Lucy Adole

Every state in Nigeria, most importantly the far northern parts of it, needs a town with the characteristics, valour, dynamism, broadmindedness, sensitivity and political sophistication of Biu. Biu Emirate is Borno’s most literate location, in the southern part of the state and home to Babur/Bura people, who are so versatile and industrious that they hold […]

Every state in Nigeria, most importantly the far northern parts of it, needs a town with the characteristics, valour, dynamism, broadmindedness, sensitivity and political sophistication of Biu. Biu Emirate is Borno’s most literate location, in the southern part of the state and home to Babur/Bura people, who are so versatile and industrious that they hold the distinction of being one of the most liberal nationalities in the country today.

By their cosmopolitan nature, the people of Biu took education very seriously and this made them to be a very proud people who do not have stomach for injustice of any type. In Biu today, and here I mean, all the constituent parts of it that make up the original Biu emirate, warts and all which encompasses all the four local government areas of the Babur/Bura nationality, no single act of injustice of any type, by whosoever, has ever been allowed to go unchallenged and un-redressed.

I am an indigene of Kebbi state who has lived in Borno state since 1979 and even though I have been very broadminded in my type of friends cutting across all the diverse strata, I have nonetheless, noticed a convergence of radicalism more with the Biu people than anywhere else in our closet hemisphere. This radicalism, a product of exposure to education and societal penchant for justice, must have imbued a typical Biu man to love justice, take pleasure in advancing it and oftentimes is on the blocks ready to put his life on the line to ensure its sustenance.  When the Borno state government introduced the crash helmet policy for all motorcyclists across the state and detailed armed policemen and soldiers to enforce it, every part of the state, including Biu complied; but when the enforcement suddenly metamorphosed into an avenue to extort money from the hapless commercial motorcyclists, the people of Biu rose against it stoutly, clashed with security agents, suffered some casualties but nonetheless, brought the policy to a sudden end state-wide.

Long before the crash helmet riots, several incidences had happened in which Biu led the way to express popular aversion to certain injustices by first kicking against it peacefully, then showing resentment publicly and if all reproachments fail, mobilising to vent their anger at it. And the man of Biu does not discriminate when it comes to his dislike for injustice. Whereever injustice is found, of whatever colour and from whatever quarter, it receives the same repulsion and condemnation. It doesn’t matter who the culprit is or where he is coming from.

Across the country, there is this general feeling of helplessness among the voiceless citizenry that until you are highly connected or you are loaded, a powerful man can jolly well trample on you and willy-nilly, get away with it. In Biu, this is anathema.

While it is true that both the judiciary and the police have shown an inclination towards being compromised on the side of the most influential, in Biu, there is an informal third tier comprising some groups of youths, mostly motorcyclists made up of the literate and commoners who arrogate to themselves the responsibility to protect the weak against the tyranny of the powerful. The part of the town where they congregate is known as Tora Bora where the injured is always welcomed and listened to and after proving that a powerful man has indeed encroached on his plot of land and has told him to go to blazes, the Tora Borans quickly would mobilize and storm the residence of the culprit to make a show of their resentment and to demonstrate that Biu is no home to cheats. Truce is thereafter made and the offending culprit retraces his steps to avert unpleasant consequences.

The same treatment is meted out to public figures and politicians who refuse to operate within acceptable norms of decorum and service delivery. If you ask Senator Umar Hambagda, the Obasanjo third termer, he will shiver at the thought of what had befallen him when after mouthing pro-third term balderdash, he made the mistake of venturing into Biu to attend an event. He got out alive by the whiskers when youths in the area descended on him and challenged him to prove that his self serving pro-Obasanjo position was truly reflective of the overall position of his constituency.

Biu and environs has a topography that is akin to what you see in the Gaza area of Palestine. Stones are all over and they quickly become ammunition for the youths to pick and throw forth. So, if any anti-people policy is contemplated, those responsible for it dare not set foot on Biu, less they become game for the army of radicalised youths armed with their aversion for injustice… and of course the stones. Conversely, among the commercial motorcyclists of Biu, you have several Masters’ degree holders in the midst of hundreds of other literates who are victims of large scale unemployment brought about mainly by years of mismanagement and corruption by succeeding governments at all levels in the country. While illiterate unemployed youths in other parts of the far northern states bemoan their fate and surrender to the dictates of political rascals and other sundry criminals in the corridors of power, in Biu, the youth condone no such thing, and they mince no words no matter whose ox is gored.

No wonder then that those politicians with skeletons in their cupboards resent going to Biu. They fear the youths and the abundant stones that would be freely hauled at them to jerk them up to the reality of their vulnerability and dispensability.

Ahmed Yakubu wrote from Kashim Ibrahim road, Maiduguri and can be reached at [email protected]