NORTHERN PEACE CONFERENCE BEYOND THE ORCHESTRATED HYSTERIA

[Nuruddeen]

NORTHERN PEACE CONFERENCE BEYOND THE ORCHESTRATED HYSTERIA

By

Jibo Nura


E-mail: jibonura@yahoo.com
Date: 10th December, 2004.

?Away with bitterness, my own people. For a new time has come for us. Now we must change, my people. For so long Time for us stood still; now we must know Life is all about change, progress and learning things. Let us do away with bitterness and the bitter past; those are empty things, maggots in the minds. The past is gone like our childhood days of old, the future comes like dawn after the dark. Bringing fulfillment??

That was Kath Walker - famous Australian poetess in one of her passionate pleas for the liberation of her people. But why I quoted Walker was because of the need for a permanent seal up on this fragmented entity called Northern Nigeria. The North being home and settlement of fifty eight percent of the people of Nigeria is inflicted with chronic ailment, which if we are not careful, will soon metastasize into malignant disease that only Death can be its panacea.

Alas, this was the main reason why the 19 Northern State Governors sat on 1st and 2nd December, 2004 at the International Trade fair complex, Kaduna, to seek for an alternative cure and/or treatment just in case her condition may worsen or get out of hand.

Now whatever was discussed in that peace mission initiative and no matter the caliber of people were in attendance and those in absentia, certain salient points need to be drawn and outlined.

First, we should understand that the trouble with Northerners lies mainly in Identity crises, i.e. who belong to who in terms of faith/ belief, tradition/ customs and language. These have posited a lot of threat and serious misunderstanding more than tribalism and ethnicity. Though, somebody asserted elsewhere that ?Tribalism, ethnicity and religion historically cause conflicts throughout the world and as a matter of fact they will always be with us, as long as human race exists?. However, that does not mean we shall not exercise some minimum level of civility, tolerance and accommodation among us.

My very good friend Aliyu Muhammad in his peace letter to the Northern Conference said ?the whole ethnic in the North are supposed to live together in harmony no matter our differences. Because no one has voluntarily chose to be a Nigerian or Northerner for that matter. We must know that such is pre-determined by God?. And nobody has the liberty and control over identity and/or tribal belonging except God the Almighty.

Secondly, the issue of poverty, which has been deliberately and artificially installed among the masses, has serious implication to our economic savvy. No amount of conferences, gatherings, symposia and workshops can proffer altruistic solutions to North?s problems if the majority would be left without food, shelter and accommodation. Our leaders, especially those dominating the commanding heights of our economy should ensure the fear of God and look at the downtrodden with compassion. It is only when they demonstrate good leadership model, i.e. leadership based on pity and accountability that we could  only put an end to most of our predicaments, otherwise, they (masses) would forever hate and despise them. All the attempts to revive and give good education and political stability would continue to be in vain since the monster- poverty has eaten deep into the fabrics of our societal leanings. And unless it is quickly alleviated, the North can never solve her problems.

Thirdly, political and party affiliations have negative effect to our developmental priorities. These have derailed our politicians from their major responsibilities. Instead of the elected ruling class to confront and listen to the electorates on what they need to be provided with, these politicians are now resort to unwholesome political meetings, gossips, rivalries and enmity. Right now, we are three years before 2007 but to see how degenerated we are politically, there are strong indications that the North may also not get anywhere if issues are not properly tackled.

Presently, we have three strong contenders from the region who have high penchant for the presidential seat. And sadly none of them is willing to relinquish for another. In fact, the contest among them is geometrically increasing day in day out. How can we then have a consensus arrangement under this condition? This is sad. As Paul Mamza had it that ? From the on set it was these  political elites, who in the first instance, created the dis-affectionate contentions?perhaps to consolidate power to the region in 2007?. Mamza could not hide his feelings on the faulty nature of North?s problem solving strategy that he overtly declared ?While other regions manage their flash points in secrecy, Northern Nigeria of recent takes it conflict resolution mechanism to the market place?. What a shame!

Therefore, we can go on and on?but let?s see if there are possible remedies.

One: Since Identity stands at the apex of our problems, each tribe in the North whether black, yellow, red, white or brown from wherever you are, must learn to bear in mind that we are all one family, we are also national and international, as such, never mind tribal or place inclination. We are for humanity, all one race, so why make wars? Therefore, the Muslim North and the Christian North should know that both Christianity and Islam are religions of peace. No Koranic or Biblical version supports intolerance, identity struggle, tribalism or ethnically motivated insurgencies. From the conceptualization and inception of this entity called Nigeria, Northerners have learnt to live together, then why should we allow conflicts to separate us now, after all we have been our brothers keepers for decades.
Two: The issue of poverty is really a matter of serious concern; hence, our economic policies must be targeted at meaningful goals.  Currently, over seventy percent of Nigerians (Northerners inclusive) are living below poverty lines, in fact, earning a living in less than a Dollar per day. This, considering our bountiful resources and also considering the per capita income of our country, is quite astounding. And one thing that I want to draw to the attention of those manning the helm of our affairs is that once you subject an individual to abject hunger and starvation, the end result are perfidies and unprecedented calamities. I therefore would wish to suggest that Northern stakeholders should put God before them and work for the betterment of the lives of the poor and the needy.

Three: As for the Governors of the 19 Northern states, I really commended their effort for organizing such a peace intervention initiative but I may wish to suggest that all what were discussed and upheld during the conference should not be seen as one of those ill- equipped political maneuver abilities. Hence results should be seen manifesting in the next two months or within the early part of the first quarter of next year. Thus recommendations and solutions should be implemented and exercised with deep commitments so that people can spot the difference between action and mere talks.

Finally, the Northern Governors should also go back and search their ?hand bags? and find out the fifteen year development plan that was designed by the late premier, which is supposed to propel and marshal the region (North) to compete with its counterpart comfortably. They should borrow a leaf from that master plan please.

Jibo Nura

[mallamt]

Nuruddeen,

This is a very good write up and the sencerity of it is very evident in the emotions it tries to evoke on the issues it has touched.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to see this article, I was away to Nigeria and did not have time whilst there to get on the web.

One of the issues raised in you article has to do with respect for each other.  This has always been my beleif that every nigerian irresspective of race, sex, religion etc must learn to recognise the right of the other to exist.  This is were one of our major problems lies in the north as well.  We have reduced individual rights to what we want and not what is right.  We are now in a situation were a kano muslim says to hell with the rights of the christain irrespective of them being from kano we are imposing islamic rule here if you oppose it then we kill you and destroy your property.  The same is happening in places like plateau, if you are hausa and muslim you have no place here you are not an indigene!  Yet the sad thing is that these positions are being propagated by the intellectuals, northerners that have been to school are graduates some with post graduate degrees and holding very influential positions in society.

We must recognise that our very survival depends on our being able to live together.  We must learn to respect the rights of others because that is the only way our own rights can be respected.  Coloration of people on the basis of religion must be brought to an end, for years in the north people of different religions have lived side by side in peace each letting the other practise there faith so what has happened to us?  During my stay in nigeria we had some cases of discrimination based on religion, a kano girl who was a christain applied for a job and was told to her face she was not from kano! the officials actually said "have you ever heard of a christain from kano" to her.  Another case was that of a military recruit from kano who is a christain and did very well in the selection process.  He was droped for no reason and this followed up by a hausa christain group who found out that he was droped because he was a christain, the matter was taken up and now has been reinstated.  Just before I left about 5 recruits who are christains from katsina state were told to their face that they were christains and thus can not be from katsina state, they were droped this case is now with the hausa christain group and they are taking it up.  These type of discrimination is abondant in northern nigeria yet we do not want to talk about it or even deal with the people that perpetuate them.  We must also remember that not all muslims or christains act in such manner especially since these descriminatory practises as the ones highlighted were actually reported and confirmed by muslims in some of the cases.

On the economy, my trip to nigeria was disturbing and especially my trip to kano.  those in this forum who kbew what kano was like in the 70s will understand what I am talking about.  A scholar of human settlements looking at kano today will quickly realsie that kano is about to enter the beginning of its death as a city of any importance unless something is done drastically.  I happened to be with some investos and representatives of financial institutions from outside nigeria.  When investment in kano came up they all said categorically NO, i was shocked but there instruction apperantly was that they must not consider kano for any investment because of insecurity and random flare up of violent religious riots.

I was in kano, taking a drive it saddened me to see what bompai has turned into - a ghost town.  There was a time you see thousands of works especially during shift changes now all that is gone.  There are no more textile companies in kano, and no one is interested in reviving the industry.  The governor spends his time talking about kwankwaso and how he tried to sabotage him and he does nothing for the people of kano.  Sabon gari used to be a behive of activities it is now a shadow of its self, this is were fagge LG got over 70% of its revenue and it generated the highest revenue for kano state.  A was in wappa as I had relatives their who als dealt with changi and the story was very sad.  Things are so bad that the predominant business they are now involved in is gsm.  The currency market is so bad that a deal o 5000 usd a day is considered a big deal, this is from dealing in millions of dollars at one time.  There are no more international flights coming to kano airlines are now giving funny excuses for not stopping in kano domestic flights are so few that it will make you wonder whether there is a need for an airport i kano, yet kano had the first and busiest airport at one time in nigeria.

One can go on and on but I believe your article has raised very serious and important issues that will determine the survival of the north, and I hope forumites will be able to read it for what it is - plain truth and reality.

[Nuruddeen]

Nuruddeen,

This is a very good write up and the sencerity of it is very evident in the emotions it tries to evoke on the issues it has touched.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to see this article, I was away to Nigeria and did not have time whilst there to get on the web.

One of the issues raised in you article has to do with respect for each other.  This has always been my beleif that every nigerian irresspective of race, sex, religion etc must learn to recognise the right of the other to exist.  This is were one of our major problems lies in the north as well.  We have reduced individual rights to what we want and not what is right.  We are now in a situation were a kano muslim says to hell with the rights of the christain irrespective of them being from kano we are imposing islamic rule here if you oppose it then we kill you and destroy your property.  The same is happening in places like plateau, if you are hausa and muslim you have no place here you are not an indigene!  Yet the sad thing is that these positions are being propagated by the intellectuals, northerners that have been to school are graduates some with post graduate degrees and holding very influential positions in society.

We must recognise that our very survival depends on our being able to live together.  We must learn to respect the rights of others because that is the only way our own rights can be respected.  Coloration of people on the basis of religion must be brought to an end, for years in the north people of different religions have lived side by side in peace each letting the other practise there faith so what has happened to us?  During my stay in nigeria we had some cases of discrimination based on religion, a kano girl who was a christain applied for a job and was told to her face she was not from kano! the officials actually said "have you ever heard of a christain from kano" to her.  Another case was that of a military recruit from kano who is a christain and did very well in the selection process.  He was droped for no reason and this followed up by a hausa christain group who found out that he was droped because he was a christain, the matter was taken up and now has been reinstated.  Just before I left about 5 recruits who are christains from katsina state were told to their face that they were christains and thus can not be from katsina state, they were droped this case is now with the hausa christain group and they are taking it up.  These type of discrimination is abondant in northern nigeria yet we do not want to talk about it or even deal with the people that perpetuate them.  We must also remember that not all muslims or christains act in such manner especially since these descriminatory practises as the ones highlighted were actually reported and confirmed by muslims in some of the cases.

On the economy, my trip to nigeria was disturbing and especially my trip to kano.  those in this forum who kbew what kano was like in the 70s will understand what I am talking about.  A scholar of human settlements looking at kano today will quickly realsie that kano is about to enter the beginning of its death as a city of any importance unless something is done drastically.  I happened to be with some investos and representatives of financial institutions from outside nigeria.  When investment in kano came up they all said categorically NO, i was shocked but there instruction apperantly was that they must not consider kano for any investment because of insecurity and random flare up of violent religious riots.

I was in kano, taking a drive it saddened me to see what bompai has turned into - a ghost town.  There was a time you see thousands of works especially during shift changes now all that is gone.  There are no more textile companies in kano, and no one is interested in reviving the industry.  The governor spends his time talking about kwankwaso and how he tried to sabotage him and he does nothing for the people of kano.  Sabon gari used to be a behive of activities it is now a shadow of its self, this is were f*g LG got over 70% of its revenue and it generated the highest revenue for kano state.  A was in wappa as I had relatives their who als dealt with changi and the story was very sad.  Things are so bad that the predominant business they are now involved in is gsm.  The currency market is so bad that a deal o 5000 usd a day is considered a big deal, this is from dealing in millions of dollars at one time.  There are no more international flights coming to kano airlines are now giving funny excuses for not stopping in kano domestic flights are so few that it will make you wonder whether there is a need for an airport i kano, yet kano had the first and busiest airport at one time in nigeria.

One can go on and on but I believe your article has raised very serious and important issues that will determine the survival of the north, and I hope forumites will be able to read it for what it is - plain truth and reality.

That is it Mallamt. Thank you very much for your observations. Ideally,  we are supposed to live together as friends not enemies eventhough we are misguided by our emotions, but we have to accept this simple reality that it is God who made us the way we are. He mixed us up so that we can learn from and live with one another. Even the prophet of Islam has lived in peace and perfect harmony with non muslims. Likewise Jesus has lived all his life in the midst of Muslims and Christians alike. So why the difference???????

[lionger]

Fantastic article, Nurrudeen. I don't know if I've ever said this before, but I;ve always enjoyed reading your articles.

[CODEpinkALERT]

Mr Nuruddeen, that was indeed an excellent read,and quite trenchant beyond all doubts  you aproach our issues with practical initiatives, unfortunately there are very few people on these forums that i can say thesame of, Lionger Myadudu Dave and Mallam are some of these few, although not much of a political theorist myself ( id rather read and learn) i notice how honestly and wholeheartedly you advocate the cause of one Nigeria with total disregard to tribal ethnic and religeous nuances (i refuse to call them "differences")however some frustrations over here though : i was reading your article and enjoying every last bit of it, until i reached the part where you asserted

"Our leaders, especially those dominating the commanding heights of our economy should ensure the fear of God and look at the downtrodden with compassion. It is only when they demonstrate good leadership model, i.e. leadership based on pity and accountability that we could only put an end to most of our predicaments, otherwise, they (masses) would forever hate and despise them. All the attempts to revive and give good education and political stability would continue to be in vain since the monster- poverty has eaten deep into the fabrics of our societal leanings. And unless it is quickly alleviated, the North can never solve her problems."

i will try to extact from this respective view/theorem  3 key points that in my humble opinion i think you have embeded into the above paraghraph without that usual whim of yours :wink:

1- fear of GOD has been long proven a quality that our leaders are either incapable of attaining or do not think it worth their while to try, plus why fear God when you can buy your way into the prayers of the so called religeous and spiritual leaders ?, many of the northern "Sheikhs" and intellectuals ride on thesame exploitation wagon as those aristocratic tyrants while the working class endure the clactalismic results of their unity, although many of our northern compatriots would stubbornly succumb to denial when it comes to the association of their religeous idols with the likes of Babangida, none can effectively deny that the bulk of our religious leaders are in the favour of the wealthy,for instance many of them celebrate extravagance and annual gifts of mass flights to SaudiArabia which they then award to whome they please amongst their devoutees, question is how contradictory is one's pilgrimage if the very plane that one flies to these holy lands is fuelled by the blood sweat and tears of the poor? i personally have suspected for quite a while that those dictators we so happen to call our leaders have long recognized that fear of God is not an essential ingredient to govern a nation of devided half starved poorly educated tribes, this lays the foundation of my next point:

2-F E A R, these four snister letters in the recent years and in the advents of 911 have rigorously dominated the centerstage of this orchestra we term "life"  the year 2004 alone seems to be indemic with  one terrifying event after the other, from the dramatic elevation of the death rate in Irak to Bercelona, the tribal tussels in nigeria,the ivory coast,the natural disasters in the Persian regions, Durfur,and just when we all thought it was over our Cristmas celebrations ware desrupted with the tragic news of the tsunami in Asia, now the irony of all this is that our leaders who always seem to fashion themselves in defensive postures in all these events are in fact doin nothing short of transforming this fear into political stock chips,since a terrified mass is more vulnerable to dictatorship,plus the relationship of many of our  intellectuals  to one another is similar to that of the gladiators to the plebeians they go at each others throat thristy for blood  to the amazement of the masses of a hyponotized croud gathered in this grimy collisium name NIGERIA, i share with you the sentiment that our leaders do need to fear something but i seek to differ in the subject, in my humble conviction what they need to fear is the rage of an oppressed nation, we shall continue to organize and educate one another,and from this practice is bound to spring a generation of educated  mass that will rise like a slow tide and scare the living hell out of those ruling calss
remember "no one person can do everything but everyone can do something"

3-a leadership based on "accountability" YES but a leadership based on "pity" contradicts the former because "pity" ( if the meriam webster dictionary is to be believed ) means: "Sympathy and sorrow aroused by the misfortune or suffering of another" thus its highly improbable for this to accur when that suffering or mishap is inflicted by thesame person you are seeking the pity from,fact is we continue to assume and hope that those powers that be who brought about these suffering will somehow miraculously change their mind reverse their elitee's policies and start caring for the poor, but this is unlikely to happen anytime soon ! the time and conditions in nigeria are ripe for an intellectual revolution,( we dont want no more bloodshed) but am i ready to start viewing these ideas i harbour as duties or just "ideas"....................................................................................????


"education like the air we breath and water we drink" Taha Hussein 1898-1973

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

CODEpinkALERT

You speak the truth. On my observation one of the greatest failutes in Nigeria is the failure of religious leaders to condemn the dishonesty and thievery of many of your leaders. Some of Nigeria's religious leaders seem to be happy to be in the company and favour of corrupted leaders.

[Humrah]

On my observation one of the greatest failutes in Nigeria is the failure of religious leaders to condemn the dishonesty and thievery of many of your leaders. Some of Nigeria's religious leaders seem to be happy to be in the company and favour of corrupted leaders.

Uhm... I think the religious leaders in Nigeria try their best in telling the truth about Nigeria. The Catholics told the leaders to their faces that last year's election was a fraud. And, though not understanding any Nigerian language, I learnt that Islamic scholars did well in telling the leaders the stark truth, during the recent concluded Tafsir in the month of Ramadan.

[Nuruddeen]

Fantastic article, Nurrudeen. I don't know if I've ever said this before, but I;ve always enjoyed reading your articles.

Ha! ha! Now u've said it on me Mr. Lionger. Thank you very much and I wish you too the very best in your life. As for my articles, some members in the house are trying to display me as critic but I don't give a damn since they can't  get me anywhere or cite a clause where am not objective or factual in my analysis. Though I know their reasons were bcos of my fight against my state Governor. May God help us.

[alhaji_aminu]

salam

I am sure we all hoped for the conference to succeed and go beyond the customary rhetorics of our Nigerian politicans. Sadly, however, the contributions of many like Adamu Abdullahi of Nassarawa state and Saminu Turaki of Jigawa left much to be desired.

Of course, the fact that Northerners agreed and resolved to make this bold move is commendable. The conspicous absence of Atiku and other Arewa topshots not withstanding.  The more we talk amongst ourselves, Fulanis, Biroms, Hausas, the less time we have to kill and main.

So lets make this a permanent thing. Let's make it an annual ritual of soul searching for the sake of God and humanity. This which will emphasize our relatedness, being humans, and the triumph of good over evil.

Let's all pray,in the name of God,  that the madness and unGodliness that we witnessed in Jos, Kano and elsewhere will never recur.

Peace!

[sdanyaro]

Very good write up Jibo Nura, and very good follow up mallamt, lionger, CODEpinkALERT, Dave_McEwan_Hill, Humrah and myadudu;

I think you all got it right, but I must say that the main problem we have here is not Religion, it is not Tribe or tribalism, it is not lack of education. The main problem is "YUNWA" - Poverty... that is the Second issue that you have raised. This is also evident in mallamt's second to the last paragraph follow up where he described what he has seen just recently in Kano's Airport and Bompai industrial area.

I am very sorry to say to you that based on what I have seen, I really do not think this problem is going to be solved anytime soon with this current system and resources that we have. We may have to go on like this for about another hundred years or so. I also think that the "NORTHERN PEACE CONFERENCE" was just one of those things that just come and go... just like an fashion show to assemble people to talk, talk and talk but never any action. This is evident in the fact that there was no follow up action to all the talks that has taken place. . .

[Nuruddeen]

Very good write up Jibo Nura, and very good follow up mallamt, lionger, CODEpinkALERT, Dave_McEwan_Hill, Humrah and myadudu;

I think you all got it right, but I must say that the main problem we have here is not Religion, it is not Tribe or tribalism, it is not lack of education. The main problem is "YUNWA" - Poverty... that is the Second issue that you have raised. This is also evident in mallamt's second to the last paragraph follow up where he described what he has seen just recently in Kano's Airport and Bompai industrial area.

I am very sorry to say to you that based on what I have seen, I really do not think this problem is going to be solved anytime soon with this current system and resources that we have. We may have to go on like this for about another hundred years or so. I also think that the "NORTHERN PEACE CONFERENCE" was just one of those things that just come and go... just like an fashion show to assemble people to talk, talk and talk but never any action. This is evident in the fact that there was no follow up action to all the talks that has taken place. . .

Webmaster, you have now touched a problem bedevilling majority. You see, these our leaders are not ready to come to the rescue of the masses. Almost all their "Poverty Alleviation" and wahala is just a social shenanigan. All they have succeded in doing is POVERTY AGGRAVATION on the downtrodden. And for us to cure this social malaise, we got to start what I prefer to call self empowerment strategy, i.e within your familial unit if u can and also have the means, then u need to device and draw a powerful method of exonerating your people from the quagmire of these Bunch of personalities whom I comfortably and fondly tagged as ABUJA CROWDS. Because by virtue of this Nigerian thing, i doubt very much if ever the Leadership will come to the aid of the led. In fact, all the "YUNWA" that u've been emphasizing, to me it's just artificially created by the Abuja people all in the name of DEMOCRACY. It's a pity!

[_Waziri_]

Tahiyyatiy Al-Islam,

Lionger, Mallamt, Myadudu, Humrah  CODEpinkALERT, Dave_McEwan_Hill, and Nuruddeen.

Quite interesting inputs you have made . And if I can still remember, what Jibo Nura put up there is basically what almost all the speakers there[the conference ground], inputed. Media houses aired the proceedings of the conference. Ibraheem Shekarau of Kano was applauded generally for his speech just as we are applauding Nuruddeen here. In fact it was some two professors that preceded Mallam Shekarau with a mic. But when General Yakubu Gowon was to comment on what Shekarau said, he had to genuinely complimented him with the wordings: I today award you with two Professorship!!!!


But then, the ultimate question remains, how ready are we to follow our sweet wordings with actions? If we are, HOW DO WE START?.

Nuruddeen who wrote kindly and generously from the beginning is now - in his most reccent post- advising us to start thinking of our own selves only. To strategically empower our family first :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

My brother CODEpinkALERT doesn't see fear in God to be a cogent solution but rather revolution[ Just like the way my causin Maqari used to think]. That ofcourse not without the many substantial claims he made. But yet I really wonder how this will happen. Who and what is to be changed? Afterall the record of history always shows that revolutions only take little time before its leaders turn to be as worst as the regimes they overthrew.

In Nigeria  everybody seems to know the problems as clearly articulated by Nuruddeen.  Even Obasanjo himself and those in authority everywhere always SAY IT IS THE SAME PROBLEM THAT IS KEEPING THEM FROM WORKING FOR THEIR PEOPLE EFFECTIVELY.

The commoner and the leader, religious or otherwise, are complaining that the problem is one single thing and they all speak as they cannot do anything about it........................................................... It is a pity.

I remain most grateful,

most loyal,

Waziri