Fire can easily be extinguished when it is a flickering flame. It could then be blown out orally or quenched by a flutter of a hand. But if ignored or abandoned it will rapidly develop into a ravenous blaze, consuming everything in its destructive frenzy. This is an analogy to what obtains today in Southern Kaduna which has recently been allowed by official neglect to be predisposed to several bouts of crises that rendered it a theatre of unrest and bickering.
It is now almost a shadow of its glorious past, weakened by incessant ethno-religious feuds which started as needless and preventable conflicts at low levels, but official inaction to ward them off allowed them to vault higher to momentous level and snowballed to include set of circumstances that bred tribal militancy and large-scale insurgency.
The sources of the conflicts in Southern Kaduna State were as varied as there were numerous frivolous causes for their existence and persistence. They sprang from outlandish and ludicrous grounds bordered by worldly and spiritual considerations.
The most obvious among them, however, is tribalism nurtured by religious intolerance which sparked off chain of skirmishes between age-old antagonists. These culminated in a sequence of battles that survived many administrations, outlived numerous curfew regimes, endured all attempts to prevent escalation, and persisted in force and intensity in three local government areas: namely Jama’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf. The unrests therefore raged on unabatedly for more than two decades now, consuming hundreds of thousands of obdurate and stubborn disputants.
The tragedy in that hitherto serene and peaceful area started from the unhealthy rivalry, bordering on envy and mistrust, between the early and earliest inhabitants of the verdant, mineral-rich ethnic communities. Numerous aboriginal tribes were the occupants of the highlands in the beginning, and dwelt mainly in the mountainous terrains for fear of invasion by the first set of the influx which included the chivalrous Hausa that brought civilisation and progress.
They tilled the scanty arable land on the hilltops while the Hausa cultivated the vast fertile and luxuriant land at the foot of the mountains. As time goes on both established themselves in distinct territories with clearly defined cultural boundaries and set of values, co-existed blissfully and interacted amicably until the coming of colonialists who further organised the tribes into standardised community.
The encouragement by British colonialists to miners of precious mineral deposits which included tin and tantalite in the proximity attracted Hausa traders and manual workers that toiled hard to make Kafanchan town one of the notable modern municipalities in Northern Nigeria. Subsequently, Kafanchan assumed a commercial and administrative importance in the vicinity, especially with the extension of railway through it to the North eastern terminus.
Soon, Hausa traders became ubiquitous and active participants in all aspects of human endeavour, gaining influence and foothold in commerce and related enterprises and becoming more politically relevant. However, with the break up of North-central State and the subsequent creation of Katsina out of the old Kaduna State in 1987, the aboriginal population of the area became politically active, and sought to dominate all aspects of political and administrative affairs of Kaduna State.
Since then Kaduna State has been subjected to various forms of occasional friction between the miscellaneous tribes, specially the Hausa on the one hand and the nomadic Fulani on the other. From the beginning it was an attempt to extricate the Hausa from the areas they are predominant or influential and to emasculate them economically and politically.
When that proved an impossible mission, the campaign was then redirected at their Fulani kinsmen who are made the pariah, despised and persecuted. What is currently happening in Southern Kaduna State is a wrong signal to the rest of the country for the avoidable causes of unrest since it has the traits and attributes of manifesting in some states with similar characteristics like Kaduna, such as Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, and Taraba where related ugly scenes are acted out regularly.
It is encouraging to note that previous governments in Kaduna State have taken positive steps to address this ugly trend and to foster peace and unity among the various ethnic groups, the incumbent government has not given any indication of its intention to facilitate permanent resolution to that lingering crisis. The government is attempting to exclude other stakeholders in the state from participating in all processes intended to forge a lasting solution and is behaving like a lone ranger in
the whole affair. It is imperative that an entirely new different model from what the government now ponders for bringing peace should be earnestly considered to serve as a basis for a negotiated peace settlement. On doing so interested parties must be carried along and be given an unencumbered opportunity to articulate their views across so that a composite picture of the situation could be readily discerned and appropriate solution proffered. It is desirable if that is done pronto without any waste of precious time.
