Attention Ambassador Campbell: North is pampered, not alienated
By Ochereome Nnanna I READ Martins Oloja’s front page story on The Guardian (Monday, June 24th, 2013) with interest and decided to put in a word. Oloja, the Editor of the newspaper, interviewed Ambassador John Campbell in Washington DC. Campbell was the chief envoy of the United States of America in Nigeria. When he was through with serving his country, he wrote a controversial book: Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink. Campbell describes himself as “a friend of Nigeria”, who is so concerned for the unity of the country that he opted to speak “the truth” about the situation in a country bedevilled by instability and threatened with an uncertain future. The aspect of the diplomat’s assertions that tickles my interest is his contention that the “core North” (Arewa, or the Muslim North) is “alienated”. He is concerned that Nigeria’s leaders are not doing enough to address the “discrepancies in the social statistics” that portray “alienation” of the region. These, he insinuates, manifest in viol...
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