Northern ethnic minorities suffocating under Hausa/Fulani domination – Prof. Turaki

Prof. Yakubu Turaki, a delegate representing Kaduna State says ethnic minorities in the north are yearning for liberation as a result of what he describes as the suffo­cating yoke of Hausa/Fulani lords.
We understand that minority ethnic groups in the north are unhappy over some situations surrounding them. What exactly are these and what exactly do they seek off the national conference?
There are a few basic needs or aspirations of the northern minorities. I would rather call them northern ethnic nationalities and northern minorities. Two things that they want this conference to do are to give the northern ethnic nationalities their minority rights and for these rights to be placed in the constitution of Nigeria so that ethnic nationalities will be protected. There is so much influx of people into the Middle Belt states of Nigeria from the far north, from the south, east and west. They are trooping into the Middle Belt states and for that reason, there is need to protect the ethnic nationalities as well as their ancestral lands, otherwise, there will be many smaller ethnic groups that will become extinct in a matter of a few more years. So, they need to be protected. That is one.
The other thing the ethnic minorities in the north want this conference to do for them is the question of religion. Religion has been used unfairly against northern minorities. Because of religion, they have lost so many of their rights and we want the rights of ethnic minorities to be institutionalised in the constitution where they can be protected. I can give you some example: when Christians want to build churches in some of the predominantly Islamic states, they don’t find it easy. In some places, they don’t even have a right to build churches and they don’t even get land. These people who demand the right to build churches are also indigenes. Their ancestors lived in those places before the arrival of Islam or Christianity and they demand to have their rights, to express themselves religiously and freely, on their own, and within their own ancestral lands. But they are denied because they are Christians. The definition and use of religion against them makes them foreigners in their own ancestral land. So, again, we want this conference to institutionalise minority rights in the northern states.
The third thing is the quest for the creation of a few more states in the north. There are some places in the north where minority ethnic nationalities were mismatched with major ethnic groups. For instance, in Kaduna State, which is part of northwest, there is a great mismatch of the people of southern Kaduna and the people of northern Kaduna. Because of this mismatch, there has been marginalisation and discrimination against the people of southern Kaduna. For this, the people of southern Kaduna want to have a new state created and, in fact, they qualify for the creation of a new state –they are asking for Gurara State.
The other place where there is a mismatch is southern Borno, southern Yobe and northern Adamawa where the majority of ethnic nationalities have been under the control and domination of the Kanuri. So, the ethnic nationalities in those areas are demanding for the creation of a state where all of them can have their freedom to live as a people. This again is because they have been mismatched, marginalised and discriminated against. There are two suggestions for either Amana State or Savannah State in that area. Some are suggesting that you can merge Amana and Savannah and call it the New Sardauna State. If that is done, there will be a margin of justice in the north. The other area is Southern Kebbi –the Zuru people. There is a mismatch between the Zuru people and the Hausa/Fulani of Kebbi State. These are the cries of the ethnic minorities in the north.
Also, we are asking for the restructuring of the northeast zone so that a few states can be created to free the ethnic minorities and let them have their freedom. We also want the same done in the northwest so as to redress the mismatch of minority ethnic groups with majority ethnic groups in the north.
If this is done, the northeast and northwest will be a better place for the majority ethnic groups. And the minority ethnic groups that had been wrongly attached to them will also be free to live and run their own affairs. These are part of the things we want to see happen at this conference.
So, when we talk of resource control, as northern ethnic minorities, these are the major issues. The mismatch of minority ethnic groups in the north with the major ethnic groups militates against the freedom and development of the minority groups.
Nigerians have been told severally that the North is one. But here you are talking about northern minorities. So, who are these minorities in the north?
In northern Nigeria, we have more than 250 different ethnic groups. There is nothing you can call homogeneity or homogenous north. There is nothing like that. The most diversified region of Nigeria is the north. In the north, we have the far northwest, that is, the Hausa and Fulani groups. In the far northeast, you have the Kanuri, the Shua and others. Then, in the southern part of northern Nigeria, you have over 200 ethnic groups. They speak different languages. So, they are not homogenous.
So, how come these over 200 ethnic groups find themselves under the domination of Hausa/Fulani?
This is the work of empire builders. The first two empires that were built in the north were the Sokoto (Sultanate) caliphate, which came after the Sultanate Kanem Bornu. So, you had the Sultanate Kanem-Bornu Empire in the far northeast and the Sokoto Caliphate in the far northwest. When the British colonial masters arrived on the scene in 1900, they waged war on northern Nigeria and defeated the Caliphate and the Sultanate Kanem-Bornu and then imposed British colonial rule all over northern Nigeria. What they did was that they took the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt who were not Muslims, and who were not also Christians at the time –these were the non-Muslim groups- the British took them and subordinated them to Hausa/Fulani rulers. That was what they called indirect rule. So, problem of ethnic minorities in the north is a problem of British indirect rule.
This means you are asking for unbundling of what the British bundled?
The British should have undone what they did on October 1, 1960 when they handed over political independence to Nigeria. They told Nigerians that we have handed you your political independence, but not every Nigeria was free. There were still ethnic groups, especially in the Middle Belt in the north who were still under the yoke of certain Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri Muslim rulers. There have been adjustments, but there are still some ethnic nationalities in the north, which till today, do not have traditional rulers of their own ethnic group, but have some imposed on them. They have different religion, culture and ethnicity yet, people are imposed upon them as rulers. This is what we want Nigerians to object to. Every ethnic nationality in Nigeria is equal to the other and should be free to determine their own political state by themselves.
Before the arrival of the British, did these ethnic nationalities have their own traditional rulers and institutions?
Yes, they had their own traditional rulers and institutions. Their ethnicity was distinct and they had their own ancestral lands. It was the British that took both their ethnicity and ancestral lands and handed them over to the lordship of Muslim Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri rulers.
Was there no resistance to this?
There was, but the British bayonet’s subdued them and imposed colonialism over them. However, the unfortunate thing the British did was the imposition of indirect rule. They took a Nigerian with whom the majority of the ethnic groups fought with during the age of slavery and slave trade and jihad; but they never conquered them. The British took these and made them lords over the others. Over time, some have gained their political, social, economic, cultural freedom, but there are still some who are under their yoke who have others as masters.
In Nigeria’s political development, states have been created by military fiat. Under this democratic environment, what do you see as the possibility of creating state in answer to the agitation of northern ethnic minorities?
What I can say is that the soldiers, if you go back to 1967, especially in northern Nigeria, used what I call the perpendicular line drawing to create states. They drew a perpendicular line from the border of Niger up to the border to western Nigeria, and they called that northwest. So, you have rulers and their slaves. In the northeast, the drew a similar line from the border of Niger, Lake Chad, Chad Republic to Northern Cameroun up through the way to the boundary of southeast. The only difference was the boundary of Kano. Kano was central and so, they easily carved it out. Plateau was in the middle, so, they carved out Benue-Plateau. But it was all done on perpendicular line. That was how the soldiers did it. But looking back, the question is, was military state creation objective or was it manipulated by a certain class, the political elite in northern Nigeria?
Looking at it critically, it is obvious that the way it was done was to ensure that masters must have their slaves along with them. That was why we had the mismatch. But, if truly state creation was to be done based on ethnicity, culture, religion and land, then, it would have been a different story. But merging two different ethnic and religious groups in a state where one is predominant and the other weak, you have a mismatch which creates problems of marginalisation and discrimination. To change that, it will be until the masters are willing to release their slaves. This is the issue in southern Borno, southern Yobe, northern Adamawa, southern Kaduna and southern Kebbi. If these are settled, then, the cries of every ethnic minority in the north will be solved. The only way to solve this will be to restructure the area and give them their own state or merge them with their kith and kin in the Middle Belt.
One of northern ethnic minorities rights advocate had asked for a separate geopolitical zone to accommodate the ethnic minorities. Are you looking at this too?
Indeed, the ethnic minorities in northern Nigeria are actually asking for two zones –Middle Belt East or Middle Belt West. Then, it comes to northwest, northeast, Middle Belt East and Middle Belt West meaning in all, you have four zones in the north. In the same manner, we align with the south to have four zones so that you have South-south, Midwest, Southeast and southwest. Four zones in the north and four zones in the south.
Beyond what you are saying here, what sort of synergy are the people affected by this building for this agitation going beyond the conference?
If you do not get what you want today, you are not going to rest your oars. You are going to double your fight until you get what you want. If this fails, we will continue to ask and we will take the political tool.
What about the minority in Bauchi. Where do they belong in the agitation? You did not mention them.
Yes, they are also crying to be heard but the bulk of Bauchi itself is minority. But the only thing that has happened to them is the factor of religion. They are all minority but they hide under the cloak of Islam to claim majority. It is only religion. But majority of Bauchi is ethnic minority. They have Hausa; they have Fulani but only in the northern part. So, if you want to create a minority state out of Bauchi, what will you have left? The same thing applies to Gombe State. For me, therefore, I think we can use the political tool to settle the question and yearnings of minority ethnic groups in the north.