I have a challenge concerning what caption I should give this piece pouring out of my pen; should I title it ‘An Encounter with Sir Ahmadu Bello’ or ‘I touched Sir Ahmadu Bello’s garment,’ ‘ the New Aryan Race’ or ‘A Recall of 1804’? I will leave that to the reader to resolve after going through the article or rather a report on an encounter.
On April 13, 2020, shortly before I went to bed, I went through submissions, commentaries and rejoinders on a posting on the Ogun State Elders Consultative Forum platform on the speech delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari on the Coronavirus pandemic, especially on his powers to declare lockdown on some places in the country. My little rejoinder was “Legally; Buhari has no power in a federal system to lockdown any federating state…not even the Federal Capital. Trump has no such powers over Washington the capital of USA or New York City in the State of New York. But the unitary government of the military currently operating in Nigeria has been shamelessly indulged by some of our house-boy governors and imbecilic National Assembly members. No word for our boy-boy ministers.”
As soon as I laid my head on the pillow, several thoughts started crisis-crossing my mind. It occurred to me that this pandemic season, which has clearly shown that Nigeria perhaps had no government at the centre, given the crass ineptitude glaringly displayed in response and handling of the Covid-19, might be the best opportunity for leaders of the leading nation-states in the country to come together to fashion out modus operandi for creating sovereign nations for their respective regions and stop, once and for all, the unending widespread agitations for secession. Lagos State in the Yoruba country could have saved the whole of Nigeria, like it did during the outbreak of Ebola but the awkward unitary government would not allow Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to close down the airports in his territory on March 15.
On whether there could ever be consensus among the leaders nationally or within various geopolitical zones, my brain countered by posing the question whether all the Jews agreed in a referendum before following Moses out of Egypt or for that matter whether the nations amalgamated in 1914 were given the needed mandatory option before the sledge hammer?
Sleep took over my brain. Dream crept in and ‘Lo and Behold’ I saw myself in an argument with a female minister who declared that no force on earth could prevent her from enjoying her brief Easter break with her family back in her village. The setting was Ibadan. I had retorted that what if the Premier had instructed her to go to London and make a photocopy of an important document in the British Archives and submit to Cabinet on Tuesday? ‘In that case’, she said ‘I would have no choice.’
Then followed the big one. I was face to face with the mighty Sir Ahmadu Bello, the irrepressible Gemini. He was pulling down what looked like the Itshekri man’s over size skirt which he wore. I tried to help him pull the skirt and right at the top of the fold was a big inscription “The Hausas”. I asked him what the inscription was meant to portray and why he showed it to everybody around. He said he was planning a huge congregation of Hausas throughout the country and was going to prove that the Hausa were the largest in population. He stressed further that he was going to follow the model of creating a pure Fulani race by separating the Hausa identity from the Fulani identity. He said that as it is in Europe and North America, if a White man fathers a child with a Black woman, the child is classified as Black. And if the mother is White and the father is Black, the child is still branded Black. Thus every child born to a copulation between Fulani person and Hausa person is, to him and his new world order, Hausa. He said the only qualification for being a Fulani is if both parents, like in the case of late Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon [born to Herdsman Hassan and Aishat Dogo] were Fulani.
“I regret huge mistakes made in the past. I am reestablishing, restoring and strengthening the old Hausa kingdoms to be ruled by their kings and traditional rulers. In the same vein I am abolishing the Emirate system throughout the land. I will reawaken and strengthen Hausa nationalism and give the Hausa their identity, pride and dignity as it was in the beginning.”
By this time, a few people have gathered round the Sardauna. He went further; “Never again will I allow the pollution of the Fulani purity and civilisation. I am going to terminate the dichotomy between the Town Fulani and the Nomadic Fulani. All of us shall gather together and find accommodation in regions around Sokoto and live in peace with our Hausa landlords. And, insha Allah, we shall get a large expanse of land with neighbouring Fulani settlements and live peacefully without interfering with other people’s freedom and their ways of life. Never again shall the Fulani be found wandering in the bush with cattle. Because of long mingling with others, we are portrayed as aggressors instead of victims and all bad traits are associated with us which is not the case. We are people of the Book and rich traditions. And by the time I succeed in separating the Fulani from other hybrids the world will come to respect us for who we truly are.”
The historic man continued his monologue like someone about to rewrite history. Before I could proceed further with one of Africa’s greatest visionary leaders, sleep knocked off the dream and before I realised what was happening, very nauseating mosquito buzz pierced my ears and my eyes were forced open.
Now, I need a decoder to interpret the dream and, of course, an appropriate title for this brief encounter.
- The Jagun Oodua, Akogun Tola Adeniyi, is a Fellow Commonwealth Journalists Association and National President League of Nigerian Columnists, locked down in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.
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