Ahmed Yahaya -Joe
While I shall endeavor to answer this pertinent question in my conclusion, permit me to digress to when recently, the Southern Governors Forum rose from its meeting affirming the quest for a Southern presidential candidate come 2023.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, their chairman fired from all cylinders insisting, “All of us are unanimous in our position that the next president of this country must come from the south.”
Rotimi’s missives were well-aimed northwards. It was an audacious and deliberate political action that was bound to have an equal and opposition reaction which eventually came through Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed.
According to Newton’s 3rd Law, “when two bodies interact, they apply forces to one another that are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.”
So, hear Hakeem, “We will lead Nigeria the way we have led Nigeria before whether we are President or Vice President, we will lead Nigeria. We have the majority of the votes,”
He went on by asking, “Why should we accept a second-class position when we know we can buy a form and contest for first class and we will win? Why does anybody need to threaten us and intimidate us?”
Baba-Ahmed not only carefully crafted his words in rebutting Akeredolu but his choice of venue was instructive as he articulated his message while delivering a keynote address at the maiden Maitama Sule Lecture Series organized by the students’ wing of the Coalition of Northern Groups, held at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Interestingly, Hakeem is a well-known traducer of not only the ruling APC but has a penchant for directly criticizing Mr. President.
Garba Shehu once stated to him, “I want to assure Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and all Nigerians that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is addressing multiple challenges facing the country especially in dealing with insecurity. We are making progress,”
Not done, Hakeem promptly fired back, “I have a lot of sympathy for Mallam Garba Shehu because it is very difficult selling a bad product.”
Dr. Hakeem (on phone in white gown) does not need any elaborate introduction beyond he has always had the tenacity to speak from both sides of the mouth.
In the vintage Black & White photograph is, Alhaji Baba Ahmed seated in presence of his client, the 17th Fulani emir of Zazzau, Muhammadu Aminu who held sway from 1959 to 1975.
While in the other colored photograph, one-time House of Reps member and former Senator representing Kaduna North, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed is also traditionally seated on the ground in presence of his client, Hakeem, a onetime Senior Lecturer and former Federal Permanent Secretary.
I find the hierarchical seating arrangement in both scenarios, decades apart very instructive in decoding the dynamics in clientele relationships.
The patriarch, Baba Ahmed, arrived Zaria from present-day Mauritania during the reign of Sarkin Zazzau, Ja’afaru Dan Isiyaku the 16th Fulani emir between 1937 and 1959. The senior Ahmed was a cattle-dealer.
He was also the school Imam and Arabic teacher for decades at the elite breeding ground of Barewa College. But most importantly his court advice has benefitted all the emirs of Zazzau that spanned his stay in that ancient city.
He fathered 33 children and passed on at the ripe age of 95 in 1987. All the Baba Ahmed brood were mothered by Nigerians. Senator Datti, a former NDA final year Air Force officer-cadet who is also the founder and Pro-Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja is child number 28, while Hakeem is currently the most senior male in the family hierarchy of surviving 20 siblings.
The Baba-Ahmeds are by no means the only Nigerian Arabs in our clime. There is a growing quantum with subsequent generations of them now fully Hausanized. With their bevy of beautiful damsels given out in strategic marriages across the North they have built a powerful network. Perhaps why, Senate President, Bukola Saraki chose Hakeem to be his Chief of Staff despite the wide age difference between them.
Hakeem, a onetime NEC (now INEC) number two and currently, Yeriman Jema’a (a ranking title in Southern Kaduna) has skillfully positioned himself in the political consciousness of Nigeria by properly managing his nuisance value.
First, by having a national audience as an ace columnist of Vanguard newspaper. Second, as the voice of the voiceless of Arewa under the current dispensation, fully utilizing his late elder brother’s private radio and television network to daily reach many across the North.
For someone who manifests the symptoms inherent in the loneliness of a long-distance runner, many Nigerians understandably disagree with him. However, none who are really politically informed can afford to ignore him. He has deftly elevated himself and by extension Nigerians of Arab extraction to a position of contemporary national relevance.
Notice in his recent ABU declaration of, “We have the majority of the votes,” Hakeem added, “We inherited leadership.”
While it could mean anything to everybody it could also specifically mean something to certain persons.
So due to the brilliance and imagination of this onetime Secretary of State Government when the current Comptroller-General of Customs was the Military Administrator of Kaduna State, my prognosis is that in the not too distant future a Hausanized Arab would one day occupy Aso Rock Villa as chief tenant because, “Audentes fortuna iuvat” – Fortune favors the bold.
In conclusion, back to the question at the beginning his this intervention.
Power has only consistently benefitted a tiny recurrent clique in the North. There is a sufficiency of adroit dream merchants that ensure the Talakawa are constantly fed political fantasy of Arewa exceptionalism. A brilliant flanking maneuver that has worked every election cycle.
This has no doubt over time made the Northern Muslim intelligentsia grandmasters in political chess who intermittently use religion not only as a tool for mobilization but as a smokescreen to divert attention from the repeated elite failure to transform Arewa.
The fundamental question is what are other stakeholders in the Nigerian project doing about it?
