I recall with nostalgia the lines of our former National Anthem, “Nigeria we hail thee! Our own dear native land! Though tribe and tongue may differ in brotherhood we stand”. I recall also with faint memory growing up in the Tin city of Jos, Plateau state after the Nigerian civil war in the 1970s, with the slogan of the three ‘Rs’ (Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Re-integration). I further recall stories we were told of the genesis of the crises of ethno-religious tensions and the beginning of the pogrom that became the Nigerian Civil War which was bitterly fought with over 3million loved-lives wasted.
It reminds me of the pragmatic effort made by some patriots for the creation of additional states in Nigeria and Bauchi state was one in 1976. The struggles for its transformation by patriots through effective governance for viability and a promising future devoid of parochial sentiments was kick-started by the likes of Abubakar Umar, Yusuf Muhammed Baba, Muhammadu Bello Kirfi, Ahmadun Kari, Ibrahim Dimis, Adamu Aliyu, Adamu T/Balewa, Ibrahim Magaji, Aliko Muhammed, A.D Rufa’i, Zagi Dass, Peter Gonto Mwari, Dr. Sule Kumo, Jalo Waziri, Mahmoud Yayale Ahmed and off-course, one of the greatest of them all, Abubakar Tatari Ali.
It was in 1979, barely three years after creation that the mantle of governance felt on the shoulders of Abubakar Tatari Ali, then a retired federal permanent secretary and a political novice full of vibrancy and progressive ideas.
He was an accomplished technocrat, a seasoned administrator, a detribalized humanist and a vibrant leader who stood the odds and charted a course for the progress of the then young state.
The legacies bequeathed by Tatari Ali are still enjoyed although hardly maintained due to paucity of ideas and sincerity of purpose by successive administrations.
He was a leader and a political icon that loved and worked for Bauchi state more than any other person that had the opportunity to access power. Tatari was truly an illustrious son greatly missed.
Back to the issue at stake, it all started with the orchestration of the political elites in blind pursuit of power and greed. Before the independence, there was no inter ethnic resentment and animosity as Nigerians across the divides lived in relative harmony doing business together across regional boundaries. Independence brought with it political booty and opportunities that the major ethnic nationalities saw as their birth right which they mismanaged thereby heating up the polity. This made some young patriotic but misguided exuberant military officers of southern extraction to stage the first military coup de tat that ended the first republic and changed the texture of Nigerian polity forever, luring the military into politics.
Since the military dabbled into politics, Nigeria has never been same again as the ghost of the military still rule the country from the grave. Nigerian elites operate like political scavengers without skills as they depend solely on politics and political patronage. They live ostentatious life which can only be sustained through corruption and pillaging of the common patrimony.
Those elements that have plundered Nigeria and robbed the people of peaceful co-existence and harmony are the political class, the religious leaders, traditional rulers and rogue intellectuals and tribal ideologues.
Recently, a prominent state governor was quoted to have told his audience that there are two entities called Nigeria with his pedestrian statistics in demography and social disequilibrium between the two Nigeria of his mindset. Sadly, the elites have succeeded in brainwashing the ordinary and deprived Nigerians to see themselves through the prism of religion and ethnicity with irreconcilable differences. Matters are made worst today with social media where unprocessed news and photos which are easily manipulated travel with the speed of light. Toxic bile of ethnic hatred, are being circulated to the extent that some socio-cultural ethnic organizations are calling their kinsmen to return to base from other regions thereby signaling that all is not well and there may be a breakdown of law and order that may put a stop the amalgamation of 1914.
