‘We eat dogs and we are not ashamed of it’

DESPITE opposition from a section of the town, Billiri, which is the headquarters of Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe State, came alive last week when the Tangale people celebrated the Shag-bai festival, popularly referred to as the dog meat-eating carnival.

At the close of the event Tuesday last week, the carnival procession brought back merriment to Billiri. The event was said to have been observed by Tangale forefathers.

The mammoth crowd, made up of mostly youths who marched excitedly from the popular Kalmai dog meat market into the town, was accompanied by loud music and Tangale’s traditional dancers who thrilled onlookers.

The convener and chairman of the Shag-bai carnival, Mr Jesse Malum, told newsmen that the essence of the carnival was to project the identity of Tangale as a people who eat and do so many other things with dog.

Malum said: “The essence of this carnival is to project our identity. Many people think to eat dog is a dirty thing and our people faced some social stigma. We are trying to tell them that eating dog meat is a positive way of life. There is nothing negative about it. We are not ashamed of eating it.”

He recalled that recently, a DPO came to this place and there was an ugly incident after people believed he was trying to stop somebody from selling dog meat at a particular spot. It was resisted because it is part of the people

Malum, a lecturer at Alex Ekweme Federal University, Nduifo Alike, Ebonyi State, said: “I think such things should not happen because this is Tangale land and the constitution of Nigeria mandates security agencies and the government to protect and promote people’s culture.”

“Shag-bai is not just about celebrating dog meat but dog as a whole. So, if you talk about dog meat, our forefathers didn’t have goats before now, what they had were dogs. If they were celebrating anything, they killed dogs. In fact, in our marriages up to today, there is what is called ‘bayauli’, that is, money paid to buy firewood to cook bai (dog).

“It is a loud statement on the Tangale culture. If our forefathers had visitors, they welcomed them with dog meat”.

He said the essence of the carnival was to try to interface between the old and new generatiosn of the Tangale people. He then cautioned Tangale youths against being Eurocentric, saying “they must come back to their African culture.”

Speaking on the massive turnout for the carnival, he said: “Despite the challenges we faced in organising this carnival, there is massive support and turnout and it goes to say that eating dog meat is in our blood. If you try to stop a Tangale man from eating dog meat, it means you don’t even know the Tangale man. If a Tangale man’s new religion forbids eating dog meat, we don’t force him. He should follow his religion. But he shouldn’t tell us that Tangale man doesn’t eat dog. Even the person that doesn’t eat dog meat, his parents ate dog meat so much that dog meat is running inside his blood”.

Also, an elderly man, Isaac Usman, said the event was a means of telling the world that “this is Tangale land and we are synonymous with eating dog meat. It is our culture”.

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