The chairman of northern community in Abia State and Sarkin Hausawa, Yaro Danladi, has expressed the readiness of northerners to continue peaceful coexistence with other tribes in the area.
Danladi, who is also the chairman, Northern Traditional Council, South South/ South East, however, said northerners would not leave Abia, which he described as their fatherland.
According to him, most northerners in the state are law-abiding and committed to Abia-the state where they born, and do not anticipate relocating to the North.
“We are not ready to go anywhere. This is our fatherland. Kano is just a name. I don’t spend more than five days there. All my life I have been here. My wife is from here and everybody is here. I only spent a week in Kano when I lost my mother.
“We are good people; we are not for violence. We want to live in peace with our host community. We want everybody to know that we are peaceful people, ” the Sarkin Hausawa said in a chat with Daily Trust.
On the beginning of the Hausa community in Abia, Sarki Danladi said, “Our forefathers came down here from all parts of the North to trade in fish, cattle and all kinds of farm produce, such as yams and onions.
“From the story I heard from my late father, the Hausa began to come to Umuahia in 1936 from Kano. I was born here. My father was born here too. My wife is from Abia State. She converted to Islam after we got married in 2001.’
On the challenges facing the Hausa community in Abia, Danladi said, “The sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is affecting us; not only our people but everybody. We are good citizens, so we do whatever they say we should do. We have lost so many things, including lives, but we believe the state government would do something about it.”
On migrant labourers, he also said, “If somebody is leaving his state he should have a contact in the place he is going to. If he is arrested he can say where he is going and who he is going to meet.”
