This article was published in some national dailies about two years ago. I still find it very much relevant to the resurrected Suya debate. Enjoy my Suya:- IN DEFENCE OF SUYA By Jaafar Jaafar My face is bereft of that trademark cultural scarification, diagonally etched on the cheek of the offspring of the butcher clan of the Hausa society. But today, I am holding brief for the suya sellers who are into business just to keep the wolf from the door. But certain Christian cleric is crying wolf – where apparently there’s none. I had been praying that my lachrymal gland wouldn’t betray me. But it did, slightly, the other day. It wasn’t really a bawler, but I managed to suppress a surfeit of tears struggling to gush out of my eyes. The bickering between Muslims and Christians in the social media shortly after the recent attacks in Kaduna State caused the sorrow. Apart from the bombing the hapless worshipers, the reprisal and counter-reprisal attacks in the state, another issue that took a huge toll on my heart was the way the matter sows the seeds of enmity in the social media. Of late, I have also been in a mournful state over the death of common sense and apparent lack of logic and reasoning in the social media. Expectedly, the coordinated attacks by the dreaded Islamists, Boko Haram, in the cities of Kaduna and Zaria, have sparked reactions from various quarters. Thanks to the social media for breaking the story, but no thanks to social media for over-blowing the story to create hatred among Nigerians. A day or two after the Kaduna carnage, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the South East came out spitting fire and brimstone. He did not slam a product recall on suya perhaps because of its perishable nature. The man of God rather issued a warning against eating suya, a popular grilled meat known as balangu (or tsire) in its originating region. In a vile sermon to his congregation, the Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma said “Boko Haram and its sponsors had concluded plans to declare a Jihad against the Southern part of the country with the deployment of over 6,000 fundamentalists to the South to prosecute the war.” Here, the Bishop’s claim may be justified as anyone of Boko Haram’s numerous Abus can even lay weightier claims. My cross with the cleric is preaching against suya. While cautioning on Christians in the South to be circumspect of suya, Bishop Chukwuma claimed that part of the plot of the mass killing of Christians in the South was the alleged importation of a poisonous powder which Hausa suya sellers would use to poison the meat they sell. Such words from a man of bishop standing aggravated my worries. With this weird alarm, don’t you think he would render immense contributions as NAFDAC chaplain than being head of a parochial diocese. But I can’t be a lone ranger in suya defense as I believe many Southerners will join this fight since balangu accounted for many of my Southerner friends’ bulging tummy. My childhood friend Dr Theophilus Obinwanne, a staunch fan of suya, seems ready to roll up his sleeves in defense of suya. Who wouldn’t, bearing in mind the appetizing power of wajiya? Although amala doesn’t look as appetizing as suya, but no Imam can put amala and my stomach asunder. It’s a marriage of love – come woe come weal. On the other hand, as someone who relishes traditional cuisine, I don’t see myself eatingshashshaka or dan malele without palm oil – and without grimacing! Or, think of a life without the great edikang ikong soup of the Efik, that elitist soup my wife (a thoroughbred Hausa) prepared for me when I bought her a new phone. Who told her I don’t want Edikang Ikong everyday? Dunno. So you see clearly reasons the cleric’s war against suya wouldn’t go beyond the portico of the church. Bishop Chukwuma should note that Boko Haram members do not mount podium to preach their ideology. And so no one knows them, let alone gives them support. Most of us living in the North are bearing the major brunt of Boko Haram crisis far more than the Southerners. We lose friends and relatives in a pocket of attacks carried out on daily basis in the North. They kill Imams, policy makers, politicians, government officials, etc in the North almost on daily basis. Living in the crisis-plagued cities is like living in the western Syrian city of Homs, where innocent people are caught daily in the crossfire. As Bishop Chukwuma preached against suya, I keep wondering what would happen to the shacks of ‘mama put’ joints that dotted the North should the gullible heed to a similar call from a vile Muslim preacher. I also feel for those smoked fish or garri sellers who occupy the larger part of ’Yankura Market. On the internet, you hear all manner of ranting and warped viewpoints of tea joint calibre. As a journalist, I wouldn’t consider the Bishop’s call worthy of reporting since he cannot support it with fact or, as academics are wont to say, empirical evidence that the suya spices are laced with poison. Power of gate-keeping starts at the point of newsgathering. For social media warlords, this is so extant a credo. Even before a nuance of evidence is established, some social media bigots have, in a virtual sense, gone berserk. I just hope such vile preaching can not grow wings and perch onto the editorial pages of the mainstream newspapers.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 23:05:07 +0000
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