Four hundred people were killed by meningitis in our country in the last few days.

Apart from Afenifere, the OPC and a number of noble and courageous elders and leaders hardly anyone else from the south west has spoken up publicly for the Ifes and the Yoruba in this matter and that is a crying shame

On March 28th a hitherto unknown northern group known as the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, through its spokesman, one Yerima Shetima, had the nerve and effontry to accuse Afenifere and the Yoruba nation of a "subtle campaign of ethnic cleansing" and went on to threaten us with what they decribed as "reprisals against the millions of Yoruba living in the north" if we did not stop complaining about the fact that our people were slaughtered in Ile-Ife and that the police were handling the whole matter in a selective, inappropiate and unjust manner.

On March 28th a hitherto unknown northern group known as the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, through its spokesman, one Yerima Shetima, had the nerve and effontry to accuse Afenifere and the Yoruba  nation of a "subtle campaign of ethnic cleansing" and went on to threaten us with what they decribed as "reprisals against the millions of Yoruba living in the north" if we did not stop complaining about the fact that our people were slaughtered in Ile-Ife and that the police were handling the whole matter in a selective, inappropiate and unjust manner.

Permit me to begin this contribution with an aside. The barbarians that launched a terror attack in Westminster, London yesterday in which four people were killed and many more injured are the same type of people that attacked and beheaded the sons and daughters of Ile Ife in their own homes and on their own land earlier this month.

Retired Colonel Hameed Ali, the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, is a proud and stubborn man. His disdain for others and insufferable arrogance is not only vexatious to the spirit but also downright nauseating.

I used to love and respect Governor Aregbesola even though we belong to different political parties.

I have been reluctant to write anything about the clash between the Yoruba and the Hausa Fulani in the ancient city of Ile-Ife and in which far many more people were killed than anyone cares to publicly admit.

The truth is that the unconscionable oppressors that constitute the Nigerian ruling elite and political class and those at the top never see things clearly until the explosion comes.

In the last two years the quest for self-determination amongst the numerous ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria has reached a crescendo. This is especially so with many from the younger generation.

Permit me to begin the second part of this essay with a word from Dr. Shuaib Musa Zaria, who is a leading member of the Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and who is a close confidante and associate of Sheik El Zak Zaky, the wounded and detained leader of the Shiite Muslim community in Nigeria.

In 44 BC the respected Roman seer and soothsayer Spurinna warned the great Consul and ruler of the Roman Empire Julius Caesar about the "ides of March". He counselled him not to go out on that day because he had perceived that something terrible would happen. According to the Roman calender the ides of March was the 15th of March.