By JD Ephraim Esq
Anything said about this evil-genius could be true. Sometimes such geniuses could be like the proverbial crocodile who swallows a heavy stone and believes it will help it sink deeper.
There is nothing I will not believe about this evil-genius. He has tampered with the architecture and engineering of Kaduna State between 2015 and now and there may be more tampering by 2023, If God allows him, to reach that time.
An incidental fall-out of his actions and, or inactions, is that most of us have gone spiritual. And we are testing the spirit world, according to our measure of access to it. In this spirit world, there are forces of darkness and forces of light,as well . To them, have been given, all powers, in their measure, by the Almighty Creator.
However, the more superior of the two forces, is that of light. But it is not freely available, in the material world. It depends on our ability to access it in the spiritual realm, as distinct from, the material world. Whoever has better access, controls the material world. Access to the forces of darkness, translates to, control of the material world; however, this can only be temporary. Control of the material world is not ad- infinitum. It does change, according to the personalities. There in lies our hope, to conquer, in the end, no matter the ingenuity of the evil-genius in Kaduna.
By 2015, majority of the people of Kaduna State voted the evil- genius in, because of the hatred of the then incumbent, especially in the Southern part of the State; where the political elite did what is normally known as “anti-party “.It was an all-party thing. Little did we know that the whole state was stepping into the viper’s hole. We did, praying that, even if anything, he would perform the miracle he did in Abuja, when he was Minister. Alas, we were wrong. The miracle he did in Abuja,it would seem, was to make the city become his, his family, friends, and associates, according to the Senates Committee probe of his land administration in the FCT. They thus ,banned him from holding any public office, but he was smart enough to head to court to have it set aside. By that smart act of going to court,, he became “clean”.On being accused of allowing property to self, family, friends, and Associates ,by the Senate’s Probe Committee, he said , ” well, if it is your time to be Minister in Abuja, you can appropriate the city to your enemies “. Well, some of us believe that here, in Kaduna, he is guided by the same philosophy, and thus, may repeat the Abuja “miracle”.
For a start, we know he has sold off, most of the government’s houses. We do not know yet, to who, but ,we may surmise a guess– and say, “to himself, family, and friends.” We pray that this time around, it would not be so.But what we know, for sure, is that, he may not sell it to his “enemies”. Only time will tell.
But that is just a “tip of the iceberg”. We leave the rest for another day, and the judgement of history.
By 2018,it was clear, that this evil- genius, had done enough harm, to the state. But in his calculation, a span of four years, was not enough. He had retired all the the credible politicians, in the state, to prepare the political space, for himself. He almost succeeded. But not totally. That is why we are able to talk and write.
For him to win the 2019 elections, which would have been impossible, but, as intelligent as he was, he embarked ,on the manipulation of religion. He knew the southern part of the state would not vote for him, because of the actions he had taken against their corporate interest, as mostly Christian minorities . He embarked on campaigns in the northern part of the state,for the 2019 elections, claiming he had declared a jihad on the Southern Kaduna State Christians.He came up with a law controlling religious practice and licensing of the clergy. That done with, he descended on their traditional institutions, and abolished tribal Chiefdoms and titles , and reduced their domains to mere towns and villages. He sacked district heads. He uplifted the Chiefdoms of Jere, Kajuru, and Kauru to Islamic emirates. Kachia, Zango Urban in Zangon Kataf Local government, are still in the sleeves, and we are all watching.
Not done with that, he descended on the civil service, sacked the teachers, and many civil servants . Pensions became a play-toy for him. As most Southern Kaduna people are not business men, but civil servants, and teachers, the Hameed Ali’s experience, was visited, on the people ,as most families, went under the economic realm, while most people fell ill,, frustrated and might have died. For those in businesses, he ensured he crumbled their businesses, for instance, the Micro finance banks- a vital link with the active rural poor . These banks were supporting the active poor through loans, but mounting the saddle of power, civil servants that maintained salary accounts in such banks were forced to transfer them to the conventional commercial banks thereby forcing the microfinance banks to become comatosed.
Within a span of four years, he had dealt with southern Kaduna and defeated them, in a “jihad” he unitarily, declared silently.
The evidence could be seen on the ground. What Uthman Danfodio could not do in the 19th century, other than the raids for slaves and slavery, he has now proven that even in the 21st Century, “jihad” was still possible . He had conquered southern Kaduna and raised his “Jihadic flags”. One could see the flags in the new Emirates of Jere,Kajuru and Kauru that were chiefdoms .
Going hand in hand with this is the spade of insecurity, going on, caused by, terrorists who they falsely brand “bandits”. There are also kidnappers, violent crimes, killing, maiming, raping, and burning down of buildings, farms, and whole villages.
Truly, this is what you see in a jihad. But it has fallen short of converting the people to Islam which a true Islamic jihad is supposed to achieve. It will appear the wickedness is not limited to Southern Kaduna alone but the whole state.
Going back to the 2018/2019 electioneering campaigns, it was enough for the evil genius to show what he had done to Southern Kaduna, and the people will believe that truly he had undertaken and almost won a “jihad” .He needed four more years, to complete, and consolidate the “jihad.” Therefore, he went to Zaria and the rest of the people in the Northern side of the State, during the 2019 electioneering campaigns, and said he needed four more years to complete the “jihad”. Our prominent PDP leaders in the northern side were, it would seem, mischievously silenced, through threats of exposure of skeletons in their cupboards, and they submitted to the mischieve .
The final electoral “victory” was done, it would seem, through Compromises and riggings.
Now. then, after the "jihad" of the 2019 elections, what next ? It is consolidation of what he has in store for the state. Then nature struck : and the Emir of Zazzau died. Allahu Akbar. Inna lillahi wa inna illaihi rajiuun. May Allah forgive his shortcomings, and grant him aljanat firdausi. But the evil- genius is not thinking of how he too will end up in this world. He sees every happening, as an opportunity, to restructure and re-engineer society, in his own image. What sane people think is impossible, for him, it is possible. He has to satisfy his interests. Tradition will not count. It is either that he splits the emirate and ignore history ,or he places his own there ,ala Ganduje of Kano.
And so it went. Just like during his first term, when he declared he was fighting a “jihad” against a particular section of the state, the rest of the people later, discovered it was not a real Islamic jihad, but his own version of” political jihad”, against the whole state. Those he said he was conducting the jihad for them, after wining,
became the first victims of the evil genius’ “political jihad” and everybody in the state , without exception, is a victim; victims of ill choice. Religion, being opium of the masses, can be used by ,( not angels), but the devil himself. After all, Christians know that when Jesus, was caught-up in the wilderness, to be tempted by Satan, it is reported that Satan quoted from the Bible.
To the Zaria people, the evil genius fought a “political jihad” purportedly, on their behalf, and they mistook it for the real jihad. At last, they have become the victims: real toys in the power calculus, of the evil- genius. Only time will tell.