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TEARS FROM MAIDUGURI -
Growing up as a child in Maiduguri, Borno state left me with vivid memories. There were clear memories of affinity, of love, of trust, of sharing and good neighbourliness . By the way,I was born Christian, and raised as one but I also had among my very closest friends, muslims and in no way did any sense of difference amongst us highlighted.The adopted line of official lingo of “home of peace” seemed very fitting.
Today, that epitaph mocks at thestate, its people and government.On a recent duty tour to Maiduguri, what I saw showed how easy it is for society, indeed,for civilizations to die. Maiduguri, indeed what was known of Borno,the Kanuri civilization has died a painful, shameful death, with no loved ones at the funeral. If you live in Abuja as I do, and pick the official lines from the media you will go with the impression that “the economic life of Borno State” is in comatose but that with the gallant efforts of the security forces, things were returning to normalcy.
To associate Borno State with any form of economic or social lifetoday is to engage in an ugly, nauseating joke. The soul and personality of the Borno under which I grew up died unsung. Among my friends, when Borno lived, we played together. The Muslims were friendly, generous and accommodating to non - Muslims. We lived together, shared each other’s clothes. What determined who wears the best shirt and jeans amongst ourgroup of Muslim and Christian friends is not the ownership of these clothes but rather, who has the most important date that day.
I remember with nostalgia how I used to hold a container of water and pour it for my Muslim friends to perform their ablution and the same set of friends will always wait for me by the gate of the local church that I attended with my parents when it was closing time so that we could embark in our desired exploits. This became such a line of routine that sometime in 1997 I found myself converting to Islam.No one gave an ultimatum that if I or anyone for that matter did not convert the heavens was going to collapse. One thing was evident then, my conversion neither unsettled any Christian families that I know nor did it affect my relationship with my friends.
As fate will have it, I am now a Muslim and one of my good friends, who grew up a Muslim, met an enterprising Idoma lady who converted him to Christianity. They are married, live happily with their children in Abuja. Maiduguri was very peaceful until February 2006 when the first major crisis broke out. Then again, in July 2009 when the Islamist insurgents declared war on secular institutions. Now death and its fear dominate the space all across Borno. As Chinua Achebe’s legendary character noted in thecelebrated novel, “Things Fall Apart” ‘they have put a knife in the thing that bound us together...”
While it was obvious that the 2006 crisis in Maiduguri was mainly an attack on Christians and their institutions by rampaging Muslim mobs, the 2009uprising led by late Mohammed Yusuf had a slightly different motivation. Today, there are many faces of the calamity in Maiduguri. There is the ugly face among Muslims, and there is the pathetic face of the calamity among the hapless Christian community and there is a troubling, complicated face created and stoked by the government forces.
Maiduguri is flattened and riven with chaos, grief and fear, peopleare afraid to talk about anythingnot only to strangers but even to their neighbors because some have pitted against one another or serve as informants to either sides of the conflict. Security agents that should be responsiblefor safeguarding lives and properties are apparently turning against the people they are paid and trained to protect.
The operation restore order in Maiduguri by the Joint Tax Force of security agencies seem to be producing more terrorists than iteliminates. When children witness the brutal killings of their parents with little or no consolations they grow up to become spiteful of every representation of civil obedience and vend violence.
According to Sadiq Abba, a teenager, seen with a bullet wounds to the leg in Maiduguri, his only crime when soldiers shot him according to him was that, hefalls within the age group of the insurgents.
In Maiduguri, if you are close to ascene of violence two things happen, it is either you get blownby the bomb or bullets of the insurgents or when the JTF arrives the scene you assume the status of an enemy even if you are not one. If you are save from any of these two evils then pray to be far from another scene of an attack.
On a seemingly normal day, when there is no attack at a given time in the city, the fear and trauma of people wondering whether the car next to them ata traffic light or security check point would explode or when one is caught between cross fires canbe devastating.
According to a Pediatrician at theUniversity of Maiduguri, apparently, in Maiduguri today, most people especially children in the most violent areas are likely suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or prolong grief, yet there is no consolation for them. And nobody is interested inthese problems especially when the bombs and assassinations arestill going on. Instead, how to eatand survive the day is everybody's preoccupation.
A nine year old boy that goes by the name Ahmed (surname withheld) told me how his father was beaten for throwing a sachet of water from his car window, close to a check point,"my father was asked to roll on the ground while me and my younger sister watch how the soldiers flogged him."
Children, either of suspected insurgents or not have been killed or have seen their parents being killed before their eyes. Theinsurgents, in revenge apparentlyare killing women and children of government officials, as if these children are at fault.
Another teacher whose tyre of his rickety car boosted close to amilitary check point got people scampering for safety but sadly he was beaten to coma. Some say, he is lucky to be alive. Whereis the rule of law in this city.
More complicated is when Christian place of worships are bombed and Christians especially Igbos are slaughtered like animals.Their only crime was that they are Christians and the Muslims that condemn these killings are not spared either. For many Muslims, sealed lips is the only guarantee of staying alive but the average Christian view the silence as cold complicity.
Most security agents, civil servants and politicians, serving and retired in the state that have fallen by the bullets of the insurgents are Muslims that is why it is difficult to convince most Muslims that this war is being fought on their behalf.
In Maiduguri, apparently, the onlypeople the security excuse most of the times are Christians just like the way the insurgents have also spared some Muslims at the very instance of an attack. Thesehave further increased suspicion and animosity between the two religion. One religion is seen as having the sympathy of the JTF and the other as having the sympathy of the insurgents.
Apart from the people, the once serene and beautiful environmentof Maiduguri that welcomes you with the sweet fragrance of Churai or turarai wuta, locally made perfumes, now bears painful memories of loved ones that have died and continue to suffer. The infrastructure are in ruins, many schools are destroyed, businesses are grounded and many residence are deserted . Many Christians now bury there deaths like the Muslims because there are hardlyany space in the mortuaries.
Where are the memorable traditional eateries in the city, like the Gudum local restaurant inAbaganaram where we use to feast with tasty Kanuri dishes such as Ndalai, brabusko, Karasu, and miyan kuka with a lot of traditional spices.
Can I ever go back to Dikwa to eat burtutu, aquatic frog? Can I ever move freely in Hausari to buy danwake in the morning? I miss the way the people dont play with wedding festivities, suchas the wushai wushai in the nights.
Alas! Where is 'Ba masaha', the late Shehu of Borno, Dr. Mustpha Umar Ibn El-Kanemi of blessed memory? When he died, the Igbosdid not only mourn him but closedtheir shops for three days voluntarily. Most of these Igbos have now fled the state.
The majalissa, where men of all ages seat under trees in groups that is a common feature in Maiduguri have disappeared. It is also practically impossible for people to sleep outside during the scourging heat even when the is no electricity. Even the cinemas that show English premiership League matches, one of the few things youths in the region strangely finds a bond of unifying force are also gone.
No one can move freely any longer at any time of the day or night.
Once the hub of Islamic scholarship in West Africa that teaches tolerance and hospitalitylike its welcoming neem trees, where there are abundant opportunities for youths to be pious or go astray has turn to a ghost town.
The reception one will get in Maiduguri in the 80's and 90's could best be described in the Islamic principles that admonished Muslims to show an open invitation by their lifestyles through which people can see thebeauty of Islam and find it an interesting code of ethics and teachings for others to follow has bedeviled by the actions of the insurgents.
I would like to see the Maiduguri, where Islamic schorlarship is booming, where everyone prays the five daily prayers in congregation. I will like to see theMaiduguri where my Christian parents can go to church every Sunday without the fear of beingbombed.
I would like to see a Maiduguri that does produce orphans, widows and the dead by the hour, where people have lost count of the deaths. I would like to to see the Maiduguri where the insurgents will rest their fist and smile and be smiled at.
I will like to see the Maiduguri where my only brother, an evangelist based in Oshogbo can come home and feel at home. I willlike to see the Maiduguri where my two nieces and nephew whosefather is from Abakiliki, in the south-east of Nigeria come to stay and enjoy the sweet smell of Churai or the healthy bitter taste of garden eggs.
Salkida, an independent journalistbased in Abuja visits Maiduguri after fleeing from there several months ago and found the the once beautiful and lively city turned into a ghost land.
Growing up as a child in Maiduguri, Borno state left me with vivid memories. There were clear memories of affinity, of love, of trust, of sharing and good neighbourliness . By the way,I was born Christian, and raised as one but I also had among my very closest friends, muslims and in no way did any sense of difference amongst us highlighted.The adopted line of official lingo of “home of peace” seemed very fitting.
Today, that epitaph mocks at thestate, its people and government.On a recent duty tour to Maiduguri, what I saw showed how easy it is for society, indeed,for civilizations to die. Maiduguri, indeed what was known of Borno,the Kanuri civilization has died a painful, shameful death, with no loved ones at the funeral. If you live in Abuja as I do, and pick the official lines from the media you will go with the impression that “the economic life of Borno State” is in comatose but that with the gallant efforts of the security forces, things were returning to normalcy.
To associate Borno State with any form of economic or social lifetoday is to engage in an ugly, nauseating joke. The soul and personality of the Borno under which I grew up died unsung. Among my friends, when Borno lived, we played together. The Muslims were friendly, generous and accommodating to non - Muslims. We lived together, shared each other’s clothes. What determined who wears the best shirt and jeans amongst ourgroup of Muslim and Christian friends is not the ownership of these clothes but rather, who has the most important date that day.
I remember with nostalgia how I used to hold a container of water and pour it for my Muslim friends to perform their ablution and the same set of friends will always wait for me by the gate of the local church that I attended with my parents when it was closing time so that we could embark in our desired exploits. This became such a line of routine that sometime in 1997 I found myself converting to Islam.No one gave an ultimatum that if I or anyone for that matter did not convert the heavens was going to collapse. One thing was evident then, my conversion neither unsettled any Christian families that I know nor did it affect my relationship with my friends.
As fate will have it, I am now a Muslim and one of my good friends, who grew up a Muslim, met an enterprising Idoma lady who converted him to Christianity. They are married, live happily with their children in Abuja. Maiduguri was very peaceful until February 2006 when the first major crisis broke out. Then again, in July 2009 when the Islamist insurgents declared war on secular institutions. Now death and its fear dominate the space all across Borno. As Chinua Achebe’s legendary character noted in thecelebrated novel, “Things Fall Apart” ‘they have put a knife in the thing that bound us together...”
While it was obvious that the 2006 crisis in Maiduguri was mainly an attack on Christians and their institutions by rampaging Muslim mobs, the 2009uprising led by late Mohammed Yusuf had a slightly different motivation. Today, there are many faces of the calamity in Maiduguri. There is the ugly face among Muslims, and there is the pathetic face of the calamity among the hapless Christian community and there is a troubling, complicated face created and stoked by the government forces.
Maiduguri is flattened and riven with chaos, grief and fear, peopleare afraid to talk about anythingnot only to strangers but even to their neighbors because some have pitted against one another or serve as informants to either sides of the conflict. Security agents that should be responsiblefor safeguarding lives and properties are apparently turning against the people they are paid and trained to protect.
The operation restore order in Maiduguri by the Joint Tax Force of security agencies seem to be producing more terrorists than iteliminates. When children witness the brutal killings of their parents with little or no consolations they grow up to become spiteful of every representation of civil obedience and vend violence.
According to Sadiq Abba, a teenager, seen with a bullet wounds to the leg in Maiduguri, his only crime when soldiers shot him according to him was that, hefalls within the age group of the insurgents.
In Maiduguri, if you are close to ascene of violence two things happen, it is either you get blownby the bomb or bullets of the insurgents or when the JTF arrives the scene you assume the status of an enemy even if you are not one. If you are save from any of these two evils then pray to be far from another scene of an attack.
On a seemingly normal day, when there is no attack at a given time in the city, the fear and trauma of people wondering whether the car next to them ata traffic light or security check point would explode or when one is caught between cross fires canbe devastating.
According to a Pediatrician at theUniversity of Maiduguri, apparently, in Maiduguri today, most people especially children in the most violent areas are likely suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or prolong grief, yet there is no consolation for them. And nobody is interested inthese problems especially when the bombs and assassinations arestill going on. Instead, how to eatand survive the day is everybody's preoccupation.
A nine year old boy that goes by the name Ahmed (surname withheld) told me how his father was beaten for throwing a sachet of water from his car window, close to a check point,"my father was asked to roll on the ground while me and my younger sister watch how the soldiers flogged him."
Children, either of suspected insurgents or not have been killed or have seen their parents being killed before their eyes. Theinsurgents, in revenge apparentlyare killing women and children of government officials, as if these children are at fault.
Another teacher whose tyre of his rickety car boosted close to amilitary check point got people scampering for safety but sadly he was beaten to coma. Some say, he is lucky to be alive. Whereis the rule of law in this city.
More complicated is when Christian place of worships are bombed and Christians especially Igbos are slaughtered like animals.Their only crime was that they are Christians and the Muslims that condemn these killings are not spared either. For many Muslims, sealed lips is the only guarantee of staying alive but the average Christian view the silence as cold complicity.
Most security agents, civil servants and politicians, serving and retired in the state that have fallen by the bullets of the insurgents are Muslims that is why it is difficult to convince most Muslims that this war is being fought on their behalf.
In Maiduguri, apparently, the onlypeople the security excuse most of the times are Christians just like the way the insurgents have also spared some Muslims at the very instance of an attack. Thesehave further increased suspicion and animosity between the two religion. One religion is seen as having the sympathy of the JTF and the other as having the sympathy of the insurgents.
Apart from the people, the once serene and beautiful environmentof Maiduguri that welcomes you with the sweet fragrance of Churai or turarai wuta, locally made perfumes, now bears painful memories of loved ones that have died and continue to suffer. The infrastructure are in ruins, many schools are destroyed, businesses are grounded and many residence are deserted . Many Christians now bury there deaths like the Muslims because there are hardlyany space in the mortuaries.
Where are the memorable traditional eateries in the city, like the Gudum local restaurant inAbaganaram where we use to feast with tasty Kanuri dishes such as Ndalai, brabusko, Karasu, and miyan kuka with a lot of traditional spices.
Can I ever go back to Dikwa to eat burtutu, aquatic frog? Can I ever move freely in Hausari to buy danwake in the morning? I miss the way the people dont play with wedding festivities, suchas the wushai wushai in the nights.
Alas! Where is 'Ba masaha', the late Shehu of Borno, Dr. Mustpha Umar Ibn El-Kanemi of blessed memory? When he died, the Igbosdid not only mourn him but closedtheir shops for three days voluntarily. Most of these Igbos have now fled the state.
The majalissa, where men of all ages seat under trees in groups that is a common feature in Maiduguri have disappeared. It is also practically impossible for people to sleep outside during the scourging heat even when the is no electricity. Even the cinemas that show English premiership League matches, one of the few things youths in the region strangely finds a bond of unifying force are also gone.
No one can move freely any longer at any time of the day or night.
Once the hub of Islamic scholarship in West Africa that teaches tolerance and hospitalitylike its welcoming neem trees, where there are abundant opportunities for youths to be pious or go astray has turn to a ghost town.
The reception one will get in Maiduguri in the 80's and 90's could best be described in the Islamic principles that admonished Muslims to show an open invitation by their lifestyles through which people can see thebeauty of Islam and find it an interesting code of ethics and teachings for others to follow has bedeviled by the actions of the insurgents.
I would like to see the Maiduguri, where Islamic schorlarship is booming, where everyone prays the five daily prayers in congregation. I will like to see theMaiduguri where my Christian parents can go to church every Sunday without the fear of beingbombed.
I would like to see a Maiduguri that does produce orphans, widows and the dead by the hour, where people have lost count of the deaths. I would like to to see the Maiduguri where the insurgents will rest their fist and smile and be smiled at.
I will like to see the Maiduguri where my only brother, an evangelist based in Oshogbo can come home and feel at home. I willlike to see the Maiduguri where my two nieces and nephew whosefather is from Abakiliki, in the south-east of Nigeria come to stay and enjoy the sweet smell of Churai or the healthy bitter taste of garden eggs.
Salkida, an independent journalistbased in Abuja visits Maiduguri after fleeing from there several months ago and found the the once beautiful and lively city turned into a ghost land.