TRAVELOGUE: ROAD TO KAFANCHAN, THE HOME OF UTTER NEGLECT – by Dr. Bola Adewara

Ordinarily, such an invitation would be heart gladdening to any journalist, how much more journalists of the gospel like us.

BANDITRY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

First, I did not even remember that Kafanchan is in the heartland of banditry, close to Zango Kataf where the Fulani is currently perpetrating untold evil on the indigenous people, in their (Fulani’s) drive to confiscate their land, turn it into pastures for their cows and install emirate.

* Throneroom Trust Ministry, Kafanchan.

Also, the mistake I made was to revel in the invitation by telling friends that I would be going to Kafanchan. The reaction of the first person was… ‘You are going where?’
I said Kafanchan.
‘Kafan-what? Are you deaf or behind the news? You are going to the headquarter of Fulani banditry and Boko Haram? Be warned o, Bola.’

The second person was like…”If you get kidnapped by the bandits, and they ask for 20 million naira, I don’t have any money to contribute o.’’ Responses went on like that.

In summary, the dissuasion was so much that I demobilised discussing it with flesh and blood, and faced God. I know how God speaks with me on whatever I want to do. He gives me peace. And deep down in me, I had peace like a river over the journey. Immediately I was sure of it, I stopped fretting.

But to make assurance doubly sure, I called my mentor, pastor and father in the Lord and told them. They prayed and released me. It was enough. I set out.

INVITATION TO KAFANCHAN

Meeting with Apostle Emmanuel Kure was fortuitous, but ordained. You must have heard of Robert Liardon, author of God’s General.

In partnership with Bishop Tony Marioghae of TEAM Ministries in The Philippines, one of the biggest churches in South East Asia, I was contacted to write on some Nigerian preachers regarded as Generals in the kingdom. Good news: we are to have the Nigerian version of Gods General.

I have worked on the first three generals selected and the next was Apostle Emmanuel Nuhu Kure based in Kafanchan, Kaduna state.

When I contacted him, he was interested not only in the book project, but also in E-life covering his forthcoming event: 42nd anniversary as a preacher, the 30th year of Throneroom Trust Ministry in Kafanchan, and the 17th year of the International Prophecy Prayer Conference.

ROAD TO KAFANCHAN

I flew to Abuja Airport where an SUV was waiting to pick a worshipper from Zambia and I. A police officer, with his gun, sat next to the driver; the Zambian lady and I at the rear. The journey proper, through the forest, began.

I asked Dominic, the driver: ‘What is the road like? Are these Fulani boys hiding somewhere? Can they jump out of the forest and attack us?

* St. Peter Anglican Church, Kafanchan.

Dominic laughed. “We have a police escort. Don’t be afraid. They have guns. Moreover, this part of Southern Kaduna is safe, except a few places where these Fulani people attack us all the time.

He went ahead to confirm that just a few days ago, they attacked one of the villages around Kafanchan and killed about 34 people. These killings are regular. They attack people at night, smartly do the killings and disappear.

To date, the law enforcers, in their conspiratorial gimmicks, have not arrested just one person doing the killings. Southern Kaduna has been a cesspool of graves of mass burials.

Abuja to Kafanchan is three hours but I hardly knew because the Zambian lady was a curious person who kept asking questions about Nigeria. She kept my mind and mouth busy till we arrived at Kafanchan. But I took notice of the bad roads to Kafanchan.

Seriously, this area of Kaduna State is left to rot. Compared to Kaduna town and Zaria, this Christian part of Northern Nigeria is in downright mistreatment and abandonment.

Do you know how many Federal and State governments’ presence is in Zaria alone? Why the neglect of this part of the state? I did my findings on this. That is another time article. Oh my God! Southern Kaduna is unacceptably abandoned.

We arrived at the camp built by Apostle Emmanuel Nuhu (Noah) Kure four hours later. It’s an impressive camp with three to four massive guest-houses, a hospital, a vocational centre, prayer huts, a police station, etc. See more reports on the camp here.

WELCOME TO KAFANCHAN

The following day of my arrival, the journalistic inquisitiveness took possession of me. Under the guise of having a haircut, I went out of the camp to have a haircut. There I would begin my findings incognito. I dressed in Jalabia with the Hausa cap to match.

As the barber was busy with my hair, I engaged him in a chat having ascertained that he is a Christian and educated. I asked him if I was safe to move around because I like to see Kafanchan, especially the railway station that gave Kafanchan the fame it has around Nigeria.

* General Hospital, Kafanchan

Hear the barber: Kafanchan is safe though we have had our fair share of uprisings, killings and burnings. If you move around, you will still see relics of burnt buildings.

But now, we, the youth of this town are always ready for them. If anybody fires a gunshot, rather than run away, we run towards the report of the gunshot to see who is firing and we deal with them.

We are no longer afraid of anybody because we live in the midst of death in this part of Nigeria.’

I asked again: how come a town like Kafanchan with ninety per cent of its population being Christians is having an emir, possibly a Fulani, as the king of the town?

The barber said this is an error their fathers made long before they were born and this is one of the root causes of the pains the current generation is having in Southern Kaduna.

I WANTED TO DIE, BUT ENOCH ADEBOYE STOPPED ME – Emmanuel Kure

31 DAYS GONE IN 2021: WHAT HAVE YOU ACHIEVED IN JANUARY? –  by Bola Adewara

‘’This place belongs to the Fantswam people. We have over 50 indigenous languages in this Southern Kaduna and we are mainly Christians, though we have our Muslims too.

‘We have always been living peacefully. Our parents allowed the Fulani here, gave them a portion of land to tend to their cows. Gradually, they would bring in more and more of their people to the place until they have a big population.

‘When creating local government or recognising traditional rulers, the powers that be in Nigeria, has a way of favouring them above the real indigenous people. Our fathers were docile; we would not accept this any longer. This land belongs to us, not them.’

Leaving the barbers shop, looking good in my jalabia like a northerner, I hired an Okada man to take me around Kafanchan. The first place he mentioned, typically in his scheme of respect, is the emir’s palace. From there, he would take me to the Kafanchan campus of Kaduna State University, then the Kafanchan Railway Station and the Fantswam Waterfall.

* Railway Station, Kafanchan.

KAFANCHAN RAILWAY STATION

Railway got to Kafanchan in 1926, leading to its emergence as an urban centre.

In his article, The Role of Railway In The Development of Kafanchan Town Between 1920-1950, Dr. Charles B. Azgaku of the Department of History, Nasarawa State University, Nasarawa State stated that hundreds of immigrants from southern Nigeria and neighbouring places move to Kafanchan in search of employment opportunities in the railway.

The station was the headquarters of one of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) seven national districts and hubs, the North Central District, comprising states such as Benue, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Plateau States, whose rail network links Nigeria’s south and north.

Also, the town lies at the middle of a railway line connecting Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kafanchan, Kuru, Bauchi, and finally Maiduguri.

But now, that famous Kafanchan station is empty and disused. The new rail line constructed by the Chinese was made to bypass Kafanchan to Kaduna, thereby pushing Kafanchan back to the sleeping, inactive conurbation it was before the 1920s.

Visiting the station, it has been overtaken by weeds, all the rail lines and coaches in a state of neglect. We waste resources in this land. We have bad people ruling this country. So sad!

HISTORY OF THE NAME – KAFANCHAN

The father and founder of the Bajju people are Baranzan, an ancestor believed to be of Nigerian and Cameroonian descent. History has it that the Bajju people migrated from Zamfara to Bauchi, then Jos.

* School of Nursing, Kafanchan.

Accordingly, the Bajju are particularly found in Zangon-Kataf, Jemaa and Kachia Local Government Areas of Kaduna State. As of 2007, Kafanchan had an estimated population of 83,092.

According to the oral tradition of the Fantswan people, the early Europeans who arrived in Fantswan for the survey and subsequent construction of a rail line that would link the North and Kafanchan in particular with the rest of the country met with an Hausa man and when asked about the forest referring to the Fantswan settlement.

The Hausa man answered by saying in Hausa dialect that “kafa – a – chan da wuya shiga”, which means going there (forest) will be very difficult to come out. And the white man, who could not understand Hausa thought kafa – a – chan could be the name of the forest and henceforth the area was known and still called Kafanchan.

Another version of the Fantswan tradition was that there was an argument between the Fantswan and his Karinko neighbour, on where should be used for the construction of the railway line by the white man.

That was when the Hausa man in their midst suggested that they should construct it somewhere else, which means in Hausa Kafashi a Chan.

So, it was believed that was the origin of the name Kafanchan which replace Fantswan, the original name of the area. But the Fantswan still preferred to call it Fantswan, not Kafanchan. On the whole, the name Kafanchan was not used until the construction of the rail line through Fantswan began in 1926.

* Fantswan Waterfall.

FANTSWAN WATERFALL

Kafanchan is not all about the dead Railway station, the bad roads and Nuhu Kure. Kafanchan has a beautiful waterfall that could become a tourist centre.

But this is undeveloped, untapped and cared for. The waters of the fall become River Wonderful which flows across the camp at Throneroom Trust Ministry.

CONCLUSION

This is calling on the Kaduna state government and perhaps the Federal government to take a look at Kafanchan, the decided capital of Southern Kaduna and the cities around. Kafanchan has a big name but what is on the ground is a big shame.

Zaria and Kaduna are not the only towns in the state. Kafanchan, Kagoro, Kwoi, Zonkwa, etc are notable towns requiring state and federal presence.

Funny enough, these people are the educational powerhouse of Kaduna state. The majority of the people are educated and actively involved in several sectors of society. The habit of pushing them to the backburners of thoughtfulness and action is unacceptable to justice and equity.

In a final word of consolation to the people of Southern Kaduna, the government may have forgotten you, Christians in Southern Nigerian may not show concern about your plight, but Jesus is a strong tower for your refuge.

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