Some months ago during an online encounter with someone who considers himself to be a member of Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s political and ethnic establishment, I had an exchange that went roughly along these lines:
Me: “Wasting money on infrastructural white elephants in economically unviable areas of Nigeria should be an impeachable offense.”
Him: “If they were white elephants, the president would not approve them. He is the president, so he has Nigeria’s best interests at heart.”
Me: “Putting aside the so-called “best interests” for a moment, I don’t see how winning an election is proof that someone knows anything about economics or governance or allocation of resources. I would be much happier with Nigeria if there was a mechanism to select leaders based on specific competencies in addition to simply winning a popularity contest every 4 years.”
When used in Nigeria’s unique political context, this simple phrase that literally means “Dear God,” signals to its intended audience that whatever issue is under consideration (say a Boko Haram attack for example), is now the subject of divine action.
Him: “I know what you’re trying to say. You’re saying the North shouldn’t monopolise the presidency using our population, but let me tell you – we all have our part to play in Nigeria. The West is good at education and intellectualism, the East is good at business and enterprise, and the North is good at administration and governance. That’s why the British gave power to the North.”
“The British gave it to us”
I used that exchange to open this article because it is a useful way of understanding the political philosophy that animates the entire upper half of Nigeria and by extension the Nigerian state that it currently controls. To the uninitiated, the sentiments expressed by my counterparty in this exchange are crude, parochial, silly and based on nothing at all. To those in the know however, these thoughts are genuine political beliefs at the centre of the so-called Arewa political and cultural establishment.
Read also: Buhari’s inept political leadership and Nigeria’s relapse into totalitarianism
To understand this, it is key to grasp the fact that “leadership” in fact, means different things to different people in Nigeria. By and large, to people in Nigeria’s south, the mental image conjured by political leadership includes fabulous wealth, social status and an opportunity to govern or misgovern in line with one’s ideological leanings. In the northern half of Nigeria however, political leadership means something else altogether.
Political leadership of the Nigerian state, according to the Arewa socio-political doctrine, is analogous to the political leadership of Uthman Dan Fodio, obtained after a bloody and bitterly fought Jihad. That leadership is not one of consensus, community engagement or any need for competence. It is a leadership bestowed from the top-down, and which is only accountable to its uplines, as against the people being governed.
To this political establishment, the fact that the British allegedly handed over political control of the newly independent Nigerian state to them is analogous to how the Shehu appointed his sons, cousins and nephews as satraps over the conquered territories of northern Nigeria. It is a divinely bestowed eternal grace that is above being questioned by the people – to question it is to commit the blasphemy of questioning God himself. Very importantly – and this is something the southern half of Nigeria
consistently fails to understand – it is not only those at the helm of that establishment who believe in it. The ordinary Aisha and Adamu on the street do emphatically believe in it as well – sometimes even more so than their “divinely anointed” leaders.
If one understands this background, it becomes easy to grasp how the reaction of the same group of people to the same type of oppression and insecurity can be so markedly different – “Get this chancer out of Aso Rock!” in the case of one president, and “Ya Allah! May God fish out the culprits” in the case of another.
According to an SBM Intelligence report, between January and November 2020, there were 142 incidents in the Boko Haram insurgency in NE Nigeria, an average of 13 a month. At least 1,606 people were
killed in the 125 fatal incidents, an average of 13 per incident. In response to these horrible events, was there anything like the amount of (rightful) condemnation that met ex president Goodluck Jonathan’s mishandling of the same security crisis? From my perspectives as an avid media reader as well as a media insider, I can tell anyone for free that the answer is a resounding no.
There was however, a lot of “Ya Allah!”
“Ya Allah” – The ultimate African dog whistle
When analysing the “Ya Allah” phenomenon from the point of view that originates from south of Lokoja, something we often miss is that it is not merely a way for northern Nigeria’s political leadership to escape responsibility for disastrous poverty and Hollywood movie-style insecurity and unrest. The phrase carries out that function impeccably, but it also carries out a very important secondary function that often escapes notice.
Think about it: If your point of views on political leadership is as an end goal and a lifetime achievement in itself, and it automatically classifies all criticism of said leadership as hostile threats to be subdued, then what tool do you need to further reinforce such a belief in people’s minds? You need a catchphrase. A trigger word. A slogan. You need a dog whistle. And “Ya Allah” contains the ingredients of the ideal dog whistle.
It is a religious statement, an ethnic calling card and a political statement all at the same time. When used in Nigeria’s unique political context, this simple phrase that literally means “Dear God,” signals to its intended audience that whatever issue is under consideration (say a Boko Haram attack for example), is now the subject of divine action. God has been invoked, case closed. Leave it to Him. Don’t question God.
It also reminds them that the neo-Dan Fodio political structure is on trial here, and must not be questioned. That is why Ya Allah cannot be invoked for a military general-turned-president named Olusegun Obasanjo but it can be invoked for the same thing whose name is Muhammadu Buhari. Ya Allah is possibly the most misunderstood and multilayered dog whistle on the African continent. It is not in fact, a cowardly, mealy-mouthed expression of self-pity, as many from Nigeria’s southern half believe it is.
It is in fact a bold, defiant political statement that reaffirms that a particular political formation is and will remain in power, regardless of what the rest of us think about it. It is a statement that reaffirms that regardless of whatever snarky tweets some of us compose in response to news of insecurity from Nigeria’s north, said constituency does not in fact see itself as a victim, and rather sees those things as the frustrated ranting of a conquered southern enemy.
How on earth then, do you solve a problem as seemingly unsolvable as this?
How indeed.
