The Hausa people (or Hausawa) are the original and indigenous people of Hausaland, traversing the North-West, and parts of North-East and North-Central (or Middle-Belt) of Nigeria. They are the largest ethnic group in West and Central Africa.
The Middle-Belt people (or Middle-Belters) are the indigenous non-Hausa, non-Yoruba and non-Igbo peoples of North-Central Nigeria. They are a conglomeration of different ethnic minorities, forming a transition zone between Northern and Southern Nigeria.
Unlike the Hausa, who are ethnically homogenous and largely Muslims, Middle-Belters are ethnically, culturally and religiously heterogeneous. Yet, Middle-Belters share a lot in common with Hausa people.
Both are very humble, modest, kind, respectful, receptive, hospitable, and accommodating, to the extent that if you are not one of them, but live among them, your children are likely to lose their identity, values, language and culture, and adopt those of Hausawa or Middle-Belters.
They are largely agrarian. Farming and agrarian-related businesses are integral to their lives, traditions and cultures. They are highly industrious and committed to whatever they believe, and whatever they do. For them, there are no half measures.
The Middle-Belters and Hausawa are a deeply religious and profoundly spiritual people. They take religion and spiritualism seriously. They fit into the people described in Chapter 2:219 of Quran; those who said, “We hear and we obey.” People who hear the words/verses of ALMIGHTY GOD, whether in the Quran or Bible, and accept the faith, and submit to GOD.
While the Middle-Belters are largely Christians, the Hausawa are predominantly Muslims. Both, however, have believers of the African Traditional Religions (ATRs).
Both peoples have been penetrated, deceived, misled, cheated, and made to do ungodly things, including engaging in violence, by all sorts of people who eat with, divide, dominate, oppress, exploit and dehumanise them, particularly through religion!
The Hausawa and Middle-Belters are politically subordinated people in Nigeria. The political subordination of the Middle-Belters arose from their small numerical strength; their ethnic, religious, and cultural diversities – which make political unity difficult; and the fact they do not occupy dominant positions in the country, the polity and the economy.
In contrast, the Hausawa are a dormant majority. They have a huge population, are ethnically, religiously and culturally homogeneous, and have electoral power. But all these go to serve, benefit, protect, defend and reinforce the interests of Fulani oligarchs.
Fulani oligarchs comprise Fulani aristocrats, politicians, clerics, serving and retired technocrats, bureaucrats, the upper echelon of serving and retired military and security officers, business tycoons, academics, journalists, and even lumpens, amongst others, who believe and fight for Fulani hegemony and dominance in Nigeria.
The Fulanis are, thus, a dominant minority. This is a dominance that arose from their conquest and colonisation of Hausaland and neigbouring states in 1805. This was consolidated by the reinforcement of Fulani colonialism by the British imperialist forces; the deliberate exclusion of Hausawa from acquiring Western education; the high restriction of their recruitment into the civil, military, and para-military services; and virtual exclusion in the affairs of the state and society.
Since the late 1980s, the Hausawa and Middle-Belters have fiercely fought “religious wars” between themselves. They have foolishly murdered themselves and others for the sake of their “religion”! In fact, the easiest weapon needed to deceive and mislead Middle-Belters and Hausawa is religion.
Notwithstanding, their religious hostilities, economic necessities and the realities on ground, including poverty, hunger, suffering and diseases, keep uniting them more than religions divide them. The Hausawa and Middle-Belters are progressively realising that religion does not feed, shelter, cloth or pay school fees. Therefore, that enough is enough; and peace must reign between them!
But since 2015, the Hausawa and Middle-Belters have been increasingly threatened by Fulani terrorists. Terrorism is defined here as a deliberately calculated, highly insidious, and extremely ferocious violence directed against innocent people. It is violence conceived, designed, and executed to spread fear, harass and intimidate innocent people into total submission, and to secure material, financial, economic, political, physical and psychological benefits, as well as sexual satisfaction through rape.
Examples of the activities of Fulani terrorists include, but are not limited to, kidnapping for huge ransoms; the destruction of farms with their herds; the injury, maiming, and massacring of indigenous peoples of Nigeria; the sacking of towns and villages; and occupation of same by Fulani people. It also includes the desecration and invasion of mosques and churches by Fulani terrorists; indiscriminate shooting and killing of people, including religious clerics; and the raping of women, children, and even men.
Fulani terrorism began in Zamfara State, systematically spread to the entire North-West geopolitical zone, gradually moved to the Middle-Belt area, and is now spreading southward, like bush fire in harmattan. It is much more ferocious, deadlier, and destructive than Boko Haram (BH) terrorism, which is mainly restricted to Borno and Yobe states, and northern parts of Adamawa State.
The Hausawa have noted the statement of a Fulani terrorist leader that they are not active in the south of Nigeria because the Fulanis in position of power have not authorised them to terrorise that part of the country.
Middle-Belters have drawn attention to the fact that they have virtually stopped farming due to the activities of Fulani terrorists; that their lands are increasingly being taken over and occupied by Fulanis; and that they are helpless because when they defend themselves, the police compel them to pay heavy compensation to the families of the Fulanis.
Middle-Belters give the example of one Sunday Jackson in Adamawa State, who in the process of defending himself, in his farm, from a Fulani herder’s attack, killed the herder, but was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Nigeria!
Both the Middle-Belters and Hausawa are beginning to posit that, whether in the past or present, they have all suffered from Fulani exploitation, oppression, and dehumanisation. That, as a matter of fact, the Fulani oligarchs have succeeded in dividing and ruling them. That Fulanis are responsible for their underdevelopment as a people.
The Hausawa are progressively disassociating themselves from the Fulanis. They are forcefully condemning and logically insisting that they are not “Hausa-Fulani”, describing the term as illogical, un-Islamic, and deceptive. They are forcefully proclaiming that “Hausa daban, Fulani daban” – meaning the Hausawa are different from Fulanis, whether physiologically, historically, ethnically, linguistically or culturally.
The Middle-Belters, in turn, are asserting that they are not “Northerners” but “Middle-Belters”, with distinct ethnicities, languages, cultures, histories, and interests.
Both peoples recognise and insist that they are closer to one another because they are indigenous to Nigeria; and have been, and are still, historically exploited, oppressed, and dehumanised by the Fulani oligarchs.
Now, Hausa and Middle-Belters are forming mass-based movements at all levels of society to confront what they term as Fulani domination, oppression, and dehumanisation. The most popular, powerful and assertive Hausawa movement is the “Hausawa Tsantsa Development Association (HTDA)”, led by a fiery woman, Hajiya Kaltum Alumbe Jitami. The future beckons.
** Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
