“If you go to court you will win but there will be war and Nigerians will be massacred. Please accept the results as the will of God”- Sultan of Sokoto to Atiku Abubakar.
The words above have been attributed to the Sutan of Sokoto and understandably they have caused quite a stir. He has not refuted them and consequently I assume that they are his words. If he really said them, my response is as follows.
I have immense respect for the Sultan of Sokoto and those he represents but I am constrained by the Living God to ask the following questions.
Who is afraid of war? Are we not at war already? Why didn’t the author of these words tell Buhari not to go to court after he lost in 2003, 2007 and 2011?
The election was rigged and under Buhari, over the last three years and nine months, innocent and defenceless people have been slaughtered all over the north whilst the south has been castrated, cheated, enslaved and robbed of its future and destiny. All this yet you are saying that we should just accept it in order to avoid being massacred and in order to avoid war?
When our brothers and sisters in the Lord are being slaughtered and murdered in cold blood what more do we have to lose? Are we not already at war? Have we not been robbed of our rights, freedom, dignity and heritage already? Have we not been reduced to nothing and rendered powerless? What more do we have to lose?
Our votes don’t count! Our protestations don’t count! Our lamentations don’t count! Our tears don’t count! Our sorrow doesn’t count! Our pain doesn’t count! Our suffering doesn’t count! Our humiliation doesn’t count!
Nothing counts or speaks for us anymore!
You have stripped us bare and taken everything from us. Yet you expect us to just sit there and take it and threaten us with war when we wish to insist on our lawful and constitutional rights?
This is not about Atiku. It is about those he represents and those that have put their trust in him and given him a mandate! He is their only hope. And woe betide him if he betrays that mandate or their trust! If MKO Abiola could stand for what was right up until the end and insist on his mandate, even though it cost him everything, so must Atiku Abubakar.
If some believe that the only way they can preserve the peace is by threatening the rest of us with war, lauding it over us and turning us into quislings, appendages and cowardly sub-humans then damn their peace and let them keep it.
Nobody wants war except those sadists that take pleasure in massacring others at the drop of a hat in the name of faith or tribe. Nobody wants war except those that seek to strip and deny others of their rights and dignity and turn them into slaves.
Wars are fought in order to protect those rights and to ensure justice, fairplay, equity and freedom. They are fought in order to resist evil. If that is what we have to do in order to restore, redeem and defend the lives, pride, dignity and liberty of our people then so be it.
We shall not look for war or provoke it because it is a terrible thing that no sane person would desire or pray for. However, if it is thrust upon us by the delusional, bloodthirsty and misguided elements in our midst and that hold sway in our nation we shall not kneel down passively and beg them or run away from it.
This country belongs to us all. We shall never accept subjugation, slavery and servitude as being our portion. We would rather die first. And neither can we be intimidated by any empty boasts or threats of massacre and war.