A friend told me the story of how one of his relatives survived one of the numerous ethnic/religious crises that engulfed Kaduna in the past. The relative was chased by a mob wielding machetes; spears, poisoned arrows and other dangerous weapons. Having nowhere else to run to he jumped into a well and that saved his life. His pursuers didn’t stop there as they contemplated what next to do. Since it would be a “waste” to throw their machete and spears into the well, they ended shooting as many poisoned arrows as possible into the well so as to “finish the job.”
For some inexplicable reason, it turned out the well was one of those interlocking wells linking two wells, so staying in the middle was what saved his life. He couldn’t explain how he was able to stay in the well for over an hour. In the end, he came out alive! This is one of numerous stories I have heard about people fleeing ethnic/religious conflicts in the country. Last week I wrote about the Ile-Ife clash and will like to remain there because of new developments that I believe call for utmost caution.
Opinions are divided on how to classify what happened at Ife. The Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd) said: “It is very clear that this issue is not about crisis between the Hausa community and Yoruba community in Ile-Ife. The Hausa community has been living in Ile-Ife for close to 200 years. I understand the first settlers arrived there in 1820. This is about the fourth or fifth generation of the community and they have never experienced this kind of thing until now.
“So, it is not about ethnic issue. It is about a couple or bunch of people who constitute themselves to a nuisance to carry out this dastardly act and quite a number of them escaped from the community.”
In the same vein, a group; the Foundation for Peace Professionals said through its President, Ambassador Abdulrazaq O. Hamzat that the public should disregard the ethnic colouration to the crisis. What happened, according to them, was a minor disagreement which was mismanaged, adding it was never a clash between Hausa and Yoruba. The group said any attempt to give it ethnic colouration would be to unnecessarily exaggerate the crisis. It also said none of the accounts in the media was correct.
Last Monday, the Nigerian Police paraded twenty suspects arrested in connection with the clash in Abuja. The parade however succeeded in raising issues about our delicate fault lines and calls for utmost caution, especially in the delicate period we’re in right now where everything is viewed with ethnic and religious lenses.
Prior to the parade, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere and the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), have come hard against what they call one-sided arrest of some Ile Ife residents by security operatives.
In a statement entitled: ‘Ife Crisis: The Hounding After and Yoruba Stand’, Afenifere said: “We are miffed that security operatives sectionally mobilized have moved to Ife after the incident to carry out one-sided mass arrests of Yoruba people who are mostly notables and could never have participated in any riot. As at the time of making this statement, all of those so indiscriminately arrested have either been taken to either the state police command in Osogbo or Force Headquarters in Abuja.”
On its part, National Coordinator of the OPC, Otunba Gani Adams called for caution. In a statement by the Publicity Secretary Mr. Yinka Oguntimehin OPC said: “We will not want this hospitality to be mistaken for cowardice. The Yoruba race is not and will never submit to being a conquered nation. We say no, to any treatment that will restrict us to being slaves on our own land. We say no to any measure skewed to favour only a side in a crisis of this nature. We call for the release of all the arrested Ife indigenes while a better amicable way is proffered to settle frayed nerves and settle the crisis permanently.”
It is not surprising why these two groups issued the statements – all the twenty suspects are Yoruba; again exposing our delicate fault lines. Did someone not foresee the implication of arresting only one group in a clash involving two groups? Even in instances where they’re “guilty” insinuations would continue that one side is favoured above the other. Is it possible that in a conflict involving two communities, no arrest is made in one of the communities? These are salient questions being raised.
Expectedly, questions are being raised about the number of herdsmen arrested following numerous killings across the country. Questions are also raised about the prompt way in which suspects were apprehended in Ife and none apprehended in a state like Benue that is witnessing these strange killings. I advise those in authority to tread with utmost caution when dealing with issues of this nature. No ethnic group should be seen and treated as a special breed. In this period of economic challenge when peoples’ tolerance levels are stretched beyond limits, there’s need for leaders and security agencies to imbibe added skills on how to manage situation.
The Nigerian state is culpable because it has failed to address our delicate ethnicity issues. I do not believe that concerted efforts have been made to exploit our ethnic diversity into the advantage it really is. Canada and the United States of America are classic examples of how diversity can be used as a stepping stone toward development
But here in Nigeria, the state has systematically accentuated the ethnic divide by its policies of divide and rule – mainly for political purposes. It has treated equals unequally and unequal’s equally, thereby perpetrating injustice, creating dissatisfaction and promoting anger among the ethnic groups. The sad part for me is that the citizens can’t see beyond the subterfuges of our so called leaders.
A colleague told me about how they put a legislator from his area” in his place” recently. The only time they see him is a year before election or when he has personal political challenges where he oftentimes drag the community into. Whenever such happens, he would say: “you see what they’re doing to us?” But with time, the people saw through him and they ensured he never made it back to the parliament. Such leaders are everywhere and they are the real enemies of the people and not their neighbours. They are the ones whipping up ethnic tensions to further their political careers.
The probe panel setup by the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Idris, to investigate the communal clash should do a thorough job because of the larger implication to our fault lines. The Nigerian state has allowed her citizens killed for many decades by their fellow citizens without taking any concrete action to punish offenders and make it clear that such will not be condoned. So, whenever the least misunderstanding arises between the ethnic groups, especially between the north and the south, each side is eager to unleash bottled-up emotions on the other. This shouldn’t be the case.
We should go to Rwanda and understudy how a country that had closed to a million of its citizens murdered in cold blood by fellow citizens was able to bounce back. The Rwanda genocide is a classic case of the dangers of ethnic clashes.
Paul Kagame – who became the president after leading a successful rebel movement – knew that the first step toward recovery is to de-emphasise the word “tribe” and downplay ethnic sentiments. He placed emphasis on “Rwandans” against “Hutu” or “Tutsi,” the country’s two ethnic groups. He was smart enough to know that the utmost goal of citizens of any nation is peace and prosperity; if these are guaranteed friction would be less likely. He was also smart to know that if the economy of any nation is robust citizens’ care less about which leader or political party is in power.
Above all, education was effectively used to create positive national awareness. Today, Rwanda is one of the preferred tourist destinations in Africa.
