As a Southerner, You Better Put Some Respect On That Word 'Aboki'!
Yesterday, in my post exposing how Peter Obi lied when he accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of increasing Nigeria's total debt (our national debt is actually lower today than it was on Monday, May 29, 2023), someone commented and called me an 'Ewu Hausa'. This fellow finished it off by saying I look like an 'Aboki' from Kano.
Why do some people see that as an insult?
In terms of historical wealth and power, as well as intellectualism, no other city in Nigeria can compete with Kano. But sadly, many Nigerians are not aware of this, especially Southerners, and so, we often look down on the North in general and take a dim view of Kano.
And that is really unfortunate, because if you really want to be influential in Nigeria, you can achieve this by learning as much as you can about Kano and why that metropolis has dominated wealth and power in West Africa for centuries.
For example, do you know that Nigeria's most loved leader, in the person of the late General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, was from Kano?
Conversely, our nation's most hated (and, in hindsight, maybe unfairly) Head of State was also from Kano. I refer to the late General Sani Abacha.
Other than Minna, no other Nigerian city has ever produced two Nigerian leaders.
In terms of intellectualism, the Kano Chronicles detail events from Kano dating back as far as the 10th century. And another beauty of that body of work is that it is written in Ajami script, a fusion of Arabic and the Hausa language.
And that love for intellectualism has not died out in Kano.
I may be wrong, but I am not sure that any state has more than two state-owned universities, except Kano.
Kano has three state-owned universities, including Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil; Sa'adatu Rimi University of Education; and Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano.
Kano also has more than ten private universities.
And it is doubtful that any state has more students on foreign scholarships than Kano, with almost 400 abroad on either a Master's or a PhD.
The reason you, as a Southerner, may not know this is because Kanawa are not loud and do not have that useless 'money na water' arrogant attitude!
For those of us, Southerners, who keep using the term 'Aboki', derivatively to refer to Northerners in general, and persons of either Hausa or Fulani descent in particular, please note that the wealthiest African on the planet, as well as the second richest African on Earth, are both Northerners, from Kano State, with both Hausa and Fulani origins.
By this, I refer to Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Alhaji Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu.
Neither of these individuals has ever held a government position. They both do not engage in government contracts. They started as traders and gradually moved into manufacturing.
And it did not start with them. I did not know Alhaji Dangote's father personally, but I knew the late Alhaji Isyaku Rabiu because he sponsored my mother's sporting events at Apapa in the eighties.
But Alhaji Dangote's lineage is also extraordinary for its wealth and humility, though I know this from research rather than personal knowledge.
In terms of documenting wealth, the late Alhaji Alhassan Dantata was the wealthiest man in West Africa at the time of his death on Wednesday, August 17, 1955.
Alhaji Alhassan Dantata was the great-grandfather of Aliko Dangote, currently the wealthiest Black person alive.
Sanusi Dantata, the son of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, was recognised by Time Magazine as Nigeria's wealthiest person by the 1960s.
Please note that since records stated being kept from 1914 to date, there has NEVER been a time that a Southerner was the richest man in Nigeria, including Chief Abiola.
All of Nigeria's official wealthiest persons have always been Northerners. They are just not as loud as we are!
So, as a Southerner, I urge you to rethink the term "Aboki."
Reno Omokri