Shagari, Buhari, IBB Are Settlers - Gov Turaki
Gowon, Abdulsalami, Jakande too
From Josephine Lohor in Abuja
Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Saminu Turaki, yesterday brought a fresh insight into the settler/indigene crisis in Nigeria when he declared that former military leaders Generals Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubkar are settlers in the respective communities in which they are now based.
Other Nigerian leaders who are settlers in their respective communities, according to Turaki, include former Presi-dent Shehu Shagari and former governor of Lagos Sttate, Alhaji Lateef Jakande.
Founder of Sokoto Caliph-ate, the late Othman Dan Fodio and foremost Yoruba politician, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo were also settlers, said Turaki.
The settler/indigene dichotomy was central to the Yelwa-Shendam killings in Plateau State, a crisis which made President Olusegun Obasanjo to impose emergency rule in the state.
But addressing State House correspondents after leading a large delegation on a thank you visit to Obasanjo for visiting Jigawa State recently, Turaki disclosed that since most Nigerian leaders are settlers in their communities, "nobody is an indigene."
The governor said that from Jesus Christ, Prophet Moham-med to most leaders of Nigeria, all are settlers who moved from their place of birth to other areas to become leaders.
"If you take Prophet Mohammed, he migrated from Mecca to Medina. He migrated there. And he met Christians there. He met Jews there. He met two other groups there. He united the place and they called it Medina, which is the city of the Prophet. When he went there he was already over 40 years old. Nobody talked about the prophet being a settler there.
"Way back home, Othman Dan Fodio came from Futa Djallon in Senegal. And he founded the Sokoto Caliphate. Nobody said that Othman Dan Fodio was a settler. His grandson, Ahmadu Bello was the premier of Northern Nigeria and nobody said he was a settler. The same thing about Awolowo. If you look at the Ijebu and Ijebu Remo, I was listening when the Oba of Ijebu (Awujale of Ijebu-Ode) was talking about how they came there.
"And if you take General Yakubu Gowon, he lays claim to have roots in Zaria. But his tribe Angas, is in Plateau State. You know he contested for President from Zaria. And General Gowon was the Head of State of Nigeria. Now Alhaji Shehu Shagari, like you know, Sokoto was founded in 1802 before the capture of Gobir, Alkalawa. Before 1802 there was no Sokoto. It is a new town to us in the North. Where we come from, Kano, is 1000 years old. Daura is 1000 years old. Sokoto is a new town. It is not 1000 years old. Sokoto is actually a settler town. So also, Shagari is a settler," he said.
Turaki, who disclosed that the settler/indigene issue would come to the fore at the next Northern Governors meeting which he would chair, added, "If you take Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, the same thing. General Ibrahim Babangida, they say moved from Kano to Minna together with General Abdulsalami Abubakar's parents. Sabo Bakin Zuwo was a Nupe man who became the governor of Kano State. His brother, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, was another Nupe man who became the Governor of Lagos State".
While urging all Nigerians not to make the settler/indigene matter an issue, Turaki noted, "we have cases, I do not want to mention names, where some former military governors and some former President even came from other countries. I have said this because I feel very strongly about this because if somebody would come from another country, and we recognise him as a leader, then why are we shouting about somebody that comes from Nigeria?".
Obasanjo who in his remarks while receiving the Jigawa State delegation said that he was a little bit intimidated" by what he saw during his visit to the state recently, urged Turaki to prevent brain-drain from making nonesense of the laudable Information Com-munication Technology (ICT) programme the state government embarked upon.
Obasanjo stated that "this ICT thing in Jigawa is likely to work because the signs are there that it will work. But I did mention to the governor that this tremendous investment in ICT must also be made to be of permanent advantage to Jigawa State. Because the people that are being trained, unless they utilize their training in Jigawa State, other states would poach them.
"And the money you have spent in training them, your investment, might be good investment for Nigeria, but it may not serve the purpose of the state. We must be careful to prevent brain-drain from Jigawa State to other states".
He said that "Jigawa State can be the Silicon Valley of Nigeria", and described his visit to Jigawa as an "eye opener", because despite the state being typically agricultural and without any industry, "the people were bright, happy and interacted properly with the delegation which goes to show that they had started to enjoy the dividends of democracy."
Obasanjo who, however, noted that the people have been short-changed and needed every attention to make their lives better, said that he relates with all governors irrespective of political parties they belonged to because he sees them as his representatives in their respective states.
Turaki had also earlier in his address congratulated President Obasanjo for being the first Head of Government in Nigeria to visit the state since its creation 11 years ago.
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