Politicians should stop diving us

During my service year in the NYSC
in Owerri, Imo State we went to
the market one day to buy some
tomatoes to prepare soup, but we
discovered that price of tomatoes
had suddenly risen. We enquired
why, and we were told that it was
as a result of the crises in Jos,
Plateau State then. This shows how
dependent the rest of Nigeria is to
the food supply from the North.
Some of us from the South has
been brainwashed into holding the
opinion that the South actually
feeds the rest of Nigeria especially
the North cannot survive without
oil money. Our leaders in the South
who are predominantly Christians
have made us to believe that the
North who are predominantly
Muslims have an issue with a
Christian being the President of this
country. Hence, the mentality of
“born to rule”.
If any region or part of Nigeria is
to be said to be feeding the others,
I think it is the region that
produces more than 75 percent of
the food and about 80 percent of
the fruits that we all eat in this
country and beyond. Northern
Nigerian produces bulk of the
vegetables for Nigeria. Earlier this
year, I had a stop in Okene, Kogi
State on my way to Benin, Edo
State. Standing close to the main
road for about an hour, I had
counted more than 50 trucks each
of them either loaded with fruits
and vegetables, Yams, bags of
beans, rice, maize and other food
stuffs being conveyed from the
Northern part of Nigerian to the
South-East and South-South. I
stood there wondering how the rest
of this country would survive if the
Northerners refuse to send us food
just for one week. Our leaders from
the south should stop deceiving us
by hiding the truth. They should be
patriotic enough to tell the young
generation that the North is
actually the feeding the South.
I have heard several of our leaders
from the South in some fora say
that President Jonathan does not
need votes from the North to win
his re-election in 2015. Instead of
playing politics based on issues and
appealing to our Northern brothers
and sisters to vote for Jonathan
again, our Southern politicians
have resorted to playing politics of
hate, bitterness and segregation.
An average Southern youth
believes that the North hates
President Jonathan. Even some of
the Northerners serving in the
Presidency are giving us that false
impression just to gain the “trust”
of Mr. President. Our leaders
should stop the politics of hate and
tell their people the truth. The
North actually contributed more
than 8 million votes to President
Jonathan election in 2011, if
Northerners hates the south as
some of the leaders claim then how
come more than 8 million
Northerners voted for the
emergence of President Jonathan in
the last general election?
I have watched one of the
prominent politician from the
South-South on a TV Station say
that the North and of course
Muslims have ruled this country for
more than 40 years. This is what
they have brainwashed their
youths with. I wonder if military
incursions should be regarded as
part of conventional rulership? Our
people in the South should be
educated that Northern Muslims
have no hatred against the South
or Christians in general. General
Aguiyi Ironsi was a Southern
Christian, who ruled the Country
for close to 6 months, General
Yakubu Gowon is a northern
Christian who ruled for about 9
years, General Olusegun Obasanjo
is a Southern Christian who ruled
for close to 3 years, Chief Ernest
Shonekan is a Southern Christian
who ruled on the interim for about
3 months, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
is a Southern Christian who ruled
for another 8 years and President
Goodluck Jonathan is another
Southern Christian who has ruled
Nigeria since 2009 till date.
President Jonathan is not the first
Christian that have ruled this
country, so our dear Southern
Politicians should stop promoting
politics of hate, bitterness,
acrimony and religion. Canvassing
votes is a matter of persuasion and
not by force. So stop dividing
Nigeria along religious and ethnic
line just for the purpose of elections
and resource control. We are all
brothers; North, West, East and
South, Christians or Muslims. we
are all Nigerians first, we all
depend on each other, no region or
part of this country can survive
alone and no part of this nation is
superior to the other. Politician
have divided us enough, it is time
for us to duel more on the values
that unites