Vacuum created will be filled –Gashash, businessman
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The tremor caused by the quit notice given to Igbo in the northern parts of the country by a coalition of Arewa youth organisations sent a shock wave throughout the economy of Kaduna State, where the order was issued at the Arewa House, which is symbolic of the unity of the North.
Kaduna has always occupied a strategic position in terms of politics not only for Northern politicians but even for big shots in Nigerian politics. In fact, the Nigerian political goose in most cases, lays and hatches her eggs in Kaduna before the chicks spread across the country.
A core northerner and a business man, Ibrahim Hassan, who hails from Kano but based in Kaduna observed that the fact that some Igbos are agitating for sovereign state does not make all Igbo party to it.
Ibrahim said Kaduna’s economy may nosedive if the Igbo leave the north and quickly noted that most local businesses that touch common man are in the hands of Igbo.
“Do you want to talk about food stuff, vegetable, stockfish, importation of electronics, and vehicle spare parts, clothing and even housing. Most of the luxurious buses that move from Kaduna belong to the Igbo.
“Even the tax revenue will suffer. Though the quit notice cannot stand but let’s assume it does, it will create a vacuum for some time even though there will be an alternative but people must have paid dearly before that happens. I transact huge business with some of them,” he added.
But on the contrary, another Kaduna-based business mogul, Alhaji Muhammed Gashash, said peradventure the quit notice takes effect, which he said would not happen, whatever vacuum that may be created would always be filled up by nature because people can always find alternatives.
“It is not a matter of economy but matter of right of every Nigerian to live wherever he chooses. Nobody has the right to tell somebody to pack out. Basically, the idea to have responded to the issue was a mistake right from the beginning. If the government has not ordered the arrest of those behind the pronouncement, the matter would have died on its own,” Gahash said.
“Now when we talk about the implication of on the economy of Kaduna state, Igbo are massively involved in importation business for instance. So, it is a two-way thing; when we think of what happens to business in the North, we should also think about food in the East meaning it is going to create a vacuum in both areas.
“But whatever vacuum it will create, it will be filled with other thing. If you are drinking bottled water before and it iss no more there, then people will look for alternative to fill that vacuum and life goes on.
“Talking about spare parts business which is dominated by Igbo, they import those things and that means another person will continue from there just as if north stopped supplying food to the east, other countries like Cameroon, Niger or even Europe will give them food. I think nature will always balance itself.
“But the bottom line is that, nobody has the right to evict anybody. Igbo and Hausa are living in America and they have not been evicted. I think we should just keep quiet because we are just giving it unnecessary publicity and it is good the elders are talking about it,” he added.
In his own view, a constitutional lawyer and former chairman, Nigeria Bar Association, Kaduna State, Barrister Festus Okoye said though he knew the pronouncement was the handiwork of politicians who are out of government and seeking attention, it did not affect him at all but it created panic in the minds of many especially those outside the region.
“The challenge is when you make this kind of declaration, you may never know the impact and consequences. The truth of the matter is that, the Igbo are involved in every facet of endeavours especially in Kaduna. So the moment you create panic, it affects the economic life of the state.
“Majority of the houses people are renting belong to the Igbo. The Igbo control spare part business and all kinds of businesses in the state. So, the moment that happens, two things are likely to happen; they pull their businesses and begin to take them to safe havens or they downgrade their businesses and that will affect the economy of the state and they may not have the fidelity of the state where they reside because of uncertainty.
“I think I support wholeheartedly the resolve and confidence-building measures the Kaduna State government embarked on. I think that showed leadership and that is what leadership is all about.
“But more fundamental is that, we are all citizens of The Federal Republic of Nigeria and quit notice is just a term between landlord and tenant. It has nothing to do with bonafide citizens of Nigeria. No individual, not even the President has the right or audacity or constitutional right to give any Nigerian a quit notice,” Okoye warned.
Special Assistant to Senator Shehu Sani on Special Duties, Abdulsamad Chima Amadi, an Igbo man who was born in Kaduna over 40 years ago is an accomplished young man and he said, he has not only lived all his life in the north he is married to a northerner from Katsina State and cannot leave the region due to threat by the so-called Northern youths.
His words: “The truth of the matter is that I see myself more like a northerner than a southerner. I have achieved all what one needs to achieve in life here, I schooled here, I married from here, my wife is from Katsina State, I have a house here and all my investments are here.
“It might also interest you to know that, after the civil war, when my dad came back to Kaduna, the Hausa people called and said this is your elder brother’s house and they handed my uncle’s house to him. When our father died too, he left the house behind for us.
“I am also proud to say that I have trained and mentored younger ones who are northerners, Hausas, I have business that I run being managed by Hausa people. By God’s grace, one of those boys I trained wrote his SSCE, went to the polytechnic here and he is now working with the Nigerian Navy. There are still others am presently training, I pay their school fees because I see them as my brothers.
“But if you ask me, there are lot of differences between the North I grew up in and the North of today. If you know a place called Ungwan Shanu here in Kaduna, then it could be compared to Mabushi in Abuja. It is a local place but very close to the heart of the city. And in the compound where I grew up then, there were Muslims and Christians and there people of different tribes, but without any form of dichotomy, we grew up together, we ate together and we drank together.
“I saw the Maitatsine riot which was quickly nipped in the bud, I also saw the Zango Kataf riot, but the one that really broke the camel’s back was the Sharia riot, which principally created the dichotomy between the ethnic nationalities and religions.
“A lot has changed after the Sharia riot. As you can see, the Christians moved to the Southern part of Kaduna metropolis. As you must have observed, the dividing line between the Christians and the Muslims is the river Kaduna, few metres away from here. Today, you hear little kids regarding some people as ‘arni’ meaning unbelievers. We never knew such words while growing up,” Amadi said.
On the ‘Kaduna Declaration’ he said: “Had it been that I am not even as connected to the North as I am, I should be given a choice. Even an Igbo man that came to the North yesterday should be given a choice to choose where he wants to belong. Assuming the Biafra that some people are agitating for comes to fruition, Igbo people should be given free hand to choose either to belong to Biafra or Nigeria.
“My worry about the ‘Kaduna Declaration’ is the safety of the people, because I have seen a lot of crises here in Kaduna and it is things like this that lead to crisis. My worry about the quit notice is the deadline attached to it. Had it been Shettima Yerima and his friends said, okay, Igbo people that want Biafra should leave, in fact, I would have supported them; I would have even been part of that press conference.
“But, when you say, we are giving Igbo people three months, then it means there are consequences and that is what people like Professor Ango Abdullahi who are supporting them are not seeing. When you give someone ultimatum, then there will be consequences if the person fails, but when you say, you can go without attaching deadline, it means, it is not time bound, it can be tomorrow, it can be next week or even 10 years to come. “So, knowing full well how things happen in the north, if by October that they gave as deadline, Igbo refuse to go, then what happens? There are people who are likely to capitalise on that and start unleashing mayhem on innocent people that did not even know what they were talking about, they don’t know Nnamdi Kanu.
“To me, it is unfair for anyone to judge an Igbo man by the actions of one Nnamdi Kanu. If you judge an Igbo man based on Ojukwu or Uwazuruike, it is even more understandable, but to judge an Igbo man based on one man that just came from the United Kingdom some few months ago, where he was doing his treasonable things, now you want to forcefully associate me with him, that is not fair.
“My worry was about the three months fixed period for the Igbos to leave. After three months and they refuse to go and people start attacking
them, those who signed the Kaduna Declaration should be held responsible. That is where the youths goofed. But as much as I condemn the declaration, at least it is a signal to the South East leaders that they need to cage Nnamdi Kanu. Because, if Igbo have to leave every part of Nigeria and return to the East, then Igbo will be the losers because they have invested in every part of Nigeria.”
Also speaking, Public Relations Officer of Igbo Delegates Assembly, North West zone and Vice President Igbo Community Welfare Association (ICWA) in Kaduna State, Chief Dominic Eze Uzu who came to Kaduna in 1973 with his foster father, a military man, described the whole thing as unfortunate and expression of selfish few.
“I came to Kaduna in 1973 with my foster father who was a military man; that is exactly 44 years ago. My father was transferred as a military man from Imo to Kaduna shortly after the civil war. As you can see, I have spent my useful years in the north, I am about 57 years today, so if this country believes in true integration and federalism, I am supposed to be an indigene of this place, but thank God for Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who said everyone living in Kaduna State is a citizen, that there are no indigenes of Kaduna State. That is how a country that really wants unity and development should be run. We should be looking at what people can offer, not where they come from.”
Talking about the Kaduna Declaration, Uzu said, “I am not disturbed, in fact, I am extremely happy. To those who are drumming for war, they have never seen war, I pity them. For those who care to listen, I have said it times without number that the agitation for Biafra was borne out of marginalization, the Igbo have been maltreated in this country, whether anybody likes it or not, that is the truth, so maltreated as if they are not human beings. After the civil war, the Igbo lost everything but came back and agreed to be part of one Nigeria again. So, what stopped you from reintegrating the Igbo in the governance of Nigeria again? Till today, the Igbo man is denied everything. Go to the east, you will hardly notice any federal presence there, everything you see in Igbo land is through community effort. That has been our culture because there is an adage that says, wherever you find yourself, make it comfortable, make the place habitable. And that is why the Igbo man will enter one place and develop the place as if it is his place, check it out in Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Abuja and other places. The Igbo man has never staged a destructive protest anywhere, it is not in our character.
“So, the issue of Biafra, the issue of secession will fizzle out if the Igbo are treated fairly. The agitation has been there for long, the Biafra agitators have never picked up arms against Nigeria, all they are saying is with just the mouth, we want Biafra, we want Biafra, they are just calling for attention, just for you to notice our problems. When you have children and one of them is saying, please this is my problem, courtesy demands that you listen to that child. It happened when South West felt they were marginalised, in the mainstream of activities in the country, and OPC even took arms. Some people paid the supreme price, Abiola paid the supreme price, that was when it dawned on the powers that be in this country that there was need to listen to these people. And who was the beneficiary? Obasanjo. The South West was compensated with that.
“Talking about the quit notice, I am a traditional title holder in my place, so whether quit notice or no quit notice, when the time comes for me to leave, I will leave. No matter how much I love Kaduna and Northern Nigeria, I have a place, I have people who have even recognised my contribution, even though most of my contributions were made here. As an African, I cannot deny where I came from, but if I have to leave, it must not be as result of any threat. You see, as far back as 1980, my father gave one Hausa man from Kano, a piece of land in my own town in Enugu State, behind our house.”
To Ogbonna Chukwu who has spent 19 years in Kaduna, “the threat did not by any means affect his mood because he knew too well right from the very first minute the declaration was made that it was handiwork of politicians who just need recognition.
“But to our people outside the North, many of them took the declaration very seriously. In fact, they have arranged for hundreds of luxurious buses and trucks for evacuation of our people. But when Al-Mustapha and Ralph Uwazuruike came to Kaduna and said all should be put behind us, then the earlier transportation arrangement was withdrawn.
“If Igbo should leave the North, all local businesses here in Kaduna and Kano will collapse because they the key drivers of economy up here. Our people are everywhere even in the remote towns and villages in the north that anyone can imagine. It won’t just make any sense to the country,” Ogbonna said.