Messing up Kaduna's liberal status.
When we were kids, there was this our Igbo neighbour who was a very good carpenter. He dedicated so much time to his work that up till today, my father's house still harbours some of his fine works. My mother's stool, the big table we use to iron clothes, beds, etc, are all quality and there for us to remember him for the kind of carpenter he was, and of course the man he was. He had this Kaje wife called Tina and his son Shagari, who usually joined us in our adventures.
We had a way of annoying the man by playing football close to his wares. He'll usually lurk around, timing and waiting for the ball to come close to his shop, and that'll be the last time we'll ever set our eyes on the ball. Whether we contributed to buy the ball or bought by our parents, it didn't matter. No one could question him for dissecting or throwing our balls into the fire. Our parents endorsed this action, sometimes admonishing us for not going to the pitch to play. We usually stood by and watched our precious balls go off in flames. He'll later turn around to play with us. And as kiddish as we were, we'll leave the past behind us. Tomorrow another kid would come with a new ball and Usoro would destroy it. Sometimes we begged and he'd usually give us "last warning"; Tina or Shagari sometimes go to pick the ball for us whenever he wasn't in. This was the Tom and Jerry game we played with Usoro. Nostalgic.
What was particularly interesting and worth emphasising was how the adults endorsed his actions without any prejudice. They saw him as a neighbour with his right to protect his wares and as an adult responsible for partaking in moulding the character of their children as obtained everywhere in Africa. I can almost swear that this CANNOT happen in today's Kaduna!
First of all, Usoro would not be doing business in Tudun Wada, his Kaje wife would certainly have been a target for hoodlums whenever there is any little fracas between two adults in any part of Nigeria, as long as some idiots can turn it into a religious narrative. Indeed this happened a couple of times. And each time it did, good neighbours shielded then until they finally moved out.
Secondly, as the "arnen banza" he is/was he does not have any rights, not to talk of assuming the role of a corrective adult within the community, or even have the guts to seize our balls. Kids will stay away from him like plague. The kids would mock him and send Shagari away anytime he comes around to play football. That will not be because his father waylayed their balls, but because Shagari is not one of them. Some would rather buy poor quality furniture from their "brothers" instead of patronising his of superior quality.
Thirdly, the seizure of one ball is enough to send Kaduna into devastating crisis. One dolt would post on Facebook that a "Christian stabbed innocent Muslim kids playing football", and some people would block roads and start killing those who look Christian. Some would block Nnamdi Azikiwe Eastern by pass and Abuja Junction to kill all Muslim looking folks. Zaria, Zonkwa, Kafanchan, Jaba would all flare up...and we'll turn around to blame the government in power depending on the backgrounds of those in charge.
This is the "liberal" state of our hitherto model "Liberal State". Now all that is required for crisis to engulf the state is a rumour. For there to be a little commercial, residential, traffic, or even romantic disagreement between a Muslim and a Christian; Fulani/Kaje, Igbo/Hausa, mad man and another mad man, room mates in the hostel; the sight of woman wearing mini skirt or Hijab, as long as it can be presented in a religious rainbow, there are criminals waiting to pounce on their neighbours. To kill, maim and loot!
The media, our religious bodies, rabid commentators especially from regions far away from the theatre of conflict would rush to spread lies and entrench more hate. People who can't tell the difference between Kaduna South and Southern Kaduna would be on AIT analysing a conflict they read about on the Facebook pages of their Lagos or Warri friends with no friend from the entire North on their list. We inflate the number of the dead (as if one death should not make us angry) just to inflame passion and cause more division, for always, ultimately, political reasons!
Listen, Fulani, Hausa, Kataf, Kaje, and other tribes in Kaduna, no one will succeed in helping us find lasting peace from outside, if we don't come back to our senses and agree that a prosperous Kaduna is achievable only when we agree to live in peace. The government can do its bit in aggregating mechanisms to make us sit and talk, punish offenders, borrow from Plateau's approach, etc., but the ultimate decision rests on all of us. Blaming El-Rufai or Buhari is purely political bunkum. They'll go even if they decide to militarise the zone, and the crisis will eventually spring up again. We must talk to ourselves and stop allowing those instigators with nothing lose who assume they are our voltrons for political reasons. Even if we continue to kill each other we cannot exterminate other tribes or religions!
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Things have fallen so apart. What went wrong or what is really wrong now? Bring back the old time Kaduna or the Northern Nigeria. In fact bring back Nigeria of yesterday.

May Ghd restore our hearts to Humanity.Ethnicity and religious bigotry has really gotten into us that even the so called elites are not excluded .