Nigeria: Let the re-branding go international

You may have been following up on the discourse on what is happening to Nigeria within Nigeria and beyond. Two sticky points right now bothers on the leadership and the image of Nigeria in the eyes of the world. This is now causing a lot of anxiety among Nigerians who either travel for business or pleasure. This is all fallout of the act of a twenty three year old guy born and raised in Katsina, Northern Nigeria. This is an area that introduced sharia legal system more than ten years ago. The result of that act by twelve governors of the actual Muslim north, decided that it was the right to implement strict Islamic legal code in all public life as a way of making some serious ideological statement to the infidels that inhabit among them. This is one subject matter every Nigerian prays to avoid by all means possible. The role Islamic religious fanaticism is playing in Nigeria is once again being swept under the carpet by Nigerians who suppose to expose this monster and destroy it and take back the land from fraudsters rather, Nigerians once again are avoiding this all important matter for another generation to deal with. How can we build on a shaky foundation and yet expect the building to stand forever? What are we avoiding here? To tell ourselves the bitter truth on the dangers of regular killings of non muslims in the Northern part of the country? That Southerners are killed for their religious and tribal differences are once again being systematically avoided by those that control the electronic and print media across Nigeria. Since this is what it is all about, lets all try and avoid it and see how far it will take us to. We all will suffer together and experience that which is reserved for hardcore Islamic militants. We will all soon become guinea pigs for the United States military experiment in the Guantanamo, Cuba. We have collectively tried to avoid linking this young man to the very thing his father raised him to do which is to hunt down non Muslims and facilitate their demise from planet earth. Is it any co-incidence that this Umar the only official terrorist out of Nigeria, happens to have come from same area and community in Katsina State with Nigeria's former president in exile Umar Musa Yar'adua? Katsina State happens to be one of the earliest states to implement Sharia law and applied this Islamic legal code against non Muslims. The Northern part of Nigeria have consistently been a fertile ground for islamic uprising and killings that are never investigated by the police. State security votes have been devoted to the promotion of killings all in the name of implementing the doctrine or to Islamize the entire country in accordance with the demands of the one and only messenger of Allah one called Prophet Mohammed? What right do this so called prophet and those that follow his teachings to bring its interpretation upon the rest of us that occupy the space within the forced amalgamation of 1914? Why don't we just let the Arabs manage their problems rather than have you do their dirty jobs? Is this not exactly the same problem that is making peace elusive in the middle east to this moment? Is this not the reason why Israel is insisting on the exclusion of right of return to those occupiers who were occupying their land while they were on exile? Is this not what it is all about? Why do we find it very difficult to see through the facade when presented before us? Arabs and all those that share in their ideology, will never dialogue or negotiate. Most of the time, what matters to them is being able to control the means of violence. If the State of Israel were to be weak, they would have been wiped off the map just like Iranian president figured will help solve the great Jewish puzzle. There are those who must be offended whenever Israel gets mentioned in any discussion within the Nigerian game. What causes this nausea is not clear to me unless the sufferers are either being hypocritical or Post-traumatic amnesia or both put together. While they eat food cultivated with the expertize of Israel and also consume drugs and even go to Jewish doctors and hospitals that they actually know to belong to Jews. In all the contributions of the Jews to the betterment of mankind, what do they get in return, suicide bombers, using earth moving equipments to kill. Bombing Jews while they celebrate marriage and other family events. Yes, I know that many will be offended and some will even send me hate mails calling me all sorts of names but this will not faze me. Of all that offend Nigerians the most, it is to tell them the stark truth. Very offensive and that is exactly what this missive is out to trigger. We would all like to see Umar Multallab as the only Nigerian youth to engage in terror act. Yes it is an isolated incident that must not be used to judge the good people of Nigeria. Don't get me wrong, Nigerians are great people and in every corner of the land, you meet wonderful people. There are nice people all over the place across the forced union but we also have a very ferocious militancy that have been going on over the years. Lets backtrack to 1966 in the North where Muslim youths were on the street chanting 'araba' -freedom-as they were killing Easterners that were living across the North then. It goes to confirm then that Muslims especially those of Northern Nigeria, understand freedom to mean the killing of non Muslims. Though the rest of the world may have embassies with country report on Nigeria, yet we all as patriotic Nigerians must do everything to keep the re-branding project from f laundering. You know we must rebrand and let the rest of the world know how great people we are and the great landscape we occupy without so much as noticing our never ending religious killings financed through corrupt means that is now an annual event in all the States of the northern region. We must never let any country especially the United States rebrand us to become terror producing and supporting nation. That is one stigma that we must never allow any nation to stick on us. No, never must we allow this to happen to our great image. We are blessed with the best leaders the world can afford and our president have the right to rule us from even the grave or even the asylum whichever works best for him. With all our contribution to world peace such as the destruction of Niger Delta, the erosion across the Eastern landscape, the abandoned projects littering the landscape, the poisoned waters as well as all other vices that is promoted by those at the corridors of power, why must we be rebranded? The one Nigeria project forbids that we allow the 'great satan' rebrand us in such humiliating and challenging terms. The implications are huge but let me remind all one Nigerianists that Nigeria actually brought it upon itself. Because you fail to shout out loud enough while the internal terror killings were going on within the borders of Nigeria, you become culpable and even bold enough to attempt export of terror in no other nation than the United States. I guess we needed the most coverage as we become one of the great terrorist country under the sun. Bravo beautiful country, great people. Now you all are now going to be suffering the collateral effect of this Umar attempt at an aircraft full of passengers. It may have not come to this if we had told ourselves the bitter home truth about the country that have collectively failed all of us. We encouraged the application of Islamic ideology in all levels of government as well as tribal divide to destroy the country yet we claim to be speaking for one Nigeria? Why do we engage in all sorts of deception all in order to appear to be keeping the country safe? Nigerians are the very people that killed her but will never admit to it. Within one year we experience Boko Haram-Western education is sinful terror in the sky as well as kalo kato that claimed more than one hundred lives in Bauchi State on December 28, 2009. This last killings of 2009 in the name of Allah and Mohammed his messenger, was never reported in the international media since it is an 'African thing' and also an internal affairs of Nigeria. I think we all should collectively let the United States and the rest of the world that it is ok when Nigerian Muslims kill non Muslims but we all must say no to exporting this national pastime to another space and definitely not the United States. We all must speak out against this privileged brat who thinks that he can become a hero with some virgins to celebrate with, while the rest of us are left with nothing. I wonder who told him that he must be the first international terrorist out of Nigeria when he is not even known locally to have burnt any church or beheaded any infidel that inhabit Northern Nigeria. It is now obvious that the sick minds as well as sick hearts and kidney inhabit the northern landscape, especially the core Muslim states. We all must call or write the office of the Nigerian information & communications minister, Mrs Dora Akunyili and get her communicate across to the Americans that we are no terrorists but are very willing to deny Umar Multallab of ever being a Nigerian citizen. Yes what stops us from doing this? Did we not deny some miscreants this privilege few months ago? Remember that Malam Nassir El Rufai, the former minister of Abuja was denied renewal of his passport few months before this other accident went to take place inside that Detroit bound jet. Lets just deal with this matter by making it known that this young man lost his Nigerianess the moment he thought about bombing America since this is not in our national character to do such. It is the best step to take in the protection of our hard earned national federal character. America must also recognize that it will never experience genuine peace as it tries very hard to ignore the situations of failed States as is the case with Nigeria. The outside world expects us to be engulfed in fire before they even consider stepping in to help us fix ourselves. So long as the oil pipelines continues to supply its crude and gas, all is well and who cares about the poor native whose land yields the resources but who unfortunately lives on less than a dollar a day. The people who are the most challenged today in the Nigerian space, are not even moving a finger or doing anything yet. When they do, there will be no space found for Nigeria. The glue that binds Nigeria is being systematically broken by the Northern Islamic establishment with the tacit support of certain political prostitutes from the South. Let nobody get deluded into believing that things will just settle down over time. It is now or never.

Emeka Eze
Development / Accra / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com