BY INWALOMHE DONALD
I am worried that successive governments and Nigerians ignored late Major Gideon Orkar’s message since 1990. Nigeria would have prevented United States military intervention if Nigerians have paid attention to Major Gideon Orkar attempted military coup message since 1990. The 19 Northern States are under attack from Boko Haram and Bandits simply because Nigerians ignored Major Orkar attempted coup message in 1990.
Major Gideon Orkar passed a message in 1990 about five states that have become the hotlines of Boko Haram and Bandits in present day Nigeria. Boko Haram and Bandits have successfully cut off the five states that Gideon Orkar attempted to use military force to do in 1990 with resistance from Nigeria military. Where are the people that opposed Gideon Orkar when he passed similar message in 1990? Where are the generals now? Gideon Orkar saw Nigeria as a country of Jihadists and Bandits more than 30 years ago. Boko Haram and Bandits have justified Gideon Orkar’s action of April, 1990. Nigeria has become a country of Boko Haram and Bandits under our watch because we ignored Gideon Orkar’s message.
Gideon Orkar saw Boko Haram and bandits in 1990 and he passed a message that all Nigerians ignored. Gideon Orkar saw the payment of ransom to Boko Haram and bandits coming but Nigerians ignored his message. That was the reason he cut off five states in Nigeria. The realities of present day Nigeria have justified Gideon Orkar’s action in 1990. When the Boko Haram revolt started, it was first targeted at pockets of government institutions; people felt that it did not concern them. Then they targeted Christians; the Muslims among us felt unconcerned, some of them were beginning to think that the group was fighting a jihad on their behalf. Then, they started attacking institutions of culture and local leadership, including dethronement of Emirs. Today, they do not recognise whether you are a Muslim or Christian, their goal is to destroy and establish their own, weird type of caliphate, which recognises no mullah, Imam or Emir except their own. They have lost their bearings and directions. They have become bandits and kidnappers, killing and maiming innocent citizens without conscience.
After 30 years of Gideon Orkar coup, it is clear that the Boko Haram and other bandit herdsmen of the North are getting support from the states that Gideon Orkar cut off from Nigeria. What their agenda is we do not know; what we know is that these covert supports are serving as brick walls in the fight against insurgency. Any government or official who gives support of any kind to the Boko Haram or killer herdsmen group is only undoing themselves; in the long run, these ones will turn against their masters.
On Sunday, April 22, 1990, about five years into Babangida’s bloody rule, a junior soldier, Major Gideon Orkar, led the most audacious coup in the annals of the country by attempting to oust the fiercely-corrupt Babangida from power. Subsequently, the coup was foiled and the plotters were arrested. Orkar, a Tiv from Benue State, and 41 other soldiers were shot to death on July 27, 1990.
After seizing power, Orkar accused the Babangida government of corruption, nepotism and killings. In his nationwide speech, Orkar cut off Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Borno and Bauchi from the geographical expression called Nigeria because he saw Boko Haram and Bandits coming from the five states. If we have listen to Gideon Orkar message, Nigeria would not have witnessed Boko Haram and Bandits activities, Nigeria would have avoided human and capital waste so far on Boko Haram and Bandits war. After 30 years, what he wanted to fight for still curse us today. All Nigerians are cold including me. We can never progress until we all stand up and fight for our country, for us and our children and our un-born children. Like Gideon said, we need to excise some people from the face of the earth for Nigeria to move on. We need law and order, strategic thinkers, good political structure and give power to the press.
Gideo Orkar said, in the light of all the above and in recognition of the negativeness of the aforementioned aristocratic factor, the overall progress of the Nigerian state a temporary decision to excise the following states namely, Sokoto, Borno, Katsina, Kano and Bauchi states from the Federal Republic of Nigeria comes into effect immediately until the following conditions are met. The conditions to be met to necessitate the re-absorption of the aforementioned states are as following: (a) To install the rightful heir to the Sultanate, Alhaji Maccido, who is the people’s choice. (b) To send a delegation led by the real and recognized Sultan Alhaji Maccido to the federal government to vouch that the feudalistic and aristocratic quest for domination and operation will be a thing of the past and will never be practiced in any part of the Nigeria state. By the same token, all citizens of the five states already mentioned are temporarily suspended from all public and private offices in Middle Belt and southern parts of this country until the mentioned conditions above are met. They are also required to move back to their various states within one week from today. They will, however, be allowed to return and joint the Federal Republic of Nigeria when the stipulated conditions are met. In the same vein, all citizens of the Middle Belt and the south are required to come back to their various states pending when the so-called all-in-all Nigerians meet the conditions that will ensure a united Nigeria. A word is enough for the wise.
Up till a few weeks ago, the thought that banditry on the one hand and Boko Haram on the other hand had become intractable was believed to be an exaggeration. Banditry, mostly limited to northern Nigeria, is a fairly recent menace, perhaps dating back only four or five years. The increasingly virulent Boko Haram, mostly limited to the Northeast, dates back more than 10 years.
Now, both menaces reinforce each other, presenting themselves as the hammer and anvil between which Nigerians in those blighted regions are being pulverised. Some four or five years ago, when there was the exaggerated opinion that Boko Harama had been ‘technically defeated’, few thought that in 2026 , Nigerians would still be grappling with the cancer, let alone having to endure the equally menacing and vicious problem of banditry. Everyone had thought that in a matter of months, or perhaps just a few years, the two menaces would have been reduced to insignificance. Sadly, the problems have not only withstood the best countermeasures the government could give, they seem alarmingly to thrive.
Inwalomhe Donald writes from Lokoja via inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com
