By Salisu Yusuf

Have you read Tewfiq Al-Hakim’s play Fate of a Cockroach? If yes, the Egyptian playwright has aptly satirized Nigeria’s current socio-political mood and reality. Though the play is deliberately written allegorically as the characters are cockroaches, they have fully depicted the inconsistency with obvious truth, the absurdity and folly of man in the 21st century when reasoning ought to replace emotion. From the King Cockroach, the Queen, Minister, Savant to the poor cockroaches, they have reflected and caricatured the careless attitudes of the leaders, the cronies, the upper class, and ordinary Nigerians.

The play opens with a problem bedevilling the majority of cockroach populations. If a cockroach slips on its back, an army of ants will round up the cockroach and take it to their house as food. And the cockroaches can’t have the gut to overcome the tiny ants. The ants are insignificant in the cockroaches’ world, yet, they prove to be integral in deciding the fate of the cockroaches. Hence, the title of the play: Fate of a Cockroach.

In Nigeria, the same scenario unfolds itself; a tiny group of bandits terrorizes the majority, kills and robs them of their possessions. The small armed group controls the fate of the majority.

From the beginning, King Cockroach blames the Queen for seeking to undervalue his authority and worth. While the King says that he tolerates the Queen because she’s of the weaker sex, the Queen argues that she’s more knowledgeable and reasonable than him. In addition, she complains that an existential threat posed by the ants is in the offing. However, the King can’t solve them because he’s weak and surrounds himself with wrong cronies.

In Nigeria, the same drama unfolds itself. The wife of Mr President, until recently, was at loggerheads with her husband. Can you remember when the president criticized his wife during a trip to Germany? The (in)famous “she belongs to the kitchen, my living room and the other room” is still fresh in the minds of Nigerians. The heated argument reached a boiling point when the wife said she might not back her husband at the then approaching elections. The president’s remark centres on his wife being the weaker sex (as declared by King Cockroach). Therefore, her role is limited to mothering, cooking and ‘the other room’ function.

Moreover, King Cockroach and the Queen quarrel over each other’s appearances. The King incessantly looks into a mirror and admires his long whiskers (the whiskers are the symbols of authority). He numerously says that his whiskers are longer than any other cockroach’s. This obsession with whiskers reflects the attitude of our president with power and the presidency (remember that he doesn’t go to funerals or ceremonies for fear of Corona that can wrench the presidency from him if he dies). In addition, he’s also obsessed with elegance and posing for pictures.

The Queen also looks at the mirror, admiring her beauty, and she tells the King that her whiskers are more beautiful than his. The Queen’s obsession is similar to that of our First Lady. Can you remember her long robe that was said to have cost some huge amount of money, which also generated social media arguments?

“Kitchen Cabinet” is also portrayed in Fate of a Cockroach. The trio of Minister, Savant and the Priest suitably reflect Nigerian cronyism. Minister Cockroach is suitable for his job because he proposes ‘disconcerting problems and producing unpleasant news.’ Can you also remember the allegation that some people shield Mr President from knowing the scorching Nigerian reality?

According to King Cockroach, the Priest is there as his priest because of the incomprehensible things he says. In Nigeria, some Northern Islamic clerics play the same role Mr Priest plays in Al-Hakim’s satire, of depending the morally undependable. They play the Public Relation role to the government.

The Savant in the play, on the other hand, is talented because he brings ‘strange information that have no existence.’ In Nigeria, he plays the same role as the president’s media team.

When the ants kill Minister’s son, he calls his death a ‘national catastrophe’, and King Cockroach declares a ‘public mourning.’ Since the infiltration of BH and banditry in Nigeria, many a death is greeted with silence. But when a relative of the upper class is affected, the power swiftly sends a federal delegate, or the president goes in person to mourn the bereaved. The King Cockroach is full of rhetoric, so is our Mr President.

When Queen Cockroach presses her husband for solutions to ants’ attacks, King Cockroach says he can’t be single-handed for a long-time problem. This can be equated with the ruling party’s reference to the previous government as the architect of BH and corruption. In other words, Nigerian leaders are always looking for a scapegoat.

In the play, the cockroaches look at themselves as superiors in knowledge to ants. So they reason that ants only know how to source and eat food, yet despite their superiority in knowledge, their collective fate rests with the tiny and minority ants.

In Nigeria, this is the same expressed mood; while the Fulani bandits are considered inferior, uncivilized and unknowledgeable, they hold the others’ fate. Where’s the knowledge then if you’re under the grip of the minority?

Those BH and bandits are in our midst; we know them, know their families, know their place of domicile, yet we can’t do anything against them.

As in “Fate of Cockroach,” where the cockroaches can’t come together and fight a common enemy, the ants, so are Nigerians who are divided by tribal, religious and sectional loyalty, giving way (like the cockroaches) to an armed minority group (like the ants) to destroy us. As in Al-Hakim’s satire, the ball is in the court of the bandits because they hold our collective fate.
Salisu Yusuf writes from Katsina.

Salisu Yusuf wrote from Katsina. He can be reached via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.

By Aisar Fagge

The Ulama Forum in Nigeria is greatly concerned and saddened over the perpetual killings of innocent lives going on unabated in Nigeria, especially in the North West of the country in recent times.

The forum disclosed this in its press release signed by its secretary, Engr. Basheer Adamu Aliyu, on Monday, December 13, 2021, and sent to The Daily Reality today, Thursday, December 16, 2021.

The statement reads: “Our hearts bleed over the dastardly and inhuman act of burning alive of 23 passengers in Sokoto state. Other equally sad losses of lives that were witnessed in Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina states over the last one week are heart touching, frustrating and to say the least unpardonable. It is highly inconceivable how bandits and terrorists move about freely in the land, committing heinous acts and atrocities unchecked by the power of government and its security agencies.”

“The terrorists have desecrated all religious, human and universal values and indeed, they have lost their faith and humanity; they must be confronted head-on with might and power. We most strongly urge the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to sit up to its responsibility of protecting the lives of Nigerian citizens. It would be recalled that in the year 2020, out of similar concern over the deteriorating trend of insecurity, the Ulama Forum had advanced nearly a dozen suggestions to the governments at all levels so as to curb the Boko Haram menace, banditry and other security challenges facing the Northern region.”

“It is sad to note that most of our suggestions were ignored and security situation in the country has been moving from bad to worse,” the Forum lamented.

“Based on the foregoing, we would like to once more urge the FGN to re-assess its security strategies and spending with a view to unfolding a more holistic and all-inclusive approach. We believe that divine intervention is a most potent weapon against the bandits, insurgents and their collaborators.”

“To this end, members of the Forum have resolved to devote themselves to alqunut (special prayer in times of turmoil) during each prayer session. Similarly, special prayers should be observed in Madaaris (Islamiyyah Schools) and other places of gathering.”

“We pray to Allah to give our leaders the listening ears to hear the cries of its weak, terrorised and terrified citizens, particularly in the North. May they have the wisdom, will, determination and ability to do the needful and ensure peace and security in the land. There is no power or strength save in Allah,” it concluded.

The release was endorsed by its members such as:

Prof. Mansur Ibrahim (mni), Sokoto; Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar, Kano; Dr. Abubakar Muhamad Sani B/Kudu, Jigawa; Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, Kaduna; Prof. Muhammad Babangida Muhammad, Kano; Dr. Said Ahmad Dukawa, Kano; Prof. Salisu Shehu, Bauchi; Prof. Ahmad Bello Dogarawa, Kaduna; Amir Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido, Gombe; Dr. Ibrahim Adam Omar Disina, Bauchi; Prof. Ahmad Murtala, Kano; Sheikh Tijjani Bala Kalarawi, Kano;

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

The North-West Governors Forum, led by Governors of Katsina Aminu Bello Masari and his Kano counterpart, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Wednesday donated the sum of fifty million naira (N50,000,000) to the 23 families of the victims of last week’s gruesome attack in Sokoto.

The governors presented a cheque to their counterpart, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, at the Sokoto State Government House.

The governors prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased.

On November 8, 2021, bandits shot at a bus conveying travellers from Sokoto to Kaduna. They, later on, set the bus on fire, killing all the passengers.

Local reports put the number of the victims as 42 while the Sokoto government says they were 23.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Firstly, the military has been stretched doing other ‘peoples’ jobs’  the military is tackling the terrorist bandits at the ‘surface’- see and kill, while the root causes still remain. The military is not a policing institution. The Nigerian Army is under intense pressure to fill security gaps. Security experts say, globally military involvement in crime-fighting is problematic practically because they are not trained to do so.

Secondly, the police which are trained to uproot the causes of this kind of criminality, deal with it at the surface & seal the seals, are handicapped beyond tolerance level- the police are underfunded, ill-motivated, under-equipped, and neglected. If the Nigerian police can get half of what it needs, they will tackle the bandit terrorists from end to finish. The police are superb in gathering intelligence from primary sources because the police are everywhere and trained to do so.

Thirdly, it seems, President Muhammadu Buhari is so much relying on a bulk information-first line of information ( service chiefs) he should also get information from the second and third levels- field commanders and local communities dwellers. If he is doing it, he should seek more. Though, the presidency on December 12^th, 2021 said “Alongside military force, the government is seeking to address the violence at its economic source. Massive infrastructure projects like the coastal rail and new train from the southern coast through the north-east to our neighbour Niger, aim to expand employment and opportunity across the country, bringing hope to our more remote and poorer regions where bandits and terrorists thrive”

Fourthly, Governors, security votes and benefits- some officials of government who in one way or another benefit from the opaque security vote system will always work hard to make sure bandits’ Terrorisms continue- it’s a business. some state governors are doing their best, but some of their officials may be sabotaging their efforts.

Fifthly,  communities social disorder- abject poverty, the death of community-living, everybody for his own has also contributed in oiling recruitments into the banditry business- this problem was as a result of one thing- the hijack of the local government system by the governors and state legislators. LGAs are the best sources to cater to the need of local people- when this source is no more, local people start searching for new sources to survive. Though, sheer criminality and materialism among some Fulbe including the international proliferation of small arms are also factors

According to a report by American Security Report (ASP)-  ‘Banditry in northwest Nigeria has become an appealing method of income in the region where weak governance, youth unemployment, poverty, and inequality have left people with depleted options for livelihood. Security services are often understaffed and lack the proper resources to effectively combat banditry. Vast areas of unregulated forests allow for easy concealment, and police and military forces have difficulty penetrating the rough terrain. In addition, under-policed borders have aided the proliferation of small arms and light weapons’ amongst bandit groups’

Bandits Terrorisms have reached the red level- the problem now requires a holistic approach – new and already established effective methods must be implemented to tackle the problem from the root causes. For example, academics and security experts have done some excellent research on the cause of banditry in the northwest and other regions, the intelligence community can use it for early warning and intelligence gathering.  Furthermore, the firing angle must be backed by more funding of the police by the federal government. Intelligence, accountability, selflessness, and national interest must also be a priority as well.

With pain and anguish, I decided to make this communication with your soul, which I believe is resting well. I must confess that I do not know you personally, as I was not born when you held sway as the Premier of the defunct Northern Region. However, I have heard so much about you from my late father. He narrated stories about how you conducted your political activities geared towards our region’s progress.

Today, things are no longer at ease in Arewa. The land of our great ancestors is in chaos and anarchy while life has become nasty, brutish and short. Arewa has been turned to a killing field by terrorists with the blood of innocent people crying for vengeance. The elites that took over the mantle of leadership from you have destroyed all that you laboured to build. They live in luxury and great comfort while most people are dying in poverty and hunger. Their children study in Ivy League schools in the West with public funds and return home to take the best jobs while the children of the poor are roaming the streets and eating from the dust bin. Many families can no longer eat three meals per day, as good food has become a luxury. The cost of living has continued to rise with stagnant wages.

Sardauna, you are known as a warrior who strived hard during your era to emancipate the poor by ensuring that parents sent their children to school, which was free those days. Your late daughter Hajiya Aishatu, whom I interviewed at her residence in Sokoto in 2013 during my stint with THISDAY Newspaper, spoke extensively on how you carried all along and worked tirelessly to ensure unity in the north irrespective of tribe or religious affiliation.

It is no longer at ease at the moment. The children of the poor that you trained free with the resources of the Northern region before Nigeria’s independence, and those who came after them, have ruined your efforts. They have become feudal lords and turned out to enslave us. They have sold all the assets that you and other great northerners toiled to build over 60 years ago, while organisations you set up like the New Nigerian and textile industries in Kaduna, among others, have all collapsed. They not only mismanaged these organisations but also destroyed your legacies. Many people in northern Nigeria have been homeless and are currently in IDP camps, frustrated and dehumanised. They have been sacked away from their villages by terrorists while vast agricultural lands have been left fallow without any farming activities.

Today our region is littered with many orphans and widows whose husbands have been hacked to death by bandits. We have so many children (Almajiris) roaming the streets without any future while the elites do not care. Some of the Almajiris, neglected by the society, lack basic education and opportunities, unleash terror on the society that neither cared for them. Your grandchildren no longer have access to what the people you earlier trained free in some foreign institutions enjoyed a few decades ago. Today the children of the poor no longer have access to quality education, as they study in dilapidated primary and secondary schools. At the same time, the political elites send their children to study in private schools both locally and overseas.

The painful aspect of this is that they now packaged a man without empathy and presented him to us as a messiah in 2015. Our people heeded the call and voted him into power, believing that he would usher us into prosperity. Since then, our region has never known any peace. Bandits have taken over our major roads in the north, especially Abuja-Kaduna road, kidnapping people for ransom. Families have been compelled to sell their properties to raise money for ransom. These hoodlums kill their victims, especially those whose families cannot pay the ransom, while their remains are thrown away in the forest.

Similarly, our farmers in rural areas can no longer go to their farms in peace for fear of being killed. Those who managed to plant their crops could not harvest them, as the crops were set ablaze by these urchins. The agricultural foundation of the region is being destroyed while those at the helm of affairs do not care.

Inequality is at its peak in Arewa. The political leaders are using politics and religion to balkanise our society. In fact, as a journalist who worked in the region for over a decade, I had it on good authority from a reliable source that some politicians are behind the killings in Arewa. I am, indeed, aware that you did not amass any wealth before your death. But the people that came after you have stolen our commonwealth and used the funds to purchase mansions and exotic houses in London, New York, Paris, Switzerland, Malaysia, Dubai and other top cities in the world. They do not care if our region goes up in flames because they believe they have a place to hide in case of an outbreak of war.

Today our people are being killed daily by primitive herdsmen while our women are raped indiscriminately in remote communities. The political elite in cahoots with the traditional rulers have neglected a large segment of the society. The clerics who are supposed to serve as a beacon of hope for the masses have been compromised. They have become silent and afraid to speak out for fear of the unknown. Those Islamic scholars, who had the courage to speak, admonished our youth not to protest but engage in fervent prayers. Allah will come down to fight our battle if our youth refuse to take action.

The painful aspect of this is that even the activists who protested a few days ago to create awareness about the ongoing genocide by Fulani bandits in rural areas of Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Nigeria and other northern states have been threatened by the officials of the Department for State Security Services (DSS). So, who will fight for the poor and downtrodden and fight for the orphans and widows?

Our people have become hopeless. The issue that has been bothering me is what the Arewa dream is? Of course, it won’t be easy to answer at the moment. An average Arewa youth is just focused on marriage. That is the dream for many of our youth. Illiteracy, drug abuse, unemployment has become recurring decimal. Is our society on the brink? Are we heading towards a state failure? Who will rescue our people and wipe away our tears? Should we take the law into our hands or hearken to the voice of reason? What is the way out of this misery?

History will always be kind to you, Sardauna, as all and sundry adore you due to the sacrifice you made for the development of Arewa. However, history will not be kind to the present crop of leadership in Arewa, as they have mismanaged your legacies and our patrimony, thereby plunging millions of our people into misery. May you continue to rest in peace, and I pray Almighty Allah to forgive your mistakes and grant you Aljannah Firdaus.

Yours sincerely,

Aminu Mohammed

The writer is at the school of Sustainability, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He can be reached via gravity23n@gmail.com.