will be surely
bonded together by commerce and personal relationship.
We have millions down there
that we are friends through business, marriages etc. I don’t think posting
these pictures is necessary as no one is sure of their source, they may be
accident victims but some people are posting them to propagate messages of hate
among us”.
FEMI FANI-KAYODE responded:
“Before I would post such
pictures on my wall I have to be certain of their authenticity and in this case
I am.
There are other pictures
which are far worse and which I cannot post here. My brother, your people kill
ours and we are not supposed to even complain about it or let the world know
what is happening?
Enough of this madness. If
the Fulani leaders cannot reign in their herdsmen and terrorists themselves
then we will do it for them.
This barbarity has been
going on in the Middle Belt and core north for years unchallenged and now you
guys want to extend it to the south.
We will not take it, we
will not allow it and we will not sit by idly as your kinsmen slaughter, rape
and abduct our men, women and children and occupy our land.
It has been going on for
far too long and now we are prepared to resist it. I agree with you that maybe
it is time that we begin to consider the division of this country and the best
way to start is simply to let the core north go its separate way first and
leave the rest of us alone.
Either that or a clean
north/south break. We in the south cannot be expected to continue to live
peacefully with what the Global Terror Index has described as the first (Boko
Haram) and the fourth (Fulani militants/herdsmen) most deadly terror
organisations in the world.
They both come from the
north and the so-called northern leaders would do well to look within, accept
the fact that they have a major problem with their youth and try to fix it.
What baffles me is that
most northern leaders are more concerned about the fact that these atrocities
are being exposed before the world and evidence of it is being adduced than the
fact that people are being killed.
They are very comfortable
with it when the slaughter is being done in silence but when we scream about it
they get upset. This strange and alien mindset is unacceptable to us.
If this rubbish goes on,
sooner or later, the south will rise up as one together with our brothers in
the Middle Belt and there will be a terrible reckoning.
I do not spread hate and I
have no hate in me for anyone or any ethnic group. The truth is that, as you
know, one eighth of the blood that flows through my veins is Fulani. I cannot
hate myself.
You know very well that our
leader and older brother, the Marafan Sokoto, brought me into politics in 1989
and I love him as if he were my father.
Yet the north no longer has
strong, decisive and fair minded political leaders like Marafan or gentle,
kind, wise and accommodating ones like President Shehu Shagari. That is the
problem. If Marafan was President today this herdsmen problem would have been
history long ago and so would Boko Haram.
He would care as much for
the south and the safety of its people as he would have for the north where he
comes from. Yet how many northern leaders think like that today?
As I wrote in my last
column there are a few like Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, Nuhu Ribadu, Kashim
Ibrahim Imam, Col. Sambo Dasuki, Ibrahim Turaki SAN, Atiku Abubakar and a few
others but not many.
What is in me and millions
of other southerners and Middle Belters is not hate for the Fulani or the core
north but anger: a very great and powerful anger that is growing by the day.
We trusted and loved you
like brothers for the last 56 years but in recent times what have we got in
return except for suspicion, persecution, hate, violence, contempt, injustice,
arrogance, the quest to Islamise Boko Haram, political domination and now cold
blooded murder and the claiming of our lands by your herdsmen.
Nobody can take all that
with a smile. Nobody can tell us to take it all and keep quiet. You are my
brother and you always will be. We go back such a long way and it pains me to
write all this.
Yet the truth is that if
only the north could change its attitude and leadership we could all be one big
happy family again.
Sadly though they will not
because there are a few northern leaders who relish all that is happening today
and who believe in the utter crushing, destruction and subjugation of
everything and everyone south of the River Niger”.
MUKTARI SHINKAFI replied:
“Honestly we the
northerners have been at the receiving end since the beginning of this
insurgency and Fulani herdsmen terrorism. If the division of Nigeria will bring
peace, we wholeheartedly welcome the idea and the sooner the National Assembly
begins deliberation the better.”
FEMI FANI-KAYODE responded:
“We both know that the
National Assembly will not do it because the northern legislators and those
that they represent are addicted to southern oil.
We can do it without the
National Assembly if we so wish and the way things are going now we are getting
close to that final parting day.
All we have to do is to
begin to mobilise our people and tell them the benefits of going our separate
ways and breaking up the country.
I guess it is long overdue.
When that day comes the parting of ways will be peaceful if the north lets us
go in peace but if they try to stop us it will not be so peaceful”.
MUKTARI SHINKAFI replied:
“I think the issue here is
that you refused to acknowledge the frustrations of all Nigerians. We are all
making these comments and postings because of total failure of the APC
government to address critical challenges facing the nation instead, it’s over
one year now but they are still associating their failure to PDP which to me is
a sign that they just won the election without proper plan but based on change
propaganda.
Where are Bakassi boys,
kidnappers and the Niger Delta militants? Since the government cannot protect
our brothers and communities there, let them come out and protect its people
against these bandits (herdsmen).
They killed 25 people in my
local government 10 days ago, stole grains and their valuables.
We resorted to use the
vigilantes and our young men to protect our farmers from the so called herdsmen
bandits from neighbouring countries. Its time government take this issue
seriously and I believe our police, armed forces and civil defence can take
them out squarely, grazing reserve will not solve the problems because these
criminals are not the same Fulani’s we knew years ago.
They used to live
peacefully on Hausa farmlands grazing their animals but today, Hausas are their
worst enemies”.
FEMI FANI-KAYODE responded:
“I acknowledge the fact
that it happens in the core north too but if the leaders and people of the core
north can live with it the rest of us cannot.
They have a duty to fight
it and to put a stop to it more than anyone else because these beasts, militants
and religious extremists that call themselves Fulani herdsmen are their
kinsmen.
They are their slaves and
their serfs. The cows that they are herding all over the country and destroying
people’s lives for belong to the Fulani elites and not to the herdsmen or
cattle-rearers themselves.
The herdsmen are too poor
to own the cows and they do not have the resources to purchase the AK 47’s that
they carry around and kill people with.
It is their sponsors, the
Fulani elites that provide all that and, together with the government agencies,
they also give them protection and free passage. Since President Buhari came to
power they have been virtually untouchable and so have their cows!
What you said about APC’s
incompetence and inability to run government is true though. The APC more than
anyone else used religion and ethnicity to win power at the centre.
They are not only the Boko
Haram party but also the Fulani herdsmen party. Even though there are a few
token and Uncle Tom Christians in their midst they are essentially like the
banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
They believe in the total
and complete domination of all other tribes by the Fulani and they wish to islamise
our country.
That is their agenda and
for the last ten months we have witnessed it all unfold before our very eyes.
That together with the obsessive drive to use the various security agencies to
discredit and destroy President Goodluck Jonathan’s legacy and to ruthlessly
silence and persecute all dissenting voices.
I warned Nigerians during
the presidential campaign that this was their agenda but they wouldn’t listen.
Now they know better”.
The conversation ended
there. My brother Muktari did not respond to my final contribution and we have
not spoken since then. Despite all I still cherish him and I hope that we shall
remain brothers even after the great divide if it ever comes.
No matter what happens in
the end I will never forget those beautiful and youthful days in Lagos when we
were proud of our rainbow nation, when we were all one and when tribe, faith
and tongue did not matter.
By Femi Kayode
The Northerners are not on the receiving end, they are the ones killing themselves
ReplyDeleteIf division is what the north wants maybe they should speak up the killing has to stop.
ReplyDelete