{"id":19596,"date":"2018-07-08T21:59:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T21:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=19596"},"modified":"2018-07-09T20:57:38","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T20:57:38","slug":"the-problem-with-us-northerners-by-na-allah-muhammed-zagga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=19596","title":{"rendered":"*THE PROBLEM WITH US NORTHERNERS*  BY NA-ALLAH MUHAMMED ZAGGA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/delta-is-working-new-200618-banner-ad-online-234-x-60px-f-4.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19511\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/delta-is-working-new-200618-banner-ad-online-234-x-60px-f-4.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"3033\" height=\"376\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Yoruba Council of Elders is right that Nigeria&#8217;s biggest security problems are concentrated in the North and these problems are draining the country&#8217;s resources.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Are the Boko Haram terrorists not Northerners, mainly from the Northeast ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0Is religious violence not concentrated in the North ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Are Muslim fanatics that attack Churches and loot Igbo shops in the name peaceful protests not Northerners ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0Are these mobs that extra-judicially lynch non-Muslims for alleged blasphemy not Northerners ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0Do Yoruba Muslims take the laws into their own hands by lynching others for alleged blasphemy ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Don&#8217;t the Southwest have Muslims ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0Why are they not behaving violently in the name of religion ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Why is religious extremism and violence concentrated in the North ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Are the violent Fulani bandits not Northerners ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0If you argue that the violent herdsmen are foreigners, then why are foreigners claiming right to grazing land in Benue State by violent means, which led to introduction of anti grazing laws ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Are the notorious ethnic militias that murder children and pregnant women not Northerners ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">While the Niger Delta leaders have always played active roles in the achievement of peace by talking their youths out of violence, why have the Borno Elders, the ACF, the Northern Elders Forum and others failed to play any effective role in ending the violence that engulfs the North ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">These Northern groups are more active in terms of calling for the return of political power to the North and retaining power than in ending the violence for which the region become notorious.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">In May 2014, when former President Jonathan offered amnesty to the Boko Haram terrorists, what efforts did these Northern leaders make to give the initiative a fillip ? , Virtually nothing.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Instead, they were accusing Jonathan of being behind Boko Haram to &#8220;depopulate&#8221; the North for the so-called political advantage.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=16652&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">When the late President Umaru Musa Yar&#8217;adua offered amnesty to the Niger Delta militants, the leaders of oil producing region had proved their relevance and influence by persuading their youths out the violent agitations.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Not only that, they also persuaded their boys to lay down their arms and they did and peace returned to the region.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Instead of giving Jonathan&#8217;s amnesty offer for Boko Haram a push, Northern leaders were living in denial about the reality of the terror group being a Northern problem, despite the fact that Kanuri boys dominate the membership of the gangs of mass murderers.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">In fact, some even ridiculously believed that it was a CAN agenda to destroy or eliminate Muslims, despite the fact that Boko Haram suicide bombers were targeting Churches almost every week or day.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The so-called Borno Elders were busy playing politics with the issue while the monster was getting stronger and crueller.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The problem with us Northerners is that, we don&#8217;t want to acknowledge the reality of the problem on our hands.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">We always look for excuses to comfort ourselves, from religious fundamentalism, violent extremism and the menace of the herdsmen. Instead of taking a stand against these evil realities.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">If you say herdsmen are not Nigerians, why should foreigners claim a right to land in Benue State or anywhere else in Nigeria, and kill farmers that resist their encroachments if they are foreigners?<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">There are Fulanis in Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and other parts of Africa.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Why are they not engaged in the massacre of their people in those places ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">If they are obeying the law elsewhere, why are they behaving with impunity in Nigeria ?.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">We should not allow murderers to ruin our peace and peaceful coexistence because of ethnic, cultural, and linguistic affinity.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Tribalism and insatiable quest for power more often than religious basis is behind these evil.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The north west are the major sponsors of Boko Haram that is now transformed into fulani herdsmen!!<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Nobody will come from another place to solve these problems for us.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0It is our baby, we must deal with it, it is time for action.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0It is time Northerners spoke with one voice over these evils that have blighted the progress of Northern Nigeria, a region that ranks lowest on the ladder of the development index.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Truth is bitter but is better it is said as its were.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19311\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"692\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1.jpg 1080w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1-300x86.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1-768x219.jpg 768w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1-1024x292.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 692px) 100vw, 692px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Yoruba Council of Elders is right that Nigeria&#8217;s biggest security problems are concentrated in the North and these problems are draining the country&#8217;s resources. Are the Boko Haram terrorists not Northerners, mainly from the Northeast ?. \u00a0Is religious violence not concentrated in the North ?. Are Muslim fanatics that attack Churches and loot Igbo [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,4859,1639,1078,4860],"class_list":["post-19596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-boko-haram","tag-borno-elders","tag-northern-elders-forum","tag-umaru-musa-yaradua","tag-yoruba-council-of-elders"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/northern-2.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-564","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19598,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19596\/revisions\/19598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}