Here is my two kobo's worth about the matter:
The very title of the theme subject is a suggestive play on Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and "There Was a Country". The rest of the outrage, pessimism and despair expressed by Brother Adepoju provide a sufficient raison d'être for the dissolution of the Federation into its prior constituent parts or fragments that now make up the whole.
But, in my opinion, this country that we call Nigeria, the Lugardist amalgamation of its folks of many nations and many religious persuasions, from the very contemporary remains of what was once the Sokoto Caliphate in the North West to the South East Region , is a great country - as recognised by others (non-Nigerians, the Africa Union etc.) and as the Rt. Hon. Oga Obadiah Mailafia has explained, "Nationhood is a process" – in accordance with the evolutionary principles spelled out in Barrett's Seven Stages to nationhood. Another cause for optimism (on the evolutionary trajectory ) are these words of en-courage-ment from Oga Mailafia : "The various groups that made up modern Nigeria were already in close interaction (the effusive and ebullient Emmanuel Ayandele would say 'intercourse') with each other for the better part of a millennium"
One of the everyday realities is that everybody (who can afford it in Nigeria) has a good appetite for Fulani beef ( usually halal) and it's not as if there's going to be a boycott of the sort of consumption dictated by the dictatorship of various peoples ' stomachs. To extend the logic of metaphor, it's not as if Oluwatoyin Adepoju or any of our Nigerian Brothers and sisters in Nigeria are sufficiently on the offensive , to the extent that they would like to or be willing to ( still metaphorically speaking) to bite the hand that feed them. Ah , there's the rub and verily it is a dilemma that can be best solved by the ruthless, impartial, even-handed administration of the rule of Law in Nigeria – whereby murder is murder and in a country where all eyes and teeth etc. are equal, shouldn't justice require – in compensation, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a stripe for a stripe ?
The problem of Fulani marauders has been urgent for many years now and now that we have a Fulani President the ball is in his court and hopefully, he is going to put a stop to the carnage as best and as quickly as he can.
I should also like to point out to Oga Mailafia re – his opinion that "There is an ancient Arab military doctrine known as "fitna". You keep pounding communities and continuously hound them until they surrender and leave the land to you." This is a cynical misunderstanding of what "fitna" is. This is the meaning of Fitna as I have always understood it : wahala, dissension caused by schism and division – divide and rule. What you have described as "ancient Arab military doctrine " is nothing less than terrorism…
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