Prof. Nwabueze, Chidoka, FFK, Peter Obi…The New “Hausa Fulani Slaves” In Our Midst -By Churchill Okonkwo

Hausa Fulani Slave! Hausa Fulani Slave! Hausa Fulani Slave! Hausa Fulani Slave! That and so much more vileness was the backlash that some of us had to contend with for supporting Buhari is 2015. Now that those who supported Buhari and those currently supporting Atiku Abubakar are all “Hausa-Fulani Slaves”, I welcome my brothers Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Peter Obi, Osita Chidoka, Ike Ekweremadu, FFK, et.al and my sisters Chidimma, Ifeoma, Chisom, et.al to the world of Hausa Fulani slavery, with love.

To open this love letter to my Igbo brothers (including FFK) and sisters with this words that I have was not done in haste. It was not easy and I gave a serious thought to whether I should open with such a repulsive derogatory epithet “Hausa-Fulani Slave.” Why give power even inadvertently, to the demeaning words and its destructive discourse? The answer is simple; truth must be told and political hypocrites must be exposed and ridiculed.

So, my aim here is certainly not to give power to the destructive discourse but to lay bare the ugliness of the politics of bigotry and hypocrisy. If you like, you can call me a truth teller or someone who dares to hold a disagreeable mirror up to my brothers and sisters and ask that they take a long and hard look without fleeing, running away or threatening to expel nonconforming voices from closed WhatsApp groups.

Churchill Okonkwo

The truth can hurt, stun, unsettle, and unnerve. And yet, the truth must be told. For years, we complained about the dangers of embracing IPOB, a group that is anchored on bigotry, fear-mongering and promotion of hate speech. Osita Chidoka and FFK called us names and labeled “Hausa Fulani slaves”; Ekweremadu whipped up ethnic sentiments to remain relevant; Peter Obi courted Nnamdi Kanu and lied with sincerity as he positioned himself for the VP slot. Now that we are all “Hausa-Fulani Slaves”, the truth is emerging that these deceitful political hypocrites were waiting for an opportunity to swallow their vomit.

After years of derogating everything “North”, imagine Osita Chidoka opening his campaign speech for Atiku by first telling Ndigbo that, “I, too, am a Hausa Fulani Slave”. Imagine Senator Ike Ekweremadu, telling Ndigbo that he cries at night for not being selected to serve his Hausa Fulani master, Atiku. Imagine Peter Obi telling Ndigbo that he is very happy to have been the chosen one from the Jewish tribe of Africa to serve a descendant of Usman dan Fodio. Imagine FFK apologizing to his IPOB fan base for deceiving them. I imagine these new Hausa-Fulani slaves having the decency to tell the parents of Igbo youths that died for in the streets of Aba and Onitsha that they are sorry.

If someone you hate has a rash, you call it leprosy, forgetting that all grapes are sour. After years of propagation of hate-filled message stuffed with fear against Hausas and Fulanis, a person of, Atiku, a Hausa-Fulani shows up and the hate and curses disappeared. The professional politicians that used IPOB and the “messiah” Nnamdi Kanu have suddenly abandoned him and his “Biafra or death” nonsense and started following a new god residing at the foot of Adamawa Highlands.

Sure, the fly follows the person who is carrying a smelly stuff. For months, Chidoka rode on the back of IPOB and Kanu en route his disastrous run for Anambra State governorship election. He appeared in courts, with FFK on a red cap, a disrespect to one of the most valued Igbo cultural identity. But when a fly with smelly stuff Atiku surfaced, FFK and Chidoka not only transformed to Atiku’s Otimkpu (megaphones), they now laugh at IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu when they say that Biafra will not partake in any election in Nigeria.

A woodpecker says that after his parents die he will break off the trunk of the apü tree, but after they have died, a boil grows in his mouth. For years, the supporters of Southeast PDP bragged that they will stop the descendants of Usman dan Fodio from completing their march down south to the Atlantic coast of Lagos. They used hate-filled comments on social media to malign the poor man from Daura who is content with life in his small hut in the village. However, when faced with the crucial challenge of choosing between a humble versus greedy Usman dan Fodio descendant, they embraced the greedy Atiku with a record of land-grabbing in parts of Lagos Ports. What an irony.

When the baby wren is growing, it looks like it would be bigger than its mother. When the latest entrants to political slavery in Nigeria were basking under the illusion stopping Usman dan Fodio descendants, they forgot that a noisy show does not imply knowledge. Ndigbo have a saying that a wise man in Aba is a fool in Abba. A wise man who spent 4 years derogating a descendant of Usman dan Fodio in Daura over an ancient Fulani war of 1809 only to embrace a descendant of Usman dan Fodio that has already reached the coast of Lagos is the real slave.

Osita Chidoka, FKK, Peter Obi, Ekweremadu et.al are political hypocrites whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of greed that they are ruthless in their use of deceit to attain power. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the looted money simultaneously, they may keep us the common citizens in eternal subjection. These men and their co-hypocrites and bigots are like the fowl that refused to eat praying mantis because they do not want to die. Yet, they won’t let praying mantis be, because they don’t want to starve to death.

I opened this article, with that ugliest taunt to let prof Nwabueze, Osita Chidoka, Peter Obi, FFK, Ike Ekweremadu and the rest of my brothers and sisters know, with love, that we are now all “Hausa Fulani Slaves”. The moral of this piece is that if we cannot stand together in brotherhood while disagreeing on personal political alignment as Ndigbo in Nigeria, we can, at least respect one another as “Hausa-Fulani slaves”.

On a final note, the Hausa-Fulani slaves worshiping an aggressive, greedy and dangerously corrupt descendant of Usman Dan Fodio in the person of Atiku have eaten their vomit and should bury their heads in shame. Like a onye ite, a clay-pot retailer, they will soon realize that they are not in business. But, should they ever embrace the leprous IPOB after losing the 2019 election, my good Lord and their Chukwu Okike Abiama will whip them mercilessly. Until then, let us enjoy our “slavery”, together in brotherhood and love.

You can email Churchill at Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or follow on Twitter @churchillnnobi