In Abia State, contrary to the wrong insinuation held by some uninformed persons that the people of the Southeast do not sell their lands to outsiders to build houses, investigations have revealed the true position. Findings showed that the Hausa and Yoruba, as well as other people from other tribes outside Igbo land, indeed, live, work, do businesses and own property in Abia State.
The investigation revealed that in Aba and Umuahia, the two major cities in the state, Muslims of Hausa and Yoruba extractions had bought plots of lands in prime areas of the cities where they built their mosques and dwelling apartments. In Aba, for instance, there is no church that is strategically located than the Yoruba mosque on Azikiwe by Asa Road.
The same is with the Hausa mosque on Mosque Street by Hospital Road, Aba; ditto the Mosque in Umuahia, located close to Isi-Gate, the most sought-after location in the state capital. On personal level, non-natives own property in choice areas of the state.
For instance, Sarika Yaro Danladi is the leader of the Northern community in Abia State and lives in Umuahia. Outside the thriving cattle business he is involved in, Danladi, who has lived all his years in the Abia State capital, built a hotel in Umuahia he is effectively running.
Danladi some years back was appointed Special Adviser to the Governor of Abia State, which made not only him, but the entire Hausa community in Abia State to have a sense of belonging. Danladi who has lived for close of 60 years in Abia State, in an interview enthused that most of his family businesses are in the state.
Hear him, “I’m very happy that I’m in Abia, not only in Umuahia. It might interest you to note that at my age, I’m almost 60, my own father was born here, I was born here too, most of our businesses are here, I am married to an Ohuhu (Umuahia) lady.
To cap it all, Danladi who is living in a house he bought land in Umuahia to build, feels very much at home in Abia. His words: “I will be proud to tell you that I am an Hausa/Igbo man. I’m happy staying in Abia and I’m going nowhere. Abia State government has been assisting us in various ways and we are happy with that.”
Like Danladi, Idris Ibrahim, living in his house, is also doing a thriving business in Umuahia and he is not in any way planning to go back to the North anytime soon.
He was born and brought up in Umuahia. “I attended both primary and secondary schools here in Umuahia and ever since I was born, we have been living peacefully with the Igbo people.
“I am not planning to go back to the North any time soon; as I have nowhere or home to go to if I leave Umuahia. This is the only place I know because I have not stayed in the North more than one week since I was born. What’s the point of leaving? I am comfortable in Umuahia; I am being well treated by the government and people of the state,” he confessed.
Danladi and Ibrahim are not alone in being accorded this sense of belonging in Abia as there are other Northern businessmen who own property and do good business in Umuahia, including Ali and Usman. The duo spoke on how they have been living in the city peacefully and doing their businesses ever since without any molestation from any quarters.
They added that their host even encouraged them to buy landed property. Speaking on whether non-natives living in Umuahia are discriminated about, including being denied the opportunity to buy and own landed property in Umuahia, Musa dismissed the insinuation as complete lies, saying rather the contrary is the case.
Hear him: “No, there is nothing like that. Our people doing business in Ama-Hausa and other places in the city are not being discriminated in whatever form, including the opportunity to own landed property in the capital city.”
On his own part, Ali said: “To be frank, I prefer staying in Umuahia because the people are very friendly and accommodating, they don’t disturb us, even when we don’t want to buy landed property here, they encourage us to do so. Some of us own houses in the city, we did not build them on the air.”
Investigations revealed that apart from the Hausa community in Umuahia being allowed to own landed property, both the state government and some individuals have been assisting them in various ways. It was gathered that a former member of the House of Representatives at a point in time, sank a borehole in their mosque.
Musa attested to this: “Abia State government always comes around to help us when we have problems. Some individuals are also assisting us. A former member of the House of Representatives sank a borehole for us in our Mosque and we remain grateful.”
Away from Umuahia, in Aba, the commercial hub of the state, is the Sariki family among others. Apart from having a bustling business in the city, the family has a princely property in a choice area of Ehi Road, which not only serves as residential area for the Hausa community in Aba, but also used as praying ground during festivities.
Debunking insinuation in some quarters that the Igbo refuse to sell their lands in Southeast to non-Igbo, Alhaji Mohammadu Guzu, an elder of the Hausa community in the commercial city, who himself owns a house on Hospital Road, Aba, said many Northerners own property in the city.
Alhaji Guzu mentioned one late Alhaji Allah, a cow dealer, who was also chairman, Customs Clearing Agent in Aba before he died as having property in the city. According to Alhaji Guzu, “those saying the Igbo do not sell their lands to non-natives are economical with the truth. I own a house in Aba and the late Alhaji Allah owned more than four housesat Okpulu Umuobo and Ogbor Hill axis of the city before he denied.
“We also own plots of lands at Good Morning and Onions Markets. In fact, an Igbo man bought land close to the Onions Market and gave to us to build our mosque.” Like the Hausa, the Yoruba and other non-Igbo actors own property and do businesses in the commercial city. The Yoruba community has its mosque on Azikiwe by Asa Road, a prime parcel of land no church owned by any South easterner can boost of.
Added to that, the late Prof Charles Adeyinka Adisa was a Yoruba man from Ibadan who studied Medicine and Surgery at the University of Ibadan before relocating to Aba, Abia State. It was revealed that Adisa became professor of surgery at the Abia State University/Abia State University Teaching Hospital, where he served as Dean of Medicine and Head of the Department of Surgery.
Adisa equally served as president of the Aba Chapter of the Nigeria Christian Fellowship between 2004-2008 and chairman of Aba zone (made up of the southeast states) from 2009-2012. Before his death in December 2020, Adisa it was gathered had acquired a large expanse of land at the highbrow Okpulu Umuobo axis of the city where he established his hospital.
Apart from the hospital, Prof Adisa bought another landed property in the neighborhood where he built a house he lived till death and his family is still said to be living in that house till date. Another Yoruba man, Jerome Tunde, is making waves in Aba where he has a state-of-the-art printing press.
Tunde is said to have acquired some plots of land in the city where he lives and does his business. A Yoruba man who gave his name as Yinka said that apart from the two men above, there are many others who own property in the commercial city.
Source: Sunday Sun
