What Maketh A Northerner?

What maketh a northerner? This is the story of my life.I am a black man and those that share my skin color know what a burden than can be.It is the shame of centuries of slavery for which even a decent apology is too much to expect and the pain of knowing that of all the races, you are arguably the most undeveloped (or the closest to the natural state of man).When you read statistics like ‘one in ten black men in America are in prison’, or that while ‘blacks constitutes 13% of America, half of Americans prison inmates are black’ you shudder. I recently started reading African American history (Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston are my top picks) and subsequently engaged my American friends on this topic. I am just beginning to understand the damage to the psyche of the African American male.My ignorance of the peculiar state of the ‘non immigrant black’ in America became glaring after my first hand encounter with some of these pe...Read the full article.

[abdulmumin]

Such a fine wordsmith you are, Abubakar.

Thank you.

[Kay Soyemi (Esq.)]

Many thanks, Abubakar.

Tell them

If only younger generations of Nigerians can remove the log from their eyes.

[Kelechi]

A very impressive and beautiful piece that is not done a whole lot of justice by its rather mundane title! It is however a powerful individual statement and a laudable term of engagement which every Nigerian ought to personalise.

You are welcome, Abubakar Suleiman.

[Patcho]

Thanks Abubakar. Can you translate in Arabic and distribute to school children?

[Yankari]

speechless!

[Exxcuzme]

Originally Posted by Robot

What maketh a northerner? This is the story of my life.I am a black man and those that share my skin color know what a burden than can be.It is the shame of centuries of slavery for which even a decent apology is too much to expect and the pain of knowing that of all the races, you are arguably the most undeveloped (or the closest to the natural state of man).When you read statistics like ‘one in ten black men in America are in prison’, or that while ‘blacks constitutes 13% of America, half of Americans prison inmates are black’ you shudder. I recently started reading African American history (Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston are my top picks) and subsequently engaged my American friends on this topic. I am just beginning to understand the damage to the psyche of the African American male.My ignorance of the peculiar state of the ‘non immigrant black’ in America became glaring after my first hand encounter with some of these pe...Read the full article.

When was the last time we read anything like this on NVS from our Northern brother? All we get is Gwobe's irredentism.

[katampe]

The idea that blacks, American, should be ceded some slack to allow them catch up with the rest of the races in America, or specifically the white race, was based on the notion of past injustices to the blacks. Each member of the white race, even when not in agreement with the historical tragedies visited on the black race by its community, or a few select criminals amongst them, passed a majority vote to allow blacks some room to catch up using policies such as affirmative action.

It is not for nothing that you have such phrases as white guilt, and unusual accommodation of black interests like representative black businesses and magazines against unacceptable white representative businesses.Like the white have majority in America, so also the northerners have majority in Nigeria (even when it is contestable).Democracy is a game of numbers, Nigeria is no exception and the north has come to power based on its supposed numbers.If being a member of the white race made each member culpable because benefits accrued to members in large measures, why not in Nigeria. At least we know benefits are not only material, they are equally psychological.

Yet, historical texts have it that the courage of a few within the white race, through moral conviction and the search for ideal decided to end the historical tragedies visited on the black man. So, in a sense, it was an intra -racial decision to end the centuries of injustice to the black man.

If we examine your essay based on this perspective, your appeal to individual culpability does not wash because you derive your definition and your humanity from the values and attitudes of your ethnic group and you can't claim its benefits and reject its detriments.I think it is being clever by half.If within your ethnicity, you have world billionaires who made rich,when they are interpreted within the Nigerian space, they are regarded as Hausa-Fulani world billionaire, so also if you have within your ethnicity past rulers of the country, they are regarded as Hausa-Fulani head of states. So there must be obvious psychological benefits, something akin to goodwill that cannot be classified.

For example, and until recently an African American kid could not aspire or dream to be president of America.In that sense, he made life choices early in life that had a far reaching impact on his career and his life outcome. In the same sense, he was psychologically sired by environment and reality to lower his expectations.Not sure the white kid had to go through a torturing psychological journey to make good.They aspired to be presidents while blacks aspired to be rap artists. In Nigeria, we know southerners can hardly aspire to be presidents in their own country.It is our reality.

Yes, someone comes along and bucks the trend. Yet, it never came with ease. It came with damaged psyches and countless body bags.When street urchins are killing southerners in the north, it was not a few criminal elements carrying out the killings, it is a dominant but hardly spoken bias and hate that emanates from a culture, something that acquired its own social institution of hate. Not only that foreigners are discriminated against and kept on the fringes of the northern towns and cities, and resisted from mixing/living amongst northern natives. Do we explain this away too to a few criminal elements?

So, Abubakar while you wrote a piece that might sound appealing, it makes for superficial treatment for discerning observers. You must confront the negative attributes within your culture that has made other Nigerians hateful of products from the north. If you must come to equity then you must come with cleans , chikena!

If you can write a persuasive piece as this, then you owe your southern brothers the idea that charity begins at home. You are more positioned within your culture to start making change than a frustrated outsider that has very little understanding of the nuances of your culture. Call it ethnic introspection, fair is game!

[emj]

A Negro and an African, a Nigerian and a Northerner and, yes most definitely a Muslim. I carry the burden of the world on my shoulder yet I stand straight. I stand with my head held high because I am truly all that I have been called but I am far more than that. I am a man. I have my principles and a clear objective. I seek to live an ethical life, a life of impact. I am hard-working, I read, I listen and I talk. I think. I think Ngozi is good (brilliant) and Ndidi is bad (disastrous), I hold Bode Agusto as exemplary and Bode George a shame, I know Sanusi to be straight and Shamsudeen a sham. You see, I am beyond the north, I am more than the nation, I am better than the continent and black is merely the color of my skin.

Thanks Abubakar for a very refreshing article.

The north produced Buhari & Babangida; we are also responsible for Major Abubakar Umar and Major Al-Mustapha. This system produced Ken Nnamani and Andy Uba. Africa is responsible for Mandela and Mugabe; and both Mobutu and MLK Jnr. are black. You see, I am a northerner but not that ‘northerner’, no! I am not the northerner who engages in ‘nocturnal meetings’ to take complete control of my country. I am not the northerner on whose behalf these meetings are held and in whose interest these crimes are committed. I am that other northerner, the one whose uncle cannot afford fertilizer; whose niece has no school to go to. I am the northerner that Nigeria needs because I am half the nation and none of its problem. I am more than seventy million men and women waiting to be unleashed, raising my voice and voting for change.

We shall yet witness the change...and the time to start is right and now

[Carrygo]

When street urchins are killing southerners in the north, it was not a few criminal elements carrying out the killings, it is a dominant but hardly spoken bias and hate that emanates from a culture, something that acquired its own social institution of hate.

Katampe, this is brilliant.

Quote of the thread:

Originally Posted by katampe

the idea that blacks, American, should be ceded some slack to allow them catch up with the rest of the races in America, or specifically the white race, was based on the notion of past injustices to the blacks. Each member of the white race, even when not in agreement with the historical tragedies visited on the black race by its community, or a few select criminals amongst them, passed a majority vote to allow blacks some room to catch up using policies such as affirmative action.

It is not for nothing that you have such phrases as white guilt, and unusual accommodation of black interests like representative black businesses and magazines against unacceptable white representative businesses.Like the white have majority in America, so also the northerners have majority in Nigeria (even when it is contestable).Democracy is a game of numbers, Nigeria is no exception and the north has come to power based on its supposed numbers.If being a member of the white race made each member culpable because benefits accrued to members in large measures, why not in Nigeria. At least we know benefits are not only material, they are equally psychological.

Yet, historical texts have it that the courage of a few within the white race, through moral conviction and the search for ideal decided to end the historical tragedies visited on the black man. So, in a sense, it was an intra -racial decision to end the centuries of injustice to the black man.

If we examine your essay based on this perspective, your appeal to individual culpability does not wash because you derive your definition and your humanity from the values and attitudes of your ethnic group and you can't claim its benefits and reject its detriments.I think it is being clever by half.If within your ethnicity, you have world billionaires who made rich,when they are interpreted within the Nigerian space, they are regarded as Hausa-Fulani world billionaire, so also if you have within your ethnicity past rulers of the country, they are regarded as Hausa-Fulani head of states. So there must be obvious psychological benefits, something akin to goodwill that cannot be classified.

For example, and until recently an African American kid could not aspire or dream to be president of America.In that sense, he made life choices early in life that had a far reaching impact on his career and his life outcome. In the same sense, he was psychologically sired by environment and reality to lower his expectations.Not sure the white kid had to go through a torturing psychological journey to make good.They aspired to be presidents while blacks aspired to be rap artists. In Nigeria, we know southerners can hardly aspire to be presidents in their own country.It is our reality.

Yes, someone comes along and bucks the trend. Yet, it never came with ease. It came with damaged psyches and countless body bags.When street urchins are killing southerners in the north, it was not a few criminal elements carrying out the killings, it is a dominant but hardly spoken bias and hate that emanates from a culture, something that acquired its own social institution of hate. Not only that foreigners are discriminated against and kept on the fringes of the town or city, not to really mix with northern natives. Do we explain this away on a few criminal elements also?

So, Abubakar while you wrote a piece that might sound appealing, it makes for superficial treatment for discerning observers. You must confront the negative attributes within your culture that has made other Nigerians hateful of products from the north. If you must come to equity then you must come with cleans , chikena!

If you can write a persuasive piece as this, then you owe your southern brothers the idea that charity begins at home. You are more positioned within your culture to start making change than a frustrated outsider that has very little understanding of the nuances of your culture. Call it ethnic introspection, fair is game!

*****BAAAAAAAAAAAAAM*****

All this "Ribudu" or "El-Rufai" syndrome does not even scratch the surface by the writer of the article.

@topic
I think you should be asking ALL the leaders of Nigeria who happened to come from the Northern parts of Nigeria and the roles they have played while you enjoy all this good education. Yes, you are still my brother. But even in the good books we are told how Joseph was sold by his brothers and how Esau had his birthright stolen by Jacob even with the help of God Almighty.

Next time you think of writing such a wonderful article, also plan to have sequels to this fantastic piece that would prove endlessly entertaining as well as useful to you, us and Wikipedia. I will give you a hint.

(1) What makes a westerner?
(2) What makes a southerner?
(3) what makes an easterner?
(4) What makes a middle-belter?

You can even break it down further in case you are interested:
(1) What makes a Hausan?
(2) What makes a Fulanian?
(3) What makes an Iboan?
(4) What makes an Ibibian?
(5) What makes an Ishan?
(6) What makes an Ijebun?

. . . . . I am sure you get my drift. . . there are like about 400 individual groups to be studied if you are interested with peculiar traits and idiosyncrasies.

I just read a fantastic piece on the internet this morning as I logged on and found this:
http://www.saharareporters.com/index...cal&Itemid=167

What makes a Northerner? Not rocket science at all sir! Is the Pope "black"?
To answer your questions:

(1) The relish in the insatiable drive to Islamize Nigeria with religious intolerance at all cost.

(2) The dogmatic introduction and maintenance of a terrorist "Sharia" military in Northern Nigeria which excludes all other ethnic groups. Practically, all Middle-beltern or Southern Christian military officers have been killed off or intimidated out of purposeful existence except for a few dregs like OBJ, Shonekan or a few defective clones like themselves.

(3) The obnoxious adherence to such fastidious principles of divide and conquer politics handed down from the colonialist British masters which can never be shed with all the 'rankadede' charade going on up there.

(4) The introduction of the most unscrupulous criminal/rogue elements as dictators into Nigeria's history, politics, society, religion and economics. The unity amongst Nigerians has been shattered for ever. Any apologies? Oh no!

(5) The ever so present unforgiving spirit of a heart from the blunder caused by the first coup in Nigeria which was never intended to be an anti-northern onslaught. Thanks to the real treasonable felons from other parts of Nigeria. Yes, you had a coup that affected "Northerners", so Nigeria must keep paying for life. No, you get over it. Nigeria has never rested for your on-going secret quest for atonement and justice. First, it was the genocide against the "Igbos", now it is the "Niger Deltans" all to keep you as the bonafide owners of Nigeria and atone for the sins of 'the coup' plotters who offended your forefathers. Do you see any coup plotters around you in the year 2009?

(6) The greatest pretenders as evidenced by the likes of Ribadu and El-Rufai. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Nonchalant attitude as regards other parts of Nigeria, as long as it benefits them.

(7) The absolute lack of motivation in education or the slightest engagement in the least mental exercise just because the guns to kill Nigerians are locked up in the North.

I could list more, but will only give you the best 7. When you introduce a thread with the title "what makes a yorubaner" or "what makes an Iboner", I will gladly oblige you. There is more than enough to go round trust me.

So, you remove the log in your eyes before you start crying fowl. Yes, your leaders are a representation of what YOU are! Just as mine are to me.

You don't have to benefit to have some sense of responsibility, if they benefit on your behalf. White people today that have nothing to do with slave trade are still being harassed for acts of slavery, from over half a century ago. All Germans bear the scars of the holocaust. All Muslims carry the shame of radical Islamic terrorists. All Christians killed Jesus Christ. So, suck it up! Just the nature of the game. If we do not hold everyone responsible within a given ethnic group/race, it defeats the purpose then. Only through collective shame and guilt can true change come forth.

You have only presented "the major" problem Nigeria has, which is "The Northerner" There are many more problems like the Easterner, the Southerner or the Westerner of course. But the "Northerner" is the major headache of all Nigerian migraines. You do not want to know what I think about the other tribes in Nigeria trust me. So don't feel too isolated. I repeat, there is more than enough to go round.

So, please get over yourself. It is really not about you Mr. Abu, but Nigeria. The Northerner is an ongoing "burden" to all Nigerians being an epitome of 'the enemy of progress' for the past 50 years almost. Until I am proven wrong, your sentiments are of no use to me.

[Kelechi]

Originally Posted by katampe

If we examine your essay based on this perspective, your appeal to individual culpability does not wash because you derive your definition and your humanity from the values and attitudes of your ethnic group and you can't claim its benefits and reject its detriments.I think it is being clever by half.If within your ethnicity, you have world billionaires who made rich,when they are interpreted within the Nigerian space, they are regarded as Hausa-Fulani world billionaire, so also if you have within your ethnicity past rulers of the country, they are regarded as Hausa-Fulani head of states. So there must be obvious psychological benefits, something akin to goodwill that cannot be classified.

Katampe, the dilemma that is Nigeria does not absolve any person or any ethnic group of complicity and blame. All Nigerians are immersed in the evil canker-worm that is our bane. Abubakar has made it clear that he and majority of ordinary northerners do not benefit (at least economically) from the political and economic domination of Nigeria by the feudalistic North. This is not contestable. It is fact. Any benefit by northerners is delusional, deception and deliberate as it serves their politicians well to drip-feed the unsuspecting masses with ephemeral psychological advantage. This they do through religion, propaganda and blatant falsehood.

It takes guts and discernment, as displayed by Abubakar to distance himself from the allure of his 'inheritance'. What he needs is support and a hand of welcome. He doesn't need to be coerced to speak or fight the status quo that is supposed to benefit him; he already denounced it in his article.

It is time we all stop playing the ostrich. Besides when you point a finger at others the rest of your fingers point back at you.

[chiagozie]

Carry go brother Abu. no bi you cause am na greediness wey done chop our so-called leaders mind finish. you own no get part two.

[RAHIM]

Originally Posted by Simbili

Quote of the thread:



*****BAAAAAAAAAAAAAM*****

All this "Ribudu" or "El-Rufai" syndrome does not even scratch the surface by the writer of the article.

@topic
I think you should be asking ALL the leaders of Nigeria who happened to come from the Northern parts of Nigeria and the roles they have played while you enjoy all this good education. Yes, you are still my brother. But even in the good books we are told how Joseph was sold by his brothers and how Esau had his birthright stolen by Jacob even with the help of God Almighty.

Next time you think of writing such a wonderful article, also plan to have sequels to this fantastic piece that would prove endlessly entertaining as well as useful to you, us and Wikipedia. I will give you a hint.

(1) What makes a westerner?
(2) What makes a southerner?
(3) what makes an Easterner?
(4) What makes a middle-belter?

You can even break it down further in case you are interested:
(1) What makes a Hausan?
(2) What makes a Fulanian?
(3) What makes an Iboan?
(4) What makes an Ibibian?
(5) What makes an Ishan?
(6) What makes an Ijebun?

. . . . . I am sure you get my drift. . . there are like about 400 individual groups to be studied if you are interested with perculiar traits and idiosyncrasies.

I just read a fantastic piece on the internet this morning as I logged on and found this:
http://www.saharareporters.com/index...cal&Itemid=167

What makes a Northerner? Not rocket science at all sir! Is the Pope "black"?
To answer your questions:



I could list more, but will only give you the best 7. When you introduce a thread with the title "what makes a yorubaner" or "what makes an Iboner", I will gladly oblige you. There is more than enough to go round trust me.

So, you remove the log in your eyes before you start crying fowl. Yes, your leaders are a representation of what YOU are! Just as mine are to me. You don't have to benefit to have some responsibility, if they benefit on your behalf. White people of today are still being harrassed for acts of slavery from over half a century ago. So, suck it up! Just the nature of the game. If we do not hold everyone responsible within a given ethnic group, it defeats the purpose then.

You are just one of the major issues Nigeria has. Get over yourself please.

I think you will find the first statement ''The Story of my Life'' meaning that he can't write the '' The Story Of Your Life''. I don't understand why you expect the writer to write about being a Westerner or a South-easterner clearly of which he is not and if he were to attempt to write about that, it will be summarily rejected because of course he is not but a Northerner. For some us Nigerians, i guess the story will be the same and the divergence will become evident within the Nigerian context.

That was a well-written piece about his personal experience in an increasingly globalised society. If I were to write mine I would go further than he has and talk about being a minority from the north but my point is, people's experience differs and to expect one to write about everyone just don't cut water.

In this situation, you did'nt question his being Black, African or Nigerian ( I assume because you are most likely all of the three), but as a Northerner and Muslim, he had to answer for actions of Northern leaders actions even though at no point in the piece did he seek to absolve the northern leaders of any blame for the misrule of Nigeria so concentrate on the message and give the messenger a break.

[Auspicious]

+

Mr. Suleiman's piece is a deadly smooth rebuke (or shall one call it badly needed enlightenment) that only a wordsmith can unleash upon certain individuals here and elsewhere who for obvious reasons are forever wont to speak in that sweepingly bigoted manner of "Northerners". I congratulate him for finding the time and intellect to put this out here and I hope we all learn from what he has shared with us with that piece.

Still, comments like Katampe's below cannot be ignored for some of the truths (or facts) therein. Reading him, one is reminded all-too-closely about innocent nursing mothers who are chased down and hacked to death, all for daring to enforce the rules for students in the middle of a teaching job she had travelled up North to offer for a paltry sum, compared to what she could have earned in her home state down South.

As stated by the aforementioned commentator, it wasn't just a few street urchins who descended upon that woman to murder her, and it won't be the first time such would happen up there either. Rather, it was about the umpteeth time that a multitude of blood-thirsty street urchins would murder others like that. They sought to kill her and her infant child while chanting "Allahu Akbar!", and succeded - albeit without the child.

Such is the harrowing realities that the black man is faced with, having been poisoned in the mind by foreigners who initially set us against ourselves. Yet, we know two wrongs can never make a right; the only people who benefit from this are the Dark Overlords who continue to engineer and feed these disaffections and animosities to maintain the status-quo through divide-and-rule. So has it been since man learnt the trick.

In a way, those street urchins are victims, too, if we can afford to be honest with ourselves. They are no different from Sierra-Leonan kids sent out to war-fronts witch machetes and AK-47s after being juiced-up on hard-drugs with the order to maim, kill and destroy - only that their 'drug' or 'weapon' here is the Opium of Religion. As Barack Obama preached on his road to power, it is impossible to ignore the pains of either side when it comes to these things.

A time must come when we should find it in us to stop playing right into the hands of our detractors within or without. It is my opinion that the debate begins to be shaped for the better through the approach of people like Mr. Suleiman, because there are Southerners out there who have conditioned themselves to hate the Northerners as a group, and are therefore in need of the kind of enlightenment that comes with piece that the author presented us.

Hate is a terrible thing if left to grow unteethered - or if kept alive at all. And it is not just the perpetrator of hatred who is often afflicted by the disease of hatred, but the victim, too, is often consumed by it as well, such that not only would the problem caused by hate continue to manifest through bully or the original perpetrator, but it often keeps the victim stunted through reverse-hatred. It is NEVER right to finger whole peoples negatively.

That, in my opinion, is the moral of Abubakar's piece - and that is fair enough.

Auspicious.

Originally Posted by katampe

So, Abubakar while you wrote a piece that might sound appealing, it makes for superficial treatment for discerning observers. You must confront the negative attributes within your culture that has made other Nigerians hateful of products from the north. If you must come to equity then you must come with cleans , chikena!

If you can write a persuasive piece as this, then you owe your southern brothers the idea that charity begins at home. You are more positioned within your culture to start making change than a frustrated outsider that has very little understanding of the nuances of your culture. Call it ethnic introspection, fair is game!

[emerald]

What a true confession, it will be good for individuals and the country at large if we can accept our limitation and wrong doing in order to move Nigeria forward. Thanks Abubakar for that insightful write-up

Originally Posted by RAHIM

I think you will find the first statement ''The Story of my Life'' meaning that he can't write the '' The Story Of Your Life''. I don't understand why you expect the writer to write about being a Westerner or a South-easterner clearly of which he is not and if he were to attempt to write about that, it will be summarily rejected because of course he is not but a Northerner. For some us Nigerians, i guess the story will be the same and the divergence will become evident within the Nigerian context.

That was a well-written piece about his personal experience in an increasingly globalized society. If I were to write mine I would go further than he has and talk about being a minority from the north but my point is, people's experience differs and to expect one to write about everyone just don't cut water.

In this situation, you didn't question his being Black, African or Nigerian (I assume because you are most likely all of the three), but as a Northerner and Muslim, he had to answer for actions of Northern leaders actions even though at no point in the piece did he seek to absolve the northern leaders of any blame for the misrule of Nigeria so concentrate on the message and give the messenger a break.

RAHIM my brother, we are not quarreling. When we agree, we will agree. In the meantime, Mr, Abu asked me a question and I answered. I want you to disprove the 7 cardinal points that make up the "Northerner" in Nigeria. Not the neo-colonial kind you find living in Oxford or Harvard, with a re-branded 'ayoka' conscience. . .simple. Do you see what I see in the Northerner? Who told you he is the 'typical' Northerner?

Just the Ribadu or El-Rufai version of "The Northerner". The most dangerous type with too much education.

I ask again, do you see what I see in 'The Northerner'? So, why in the world do you think I would share his sentiments when he is not a representative of the true "Northerner"?

Go to Northern Nigeria and see the real 'Northerner'. Leave all these Ribadu and El-Rufai kinds.

Is Yaradua not a Northerner? Is IBB not a Northerner? Was Abacha not a Northerner? Those are the Northerners I know as the real Nigerians. The ones who have impacted my life and those of unborn generations not the Mr. Abu kind, the internet warrior like my very self. That is my primary concern. Not his being black or muslim. I have to answer questions about such general concepts like terrorism, militancy, ritualism, 419, kidnappings and prostitution as a southerner too, all the time. No problems, according to the famous post by Katampe. Time for ethnic introspection. We can either be honest with ourselves or play the usual harmonious, grama-phonic "KUMBAYA" song NVS, other websites and Nigeria as a whole are so notorious for, without much progress as latter day saints and 'progressives'. This is a time for everyone to do a thorough sweep-search of their "Waziri", "Ayoka", "Turai", or "Akunyili" conscience.

Frankly, not interested in all that jazz! Not my agenda.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Kelechi

Katampe, the dilemma that is Nigeria does not absolve any person or any ethnic group of complicity and blame.

And I thank you too, Kelechi.

Auspicious.

[Tiger]

Abubakar Suleiman, I doff my hat.

Your type of "Northerness" is unibiased and unique. In its uniqueness lies the similarity with the "Southerness" of the Ibos, Edos, Yorubas, etc. In it lies the future of Nigeria.

It is great and touching when a son of Dan Fodio can rise above ethnic limitations and express total affiliation with the "Nigerian spirit", a spirit that should naturally have eveolved after decades of co-existence. In your forthright disposition lies humility. And with this, I owe you a confession. My confession is that the problems of our great nation goes beyond those "Northerners", the killers of a gifted writer and the perpetual lords that keep their people in bondage. The Yorubas, Ibos, Ijaws, Itshekiris, all of us are partly responsible for this Nigerian problem. It is erroneous to thump the chest in jubilation at the confession of a northern son. The solution is to accept that we have all collectively made a mess of the Nigerian dream. The solution is now to sit down as one and seek for a way out of the mess we have created. This is the sincere truth.

Brother Suleiman, I share in your pains. The Nigeria we dreamt of has evaporated, never to be realised in our life time. But we could still try. Try and make it a better place for our children's children. This is a task that must be done. I love Nigeria and I believe that there is still hope.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Simbili

Is Yaradua not a Northerner? Is IBB not a Northerner? Is Abacha not a Northerner? Those are the Northerners I know as Nigerians. The ones who have impacted my life and those of my unborn generations not the Mr. Abu kind.

Yeah, is Obasanjo not a Northerner? Is Tafa Balogun not a Northerner? Tom Ikimi nko? How about the Northerner called Arthur Nzeribe? And we haven't mentioned Northerners like Diepreye Alamieyesheigha and Peter Odili o..

These Northerners...THESE NORTHERNERS!!!!

Auspicious.