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Bankole and the Lessons of Geography By Abdullah Musa There seems to be no any living creature more complex than man. You may be inclined to believe that all humans want to find solutions to problems that bedevil them. One or two experiences which I had show that you are not totally right: not all people want solutions to their problems. What you may consider a problem is really an opportunity for another! The first experience: we were discussing the political problems of Nigeria with a friend, who is also a Hausa-Fulani, and also a Muslim. It was after one of the recurring crises in Nigeria, and my nature demanded for an end to the senseless killing of one another. I posited that since Nigerians cannot live peacefully with one another, then let’s go our separate ways! To this my friend replied: “no! a tafi a hakan; taci ba ta ci ba!” I may not be able to translate the italicized sentence for the non-Hausa reader. But the rendering might be something like this: let’s go on this way, neither stable nor unstable! The second experience: I had a brother who had an athletic bent: he was very good as a runner in his secondary school days, and was even a Major in the Nigerian army, before he died in a car crash. Had he lived to retirement, he wanted to be active in politics. The rowdiness of politics appealed to him; particularly its combative potentials. We were discussing politics with him somewhere between 1979 and 1981, (I believe Malam Aminu Kano was alive then) and were discussing one incident involving Malam Aminu Kano. He had returned from a foreign trip, and instead of going home straight from the airport, he chose to go round Kano city in a motorcade. He went into some ‘enemy’ territory, and skirmishes ensued: many were left injured. My peace-loving nature queried that why did he decide not to go home, and instead invited the skirmishes? My brother’s combative nature was thrilled by the adventure of Malam Aminu; the resultant injuries were simply collateral damages! Phew! What a long detour, the reader may exclaim! Well, another peace-loving citizen by name of Rasaq Olokooba wrote in Daily Trust of February 26, 2010: “leave Bankole alone.” The basis of his writing such a ‘feeble’ request is that certain forces in and outside House of Representatives are working to unseat Bankole as Speaker. His crime: he is seen to be working for the interests of the North! This is Nigeria! This might be the only country in the world where you are put into office at national level with the expectation that you must work against the interest of a certain section of the country: a section to which you should be an eternal enemy. And it is in this same country, where people with such mindset will foolishly dominate the airwaves telling us we are underdeveloped, and that we are not aspiring to reach our full potentials! Which potentials? How can we in all rationality expect to work for the common good of the nation when the components that make up the nation do not wish each other good? It is against the backdrop of such insanity that I felt the best way out is to split into even hundreds of nations where like-minded people can shape their societies as they deem fit. But my friend believes we should go on in the current way: ta ci ba ta ci ba! Nigeria is still a ‘colony’: of America and Britain in that order. Oil is the prime mover of its politics, both internally and externally. Those who recognize and accept its colony status do well: the likes of Professor Wole Soyinka are there to do their masters’ biddings. There is nothing like national interest, since we can see that the nation is composed of antagonistic parts: you must belong to your part or perish politically. When Yar’Adua was in charge, was he working against Southern interests? Well if he was not, it seems he has short-changed his people, because the clamor for a full blown Goodluck Presidency is to make sure that the Southern interest dominates: one wonders, is it the rivers that flow to the sea that threaten coastline or is it the sea itself? So why should the dredging of the river Niger threaten coastal communities? The governors of the areas say dredging the Niger is not their priority. Was the project started for their sake alone or for the benefit of Nigeria and the hinterland? Rasaq may do with one advice or two: first: nobody will leave Bankole alone. Politics is a perpetual war zone, with snipers ready for you to make the wrong move. Second: It is better to ask your hero to always be battle ready, and to study geography intensely: be able to identify ‘enemy’ territory; and of utmost importance, understand ‘wind’ direction. I once wrote an article that did not see the light of the editor: Nigeria is a saboteur’s delight! |