15th April, 2014
By Kanayo Esinulo
It was clear to everyone present that the man spoke out of point. The Emir simply wanted to provoke a sensitive issue that was not on the floor for discussion. Without wasting anyone’s time he gave an outline of his unimpressive dual citizenship, and his preference for his Adamawa Kingdom situated in the Republic of Cameroun. I would like to quote the emir’s ponderous diatribe: Here is the infamous “I Have a Kingdom in Cameroun” speech by His Royal Highness, Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa, a respected traditional ruler in the North of the republic, the 12th Lamido of Adamawa Emirate and Chairman, Adamawa State Council of Chiefs and Emirs. He told delegates at the on-going National Conference in Abuja that, “. . . If we are not careful, this conference will flop. If it flops, the resultant effect will not be imaginable. If anything happens and the country disintegrates, God forbid, many of us who are shouting their heads off may not have anywhere to go. My people and the people of Adamawa have got somewhere to go. I am the Lamido of Adamawa and my Kingdom extends to Cameroun. The larger part of my kingdom is in Cameroun. Part of that Kingdom is today called Adamawa State in Cameroun. You see, if I run to that place, I will easily assimilate.”
That was the Lamido of Adamawa, a bona fide Camerounian citizen, addressing more than 400 delegates at the on-going National Conference in Abuja. Is it not amazing that weeks after this Camerounian emir delivered his notorious and unpatriotic speech, the man is still occupying a seat at this important national gathering? One thing is for sure: the emir is there eavesdropping for his country, Cameroun. The man had the guts, and the effrontery, to threaten us with “if Nigeria disintegrates, a greater part of my Kingdom is really in Cameroun”, and that many of us would have no place to run to. Of course, a majority of us have no country to run to because Nigeria is the only one we know, and that explains why bona fide Nigerians are doing everything possible and necessary to make this country work. But foreign elements like the HRH Musdafa are busy frustrating efforts to make this country what it should really be – an example of the enterprising spirit of the African. But squatter and pretender like the present Lamido of Adamawa, a pure Camerounian, would not let us. And only God knows how much damage this man has inflicted on our census exercises and elections. His subjects in Cameroun must have been captured in all head counts in Nigeria and for sure, his subjects in Adamawa state in Cameroun must have been part of our voting population all these years. Our borders, needless to say, are worse than porous.
That notorious speech by the emir from Cameroun should teach our leaders one or two lessons. One such lesson is that this country has a sizeable proportion of fake citizens, pretenders, intruders and people of questionable citizenship whose only ‘Nigerianness’ is that they possess Nigerian passports. Their loyalty, patriotism and emotional attachment are for countries other than Nigeria. That is why the point raised before the conference actually kicked off by Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) needs to be formally tabled and fully discussed – even though it is one of the ‘no-go areas’ pointed at by President Goodluck Johnathan.
Chief Ozokhome said in a recent interview that the unity of Nigeria must and should be discussed. In my view, it is important that it should be on the table for discussion. A person like HRH Musdafa really has no stake in Nigeria, since, “ if anything happens and the country disintegrates, God forbid, many of us who are shouting their heads off may not have anywhere to go. My people and the people of Adamawa have a place to go”. The man was telling the delegates, and in effect all Nigerians, that he is a Camerounian. And there are so many Musdafas masquerading as Nigerians, cornering juicy and sensitive appointments for themselves, children, relations and subjects in our federal bureaucracy, but whose loyalty, souls, hearts, emotions and kingdoms are for and in other countries.
It is impossible to build a solid nation based on equity, justice and basic freedoms when we have the likes of HRH Musdafa ‘contributing’ to the direction in which Nigeria should go. He and his type attach themselves to Nigeria for what they can milk out of her – cheap money from local, state and federal governments, oil blocs, and regular sponsorship to Saudi Arabia (all expenses paid) which Camerounian governments, at all levels, would not consider at all, not under President Paul Biya.
The on-going National Conference, therefore, offers delegates, a rare opportunity to re-direct Nigeria’s focus and attention to certain core values that have helped other countries to grow and develop in peace and harmony. And those values can easily be found in the 1963 Constitution that allowed the regions to choose their own speed, direction, preferences and development agenda. Like I said elsewhere: True federalism with its fiscal component were all that Awolowo, Azikiwe and Bello needed to transform the pre-colonial political economy that they inherited from perfidious Britain into regional economic power blocs that were developing at rates that attracted envy from outside our shores. Why then did Nigeria drop off the development radar?” The blame should be laid at the doorstep of the military, for it was this institution that halted our political education, disrupted our national development plans that gave room for healthy competition among the four regions, and cancelled with a single decree, a truly federal system that was indeed working for us.
But for this painful disruption and distortion of our federal system by the military, characters like HRH would not have been Nigeria’s headache, but the problem of the region that he claims to come from. If the 12th Lamido of Adamawa Emirate could stand up before distinguished delegates at this important Conference and say without blinking an eye that “My people and the people of Adamawa have got somewhere to go. I am the Lamido of Adamawa and my kingdom extends to Cameroun. The larger part of my kingdom is in Cameroun”, who says the unity of Nigeria or the nature of association that should exist among Nigeria’s federating units should not be discussed? There are many ‘Nigerians’ who are, in fact, bona fide Chadians, Nigeriens and Camerounians, and because of the internal colonisation that accompanied the post-civil war period, these foreigners, squatters, infiltrators and pretenders easily became dominant and active in the polity and economy, and a greater say in how Nigeria is governed and the direction it should head to, than Nigerians who have no place to run to, if, in the royal words of HRH Musdafa, “anything happens and the country disintegrates”.
The Lamido was damn right! Down South, the people, indeed, have nowhere else but Nigeria as their country and therefore nowhere to go. That fully explains why they are serious stakeholders in the Nigerian project than His Royal Highness, the 12th Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa, who is a proud citizen of the Republic of Cameroun.
—Kanayo Esinulo. Email: [email protected] . Web: www: kanayoesinulo.com
…Published in TheNEWS magazine