SOUTH WILL RISE UP AS ONE TOGETHER WITH OUR BROTHERS IN THE MIDDLE-BELT AGAINST HAUSA/FULANI IF THEY CONTINUE TO KILL OUR PEOPLE.- FANI-KAYODE

The following discussion took place on my Facebook friends page on May 2nd 2016. Since it is already in the public realm I have taken the liberty of.sharing it in my column as well.

Though we have not seen much of each other for a while I have known Alhaji Muktari Shinkafi for the better part of the last 35 years and we are more like brothers than friends.

We spent a lot of time together in our youth and in those heady and blissful days of the early and mid-1980’s when I was still at Cambridge University and when I spent most of my leisure time playing polo at the Lagos Polo Club or at the Guards Polo Club in the U.K., eating caviar and drinking champagne. We had great fun in those days and Nigeria was a much better and happier place than it is now.

At that time Lagos was something of a melting pot and everybody that was anybody in the country had a home there. These were the days before Abuja was built and Lagos was still our nations capital.

Most people were very comfortable then because the naira was still strong at approximately two naira to one dollar. It was often the case that people would travel to London, the South of France or the Bahamas for long weekends with their loved ones and be back in Lagos for Monday morning.

Then of course there was late night chicken suya in Obalende which was always a delight. I wonder if they still have that?

More importantly it really didn’t matter which part of the country you came from or what your religious faith was because nobody cared in those days.

The only thing that mattered was whether you had a good education, a good pedigree and whether you had class. Whether you were a northerner, a southerner, a christian or a Muslim didn’t matter at all. Lagos was home to all and we loved it.




It was in that pleasant setting that Muktari and I became close together with a large number of other Polo Club buffs.

His older brother, a legend in intelligence circles and in the world of spying, the former head of Nigeria’s dreaded spy agency the NSO, a much loved and reverred elder-statesman and the former Presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, the Marafan Sokoto, brought me into politics in 1989 and he was my leader and political mentor for many years.

Simply put Marafan was like a second father to me. He was a an arch-conservative and a man of immense discipline and courage and all of us at the Lagos Polo Club were in absolute awe of him. When he walked in the room with his head held up high there would be pin drop silence as we all stood up.

We were his boys and we were all very proud of that fact. I learnt everything from him from the art of politics to the murky and grey world of espionage.

In addition to that I had the distinct honor and privilage of being appointed as his Special Assistant in 1992 when he ran for the Presidency before General Ibrahim Babangida banned him, General Shehu Musa Yaradua (who was the presidential flagbearer for the rival Social Democratic Party) and all the other “oldbreed” politicians from contesting.

I have nothing but the deepest respect and affection for the Shinkafi family and that remains so till today. I was therefore delighted when Muktari made his contributions on my Facebook wall.

The conversation was prompted by the fact that I posted some graphic pictures of the victims of the Fulani herdsmen in Agatu and Enugu. Those pictures can still be seen on my Facebook friends page.




Muktari did not feel that it was appropriate to post the pictures and the following conversation took place between him and I on the thread.

I believe that it was an interesting discussion which brought out two distinct and separate perspectives (if you like call them the northern and southern ones) to the whole issue of the Fulani herdsmen.

I believe that both sides have something to learn from one another on this issue which is why I chose to share it with my readers. Enjoy!

MUKTARI SHINKAFI wrote:

“Since we already have the Senate and House of Representatives in place, it will be easier to bring the issue next week of dividing Nigeria immediately after the budget issue.

The division of the country should be proposed based on six Geo-political zones based on the following basis and natural / human resources to sustain each zone.

1. South south oil, sea port,
2. South west, service industry, sea port, agriculture
3. South east . Oil,, commerce
4. Middle belt. Agriculture, solid minerals
5. North east. Oil, agriculture
6. North west. Oil, strategic solid minerals, agriculture.

We in the north don’t deserve this negative propaganda and name-calling.

Let us separate peacefully for the sake of our children since even after the separation, we will be surely bonded together by commerce and personal relationship.

We have millions down there that we are friends through business, marriages etc. I don’t think posting these pictures is necessary as no one is sure of their source, they may be accident victims but some people are posting them to propagate messages of hate among us”.

FEMI FANI-KAYODE responded:

“Before I would post such pictures on my wall I have to be certain of their authenticity and in this case I am.

There are other pictures which are far worse and which I cannot post here. My brother, your people kill ours and we are not supposed to even complain about it or let the world know what is happening?