By Edem Edem
Hausa Community in Cross River State has said that Cross River State is their home and they have no intention to leave as the state is peaceful for them. “Cross River State remains not only the most peaceful state in the country to live and do business, but has continued to display its love for both indigenes and non indigenes alike,” members of the Hausa community in calabar affirmed.
Supreme Leader of Hausa/Fulani and Muslim Community in Cross River, Sarki Salisu Abba Lawan said in Calabar that Cross River is one of the most peaceful states in the country and Hausa dwelled peacefully with the people. “We are being carried along by the governor who always considers us as equal in his lofty policies and programs. So it is not true that Hausa businessmen are leaving the state. Cross River remains our state and the only state we know and have.”
He said that the, ”government and people of the state have made their impact felt on the Hausa community and pointed out that the governor, Prof Ben Ayade, appointed one of them as a Special Adviser for Non indigenes, a feat that has not happened before, he also inaugurated Muslims pilgrims’ board. Things are moving peacefully, no violence, no threat of any kind.”
Furthermore, the Hausa/Fulani leader disclosed that, “Nobody has ever reported any issue of threat and no Hausa man has attempted locking his shop(s) or thinking of relocating from this state because of issues related to Biafra. People now are educated and awareness has gone deep into all spheres of life. Nobody will leave a peaceful environment just because of rumour and especially when your present landowners are very receptive.”
He called on the people of Cross River to as they have always done, “join us in our fasting and prayers which has taken 15 days already with two weeks left to round off, “adding that “most of us will celebrate the end of the spiritual programme here in Calabar because we were born here.”
The Supreme Leader stated, “This spot you are interviewing me was built by my grandfather, Abubakar Bogobiri, who came to Cross River in 1863. He was the one that ruled the Hausas. Since then this location called Bogobiri was named after him. He gave birth to my father, Sarki Lawan who died in 2011 and I succeeded my late father since his transition”
He maintained that, “A place where your grandfather stayed for over 100 years, died and you later succeeded him as a traditional leader is your home, pointing out that, “we own our houses here, we are not in rented apartments, and we live peacefully with the people, what else will make us seek relocation elsewhere?”
For Shugaba na Nama Ragoh, Chairman, Butchers Association, Alhaji Bala Haikimekio, “Whatever evacuation threat so heard from other places is not and has never been heard in Calabar” Haikimekio who spoke in Hausa language assured that “akwai zaman lafiya a kalba. Muna zaman lafiya deh kowa anang. Suna siya dege geri mu, mu na siya dege geri nsu” meaning, “there is peace in Calabar. We live in harmony with all here. The indigenes buy from our locations while we also buy from their locations”
Also, the prproprietor of Abubakar Tailoring Shop, off Clement Ebri road, Abubakar Musa, who along with his team of apprentices were seen busy sewing materials said, “Issues of eviction cannot be heard in Calabar because we are one people here. No one has even tried to stay off his business area in Calabar. If you hear that, it is not a Hausaman and not in Calabar.”
According to a fruits seller, Rabiu Bakwori, “If there is an eviction notice, the last place you can hear of that is Calabar, and if it gets to Cross River that means that is the end of Nigeria.” Asked to expatiate on what he meant, Bakwori spoke in Hausa saying, “ba mu deh rekichi deh kowa, gaskiya lafiya a wanan geri ya fi duka,” meaning, “We have no problems with anyone here, truly the peace that exists in this state supersedes all.”
Meanwhile, DAILY POST reported that few days after the members of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) ordered the Igbos to leave the 19 Northern states to within 30 days, some of the businessmen and traders of northern extraction into one business or the other closed their shops and deserted the streets.
During an interview, some of them who pleaded anonymity said they deserted the streets and closed their shops to avoid being attacked in case the threat by their brothers in the north was enforced. Some condemned the utterances of the leaders of Arewa Youth Consultative Assembly but emphasised that the state itself was peaceful for them.
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