2. It is also to enlighten these anti-Nigeria Nigerians that Nigeria's complete story must always include the story of the lived experiences of "ordinary" Nigerian citizens who travel, reside and operate in all parts of Nigeria. They co-exist with their host communities for generations without destructive conflicts. Inter-group killings in Nigeria most frequently occur due the deliberate instigation by the elite.
3. It is also to remind the sectionalist intelligentsia, that for most Nigerian's Nigeria is not a "mere geographical expression" and it is not just a nation space. For these Nigerians who travel, trade, settle and live out their lives in all parts of Nigeria, the nation is a living reality. It is not a piece of fiction nor does it represent the view expressed more than 60 years ago that Nigeria is geographical expression that is contantly recycled by people can only live by the dogma of secular gods.
4. Nigeria is indeed still in the making and therefore it harbours all the challenges, complexities, untidiness of a product in the making. Theses challenges and their creative resolution are part of the story of Nigeria. Nigeria's elite, the intelligentsia and the people may chose to contribute to its evolution or choose to populate it with manipulative ethnicity and divisive sectionalisms.
5. While the upper elite combine to rule Nigeria as a beneficial corporate entity and "ordinary" Nigeria like those in this story live and make Nigeria, some middle class intelligentsia on whom the nation expended resources to educate, bereft of any overarching global ideology and project of national transformation, deploy their considerable education to to stir, infuse and sectionalist sentiments and fissiparous tendencies in the nation.
5. Much of this intelligentsia is in fact a danger to Nigeria. Unlike the intelligentsia of nation's like India, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia and similar states that deploy their intellectual resources, to build and advance their nation's to prosperity and greatness, Nigerian intelligentsia despite all evidence of Nigeria's admittedly convoluted forward motion, are only able to deploy destructive constructs. This is probably not surprising since it is easier to deconstruct than construct.
Happy reading
Ehiedu Iweriebor
Daily Trust
Tuesday, Nov 23rd
Among the Kanuri of Port Harcourt
Tuesday, 16 November 2010 04:30 Tadaferua Ujorha
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Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Goa, who died at the age of 106 in 2007, was the first person to convey cows up to Port Harcourt, so says Abdulrahman Saleh, the soft spoken Sarkin Barebare, who easily narrates his story without reading from a script.
This was long before the Nigerian Civil War, and partly indicates the age of the Kanuri presence in that city.His son, the present leader of the Kanuri in Port Harcourt, tells this reporter 'There were no vehicles in those days when he was bringing the Cows. He walked all the way down here .He had two wives and 22 children.' Unlike his father who migrated to the city from Damaturu, Sarkin Barebare says that he was born and bred in port Harcourt, and knows a lot about the local culture. His father didn't mind that he finally went to a largely Christian school, the Baptist Boys High School, Port Harcourt. This seems to have helped his absorption into the community, he implies. Another plus is the fact that he can speak Ikwerre and Igbo very well, while his wife who was also born in the state, can speak bits of Ijaw. He adds that he can speak Kanuri quite well, as do most of the Kanuri youths. His words 'I can speak Kanuri and people are surprised at this, though I do not go home often. We Kanuri have to force our children to learn our language'. Port Harcourt is home to Sarkin Barebare and his people. His words on this 'I don't have any place other than Port Harcourt .I have not been to the north more than five or six times in my whole life. This city is home to me'. He is fully engaged in the cattle trade, just as his late father had been. His words 'I am the Chairman of the state Cattle market.We bring in live cows from Chad,Sudan, and Libya.More than 65 trailers of cows come in each week.Ours is the largest market in the state,and traders from so many abbatoirs within and outside the state come to us'.He says that the Kanuri in Port Harcourt number some 2,000 persons, but only about 500 turn up when meetings are called .On the issue of group identity,he says 'We Kanuris like to differentiate ourselves from other tribes.So we give our children popular Kanuri names such as Kelu,Yagana,Yakura.Also Bulabusko,a wheat meal is popular among us in port Harcourt.'
He adds that just as in Katsina-Ala and Gboko in Benue State, the use of the Kanuri facial marks is declining in the city. His words 'The typical Kanuri facial marks are reducing among our people.This is because Islam frowns at the practice, and our level of interaction ,as well as the new educational level of our people , won't allow this practice to continue.'He says that he is not happy that there is no place in Port Harcourt akin to the Sabon Gari as it manifests in the north.According to him if the Kanuri were dwelling in such a place ' the environment would promote our culture ,and the interaction will be of benefit to everybody.As it is we are not together in one place.Government would otherwise have recognised us,and development would have come.'One thing he likes most about Port Harcourt is the level of security in the city.His words 'The people are peaceful and they like northerners a lot. For example ,we have never heard that the people here are preparing to fight us. Even when there is a fight at Aba, our neighbours always come to reassure us of our safety.'He describes himself as an indigene of Rivers state,who has northern roots.
Jungle, a most unlikely name, is an unforgettable part of Port Harcourt.Here are countless alleys , mosques , open gutters with a dark flowing liquid , an overpowering odour,and a vast moving population . It is largely a home to persons of northern extraction, and given the Hausa and Kanuri accents that predominate within, it looks like a bit of Kano or even Yobe, that has been neatly installed in the Niger Delta. Jungle is a miracle of sorts. We soon meet Alhaji Mohammed Kyari Damasak within Jungle. He says that long before the civil war the Kanuris were already established in Port Harcourt, adding that he arrived Port Harcourt at the time of the Udoji award. This could be about the year 1973.He arrived the city to teach Arabic at the Koranic schools. So far more than 300 children have received guidance from him in Arabic studies .He says that the Kanuri from Yobe and Borno have mastered the Qur'an much more than any other group within Nigeria's borders. Just like Sarkin Barebare, Alhaji Damasak sees himself as an indigene of Rivers state, given his long residence there.He last visited Borno ten years ago.He says that a good number of marriages do occur within the community, but stresses that if a Kanuri marries a non muslim,it means that such person, usually a lady, has also agreed to become a muslim.Kanuri meals have almost vanished, he emphasises,adding that meals within the community are largely mixed revealing the Hausa,Ikwerre,Ijaw heritage of the group. On facial marks, he says 'People have stopped putting Kanuri facial marks on their children as a result of the strong influence of Islam'. He adds that most of the houses in Jungle are owned by Hausas and other persons from the north.The inhabitants include taxi drivers,butchers,labourers, and traders.He lauds the city in the following words 'Port Harcourt is a good place to live in .I have been here for many decades.We live here peacefully,and there is food to eat'.Alhaji Audu Galadima is involved in trading in the city.His is another remarkable story.Hailing from Biu in Borno state and settling in the city years ago, he was recently given a traditional title by the Chief of Rumuchorlu community,a title which means 'Chief of Peace'. In a telephone interview with Daily Trust, the Eze of Rumuchorlu says 'Alhaji Galadima has been assisting the youths over the years and given them jobs as well.He is always ready to help.Recently,he kindly donated a number of public toilets to the Rumuchorlu community ,a move which will assist everyone here irrespective of background. He has really helped us here '.
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