Malam Jatau’s lamentation

Also published in DailyTrust

I am an ardent follower of topical issues in both print and electronic media, even though I am admittedly constrained by my inability to understand English language, which many people virtually equate to illiteracy. Besides, I can read and write in my native language, Hausa, read Arabic text, though I barely understand the meaning, and of course I know the basics of my religion, Islam. Unfortunately, however, all these hardly, if at all, improve my “illiterate” status or, at best, “semi illiterate” status in the eyes of such people.

By the way, before you wonder how I manage to write in English anyway, let me add that I might have been miraculously and spontaneously inspired at this particular moment, perhaps the same inspiration I had got last year in the wake of the fuel subsidy removal crisis when I wrote a letter to President Jonathan entitled “Malam Jatau’s Letter to Mr. President” {Daily Trust, Friday, 13 January 2012}

Anyway, fortunately for me, being a newspaper vendor, I have some few not so lucky ‘yan boko friends who, despite their excellent English communication skills haven’t made it enough to afford at least one newspaper a day, thus they frequent my roadside stall every morning to read as many newspapers as possible free of charge.

I am particularly close to one of them, a gentleman called Danladi though he is commonly known as Dan London due to his sheer passion for English language and culture, even though he has never travelled out of Nigeria. Dan London is also very active on the Internet where he participates in intellectual discussions on social media and other platforms.

Being naturally very curious, I often ask Dan London to translate some newspaper columns and Internet articles for me, which he readily obliges. I must acknowledge how impressive I find many of such articles, which showcase the quality of many of our social commentators and analysts. I really appreciate how my fellow countrymen and women address issues and indeed engage in constructive self-criticism in order to identify and address the socio-cultural and attitudinal impediments that hinder our progress individually and collectively.

However, I observe how some few commentators who apparently lack reasonable issues to discuss or arguments to present try to divert the direction of such discussions by, either expressly or subtly, attributing the responsibility for any particular collective challenge to a particular ethnic or religious group, thereby stripping the discussions of its intellectuality and of course igniting unnecessary ethno-religious arguments, which provoke bigotry and mutual resentment.

This is particularly frustrating because while politicians have succeeded in manipulating ethnicity and religion to grab and/or maintain power at the expense of our common interests, intellectuals and public commentators, who are supposed to enlighten and inspire the public, are unfortunately descending to the same low level.

Yet, what particularly bothers me even more is how my ethnic group is being singled out as the only, or at least, the main hindrance that frustrates the country’s prospect of achieving sustainable growth. This falsehood comes in the context of a well calculated and subtle campaign of calumny conducted over the decades by, particularly, the press of a certain part of the country, which consistently though subtly associate me and my ethnic kinsmen with reactionary tendency, naivety, laziness, primitiveness and indeed depict us as ethnic supremacists, among many other things.

By the way, one of the common examples of such falsehood is the myth of “born to rule mentality”, which is falsely and mischievously ascribed to my kinsmen to portray us as power mongers who can go to any length to get power or retain it.

Anyway, many interest groups and mischievous individuals particularly among the politicians deliberately exaggerate such falsehood to pursue some self-serving agendas through obscure yet discernible manipulation of facts, misrepresentation and even outright falsification of events.

Meanwhile, being intellectually unprepared to counter such propaganda, and having already disdained their identities and culture, many supposed intellectuals among my kinsmen end up promoting it instead, either consciously or unconsciously. Unfortunately for such poor chaps, while they desperately seek to present themselves to others as civilized and enlightened even at the expense of their collective cultural prestige and dignity, they end up becoming disconnected from their root while also exposing themselves to ridicule by the very people they are keen to impress.

Having said that however, I don’t deny the existence and indeed the imperative of addressing certain cultural and attitudinal constraints, which hamper our individual and collective endeavours, and which, of course, aren’t peculiar to a particular ethnic group. Yet, nothing evokes my frustration worse than a situation whereby those who are supposed to engage in constructive issue-based discussions and propose realistic solutions to our numerous challenges descend to the level of mutual vilification on ethno-religious or regional bases.

It is ironic that the only place where Nigerians ignore their ethno-religious and regional differences and work with team spirit is in the area of looting public resources and perpetrating the culture of impunity to evade justice. They only resort to such ethno-religious game to impress their gullible followers once they lose their positions and are desperate to reclaim their slots in the looting circle.