Will this Question Vanish?

Will this Question Vanish?

By Sam Onimisi

The National Question – what is the national question? Simply put, it is this: what is in Nigeria for the various peoples of Nigeria? In other words, what are the terms, conditions and proviso that regulate the inter-ethnic relations in the country? What is the position of religion in inter ethnic, state or regional and national affairs? Well you may think that these questions are already settled – given the fact that we are operating a Constitution that is purported to have joined us together. The truth is that the questions are not yet answered and will not vanish by wishful thinking. Concomitant to the facts of these unanswered questions is another fact: those who are benefitting unfairly from the present anomie will not want the question to be posed, not to talk of answering them. And know what? The question can only be answered in one of two ways: through a national dialogue also known as national conference or through a civil war, which unfortunately appears to be the choice of those who are averse to the question.
One problem with Nigerians is their memory – they appear to have the shortest memory in the world, a defect that impairs the learning process or from experience. They keep acquiring and wasting experience to their detriment. And yet they are so rich in dogmatic as well as idiomatic expressions from which one could draw from their well of wisdom. Rather than learning from experience, they keep repeating the same mistakes and suffering worse fate with every repeat of past follies. And we are quick to take solace in God and His grace as if God will come down to settle our differences without our input or efforts. Lets take a few examples.

Alhaji Abubakar Bello Masaba, the Nupe octogenarian is now being threatened with death, not for any known crime except for his prodigious Libido which enabled him acquire 86 wives and whose family members are reputed to be about 5000 people. Hear him please. “I did not have any problem with anyone in Bida until 2008, when the Emir asked me to divorce some of my wives and remain with the four that Islam approved of, or be banished from the land”. This old man and members of his family were not only denied registration in the recently concluded voters registration exercise, members of his family were beaten up for attempting to perform their civic duties. Even when he sought and obtained justice from the courts, anonymous callers are threatening to kidnap him. Is it for not running away at the command of the Emir?
The man in question is about 90 years old; he did not acquire his wives at one go. He would have done so over several years and none of them have gone to court to sue for divorce due to neglect of his conjugal duties. All the while, the emir was watching Masaba and did not remind him on time that Islam allowed only four wives for an individual. When the wives were a dozen the emir was still silent until they are now over 7 dozens. Even if the emir didn’t know, the Imams could not claim to be ignorant of the fact and they may have even advised Pa Masaba who obviously failed to heed their advice. Please take note that my concern is not about Pa Masaba’s purity of religion – which may be the concern of the emir. My worry is about the applicable law in Bida, among the Nupe and the position of the law with regards to marriage in Nigeria. Did the Constitution put a limit to the number of wives one could marry? If not, did the Nupe native law and customs puts a ceiling which Pa Masaba contravened? If not, where were the enforcers of the Islamic Law when the man was acquiring his wives? Has every one who has five or more wives been forced to do away with the extra? If not, why Masaba? If he divorced fifty of his wives today, will he be left alone to live in peace? If he agrees to be banished, where is he expected to go? Has the emir created land for him and his family to which they could be sent? All these questions leads naturally to a vexatious question.
Pa Abubakar Bello Masaba is a Nupe man residing at his home town in Bida. The emir is a Fulani man from Good-knows-where, purporting to banish a man from the land of his ancestors. Did the emir derive his powers from Nupe native law and customs, the Nigeria Constitution or the Fulani law? Which one is applicable to Masaba of the three laws? One absolved him of any blame; the other accepted him as committing no crime and these are the two laws known to him. Where does the emir wants 82 wives of Masaba to go if he divorced them? By the patrilineal rule of descent applicable to the Nupe, all Pa Masaba’s offspring are Nupes and are bonafide indigenes of Bida, his home town. The question is; what right has the emir to seek to banish Masaba? This is one of the National Questions yet to be answered.
The governor of Benue State the other day berated the Fulani for killing his people. Hear Governor Gabriel Suswan. “The situation where the Fulani people living in the state brought in mercenaries to burn and kill the people is unacceptable. A fight between brothers should not involve mercenaries. They should stop, leave the state and allow us to settle our problem ourselves”. That was Saturday, February 12, 2011. As if to tell the governor of Benue State that he was talking rubbish, the attacks continued the following day. Again, hear the traditional ruler of Gbange/Tongon in Gwer-West Local Government Area Benue State the Tar Nagi Chief Daniel Abomtse: The Fulani armed herdsmen “first surrounded the village, shot into the air, waited for the harmless villagers who were asleep to come out of their houses. In the ensuing commotion, they shot and killed the people one after another and set their houses and crops ablaze”. Over 300 houses were set ablaze and about N100 million worth of crops and food were burnt; 18 innocent souls were killed in cold blood. Do you know what the governor did?
Governor Gabriel Suswan set up a relief committee to support the displaced; summoned a security meeting and then, reported the attack to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar. That was all the governor could do in the circumstances. But why? Because Benue State like the other 35 states has no control over the Nigeria Police in their states. The so-called security meeting could not take far-reaching decision to stop the repeat of future invasion. The Benue State Police Command were probably away to the moon and so did not know when the invasion took place. The duty of the Police is to prevent, detect, combat and arrest crimes and criminals and prosecute them as a deterrent. However the Nigeria Police in Benue States never knew when the Fulani and their hired Chadian mercenaries camped in Gwantashi Island of Nasarawa State; even when they crossed over to Benue State was a mystery to the Nigeria Police. The Police also heard this heinous attack in which 18 people were killed, like every other villager. The uninitiated may be fooled by the usual promise of turning all stones to arrest the killer. Even if any is arrested, Abuja will set them free in no time as usual. Poor Governor Gabriel Suswan could do nothing as the Chief Security Officer of the State and in helplessness, went to Sokoto on his knees to beg the head of the Fulani’s in Nigeria to report the matter.
Now, when the Fulanis were killing, burning and wasting people in Plateau State, the blame was put on the head of the governor, Jonah David Jang and some ignorant ones were calling for his impeachment or a state of emergency. Very soon, and unless something happens to prevent further invasion, Governor Gabriel Suswan may face the same threat; mark you, not for anything he ought to do which he failed to do, but partly because the system and nature of the security arrangement disempowered states from owning their own Police Forces. The three episodes sited in this piece; the Pa Abubakar Masaba case in Bida, Niger State; the Benue State invasion by Fulani herdsmen and their Chadian mercenaries and the long-standing Plateau State raids by the Fulani militia are issues that can only be determined through a national conference. There are other issues and questions here and there, all jostling for answers. Questions such as: whether transnational tribes such as the Fulani or the Hausa or the Yoruba are entitled to dual nationality rights or are superior to smaller ethnic groups? Whether an ethnic group must be ruled by someone from another ethnic group? Whether it is not more sensible for states to have their Police Force?
What are the rights of the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria? Have they surrendered their rights or identify to a country whose security forces collaborates wit invaders? Whether anybody knows it or not, I love Nigeria as a big country; I love the various ethnic groups and respects their languages and culture. What I don’t like is countries that cannot protect her citizens or nationals, or who discriminate between them by making some sacred cows and others as slaves and which fail to answer the question: what is in Nigeria for you and me?