Nigeria's Hidden Monroe Doctrines: The Geopolitical Wars shaping Nigeria
Many people are not aware of the brutal "Monroe doctrine" in Nigeria and how it shaped Nigeria's past and currently shaping Nigeria's future.
What many naive Nigerians especially Yorubas see as "tribal rivalry" is actually a brutal Geopolitical struggle that will determine the future of generations yet unborn.
The greatest weapon of empires is not steel, bullets or drones but the ignorance and stupidity of the ruled and conquered. Those who want you subjugated will never want you to be enlightened Which is why my teachings here should be given priority by anybody of colour especially Yoruba people.
Let us start with the Ijaws, Yes Ijaws! Ijaws have their version of Monroe doctrine and they have used brutal violence to enforce their will in Nigeria via politics or war. Ijaws believe the entire coast and creeks of Southern Nigeria belongs to them. They fought with the Yorubas in Lagos, Ogun and Ondo state between 1996 to 2003 in order to lay claim to the coastal axis of the Yoruba people. They were beaten back by OPC in Ajegunle and the Gwama boys at the Ilaje coast.
Ijaws are currently at it fighting Ibibios over the control of the entire Akwa Ibom coast line.
Go and study the Toru- ebe state that Ijaws are proposing, they literally annexed the entire Ilaje coastline, Itsekiri coastline and Itsekiri homeland into their proposed state and went to submit it to the National assembly for approval. That map is the definition of Manifest destiny and Monroe doctrine wrapped in one piece.
If Nigeria ceases to exist today and the Ijaws moves to enforce that doctrine as they have been proposing for over 30 years, the Ijaws will be at war with the Yorubas, Benins, Ibibios and Ikweeres for the next 50 years on all fronts.
What about the North???? This is one of the most interesting scenario. Ahmadu Bello, the father of modern Arewa nation, set the Monroe doctrine of the Fulanis in stone. It is straightforward, the entire Northern region created by the British colonialists must be controlled politically and ideologically by the Fulanis. When the Tivs, a formidable Ethnic bloc rose up to fight against this evil, Ahmadu Bello used federal might to Annihilate, capture and erase close to 50,000 people in 1961. That incidence was called Tiv riots. This Monroe doctrine is why Arewa elites and Nationalists will deploy billions and if need be violence to Annihilate any form of Middle Belt region and identity. Fulanis want to control the Niger River and the Benue River together with the rich fertile lands of the Non Fulani North because of their agenda for the rebuilding of a Fulanii led Sahelian order.
Arewa wants to have direct borders with the Yoruba nation and the Igbos in case of any eventuality. Therefore, they will not tolerate Ethnic nationalism by ethnic minorities in the former Northern Nigeria. The Nationalism and identity that is tolerated in this axis are Islamic Nationalism, Arewa nationalism and Fulani Nationalism. If you do otherwise, you are considered a Kafir, unpatriotic Nigerian and "an enemy of the North". The current insecurity where bandits of Fulanii extraction are wrecking havoc on ethnic minorities across this former region is intertwined with this Monroe doctrine.
Credit — Oladimeji Bolarinwa MSc, MBA
