It was a pleasant surprise to discover one place in the entire landscape of this beleaguered far-north of Nigeria where life has continued to be lived as it were, in peace. I found that out when I visited Nguru last week to grace the occasion of the turbaning ceremony of our friend Dr Mohammed Lawan Yahuza, the Pro-Chancellor, Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, as Marafan Nguru. When I learnt that the Emir of Nguru, Alhaji Mustapha Kyari, was going ahead with the ceremony I was in a quandary how to get there. Nguru is in farthest end of Yobe State and lies within short runs from Gashua and Gaidam towns that have received the infamous visitations of Boko Haram terrorists in the recent past.
To worsen matters, getting out of Abuja where I live required a lot of calculations. Nowadays taking the highway to Kaduna and Kano, the shortest drive to my destination is always a big risk. I love road trips but the risk is incalculable taking the Kaduna highway where bandits, revelling in an orgy of kidnapping, have made it impassable. I finally did what was reasonable and took the flight on Max Air to Kano from where I was driven through Hadejia, one of the major towns in Jigawa State, down to Nguru. It was a pleasant afternoon drive through this 200 or so kilometres on a beautifully-tarred road, give or take a few odd potholes, developing here and there.
The harmattan cold was abating though the north-easterly, blowing dust-laden wind, still prevailed. I noted that all the way the markets in the villages and the little towns strung along the highway were full and thriving, people going about their affairs without the feeling of fear and foreboding that is the fate of many areas of the North now. You couldn’t sight a soldier all the way which indicates that, that space is at peace with itself. Driving past the open fields, evidence of cultivation of farmlands is overwhelming with the piles of cornstalks staked, pointing skywards, dotting the farms.
Two hours into the journey we were touching the tip of Hadejia from where we detoured into a by-pass to Nguru. In a short while we arrived the town and it was welcoming enough with its wide-open tarred streets. It was dusk and the street lights, mostly solar-powered were just beginning to blink to life. Most of the streets I passed through were brightly lighted. When I enquired I learnt that they were solar-powered and constituted largesse from their representatives in the National Assembly. Of course their most prominent representative is the Senate president, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, and Nguru is the largest town in his senatorial district.
After dinner a few of us were shepherded into a waiting bus to make a courtesy call on the Emir of Nguru to thank him for bestowing the honour on Dr Yahuza. The group led by Mahmud Ahmed Yayale, Ajiyan Katagum and former secretary to the Government of the Federation included Adamu Jumba a former Ambassador to Kuwait and a host of local dignitaries. We had a warm welcome in the palace and spent a convivial evening with the emir. The emir, Alhaji Mustapha Kyari, has been on the throne for close to 30 years now and is widely credited with most of the advances the town has witnessed in the past many years. He is a scion of the famous Galadima Mai Kyari who, as ruler of Nguru, was promoted to the enviable post of Waziri of Borno at a time, in 1964, when the Borno Emirate Council was in turmoil and needed a stabilizing hand to steady it.
Yayale in his characteristic eloquent delivery, extolled the virtues of this illustrious progenitor and observed that the emir is now carrying the flag high up. He observed that Nguru has retained its place as a leading commercial hub in the entire region. Above all, the town has succeeded – along with Hadejia, Malam Madori and other settlements within the axis – to fend off the obnoxious infiltration of Boko Haram terrorists and bandits of the same ilk. He particularly praised the emir for his open-handedness, his unique ability to draw Nguru indigenes living elsewhere to return home, build residences and participate regularly in local affairs.
The next day the ceremony held and was archetypal of Borno’s unmatched pageantry complete with the unique turbanning procedure and the spectacular horse riding events. The crowd at the palace was huge and covered the length and breadth of the Dandal (magnificent front space unique to most Borno palaces).
Beyond the glamour, however, I noted the overwhelming presence of the very young in the crowd, most of them bedraggled and fawning for hand-outs from guests and local dignitaries. The number of the youths is large and from appearance most of them could be without any means of livelihood and, or, education. Their presence is also everywhere in town. From my perspectives, they constitute a ticking bomb and a pool for Boko Haram and other bandits to draw adherents from. The elite would have to work hard to quickly fix this so as to spare Nguru falling into the quagmire that has afflicted their neighbours in other parts of the states of Yobe and Borno.
