Northerners are good examples of leaders
Editor's note: In the last few days the media has been agog following news that the Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY) issued a statement ordering Igbo people in the north to vacate the region within 3 months.
Cham Faliya Sharon in this piece says that Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai has shown that in the midst of provocations and lack of leadership among the provocateurs, there is leadership with compassion, love and understanding.
When terrorist Nnamdi Kanu set up a pirate radio station in April 2015, and started insulting President Buhari and northerners, calling them all manner of unprintable names, no state governor from the Southeast called for the arrest of the cantankerous rabble rouser, instead, as it later turned out, Nnamdi Kanu was just a front being used by Igbo politicians to intimidate, blackmail and subvert the President Buhari administration!
When IPOB grew and became a platform on which every mentally deranged Igbo youth stood to insult the person of PMB and his supporters, we have not seen nor heard any Southeast governor or prominent leader call for caution!
We have heard and seen from certain thugs, militants or terrorists from the South/South and Southeast worst statements of threats and insults against "parasites", usually a euphemism for northerners. But while all those threats and insults lasted, never have we heard or seen any governor from down that side rebuking or ordering the arrest of those miscreants!
READ ALSO: Jonathan sends powerful message to Nigerians after north issues quit notice to Igbos
We have seen how the Southeast hired and commissioned a morally bankrupt hate merchant like Femi Fani-Kayode to be spewing hatred and insults on daily basis against President Buhari and northerners, to the point that an Igbo newspaper, DAILY SUN, gave him a column where he wrote hate-filled articles against PMB and the north, yet not once have we seen or heard any Southeast governor or prominent politician from that region condemn Fani-Kayode or even call for his arrest!
As a matter of fact, northern Nigeria has suffered incalculable insults, denigrations, and all manner of mischief from all such hate mongers since 1966 up to the conversion of Boko Haram to "Boko Haram", and yet there seems to be no letup on the undeserved attacks and insults against the north and its leaders.
What you need to be a "hero" in some quarters is to demonstrate that you are an imp like Femi Fani-Kayode, Ayo Fayose, and Nnamdi Kanu with undying thirst to fan hatred and mischief against PMB, and this visceral hatred against PMB by these sons of Lucifer is simply based on where he comes from, and we all know where their largest fan base is!
In spite of all that, it is condemnable that the Northern Youth Coalition chose to toe the path of IPOB, Femi Fani-Kayode, Ayo Fayose and all the ragtag groups that speak for Terrorist Nnamdi Kanu by calling on the Igbo to leave the north within three months. It is understandable, anyway, the anger and frustration a group of people may feel when they are the subject of hatred and ridicule by people with overrated self importance, but in times like this, it is always expedient to keep a cool head and show leadership in just the same way Governor Nasir el-Rufai showed leadership by asking that those northern youths who asked that the Igbo leave the north be arrested!
However, patriotism in a diverse, multi-ethnic, and multinational country like Nigeria should not, and cannot be a one way traffic. As much as it is wrong for northern youths to ask for the departure of any ethnic group from the south from the north, it is equally much wrong for any group from the south to claim monopoly of sectional bigotry.
I have seen hypocrites celebrating their full scale hypocrisy by condemning what those northern youths coalition said whereas they are well known as ardent supporters of IPOB and their allied groups. Tit for tat ain't good but not everybody can endure persistent, unrelenting insults and regional blackmail.
El-Rufai has shown that in the midst of needless provocations, and dearth of leadership among the provocateurs, there is leadership with compassion, love and understanding. And this is the same El-Rufai every moron that adorns themselves with IPOB flags love to label as Hell-Rufai on social media and Radio Biafra! This is what we call turning the other cheek.
PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigeria’s #1 news app
May God bless him.
Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@naij.com — drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.com’s step-by-step guide for guest contributors.
We’re ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.
Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Naij.com Opinion page!
Watch a NAIJ.com TV video below about the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra Read more: