Don’t mind the title of this article. I know it will re-echo a certain historical reality and its misgivings. However, it helps me to draw my conclusions as to what I, and, perhaps, many others, believe will end the perennial slaughter of humans in Southern Kaduna. I believe that the slaughter and arson is perennial because I have relations who suffered it back in the day and, as a result, abandoned their enterprise and left Zonkwa and Kafanchan for good. Some relocated to safer places in the North. Some made their way back to the South East and never returned to Kaduna State. It was Kaduna’s loss.
Many people have suggested solutions to the Southern Kaduna crisis. But, irrespective of how uncomfortable we are with the truth of the problem, or how we may want to rationalise it, the fact that we often want to bury is that the problem has its roots in ethnic domination. I may be wrong and would like my ignorance on this to be educated. However, if we recall, Nigeria had a National Conference in 2014. It held at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja. Part of the decisions of the conference was the creation of 18 new states. One of the states created by the conference was Gurara State. It was to have its capital in Kachia, with the following: Chikun, Jaba, Jema’a, Kachia, Kaduna South, Kagarko, Kajuru, Kauru, Lere, Sanga and Zangon-Kataf constituting it. These are predominantly local government areas and towns in present Southern Kaduna.
I still recall the opposition, from many Nigerians, that greeted the announcement of the creation of those 18 states. And, with hindsight, it is obvious that the opposition was not deeply rooted in fact and understanding but in antagonism against Goodluck Jonathan, the President at the time. Since Jonathan had lost favour, it became imperative that whatever was associated with him was also disliked, irrespective of the sense it made. Looking back, we now know better. Maybe!
In opposing the creation of those states, many Nigerians refused to see reason with the people of Southern Kaduna on why Gurara State was a necessity. Fact was, and is, there was need for a drastic measure, like state creation, to realign the religious and ethnic mix to solve the problem that has frequently claimed lives and destroyed wealth. It was a question of a people seeking liberation from a suffocating dominance. And it is historical.
As a reporter covering the conference, I interviewed Prof. Yusuf Turaki, a Southern Kaduna leader who was at the conference as a representative of Kaduna State alongside Senator Ahmed Aruwa and Hajia Nafisatu Babajo. He told me in the interview published in The Union (now rested) that: “There are some places in the North where minority ethnic nationalities were mismatched with major ethnic groups. For instance, in Kaduna State, which is part of North West, there is a great mismatch of the people of Southern Kaduna and the people of Northern Kaduna. For of this mismatch, there has been marginalisation and discrimination against the people of Southern Kaduna. For this, the people of Southern Kaduna want to have a new state created and, in fact, they qualify for the creation of a new state –they are asking for Gurara State.”
He also said: “The other place where there is a mismatch is Southern Borno, Southern Yobe and Northern Adamawa, where the majority of ethnic nationalities have been under the control and domination of the Kanuri. So, the ethnic nationalities in those areas are demanding the creation of a state where all of them can have their freedom to live as a people. This again is because they have been mismatched, marginalised and discriminated against. There are two suggestions for either Amana State or Savannah State in that area. Some are suggesting that you can merge Amana and Savannah and call it the New Sardauna State. If that is done, there will be a margin of justice in the North. The other area is Southern Kebbi, the Zuru people. There is a mismatch between the Zuru people and the Hausa/Fulani of Kebbi State. These are the cries of the ethnic minorities in the North. Also, we are asking for the restructuring of the North East zone so that a few states can be created to free the ethnic minorities and let them have their freedom. We also want the same done in the North West so as to redress the mismatch of minority ethnic groups with majority ethnic groups in the North. If this is done, the North East and North West will be a better place for the majority ethnic groups, and the minority ethnic groups that had been wrongly attached to them will also be free to live and run their own affairs. These are part of the things we want to see happen at this conference. So, when we talk of resource control, as northern ethnic minorities, these are the major issues. The mismatch of minority ethnic groups in the North with the major ethnic groups militates against the freedom and development of the minority groups.”
Prof. Turaki’s argument is rooted in history and, like George Santayana said, those who blind themselves to the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them.
At his valedictory, Jonathan said: “The only thing that can bring lasting change in this country is the implementation of the National Conference report.”
You may ask why he did not implement it himself before leaving office. While you ask, remember also the words of St. Paul “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it…”
So, was Prof. Turaki right? Was the National Conference wrong to have created those states? Well, the majority may be wrong but, in this case, repeated historical events have shown that both Prof. Turaki and the majority of the delegates to the conference that voted in favour of Gurara State were not wrong. And, as it is, it seems the problem will remain an annual ritual, until Nigeria finds the courage to take those very hard decisions that will help liberate it from the stranglehold of myopia.
Like I said earlier, the opposition to the decision of the National Conference on states creation in 2014 was misinformed, just like the opposition to the removal of the subsidy on petrol as proposed by the administration then. Put to a referendum today, I have no doubt that majority of Nigerians will vote for the adoption and implementation of the decision to create 18 additional states so as to unbundle the federation, because the need for restructuring of the country has become much more expedient to free its minority ethnic nationalities from subjugation and dominance by the major ethnic nationalities. It is such domination that keeps a knee on the neck of the minority ethnic nationalities and refuses to let them breathe.
We keep playing the ostrich and pretending that all is well each time minority ethnic nationalities ask that the majority ethnic nationalities lift their knee from their neck and let them breathe. No, all is not well. Like my late dad would say, you can’t hold a man down and expect to rise. Both of you will remain down. Therefore, the solution to the annual ritual that is Southern Kaduna killings is already known to all the active players in Nigeria’s polity. What is lacking is the political will to call a spade by its only name, and then use it for the purpose it was designed. The refusal to do so will keep Nigeria wobbling and fumbling with its true destiny. I believe that Southern Kaduna can be resolved, if the dramatis personae agree to correct historical mistakes that are based on ethnicity. The ethnic nature of the crisis created a sense of subjugation that is backed by cultural ostracism. The alienation of the culture of the subjugated leaves a feeling, also, of religious superiority and domination. Untying the knot is where the solution may be found. I may be wrong.