By Abu Shekara
There was this movie about two warring communities who were ‘bitterest’ enemies for centuries. The hostility between them was so longstanding, it had become a tradition that created heroes and cowards in their folklores.
The plot was to climax in a final battle that would lead to a historic triumph or an abject defeat and confer everlasting glory or disgrace on either side. The fateful day and the critical hour were fixed for the final clash.
Then followed a disappointing end. A clear present danger, a disaster that wouldn’t discriminate befell them both; a bush fire raged on either side, setting the two communities on a race for dear life to a nearby stream.
There they met, chucked up and mixed up without boundaries, without any belongings or baggage. Neither did anyone remember to bring any machete, spear or arrow along.
All of them bore only the clothes on their backs, some of them not even that. In the water, where there can be no borders, the two avowed enemies were united by one thing: THE NEED TO SURVIVE.
If movies are a reflection of reality, the plot of this film might have been inspired by current events in Sokoto State. Smouldering from the partisan skirmishes of the 2019 elections, all issues in the state have since then assumed a political dimension.
Partisan sentiment has tailored attitudes to matters like the Sokoto market fire, an incident that seems to occur with every administration, the floods of 2019, which are actually perenial and outbreak of diseases that is seasonal. Virtually every matter ignites a political debate.
Partisan acrimony has also affected the disposition of certain elements to the state of insecurity in Sokoto State. As we experience almost daily loss of lives and the unprecedented disruption of our socio-economic life, opportunists are taking advantage of the sad situation to gain political capital and visit malice on real or imagined political foes.
Fortunately, the state Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who’s the main target of all the posturing, has maintained remarkable levelheadedness and composure. As the ONE man who holds the mandate of the entire state, he realises the futility of playing politics with the lives of the people.
Tambuwal has exhibited an unquestionable commitment and unreserved willingness to collaborate with all stakeholders to mitigate the dire situation. And it’s so fortunate that his sentiment is shared in other quarters in the state, by people, who have the common sense to know that the raging fire of insecurity torches everything in its path, without distinguishing partisan affliation.
When the Governor, therefore, called a stakeholders meeting on insecurity, the leadership of all political, traditional, religious and social groups showed up at the Sokoto Conference Centre. They came together without the baggage of partisan opinion or sentiment, their only concern being the lives and fate of the people.
The Sultan of Sokoto was there at the head of traditional and religious leaders, political foes and former state Governors, Attahiru Bafarawa and Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, sat side by side and shared a joke about who is the senior or older.
The current Deputy Governor and his predecessors were also in attendance. So were national and state legislators from the major political parties and heads of security agencies in the state.
Discussions at the meeting were down to earth and resolutions were straightforward. That was a mark of unity in opinion and shared commitment.
At the stakeholders forum, the bitter taste of the 2019 election seemed forgotten, the upcoming clash of 2023 so far away. It was a solemn moment, during which the drummers of war held their peace, realising that theirs was an unwelcome melody, even to the suspected patrons of their tune.
As far as security is concerned, we’re all in the same boat in Sokoto State, which everybody should row or else, nobody will survive. Meanwhile, politics can wait because there has to be a state first, before the state is ruled.
• Shekara wrote from Sokoto.