When you stay in someone’s backyard, it gives you
the space to see corners of him you wouldn’t have seen. On the reverse, when
someone’s backyard is far away, he gives you the impression his place is like paradise,
where everything is flawless. If you come against it, you must have proof to
back it up. So, as long as you have not travelled there, his corrosive lies are
fact.
When the Fulani issue started in Plateau State, many
of our closest neighbours would beat their chests saying, “they can’t try this
in our state.” Unexpectedly, the tide of events moved the conflict to their
towns and villages. Their reaction, as a matter of fact, turns out even worst. I
have stayed in a number of places outside of Plateau State. Everybody has a
shortcoming.
Here on the Plateau, people insult the broad smile
and open arms of the host. They would dish out that simmering vitriol like,” What
does a Plateau man knows other than to drink gallons of burkutu.” They think that Plateau people are without ambition, just
because they are head-over-heels in love with the Civil Service.
But we are not without decency. “Blessed are humble for they shall inherit the earth.” Being modest is not a reflection of
ignobility. You will understand that Plateau is not a needy state when it comes
to manpower. You will understand that military adventurism runs in the blood of the Plateau people. When in the mainstream of the military, Nigeria remains calm.
Outside of it, Nigeria burns. You will agree that Plateau women are the most
beautiful outside and within. To embrace people of all shades and hues with a
smile is a virtue, in itself.
There is a story that played up the worth of the
Plateau humility. A Plateau man owns a house. He stays in Europe and wants to
lodge in the house anytime he returns for a brief holiday. After staying for
years without visiting, he saw it expedient to rent the house out. He, however,
gave out his terms: “I wouldn’t want any tenant who isn’t a Plateau man or
woman.” There you go! So, there is beauty in being a Plateau man, after all. It
isn’t that there aren’t other people that make good tenants, but he wants to
deal with the good he has always known. The worst a Plateau tenant can do is to
fail in the rent payment. When that happens, though, your house will still be yours.
It is better than renting the house to someone who turns the house into a den of
thieves. He wouldn’t want a tenant who turns the house into a shrine, or
someone to claim the house belongs to him, or a tenant who turns the house into a
“baby factory.”
We may drink gallons of burkutu, but we like
ourselves like that.
