Obasanjo’s failure to recognise at the initial stage the dangers posed by the introduction of sharia and boko haram and deal with them decisively was a serious blunder that has actually strengthened the grip of caliphate loyalists on power at the centre

For example, over seventy percent of his SMC and the General Officers Commanding (GOCs) were northerners. Buhari’s military dictatorship was so blatantly pro-caliphate that, shortly after the coup, it kept Alhaji Shagari under house arrest at a federal government facility in Ikoyi whereas his deputy, Dr. Ekwueme was thrown into Kirikiri prison.

Now, northern hardliners led by Lt. Col. Murtala Ramat Mohammed wanted full-blown war as the “final solution” to teach the Igbo a brutal lesson and consolidate the north’s domination of federal power, whereas Gowon saw the looming confrontation as an opportunity to cut the “arrogant and ambitious” Ojukwu down to size.

The non-implementation of the Aburi accord by the federal military government heralded the end of the concept of regional autonomy and self-sufficiency in Nigeria, leading to the consolidation of caliphate colonialism

The policy of encouraging Northerners to become professional soldiers bore fruit some years afterwards: some of the students Ibrahim Tako Galadima, Yakubu Gowon, Zakariya Maimalari and others, persuaded to enter the army, played significant roles in the consolidation of loathsome coup culture and military dictatorship in Nigeria.

That said, it is a classic case of human fallibility that two world class political philosophers, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, failed to rise above their personal egos, rivalries, animosities and disagreements in order to neutralise and thwart Sir Ahmadu Bello’s vainglorious Islamic theocratic intentions for Nigeria.

Before independence most prominent northern politicians preferred the north to the entire country, and they did not change their obsessive fixation with the region even after independence

Unfortunately for the sycophants who propped up Abacha as an “indispensable messiah,” death is not a respecter of persons: the leviathan died suddenly and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar succeeded him

If Buhari does not see himself first and foremost as President of the federal republic of northern Nigeria, how come virtually all the major security agencies are headed by muslims from northern Nigeria, as if southerners do not have qualified personnel to fill those positions?

It is well known that the biggest selling point of Muhammadu Buhari as a presidential candidate in the last election was his reputation as an anti-corruption crusader which he attracted to himself when he and late Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon ruled Nigeria with iron fists from December 31, 1983, to August 27, 1985. Indeed, it was really one of the ironies of Nigeria’s convoluted democratic experience that Buhari’s presidential ambition in 2015 was supported by some wily politicians who previously opposed his previous attempts to be elected President not only because of his confirmed clannish and dictatorial orientation but, also, in the words of Alhaji Bola Tinubu, he represents “expired leadership.”