GENERAL T. Y. DANJUMA: THE PROBLEM WITH THE NORTH
igeria is a very interesting country; as soon as one controversy is rested, another comes to fore. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma's interview in the Guardian Newspaper made interesting reading. One just has to hand it to him, it was brilliant. It was also, albeit inadvertently, revealing; at least to discerning minds. Danjuma has stirred the hornet's nest and will certainly be stung. Perhaps if he had not open his mouth so wide, he would still be carrying on as a hero, a soldier's soldier and statesman. As it were, we now know better.

The problem with the North is not government presence and infrastructures for the Igbos have shown that without government infrastructures, a determined and hardworking people can still survive. The Northern part of Nigeria has more government presence and infrastructure than any part of Nigeria yet there is so much poverty and under-development in the North than in the government neglected Eastern part of Nigeria. The problem with the North is not because they have no oil, crude oil can be a curse, as the Niger Deltans will willingly attest. The problem with the North is not their land; they have the most arable land in the country. The problem with the North is not lack of political power; they have ruled Nigeria for almost thirty-seven years with nothing to show for it. It is neither their air nor their skin colour. It is neither Obasanjo nor the Igbos. The problem with the North is the North and it is symbolised and represented by people like General Danjuma.

General Danjuma is a symbol of what is wrong with the North. He is a symbol of the educational backwardness of the North. Education is the key to development; it is the easiest way of moving out of poverty. A nation without education can never be considered developed and will never develop. "Knowledge is power," says Francis Bacon. For many years, generations of Northerners have erroneously believed that the easiest way to be somebody in the society is to enter the army, police or customs. They have believed that the easiest way of breaking out of poverty is to join the army, organise a coup and steal government money. Education has been neglected because of that by a whole generation of Northerners. This has been made possible by the heroic symbol of what people like General Danjuma are in the Northern community. They have been idolised by a whole generation of Northerners as symbol of success. Without being in the military and organising coups, where will people like Danjuma, Buhari, Babangida, Shehu Musa Yaradua, Abudsalami, David Mark and many others be? It is these people that are the political and economic leaders in the North. They are the role models for young people in the society.

The North will continue to be backward educationally if these people continue to dictate the life, rhythm and politics of the North. They would be sending the wrong message and signal that education is not necessary. Soldiers have never been friends of education and enlightenment. Northerners must learn how to send their children to school instead of army, police and customs. Their children must be taught how to listen to their teachers and not behead them at the slightest provocation. They must get new heroes, leaders and role models that are not retired generals and inspectors. Retired Generals, Inspectors and Custom Officers like Danjuma must be bleached out of the life and landscape of the North.

General Danjuma is a symbol of what is wrong with the North. He is a government made man. He amassed huge amount of wealth through corruption while he was in government. How else would Danjuma explain the stupendous wealth he has acquired? How much did he earn legitimately as a soldier, even if he saved and invested all his salaries, it cannot give him a million percent of the vast wealth that he has today. How much is his pension and gratuity in the Nigerian army that is known for owing both serving and retired soldiers? So where did he get his famed wealth? General Danjuma is a representation that hard work is not necessary to be somebody in Nigeria and to be wealthy. This is the mindset of the North. Government must make everyone wealthy; government must build industries and provide employment. Government must build industries that are to be looted. This is the position of the communiqué of the talk show that the Leadership Newspaper recently organised on the de-industrialization of the North.

The recommendation of the conference is all about what Government can do. Was it the government that built all the industries in the west and the small-scale industries in Lagos, Aba and Nnewi? What about the many industries that the government built in the North in the past? What happened to them? Who are those that looted and ruined it? It was Northerners like Danjuma that turned such industries into personal companies. Who are those that liquidated the Bank of the North? The era of waiting for government handout is gradually phasing out. The era of political contractors is going. The era of waiting for government to build industries that will be looted by the elite and Northern retired generals is gradually coming to an end. That has been the bane of Nigeria's development. The North must recognize this if it is sincere in tackling poverty and under-development. It is no longer business as usual. Personal effort and hard work must be emphasised and encouraged as a virtue. Government should not be an avenue of making money but service to the people.

General Danjuma is the classical representation of the ideology of intolerance that is in the North. Intolerance is greatly part of the reason the North is the way it is today. The North is simply not investment friendly. He is the chief architect of Northern hatred for their Southern brothers and foreigners. He promoted and organised the first pogrom against the Igbos, he has been a rabid hater of everything that is in the South except its crude oil and women. He has poisoned the mind and soul of his people against foreigners. In the recent leadership conference, he labelled Mittal who is the fourth richest man in the world as a terrorist. What confidence would Mittal and other investors have in investing anywhere in the North?

The religious, ethnic and social intolerance that characterised the North for many years have absolutely decimated the economic and industrial capacity of the North. It has made it a no go area for investors. Who in his right thinking sense will go to the North to invest when you know that a religious or ethnic riot can wipe out your investment and all your life -savings? Who will invest in the North when a mere cartoon in Denmark is enough to inspire a deadly religious riot in the North? Who will go to the North to invest when your mode of dressing can make you lose your body organs or even your life? Until the North demonstrates they are ready to live in peace and tolerate other religions, viewpoints and ethnic group, no investor will take them seriously. Have the Northerners ever asked themselves why even their own son, Aliko Dangote, who is the richest African according to Forbes situated almost all his investment in the South. General Danjuma represents that intolerance which scares every investor away from the North. Danjuma asking people to come and invest in the North is like Osama Bin Laden asking Americans to come and invest in Afghanistan. Nobody will take the North seriously if genocide and pogrom organisers like Danjuma are marketing and advertising her potentialities.

Danjuma is the representation of the deep social injustice that is in the North. The structure of life in the North is built on injustice. It is a feudalistic society where lords and overlords own people's lives. It is a society of Lords and slaves, a society of rulers and subjects. The Overlords do everything to suppress and subdue the masses in other to maintain the status quo of oppression. They deny them information and education. They teach them how to beg for fish and not how to fish so that they will be dependent on them for life. The North is nothing but a conglomeration of fiefdoms dominated by many overlords who bestrode their communities like gods. Everything that comes to the North in form of oil wealth, political appointment, contracts and others belong to these lords who shares them among themselves and uses them as they wish. People cannot do better when they are slaves and dependent. These overlords own vast acres of community Land that they appropriated illegally while the rest of the community make do with little or nothing. Most of the Overlords of the North own vast Oil wells in the Niger Delta. The Akpo Oil well that General Abacha allocated to Danjuma will account for nine percent of Nigerian oil when it becomes operational this year. What will Danjuma do with this wealth if not stashing it in foreign accounts, propping up another Obasanjo or financing another genocide against the Southerners? What have the Northern elites done with all their wealth? How many schools, hospitals, Industries and road have people like Danjuma built for their communities with their massive stolen wealth? They only give handouts to the Almajiris when they want to use them for their selfish agenda. It would be amazing what the stolen wealth of people like Danjuma, Babangida, Abacha, Atiku and many others will do in the North if it is invested in education and social service rather than left dormant in foreign banks.

The Northern elites creates dependence in other to increase their relevance. They created the Almajiri culture for the survival of their sinful unjust structure and the perpetuation of blind fellowship. They have deliberately kept their people uneducated in other to maintain the status quo. They have used religion to sedate their people while they indulged themselves in an uninterrupted looting spree of the wealth of their people. That is the recent case in Zamfara state where a man who stole a cow has his hand chopped off while the Governor who directly stole billions of his people's money is made a honourable senator. This is the pure injustice that the North and most of Nigeria is based on. No structure built on injustice and oppression survives. Lordship and domination that northern elites like General Danjuma represents must be replaced by social equality and community development if the North hopes to bring herself out of this quagmire. If not, they would still be living in the past as archaeological relic of history.

The North must engage in serious soul search, it must look into herself for as the philosopher Socrates once said, "an unexamined life is not worth living." The North must look at herself in the mirror to see how she looks. She must stop engaging in self-delusion. She must stop blaming others for her plight. People like General Danjuma should be relegated to the dustbins of history and not made the symbol and spoke person of the North. General Danjuma and others should be allowed to go on the exile he once threatened that he would go if Obasanjo were not made the President of Nigeria. The North must stop setting bad examples of leadership for her people and for Nigeria. For the measure you give out, that is the measure you will receive. Until these are done, everything is mere cheap talk.

@poster,

a job well done, i commend your insight.

I like this write up. Very thoughtful, insightful, and well researched.

@poster.

I can help but commend you for this insight. Your write up is so cohesive. I hope many Northerners would look at this and go into soul searching. It is time they take their destiny into their hands. I do not advocate violent means but should be able to call a spade a spade. May this crusade of making Nigeria a better place yield positive result soonest.