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| Hon Bitrus Kaze |
Opinion: Hon. Bitrus
Kaze’s chicanery: A desperado’s bid for Political Comeback
By Raymond Dayit
One of Plateau State’s famous cultural festivals, Nzem Berom
Day, took place on Friday 17th May 2019. It was a day to look
forward to when thousands of Beroms, from far and near, with their friends as
well as cultural connoisseurs, congregate on the city to celebrate and savour
their rich traditional music and dances, observe latest cultural fashion trends
as well as indulge in the culinary delights of the Berom people.
Nzem Berom has been one of the oldest of such cultural
festivals in the State. Although it went into oblivion in some years past, it
returned with a bang since the return of peace in the city with the inception
of the Governor Simon Lalong Administration. This year’s event had promised the
usual spectacular pomp and pageantry. Hotels were at full booking, food and
beverages fully stocked in restaurants and retail outlets as businesses and
entrepreneurs looked forward to reaping fortunes…
Unfortunately, no one reckoned with the dirty tricks of one
weather-beaten politician. Admittedly, Hon. Bitrus Kaze is no ordinary
politician. He was once a Member of the National Assembly as a member of the
House of Representatives, representing Jos East/Jos South Federal Constituency.
But that looks like zillion years ago now. In the past half a decade Hon. Kaze
had been jobless. In fact, after losing nomination in 2015, Hon. Kaze sought to
continue his political career in the capacity of the Plateau State Chairman of the
People Democratic Party (PDP) only to discover he couldn’t fly; his wings had
been clipped by his erstwhile political benefactor, a former Governor, now a
Senator. Apparently, in his usual grand-standing harangue, he had said
something distasteful to the ears of former Governor and being the despot he is
the ex-Governor, belonging to the majority Berom in his constituency, was not
going to tolerate the obstinacy, after all Kaze is from Afizere, an ethnic
minority in the state. Thus, Senator leveraging on his new-found position as
the leader of the Berom majority ethnic group pulled his weight behind Chief
Damishi Sango to emerge the Chairman of the PDP.
Kaze didn’t know that hit him but for the past five or so
years, he has been wondering in the political wilderness, living only on past
glory regaling folks who still listened to him on rehash of ancient tales of
grandeur like Arthur Miller’s salesman (or as we say, old soldier’s tales). But
suddenly, our dear Kaze saw a glimmer of hope; but just as soon the glimmer
disappointed.
It transpired in the past few weeks the old rival, Chief
Sango, the PDP Chairmen and Deputy were suspended allegedly, for what we shall
just describe here, as acts of impropriety, including money matters, committed
during the last elections. As anybody can guess, this is likely to end the
duo’s tenure. Already, names are being mentioned as possible replacement. One of those frequently mentioned on the
social media is Hon. Kaze. But deep
down, however, Hon. Kaze knew that he stood no chance with Senator and his
Beroms. How to ingratiate himself back to the good books of Ex-Governor and the
Beroms became his sole preoccupation. Why not take the opportunity of the Nzem
Berom to grandstand?
As an expert of political subterfuge, he knew one thing. The
on-going local government and chieftaincy reforms announced by Governor Simon
Lalong in August 2018, had received wide acclaim throughout the state but it
had also bruised the ego of some powerful few people. But eight months ago when
the announcement was made, Hon. Kaze had nothing to say; there was nothing at
stake for him. If he was one to care for his own Afizere people, he actually
would have joined the dancing parties; after all, apart from the upgrading of
the Agwom Izere in Jos East Local Government to a 1st class
chieftaincy stool the Afizere also got Jos Izere Chiefdom as a 2nd
class chief in Jos North.
But things suddenly changed as Hon. Kaze saw a political
opportunity beckoning; only if he could get the PDP chairmanship, then perhaps
he might after all regain his lost paradise in Abuja come 2023! On the eve of
the Nzem Berom Day when tens of thousands Beroms were gathered in Jos, Hon.
Kaze released the bombshell, setting the social media on fire! It was a
carefully constructed political skullduggery carefully orchestrated to maximum
detonation; it combined the combustible elements of ethnic and religious
incitement, egoism and hate. In crisis-weary Jos city these elements are
guaranteed to cause highest distraction of peace and governance, and in the
process give the author the fullest limelight.
Titled “Traditional Council
Reform: Heralding the Emir of Jos,”
Hon. Kaze went on to feed the gullible
public THREE untruths and misrepresentation on the Government’s proposed reforms:
1) That the Government of Plateau State planned to change the title of Gbong
Gwom Jos to Gbong Berom, 2) That the Chairmanship of the Plateau State Council
of Chiefs and Emirs will henceforth be rotational 3)that the Government intends
to create a District for Jasawa (Hausa-Fulani Muslims) under a “Sarki or Emir
of Jos” (note he didn’t say Jasawa but Jos).
If Hon. Kaze had said that these postulations were the
product of his fecund imagination or speculation, it would have been more
acceptable; the reader would be at liberty to judge whether they were figments
of delirious or inebriated imagination, or sound judge. But he fraudulently
claimed that they derived from a Government circular dated 02/05/2019 from the
Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy which he attached. But content of
the said circular had NO mention of a Gbong
Gwom Berom, NO mention of rotation
of the Chairmanship of the State Council of Traditional Rulers and Emirs
and NO mention of Emir of Jos. These
were all inventions by a self-seeking politician reckless enough in the pursuit
of personal gain to set the entire state on fire! His article was reckless, thoughtless and exceedingly irresponsible.
Let us not for a moment forget that society is ever evolving
and at each epoch new challenges are thrown up. There was a time the
autochthonous communities in this part of the country were denied the right to
preside over their own affairs. They were loaded over by outsiders. Old Jos
Division used to be administered under a protégé of the Emir of Bauchi, who,
for long time, was called the Chief of Jos until the early 50s when the
Colonial Government appointed a Berom person as the Chief of Jos. Subsequently,
the title was changed to an indigenous name Gbong Gwom Jos during the time of the
Second Republic Governor Chief Solomon Lar. The Berom therefore were the early
indigenous ethnic community to appreciate self-determination and self-rule as
it were.
Since then further democratic transformation have taken
place in Plateau State to give other ethnic groups the feeling of autonomy and self-determinism.
The euphoria that greeted Governor Lalong’s creation and upgrading of more
Chiefdom last year is a testimony of this. If any group should appreciate these
it would be the Beroms. What Kaze did was to capitalize on the sentiments of a
few bruised egos to demonize a praise-worthy government programme and in the
process sow ethnic and religious discord and divisions in the state. All this
he did order to ingratiate himself to a few. This clearly shows how desperate
he is, indeed, to regain political relevance.
By the way, there is nothing sacrosanct about the inclusion
of “Jos” in the Gbong Gwom title. At the beginning it was the description of
the old Jos Division which he headed; which later metamorphosed into the Jos
Local Government Area. The old Jos LGA has since been split into three local
government areas now, viz; Jos North, Jos East and Jos South. The first two now
have their own 1st class stools; probably out of deference to the
Gbong Gwom, Jos South didn’t request of any during the upgrading and creation
exercise, as records show.
Again, Mr. Kaze made it look as if there was something
disdainful about a Gbong Gwom Berom title (even if there was anything being
contemplated as thus); first, the Gbong Gwom without doubt is the paramount
ruler of the Beroms. Secondly, most ethnic groups in Plateau State, the Middle
Belt and beyond bear their ethnic names with pride: Mishkam Mwaghavul, Ngolong
Ngas, Long Gamai, Tor Tiv, etc. Nothing in so doing has diminished their status
or prestige rather it has enhanced and enriched their cultural identities.
Ironically, even the Berom “nationalists” campaigning against the use of
foreign names for places in Beromland seems to indulge this sentiment about
“Jos” after insisting the name is a corrupted version of Gwash.
Then, again, Hon. Kaze misfired by whipping sentiment
against the rotation of the Chair of the Council of traditional rulers. He
ought to be aware that there is a body of thought out there that has been
advocating for the rotation of the stool for years now. Its argument is that in
the light of the democratic tenet of fair access to institutions and in the
spirit of equality and equity, there should be rotation of the Chairmanship.
Furthermore, Plateau State has long agreed on rotation between zones for
political power and the Chair of the Council shouldn’t be an exception;
although it lacks the leverage of political power, it certainly is a repository
of ethnic prestige which every community craves. So far such demands are muted largely out of
respect for the host community but if the Kazes make it appear as if it was a
birthright, in the future the demand will become more strident.
Lastly, the issue of creating the institution of Emir of Jos
is pure mischief bothering on rabble-rousing Hon. Kaze knows that the easiest
way to instigate street violence in Jos is to provoke religious passion.
Apparently, nothing is too extreme for this politician to try in getting his
ambition fulfilled. Unfortunately, Plateau people are wiser. The PDP had used
similar religious innuendoes during the recent elections but failed woefully.
This scarecrow is no longer effective neither is the unfounded fear of rotating
the Chair of the Council with Emirs; most of the major ethnic groups in the
state at one time or the other have had Muslim traditional rulers on the throne
in their domains (Ponzhi Taroh Dirken Garba, Long Gamai, Alhaji Adamu Nyelong ,
Ngolong Ngas, Alhaji Adamu Gutus, Agwom Izere, Alhaji Yakubu Adamu Ajang Fobur,
etc) and we never heard that they converted their domains to Islam.
Conclusion: Plateau State is a state committed to
emancipation from various forms of strangulation from time immemorial. Our
founding fathers committed themselves to the liberation of our people whether
from feudal shackles or internal oppression. The reforms being carried out by
the Lalong Government are along this line and, therefore, enjoy the support of
the majority of our people. Any attempt to scuttle the reforms because of
bruised egos, partisan considerations or personal ambitions will be resisted by
the people.
Mr.Dayit is a public affairs commentator based in Jos, Plateau State
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