AREWA, LET’S STOP WHISTLING IN THE DARK & ADMIT WE HAVE A PROBLEM

If Dr. John Danfulani embraces Nnamdi Kanu, we should be challenged to reflect on its implications for Arewa’s unity. 

Professor Dakum Shawn of Plateau State had previously said that, in the event of Nigeria’s dismemberment, the Christian minorities of the North would rather go with the Igbos than to politically cohabit with the Hausa/Fulani. 

What becomes of the notion of a formidably united Arewa? As a political entity, the North is disturbingly becoming ever more fissiparous and vulnerably divided against itself. 

John Danfulani is a metaphor of everything wrong with the North. If your son deserts you to seek comfort, companionship and love in the house of your neighbour, shouldn’t you be worried that your house is not in order? 

We should be asking: 

what has gone wrong? What did we do wrong? Why do we hate one another so much? Why do we fight ourselves like Kilkenny Cats on account of ethnic and religious bigotry? Was this the dream of Sardauna Sir Ahmadu Bello? Rather than perceiving John Danfulani as the enemy(I don’t support his hate speech posts on Facebook), we should be challenged to think over why he chose to identify with Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader. 

We should stop whistling in the dark and embrace the discomforting reality of dangerous divisions threatening the very existence of Arewa. 

The recent violence in Sardauna Local Government of Taraba State and others before it, fed by ethnic and religious antagonism, should be urgently taken seriously and urgently