How Much Unity Exists In Northern Nigeria When Hausa, The Majority Tribe Do Not Get Considered For Office ?
The Oasis Reporters
May 25, 2022
Government critic, Reno Omokri has raised a very important question about inclusion and unity in Nigeria in a tweet, thus:
As bad as the South is being marginalised under Buhari, it is much worse for Hausas. I am not sure there is a single Hausa Governor in Nigeria under Buhari. Almost all of the Governors in the NW are Fulani, including Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara#TableShaker
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) May 20, 2022
Atiku Abubakar supporter, Kogi West born Dino Melaye tweeted after his defeat at the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primaries that he remains unrepentant in his support and belief in Atiku because he is a unifier.
I am a winner. My winner's status is not tied to any election. It is my eternal heritage. Dino is Dino. I am very proud to be associated with Atiku Abubakar. A true Patriot, consumate humanitarian and passionate Unifier. Don't make a mistake Dino is coming. SDM
— Senator Dino Melaye. (SDM) (@dino_melaye) May 25, 2022
One of the reasons that made former Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan lose his reelection bid was because a lot of PDP members from the north of Nigeria were angry that Jonathan did not step down and allow only the north to contest the election in 2015.
The northern PDP members pulled out of the party and teamed up with Muhammadu Buhari to hand Jonathan a crushing defeat in 2015.
Come 2019, the PDP southern members who held the forte and kept the Party going physically, morally and financially, decided to let only the northern members run for the presidential election. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who is Fulani became the standard bearer to contest against Muhammadu Buhari, who is also Fulani. Meaning that heads or tails, the Fulani tribe would have had the presidency for eight straight years, paving the way for a southern Presidency in 2023.
Atiku Abubakar lost to Muhammadu Buhari.
For the 2023 Election, Southern Nigeria’s governors met at Asaba, Delta State, across party lines and insisted on a power shift to the South.
Southern governors’ wives were not left out in the agitation for an equitable distribution of party between the north and the south for national inclusivity.
But the powerful northern PDP members put together a quartet to go on a nationwide binge, trying hard with unsmiling faces that zoning which was enshrined in the PDP Constitution be expunged to let them contest again, according to one of the quartet, it is the north that has the demographic advantages to decide who wins, and that person may be a northerner he had intimidatingly implied.
A closer look at the members of the quartet shows that they are all northern candidates and they are also all Fulani.
Yet demographically, the tribe constitutes roughly twenty percent of the northern population. Thus for them to win, they would need huge votes from the larger majority tribe of Hausas largely in the north west, followed by Kanuris in the north east. The Middle Belt is roughly divided by Muslims and Christians from diverse tribes and cultures.
Questions are being asked in the north about the mouthed mantra of unity in the north, which is of course, a farce. The inter tribal wars in the region are deeply troubling and many indigenous people are being forced out of their towns, villages and farms by a combination of tribal militias and religious insurgents.
The bigger question is the Hausas who are marginalized and bear much of the brunt of insecurities there, which equally affects the Fulani nomadic elements who lose much of the cattle they depend on for livelihood in tit for tat skirmishes.
Politically speaking though, the bulk of northern votes comes from them. Whoever controls or convinces them enough, wins.
Yet, are they being considered for office ?
That is the big and knotty question political analysts are battling to decode.
