Shehu Sani One Man Voyage- A Recap, By Tajudeen A. Tijjani

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: WHEN the European Traveller, Mr. Mango Park entered the soil of what is today Nigeria, he met the natives in Lokoja who carries him on their shoulder’s in a local bamboo made caravan and showed him the berth of the confluence of the two rivers later named as Rivers Niger and Benue.

He came and met the inhabitants of the areas who are natives, and they’re those who assisted him and took him to the source of the river.

According to written history, Mr Park came to Lokoja around the 15th century and claims to discovered the rivers in those areas, whereas, the rivers have been existing before he landed probably for evangelism.

Mr. Park and many of those who claimed to have made any discovery met the natives of such areas on the ground, who made it possible for them to locate certain things they claimed to have discovered.

It was after they left that we realized that they, the European traveller’s came to exploit our natural resources in the guise of discovery.

While the slavery of our able bodied men and women were going on, they applied a tactics of divide and rule to continue with the reckless of plundering of our God given resources. Those who attempted to question them, were either forced into slavery or outright elimination.

They make sure, we are colonized and reduced to second citizens, corrupting our system and relegated our traditional institution’s and made us to fear and worship them, with the help of some imdeginous colonialists, they choose and forced upon the people.

Those who raised their voice against their masters slaves relationship were dealt with, that they don’t live to tell the story. They destroyed notable Empires and Emirates that have existed for centuries and bastardized the traditional institutions.

The colonialists re-wrote our history to suit their whims and caprices, and today, many of those stories of our past as an organized entities were badly written and made irrelevant.

According to records and history of colonialism, what is today known as Northern Nigeria was largely affected by the colonialists inhuman and forced treatment, especially of revered traditional institution’s when many Emirs and Emirates were destroyed, and many Emirs ended up deposed to not habitable areas, and those who resist were killed and buried, most of them in Lokoja, the capital of the present Kogi State.

According to history, majority of the Emirs of that period in the North resisted the colonialists, and they dearly paid for their refusal, which is different from the other stories that the North accepted the colonialists hook and sinker without any resistance.

From the center of the Caliphate in Sokoto to all the Emirates and other traditional institution’s at that period, it was a war against colonialists and their agents. Sultan of Sokoto, Attahiru, Emir of Kano, Alu, Emir of the old Bidda , Bukar and Muhammadu Basiru among many others who refused to accept the colonialists were deposed to towns outside their Emirates, where they died.

More worrisome is that these Heroes past have been forgotten, and nothing is said as a remembrance of their struggle’s against the invaders. While other climes celebrate their past heros, Nigeria abandoned many of them, and never mentioned the roles they played when on earth.

Today, around the world, there are young people who believe that the struggle of the people of the past, especially, those who stake their lives for others should not be allowed to go in vain.

Senator Shehu Sani recent one man voyage to the burial site of some of the Emirs killed by the colonialists in the North is a brave exercise and commendable. Now that the young people are brazenly standing up to dig out the history of the past, they must be encouraged.

The Kaduna Central former Senator is reported to have made funds available for the renovation of few of the burial grounds he visited in Lokoja and promised to do more in order to beautify the environment for historical documents.

The Senators action is a wake up call to our leaders to come out and copy from his big heart and the novel that the dead should be remembered and not be forgotten.

Let us bring back our traditional values and culture, which were eroded by the colonialists with alien culture, and re-introduce history of African cultures in our schools.

The burial grounds can also be made into a tourists destination by the Federal or State Government, and with the Baro River Port coming up soon, and passing through Lokoja, the upgrade of the burial site of these great men will become a Tourists Center, where the government can generate funds and also make the area popular to the outside world.

The management of National Inland Waterway Service in Lokoja and the Federal Ministry of Transportation should come into the project and be involved in the full development of the burial site of these prominent and foremost traditional rulers.