Bala Usman Katsina is my cousin

By

Orok Edem

I warn anybody reading this piece that, I do not pretend to lay claim to esoteric knowledge and learning but Bala is my cousin and as a Fulani, he has broken the code of pulaaku, and is mouthing pretentious statements bordering on apostasy; hence my interjection. 

Let me start from the beginning to state that: History, like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I must congratulate all these eloquent eggheads for introducing me to a new word - historiographers…..why can’t they just say historians. These are trying times, when a cousin of mine starts referring to others using uncouth words like ignorant, nincompoops shouting true federation, delusions and hallucinations, something must be biting him. I have gone through Bala’s interview with the Weekly Trust newspapers, his writings on the CEDDERT pages, and one thing that strikes me is the amount of words Bala uses in answering questions posed to him or making a point. He succeeds in compressing the most words into the tiniest of sense possible. But that is historiographers for you. Didn’t we warn against nomadic education? Now, see what we are getting in return. Oh, how I envy Bala, now Bala is a renowned historian, he is making news, he opened the zonal conference on the Abacha constitution and even took on Shamgar.

What exactly is bugging my cousin? Professor Ekeh came very close in his statement. "It is intriguing that what he challenges about his own people is the wrongful coupling of Hausa and Fulani as one compound ethnic group" There is a Habe-Fulani dichotomy that has been simmering in Northern Nigeria for years. If you read Bala’s work on the Kanawa States, he points out: "The term ‘Fulani’ in the political discourse of the Emirate of Kano, came to mean members of the ruling aristocracy drawn from the leading families of the jama a of Kano. While Habe came to be applied to the inhabitants of the old quarters of the city. The distinction has remained with its local resonance, but it never served as a base for challenging the emirate and its incorporation of Kano into the Sokoto Caliphate. Even when the Kano Civil War (1893-1895) broke out over a succession dispute within the ruling Sullubawa dynasty, the incorporation of the Kanawa within the Sokoto polity, and under its Caliph, was not seriously called into question"

In simple language Aminu Kano [PBUH] the late leader of the Peoples Redemption Party was a Habe while his lieutenant Rimi was a Fulani. Don’t ask me why. There is a possibility that, if this wave of ethnicism currently permeating the land is allowed to go unchecked, we might have to witness a: "Habe versus Fulani contest as was the case in Kebbi/Gwandu, Sokoto/Gobir, Sokoto/Zamfara, Katsina and Zazzau" When you have the Emir of Zazzau having to celebrate his time as a Fulani ruler on one of the Hausa Bakwai States. There is something afoot. Recently, plans to break up the Emirate of Katsina into smaller units with its own district head has been put on hold. But there is trouble ahead and resource control will lead to it sooner rather than later.

The Hausas are coming! It is the curse of Bayajidda that has the Fulanis worried. What is wrong with Bala making a simple statement of fact that the ignorant should not be allowed to rule. The unitary system is the best form of government says another Fulani. The fact that it was discovered by the Eboes should not detract from this. The Eboes of course cannot rule because of the curse of Balewa and their lemming mentality, that Okadigbo describes thus: When we are coming, we travel in Ekene Dili Chukwu and when you start killing us, we run away in any lorry with the inscription on the back. "We shall return" Bala is only trying to argue the obvious. Everybody has seen the poor job Aremu is doing in government. The job should be left to the Fulanis. The only problem with the Fulanis is removing the curse of Bayajidda but this resource control thing will make that impossible. The Fulanis are naturally imbued with three qualities: honesty, intelligence and mulki or leadership qualities. But there is the curse of Bayajidda that cannot be lifted. It was proclaimed after the Fulani's bloody conquest of the Hausa States, which said that: a Fulani would really have two of the aforementioned attributes. That is why, if a Fulani is honest and also a leader, he cannot be intelligent. If he is intelligent and a leader, he cannot be honest; and if he is honest and intelligent, he cannot be a leader. Bala, my cousin is merely stating what is inevitable. We need to pull together, form an African Common Market and stop all these agitations as the Yorubas cannot stop coups. Is anybody quarreling with that?

What 'mischief' is Bala propounding? Let me venture a bit into history as I see it. Aremu Obasanjo an Owu warlord and a Habe descendant whose names are really Rimi Sanjuma single handedly defeated Biafra and obtained the instrument of surrender. This was not a defeat of the Eboes, which is why Biafra is being re declared. He took the instrument of surrender from Effiong who is from the Niger Delta; thereby handing over the right of the minorities to their land and resources to Obasanjo, who in turn handed it over to the Caliphate. This might sound far fetched, but wasn’t Effiong seen demonstrating in front of Exxon Mobil plant in Eket recently? Is somebody trying to convince me that the land that produced Udo Udoma does not have anybody capable of being a legal officer for an oil company? I must congratulate them on the timing of that demonstration made to coincide with Obasanjo’s visit to the United States. Though, if the demonstrators really want their son to be made a legal officer at Mobil, all they have to do is pay a visit to an elderly Eket lady called Ema Brown and within 48 hours that appointment would be made. I guarantee it. [Any Fulani would have told them that] Lets get back to my cousin.

Bala is not saying anything different from what is on record. He says Ajasin is from the same town as Dr. Igho Natufe, meaning somewhere in Okpe Kingdom, which explains why his grave was attacked at Owo. That Gowon is from Pankshin, and that is why his father’s grave was attacked at Zaria. He professes to have worshipped at the feet of Kenneth Dike and Abdulahhi Smith. He says Dike should be deservedly honored. Tell that to the Eboe man. I remember when Prof. Dike died. His death was announced over Nigeria Television Authority NTA in the same hour the death of Shehu Musa’s son was announced. The greatest achievement of Shehu Musa’s son was his being a descendant of Shehu Musa the former secretary to the government of Shamgar, a student in the United States and of course a Fulani. Yet, the NTA spent over 30 minutes eulogizing his death while Kenneth Dike was mentioned in passing. Check the NTA Archives. If this is the season to rehabilitate the Eboes as a bulwark against the Yorubas, Bala is doing what he is supposed to do.

He quotes Dike as saying that most of the Niger Delta groups emanated from the Eboes. Hmmm. He says, the Niger Delta dealt on slaves from the hinterland. He only forgot to tell us who were those who occupied the hinterland that were dealt as slaves. Listen to Bala "These Niger Delta States served as middlemen. But their middlemen role did not even lead them to develop. They collected slaves from the slave raiders of the interior, sold them to the Europeans, make profits and they bought gin, whiskey and second clothing for 300 years". Haba Bala! Gin and whiskey I cannot quarrel with, but, second hand clothing? Are you trying to attack the Eboes as Awolowo did? Even the Holy Koran makes allowance for such things especially on unbelievers. But the Holy Book also admonishes you to treat your slaves well. We know Bala is not a good student of the book, because even though he agrees that all the land, minerals and agricultural materials were made by God, he forgets that people are put on different parts of the world for a reason and this could be explained by that Islamic dogma- Insha Allahu. Bala says: "The ending of slavery did not seem to have led to the depopulation of the areas where the slave population was significant. What it did was largely to increase the number of citizens of Kano, now a part of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria". Who is arguing against such knowledge?

Prof. Sam Aluko posed a question recently: Why the three majority groups have virtually taken over the affairs of the Nigerian State when they are actually in the minority. That question should be answered using Bala’s Theory of Nation formation. It is on record that Yoruba spoken by the Owo man is totally different from that of the Ijebu. The Igbo dialect of the Nsukka man is closer to Idoma than that of The Aros. It is on record that the Idah Eboe did not understand the Onitsha Eboe. The Hausa language used all over northern Nigeria is through the foresight of the Gamji. It is actually the big three groupings that were formed at the advent of the British. It is the Niger Delta’s ethnic singularity and inability to fuse and form a unified bloc having been formerly administered as distinct nation states, that is leading to the two schools of history. The ones written Before and those that would be written After Resource Control.

So G. G. Darah did help Bala sell some books. So? What has that got to do with the price of fura denono or my cousins credentials as a revolutionary? There is a difference between a northern revolutionary and a southern one. Where were these southerners when Dr. Mohammed was roasted in Kano? Did they see what happened to the president of ASUU who died mysteriously in his car between Zaria and Kaduna and the other character who was kidnapped at Ahmadu Bello University ABU and deported to Britain? It is very good to sit down in Lagos and write, but ABU looks like a war zone with all the churches burnt and Bala has to live within that environment. He, like every man has his price. What would you do if your child is sick and Ibro approaches you and offers to send the child abroad for medical treatment? Would you sit back and say no? My cousin is in big trouble which the professor Ekehs’ of this world cannot fathom. If you know my cousin as I know him, this Sharia thing is driving him crazy! The Sharia Police Hisbar going around hunting for alcohol drinkers is not funny stuff. How would Bala cope without his regular beverage? Spare a man some sympathy here. Bala is doing what any intelligent man would do. Try and accumulate as many ‘get out of jail cards’ as possible before the zealots come knocking. You could see it in his statement: "They are not like this sharia crowd here" When talking about the Islamic Welfare Party of Turkey. Softly, softly Bala until we get you out. The zealots are watching.

Most people don’t know that Bala is really a southerner from the Niger Delta. He can trace his roots to the Katsinawa of Ellele near Port Harcourt who have been there for over a thousand years. Don’t ask me what they were doing there. Probably left over slaves from the hinterland. They left during the civil war and then came back. Bala was only sent back to the Katsina Middle School to study the Koran and mulki [how to rule]. He fell into the company of people like Wada Nas and the rest is history. If you compare this history with that of someone like Darah who has the same blood group as that of the Chinese and Eskimo, you do not need to ask who has more right to the oil in the Niger Delta. Ogoni, Ijaws, Itsekiris, Ibibios, Kalabaris, Ekois, Edos, Esans, Ekpeyes, Orons, Annangs, Efiks? None existent before the arrival of the British? Actually I can speak for the Efiks. It is on record that they migrated from Palestine. But even though the British established a constabulary in Calabar, there was never any war of conquest between the Efiks and the British. But, if the Efiks migrated from Palestine, they must have passed through Dan Kama, Kaita and obviously settled in Katsina for some time before moving down through Kurfi to Funtua on their way to the coast. There is this family story that was told by my great grandfather, how his father called on Bala’s great grandfather, his brother, to borrow his donkey. Bala’s great grand told mine that his donkey was some miles away right then. But as luck would have it, the donkey started hee-hawing close by. When my great granddad turned on Bala’s and told him 'that wasn’t a very smart excuse’ Bala’s great looked offended and then asked my great granddad… 'Mallam Farouk, whom are you going to believe'? 'Me or a braying donkey'? Now you see why Bala is my cousin.

If Bala’s theory of oil formation gets your gander up, take this bit of Urhobolese: Count your blessings. It is open knowledge and an accepted fact that the late Sardauna [may eternal peace be unto him] stated that the aim of the Caliphate is to dip the Holy Koran into the Atlantic seabed, therefore Bala’s theory of sediment formation of the seabed must be wrong. My only advice to my cousin is that he should realize that a lot of people outside our family do not appreciate his humor, and he should stop dancing on the glassy rim of apostasy.

The writer is a New York based cabbie and a Calabar Fulani.