6 Vices that Negate Hausa-Fulani/Northern Patriotism

 

There’s no debate that Nigeria’s ethnic diversity is the bane of its true federalism. In recent time, warring groups have emerged along ethno-religious lines claiming rights and damages owing to difference of language, culture and/or religion. The Hausa-Fulani ethnic group is one of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. It was considered a bloc but in the last seven years or thereabouts, there appears to have emerged a rift in this group, leading to the emergence of the Fulani as a different group clamouring for grazing rights. Clashes and killings between farmers and herdsmen have filled the airwaves with casualties on either side. There have been killings of Southerners as reported in the news. It has been a very disturbing trend in the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket. Since Nigeria’s Independence the Hausa-Fulani have been considered the major players in Nigerian politics. The going rhetoric is confirmable despite other players from the Igbo (with Nnamdi Azikiwe as president and Alex Ekwueme as vice president) and the Yoruba (Olusegun Obasanjo as Head of State and president and Yemi Osinbajo as vice president). Given that the military still played active role in politics and most of them have emerged from the Hausa-Fulani block including the current president, it must be important to note how their actions have negated patriotism in Nigeria. I have explained here six (6) vices that have negated Hausa-Fulani patriotism in Nigeria.

These include:

1. Entitlement: This means the right to have something. Entitled people believe that everything they want belongs to them sometimes for the asking. They sit in the sidelines while others work hard and once everything has been put in place they emerge from the dark and claim ownership. This appears to be what other Nigerians are suffering whenever we speak of governorship in Nigeria. It happened with the 1993 elections that led to the popular June 12 saga. It took the demise of a Northerner for former President Goodluck Jonathan to have emerged President, unfortunately. This isn’t talking about the many years of Northern hegemony when it came to the central seat of power beginning from Shehu Shagari through General Buhari and later the Babangida and Abacha and even Abubakar regimes. It has got to be something else or I would readily adjudge the Hausa-Fulani entitled to remaining Nigeria’s commander-in-chief. I wouldn’t know what’s so lovely at the top as the view from there must be mesmerizing. My guess would be to the contrary but it appears to be that people would rather go to a party than a funeral. Perhaps the Hausa-Fulani are different. They are holding on to power because it must make them very uncomfortable. Let’s just say that remaining in a position or claiming it a right or always aspiring to its engagement is an entitlement. Even the over rural grazing areas (RUGAs) have come across as entitlement rather than dialogue or request and this is why it’s receiving stiff opposition. Hegemony, power imbalance, relative deprivation, structural violence, etc., are some of the ways that entitlements breed conflicts in Nigeria and negate patriotism and national development.
2. Nepotism: This is the favouring of relatives or personal friends because of their relationship than because of their abilities. Nigeria, like other developing countries, is pinching pennies. She’s struggling to make ends meet with her teeming young population unemployed and many in other countries. As it is said in the holy book, money answers all things. Jobs bring money, which solves problems. Since many people who are in power provide jobs and its attendant monetary compensations, nepotism has been employed to ensure steady supply of resources. The consequence of this is that jobs are in the wrong hands and productivity has been reduced. Money isn’t made the right way anymore. Patronage has become the order of the day. Nepotism ensures payback is done as the stranger might disappoint the patron; hence, he uses familiar patronages. Even when people are employed, there’s no telling how they’ll be paid. Nepotism, thus, ensures that favoured people who have relatives in power and high ranks in civil service and the military are remunerated. The country has suffered much untold hardship, thus negating patriotism as many people are now disillusioned if not dead. This isn’t about the fate of the rich and wealthy who are able to deal across the nations of the world. The everyday Nigerian is who I’m speaking about. Nepotism has robbed them of the benefits of citizenship.
3.  Hypocrisy: There are several definitions of hypocrisy but they point to one thing – self-contradiction. Let me state them here in order not to introduce ambiguity in my thesis. Hypocrisy is defined as ‘the claim or pretense of holding beliefs, feelings, standards, qualities, opinions, virtues or motivations that one does not actually possess.’ It is also ‘applying criticism to others that one does not apply equally to oneself; moral self-contradiction whereby the behaviour of one or more people belies their own claimed or implied possession of certain beliefs, standards or virtues.’ I haven’t lived in the Northern part of Nigeria. I would have loved to live in the North except that I’m not ignorant of the unrests in that region of the country. I have never heard anybody tout the slogan, ‘One Nigeria’ like Northerners. Yet they are always the ones who ensure that other Nigerians never find rest among them. The pogroms of the ‘60s began the incessant killings of Nigerians for ‘One Nigeria.’ It led to the Nigeria-Biafra war. It has continued since the unfortunate event that took off many Nigerians who survived to other parts of the country. In recent times, there have been other such violent conflicts in a country where a section wants to subjugate others to hold on to an entity that doesn’t work for anybody. One Nigeria is a lofty ideal. I enjoy every drink of kunu. My stomach doesn’t discriminate against it. I don’t mind eating masa. It’s supposed to be healthy and I’ll find out whenever I give myself the opportunity to have a taste of that Northern snack. If we truly like the truth and would like to remain a nation, we must ensure that we live up to the task of uniting the nation. I don’t have any ruse against One Nigeria. I have issues with the killing of Southerners or Northerners for One Nigeria. Every Nigerian who is found responsible is capable of aspiring to the central seat of power. Nigeria belongs to every Nigerian and the Hausa-Fulani must accept this fact and standard for this country to be in peace.
4.  Sorcery:  This means the use of witchcraft or magic arts and/or power. It’s often called black magic. I read a few novels written about the North in secondary school. Hardly did I read any of such books that didn’t have an element of witchcraft to discourse. I learned quite early that the North like other parts of Africa employ the supernatural to achieve success sometimes unduly. I don’t do magic. I’ve lived to know that many people have employed all sorts of voodoo to win despite all that could have stopped them from such success. I love good success because I believe that it endures. In Nigerian city life, winning is about calling the tune. It does happen that being in charge doesn’t always mean being rightly in charge. However, whenever magic is pulled to win it’s a mere time bomb. Love of magic isn’t love of existence. When we win graciously, we keep our friends. When we win in order to disgrace others no matter the magic, nemesis catches us one way or another. Nigeria suffers for the magic of success that has negated our progress as one nation. Even in everyday life where witch doctors are contracted to win marriage proposals for a suitor or a bride to be, there are often those ones that won’t last forever. When the magic wears off, the marriage crashes. It’s the same with civil service. Employing magicians to ensure that a job is won doesn’t do the job. Even engaging the bosses with all sorts of treats to ensure the worker remains in the job doesn’t keep the auditor at bay. When it’s judgment time, magic fails the sorcerer. Nigeria can’t afford to run on magic no matter what the North (and the rest of them) would have us accept. Unfortunately, many Southern leaders including Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chukwuemeka Ojukwu had Northern influences.
5. Bigotry: This is intolerance or prejudice, especially religious or racial discrimination against others. A bigot is ‘one who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.’ He or she is ‘one who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.’ This present administration has been accused of bigotry. There appears to be a strong disposition to tolerate the Fulani in many appointive positions in Nigeria. Public policies seem to favour the Fulanis in Nigeria than most other ethnic groups. The ports are congested with goods that haven’t been cleared because of directives from the centre, even Abuja. Many months of closure of the borders led to untold hardship to many Nigerians. I didn’t understand why such was tolerated in a democracy. Unfortunately, there was little recourse to providing solutions that have helped the masses. Bigotry is the friend of self-righteousness. They walk together in the parks of Abuja and hold hands discussing their childhood days during reunions instead of tackling national issues waiting on the table.
6. Violence: Jos riots, Kano riots, bomb blasts, Boko Haram, militancy, Fulani herdsmen, unknown gunmen… by whatever name that violence comes in Nigeria’s recent public discourse in her nascent democracy, it has seen the massive loss of lives and property. Violence means ‘action intended to cause destruction, pain or suffering.’ It involves ‘widespread fighting, injustice and wrong doing.’ Many Southern states have been reportedly harassed irresponsibly by rampaging Fulani herdsmen with their cattle. Destruction of farmland leads to untold suffering of the everyday citizen in Nigeria. Food crops don’t bring in the desired yield to feed the sprawling population in the South. Loss of life means loss of ambition. It means loss of meaning. It means loss of ideas. Unfortunately, death and loss are part of living but they are vicissitudes that must come naturally or one must feel cheated and bereaved. The violence caused by the North has appeared incorrigible. Nothing seems to stop the menace. It’s easy to believe that the dominant religion of Islam must be violent. But it’s rather naïve if not foolhardy to cast such a blanket on the whole religion as being responsible for the violence in the North. I’m not Muslim and I don’t know why anybody chooses to be. However, I believe that violence is unnatural and hasn’t united the nation the way the North would have done differently. Violence doesn’t engender patriotism. It destroys the citizens that ought to love their nation and uphold its existence and defend its territory and population.  

I’ve tried here to explain the 6 ways that Nigerians of Northern extraction have contributed to the apathy currently in the South towards nation building. These vices are common to all parts of the country but I’ve found them recurring in the North especially judging from developments since Independence. It’s also true that whether I’ve talked Igbo nationalism or Yoruba Nation or Arewa Consultative Forum, I’ve only alluded to things that I believe have affected the country as an entity. Use as you find necessary. It is only when members of these ethnic groups have changed themselves and have adopted virtues to replace those vices attributed to them that Nigerians may have a home of envy and pride among other nations of the world. I am happy to defend my theses anywhere. 

Happy Independence Day in advance, Nigeria. Thank you.