The loss of thousands of lives as a result of the insurgency in the North East and banditry in the North West has attracted more attention than the implications of the insurgency and banditry on Fulani and Kanuri civilizations. This is understandable. However, the collapse of the two civilizations will lead to more human and material destructions.
The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defined civilization as “a state of human society that is very developed and organized… (2) a society, its culture and its way of life during a particular period of time or in a particular part of the world.”
The central argument in this piece is that the destruction of Fulani and Kanuri civilizations especially in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps is producing a generation of hitherto cultured people who have been forced to become indifferent to shame or pride. Anything goes. And without these two values it will be difficult to differentiate humans from animals.
Although they had their ways of life before Islam, but the Fulani and Kanuri are largely defined by Islam. Who are the Kanuri without Islam? Sultan Mohammed Bello said, “We are talking about the people of Borno, not its origin, because it is a city of Islam and it’s Sultan is counted among the great Sultans of Islam”.
Professor J.E. Lavers who taught me History of Borno and introduced me to what we considered his favourite book, Groundwork of Nigerian History, in which his article, Kanem and Borno to 1808, was published, argued that the area “is today divided between Republics of Niger, Chad, Cameroon’s and Nigeria”.
It had a landmass of more than 300,000 square miles and presently the home of insurgency. Tracing the origin of Kanuri civilization, he referred to “the death in 1846 of Mai Ali of Borno brought to an end the rule of Bani Sa’if, a rule that had lasted for more than one thousand years… Kanuri as a distinct language probably came into existence after the immigrants from Kanem settled and intermarried with the original Chadiac speaking inhabitants of Borno”.
In a lecture of two hours as an introduction to the History of Borno, Professor Lavers spent about one hour forty minutes discussing some issues on the history of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Sudan. We had problem understanding what he was trying to say until he used the last twenty minutes to prove to us how the history of Borno was shaped by events and developments in those countries. In other words, Kanuri civilization is a melting pot of many civilizations largely defined by Islamic civilization.
The cosmopolitan outlook of Kanuri civilization was explained by Professor Lavers when he argued in the Groundwork of Nigerian History that, “Turkish adventures were not the only foreign elements to visit the country. Numerous North African scholars were also attracted to the court which thereby gained a cosmopolitan character. Possibly under their influence together with the sights and experiences of his pilmigrage, Mai Idris introduced a number of reforms which attempted to bring the country more into line with other Islamic lands. These reduced the influence of “ada” (customary law) and emphasized the Sharia”.
Who were the Fulani before Sokoto Jihad? Well, they had their ways of life, even before they were introduced to Islam. But it is Islam that defined and “humanized” them. Undoubtedly, it is Islam that largely differenciates the settled from the itinerant Fulani (Bororo). The latter live in the bush and their lives revolve largely around rearing animals without contact and benefitting from other civilizations in education, production, organization of society and even hygiene.
Both settled and itinerant Fulani believe in the concept of Pulaku (sense of shame). Until recently, many Fulani could not eat in public or on the street. Now, some of them rob, kidnap and kill on the streets and in houses. They have also replaced their cows with alcohol and drugs. Bello Turji, one of the leaders of Fulani bandits is not my hero. But I agree with him when he said, “the Emir of Shinkafi knows me. He knew me from many years. If he is told that Turji would become a bandit he would not believe it because he knew we Fulani could not become rustlers”. He is right because when somebody was wrongly accused of theft and was to be taken to Sokoto from Maru, Malam Aminu Kano as a teacher in the town, told him that if the Sultan asks him about his name, he should say Hassan and that his father’s name is Muazu. When the Sultan asked him his name and he repeated what Aminu Kano told him, the Sultan directed that he should be released because “Muazu ba ya sata bare dansa Hassan”, meaning Muazu does not steal much less his son Hassan. The Sultan was referring to Sultan Hassan dan Muazu. The difference between knowledge and wisdom, you may say.
In his lectures on West African History, Professor Bawuro Barkindo introduced us to Fulani civilization by taking us on an intellectual voyage from Futa Toro to Futa Jallon and Sokoto Caliphate. As a Fombina (Adamawa) man, Professor Barkindo is not only learned about the Fulani civilization in theory and practice but also lives it. I am looking for an opportunity to meet and ask him, why are the Fulani in the North West more into banditary than their kinsmen in Adamawa and Cameroon. But his book with two others, titled, Africa and the World, is my good companion on the history of African civilizations. It also reminds me about the many names we found funny as students of History in secondary school. They include: Osei Tutu, Osei Bonsu, Opoku Ware, Kofi Karikari, Mensa Bonsu and Akomfo Anokye.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the teacher who taught us the subject other than the nickname we gave him: Osie Tutu. The name Tutu was unimaginable to us because in Sokoto dialect of Hausa language it means feaces (shit). We couldn’t understand how a man who was not from shithall can be called shit. In fact, a story is told of how some people burst out laughing when a Sokoto man asked them, “Ina a ka tutu?” (Where can I shit?).
In general, Kanuri and Fulani civilizations revolve around the qualities of the good man in Hausa land (mutumin kirki). In his seminar paper on the topic: MUTUMIN KIRKI – The concept of the Good Man in Hausa, presented at the third Annual Hans Wolff Memorial lecture in United States, Anthony Kirk-Greene, identified the qualities of a good man (mutumin kirki) in Hausa land of Nigeria. And by 1973 when he wrote his paper, Islam was the dominant culture among the Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Nupe and other muslim communities in Nothern Nigeria.
Therefore, the qualities he identified are largely based on Islamic Values which are shared by these ethnic groups. Unfortunately these are the values threatened by insurgency and banditry.
The characteristics of good man in Hausa land (mutumin kirki), according to Kirk-Greene, are: Gaskiya (truthfulness), Ladabi (respect), Hakuri (patience), Karimci (generosity), Amana (trust), Hankali (commonsense), Hikima (wisdom), Adalci (justice), Kunya (sense of shame), Mutunci which for lack of an English equivalent he described as “a psychological humanism, ability to respect the dignity of every man”. Some of the characteristics are so unique to Hausa land that Kirk-Green could not contextualize them in European setting.
For example, the four words he used to condemn the behaviour of a person who ate his food alone in the presence of his guests who came without an appointment, which is normal in Western tradition, but not acceptable in Hausa land. The words are brutal and reprehensible: kurilla, kurmusu, kememe and mursisi. I am looking for a graduate of English language to translate them for me for a fee. Bature ya ji Hausa.
For long, the Fulani and Kanuri have been in a joking relationship as the assumed “dominant” super powers in Northern Nigeria based on history and convention. The Sultan of Sokoto is the first on the list of traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria followed by the Shehu of Borno. Do the Fulani and Kanuri still enjoy the same respect accorded them in Nigeria?
Finally, we must support the government to end banditry and insurgency sooner than later. Also, Nigerians must save Fulani and Kanuri civilizations from collapse, in their interest. This is necessary with or without Nigeria and ECOWAS. The human spirit can never be tamed by artificial boundaries. If the man in Ikoyi wants to sleep he must help the man in Ajegunle.
