Barr. Leonard Dan Nzadon in defense of ethnic nationalities has issued a reply to refute the points advanced on him in his writeup of 30th June 2024 on a vexed subject; that the other ethnic nationalities of Adamawa State were docile or collaborators with the Murtala Nyako administration and beneficiaries of its largesse while some of the nouveau defenders of freedom were in the trenches.
In the first place, this begs the question. We never saw any write up from that quarter which resisted the attempts at demographic change of the indigenous ethnic population and land grabbing by the other ethnic group under the Nyako administration. In the second place, this is merely an excuse by people who know that the evidence of historical and existing illustrations of oppression and marginalization of the indigenous ethnic nationalities by their people, is overwhelming.
“Let them show us proof of how they resisted these blatant expressions of superiority and total insensitivity to the plight of the other ethnic nationalities as they are doing today. Their failure to do so in the past but their quick action to condemn the peaceful assembly and association of the Gongola ethnic nationalities in the present, only leaves the impression in the minds of reasonable people that they are despite their vaunted credentials not different from their other fellows and only apologists for their cause and ethnic jingoists.” He pointed out.
Leonard described It as a law of oppression and suppression throughout history to use lackeys from among the subjugated peoples to keep their oppressors perpetually in bondage. Moreover, the oppressor will always devise ways to maintain his position by employing a strategy of divide and rule among the oppressed. Power mongers always seek and find tools they can use and discard among the people they lord it over. The historical evidence for this proposition does not need any substantiation. It is trite. The only surprise is that it is offered as an argument in refutation of our position in the Gongola People’s Forum.
It is worth noting, he said, “If the examples we cited were merely historical, one would be justified to argue that these things are in the past and we should make a clean break with the past and forge ahead into the future based on the principles of justice, equality, fairness and democracy. But these tendencies and proclivities persist and are being perpetuated to this day. And there is nothing more demeaning and humiliating than for one ethnic group that did not subjugate the majority of these hitherto autochthonous ethnic groups of Gongola People’s Forum before the coming of the Colonial administration and who do not possess any distinctive superiority over them, to continue to lord it over the peoples of Gongola Forum merely because of the Colonial contraption of Indirect Rule”.
Our argument is that these injustices still persist most glaringly but we have never heard their concerned voices raised in opposition to their brothers as they are doing now when all that the Gongola People’s Forum has done is for its Members to exercise their fundamental constitutional right to peaceful assembly and association.
The records of the opposition of the ethnic nationalities to the insensitive and derogatory treatment of the other group highlighted in the first write up, are in the public domain. Our Papers delivered and Memoranda submitted during public discourse bear us out. During the MAMSER days under the Military Regime in 1987, at a public function in the Federal Secretariat Yola, the ethnic nationalities came out to kick against the practice up to that time, of appointing Ambassadors and Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria only from members of this minority ethnic group while there were many equally qualified or even better qualified candidates from the other ethnic nationalities.
The struggle for the autonomy of the different ethnic nationalities who were independent peoples before Colonial Rule, is still ongoing. Why are the Marghi, Kamwe (Higgi), Fali,Gude, Njainyi, Hoba (Kilba), Gaanda, Bura, Yungur, Yandang and many other ethnic groups still under the control of this other ethnic group merely because the Colonial Administration for their own convenience employed Indirect Rule as a system of administration ?
“Why on earth would the Hoba (Kilba) ethnic nationality that has one of the largest populations in Adamawa State,one of the richest human resource base not only in this State but in the Country at large and had their own distinct traditional system of kingship before the advent of Colonial Rule, still be subservient to the Adamawa Emirate in 2024 in an Independent Nigeria merely because the Colonial Administration brought them under the Emirate system for its administrative purposes ? And to think that when a Democratically elected government of the defunct Gongola State gave them their autonomy among other of our ethnic nationalities in 1982, this group with its cohorts at the National level, promptly dissolved the Chiefdoms under the Military Administration in 1984.”
Again when the highly progressive Military Administration of Gongola State saw the patent injustice in the setup and granted autonomy to the Hoba (Kilba) ethnic nationality in 1987, this group again with support from the Central government, callously reversed this right (not a privilege) in 1988.
He further questioned if the said group will ever willingly surrender the right of autonomy of these ethnic nationalities to the Gongola Peoples? The answer he said is not even a guess but a categorical ‘NO’. They neither possess the disposition, historical and statesman acumen nor the will to do so. It must be wrested from them.
Therefore, they are quick to attack in a most ferocious manner any move they think threatens these vested interests.
Barr. Leonard pointed out that the continuous gathering of the Gongola People’s Forum is not a threat to any man or people of goodwill with a sense of justice and fairplay among the members of the other ethnic group.In fact such people should join us in the trenches instead of piloting us.
Our struggle will be hollow and pyrrhic if it is achieved only for us to behave like they are doing. We are willing to sit at the table of civilized societies with our brothers from the other side who believe in the principles of freedom, justice, equality, fairplay, equity and democracy to chart a future for our State and build a Nation where no man is oppressed. However, the vestiges of exclusivity and privilege that characterized their reign and control must be dismantled to set a clean platform for an all-inclusive society.
He spoke on the vigorous and desperate attempts to muzzle and deny the Gongola People’s Forum their right to peaceful assembly and association by our detractors before and on the very day of the Grand Reception and Awards Event and this failed woefully.
He recounts an attempt on a media blitz to discredit the Gongola People’s Forum through pictures of an allegedly empty square at the time the reception ended. This fiction and myth peddled of an allegedly failed sectional enterprise, also failed woefully because of the overwhelming evidence in black and white, of the resounding success of the event.
They neither apologized for their public mischief and false propaganda nor did they desist from their assault as further attempts were carried out. Our detractors and transducers resorted to a campaign of blackmail and calumny which clearly underscores the point of the gathering of the Gongola People’s Forum that these people do not mean well for us.
” Their minds are made up and they will not be persuaded by the evidence. It is an insult, sheer hubris and an affront to the Members of the Gongola People’s Forum for the Members of this ethnic group to think that any position attained in public service is by dint of their benevolence. It is not only outrageous but altogether tragic that apparently reasonable and sensible people can think in this manner. We shall consider such an affront directed at any one of us as an attack on all of us. The era of privilege, entitlement and economic rent is over in this State,by the grace of God. Nothing qualifies any of you to think that when a qualified, competent and experienced member of the Gongola People’s Forum is appointed to a public office while one of yours holds sway, you are doing us a favor. Banish the thought. It is our right as free, qualified and equal citizens of Nigeria. Nevertheless, there is still hope for you to give up the self-destructive path on which you have embarked and appear determined to entrench.” He stated
However, he added, “Let it be known by our detractors and transducers that in spite of the historical and ethnic gang up with their kith and kin at the National level and some of the other States in the North of Nigeria, to continue to lord it over the other groups, we can neither be intimated nor silent. We will continue to speak even from the grave when eventually comes as it will to join our ancestors.
“The justice of our cause is undeniable. Our people are not a conquered race. There is no basis whatsoever for the continued subjugation of the Gongola People’s Forum by a minority group that had historically sought to decimate them. Sadly, today they still continue to invent ways to emasculate the Gongola People’s Forum by allegations of separatism when they cry for a breath of fresh air, move their kith and kin from West Africa into the traditional lands of an autochthonous people and seek to impose their own as Traditional Rulers over the hitherto unconquered Gongola people. And this is a democracy too where they are a minority. Talk of inclusivity or impunity and insensitivity. But in this contest, we, the indigenous People of Gongola, will not be muzzled and will neither blink nor stutter.”.