Vol. 5(9), pp. 171-177, November, 2013

DOI: 10.5897/AJHC2013.0154 African Journal of History and Culture ISSN 2141-6672 ©2013 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/AJHC

Review

Inter-group relations in historical perspectives: A case study of Yoruba and Hausa communities of Agege, ,

Muhammad Mukhtar Gatawa

Ph.D History programme, Usmanu Danfofiyo , , Nigeria.

Accepted 2 September, 2013

This paper examines the phenomenon of inter-group relations amongst the Yoruba and Hausa communities in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria. Historically, Nigerian ethnic groups had achieved a high level of integration prior to the colonial conquest. Long distance , migratory movements and socio- economic inter-group relations had helped made ethnic and cultural integration an integral part in the evolution of modern Nigeria. In this paper, an attempt was made to scrutinize some popular, but defective, assertions relating to inter-group relations, ethnicity and national integration in such multi- cultural societies as Nigeria. The paper seeks to validate the claim that the concepts of ‘indigene’/’non- indigene’ and ‘son of the soil’/’settler’ were, until recently, insignificant in the intergroup relations amongst Nigeria’s diverse ethnic communities. This was in contrast to the prominence now given to the ‘ of belonging’ in the Nigerian national discourse, in which the gap between the ‘native/son of the soil’ and ‘stranger/settler’ is becoming wider by the day. The situation has degenerated into conflicts or threats by such natives to send away strangers who, like in the case of Agege, are second or even third generation descendants of pioneer Hausa migrants. The study equally confirms the assertion that the indigene/non-indigene dichotomy has posed greater challenges to the cohesion of Nigerian state and its citizens. Finally, the paper is part of the outcome of intensive fieldwork and interviews carried out by the author between 2006 and 2008 in the course of writing a Doctoral Thesis on ‘The Hausa Community in Lagos, 1861 – 2007’.

Key words: Migration, settlement, trade, Inter-group relations, integration.

INTRODUCTION: CLARIFYING SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ON INTER-GROUP RELATIONS AND ETHNICITY

Obafemi Awolowo’s view that ‘Nigeria is geographical times in response to complex historical, political and expression and a country artificially created by the British’ socio-cultural processes. The evolution of modern France has been faulted on historical realities. This is in relation and exemplify this process. In the case of to the country’s diverse cultures, languages, histories, Nigeria, pre-colonial ethnic mig-rants were in many religions and worldviews. Historically, nations emerged places integrated and assimilated into their host from diversity and continued to adjust to historical and communities. Olaniyi (2001:3) cites the case of Yoruba political processes. For instance, Kazah-Toure (2006) Ayagi quarters in who after a century of settlement states that ‘the English speaking people in Britain, apart had been assimilated into Hausa culture. Usman from the Scots, Welsh, Irish and the numerous minorities, (1981:61) gives similar assimilation process in respect of are not all of the same origin and do not draw from a diverse groups that migrated into and became single history’. Moreover, the boundaries and compo- ‘absorbed into the households patrineages through sition of states in had been fluctuating due over marriages and cohabitation’. Equally significant is the

E-mail: [email protected]. 172 Afr. J. Hist. Cult.

case of the Oshodi family of Lagos who claim Nupe adventurers of hunter-category were guided in their origin. search by a wise saying that their final destination would Another misconception relates to how over the years, be a land divided by river. The narration continues that as academic discourse on inter-group relations has been they moved on, the thickness of the forest they were so narrowed down to only two interrelated terms: conflict passing through prevented them from advancing further. and violence. And this was based on the false premise So the trees (Yoruba – agi) had to be cut off (Yoruba – that in plural societies such as Nigeria, ‘ethnic groups gege); hence the name Agege. The initial Awori settle- were always at each others’ throats for no just cause’ ment was said to be at Orile-Agege. As the settlement (Ukiwo, 2005:16). This assumption has had adverse expanded, the Ogba and Zango-Ota were later incur- impact on academic works on the subject under discus- porated under the control of Agege. sion. First, it tilted scholars towards concentrating more What, however, might account for the transformation of on instances of ethnic conflicts and competition than Agege was the intrusion of large number of Hausa numerous cases of harmonious inter-group co-operation. traders as result of the construction of railway line and its Second, as ethnicity is considered as fault-line in extension to Kano in 1911 and a station at Agege by the Nigeria’s inter-group relations, little interest is shown in beginning of the twentieth century. Agege rapidly rose to examining incidences of intra-group/ethnic conflicts prominence in terms of commercial prosperity. The which, in the case of migrant communities, pose threats railway station accelerated the trading activities at Agege similar, if not more than, inter-group/ethnic discord. In all, market that consequently made it a commercial hub that a wide gap exists as intergroup relations discourse re- brought together people of diverse backgrounds. The mains centered around simplistic assumptions of fixed railway line did not only attract the Hausa traders into ‘primordial’ instead of ‘fluidity’ that is marked by ‘con- Agege in particular and Lagos in general, it also expan- tinuity’ and ‘change’ in historical and political processes ded the volume of Kola nuts and trade between the shaping our perception of common identity that Northern and Coastal regions. As the Hausa community distinguishes ‘us’ from ‘others’ and common interests that grew in number, a section of Hausa traders were said to ought to have brought ‘us’ and ‘others’ together. In the have moved to Ago-Awusa which was said to have been case of Agege, Nigeria, a high level of cordial inter-group established in the 1930s by Mallam Abdullahi Usman relations had been achieved, owing to inter-communal who migrated from Kano. Ago-Awusa (Hausa camp) was mechanisms developed amongst the Yoruba and Hausa located between Epe and Itokin. The place is now communities over the years of interaction. referred to as Alausa in Ikeja, where the State Govern- ment Secretariat is presently located. The colonial political economy further increased the ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HAUSA COMMUNITY IN migration of into Yorubaland. This was due AGEGE to the effects of colonial taxes, roads and railway. Hopkins (1973) believes that such factors encouraged The historical process of the establishment of the Hausa and facilitated the increase in migration of community in Agege and the inter-group relations generally. The imposition of the colonial taxes and the between the community and Yoruba hosts is indeed an insistence of their payment with the new coins were the interesting one. In the case of Agege, the interesting prime movers in the development of migrant wage labour. aspect of this long Hausa-Yoruba interaction lies in the The colonial taxes and currencies were integrated into evolution of an effective mechanism of cordial inter-group colonial economic policies such as the introduction of relations while at the same time reducing the inter-group cash crops and new European goods. Thus, many tension and conflicts now being witnessed in a number of people became involved in the labour migration to cash similar multi-cultural communities in Nigeria. crops producing areas and kola nuts trade in search of The Hausa people had settled in Lagos since the money to pay taxes. According to Swindell (1984:12) ‘as eighteenth century or even much earlier. Tijani (2003) is the twentieth century developed, labour migration clearly of the opinion that one Oshodi, a Nupe man from took on new dimension and, from what can be inferred, and Tinubu, during the reign of Oba Buraimoh Adele there was a rapid increase in the volume of migration to (1775 – 1780), brought Mallam Ahmad Azare, a Hausa meet new levels of taxation and demands for labour in Muslim clergy from the North to pray for the success of the towns and commercial crop zones’. the Oba. This man was called Idrisu Nageye. The Hausa Due to the increase in the population of Hausa traders ex-slaves and later Hausa Police Force constituted a in Agege in 1930s, the need to appoint a leader arose. significant community on Lagos Island. As for the Therefore, in 1934, the first Sarkin Hausawa of Agege, foundation of Agege, the Aworis claim to be its pioneer Mallam Haliru, was appointed by Ikeja Native Authority, settlers (Ajayi, 1987). The Awori traditions hold that a colony of Lagos. Based on the official publications on the certain group of Awori adventurers left Ile-Ife for Isheri 1931 and 1951 Population Census Results the estimates and later moved towards the coast and ended up settling of the population of the Hausa in Agege were 4,500 and at the present day Agege. It is said that the pioneer 8,000 respectively. Bamgbose (2009) asserts that the Gatawa 173

Hausa constituted forty per cent (that is 260,000) of the number of Islamic organisations such as the Anwar-ul- entire population of Agege Local Government Area in (formerly Ahmadiyyah Movement of Nigeria, Ansar- 1991 and was estimated to be 300,000 in 2005. ud-Deen Society and Nasrul Lahil Fathi Society of Nigeria (NASFAT 2005). Similarly, the Hausa Muslim community witnessed the emergence of the Jama’atul Izalatul Bid’a THE INFLUENCE OF ISLAM ON THE HAUSA wa Iqamatus Sunnah (Izala) (Adamu 1978), which was COMMUNITY OF AGEGE established in the 1978 in Northern Nigeria and pene- trated into the Hausa Diaspora community of Agege by Islam remains a key feature in the distinctiveness of the 1980s (Kane, 2003). It was founded as a movement Hausa trading community in Yorubaland. Even as against negative innovations in Islam and for orthodoxy. It Diaspora community, the Hausa maintain their religion. sought to purify Islam and abolish practices that were not Thus, the Zango or Sabo in a Yoruba city is a distinctive considered original to Qur’an and Sunnah (prophetic social formation, with Islam and Hausa culture and tradition). In Agege, as was the case in Northern Nigeria, language maintained. This apart, Cohen (1971) argued Izala was fundamentally opposed to the religious prac- that there was a great relationship between morality and tices of the Sufi scholars and customary practices that had success in trade. Accordingly, he considers the success through the centuries being incorporated as part of Islam. of the Hausa merchants was due to their moral code of The Agege Muslim Community plays an important role conduct which made trust and credit possible. Such in conflict management in the Local Government Area. Its moral code, he continues, was provided by Islam, the intervention has helped to forestall or minimize intra- and religion of the Hausa long distance traders. Hopkins inter-group conflicts, which have a potential for snow- (1973:64-65) re-affirms Cohen’s analysis of the role of balling into wider conflagrations. In the field of community Islam and its moral code of conduct in the organisation of development, the Muslim Community has contributed the long distance trade. substantially to the educational development of the Local Thus, besides serving as unifying factor the Diaspora Government Area. Various Islamic Missions have Hausa community, Islam also attracted other non-Hausa established primary and secondary schools in the area. but Muslim migrant groups from northern Nigeria such as Indeed, the oldest secondary school in the area and one Ebira, Kanuri, Shuwa , Nupe and even those from of the best public secondary schools in Lagos State, other West African regions such as Ghanaians and Ahmadiyya College, was established in 1943 by the Togolese Kotokoli into major Hausa settlements such as Ahmadiyya Mission in Islam. Moreover, schools Agege, Sabo and Shagamu. Thus, the sub- have also been established by such Missions as an aid to sequent Hausa communities established in Lagos and religious proselytization. other Yoruba cities from 1970s were composed up of In public affairs, some care is taken to accommodate divergent migrant communities of various ethnic groups both religions. In meetings, if the opening prayers are from both northern Nigeria and West African countries, made by a Muslim, the closing prayers would be made by with Islam and as unifying elements. a Christian. A Christian organising a funeral or a naming The history of Muslim community in Agege dates back to which are invited will often have the animals to the introduction of the religion to the locality by Hausa slaughtered by a Muslim. It is difficult to predict how far clerics and traders from Northern Nigeria, well before the religion will create a major cleavage in Yoruba society in late nineteenth century. The construction of an epony- the future. In Agege, the groups had become virtually mous by one Sarki Asani, a migrant from endogamous. As residential units become smaller, it will Abeokuta, in 1925 provided a rallying point for Agege probably become less common for people of different Muslims. However, ethnic divisions between Hausa and religions to live together, at least in their home com- Yoruba Muslims over succession to the office of Chief pounds, though rented accommodation will remain Imam caused a sharp division. Hausa Muslims had heterogeneous. On the other hand, schools cut across refused to be led by a Yoruba Chief Imam because the religious boundaries, and the growth of a literate sub- resilience of some indigenous cultural practices among culture has tended to obscure religious differences. Given the latter was seen by the Hausa as proof of the the Yoruba's instrumental attitude to religion and their syncretism among Yoruba Muslims. The Hausa, tolerance of and innovation, it is not therefore, broke away to establish the Sango mosque surprising that members of both religions are quite where they held their own Friday and daily prayers. From prepared to use the services of other religious specialists Sango they moved to Masallacin Alhaja (Alhaja Mosque) when need arises: prominent Alfa or Mallam often have a in the 1960s. Prior to that, the Yoruba had moved from number of Christian clients. Sarki Hassan mosque to Atobaje Central Mosque in 1955. Inspite of the division among Muslims in Agege, both INTER-GROUP RELATIONS IN AGEGE the Yoruba and Hausa Muslim communities were initially composed up of and Tijjaniyya followers. Later, A number of factors significantly helped shaped the inter- argued Gbadamosi (1978), the Yoruba established a group relation between the Hausa and other ethnic 174 Afr. J. Hist. Cult.

communities in Agege. First, the long established cultural liberty enjoyed by the Hausa men in matters of commercial relationship remained a binding force in their marriage. That culturally a Hausa man could, with little or relationships. Many Hausa families continued to share no resistance from his family members, marry a lady the same compounds with the Yoruba where their grand- outside of his ethnic group, most especially if they share parents used to camp during the pre-colonial kola trade same religious affinity. It is thus opined that the Yoruba days. The Hausa-Yoruba compounds at Orile-Agege man might enjoy similar freedom; he is culturally bond to illustrate this kind of mix residential set up. The Hausa marry from within his ethnic group. The trend, however, is and Yoruba residents of the area interviewed considered static as twenty Yoruba male respondents claimed to the social cohesion as one developed over the centuries, have married or knew their kinsmen who were married to recalling the memories of the kola trade period. non-Yoruba women. The social ties continued to wax stronger with the Another opinion expressed by the Hausa male construction of railway lines linking Lagos and North, and respondents suggests that a typical Hausa community or the change of pattern of colonial trade with the emphasis family is concerned with the identity (cultural and on cash crops such as groundnut and cotton. Both the religious) of the person marrying their daughter. The Yoruba kola and European goods dealers and their common perception among the Hausa community is that Hausa customers mutually shifted their commercial base culturally the Hausa woman might on marrying a non- from Orile-Agege to Agege railway station. Market stalls Hausa man lose her cultural identity, besides the and plots of land at the Agege railway station were common suspicion by an average Hausa Muslim that equitable shared to both the Yoruba and Hausa. That most non-Hausa Muslims, particularly Yoruba, could made the Agege market and railway station to rapidly make compromises on religious matters. Also, both transform into a significant commercial centre, where kola Hausa male and female respondents expressed their that was brought from by steam-engine ships discontentment on the alarming rate at which Yorubas, could either be sold up or transported by rail to the North. most especially the youths, convert and revert from one The Agege market, adjacent to the rail station, became a religious faith to another at will. Moreover, the Hausa depot for cash crops produced in the North. respondents still hold with suspicion the emphasis placed Second, the relationship developed between the Hausa on culture over religion by the Yoruba. This might have and Yoruba in Agege over the centuries had brought informed the reluctance of the Hausa community about inter-ethnic marriages. For instance, a number of members from giving out their daughters to Yoruba for Hausa prominent personalities in Agege in particular, and marriage. The suspicion was that a Hausa woman Lagos in general, were maternally Yoruba. A good married to a Yoruba man could end up losing her Hausa example is the family of late Sarkin Hausawa of Agege, identity and that of her upspring. Jibrilu Abdallah. This had led to the emergence of a class On their part, the Yoruba male respondents attributed of Hausa Yan Kasa who, by virtue of being born and bred the rare incidence of their marriage to Hausa women to in and adapted to the Yoruba community while at the some cultural differences and the Hausa rigidity in main- same time retaining their Hausaness, have now became taining their Hausa culture. The claim might, to some a dominant group in the Hausa-Yoruba affairs in Lagos. extent, be true. The history of pre-colonial Hausa migra- It is, however, interesting to observe some pertinent tion shows their enduring ability to preserve their culture issues regarding the inter-ethnic marriages between the and Islam as a religion. These cultural and religious Hausa and Yoruba in Agege. A survey carried out in attributes have been maintained by Hausa Diaspora course of this research in 2007 involving two hundred communities. It is this ‘rigidness’ and uncompromising respondents shows that twenty Hausa men claimed to cultural and religious consciousness by the part of the have had married or were marrying Yoruba women. Hausa that the Yoruba men consider to be a stumbling Surprisingly, none of the two hundred Yoruba male block in fostering inter-ethnic marriage amongst the two respondents was marrying Hausa woman. The lopsided groups. ratio of the pattern of inter-ethnic marriage between the In Agege, as is case with all other Nigeria’s multi- Hausa and Yoruba in Agege was found to be almost the cultural communities, the social-cultural differences had same in other parts of Lagos where there were at times led to ethnic conflicts, though minimally. Ebijuwa concentrations of the Hausa people. Half of the four (2000:84) considers ethnic conflict as ingredient of multi- hundred respondents refused to comment on the factors cultural societies that ‘comprise a multitude of religions, accounting for high frequency of the Hausa men marrying ethnic groups with competing interests, competing values Yoruba women and the rare frequency of Yoruba men and needs’. Conflict is thus inevitable and natural to most marrying Hausa women. societies. Since conflict is inevitable, what the Agege Those that volunteered to express their opinion on the case shows is the historical reconstruction of how imbalance in the inter-marriage system offered a wide societies managed their intergroup conflicts. He further range of explanations, ranging from socio-cultural to reli- observes that ‘societies throughout the world which are gious perspectives. Both Yoruba and Hausa male stable are not those with an absence of conflict, but respondents attributed the phenomenon to the socio- rather those which are able to manage conflicts in stable Gatawa 175

ways’. Other prominent factors that helped shape the Ghana. historical relationship and contact between the Hausa Similarly, the tussle for the post of Sarkin Hausawa of and Yoruba and assist in the maintenance of stable and Agege in 1954 was affected by vagaries of party politics. harmonious inter-group relations between the Hausa The post of the Sarkin Hausawa became vacant because community in Agege and its Yoruba hosts are trade, of the death of Sarkin Hausawa Haliru in 1954 and it religion, party politics and community associations. became a fierce battle between Hausa supporters of It must, however, be pointed out that the Hausa – non- NPC, NEPU and AG. This divided the Agege Hausa Hausa relations in Agege, had not been without some community into various opposing camps. frictions. Bamgbose (2009) cited the case of Hausa- During the Second Republic (1979 - 1983), the Hausa Yoruba clash in 1943 when some Yoruba business men community in Agege was once again polarized along the and women attempted to partake in the kola trade, to political parties. The radical youth wing of the old NEPU which the Hausa resisted. Nigeria’s return to democratic became members of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) rule in 1999, disappointedly, escalated the scale of inter- since the manifestoes and national leadership under ethnic and inter-communal clashes. Theirs was not an Mallam Aminu Kano remain the same. The elderly group, isolated case, as Bamgbose reported that between May however, was divided into two opposing camps: while 1999 and February 2002, Nigeria witnessed some forty some joined the United Peoples Party (UPN) that was ethnic and religious crises. In the case of Agege, Idi- dominant in the Southwest, majority opted for National Araba and Mile 12 in Lagos and Shagamu in state, Party of Nigeria (NPN) whose membership comprised the clashes always involved Hausa Youth Associations mainly of Northern oligarchy and conservatives. During and Yoruba O’dua Peoples’ Congress (OPC). the ‘democratic transition period’ (1989-1999) when the According to Babawale (2001) the origin of OPC dates military administrations attempted to return the country to back to 1994 when a group of Yoruba elite decided to democratic rule, the national politics assumed new form a grassroots based organisation to actualise the dimensions. Initially, electorates were merely divided annulled mandate of Chief M.K.O Abiola (a Yoruba) who among the only two political parties set up by the military was widely believed to have won the presidential election government: National Republican Convention (NRC) and of June 12, 1993. With the formation of Con- Social Democratic Party (SDP). Membership to both sultative Forum (ACF) by the Northern elder statesmen in parties, to some extent, cut across all ethnic and cultural 2001 and the subsequent series of clashes between the groups. Problems, however, erupted with the annulment Hausa and Yoruba communities in Shagamu and Lagos of the results of the 1993 general elections. Accusations in 2002, the Northern youths established the Arewa and counter-accusations trailed the annulment. Conse- Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) as an appendix of the quently the issue was given ethnic interpretation; even mother ACF. Lagos State branch of the AYCF was one of when ethnicity did not feature in the pattern of political the most active in the country. Interestingly, the story of mobilization and voting during the said election. the ethnic militias is not all about violence. Some good With the return of party politics in 1999, the Hausa deeds have been credited to the OPC, especially in the community in Agege once again became divided in terms area of combating crime. Later, the various Hausa of party membership. While quiet a number of the conser- Associations and OPC began to establish links and take vative elements in the community, mostly the elderly, common approach in solving such ethnic misunder- opted for All Peoples Party (APP) and Democratic standings. People’s Party (PDP) which were dominant in the north, a section of the youth camped with Alliance for Democracy (AD) that was dominant in the southwest geo-political HAUSA COMMUNITY IN AGEGE AND PARTY zone of the country. POLITICS However, as the 2003 general elections approached and with entry of retired army General Muhammadu Tijani (2003) opines that during the First republic (1960- Buhari into the presidential race, large Hausa members 1966), many members of the Hausa community in Agege of AD and PDP decamped to APP (which later became as well as those in other part of Yorubaland joined the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP). Those that decamped NPC which they saw representing Arewa interests within were mostly youths who yawned for a northerner to get the Nigerian nation–state. The Northern Elements Pro- elected as President in memory of the tribal clashes gressive Union (NEPU) which was led by Alhaji Aminu between Hausa and Yoruba in Shagamu and Lagos that Kano was the major Northern radical party which rivaled were witnessed during the first tenure of Olusegun the NPC in the North. NEPU had the support of the Obasanjo’s administration. Those who remained with the young Hausa residents of Hausa communities in Western Lagos State ruling party, AD, did on the grounds that as Region, including Agege. According to Abu Abdullah, settlers in the state, their fate was much tied to the state many Hausa youths who were leaders of NEPU were local politics. With the support of several settler jailed by the Action Group government in the 1950s for communities, AD was able to retain Lagos, despite the flimsy reasons such as tax evasion. Many others fled to fierce attempts made by PDP. 176 Afr. J. Hist. Cult.

Disappointedly, the Hausa community was not repre- country have consistently maintained that having settled sented in the new state executive council. The AD in a place for a long period, it is not proper to refer to refused to nominate Hausa members to contest Local them as settlers, but rather as indigenes and citizens. Government elections. Hausa commercial interests in Jenkins (1994) supports that, as citizens of Nigeria, there Mile 12 foodstuff market and Abattoir Cattle market were are constitutional rights guaranteed them to enjoy threatened when the state government announced its irrespective of one’s ethnicity, location or place of birth. In intention to lease those markets to private firms for the case of Agege, there has been rising consciousness maintenance and operational management. Two reasons among those who considered as indigenes to maintain were, however, given for the non-representation of the that the Hausa settlers remain settlers, regardless of the Hausa in the local politics of Lagos state. First, the Hausa period of their settlement there. This notwithstanding, community is divided in a number of social layers, making evidence abound indicating some level of progress in it difficult to come together to achieve that purpose. There attempts by both host Yoruba community and Hausa are presently two individuals each claiming to be the settler community in achieving cordial relationship. Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos and this consequently led to the installation of two separate lesser Sarakunan REFERENCES Hausawa in all the Hausa communities in the state. Thus, when it comes to appointment or any other favour from Adamu M (1978). The Hausa Factor in West African History. : the state government, much energy is exerted on which University Press. 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