As we speak, an Igbo trader is transferring money to his Hausa Fulani customer to help send goods from Kano or Kaduna to him. And vice versa.
Same Igbo trader has people in Kano who receives the spare parts he imports from the US. He sends to Kano and also sends to the East. And even Cameroon.
He stays in Lagos and he keeps receiving alerts and he keeps sending goods.
My Yoruba cloth and gold seller has her ‘people’ in Kano who send materials to her in Lagos. They have become more or less like siblings.
There are ingredient sellers who don’t go to Mile 12 again. They have their Hausa Fulani customers who send the best tomatoes, onions and pepper to them immediately goods land in Mile 12.
You hear: “Customer mi lati Kano…”
Some of these relationships are decades old. If not more.
I was in Kano sometimes in 2012. I had gone to Katsina and on my way back, I had a couple of hours to kill before my flight and I asked for a cyber cafe and when I got there, I thought I was in Aba! It was close to a spare part market and I had to look round again to be sure I was not in Ladipo Main Market in Lagos.
What am I driving at?
At personal level, we relate well. We do business together. We even marry. Friends who gave me my biggest contacts in media are Hausa Fulani.
What now went wrong?
The dynamics changed in 2015 when one fanatic came and said:
“This is politics. You don’t expect me to treat those who gave me 5% of their votes like I will treat those who gave me 97%.”
And he has been living that infamy since.
Buhari came in and worsened a situation that was already deteriorating. His management of diversity is not only DISASTROUS, it is also CRIMINAL.
He does not see Nigeria beyond his Daura town and does not see anything wrong if all heads of security agencies are from one state.
My consolation? This nation outlived Abacha.
We will also outlive this bigot.
This I strongly BELIEVE. And this I graciously SHARE with you…
