The Nigerian dream

My Daddy is Ebira while My Mommy is Yoruba, I was born in the ancient city of Zaria. I am the only one in my house who can’t speak Hausa, Yoruba and Ebira well. I’ve long thought I have language deficiency, I mean, why can’t I speak Hausa for crying out loud? I just tire. In all these, I love my Kogi State. I love to read about it and root out for progress. I don’t hide my identity and try to make people think I am Hausa and must be accepted. I love me and love being me.

My Girl had accident and later came down with malaria. We were in and out of the hospital last week and so there was a need to visit the pharmacy. There is this Pharmacist guy, he is good, I mean with drugs. He would explain every drug my baby should take and why he thinks a particular product is good for her. He always attends to us. He is Ebira, born and buttered in Zaria. Somehow, we got talking the last time we saw and we talked about Kogi State. I was surprised about the little he knows of the state. In fact I was hurt and to think of it, I am still hurt. I can’t believe he knows so little of the state he is from, the worst part is that he isn’t concerned about the state. If the state gets from bad to worse it is not his business because Kaduna State is become home for him. Good for him, I equally shouldn’t have an issue with this because most Nigerians are in the page with him. You leave your home state and make another state home should be encouraged this itself should be what one Nigeria mean but sadly, the case is different.

A friend of mine, I won’t mention his name. Born and brought up in Kaduna state, Zaria to be précised although his parents are from Niger State. He schooled in Zaria, when I say school I mean Primary Therbow, Secondary NMS, University ABU, served somewhere in the West, returned to do his masters in ABU, bagged over 3 Masters now and other professional courses, at some point he resigned to start his business and he is being doing great. Once in 2014 he told me that every month he pays his employees #17 million. For a man that does that, it means his business is grown well and I am proud of him.

This friend of mine wants to go into politics but you see, he is not known in Niger State like Kaduna State knows him. He generates so much funds for Kaduna State and employ their people yet he may not become commissioner of Kaduna state (he won’t take such position though) because the state has a lot of contenders. To return to Niger State now is wahala because his goodwill is in Kaduna and not Niger. In every sense, he is a good and respectable Nigerian, if he should via for the position of a governor he should win but how can he do that when he is not Kaduna but Niger? Isn’t he Kaduna? He is more Kaduna than Niger, he is Nigerian.

This for me is a true Nigerian but when the bull should be taken by the horn neither Kaduna nor Niger would accept him. In the end you must return to your state. This is what Nigerians are faced with. Our constitution must be reviewed over and again. You cannot just call your home state your home when you have actually been ‘buttered’ by another state yet you are not totally accepted in your ‘buttered’ state because you are not from there. This is the dilemma we are faced with in this country. As 2019 draws near we are going to have old faces contest for positions that new faces should contest for but for cases like this we would see same old people again. I hope one day we can truly say we are “ONE NIGERIAN.”