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Barrister Istifanus Bala Gambar
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Worries have been expressed over the escalation of division among Zaar kinsmen in Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa LGAs of Bauchi State which has led to loss of lives and destruction of properties in recent times.
The expression was made by the iimmediate past National President of Sayawa socio-cultural organization, Zaar Development Association (ZDA), Barr. Istifanus Bala Gambar who lamented the recent development and condemned it strongly.
Speaking to some selected Journalists at his GRA resident in Bauchi on Wednesday, Istifanus Bala Gambar stressed that the only panacea to the factors causing the division among the people particularly the opinion leaders and elites, is genuine dialogue among them.
He described the current disunity among the Zaar people as a very unpalatable news in the history of his kinsmen saying, “We have never been that too divided as a community where we are factionalized, enmity and internal division and squabbles have so escalated to a level that we are witnessing today where brothers stood to fight one another”.
According to him, the current situation where brothers rise against one another within the Zaar nation calls for concerted efforts to put an end to it with a view to fostering development within the community.
According to him, “When I was the leader of that Community that spanned for a decade, ten years exactly, we have never witnessed such a scenario, a crescendo of crisis of such magnitude whereby the community has gone into flames, is a sad development”.
He maintained that even before he became the National President of the organization, previous leaders of the ZDA have not witnessed such conflict that has virtually grounded the community saying, “This problem has not only affected our community as a people and I think the larger people are beginning to be amazed because we were a united Community”.
He also said that, “We pride in our motto that says ‘Sorgha Nambong yitud lhbah? literally meaning, ‘can a single broom sweep? That is together as one, we are connected to one another and that is what our forebears bequeathed in us but unfortunately, now we are divided”.
Speaking on why Sayawa people who have been known as a peace loving tribe have now turn against itself, Bala Gambar opined that, “you know, if you go down history lane, the most powerful kingdoms are not conquered by external aggression, especially those that have established themselves across the globe”.
He added: “but when you have internal division, acrimony and bitterness, personal interest that comes to bare over the overall or general Community, you will now begin to see the kingdom getting weakened, that is what has exactly happened in our community, not the common interest”.
He emphasize that the current disunity among the Sayawa people is as a result of personal interest where a group of people decided to ignore what actually binds the community together.
Istifanus Bala Gambar who disputed assertions that the crisis in Zaar land was due to political interest by some of the elites, said that, “I totally disagree with that assertion, that is my own personal opinion. The nitty gritty of the key issue that has happened in our community are fundamental issues that we classified as the non negotiable in our community, it is the struggle about what our forebears fought about for generations, for years, for decades. And what are the issues? Our quest for freedom, our quest for self rule, this has been the issue”.
He said that the late Sage of the Zaar nation, late Baba Peter Gonto fought for the collective interest of the entire Community.
The legal practitioner concluded that, “I am even lost when people talk about political interest. But when you are talking of politics in the ways of the legendary, our icon, the Baba Gonto, the sage, he fought for common interest of the community. If any Zaar son is promoting the interest of collectivism, I call it the classical Baba Gontoism philosophy that we all imbibed”.
He then appealed to the elites and opinion leaders of the Sayawa nation to have a rethink, sit together and allow peace to reign because that is the only way to achieving self-actualization in this modern world.
