A region at war with itself

Since I was born, I have never seen Nigeria more divided than it is this time under President Muhammadu Buhari. Even those who shared same geographical location, history to some extent and even ancestral background at some point, are today fighting one another.

To be precise, the current tussle between Hausa and Fulani is so disturbing to my psyche. Who really cursed us? Are we used to such trivialities before or it is just by accident we found ourselves in this quagmire we are in at the moment?

How can we convince the upcoming generation that the North used to be a peaceful terrain where the inhabitants peacefully mingled with one another irrespective of tribal affiliation or other regards to identity. After all, the gleaming narratives have been bitterly coloured to ugly ones.

Perhaps, crisis of identity was a thing so obscure in the North in those days. For over several decades, the ethnic groups had been very accommodating to one another as though they were of same origin, although they are so to a certain degree. Hence they even succeeded in burying the ethnic difference through making social unions among themselves.

Sadly, today we are talking of another issue. Things have changed with the passage of time. We bow down and take a different dimension which goes in contrary to that of our grand grandfathers. The rising hostility is out of this world as of today among the major ethnic groups in the North.

It’s totally unbecoming for the conflicting parties to shun the history of their peaceful relation to some cheap matters that are not worth destroying their cordial relationship over.

There is a lesson to learn for the future however. Also, I suspect a plan being orchestrated by intruders to get this everlasting combination broken down. Soon, the invisible hands igniting the fire of animosity among the interrelated parties would bury their face in shame. The North will never be divided.

Abdulrahman Yunusa, Bauchi

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