Dear readers, I am back from my six weeks recess. The Nigerian palaver is daily unravelling that prioritisation becomes almost very difficult. What is trending currently is the Benue killings, a recurrent phenomenon. The president was compelled to visit the state last week with an order to the security services to fish out the killers.

Although, the death toll in Benue drew international attention other murderous activities were happening in Katsina about the same time. By some estimate, 24 people were reported killed by bandits in their brutal attacks across farming communities such as Yargoje, Kwakware, Danmarke, Gidan Dawa, and Burdugau among others in Kankara Local Government Area of the state. Mr. President, you are not the first head of state and government in Nigeria since 2009 when the Boko Haram insurgency started in earnest after the summary execution of Mohammed Yusuf.

Since then Nigeria has become one murderous field. While the dynamics of the killings have tasked every Nigerian ruler since then. More dangerously, they have broken the tiny thread of harmony among ethnic groups in Nigeria while democratising insecurity.

Nevertheless, the problem with the terrorist activities in Nigeria who are mislabelled bandits, is that the rulers of the Nigeria state continue to live a lie. On this critical matter, they prefer to listen to themselves, not the truth that the external world, in other words, objective reality reveals. In the mass of commentary by well meaning Nigerians, the truth of the matter has stood out, and has been constant despite contrary narratives that the traducers of the Nigerian state have tried to mainstream in the popular media are to wit: farmer-header crisis arising from grazing the lands and cattle rustling; the security forces are sufficiently equipped enough to combat insurgency; and collaboration of stakeholders is required to restore peace, among other simplistic prescription.

These narratives missed the point. In what follows, I shall explain some of the plain facts from the mass of information available to the public hoping that you may be goaded to act and save this country that is the hope of the black race. Talking points in this regard are the control of the Nigerian state, import of terrorists, collusion of the military, local collaborators, and external meddlesomeness.

Firstly, the hegemonic control of the Nigerian state has always been an issue. The Fulani ethnic stock in Nigeria believe that the “Lugardian architecture” belongs to them and with the help of the British consolidated their control of the central authorities that have enabled them to shape in most bizarre way the direction of the state. The missing link in that history has been a reinstatement of the point that they never succeeded in defeating even minorities in the north.

The Jukun and the Tiv among others resisted them. In the south, the southern nations resisted them. The Yoruba resisted them and the Edo resisted then and their Nupe proxies in the Kukuruku country. The Igbo nation never had to interface with them due to the bulwark provided by the Tiv nation who fought them. The Hausa which they displaced in the 1804 Jihad, were made an appendage in thraldom, due to religious delusion often employed for effect. Lately, they have now been rudely woken up to resistance.

The Fulani, being non-indigenous to the country called Nigeria, they ought to live in harmony under a federation with other nationalities of the Nigerian state. The perpetual desire to dominate and impose their will on the rest of the country is at the heart of the crisis of the Nigerian state. Unfortunately, the fighting forces of the Nigerian army were the Middle Belters, and the Yoruba during the civil war. Post war, they have been undermined, used, and eliminated by stealth and are today at the receiving end of quest to make Nigeria a Fulani territory.

Plateau and Benue states are being ferociously ravaged. Major Gideon Orkar underlined the domination complex of the state-bearing nation, the Fulani, in the botched coup of April 22, 1990. The project to dominate Nigeria and Islamise it is alive. The sole purpose of the Buhari administration which imported terrorists into the country and gave a blank cheque to all “Africans”, a euphemism for Fulani, to enter Nigeria without visa, was part of the grand plot. President Buhari was the last Mahdi of the plot to take over Nigeria. Right thinking people ought to know that the “Road to Mogadishu” which I have written about in this column would be a child’s play in any attempt at a violent take-over.

Secondly, Mr. president, the import of terrorists, which I suspect you must be aware of, since your group, Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) entered into alliance that produced President Buhari, was to capture power by any means necessary. Without the alliance, it would not have happened. His eight-year tenure, 2015-2023, provided ample opportunity to pursue the jihadist goal, the terrorists were dumped across the country under the cover of COVID-19 induced paralysis. It was Shehu Sani, a sane voice, that pointed up the sinister motive of what was going on at the time. Abubakar Kawu Baraje, Buhari collaborator, told a bewildered nation how these terrorists were brought in from Chad, Mali, Senegal, Niger and elsewhere in the continent where the Fulani lives. He also added that many of them were trained in the Nigerian military depot in Kaduna.

Thirdly, the Nigerian military has been consistently sabotaged by the fifth columnists in its fold. The military has recently announced the apprehension of those selling arms to the terrorists. It goes beyond that, indeed, they exist in the officer corps. It is the duty of the defence intelligence to fish them out. Mr. Barlow, the Chairman of the Executive Outcome, found this out when he engaged with the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east. How he handled the situation has been published.

The existence of the saboteurs within the military only affirmed the statement credited to the late General Abacha to the extent that when an insurgency last more than 48 hours, you only need look inward for internal collaborators. Mr. President, from the mass of information accessible, previous administration before you had been given the names of sponsors of the terrorists in the country. Action it, heavens will not fall.

Fourthly, the unfortunate reality of local collaborators is exemplified by the Benue case. Before Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff, mentioned it. I had adverted to the fact that some unscrupulous Benue indigenes were acting as mercenaries for the Fulani terrorists. The CDS has further reinforced my findings when he said that those who perpetrated the recent massacre in Benue were not only aided by the locals who provided intelligence but also women for the pleasure of the terrorists.

Fifthly, Mr. President, external involvement in the crisis ravaging our country is real. It took the courage and honesty of Nicephore Soglo, the former Benin Republic President, to mention the countries involved in the perpetuation of terrorism in Nigeria. In the list was Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as sponsors of terrorists in Nigeria. The latent function is the pursuit of the Islamisation agenda. Other big actors are France, U.S. and Britain. Instability in Nigeria and other African states serves the neo-colonial goals of the great powers.

The Junta leader in Niger revealed how the French government got involved in what the Nigerien state should do with insurgents arrested in that country. Locals have also testified to witnessing helicopters dumping weapons for the insurgents in the theatre of operation in the northeast.

Britain want to have a hang on Nigeria that is guaranteed by the feudal forces whom it handed the Nigerian estate to at independence. Crisis provides a leverage over control of the Nigerian state and its military. Before Barlow intervened in the northeast, there were British and U.S., servicemen that advised the Nigerian army on European battle doctrines in an African environment.

Mr. President, you must act decisively on this matter. The reason being that if power return to the same feudal forces in 2031, by the unwritten rotational arrangement, all things being equal, the country will be gone.

Professor Akhaine is with the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University.