By now, every one of us has seen it practically that the Blacks cannot rule themselves. Give them the guns and they will kill one another. They are good in nothing else but making noise, dancing, marrying many wives and indulging in sex. Let us all accept that the Black man is the symbol of poverty, mental inferiority, laziness and emotional incompetence.Isn't it plausible therefore that the White man is created to rule the Black man'' Gabriel Akinadewo, Editor of Nigerian Compass, in his last week Saturday back cover Edition, had copiously quoted late former South African President Pieter Willem Botha, when in 1985 he delivered a weighty speech against the Blacks; part of which I also excerpted. My attention was drawn to this speech particularly because of the goings-on in my country, Nigeria; where brothers are pitted against brothers, husbands against wives, faith against faith, and tribes against tribes. It is a common thing in the world today to have aberrations like the aforementioned, but Nigeria's peculiarity has taken an awful dimension. But was Botha jaundiced in his statements against Blacks' Could the Black hater former South African president have been right to have said all of that about the Blackman' The feud between Iraq and Iran; in deed the Israel-Palestine conflict might be justifiable. These are conflicts between different nations. Nigerian crisis is far from that. Nigeria's crisis is far from nation fighting another nation; rather, it is intra-tribal ' a case of one tribe fighting the other tribe. It is a case of both inter/intra-religious fights. it is a case of some politicians fighting some other politicians; it is a case of several accidental discharges from the armed policemen against the unarmed civilians; it is a case of politically-motivated abductions, assassinations, and court cases. According to the Constitution of Nigeria, the country ought to be a secular state; which is the exclusion of religion from public affairs. Secularism is the belief that religion and religious bodies should have no part in political or civic affairs or in running public institutions, especially schools. Going by that simple definition, can it be said that Nigeria is a secular state at all' In the United Kingdom; that's the country which colonised Nigeria, Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of England does not get herself involved in the affairs of the state; except when her opinion is seldom sought. A lot of people were surprised that the two past Prime Ministers of Britain Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. Gordon Brown were not among the eclectic mix of friends, family, sports stars, politicians and other great personalities included on the list of invited guests of Prince Harry's and Kate's wedding. Though that act which was considered 'insensitive' on the part of the sitting Prime Minister, David Cameron who for reasons best known to him, omitted the names of his immediate predecessors, raised some dust in the Labour Party; but in the long run, heaven did not fall. I'm not sure any African sitting president would dare commit such an oversight without it leading to civil war. In a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society like Nigeria, the best option would have been secularism, but unfortunately, that has been thrown into the dustbin. Boko Haram has been on the rampage maiming and killing innocent Nigerians all in the name of religious fanaticism. Muslims and Christians are preoccupied with killing themselves all in the name of religion. When the missionary first arrived in Abeokuta in Nigeria, killing was not the foundational doctrine. The message they brought was that people should jettison their wicked ways and desist from worshipping idols. Similarly, the tenet of Islam was not based on killing of one's neighbour if they fail to accept Islam. Rather the message was that people should stop worshiping idols and embrace Islam. Both religions, much that I know, teach tolerance, morals, way of life, and faith in God ' the ultimate. Both religions, though good enough for the salvation of mankind, were brought to Nigeria from Europe and the Middle East. Brothers don't kill brothers in Saudi Arabia and Rome; all because of religion. How then did we get to this abysmal level, where some guys under the umbrella of pseudo-religion would resort to killing and maiming of innocent citizens' What then might be the problems of Nigerians' Why can't they live in harmony' Why can't they tolerate each other's religions and ways of life' Why would anybody think that he can fight for God' Methinks it is God who fights for man and not the other way round. According to Nigeria's constitution, Nigerian leaders ought to be practising Federalism. But are they doing that' Do we really have real federating states' If anything at all, the system of government being practised in Nigeria could at best be regarded as a unitary system ' which gives absolute power to the centre; as against the states which make the federating units. This aberration, no doubt, has reduced all the state governors and administrators alike to beggars; going cap in hand to Abuja to collect their monthly allocations from the Federation Account. That I think should be called Unitary Account. What a shame! Botha went on to say that: 'The old trick of divide and rule is still very valid today. Our experts should work day and night to set the Black man against his fellowman. His inferior sense of morals can be exploited beautifully. And here is a creature that lacks foresight. There is a need for us to combat him in long-term projections that he cannot suspect.' This portion of Botha's evil speech against the Black race should remind Africans and indeed Nigerians of the Indirect Rule introduced in Northern Nigeria by Sir Fredrick Lugard between 1899 and 1906. The simple translation of this is that Lugard instituted a system whereby external, military, and tax control was operated by the British while other aspect of life was left to the local pre-colonial aristocracies who had taken sides with the British during their conquest. Thus, there was domination by a tiny group pf foreigners over a huge black population aided and abetted by another aristocratic cabal in the North. That soon spread to the South, where they were called warrant chiefs; even though the system was not successful. But the adverse effect of the indirect rule in Nigeria is that the system soon marginalised the young intelligentsia. The effect of this on Nigerian system is that few feudalists; if you like call them politicians, can easily manipulate the psyche of the youths into committing heinous crime ' all in the name of religion. Today, the only news we read on the pages of newspapers is: '18 feared dead with scores injured in Kaduna blast ' CAN disagree on cause and Military denies complicity in Boko Haram's attack; National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) kill members in Ibadan; Gunmen kill Police Inspector in Maiduguri; four policemen arrested over DPO's killing in Abia; Fresh kidnappings in South-East; Police rent rifles to robbers at N.2 million per operation; fuel subsidy removal has come to stay; three killed in Delta violence. The list is endless. Could the evil statement of Botha that they (White) should give them (Blacks) guns, and they will kill themselves be true' Could it be true that Blacks have mental inferiority; that the average Black does not plan his life beyond a year' Could it be true as Botha said that; though Blacks may look like human beings and act like one, but does not necessarily make them sensible human beings
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