THE ALHAJI IN US

This is a story of Power peddling and Resource allocation in Nigeria. Someone once painted this picture of power struggle in Nigeria. He said that when an Igbo man goes on a training with a Yoruba man and an Hausa man, an interesting thing happens.

Among the trio there will be a need to have a Class Representative or Captain. As the story goes, while the Hausa man keeps to himself, a strong desire will seize both the Igbo man and the Yoruba man to become the Class Captain. In the ensuing equation, it would dawn on both of them that, they need the Hausa man to actualize their dream.

Any attempt to approach the Hausa man for support will be welcomed with a pledge of support irrespective of who makes the first approach. In the ensuing stalemate, the next option open to the fighting duo is to install the uninterested and laid back Hausa man, who in their calculation, will be pliable, as Class Captain.

This picture explains why and how the Hausas dominate Nigerian Politics.

The interesting part of this thesis is what the Bible says about calling someone a fool. That, it is a fool who calls another person, a fool. The Southerners believe the Northerners are laid back and uninterested in power but the reverse is the case, hence an average Southerner has an Alhaji in his life.

Alhaji is a title for a man who has performed the Muslim obligation of visiting Mecca at least once in a life time. As a little boy I really associated the title with Opulence just like I saw everybody with the title Managing Director as very wealthy. Much as both positions are supposed to connote wealth, the reality is that, it is not everybody with those titles that is indeed very rich.

Much as you need money to embark on the Trip to Mecca, a man of modest means could be sponsored. As the craze for Titles goes, any business owner, successful or not can confer the title, Managing Director on himself.

The Alhaji in the average Southerner is the benevolent Northerner in an average Southern family. How come, there is a benevolent Northerner, is it that, there are no mendicant Northerners?

Here it becomes more intriguing. In an earlier article, I had postulated that it is because of the large population of beggars among Northerners, that an average Southerner calls the average Northerner a Mallam and not as a compliment.

The North is better organized than the South. The North is quite stable unlike the South where a pauper could become a Prince overnight. Such a scenario is a taboo in the North.

It is this stability and the choices of the average Northerner that confer so much loose change on the Alhaji that makes him a Father Christmas, willing to be courted by Southern men and women.

The Hoi Polloi in the North have no qualms about their situation and are content to feed off the crumbs of the favoured Alhajis. Not so the average pauper in the South. Christians call such generous Alhajis destiny helpers.

The Northern elite spend their wealth on cars and ladies. The money comes mostly from government. To get a bite, the Southerner back-stabs his friends and family, grovel before the Northerner to get ahead in anything but power. Remember that ab initio, it is the Southerner who confers the power on the seemingly unwilling Northerner.

And so the beat goes on.