ALUKO

MID-WEEK ESSAY: The Idi-Iraba “Pissing” Contest – and Nigeria’s Tinder-Box

Mobolaji E. Aluko, Ph.D.

[Burtonsville, Maryland, U.S.A.]

Thursday, February 8, 2002

INTRODUCTION

Please, pardon the “P” word in the title of this essay, but I have been trying to follow the root cause of the most recent Idi-Iraba riots. Some things don’t just compute.

But let us start this tale from in November 30 2001, when a poignant note was written to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu:

QUOTE

Gov Tinubu, Remember Us At Idi-Araba

Idi-Araba is one of the most densely populated areas in Lagos State. It accommodates law abiding Nigerians from all nooks and crannies of the country including the famous designers in our traditional attires from the North. This suburb also acts as a gateway to one of the foremost teaching hospitals in Nigeria -Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

The three(3) most important roads leading to the Hospital are not only in the state of disrepair, they are to say the least abandoned. These roads are: Ishaga Road, Fagbenro Road and Ojerinde Road. These roads need to be rehabilitated and maintained properly, not only for the populace and motorists, who ply these roads daily, but most importantly for those innocent patients who are rushed to the Hospital on emergencies everyday.

I am appealing to our dear and affable Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu to please remind his Honourable Commissioner for Works to consider these very important roads for urgent rehabilitation and repairs.

Bisiriyu Afolabi
Lagos

UNQUOTE

It was posted in This Day of November 30, 2001. [http://allafrica.com/stories/200111300075.html]

THE IDI-ARABA RIOT

Then on Friday, February 2, 2002, tragedy struck:

QUOTE

http://allafrica.com/stories/200202040025.html

Ethnic Clash: 19 Killed, 19 Houses Burnt

This Day (Lagos) February 4, 2002

The ethnic clash between the Yoruba and the Hausa in Idi Araba, Mushin local council area of Lagos State, which erupted late Friday, continued yesterday with the death toll, rising to 19. The clashes also left 19 houses completely razed….The situation is now under control. Casualties showed that 19 persons have been killed, and 19 houses burnt. "We have arrested 10 persons in the area with dangerous weapons, petrol and matches. All those injured have been taken to the General Hospital Ikeja, we cannot readily ascertain the figure of the injured right now," Okiro said.

UNQUOTE

IMMEDIATE CAUSES

What was the immediate cause of this particular riot? At least four differing accounts:

1. One account has it that a “young Christian ethnic Yoruba boy” “pissed’ or “defaecated” next to the premises of a Hausa man and/or “a mosque”, which angered some Hausa Muslims who beat him up (possibly to death.) That angered some Yoruba guys who set up a revenge party. Before you knew it, some people “suspected to be OPC members” were called in, and it became an Hausa/OPC ethnic conflict.

See http://allafrica.com/stories/200202040713.html

Death Toll Rises To 20 In Lagos Clash

Vanguard (Lagos) February 4, 2002

Lagos Clash in Third Day

The Monitor (Kampala) February 5, 2002

2. Another account has it that a Hausa fellow “pissed” next to the meeting place of people “suspected or alleged to be OPC members.” Those ubiquitous OPC guys caught him and beat him. He then reported to some Hausa people, and “kata-kata” burst between the Hausa and the OPC.

See http://allafrica.com/stories/200202050218.html

Blood Flows In Mushin

P.M. News (Lagos) February 5, 2002

3. Yet a third account said that a Hausa fellow “pissed” in a public toilet, but some Yoruba (?)

“hoodlums” or “area boys” demanded a N5 fee from him. He refused, and they decided to beat him up, and even stole the N2,000 (not N1,000, not N5,000, but N2,000 exactly) on him. He then

called on the Hausa community who mobilized against the Yoruba community. Again, enter OPC, or some people “suspected to be OPC members”!

See http://allafrica.com/stories/200202060422.html

N5 Caused Idi-Araba War

P.M. News (Lagos) February 6, 2002

Ethnic Clash: 19 Killed, 19 Houses Burnt

This Day (Lagos) February 4, 2002

4. Finally, according to the Seriki Hausawa of Idi-Araba, it was actually two HAUSA guys involved, one “pissing”, the other demanding money and eventually stealing N2,300 (no longer N2,000). The ethnic conflagaration was blamed on Hausa hoodlums called "Dawusasa" or “Dankasas” who were always causing trouble.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/news/articles/2002/February/07022002/f2070202.htm

LAGOS CLASH: Angry youths harass Tinubu

Vanguard Thursday, 7th February, 2002

Meanwhile, Arewa leaders in the state, particularly Idi-Araba, who met with the governor before the assessment visit, told him that the crisis was sparked off by some Arewa hoodlums, popularly referred to as Dankasas. The Arewa leaders had initially tried to shield from the governor the true cause of the problem until the secretary to the Onitire of Itire told him that there was a group of Hausa hoodlums, mainly cart-pushers, who often foment trouble at Idi-Araba and its environs. It was at this point one of the Arewa leaders who pleaded anonymity offered to let out more revelations. He said the weekend crisis at Idi-Araba started as a result of an argument which ensued between two Hausa youths as a result of the refusal of one to pay N5.00 for defecating on an open land near a mosque in the area. According to him, the refusal to pay prompted the other to mobilise his fellow Dankasas to search and fleece the other of the N2,300.00 cash he had on him. This, the Arewa leader explained, sparked off a row between rival camps of both parties involved in the disagreement, which later escalated into full scale violence. He said efforts made by the leaders in the area to nip the crisis in the bud at the initial stage failed because the Dankasas do not listen to anybody. "They believe they were born and bred in Lagos and are, therefore, not ready to listen to anybody," an Arewa leader said. He said many houses were torched because the Dankasas' design was to get as many houses burnt so that the Hausa would buy them over.

UNQUOTE

Clearly, compatriots, there must be a correct story somewhere here – but the haunting “similarities” of the accounts will make the unobservant not detect that in short obviously nobody REALLY knows why this “pissing contest” began! What we know is that 100 are dead, 1000 houses razed and thousands of people are displaced.

REACTIONS

Yet, from all this fog of this uncertainty, what have we heard from some grown men:

1. Senator Idris Kuta, a fully-elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has threatened Hausa reprisals if the OPC is not “dealt with.”

http://allafrica.com/stories/200202050269.html

Do Not Push Us to the Wall - Senator Kuta

Daily Trust (Abuja) February 5, 2002

2. Again, Senator Idris Kuta as well as Col Ahmadu Ali of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) have also been using the BBC Hausa Service to vent their spleen on the OPC:

QUOTE

http://www.thisdayonline.com/

Tinubu: Violence Politically Motivated

This Day, February 7, 2002

Speaking in an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service yesterday, the ACF scribe, Colonel Hamid Ali (rtd), blamed the Federal Government for the crisis for not making any effort to check the excesses of the OPC. "The government has failed to bring the violent OPC under control but we are now waiting to see if the situation persists; we will definitely take measures to ensure the safety of our people anywhere in the country," he said. He noted that had the Federal Government not released the leaders of the group it outlawed the clash could have been averted. "But the leaders of OPC are now moving freely in the society upon all the attrocities they committed," said Ali.

Also speaking on the crisis on BBC, Senator Idris Kuta stated that "the nefarious activities of the OPC is tarnishing the name of youth." He also expressed dismay over the handling of the crisis by the government, pointing out that if "it were different ethnic group that is perpetrating this kind of atrocities, the government's response would have been different."

UNQUOTE

3. Not to be outdone, we hear too from Afenifere:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200202050152.html

As Anyim, Kachalla Sue for Peace in Lagos, Tension in Kano, Jigawa as Casualties Mount

This Day (Lagos) February 5, 2002

QUOTE

Also the pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere rose from an emergency meeting yesterday accusing the military and police authorities of aligning with "people of Hausa/Fulani extraction to massacre the Yoruba people in Lagos." According to sources, the emergency meeting which reviewed "the disturbing and destabilising situation in Lagos," insisted that "information at our disposal after extensive consultation suggests that the massacre was part of a programme to truncate the nascent democracy and destabilise the Yoruba nation." "We are not unmindful that recent events in Yorubaland, including the assassination of Chief Bola Ige, the ambush and massacre of scores of OPC members in Owo and the bomb explosions in Lagos are not isolated events but part of a well co-ordinated and planned programme. "Furthermore, it was gathered that the perpetrators of these heinous acts enjoy the active backing of the military and police personnel who otherwise are charged with the responsibility of protecting the lives of all Nigerians irrespective of political, religious or ethnic affiliation, hence the escalation of the crisis," the Yoruba group said. The Afenifere which called on President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Inspector-General of Police, Musiliu Smith and all highly placed law enforcement agents to pay strong attention to the Lagos crisis, insisted that only such urgent intervention can "bring the situation under immediate control in the interest of all citizens."

UNQUOTE

And what has been said about the OPC, and what has the OPC said about its involvement in the Idi-Araba riots?

1. Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Chairman of the Mushin Local Government Ganiyu Olanrewaju

Solomon have stated that the OPC was not involved in this riot.

See http://www.allafrica.com/200202050257.html

Lagos Schools Shut Down

P.M. News (Lagos) February 5, 2002

2. Dr. Frederick Fasehun has stated that the OPC was not involved as an organization, although he cannot rule out that people who were OPC members were involved.

http://odili.net/news/source/2002/feb/7/47.html

OPC not involved in Idi-Araba ethnic clashes, says Fasehun

QUOTE

Speaking yesterday with newsmen after delivering the 60th birthday lecture of Dr. Yomi Finnih, the OPC leader said: "The linkage is unfortunate. We are meeting this afternoon on the undesired nature of linking OPC to the crisis. It’s untrue and unfair of any media house linking OPC to it." Dr. Fasehun said the clash which had claimed at least 100 lives was between Yorubas and Hausas in the area. "While I cannot rule out the involvement of some OPC members who were caught in the fire because the organisation has a membership of five million Yorubas, we are not in any way involved as an organisation," he said. The OPC leader, however, tacitly rebuked the Hausas for provoking the clashes. His words: "We identify with those defending themselves and ask the attackers to be careful... our guests, if they cannot comply with our norms, should know where to go."

UNQUOTE

I am sure that the Anglican Church (or the Idi-Araba mosque) was not involved as an organization, but members of the Anglican church (or Idi-Araba Mosque) were involved in the Mayhem. That did not make it an Hausa/Anglican Church conflict, or a Hausa/Idi-Araba Mosque conflict.

What has been some fall-out of all of this?

1. Some Idi-Araba residents have demanded the return of Military rule. Obviously some media have chosen their unrepresentative slant to express a particular frustration.

http://odili.net/news/source/2002/feb/6/140.html

Riot-hit residents urge end to Nigeria democracy

Reuters, February 8, 2002

2. Nigeria’s own version of Guiliani, Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has also been pelted with stones:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/news/articles/2002/February/07022002/f2070202.htm

LAGOS CLASH: Angry youths harass Tinubu

Vanguard Thursday, 7th February, 2002

THE REAL ROOTS OF THE MATTER

Compatriots, the concerted attempts to demonize the OPC at every turn going on in some of the Lagos press (for reasons not un-connected with their ownership) and among Hausa/Fulani politicians/irredentists will fail woefully. They are too transparent, as they try to call OPC a bad name simply to hang it. They also play on the cumbersomeness of ascertaining the facts in Nigeria, as well as many people who just simply do not wish to be confused with the facts, and hence don’t bother to establish them.

It is not the letters O – P – C that are causing mayhem in Nigeria, but the hopelessness, helplessness, joblessness and justice-lessness that continue to pervade the country, despite the termination of military rule in May 1999. How the heck can “pissing” or “defaecating” RESULT in a major ethnic conflagaration – if that is the issue – if there is not something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with our relationships? Will demonizing the OPC stop the hopelessness and despair circulating in our tinder-box society?

When people have conflicts, and have no trusted judicial avenues to turn to, they vent their spleens through violence. When police numbers are not sufficient, nor are they properly equipped to prevent, detect or prosecute crime, it is indiscriminate violence that we get.

Establish accountable government, community policing and true justice, then Idi-Iraba will not re-occur, and anybody will be able to piss in his own home – or some coin-operated public toilet. The money that government will now have to spend either to compensate victims or to pay for law enforcement in Idi-Araba would have been better spent providing public amenities to this particular community after Bisiriyu Afolabi’s poignant letter back in November 2001.

Let us address these problems rather than chase shadows.

EPILOGUE – AND WHAT SHALL WE DO?

And what will we do if the Military return? Will we wring our hands again – and return to the barricades? Or shall we sing “Alleluia, Hosanna” again?

No, we must not! Despite our present and mounting problems, we civilians must solve them ourselves, and let both current generals and retired ones aleave us alone – and/or else we kick ‘em out!

Our nation is in peril, and we should address the basic issues of security, jobs, infrastructure, justice – and the National Question. Thus, we make the same call as Dr. Federick Faseun, leader of the OPC:

QUOTE

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/nn848013.html

National conference, path to Nigeria's unity, says Fasehun

The Guardian February 7, 2002.

FOR as long as a national conference, in which ethnic nationalities will sit down to discuss the nature of their corporate existence, is delayed, Nigeria's quest for a united nation remain a mirage…… Nigeria has been a mere collectivity of disparate and mutually indifferent ethnic nationalities, interacting through sheer habit but engaged in conflict over the control of national power and resources and still living together only by the grace of Almighty God for the past 41 years.

UNQUOTE

He who has ears, let him hear.

Other References

http://allafrica.com/stories/200202050152.html

As Anyim, Kachalla Sue for Peace in Lagos, Tension in Kano, Jigawa as Casualties Mount

This Day (Lagos) February 5, 2002

http://allafrica.com/stories/200202050243.html

'We Are Afraid of Night Time'

Daily Trust (Abuja) February 5, 2002

http://allafrica.com/stories/200202050244.html

Soldiers, Police Patrol Lagos District

Daily Trust (Abuja) February 5, 2002