Message To My Core Northern Brothers
By Reno Omokri
If you cannot stand the bitter truth, then better stop reading here, because you will get angry and shorten your lifespan by the truth I am about to reveal here.
But if, like Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, you know that conscience is an open wound that only truth can heal, then read on.
I decided to write you this open letter after seeing multiple Northern youths jumping into sewers and gutters to celebrate President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.
Ask yourselves what are you celebrating. Under Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria is the world headquarters for extreme poverty. Not poverty, but extreme poverty.
In Kenya, when Uhuru Kenyatta was re-elected, Kenyan youths trended on Twitter for celebrating with nyama choma (Kenya’s version of Suya). But here you are celebrating by jumping into gutters and sewers.
Prepare to get angry by what I am about to say: Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s biggest sin against the power elite of the core North, was his determination to educate Almajiris. People like Muhammadu Buhari and Nasir El-Rufai feared that if Jonathan succeeded in educating the almajiri youth, they would lose their army of gullible youths, like those now jumping into gutters to celebrate Buhari’s reelection.
Let me pause for a while for the truth to sink in, for you to get angry, and then for you to insult me and my lineage.
In case you do not know, there are 12 million children and youths in Northern Nigeria who do not go to school. Those youths are poor. Extremely poor. The ONLY way they can escape from poverty is via education. That is why former President Goodluck Jonathan built 165 almajiri schools and nine new universities in the North.
You are celebrating Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election. You claim he is your champion. Now let me ask you this question: How many schools has Buhari built for you in Northern Nigeria? Not one. Not even ONE. Do not accept my word. Go and investigate. I deal in facts, not fiction. Facts!
In the last four years, one man, Bishop David Oyedepo, has built more schools than the Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government of Nigeria. Again, do not take my word for it. Go and investigate what I have just written above.
Are you aware that while he was President, Goodluck Jonathan’s children ALL schooled in Nigeria? Compare that to President Buhari. ALL Muhammadu Buhari’s children schooled abroad.
Muhammadu Buhari knows the value of education, so he educated his own children. He also knows the political value of illiteracy, so he leaves your own Northern children uneducated. I know what I am saying is annoying you. I know if you see me, you will stone me. But I know that you also know that it is the truth. That is why it is bitter.
Other than your value as pawns to getting him to power, what other value do you have for Buhari? The Lagos-Kano rail was revived by Jonathan, not Buhari. The Abuja-Kaduna fast railway was built by Jonathan (although conceived by Obasanjo), not Buhari. The only federal university in Buhari’s state of Katsina was built by Jonathan.
You claim he is fighting corruption. Atiku Abubakar has known businesses. He employs over 40,000 Nigerians and yet you call him w thief. Bola Tinubu does not own any known business. Yet money moves into his house in bullion vans. Have you heard that EFCC went to his house, or arrested his people?
Before your very eyes, Buhari, who is fighting corruption, raised the hand of Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano and asked you to vote for him. Have you not seen Ganduje’s video? The man is a common thief. He is a barawo. But that is the man your corruption loving Buhari wants you to vote for.
Other than the mental feeling of superiority that you have over Yan Kudu by having Muhammadu Buhari as President, what tangible benefit has his Presidency brought for you? In Zamfara, Governor Abdulaziz Yari confesses that insecurity is worse now, than under Jonathan. The other day, Governor Kashim Shettima went to Aso Rock to cry about the worsening state of insecurity in Borno.
All these are happening and you are there celebrating by jumping into gutter and sewers. And when one Yan Kudu points out the truth to you mutanen Arewa, you start vibrating in anger.
I have read The al-Quran. The very first verse in the Quran highlights the importance of education by asking you to read and recite the Message. In Islam, the acquisition of knowledge is among the most important and sacred duties for every individual.
The numbers the whole world is now using (1 to 10) are of Islamic/Arabic heritage. The oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco by Islamic scholars. Islam is conducive to education. It is left to you my Northern brothers to decide if Muhammadu Buhari is conducive to education.
Reno Omokri
#1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: True Story of the Jonathan Years. Avid traveller. Table Shaker.
