Monday Column By Emmanuel Yawe
royawe@yahoo.com | 08024565402
There has always been insecurity lurking the dark corners of Nigeria. Like any other country, Nigeria is a country of immigrants with many ethnic groups who settled here calling it home. The jostling for some space under the sun in Nigeria – ethnic wars – by the multitude of ethnic groups was certainly not a tea party.
Then the white men came and by establishing colonialism made us a conquered people, taking our security off our hands. There was the Northern and the Southern Protectorates of Nigeria. Of the two protectorates, the north, occupying about 78% of Nigeria’s landmass remained the most peaceful.
“The expansive and peaceful landmass of the north” is how my teacher of political science at Ibadan University, Professor Billy J Dudley often referred to northern Nigeria in his lectures and even books in the 60s and 70s. I am not sure the most brilliant political scientist Nigeria has ever produced will say or write the same today of the north if he were alive.
Establishing colonial rule in Nigeria was largely peaceful but occasionally, there was resistance to the new and strange system. Of these, the Tiv resistance to the establishment of a telegraph line linking Lokoja and Ibi and the Sultan Attahiru rebellion in defense of the Sokoto Emirate were the most eventful. The north remained peaceful throughout the colonial period from 1900 up to 1950s when the anti-colonial movements spreading like wild fire from the south reached the north.
Colonial rule in the north was a joint enterprise between the British and the elaborate administrative system put in place by the 1804 Jihad of Othman dan Fodio. The British did not simply have the manpower or resources to administer this “expansive” landmass. They had to rely on the administrative structures of the Sokoto Caliphate. This gave birth to what is commonly known as the Indirect Rule. The conquered local rulers were allowed to remain in office as long as they carried out the wishes of the colonial masters. It worked seemingly well for some time until radicals like Malam Aminu Kano emerged.
Aminu Kano was a teacher under the colonial system with very radical views. He was involved with some other educated northerners in the anti-colonial movements. Not satisfied with the conservative disposition of the other members who were not willing to share his radical drive, he left to form NEPU. His opponents stayed on in what later emerged as the Northern People’s Congress, NPC.
Aminu Kano further parted ways with the colonial system. In his letter of resignation, he wrote:
“I resigned because I refused to believe that this country is by necessity a prisoner of Anglo Fulani Autocracy of the unpopular Indirect Rule System. I resigned because there is no freedom to criticize this most unjust, anachronistic and Un-Islamic system form of hollow institutions as promulgated by Lord Lugard. I cannot tolerate these institutions because of their smell. I cannot tolerate them because they do not tolerate anyone.”
With such views, there was no love lost between Mallam Aminu Kano and the Emirs who controlled the Native Authority system who were the powers behind the Northern People’s Congress (NPC). Aminu Kano and his followers in NEPU were persecuted throughout the north by a terrorist group formed by the militants of the NPC known as (Jemmiyar Mahaukata) Association of mad men. This group went round the Provinces of the north harassing all those opposed to the NPC. Their activities in Borno caused the Borno Youth Movement (BYM) to be formed. But the most dramatic reaction to the mad men’s activities was the emergence in Benue Province of another terror gang known as (Atem Ityo) meaning head crackers in Tiv language. When the mad men met the head crackers in Benue Province, there was a lot of bloodshed. In history this is known as the Tiv riots. The first of such riots occurred in 1960 just before independence. According to Bryan Smith a colonial administrator and historian, more policemen were lost through that single operation than were lost throughout the entire colonial period of Nigeria. The Queens representative at the Independence celebrations, Princess Alexandria the Duchess of Yorkshire was billed to be in Makurdi as part of the ceremony. She was advised against taking the risk and she prudently stayed away from Makurdi.
The second Tiv riots was in 1964 and continued up till 1966 when the soldiers staged a coup. Those who have read the statements by Chukwuma Nzeagwu the leader of that coup who assassinated the Sardauna of Sokoto Sir Ahmadu will understand why he complained endlessly at his first press conference about the way the government was handling the Tiv riots. Sadly those who staged the first coup did not only kill northern political and military leaders, they also killed federalism which Nigerians had unanimously agreed on before independence as the best form of government. Major General Ironsi who emerged as a Head of State promulgated a decree declaring Nigeria a unitary state. Nigerians have since then vainly tried to reinstate the federal system which they opted for at independence.
The incursion of the military into the politics of Nigeria led to a revenge coup. The first coup was christened an Ibo coup which attracted the revenge coup by northern officers who killed the Head of State, General Ironsi and many other Ibo officers and men of Ibo origin. There was general insecurity in Nigeria putting the country on the slippery road to a bloody civil war which took place between 1967 and 1970.
After the civil war, religion has become such a combustive issue in the north, raising issues of insecurity. In 1980, a fanatical Islamic group known as the Maitasine emerged, murdering Christians and even Muslims who did not share their views of Islam. They were speedily put down by military action. Again they remerged in Bulunkutu ward of Maiduguri the Borno state capital 1982 and again they were quickly swept off by the military. From there they moved to Yola in 1984 where they were defeated in combat by the military.
The emergence of – Boko Haram – which preaches a return to medieval Islamic practices bears some eerie similarities with Maitastine. Sadly, the Nigerian government has not yet succeeded in bringing them to heel. Instead they have given rise to all kinds of terrorist groups, banditry which sometimes masquerade as herdsmen. They have kidnapped and killed manyin the county particularly the north.
In the midst of the threat to our security at the return of democracy in 1999, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) was formed at the behest of our patriotic leaders like General Yakubu Gowon to tame insecurity in the north and the country. As a non-governmental actor without control of the police and army we are handicapped especially when state governors do not take our advice. Only the current Governor of Borno, Professor Zulum who has achieved much in the face of the ravages of Boko Haram and Yahaya Bello who has come out with progressive programs that have turned Kogi into a secured state appear to meet our expectations.
Unfortunately, the current political leaders in the north, especially state governors are mostly not matured for the big tasks of taming insecurity. Recently a state governor claimed falsely that 15 Fulani tried to kill him by firing 15 AK47 guns at him. Only his ability to run for 1.5 kilometers and at top speed saved him. It was almost humorous. But such prolific falsehood ignites insecurity in the north and Nigeria.
Excerpts from a paper delivered by Emmanuel Yawe at the 1st GYB Annual Seminar for political and crime correspondents in Abuja on the 10th of July 2021.
