#BringBackOurPeople

This is the exact situation, in reverse, of what the security agencies are doing to our Hausa-Fulani-Kanuri and other Northerners in Aba, where 486 of them – us – have been detained for the past six days. So far, I have NOT heard the Vice President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives or […]

This is the exact situation, in reverse, of what the security agencies are doing to our Hausa-Fulani-Kanuri and other Northerners in Aba, where 486 of them – us – have been detained for the past six days. So far, I have NOT heard the Vice President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives or most of the Northern Muslim Governors condemning this thoughtless action of the security forces and visiting the detainees. Recall that the same thing was done to other Northern traders not too long ago in Bayelsa, Rivers, Lagos and Anambra States. No top Northerner cried foul; satiated that they are on Northern fowls!
Just imagine, don Allah, that it is WE that are enacting this scenario as detailed in the first paragraph – detaining 500 Igbos, unthinkable that it is. By now, the whole of Igbo-dom and South South-dom would have descended on all of us – through the media and by all means necessary. The Presidency would lead the fray, to be followed by ALL political office holders from the two Zones, and then followed by all five governors of the South East. And then the venom of the Igbo Diaspora would have since been unleashed on us. And if, say, Owelle Rochas Okorocha (that Hausa-speaking Governor of Imo State) were to call for caution promising to ‘negotiate’ with fellow Hausa-speakers, they would all scream” “Ehen, is that not why he is in APC? Is he not one of them?”
So, finally, the people of the South East and South South have categorically stated, with this detention, that they no longer need our onions (albasa), cows, Maiguard and Mairuwa. In fact, they are telling us clearly that Now We Can’t Even Shine Shoes.
What is happening in Aba is sheer ethnic profiling on the path to ethnic cleansing and annihilation. That’s how it started in many countries. And non-Muslim Northerners should not start rejoicing just yet, or at all. They should remember what happened in Onitsha not more than a decade ago – a Southern Kaduna-born Hausa-speaking Reverend Father who had an almost-wholly Igbo flock was nevertheless slaughtered alongside other ‘Hausas’. When he was about to be murdered, he recognised some of the murderers to be from among his ‘sheep’ and reminded them that he was a Christian like them. They retorted that, for all they knew, he was doing Sallah (Muslim prayers) hidden in his room. And he was necklaced, and roasted.
Hausa illiterates are the most useless people one can ever find. Despite all we do and say to them over the radio that they listen to, they will never accept that education is important. These same people who go for ci-rani (the so-called dry-season migration when most rural men and boys leave the villages to towns to seek menial jobs, leaving the family back in the village in penury) are the same folk who send their male-children to do almajiri and girl-child to hawk, talla.
You just don’t know how uselessly illiterate some of these people can choose to be until you hear the story (rather parable now), narrated by a very good friend, of the Rosary-Beads-Re-Thread-Seller of Enugu (Mai Sayar da Zaren Carbi a Enugu).
Our friend saw this poor copy of a Hausaman selling this thread, lilo, kirtani (which can last a century without breaking). And he asked him, “Is this what you sell for a living?” The answer was Yes. And the next questions were: how many Masallata (Muslim ‘prayerful’) are in Enugu; out of them, subtract the Izalites, how many use Carbi or Tasbaha after every prayer; and then how many Carbi-users break their ostensibly unbreakable lilo or kirtani that the original Carbi is beaded with; and then finally, where will you be exactly when that particular thread does miraculously, rarely, if ever, breaks?” No answer. Next: “Kai dai Allah wadaranka!” Fie!
Yes, Allah wadaransa! He may only be in Enugu because he can do shameless things without his in-laws hearing about it. Gone are the days when decent people settled in the Hausa Quarters and Sabos of Southern Nigeria. This present crop is just useless – only their representatives in government and politics are more useless!
The Ado Bayero Mall just opened its doors recently in Kano. Shoprite, Game, Adidas and FilmHouse are all there. How many jobs created? Perhaps thousands. Out of these, how many Kano (or even North North) boys and girls got jobs? Very negligible (go and see). Why? Because even the Gateman has to have at least a secondary school leaving certificate. And dan-ci-rani hasn’t got it. And on the other hand, the Kano or North North boy feels that, with 9 F9s in WAEC and NECO, he deserves a white collar job.
There are so many opportunities in the North wallahi – and these Mairuwa need not go down South and embarrass themselves and us in the process. Apply a little skill and the land will agree to be tilled throughout the year. But no! Tilling is toiling and tough. He would rather go South and sell muhuci (hand-held fan) or carrots or even yalon-bello (garden egg). Even their mode of transportation is open to suspicion – mostly atop goats and cows and donkeys. These 486 are some of the most civilised lot. And they are no Boko Haram.
Despite our fies and furies, the apparent and imminent danger is that they – South East and South South – are only testing the waters for 2015 – the moment they finish with the illiterati, they will descend on us, the literati. And you, as Executive Banker or Professor or anything will count for nothing – you will be another potential Boko-Haramed target.
And it is a lie, a blatant one at that, for the security agencies to claim that they have ‘captured’ (among the 486) someone they have been looking for ‘since 2007’! Haba! When did Boko Haram criminalise itself? Was it not definitely after 2009? Are they telling us that the person they have ‘captured’ is more important than the late Mohammed Yusuf or ‘early’ Abubakar Shekau? In fact, by 2007 – or even 2009 – we did not hear that they were looking for anyone from Boko Haram. It is either they will bring someone NOT among the 486 but in their detention cells, or invent another lie to cover up the first lie as a face-saving device.
How can anyone say there may be guns in tomato baskets and onion sacks? The numbers of Igbo merchants at Aliero Onion Exchange in Kebbi State and Dakasoye Tomato Exchange in Kano State far outnumber the original Hausa merchants. It is the Igbos themselves that now load these condiments for the South. Is it at Lokoja that the baskets and sacks are compromised and guns inserted?
Haba! Please give us another story. We agree that Now We Can’t Even Shine Shoes. Or do Mairuwa. Or Maiguard. Or Maisuya. Or even beg. But just #BringBackOurPeople. ASAP.