by Remi Oyeyemi

Of all the above three variables, the South is more favoured than the North. It is only in Nigeria that the Sahara Desert is more populated than the Savanna and the thick Forest. Compare the population density of the Nigerian desert states with that of Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and others like that to recognise the enormity of lies that Ango Abdullahi is peddling and that are not being challenged by the contemporary leaders of other ethnic nationalities.

 

“The North, on the basis of one man one vote can keep power indefinitely in the present Nigeria State…….. the demography shows that the North can keep power as long as it wants because it will always win elections.” I am personally disappointed in President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of the Nigerian state in the last few years and how he is letting by the golden opportunity to untie and let loose some historical chains with which his people in the Niger-Delta and the rest of the oppressed peoples of Nigeria have been bounded.

If his predecessors have failed as presidents, that should not be his excuse to tread the path of failure too. I am leery to be supportive of him because of this. But at the same time, I am unwilling to be against him because of people like Ango Abdullahi, who in my own book is a political professor and a very dishonest man who seems to think that Nigeria belongs to him and his Fulani ilk.Ango Abdullahi, who believes that it is his and kinsmen’s birthright to rule Nigeria perpetually. This is regardless of the Fulani small number relative to many other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Any form of challenge to the Fulani dominance of political and economic space is intolerable by them in the land where they are actually foreigners.

The dexterity of the Fulani oligarch to use divide and rule to subjugate others is one of their sources of confidence. They have loyal satellites in all the ethnic nationalities who would gladly do their bidding. This is why there has not been any outcry from other sections of the country on Abdullahi’s recent vituperations in the media about the North having the capability to “always win elections” and control the Nigerian political levers indefinitely. One would have expected leaders from the South-South, South-West and South-East to come out and challenge his claims about the assumed numerical strength of the North and put nonsense to it. But alas! This is not the case because these satellites in all these regions are unwilling to offend their “paymasters.”

In fact, that President Jonathan’s political operatives are quiet about this unhealthy happenings that his political machine is devoid of fast thinking ability and is probably arid intellectually if not oblivious of historical facts. They should have come out with statistics to expose Abdullahi’s claim about the assumed numerical strength of the North as a lie and a figment of a corrupt and confused imagination.

It is not true that the North has more population than the South.  Land mass does not automatically translate to big population. Canada has more land than th USA. But the USA is ten times more populated than Canada. It is a lie that has been put in place since the 1950s by the colonial masters who believe that imposing the malleable minority Fulani on the majority would be a way to guarantee the British unfettered access to Nigeria’s wealth.

Granted that Olusegun Obasanjo as a Southerner has been a tool in the hands of the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy all his life to be able to attain the apex of politics that he has attained, what about Jonathan who has good luck on his side to be where he is today and avail himself the opportunity to loosen the chain of bondage for his people? Why won’t he correct some of these historical lies dressed in the garb of “truth” and accepted unquestioningly by the contemporary political leaders of other regions? When empirical facts could not support any claim, such claim ought to be discarded and replaced by a more verifiable ones.

It is internationally proved, known and accepted that the following variables determine the demography of any environment: (a) Access to water (b) Climate condition (c) Food among many others.

Of all the above three variables, the South is more favoured than the North. It is only in Nigeria that the Sahara Desert is more populated than the Savanna and the thick Forest. Compare the population density of the Nigerian desert states with that of Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and others like that to recognise the enormity of lies that Ango Abdullahi is peddling and that are not being challenged by the contemporary leaders of other ethnic nationalities.

This fallacy about the Northern Population advantage has been perpetuated through the use of government tools against the reality on the ground. Every time there is a Census exercise, this lie is reinforced through the cooking of figures to portray the North as having more population than the South.  It is amazing that this lie is being accepted as the “truth” by the dealers calling themselves leaders in the South.

For example, in a reaction to a book review by this author, Forshow3 had noted that according to modern satellite, an area of Kastina State (about 60% of the entire state) is seen to have 9,800 houses that anyone who knows how to count can do.  The fraudulent 1990 census allotted 935,677 persons to this area. In 2006 the population Census also allotted 1,444,123 to this same area. Doing the elementary Mathematics to find out the population density of this area, you would divide the population of 1,444,123 by the number of houses, 9,800. This will give you 147.064 per house

Where in the world is it possible to have almost 150 persons living in one single house? How big could the house be?  And to have 98,000 of such? It should not also escape our cognizance that most of the “houses” in this region are huts. Every idiot knows that 147 people cannot live in a hut. Haba! Why is it that our so called leaders are not challenging this monstrous falsehood? Are they so intellectually challenged? Or are they cowards? Why are they quiet about this lie? What other way to prove this lie of population majority of the North except through technology that everyone had access to?

Also Jigawa State is given the population figure of 4.3million. Yet this is an entire state that has only 60,000 houses and or huts. If you use the same mathematical procedure, this will give you over 71 persons per house and or hut! How is this possible? It is physically implausible, untenable and indeed impossible.

So, the question arises, where did the voter register giving all these mammoth figures to these Northern States come from? They have been cooked figures aimed to giving the North an undue advantage over the South and installed apartheid on Nigeria. It is on the basis of this lie that the political professor Ango Abdullahi is threatening President Goodluck Jonathan and the rest of Nigeria that the North could win elections indefinitely.

Others, for pecuniary political interests could not summon the courage to fight for the truth and fairness.In an article “The Unmaking of Nigerian Federalism”, I had quoted the request of the Sardauna of Sokoto and the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello’s request in 1952 to the Nigeria’s Colonial Secretary, Mr. Oliver Lyttleton as follows:

“If you want us (the North) to be part of this Nigeria you have in mind, then   we want 50% of the membership of the National Assembly.”that the Northern seats included that of Yoruba Kwara. This means that if the Kwara people were not lumped with the North, they would still have less number of seats than 79, since this was based on population. This shows that the South of Nigeria has always been more populous than the North of Nigeria.

 

————————-

 

Read this article in the Sun Newspapers

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.