AN OPEN LETTER TO VERYDARKMAN!
From the Hausa North, With Context, Perspective, and Pride.
Dear Verydarkblackman,
I watched your recent video post with mixed emotions, emotions shared by many of my fellow comrades and advocates across Northern Nigeria.
There is no debating the raw passion that drives you. Your love for a functional Nigeria is evident, and your willingness to prick the collective conscience of this nation is a trait of true patriotism.
However, as an activist deeply rooted in the Hausa North, I am writing this to you, and by extension your audience, to bridge a widening gap in your presentation and horizon.
I need to remind you, and those who listen to you, that we are not unaware of our predicament. We are not blind, nor are we silent. Our slow, underground, and systematic approaches to pushing for structural change may not look like the loud, high-decibel storms of social media, but make no mistake: we do not accept our current circumstances as our destiny, nor do we view them as our final destination.
- Stripping the Veil!
It is a Bad System, Not a Cursed Tribe.
The raw, provocative imagery you painted in your video of Almajiranci product, beggars from broken homes or poverty, young boys drifting into motor parks, and children left to navigate the vulnerabilities of the street, is an undeniable reality. But your language and presentation create a dangerous illusion. It leaves a bitter taste, making it seem as though the Hausa tribe willingly chooses backwardness, or is somehow operating under a generational curse.
Let me reframe what your camera is actually capturing: You are looking at the deliberate casualties of an elite-engineered system. The child sent to be an Almajiri is not the villain; he is the victim of a traditional system starved of modern institutional reform. The boy working the garage did not choose that life out of laziness, he is a refugee from an environment fractured by insecurity and poverty. You are not attacking the Hausa people, VDM. Whether you realize it or not, your anger is directed at the vicious, modern-day slavery designed by a select few who have held leadership positions in our region for decades.
They weaponized poverty to keep the masses dependent. Do not mistake the trauma of the oppressed for the character of the tribe.
- The Dignity of Labor!
Understanding the “Mai Guard” and the Mobile Tailor.
When you look at a young Hausa man in the South or in urban centers serving as a Mai Guard, (security guard), Mai Ruwa (water vendor) a mobile tailor, a nail cutter, or a laundry man, what do you see? Through an uncultivated lens, one might see a people condemned only to menial labor. But let me give you the true context of these roles, which is rooted in a history of discipline and honor.
The traditional Almajiri system, in its original purity, instilled an absolute law of self-reliance. It created an atmosphere where a boy stepping out of the traditional Islamic learning ground was taught to do honest, valuable work with his hands in exchange for basic needs like food or clothes, rather than resort to crime.
Because these boys graduated from a background of rigorous moral and spiritual discipline, they became the gold standard of honesty. In a country where integrity is scarce, the Hausa young man became the only one trusted enough to be handed the keys to gates, households, and properties across Nigeria as a Mai Guard. That is not a curse, that is a badge of absolute trust born out of discipline.
Furthermore, many of these young men are not permanent urban drifters. They come from poor rural villages during the dry season, utilizing their time to engage in honest, dignified labor in the cities. The moment the first rains fall, they return to their ancestral lands to farm and feed the nation. This is a brilliant, cyclical survival strategy, not a cultural stagnation.
- The Horizon of Northern Excellence and Potential.
To truly understand the North, your gaze must expand beyond the survival struggles of the streets. The Hausa land and the broader North are repositories of immense capacity, unparalleled resilience, and world-class excellence.
Look at the height of commerce and industry: Alhaji Aliko Dangote, a proud Hausa man from Kano, rose from this same region to become the richest man in Africa, building an industrial empire that powers the continent.
Beyond commerce, our region is rich with brilliant intellectuals, dedicated technocrats, patriotic professionals, and grassroots advocates who work tirelessly every day to repair our broken systems from the bottom up. The ordinary Hausa man is defined by a deep sense of dignity (Kara), honor, and an incredible work ethic. When given an even playing field, the Northerner does not just survive; he leads and innovates.
- A Friendly Advice,
Sharpen Your Arrows, Protect the Masses.
Your blunt, provocative style is an effective wake-up call, but without context, it triggers an ethnic defense mechanism. When your language lumps the victims in with the oppressors, the corrupt elites quickly hide behind the shield of tribalism, telling the masses, “Look, he hates the Hausa people.” In that moment, accountability is lost, and tribal friction takes over.
If your crusade is truly for a reformed, equitable Nigeria, your linguistic horizon must match your passion. Your arrows must remain locked tightly onto bad governance, failed leadership, and institutional rot, never onto the very people who bear the heaviest scars of that failure.
We are fighting the same war, VDM. We are just using different tools. While you sound the alarm from the mountaintop, we are digging the trenches on the ground. Let your voice be a tool that unites the masses against their common exploiters, rather than a wedge that divides us along ethnic lines.
In solidarity and struggle,
Comrade, IG Wala.
23/06/26.
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