YES, you read that right: Nigeria is currently under invasion by peoples from the Sahel, fleeing the twin effects of climate change and virulent terrorism and banditry. But first, let us put this in context.

According to Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Barbarian invasions, or the movements of Germanic peoples began before 200 BCE and lasted until the early Middle Ages, destroying the Western Roman Empire in the process. Together with the migrations of the Slavs, these events were the formative elements of the distribution of peoples in modern Europe. 

Barbarian invasions also refers to a historical period (roughly the 4th-6th centuries CE) when non-Roman tribes, often referred to as “barbarians” by the Romans, migrated and raided into the territories of the Western Roman Empire, significantly contributing to its decline and eventual fall. These incursions were characterised by groups like the Visigoths, Vandals, Huns, and Ostrogoths, who sought new lands and resources as Rome weakened.

Our dear country is actually a grouping of kingdoms and nation-states with distinct and different languages and cultures welded together by the invading colonialists, first into the Southern and Northern Protectorates, and eventually by amalgamation in 1914, into the Federation of Nigeria. We attained republican status in 1963. Before and after the British got here, empires and kingdoms rose and fell, and in many instances after prolonged armed conflict.

Life continued, but invariably never as before, for the conflict often introduced new ways of life and living, during the conflict and in the aftermath. For instance, the Yoruba people of South-Western Nigeria are on record for fighting the longest civil war in history. Known as the Kiriji War, or Ekiti Parapo War, it was fought between 1877-1893 following decline of the Oyo Empire, itself largely due to the shenanigans of Oyo’s powerful chief minister, Basorun Gaa. The war ended officially with a British treaty.

That was 1893. Fast- forward by 100 years into 1993, and again, South-Western Nigeria was in turmoil, arising from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by by Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola. Activists, trade unions and rights lawyers mobilised the citizenry to resist the annulment. At the end of the day, General Sani Abacha, in November 1993, proclaimed himself the new Head of State. Thence till 1998 when he died, there was little peace in the country; though his sudden transition spurred the military to begin a transition to civil rule programme which ushered democratic civil rule in the country which has endured till date.

The civilians who took over power from the military do not seem to have done well, on the average. The party that won the presidential election in 1999 held sway for 16 years till 2015, when the opposition party managed to wrest power from it and has been in power till now. Take your mind back to an earlier edition of this column in which I wrote that the insecurity gale sweeping the country has its roots in the strategy of the ruling party, which was in opposition then, to bring in stateless, uncultured peoples to scare away the incumbent holders of power. The strategy worked, except that one variable of it that spun out of control was that the people imported into the country were not exported back. Rather, these people opted to remain in the country and engage largely in kidnapping for ransom, land grabbing, mindless killing of farmers and rape. They have contributed in no small measure to the famine in the land.

In the North-Eastern part of the country, Boko Haram insurgents hold sway, inflicting a bloodbath on us through senseless killings and bombings. And I wonder: Is that not the land of the famed Kanem-Bornu empire founded by Idris Alooma in 1068 AD? How can the land once ruled by the princes of the Seifawa Dynasty fall prey to stateless, culture-less, vangrant vandals of ISWAP, aided by Boko Haram?

It is no less different in the South-West. This is the land of famous warriors with an organised military headed by a generalissimo called Aare-Ona-Kakanfo. It is also the land of battle-tested warriors like Kurunmi of Ijaiye, Ajayi Ogboriefon, Bashorun Ogunmola, Sodeke, Lisabi, Ikolaba, Obadoke Latoosa, Fabunmi Oke-mesi, Ogedengbe Agbogungboro and many more. All over the South-West today, men, mostly boys, now constitute the majority of okada riders.

What is baffling is that every new arrival from the Sahel has a motorcycle waiting for him which he starts riding immediately. Who is financing this? Many people call them “aboki”, a Hausa word for friend. They mostly are NOT, as they speak an orthography that is not understandable even by our own Northerners. Clearly they are aliens and are increasingly becoming a source of concern. They do not rent houses to live in, instead preferring to park their motorcycles at abandoned buildings, or construction sites.

In cities like Lagos, they will be found mostly at garbage dumps, and their communities are enclaves of terror. Given the fact that the Barbarian invasion of Europe contributed significantly to the demise of the Roman Empire, the presence of these people in huge numbers in our towns and cities pose a significant threat to our present and future, and indeed, our culture. It is time we do something about them, before they decide to do something about us instead. TGIF.

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