Anytime I am on a trip to Kano I always have my heart in my mouth. Over the years Kano has grown in reputation as a trouble spot. There is always a miasma of xenophobia thickly hanging in the air and an ingrained prejudice that has its root dated back to the aftermath of the first military coup led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, the counter coup led by northern soldiers, and the civil war. Perhaps  it has its root much more later buried and embroiled in Lord Luggard’s faulty amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates, two diverse entities who have very little in common that is today’s Northern and Southern Nigeria.

After the civil war there was something against Igbo people all over Nigeria . It something was stronger in Moslem dominated Northern Nigeria with predominantly Hausa/Fulani speaking people. I think politicians kind of encourage their people to hate Igbo people. It was either Igbo people are dubious or they are cheats. It is still a common belief among all other Nigerian tribes that Igbo people cannot be trusted. It reflects even in national politics where Igbo people have to play the second fiddle in the affairs of the nation.
 
When I was growing up in Maiduguri and later Kano in the late eighties and early nineties, the memory of the civil war had gradually faded away and the hatred had shifted from tribal and ethnic to religious hatred. Now one was referred to as ‘Inyamiri banza’, literally meaning ‘stupid Igbo,’ if one was not a Moslem or Hausa/Fulani. Inyamiri banza now connotes pagan, infidel or an unbeliever.

The main problem started in 1991 with Reinhardt Bonnke’s visit to preach in Kano . The crusade never happened; instead Moslem religion leaders in Kano mobilized their mobs to unleash mayhem. Kano exploded in a deadly riot that witnessed the massacre of thousands of non-indigenes and non-Moslems. Since 1991 Kano has grown restlessly more blood thirsty like an aged vampire who must survive by sucking and sucking more blood thereby causing havoc all over the place.

From 1991 to 2007, thousands of people have been massacred in Kano city in replica of the Hollywood motion picture ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ most of them innocent law abiding citizens of Nigeria . Most of these riots snowballed into reprisals in the Eastern part of the country and other places.

Most of the immediate causes of these riots are flimsy reasons which range from copycat attitude of copying events in other parts of the world to unconfirmed rumors. The remote causes are deeply embedded in the sermons of most Moslem clerics and there have been stories that terrorist organizations are sponsoring some individuals, groups, and organizations, to silently cause mayhems.

Kano has become one of the most dangerous cities to live in as far as Nigeria is concern. You are always watching your back because you never know with the city. When these riots happen the government only tells you that miscreants were responsible. The dead were then taken secretly to mass graves without the knowledge of their families and friends. Nobody gets arrested after the all these massacres.

The United States fears that Kano would become a terrorist haven in West Africa is not unfounded. The Nigerian government should take it seriously before Kano becomes a larger problem like the Niger-Delta.

Robot  Villager

# 1 From 1991 to 2007, thousands of people have been massacred in Kano city in replica of the Hollywood motion picture ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ most of them innocent law abiding citizens of Nigeria . Mos...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 22.09.2008 11:48