The Lingering question today remains: Arewa, Who is Really my Brother?
l, Aminu Zakari Yakubu hail from Azara village in Awe Local Government of Nassarawa State. Does the man from Zamfara see me as his brother? The answer is No!. He thinks I'm not Hausa enough or perhaps not even Fulani, so l am considered a 'Kabila' or 'Yare' meaning a Local dialect other than the Hausa language. I often wonder, if Hausa itself is not a language like other languages or perhaps a 'Devine' one. I sometimes say to my good friend Muhammad Nurudeen as a joke, if Islam came through the Hausa people and not the Arabs, we the non Hausas would have been paying yearly subscription, because the average Hausa or fulani man thinks he is more Muslim than I am, the only yardstick to measure that is my ancestral background.
Today, we say Arewa lives matter. Who are the Bandits? Most of them are foreigners, at least from the pictures and videos we see, the major problem is the core Northerners taking a foreigner as brother because they speak the same language or practice the same religion while he sees the Igbo Nigerian as a 'Dan kudu'. Meanwhile, the igbo man engrossed in his business peacefully in Zamfara, Sokoto or Katsina is more beneficial to the northerner than the foreigners they take as brothers.
So I ask: Arewa who really is your Brother? Years back, we allowed them stroll into the country mostly to the North Central where they destroyed farms and created the age long herders/farmers clash, they really did not care because it was my aunts' rice farm. Today due to climate change, population explosion, desertification etc the pressure is pushing them to raid, kill, and forcefully take from the settlements they once passed saying hello. In fact some of them come in and settle down with no proper documentation and later compete for resources with us, and even get more favor than the bonified citizen who may not be as good looking with Hausa ancestry. We must tell ourselves the truth no matter how hard it may come on us. Should we continue to allow these people stroll in through our porous borders?
In solving these problems, guns and bullets can do very little compare to our attitude towards the improper brotherhood.
The disheartening clips of villagers cheering bandits shows that these perpetrators may likely be known to some of the audience. It's even more sad that some state governors wine and dine with them in the name of amnesty. Amnesty for what?? To feed fat on Security votes?
Arewa Lives Matter, agreed. But if it matters that much then adequate information should be give to the authorities about illegal migrants at all levels. As they seem to come in one by one over a period time, then form groups and begin attacks. If we can control the influx of foreigners, we would have solved 80% of the problem.
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