The crisis
By writing this piece, I will not have endeared myself to some elements within Northern Nigeria. Let me be also clear that I do not seek gratuitous advances from my Non – Muslim friends. I wrote this piece because I do not want to end up like Germans under the Third Reich, men who knew the truth but failed to speak up when it was most necessary against Hitler’s Germany.
By any means, I am not comparing today’s Northern Nigeria with Nazi Germany. Despite its many trouble, Northern Nigeria is a region of diverse peoples with a great heritage. The only comparison stems from the deafening silence of its elites, who have time and again, failed to make a stand against tyranny in their backyard let alone greater Nigeria, It is not enough that you were not involved, evil must be condemned wherever it is found.
Why Northern Nigerian political elites? Unless you are living under a rock, it is evident that Northern Nigerian political elites not only wield political power within the region but in greater Nigeria as well; it is for this reason that their silence in the face of what is clearly crimes against humanity (committed from both sides of the divide) is unacceptable.
It is even more appalling to read otherwise intelligent commentators like Adamu Adamu; hiding under the toga of intellectualism, propagating hate and inciting people to violence. Dr. Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, the Director of the centre for democratic development research and training in Zaria, perhaps one of the finest intellectuals of Northern extraction has warned us against the evil within and why it is necessary for us to proactively nip this in the bud.
There are three narratives going around in Nigeria about the recent Jos debacle. It does not matter as to the genesis of the crisis, what is important though is the response of the political elite. The ones that have spoken, have only done so from an ethnic or religious line.This latest crisis while it started in Jos does not in any way originate from there. The seed of the present crisis was sown many years ago in Jama’a LGA, Minna, Kaduna, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Kano etc.
The Suspicion of The Other
This is a traumatic period to be an African. Africa, that great continent raped by ancient Europeans has equally been repeatedly raped by her own. Hiding under ethnicity and borrowed religion, Africans have inflicted some of the most invidious pain and destruction on themselves.
Two events have shaped my understanding of the persistent conflict in Northern Nigeria. The first of such events occurred in Bauchi sometime in 1993. Christian High School students walked about 20 or so kilometers to the city of Bauchi from Kangere village where my Alma Mata – Government College Bauchi - was located, according to the Christian students upon their return the following day, they were running from an alleged Muslim student’s attack against them. Now, it is important for readers to know that Muslim students on their part did not sleep till the following day believing that the Christian students were planning an attack against them. Apparently, except for Muslim students, the campus was devoid of many final year Christian students that night. I could not remember the role played by the school authorities in all of these but I remember vividly the lack of leadership that was displayed then and continued to be displayed even today. This is a tragic story; Christian students walking 20 or more kilometers in the middle of the night, Muslim students denying themselves of sleep because they were afraid of being attacked. All of this happened because of a mere rumour!
The second event happened in the year 2000 while undergoing the mandatory NYSC in Jos, Plateau state. I had chartered a cab driver to take me to the residence of the late Dr. Muhammadu Zaidu in Bukuru. On our way, the driver engaged me in small talk; he asked me if I was aware that the Beroms were planning an attack against Muslims. I said no, I was not aware of any such thing. In detail, he went ahead and told me how large caches of weapons were discovered in Jos and allegedly they belonged to the Beroms. I told him that I pray the suspects were identified and remanded in prison. During this period, one could also hear from Christian corps members that they heard Muslims were planning an attack against Christians. Again, just like the events in Bauchi seven years earlier, I was afraid that rumour was being peddled on both sides.
Unlike the Government College Bauchi incident which did not result in violence, Jos erupted in 2001 in an orgy of violence unseen before in Plateau state. Sadly, Muslims like Dr. Muhammadu Zaidu paid the ultimate price because of elitist inaction. He was a man that committed himself to service to his community both in Jos and Lafia, there were Christian relatives of his that lived with him in his expansive Bukuru compound and the atmosphere was one of love and respect. In the end, Christians and Muslims alike lost their lives on the Plateau because our political elites were tinkering while Northern Nigeria and greater Nigeria continues to burn. His blood and the blood of other innocent Nigerians, Muslim or Christian will continue to hunt our elected and unelected “leaders” that have benefitted from the present chaos and have refused blatantly to do anything about it.
Given my experience with this issue, I have come to believe that at the core of our problems in Northern Nigeria is what I call - the insidious suspicion of the other – the whole idea that if somebody does not belong to your ethnic or religious group he is actively pursuing your destruction.This idea cuts across both the Muslim and Christian divide.
This ideology festered under the regime of the former despot Ibrahim Babangida; especially as it relates to the way he handled the Jama’a chieftaincy issue back then. This clearly runs contrary to what the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello worked and gave his life for. To Sir Ahmadu Bello, the North is one indivisible region joined by a shared destiny. The beneficiaries of Sir Ahmadu Bello’s forward looking policies did not return the favour; they fragmented the region they inherited along religious and ethnic lines. It is not uncommon today to hear people from some parts of the North reject the fact that they are Northerners, no thanks to the retrogressive policies of recent Northern Nigerian political leadership. In Sardauna’s time, to be a Northerner is not necessarily to be a Hausa or a Fulani Muslim, to him, the geographical space called Northern Nigeria is a collection of diverse peoples with varied religious beliefs that are joined together in brotherhood. That is why a Sunday Awoniyi, the Aro of Mopa could have a place in Sardauna’s Northern Nigeria, same as Chief Adesoye of Okin Biscuits who got his start for being part of the old geographical North, same as Joseph Wayas, the former senate president during the second republic, there are countless others who are neither Hausa nor Fulani Muslims.
The Hypocrisy of Northern Nigerian Political Elites
I have mainly focused on northern Nigerian elites because of their political power within the region and Nigeria; they are uniquely positioned to push for meaningful reforms that will stem the tide of these kinds of crisis. In this day and age, why are we still talking about indigene and non indigene (a term that I personally find offensive)? Why don’t we have state and local government police yet? Why are we operating a powerful central government when it is apparent that strong states and local government institutions is what we need? And yet on many of the issues facing the Nigerian state and Northern Nigeria in particular, our alleged leaders have not responded with the kind of alacrity and knowledge that is demanded of them. Sometimes they have been criminally silent.
Recommendations
1. Constitutional reforms that will address the issue of indigene and non indigene should be pursued – it is my hope that it will be decided on the side of residency. The term indigene and non – indigene hopefully will be banned from our political lexicon.
2. The current police structure should be deployed to bring the perpetrators to justice. For as long as the perpetrators are shielded, we leave open the chance of a future occurrence. Anyone, no matter how highly placed, Muslim or Christian should be brought to justice.
3. A truth and reconciliation committee should be commissioned. Northern Nigerians of impeccable characters such as General Muhammadu Buhari and Rev. Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah should be contacted to lead such a commission.
The author can be reached at abdulajia@yahoo.com
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