This is part of a speech by Sheikh Zakzaky on the Relation Between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger. The speech was translated from the Hausa Language for wider circulation.
“Do you see this polarization caused by the Muslims who separate their mosques among other things by excommunicating their fellow Muslims? This is an enemy conspiracy. An enemy conspiracy indeed, and the enemies have well planned their scheme because if you are to draw a person’s attention to the enemy plot, he may not see it that way. He was taught to practice Islam the way he is taught, and he will practice it that way. Moreover, these foreign heterodoxies were only imported to us here in recent years because they were not in existence before.”
“Now that we have been deluged with calamities of various types which we would not have expected in our wildest imagination. After being divided along ideological lines in Islam, ethnic hatred is now actively being promoted. I hope this is clear! Ethnocentrism. Throughout my life, I had never thought of finding myself in the midst of people who identify as Fulani or Hausa, but (unfortunately) this is the order of the day.”
“I know I once told a story about my visit to South Africa which took place over 24 years ago. It was in 1999 that I traveled to South Africa. That is exactly 24 years ago. There was a conference in Pretoria when the fratricidal ethnic war between Tutsi and Hutu was raging (in Rwanda). I don’t know how they perceive Tutsi in their cultural worldview, let’s just talk about Tutsi since we are talking about Hausa.”
“There was ethnic tension between Tutsi and Hutu, the kind of ethnic tension that involves the kind of unprecedented genocide. It was said that over 800,000 people had been massacred. A conservative figure of this ethnic cleansing could reach a million people casualties. Most of the victims belonged to Tutsi, and the Hutu were the ones who carried out the genocide.”
“The Tutsi story is similar to that of the Fulani. They resemble nomadic people who rear cattle for a living, and the Hutu are similitude to the Hausa, and they are physically short, and they are mostly farmers. Though Hausa people are not genetically short, they are mostly farmers. The French favoured the Tutsi and the United States supported the Hutu. The real cause of the crisis was a rivalry between France and the US which was manipulated to be looked through the prism of ethnicity.”
“There was a very bloody clash; too gory to watch or tell the story of the killings committed. At the conference, my conviction was, they were engaging in that kind of ethnic schism because Islam did not reach them. Had Islam reached them, being Muslims would have made it easy for them to unite. I even narrated to them that we in Nigeria had people who ethnically identify as Hausa while others identify as Fulani. I was bold to tell them that nobody was capable of igniting an ethnic war between Hausa and Fulani because they are like one people (bound by shared values.)”
“But it is surprising that a schism and raging sentiment is very common nowadays. To me, this is the handiwork of our enemies. The person who promotes anti-Hausa sentiment is the same shadowy figure promoting anti-Fulani sentiment. It is the same warfare. If it was meant to get power, the power centers around one man who stands to gain from the chaos of genocide. ”
“We pray that the Almighty Allah prevents the calamity. All of a sudden, France and the US want to use Nigeria to attack Niger. This is very shocking given the fact that Nigeria and Niger are one people. Even if southern Nigeria does not see it that way, we, in northern Nigeria, had empires founded by Shehu Usman Danfodio and Kanem Borno. It was the territories of such empires that were carved out to create Niger and Nigeria.”
“I once told you Gazargamu is the capital of Kanem Borno right? The fortification of the city is intact because there still exist remnants of the buildings. It may interest you to note that half of the fortification is on the Nigerien side of the border and the rest is in Nigeria. When our borders were partitioned, they did not take our history into cognizance.”
“As I keep telling you, Borno territory was partitioned into four parts, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Most of the territory was part of the Borno. Furthermore, if you look at the territory of the Shehu Usman empire, from Borno up to Sokoto, each city was partitioned into two. If you look at the territory of Hadejia, some part of it was annexed to Niger. A part of Gumel’s territory is part of Niger. If you cross the border of Maigatari, you are still part of Gumel’s territory but were ceded to Niger. A part of Kazaure is also part of Niger.”
“This is the same fate that befell Daura. A large part of Daura also became part of Niger. Katsina was also partitioned into two parts: Katsinan Maradi and Nigeria’s Katsina. They are all partitioned. Moreover, the Gobir Empire was also partitioned between Niger and Nigeria. The hometown of Shehu Usman Danfodio, Marata, is located in Niger.”
“The cultural ties that Niger and Nigeria share are closer than people imagine. We are twin brothers, sharing the same roots and values. I hope this is clear.”
“They are our brothers, since the hometown of our founding father, is located in their country. It is unimaginable that we would one day end up fighting against each other. It is shocking that these ruthless people want to use this country to attack our brothers, just to engage in fratricidal genocide, right?”
“I heard that some Nigeriens claimed that Nigeria would attack them. I suggest that you perish the thought. Even if the threat of the invasion appears genuine, May Allah forbid this, we are not the ones attacking you. It was the handiwork of another power behind the scene in collaboration with the president who is going to attack you, but not Nigerians. We are not being consulted, we do not support it, and there is no way we can kill one another. Therefore, it is not Nigeria that is going to attack, it is other foreign powers who want to use Nigeria to do so. They are used to this.”
“They once did it after the Islamic Revolution in Iran when they used Saddam Hussein to invade Iran. The war lasted for 8 years whereas the people of Iran and Iran are one people. The cultural ties they share are so strong that a senior position in Iran is being fielded by an Iraqi. Ayatollah Sahrudi who is the Chief Judge of Iran, hailed from Iraq. He is the highest-ranking judge in Iran. You would see a lot of positions being fielded by Iraqis and nobody raises an eyebrow over the issue simply because they see each other as one.”
-Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H)