“Hate, it had caused a lot of problems in the world,but has not solved one yet”. – Maya Angelou
There is an obligation to rebuke the Adara Development Association (ADA) for its incessant assault on truth, its failure to work for the collective good of all, and for constantly behaving like it has been wronged more than it has wronged. ADA has become notorious with its fictional narratives and propensity for disinformation. Because the ADA leadership is obviously detached from reality, it has failed to realide that its manifest actions pose a serious threat to the very people it claims to represent. The embarrassing shortsightedness and unwillingness of the minority, but very vocal section of the Adara community to engage the Kaduna State Government and other stakeholders in a constructive spirit to address the security issues that has turned the area into the new theater of war is baffling.
On November 14, 2019, the ADA which has acquired notoriety for its hardline Adara nationalism wrote a scathing letter to Governor Nasir El-Rufai asking him to stop with immediate effect the “reopening and reconstruction of Kasuwan Magani Market”, due to what it termed as unaddressed issues that are of “grave concern to its people”. The issues in a nutshell are; the “widespread criminality and dastardly attacks in Adara land, the scrapping of Adara Chiefdom, the portioning of Adara community into two, the subordination of our people in Kachia LGA under a proposed Kachia Chiefdom, the subordination of the predominantly Christian population in Kajuru LGA under a tiny minority Muslim population in Kajuru Emirate and the refusal of government to engage with or at least be sensitive to the concerns and feelings of the community in anyway during this dark period”.
Before the issues raised by the ADA are addressed point by point, it’s important to state that the Awemi Dio Maisamari led Adara Development Association is rabidly and instinctually irredentist and consequentially lacks the capacity to appreciate how its action(s) or inaction(s) affect not just the Adara people he claims to lead but the entire state. More perplexing is that the Adara Nation seems oblivious of the fact that the indigenes versus settler war has been tactically shifted from Kafanchan and Zangon – Kataf to Kajuru Local Government Area. The Adaras are the new canon fodder in the war against so called “settlers”. It’s also rather surprising that the ADA prefers to dwell in the tumultuous past that is vehemently opposed to peaceful coexistence, which goes to show that it has learnt nothing, in spite of the catastrophic consequences it has suffered due to its several ill advised positions.
Kaduna state like most other states has security challenges. What makes that of Kaduna state more challenging is the fact that it’s a gateway to several parts of the country. Kaduna State is bordered by Zamfara, Katsina, and Kano States to the North; Bauchi and Plateau to the East; Nassawara to the South; Niger State to the West, and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory which borders Kaduna state to the South – West, which explains the huge security challenges especially on its Abuja, the Birnin – Gwari and Southern Kaduna boarders. The only difference is that while it’s very convenient for victims of the banditry attacks in Southern Kaduna to allege genocide or portray the attacks as a “war on christians”, the victims in the Birinin -Gwari axis haven’t been raising their voices like the Adaras/Southern Kaduna people do at the slightest attack,but even when they do,they have not attracted sympathy because the attackers are presumed to be their fellow Muslims. But assuming without conceding, that Muslims are behind the attacks, the fundamental question – would naturally be – why are they attacking their fellow Muslims in the Birnin – Gwari axis? Isn’t the attacks an indication that the bandits are more concerned with looting than they care about religion?
ADA is being economical with the truth,by claiming that the attacks on its people have persisted,when in fact they have abated,because the newly created Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs has been up and doing in ensuring that the menace of insecurity is brought under control. As expected in every human society there would be minor skirmishes – minor disagreements and the usual two fighting,like we have had several times in the past,thankfully the recent ones haven’t boiled over. Even the cold blooded murder of Mujtaba on 10th November 2019 by suspected Adara militia at Chibiya town has not triggered the usual counter retaliatory killings, due to the proactive intervention by the government and the cooperation of the leaders from the affected communities . ADA is obviously not comfortable with the prevailing peace the Kajuru Local Government Area is enjoying which is why it’s busy crying wolf where there is none and hell bent on fomenting one by demanding that the market which is the source of economic survival of its people and which was only reopened after due consultations with all stakeholders be closed down immediately. ADA by asking that the market be closed down has confirmed clearly that it’s out of touch and only uses the people for its narrow politics of hate.
It’s a known fact that the ultimate agenda of the ADA is the relocation of the historic Kasuwan Maigani market from its present site to Kufana,the ancestral headquarters of the Adaras, which explains why the ADA has continued to tag the market as “Hausa market” and is fiercely opposed to the N2.78 billion redevelopment of the market by the local and state government in order to tackle the underlying factor behind the persistent crisis, which is inadequate shops for those who want to trade. Like El-Rufai rightly observed, “contentions over the location of markets and access to them have been implicated in the legacy of violence that has blighted some of our communities.” The various Commission of Inquiry Reports which are the working documents confirm this fact and has provided the governor with the way forward,considering that the crisis always eventually assumed sectarian/ethnic dimensions.
It’s important to stress that the post conflict assessment of the 2018 Kasuwan Magani crisis further convinced the Kaduna State Government to frontally address the market issue due to its centrality in all conflicts. It consequently adopted a two pronged approach of embarking on massive redevelopment of markets as a strategy of attacking the root cause of the various crisis that the state had witnessed and as part of the administration’s programme of promoting equal opportunity and economic development of the various communities. For instance, the new Kasuwan Magani market will have more shops than can be occupied in the near future and will every sense be a model market with meat modern abattoirs, police post, clinic and fire service area in compliance with health, safety and environment regulatory requirements that is a must for a model market. This is the market that the ADA wants the government to stop the construction,so that another crisis break out!
On the issue of Internally Displaced Persons(IDP’s),the gospel truth is that with the restoration of peace,those who were forced to abandon their homes due to the crisis have been helped with cash,building materials by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the Kajuru Local Government Council to relocate back home. Coincidentally the first camp to be closed is the Adara Town Hall located in Sabo in Kaduna metropolis, which unknown to many had become a cash cow for the ADA leadership, a scam on which they were feeding fat on. Security reports indicates that people were usually brought in buses to the camps in the morning and taken away at the close of business at night, so that they could continue to attract donations and their agenda of continued their demonization of the state government. It’s quite understandable that the very first action of Awemi Dio Maisamari, the trouble shooting ADA National President after his release from detention was to ask that the various camps be reopened for the economic reasons already stated.
The operating political template of the ADA is to lie, to repeat the lie,in a sustained campaign of disinformation which they hope will become the gospel truth, having successfully portrayed themselves as “victims” of the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy. It’s a huge shame that the ADA and indeed many prominent Adara sons and daughters who are aware that the late Agom Adara was killed on his way from the wedding sent forth of his niece Rahab Amos Galadima which held at the Nazareth Baptist Church Ungwan Boro, but have refused to speak up because it paints Nasir El – Rufai in bad light. In spite of their evil machinations, the undisputed fact remains that he was never invited to any meeting and thus never met with the governor or any official of the Kaduna State Government. The governor met with the State Council of Chiefs and Emirs on October 23, 2018, while the Agom Adara was kidnapped on October 19, 2018. For ADA to continue to bandy the lie that his killing is part of a larger conspiracy against the Adara Nation is not only plain mischief,but wickedness of the highest order. Thankfully the Nigerian Police Force have arrested the hoodlums behind the dastardly act.
On the baseless allegation that the Adara Chiefdom has been scrapped and Adara people subordinated under a “tiny Muslim population in Kajuru Emirate”, it will be better to await the state government official statement on the various adjustments and the implementation of the territorial approach to traditional administration. But for certain the state government is well guided in its actions and the intention clearly is to address problems and not to create problems. The problem of the ADA, which the late Agom Adara had vehemently complained about to the state government, is the determination of the ADA to usurp traditional authority. Against this background it would be difficult for the state government to engage the ADA and similar bodies, including the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), whose registration was declined by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), because of its partisan political character. In one word these bodies are a problem to themselves and the state and until they change their rabid and combative posture,it will be extremely difficult for the government to engage them. How can anyone or the government engage groups that are diametrically opposed to dialogue or that insists that it must be on its terms?
The other issues raised by the ADA are the usual catalogue of the sins allegedly committed against them,which deserves no further response. We look forward to the day that the ADA will accept some responsibilities for the actions of its people and if that day ever comes, it will be a signal that it desires peaceful coexistence.
Musa writes from Kaduna.
