I chose this heading, not because the north is more politically united than the south per se, but because I have noticed that 'unity in violence' is the only edge the north has above the south. So, north is more violently united & not that they are politically savvier than the south.
This politically held myth that the north is savvier than the south is a big lie. The north has always had their ways through threats & violence. Few days ago, one Ango Abdullahi, in justifying the menace of Fulani herdsmen, said that the south is using it to divide the united north. Confusion! I want to say this: If Jonathan could be voted out after 5 years with his well thought out & well felt transformation agenda, I don't see the reason Buhari & his fellow political dimwits should be mouthing second term. Buhari can only win election in 2019 because the north is violently united. The fear of violent north had made the presidents of southern extraction to abdicate in their responsibilities in the past.
It was the fear of violent north that made Obasanjo not to tackle sharia laws in many northern States headlong. The problem of boko haram today has its root in that sharia. It was the fear of violent north that made OBJ not to include ethnicity & religion in 2006 Census. The north threatened because they knew the implications. OBJ buckled. The same fear of violent north made GEJ to sack Eze Festus Odimegwu as Census chairman.
Festus Odimegwu had earlier told the whole world that Nigeria had never conducted a transparent Census. That he would conduct the most transparent & credible Census. Kwankwaso & co came for his jugular. They threatened fire & brimstone. GEJ sacked Odimegwu to please the violent north.
We all know the case of General Ihejirika. The man was practically winning the war against boko haram as COAS. All of a sudden, the northerners turned around & accused GEJ of using Ihejirika to commit genocide against them. They ran to Barack Obama & falsely reported GEJ's govt. The US govt under Obama stopped selling arms to Nigeria govt. Ihejirika was later relieved of his duty by GEJ. Again, to please the violent north. We can never forget in a hurry a statement that "....attack on boko haram is injustice to the north..." & who made it. Today, terrorist herdsmen are the greatest threat we have. Nobody is threatening Buhari to sack the security chiefs.
What can we say about the case of Late General Andrew Azazi? The same fate befell him as National Security Adviser(NSA). Jonathan removed & replaced him with Sambo Dasuki. I don't want to go into numerous religious & ethnic violence orchestrated by the north that destroyed the lives & properties of southerners in the north.
It was generally believed that GEJ conceded defeat to Buhari in 2015 election & chose not to contest same in court because of violent north. Hence, the mantra "...my political ambition does not worth the blood of any Nigerian.." The 2011 election carnage in the north is still fresh on our minds.
The same fear of violent north made GEJ not to sack Prof Jega when the situation was tensed with revelations here & there about Jega's complicities & clandestine meetings with oppositions & some northern political leaders. Look at the issue of underage voters being registered in the north today & the concomitant threat on INEC officials who tried to stop them. Do you think if this had happened in the south under a southern president & INEC chairman, that the north would have kept quiet? They would have pressurised the southern president to sack the southern INEC chairman. The irony of the whole thing is that most politically correct people from the south had always supported these northern threat against a southern president. Can we say that in the case of Buhari today? I am not saying that the south doesn't have the capacity to go violent. But their political disunity, level of education & exposition will always play against such. Besides, violence, be it in the north or south, the south/ners have more to lose than the north. The greatest undoing of the south is their political disunity. The day the south will unite politically, no matter the threat from the north, they will always have their way. Or, the south might adopt the mosaic law of an eye for an eye. Let everybody kukuma go blind. After all, nobody has monopoly of violence.
©Ejykman Anichebe