2023 ELECTION: A professional group, for people of Fulani ethnic extraction, Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa, (COFPIA), has distanced itself from a statement by Alhaji Alhasan Salah, National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore.
The statement by Miyetti Alah, which was reported by Clariform, had claimed that the Fulani`s are against the candidature of former Anambra State governor and the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, in next year’s presidential election.
Basic Facts
- Miyetti Alah, had in interview with a national newspaper, said it is against the candidate of Labour Party Presidential candidate Peter Obi.
- Miyetti Alah in the interview falsely linked Peter Obi to IPOB and their demand for Republic Baifra and asked Fulanis not to vote for him in the presidential election.
- Miyetti Alah is a Fulani socio-cultural and political group very notorious for across the country and fingered for violence nationwide.
What We Know
The National Secretary of Miyetti Alah, Saleh Alhassan, in an interview in a national newspaper on Sunday, kicked against the presidential candidate of the Labour Party Mr. Peter Obi.
However, reacting to the interview, a Fulani professional group, Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa, (COFPIA), has distanced itself from the statement by Alhaji Saleh Alhassan.
The Fulani group, in a statement, on Monday, signed by it’s National president, Prof. Mohammed Gidado, and it’s National Secretary, Hajiya Mairo Modibo, said while it acknowledged the group’s(Miyetti Allah) right to freedom of expression and opinion, it would “remind them that they don’t have the right to speak for the entire Fulani in Nigeria, especially when they have not lived up to expectations.”
Notable Quotes
In a swift response to Miyetti Allah, the leadership of the Fulani professionals – Coalition of Fulbe Professionals in Africa, (COFPIA):
“Our attention has been drawn to a sectional, unpatriotic, ungodly and senseless statement credited to one of our brothers, Alhajji Hassan Saleh, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the most controversial Fulani group in Nigeria, which no doubt, is responsible for the bad name Fulani nation has been branded with in Nigeria.”
“The Fulbe all over Nigeria will not be blinded by that politically sponsored statement of Miyetti Allah anymore.”
“The Fulani people are wise now and cannot be used as tools of extortion and religious sentiment any more. We will enlighten our people to vote for competence and capacity come 2023. We will never vote for any candidate who has nothing to offer. We have gone far beyond religious and ethnic sentiments.”
“We will vote for a president that will tackle poverty, and acute hunger that have held our people hostage for so long. We will vote for a president that will fight insecurity with every commitment and unbiased mind, no matter who is in involved,”.
”Our respected tribal group, Miyette Allah, should channel their campaign to redeem the bad image they have created for Fulani people in Nigeria rather than casting aspersions on Peter Obi, who has demonstrated capacity to rescue Nigeria from the current hopelessness.”
“We wish to also make it categorically clear that we have not endorsed Peter Obi or any presidential candidate in the forth coming general elections and we are not Peter Obi’s mouthpiece, but it’s wrong for our people to continue to brand Peter Obi as a tribal bigot and that he doesn’t like the North,”
Catch-up
Nigeria politics even from the pre independence era, has always been dressed in tribal and ethnic garb at all levels. Recall that the 1st republic political parties all wore ethnic or at best regional garments. The NPC even by it’s name (Northern People’s Congress), was open to people of the North only.
The Action Group was mainly a Western regional party. While the NCNC (National Congress of Nigeria and Cameroon and later; after the referendum and exit of Southern Cameroon became National Congress of Nigerian Citizens) was largely an Eastern political party though it started out as a national party.
The 2nd republic was no different, as parties more or less represented the major ethnic group and won elections in states dominated by the groups. However, the stillbirth 3rd republic was slightly different, as the two party system by fiat did not give room for sectional parties.
In the present 4th republic, the parties, save for the then AD (Alliance for Democracy) and APGA (All Progressive Grand Alliance) that stood for South West and South East respectively, other parties have fairly tried to carry a national outlook.
Nonetheless, the nationalist outlook has not successful buried ethnic jingoism amongst politicians. Hence, the attempt to robe a candidate as an ethnic candidate as naïve and primordial as it looks, is not a new card.
Takeaway
Though ethnicity is not new in Nigerian politics and have been responsible for the out come of past elections, the critical question for all sane thinkers should be – how have we benefited from ethnicity and ethnicty based politics?
How has a president of my ethnic extraction positively affected the fortune of people of the tribe and their region? Here our concern is not just what a few political lords benefits, but what has the ordinary citizens gotten from a backward politics as this?
Has the standard of living of the ordinary Hausa man become better because the president is from his part of the country? Has the ordinary indigene been saved from hunger and insecurity because the governor is from his senatorial district?
Much as we cannot deny the importance of an inclusive system that allows every region and every citizen a fair chance to aspire to and hold any office in the land, it should not be a critical for people to vote in an election. Nor do we at Clariform think it is nice for a group that should be concerned about the insecurity that have ravaged the country be more interested in labelling a candidate as belonging to a group it disagrees with.
