Yushau A. Shuaib with Asagba of Asaba, Professor Chike Edozien in Asagba’s Palace on Sallah Day in 1993

“Daddy there is something else which bothers me. I’m in love with one charming young lady from this place (Southern Nigeria).”– YAShuaib December, 1992

The above quote were the exact words in my harmless and innocent “Open Letter to My Parentsin the North” during my youth service. The letter which was published in some national dailies was one of my articles published during the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1992-1993 in Asaba Delta State.

Surprisingly, some contents of the Open Letter, generated controversies which prompted a rejoinder from the management of NYSC and a summon from Communication Adviser to Governor Felix Ibru, Chief Paulinus Akpeki for clarifications.

Meanwhile, the intervention of Asagba of Asaba, the traditional ruler of my host community, Professor Chike Edozie was the soothing balm that boosted my confidence to serve in Igboland in the Niger Delta. While the government officials and the traditional institutions ensured the safety of youth corps members, especially those from other parts of the country, I nevertheless sustained constructive engagements with the host community through my writings.

Faiths, tribe and culture were never barriers in the relationship between non-indigenes and members of the communities as inter-tribal marriages were prominent features of Delta people. During Islamic festivities, the traditional ruler organised special feasts for Muslims in his palace. On such occasions, Muslim youth corpers, mostly from Northern Nigeria were treated to bumptious meals and non-alcoholic exotic wine.

The generous hospitality of the people, encouraged some corpers to stay behind after the service year. I accepted an offered of automatic employment in the Government House, Asaba as Public Relations Officer after the service. The government of this predominant Christian state in its magnanimity also sponsored my Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca for Islamic obligations.

I was sincere with my reference to ‘young charming ladies’ in the Open Letter because of what I witnessed with my naked eyes. I must confess that before the end of the youth service, some of my colleagues, especially from the North had picked some of those damsels legally or otherwise as their partners which in some cases resulted to marriages.

While I could not confirm if all the female partners were over-age or under-age, since only parents can determine that, most of the ladies looked very mature, intelligent and responsible in every sense. At that period Non-indigenes and corps members were not treated with suspicions but dignified and respected by parents of those ladies who welcomed them to their abodes with open heart.

It is therefore, unfortunate the current unnecessary bickering over the allegations of abduction or elopement, as the case may be involving a young lady, Ese Oruru and a young man, Yunusa Dahiru who left Bayelsa State in the Creek of Niger Delta to Kano a core-Northern state in the Savannah.

After media reports on the alleged abduction, the police have taken over the case by flying the two young Nigerians from Kano to Abuja and later to Bayelsa State. Meanwhile the police have arraigned Yunusa in handcuffs for criminal charges of abduction of the teenager.

In between these periods, the family of the two young Nigerians were being quoted in the media exonerating their wards of any offence. Rather than douse the tension through fair and objective editorials and news contents, some media were busy aggravating the tense situation by provocative coverages of the event that tend to create divisions in the polity.

Some ridiculous reports claim that a popular traditional ruler encourages abductions of young girls from other parts of the country for monetary compensation including limousines and mansions for abductors. Another news item claims the abduction saga is to depopulate a particular region and increase the population of another region.

On the social media, the debate has shifted to abusive rancour with most disparaging derogatory remarks between Muslims and Christians as ethnic jingoists are fanning ember of hatred between Southerners and Northerners.

Meanwhile it has been discovered that Yunusa who had been in love with Ese took her to Kano and claimed that he had converted the young lady to Islam. The conversion seems to be a ploy by the young man to hoodwink his parents and members of his community to accept his proposal to marry the teenager whose age is right for marriage in some cultures.

The fact that cannot be denied is that Ese was neither a victim of ritualists who could have harvested her body parts for diabolic spirituality nor a victim of kidnapers who could have demanded for ransom payments. She was neither a victim of a slave master who exploits the vulnerable into child-labour nor a victim of wicked merchants of infancy who proliferate baby factories for money-making. Ese, and to some extent Yunusa are merely victims of infatuation, foolish love that went awry.

The infatuation exposes the hypocrisy of the selfish political elites and some misguided public commentators jointly playing to the gallery for the purpose of “notice me” with their unwholesome campaigns of ethnic chauvinism and religious bigotry. Rather than managing the saga towards national unity and cohesion, they escalate it with primitive preachment towards self-destruction.

The dirty politics of ‘hailers and wailers’ social media antagonism also came to play where every issue is argued around ‘Goodluck Jonathan’ as an embodiment of Southern Christians and ‘Muhammadu Buhari’ as a representation of Northern Muslims.

The sad reality drama should have encouraged patriotic Nigerians to sponsor a Nollywood movie with central theme of “Love from the Creek to the Savannah” towards promoting love, peaceful coexistence, mutual tolerance for a united country.

While we must condemn the abduction saga, we should not lose our sense of reasoning and decency. We should eschew sectional sentiments and encourage our youths to establishrelationship based on trust, love and respect.

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Yushau A. Shuaib with Asagba of Asaba, Professor Chike Edozien in Asagba’s Palace on Sallah Day in 1993

I know, daddy, how worried you would have been by now for not receiving my letter since the time I departed Kano for Delta State to answer the call to serve my nation through the National Youth Service Corps scheme. Don’t ever think those terrible, nightmarish, unwholesome stories we were fed by unscrupulous elements about this part of the country befell me. I am indeed hale and hearty and even overheard my colleagues saying that I’m adding more weight. Well daddy, it has never been bad living among these humble people of Delta. I can remember vividly your emotion the day you were seeing me off at the motor-park, as if I was a newly recruited soldier about to be sent to the battlefield. I remember Hajia’s (mummy) eyes filled with tears that I was deserting her to a place she was told the people only eat dogs and pork, a place where Northerners and Southerners don’t coexist, a place where there is no single mosque for Muslims, a place where you must perform some rituals to some kind of deities before the people receive you.

Oh! Daddy how I wish you were here with Hajia to see that all those gory stories about this part of the country we were made to believe, were fabricated tales conceived by enemies of unity and progress. The people and life here are a direct opposite of what they were portrayed to us. How I wish Nigerians would be visiting states other than theirs to correct the erroneous impressions they might have about other tribes or people. I had heard and been told that Ibos do not assist people other than their kit and kin. But to my utter bewilderment, in the luxury bus where they were many, apart from being impressed with my graduating at a tender age and coming to serve in their community, they bought me drinks and food. The reception I received in the bus among those amiable Ibos was just as if I was a typical explorer who was being welcomed back home after an exploration. At the end of the journey, they directed me to where I would get a vehicle to the orientation camp in Asaba. I could not thank those passengers enough for what they had done for me. I asked God to reward them abundantly.

Asaba is the capital of the newly created Delta State and it is developing rapidly with the cooperation of the indigenes and visitors. Schools, hotels, banks, factories and multinational organizations are located in major towns of the state.

Daddy, I would have starved and probably become skinny like a kwashiorkor victim because of the poor quality food we were first served. Fortunately enough, with the intervention of the State Governor, Felix Ibru, who increased our feeding allowance, there was great improvement in the quality of the meal. I hope other State Executives would emulate this philanthropic governor.

As corruption and indiscipline are rife in the country, so were in the camp. For instance, there were those beautiful damsels who caught the fancy of some officials. I didn’t know the game they were playing until most of them got posted to oil companies and finance houses. I learnt that the managements of such organizations give corpers good living accommodation with fat monthly allowance. There was this Yoruba girl who studied Theatre Arts and was posted to an oil company, another Hausa girl who read Hausa language was posted to a Merchant Bank and one Ibo girl who studied Bible Knowledge was posted to a flourishing factory. On the other hand, some corps members who had “short legs” but are graduates of Accountancy, Banking and Finance, Medicine and Engineering, whose professions qualified them to serve in the urban areas, were posted to rural areas to farm and teach. I wonder why this is common in most of the NYSC secretariats. The sooner they rectify this, the better for the disenchanted youth corps members.

As you know daddy, transportation is a national problem. Its fangs welcome most youth corpers whose places of primary assignment are far away from their residences. Most of the time, someone has to ride on a motorcycle which fare is between two Naira (N2) and Five Naira (N5). The same goes for the taxis. How I wish the state governments would subsidise transportation fares for youth corpers in their respective states by half, at least in the mass transit systems. It will be another demonstration of service to the nation on the part of the governments. And it will surely ease the pressure on corpers meagre allowances.

Daddy, here is the good news. The hardship I experienced in buying food from restaurants every day has enabled me to learn how to cook. Thanks to my colleague who has been teaching me the secrets of preparing a delicious meal.

I did enjoy my Xmas and New Year break. Most of my neighbours invited me to feast with them, some to parties. Everywhere, it was celebration galore in this Igboland in the Niger Delta.

Daddy there is something else which bothers me. I’m in love with one charming young lady from this place. Remember that Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the Head of State, set a good example when he tied the nuptial knot with Maryam, who comes from this state. It won’t be bad if I end up having another Delta lady as my first lady for life! Please, do not view this negatively. Daddy, mummy, I love you all. Please, give my regards to all and tell them that my place of service is also a place of love, peace and harmony.

This article was first published New Nigerian January 18, and Sunray January 20, 1993* among others

* Please see a response here: A Rejoinder to Open Letter by Yushau A. Shuaib by NYSC Officer

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