People in Zango-Kataf area of southern Kaduna, Kaduna State, had a peace meeting the other day. Members of the Atyap and Fulani ethnic groups said they met to resolve their differences – neighbour to neighbour. The Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, was there to represent the state governor. I take note of the gathering for one reason. As I’ve always stated on this page in regard to the spate of violence in that part, the most effective solution to a local problem is within that locality. It’s not in escalating it, lobbying UK Parliamentarians, US president, as well as insult the government in Abuja over a quarrel between neighbours.
Participants at the meeting in Zangon-Kataf pursued a local solution. So what they said that time was good music to me. They affirm the long pattern of good relation among our peoples in that corner of the country. The former Group Managing Director of NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, was one of the speakers. He said he and many others grew up in an atmosphere of peace with people of other tribes in the area such as the Fulani, and he would wish this to continue. Many other speakers recalled how, as children, they all played without a care about the tribe to which any child belonged. One speaker said he has in his home children of Kagoro, Atyap, and Fulani origin that he sends to school and takes care of. He said the crisis doesn’t reflect the decades-old peaceful inter-ethnic relations in the area. This is a point I’ve raised severally here, and one that informs my view of how I strongly stand against the one-sided narrative about this crisis that some promote.
I had been to Zango-Kataf as a journalist in the past. There was tension in the air at the time I did, as neighbourhoods seemed to be perpetually on the lookout for outbreak of trouble. I don’t state here that killings haven’t taken place. I don’t state that there haven’t been issues involving herdsmen and farmers. What I’ve always stated is that this matter has graduated from the simple narrative that one-side-kills-the-other to a more complex one where clashes between communities are taking place. The last time I explained how complex this has become, one person commented online: “This guy is crazy.” A few months later, after another violent attack in Zango-Kataf, the commanding officer of the Nigerian Army that was on ground told journalists that the crisis was no longer about some herdsmen and farmers, or one side killing the other side, rather clashes between communities were taking place. At about the same time, Aruwan asked communities to not take laws into their own hands. He said if they were attacked, they should report to the appropriate authorities. I imagine he said this because reprisals were happening, and one act of self-defence and attack was leading to another round of self-defense and attack. In the event, communities were getting more embroiled in violence. If this were not the case, those elders in Zango-Kataf wouldn’t have called a peace meeting involving members of their communities.
I read comments of people from outside this area, and I see absence of depth in their understanding of the local situation. They listen to one side, read the carefully worded press statements that are spread around online and they go to town to regurgitate it. The sources of such press releases and further ‘information’ about local situation have been denounced by well-meaning people from the same area. I had quoted the former deputy governor of Kaduna State, Yusuf Bala Bantex, on the matter. Yet those same ‘sources’ are what many journalists depend on. I took note, for instance, that after the Army Commander mentioned the two groups involved in one of the latest clashes in Zango-Kataf and I quoted him on this page, Channels TV, on August 23, 2020, mentioned for the first time ever in their history the number of Fulani who were killed in yet another clash, along with the number of Atyaps who died.
In addition to this lack of balance in reportage is lack of awareness that the escalation into communal clashes, or the inter-tribal hatred that fuels it, doesn’t start with farmer-herder issue. It’s rooted more deeply in the past than that. What I’ll state next isn’t meant to side with any group. I simply provide more clarity for those who don’t know that the herder-kills-farmer or vice-versa narrative isn’t all there is to this. Existing inter-ethnic animosity and rivalry are there, just as it’s there in every other part of Nigeria. It’s also to show that this matter is local. If it’s local, then it is within the locality peace must be pursued. Since many readers are familiar with the usual “herdsmen-kill-farmers” narrative, I give an example that shows how violent attacks here have not always been a one-sided thing, and I take the example from 1935.
Of this 1935 event, which I note in another material that is unrelated to this that I am working on, I lift the following paragraph which includes my remarks and the comments made by a colonial officer at the time: “‘Three pagans (a colonial government’s tag for the non-Muslim Atyaps), one of them named Tinban from Zango-Kataf District, were (initially) sentenced for the murder of Adam, a Fulani man. The case was investigated and transferred by the Resident Magistrate’s court for a proper investigation. The magistrate heard that the accused had gone to Adam’s house to steal a calf and Tinban had shot Adam with an arrow. All three pagans were acquitted’, obviously for lack of evidence. This case is noteworthy because of the kind of tension in regard to ethnic relations in this District in the decades that followed. In fact, the colonial government noted that this particular murder case ‘had an unfortunate political reaction on Zangon-Kataf District, as on their release they (the accused pagans) returned to their homes and boasted that they could commit crimes unpunished.’ As already stated, it’s important to take note of this recorded event in the light of the ethnic animosity and incessant ethnic clashes that have continued to ravage this area even in the second decade of the 21st century.’”
Locals know of more attacks launched by either side in the decades preceding the farmers-herdsmen crisis. But some stick to the herder-farmer narrative at a time this has escalated beyond that. Many well-meaning Nigerians recognize the reprisals going on for what it is. They know this is witnessing armed militias, it involves organized parties carrying out attacks. But it’s something some ‘sources’ from this area don’t want noised. Instead they promote what they want the rest of the world to hear. But those who know this deceit that must not be allowed to continue are rising to the challenge. In some localities in this part, traditional leaders have invited different communities to peace meetings. In Zangon-Kataf, some thoughtful elders held the meeting where Aruwan spoke for the government. As usual, he encouraged people to embrace peaceful coexistence. He noted that this was the number one concern of the state government. He and those elders gathered in the hall wanted to help our peoples dwell together as one.
I delight in celebrating well-meaning Nigerians who assist our peoples to maintain peaceful coexistence. It’s because at the everyday level, our peoples like one another. Unlike some politicians and tribal champions who carry loads, our peoples live it simple, and they relate fine in their neighbourhoods across tribes and religions. Their children play together in school and at home. When, therefore, some project the disagreement among our peoples as though Nigerians hate one another as cat hates mouse and desires only to slaughter it, I find it alarming. For their divisive narrative doesn’t reflect our true situation. We shouldn’t permit it to fester further, so the media needs to give more space to peace-makers such as the ones in Zango-Kataf than promoters of inter-ethnic hatred. I wish the elders of Zango-Kataf and other well-meaning people in that part success with their efforts. The governments, both in Kaduna and Abuja, should do even more to encourage such localised contributions in the ongoing state-wide effort to achieve peace among our peoples.
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