What follows is a response to my two-part series on the Ilorin identity and the place of the Sarakis in it. The author advances the same s...
What
follows is a response to my two-part series on the Ilorin identity and the
place of the Sarakis in it. The author advances the same sadly familiar
reductionist and nativistic arguments that seek to police the boundaries of the
Ilorin identity and exclude people who fall outside these inflexible,
arbitrary, and reactionary boundaries. But the author’s arguments are worth
chewing over nonetheless.
By
Zakariyau Sambo
This piece is not against
your write up because I, as a History teacher, agree with the historical facts
you presented. It is not also in support of the said diatribe of Ishaq Modibbo
Kawu because I am not obliged to do so in any ramification. The piece rather
tries to clarify some of the analysis and interpretations which your piece
raised as shall soon be explained.
To start with, I do not
know whether you are conversant with the fact that many Ilorin indigenes have
been, from time to time, questioning both Senator Bukola Saraki and his
father’s claim to Ilorin origins in the print, electronic and social media due
to some obvious reasons excluding politics. Prominent among such people is
Alhaji A. G. F. Abdulrasaq (SAN), the fist legal practitioner in northern
Nigeria. Therefore, I am very inquisitive on why you choose to only isolate and
treat Kawu’s said questioning ignoring those of others that had come earlier.
Let me begin by some
historical facts which you rightly highlighted. According to you, “the Ilorin
identity is the product of the fusion of Yoruba, Fulani, Hausa, Baatonu
(Bariba), Kanuri, Nupe, Gwari, and Gobir ethnicities and influences. The Yoruba
language is the linguistic glue of this fascinating ethnic commixture, and
Islam is its religious glue.” This highlight is very valid especially if we
consider past developments in Ilorin. That also means that the Ilorin identity
product is dynamic and not static. However, to just reduce Ilorin and how it
became an ethnogeny to past developments is to be far away from reality. This
is particularly true since History interplays between the past and the present
which may likely determine and influence the future. That is why it is very
inadequate to just use or largely use the parameters of the past to interpret
the recent. Both the past and the present go hand in hand.
If we must explain the
reason why the claims of origins and identity of the Sarakis remain suspicious
and controversial we must not only trace their history which was birthed in the
past (I personally never have issues with that) but also reveal what is happening
in the present. The situation with the Saraki family, as far as identifying
with Ilorin is concerned, remains an aberration. In contemporary Ilorin, the
Sarakis have refused to integrate, entrench and sustain Islam and Ilorin
Islamic cultures into their family to keep their Ilorin origins and identity
going. This abnormality in their households has been the signature of both the
father and the son. A vivid case in point, among many others, is the society wedding
celebrations of Senator Bukola Saraki’s daughter this year. I, like many other
Ilorin people, were mystified by the strange and unfamiliar nature of the wedding
celebrations. The celebrations did not conform to the Islamic identity and
norms and traditions of the people of Ilorin. In fact some of the activities
were a contradiction of our religion and culture.
The argument here is that
no Ilorin son or daughter worthy of his/her salt will shy away from Islam and
the various Islamic cultures his or her parents bequeathed on him/her. I want
to believe that this is what many Ilorin people like Kawu and I are
interrogating about the Sarakis and their claims to Ilorin origins. We are not
just Ilorin people because our grandparents were; we are so because we sustain
Islam and integrate ourselves into Ilorin Islamic cultures.
As
you also further try to prove that Ilorin people’s identity can be found in
their Yoruba names, I find it quite difficult to agree with your assertion
that, “I know of no Ilorin person, whatever his or her ancestral provenance may
be, who does not have a Yoruba given name.” This assertion of yours is true
only to an extent. The fact that virtually all Ilorin persons bear Yoruba names
does not mean that they bear all kinds of Yoruba names. In other words, the
kind of Yoruba name you bear can make you become an “alien” in Ilorin. For instance,
Ilorin people do not bear Yoruba names that have affinity with Yoruba gods and
deities. That is why an Ilorin person
will never bear popular Yoruba names like
Aborishade, Fashola, Adeosun etc.
Apart from bearing names that have
affinity with Yoruba gods and deities, the Yoruba also bear names that emanate
from Oluwa, the God Almighty. Olusola, Olufemi and Olukayode etc. are examples
of such. In Ilorin Yoruba, God Almighty is referred to as Olohun and not Oluwa.
The explanation of why this is so was given by late Shaikh Muhammad Kamaldeen
Al-Adabiy in the Yoruba Qur’an translation himself and others wrote at the
instance of the Saudi Arabian authorities. Therefore, it is very strange for
people to bear “Olu” names in Ilorin. This is not simplistic and ahistorical as
you claim. It rather explains the dynamics in the evolution of Ilorin identity.
In addition to this, many people
(including some Yoruba) that are not from Ilorin use to confuse names like
Idiagbon, Alanamu, Oniyangi, Aluko etc. to mean Yoruba proper names. In actual
fact these kind of names, though Yoruba, are names of family compounds/areas in
Ilorin that people bear.
For
someone’s claim of Ilorin origin to be non-controversial you just don’t rely on
enormous emotional investment in your Ilorin identity and you just don’t self-identify
yourself as an Ilorin person. I dare say, obvious of the risk of being called
out to have committed a crime, that you have to do much more. You have to
conform to the religion, norms and traditions of Ilorin. You also have to
integrate yourself to the Ilorin society both in practical and functional forms.
Sambo wrote from
the Department of History, Usmanu Danfodiyo University,
Sokoto and can be
reached at zakarysambo@gmail.com
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