What is in pronunciation?

In 1989, then an undergraduate in Bayero University Kano, I joined a night J5 bus from Lagos to Kano. Most of the passengers were Yoruba. There were two of us who were vividly Northerners, a more elderly person and I. As the journey progressed, the Yoruba were discussing on National issues and I decided to comment. As I began to speak, they started clapping and laughing, “Mallam ya ji turanshi, Mallam ya ji turanshi!”. I had no option but to keep quiet and bear it. Those southerners were not speaking better English or following any rule of grammar or phonetics better than me. What was wrong with me was being a mallam who spoke with mallam’s accent.

What took me to Lagos was associated with a Chevron’s scholarship I enjoyed at that time. The advert for the scholarship was placed in the New Nigerian and Daily Times newspapers in March 1987 when I was in my first year of Electrical Engineering programme. Many of us applied from across Nigerian universities. There was an aptitude test that sieved away others and qualified us for the interview.

When he learned about the interview, a cousin who had already graduated lectured me about dealing with southerners who were controlling the oil companies. That I should dress corporate and as much as possible appear like them. He gave me a suit which he advised me to put on the interview date. I must say up to that point in my life I had never worn a suit. All my clothes were traditional. I thus felt very uncomfortable with his coat and decided to leave it in Kano while travelling to Lagos for the interview. My name is Abdussamad Umar. That was the name on the letter of invitation. That was also exactly me. If they liked they take me. If they liked they leave me. It was up to them. But no pretence, no change of dress and no change of accent.

That is how I appeared in my traditional kaftan when I entered the interview room in the Company’s building in Tinubu square. I had no doubt in my mind that I was well dressed, young and handsome. I looked every inch a Fulani boy even though I spoke no word of Fulfulde. I was told that we are Sullubawa, a special clan of Fulani people who do not speak the language. But when it comes to filling a form where tribe is required I always put Hausa which I speak. The Fulani can go home with their language. As far as I am concerned no human being is more special than another simply by belonging to a particular tribal group.

“Asshalamu alaikum”. That is what the chairman of the panel said to me as soon as I entered and even before he asked me to sit down. He was clad in his traditional Yoruba dress. Could he be a Muslim? I asked myself even as I replied, “Wa alaikumussalam warahmatullahi wa barakatuh”. He bore a Christian name, I understood that when he introduced himself. So there would be no religious solidarity.

The first part of the interview was introduction and it took more time than normal. Katsina state had just been created and there were many documentaries on it and its sister Akwa Ibom state created on the same day by Babangida administration. Kaduna state had 14 local governments, seven from the old Zazzau province and the other seven from the old Katsina province. The old Katsina province was made the new Katsina state while the other province was the new Kaduna state. The seven local governments were Katsina, Daura, Mani, Dutsinma, Kankia, Funtua and Malumfashi. Katsina local government was made up of what later became the six local governments of Katsina, Jibia, Kaita, Batagarawa, Rimi and Charanchi. “Are you from Dutsinma?” one of the panelists asked. “No sir. I am from Jibia”, I replied. “Is Jibia in Daura local Government?” another asked. “No sir. It is in Katsina Local Government”. They asked about the state and my feeling about its creation, etc.

With introduction over, technical questions followed. Somehow, all the questions asked were from my Ordinary level Physics and I answered them accurately. Thus, by the time I came out of that room I was sure that unless there was a mischief which is characteristic of some humans, I had passed the interview. I achieved two things. I earned respect for presenting myself as myself and answered the examinations questions correctly. Two months later, I received the award letter with the first cheque of first year.  Twenty five successful names were later published in the New Nigerian and Daily Times by the company. I was the only one from Bayero University and the only one from the new state of Katsina.

This journey in which Yoruba youth mocked at me was in connection with a cheque I missed. They sent it by a registered mail but because I missed the slip the cheque was returned. They later wrote another letter requesting me to come to Lagos and collect it. The journey from Kano to Lagos and back would cost me sixty Naira and the money to be collected was two thousand naira. So it was okay.

This is how we have been tolerating southerners in our country. Once you are a Northerner, you have no right to speak English. The only sin of Dr. M. T. Liman, Abatcha’s minister of Education, for example, was speaking with Northern accent. Of course he said many unsavory things about Lecturers but his predecessor Prof. Nwabueze did worse. At the end of the day M. T. Liman was nicknamed, “empty–lay-man” by some Southerners and some Northerners foolishly echoed.

With my experiences I have since decided not to worry about the way a person speaks and whether or not they speak good English. The Chinese we rely upon today to produce cheap products for us do not speak good English when they speak it. Most of us in Northern Nigeria speak English the way we hear the Southerners speak it. Do southerners speak with Queen’s accent?

President Buhari has been in power for five years now and many people have decided to mock him at every point he speaks in his natural way. They expect him to speak like a Yoruba or Igbo man. Sadly, some of the mockery comes from his supposed children and grandchildren in the North. What the young Northerners mocking at him do not know is that southerners would do same to any of their favourite Northern politicians be it Kwankwaso, Bafarawa, Zulum or any other.

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia

Nothing should happen to the Kebbi young man

Thursday, the 12^th of March 2020 could have passed like any other day in my life except for some social media posts that I saw in the very early hours of the day. There was a bandits’ attack in Magama-Jibia the previous night. Magama was a village five kilometers out of Jibia before Jibia town expanded and made it a suburb. It is also a place where Nigeria-Niger border post is located. There is a big customs barracks in Magama that has proven to be of no use to the people since the current banditry started.

The news of bandits’ attack made me to make very early morning calls to relatives and friends living in both Magama and Jibia main town. After a few calls, I came to realize that the bandits’ attacks were still on in other villages around Jibia. At the end of it all, eight people were killed in Tsamben tsauni in addition to the one killed in Kwari and another in Kaga. But Police and Army? They, just like the state Governor, were informed in the very early hours of the night when the bandits were seen coming on their motorcycles, according to my reliable sources. But no help came until it was over. In fact, it was said that some very few soldiers on the ground went into hiding in Magama when the mayhem was taking place, obviously because they were outnumbered by the heavily armed bandits who came in their tens.

That was the situation I found myself on Thursday. Due to my parental background, there is no ward in Jibia LGA where I do not have a relation, near or far, an acquaintance or a friend. So I have every reason to be worried when such attacks take place. Fulani banditry has claimed lives and property of some of my closest relations since it started. Some of my female relations in the rural areas were raped in past attacks. I thus spent the rest of the day commiserating with myself and my people.

In the evening I switched on to view the news on my television set. My main interest was to know what is happening about the ongoing ASUU strike in which I am participating. The NTA news is no news as it mainly tells you about the Government of the day. The President was shown making a speech at one festival in Kebbi in which I had no interest. He was raising his voice in order to be heard and you would not expect me to make sense out of what he was saying, at least given the happenings in my local government in the day. Ten people would be murdered in a nation and the president is vividly unaware much less send any condolences. That is the very low level to which Nigeria has descended under this Government. Yet, as a Northerner I am expected to continue to blindly give my support.

This morning when I switched the data of my handphone the first thing I saw was a clarification from Femi Adesina on some ‘contorsionists’ who are passing a video clip on social media to give an impression that the President was attacked in Kebbi. I know contorsionist is a player of some sort. But I checked the dictionary on my handphone to make sure. It says, “an acrobat able to twist into unusual positions”. I was not satisfied. I then googled the word. I saw the same meaning. I now dropped the phone and picked my old Oxford dictionary. Okay, there is a figurative meaning. ‘We had to go through all the usual contortions to get a ticket (= a difficult series of actions)’. This means the people Femi Adesina was referring to must have suffered a little to arrive at a conclusion that the action of the said young man was an attempt to attack the President.

I now decided to check other sources to know what happened. I know if no one else, the opposition will look for that video and paste it on Facebook. But just as I was going through my Facebook posts I saw a comment by one Aminu Bello who claimed he was there when it happened. He said, “The man tried to fish out then-Gov Adamu Aleiro and now Senator of Kebbi Central. When asked, the man said thief can’t be close to the Mr. President before him….”. I said this man loves the President but he is giving a different explanation which he claimed is an eye-witness one. However, when I saw the video there was no question and answer session which would have confirmed who, between Adesina and Bello was telling the truth.

My greatest shock came when I read in the Daily Trust newspaper that the man was shot in the foot. From the footage I saw, there was no sound of gunshot. So, what could have happened? Does it mean that this man was later shot after he was removed from the scene and the Daily Trust story sponsored so that when his death is announced later we would be told that he died from the gunshot he received?

My advice to Mr. President is that he should personally investigate this matter and come clean on it. Even if this young man attempted to attack him, he does not deserve death as long as the attack did not take place. He should remember that Kebbi, just like other Northern states is one of the states that was 100 per cent behind him. If it has now reached a level that his people are booing him and even attempting to attack him, all he has to do is looking inwards and correcting his mistakes.

Mr. President should understand that people are not happy with the level of carnage taking place under the watch of a man many of them loved even more than they loved themselves. People are not happy about the level of hunger in the land. Dead people cannot go to farm. So the campaign of his Government about farming does not make sense to his people in rural areas. Or are we no longer his people?