Fact-Check: Is there an Exclusive Igbo Residential Community in Kano and without a Mosque?
Claim: A Kano based scholar; Dr. Abdallah Gadon Kaya has raised concern over highbrow residential areas occupied exclusively by Igbos in Kano State. The Scholar claims in a viral video clip that the community located in Zungeru Road axis, behind Kano Airport said, “they have their massive gates, security and other facilities that prevent other people, especially indigenes from accessing. Government should not allow such to be happening when we can’t go to Onitsha, Aba or Enugu and create an exclusive place for Northerners or Muslims like that,” calling on the State Government to build a massive mosque which is lacking in the area to enhance tolerance, unity and peaceful coexistence.
Verdict: While Igbos own most of the exotic properties in the community, there are indigenous landlords who own similar buildings in the same community and rent it out to Igbos and other ethnic nationalities who are Kano residents. Furthermore, there is a big Jumma’a Mosque with a fairly large compound located in the Zungeru Road vicinity in addition to a general atmosphere of tolerance in the neighbourhood.
Full Text:
A Kano based scholar; Dr. Abdallah Gadon Kaya has raised concern over highbrow residential areas occupied exclusively by Igbos in Kano State noting that such allowance creates a vacuum for disunity.
In a video obtained by Arewa Agenda, the scholar who noted that the community located in Zungeru Road, behind Kano Airport said, “they have their massive gates, security and other facilities that prevent other people, especially indigenes from accessing. Government should not allow such to be happening when we can’t go to Onitsha, Aba or Enugu and create an exclusive place for Northerners or Muslims like that.”
Dr. Abdallah, known for his clear stance on topical issues, called on the State Government to promote policies that will harmonize the Hausas and Igbos in the area and bring about peaceful coexistence.
“We should not have such exclusive places, the government should ensure there are mosques there and Kano indigenes should be given access to build houses too in such highbrow area,” Gadon Kaya insisted.
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Verification:
PRNigeria undertook a fact-finding visit to the Zungeru Road axis, Sabon Gari neighbourhood and discovered that while Igbos own most of the exotic properties in the community, there are indigenous landlords who own similar buildings in the same community and rent it out to Igbos and other ethnic nationalities who are Kano residents.
Findings show that the Community has a Shopping Complex, Hotels, Churches, a Mosque with Nigerians of various ethnic groups conducting one business or the other in the area.
PRNigeria further discovered that there is a big Jumma’a Mosque with a fairly large compound located in the Zungeru Road vicinity in addition to a general atmosphere of tolerance in the neighbourhood.
A Hausa water vendor in the area, Haruna Isiaku, confirmed to PRNigeria that sophisticated buildings with good facelifts in the area are mostly owned by Igbos but there are some that are not exclusive to them, “any fine building you see here is owned by them but there are similar structures that are also owned by our people (Hausas) who rent them out to the and non-indigines from different tribes.”
On the nature of coexistence, Mr. Isiaku confirmed that there is tolerance and good understanding among the indigenes and residents in the area, even though crisis situations can be unpredictable.
“When there is a sign of crisis, like during the last EndSARS crisis they tipped us, we fled the area. When we lost some of our wares to the incident, some of the Igbo residents replaced them for us and we continue our business peacefully afterwards,” Isiaku explained.
Another resident of the area, John Oyenumoh, told PRNigeria that there is indeed a mix of various ethnic groups in the area and a good level of mutual understanding, peaceful coexistence and tolerance.
Conclusion:
The Claim that only Igbos own properties in the area and that there is no Mosque is not entirely true. In fact, there is a mixture of Nigerians who live peacefully in the community.
By PRNigeria
