Auto-Colonialists

Fulani Herdsmen & The British Legacy of Guilt

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:July 4, 2018
Post category:Governance Institutions Social Crisis
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Reading time:5 mins read

Fulani Herdsmen & the British Legacy of Guilt

“Guilt by community association” (GBCA) is back in Nigeria in fresh form in 2018. Not by the actions of a foreign colonialist. But those of the local Nigerian auto-colonialists courtesy Fulani herdsmen affairs. In the colonial state of Nigeria, under British rule, was the chief means by which the Nigerian staffed police force secured conformity and order. The method of choice was community arrest and faux crime taxation. (more…)

The Nigerian Federation and its Colonies: The Niger Delta and Bornu

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:June 29, 2017
Post category:Corruption Governance Niger Delta Crisis
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Reading time:6 mins read

As much as many may try, it is not possible to make sense of the current political realities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by any conditions that preceded the Civil War (1967-70). This is not a case for perceived discontinuity but exceeding and sudden transformation. Nigeria only became a full state after the beginning of the Civil War, considering her acquisition and use of state power via centralisation. This is because during and after the war, Nigeria ceased to be an intended ‘uniform federation’ and opted since the administration of General Yakubu Gowon to be a two-tier state; the federation and its colonies. Nigeria is truly an “auto-colonial state” today, a fact obscured for 50 years. (more…)

Fulani Herdsmen in Abraka: Savagery Without Response?

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:April 29, 2017
Post category:Governance Niger Delta Crisis
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Reading time:3 mins read

It is unfortunate that the ethnic group that the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, belongs to is a “nation of habitual butchers”; the Cattle Fulani. This is the unequivocal belief of the nations within Nigeria victimised by Herdsmen violence. First, it was military men in uniform and now it is wandering Herdsmen; both have enjoyed peerless impunity. The university town of Abraka in Delta State, Nigeria has witnessed another incidence of menacing violence by Fulani Herdsmen against its residents this week, a repeat of what occurred in the same town last year. The people of Abraka (Urhobos) have experienced an atrocious mix of intimidation, violence, mayhem, murder, trauma and vandalism at the hands of Fulani Herdsmen in their very own indigenous land. Why are there no credible responses from the state to deal effectively with the crisis other than shoddy policing? (more…)

Buhari Has Panama-Proofed Nigeria

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:January 13, 2017
Post category:Corruption Institutions
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Reading time:5 mins read

Buhari Has Panama-Proofed Nigeria

If you were to ask President Muhammadu Buhari what the most successful thing a person could achieve in Nigeria was? If he is candid with you, his answer would be you to seize power (through coup d’ états or general elections). or to amass riches (through grand corruption). Power and wealth, for their sake, will always breed corruption. By implication, the president himself is not exempt. We all know that, but some are emphatic about denying it. Such is brazen make-belief.

The Panama Papers scandal involving tax evasion and money laundering cases in off-shore havens shook many international heavyweights in the civilised world. Not in Nigeria, though. Buhari’s administration has rendered big thieving Nigerian politicians and quasi-financiers well “Panama-proof”. (more…)

Can Buhari Win The Oil War?

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:August 31, 2016
Post category:Ecocide Governance Institutions Niger Delta Crisis
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Reading time:6 mins read

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) may not be a praiseworthy entity to many but their emergence and defiance have provided a thorough and incisive diagnosis of the dissembling cohesion of the nation-state called Nigeria. Nigeria has never been a thoroughgoing republic but simply a geographical “convenience” of British colonial exploitation (for palm oil) and a political “convenience” of Northern Nigerian auto-colonial hegemony (for crude oil). Race and tribe have played an exceeding big role in the creation of NDA. Enduringly placing the ‘straightjacket of inferiority’ firmly upon Niger Delta people/region who never asked for it by people who have extracted its wealth in obscene amounts without considering the indigenes will generate extreme reactions. Oppressive exploitation of oil in a highly fragile state does not work forever; President Muhammadu Buhari will learn this. (more…)

The Sambo Scandal & the “Owners of Nigeria”

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:December 7, 2015
Post category:Corruption
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Reading time:7 mins read

The “Sambo Scandal” (concerning one Col Sambo Dasuki) is just another story when compared to the full scale of looting in Nigeria; it’s just ‘Hot Air’ and Hollywood. The Government of Nigeria (GON) since the military regime of Yakubu Gowon has squandered around $1 trillion on nothing but personal enrichment and the provision of mostly shoddy goods and services to Nigerians. Call it the “national cake” (that has no bakery) or the “pot of soup” (that has no kitchen), Nigeria’s wealth is on a daily basis being shared like cake and soup at parties for and by the “Owners of Nigeria Technostructure” (ONT) and at their very own imperturbable convenience. This situation is incredibly far beyond the stilted fanaticisms of All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supporters. (more…)