“One SIMPLY does not know what gives all these analysts, pundits and commentators and their patrons/sponsors the drive to go on…even when they seem to get it wrong all the time. From as long ago as 1993, they have predicted the disintegration of the country, civil war, refugee crisis, a violent revolution and all of that. All of that academic nonsense which they tend to bandy about scarcely stands the reality check when compared to the facts on the ground. As a matter of fact, they end up betraying crass ignorance.

First of all, by accident rather than by design, christians are far more numerous (arguably 60-65%) than muslims in the Nigerian Armed Forces. Even as each state presents a similar number of officer-cadets and recruits for military enlistment, the fact that the South and the Middle Belt are christian-dominated already confers an unnatural advantage to the said religious group. Within the states, there is no quota system and in many states of Northern Nigeria, youths from the non-Hausa/Fulani christian groups have traditionally looked to the military, paramilitary and police services as a means of finding gainful employment. The more empowered and overwhelmingly muslim Hausa/Fulani have always preferred careers in non-military/security vocations, working as technocrats, administrators, businessmen, corporate players and industrial production.

Even in the NorthEastern and NorthWestern Nigeria, you will surprisingly find that a huge chunk of the militarymen come from the the non-muslim, non-Hausa/Fulani areas – the southern parts of Kebbi, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi and Borno states and the predominantly christian Taraba and Adamawa states (ethnic Jukun, Kuteb, Bachama,Chamba, Mumuye etc). That adds up to the national total. It is a fact which any officer or soldier, serving or retired, can factually attest to. It happened by accident, not by design. The military has remained the guardian of the secularity of the Nigerian Federation and will STILL be the ramrod used in combating any armed religious uprising. That Army has proven time and again that it is FAR more than a most competent match for armed religious zealots anywhere across this federation. It has ALWAYS gained a swift and decisive upper hand in all violent interreligious conflicts, some of which spanned several towns and cities in the North and the South and were so violent that each episode ended with casualty figures numbered in the thousands and surpassing the casualty figures in many a civil war the world over. But we are still holding firm.

Very notable examples include, but are not limited to, the Maitatsine religious uprisings in the 1980s and the Taliban this decade, the 1980s IBB-era religious conflicts across the NorthWest which the FMG termed the ‘civilian equivalent of an attempted coup d’etat’, the Reinhard Bonnke in 1991, Zangon Kataf crisis in 1992, the Kaduna and Kano religious riots of the 2000-2002, the Yelwa-Shendam and Jos crises of the 2000s, the Numan religious conflict,the crosscountry Miss World-inspired riots and the Danish cartoons riots of the 2004). The reality indicates that the country has SINCE developed mechanisms for quickly containing these outbreaks of violence. but we are black men in here so they are bound not to realise that. Is it still an issue whether or not India will survive her own internal ethnoreligious and religious contradictions, for example?So what are the pundits again yapping about really?

If dem nuh sabi wetin dem dey yarn, mek dem bring money mek we show dem how e go be. They have misled their citizens and governments with groundless gibberish for long enough as things stand, even as they surprisingly are still so well-patronised…panic-button pushers(such as these MPs), pundits and watchers alike.”