I, Mu’awiyyah Yusuf Muye is the definition of an Arewa Man, and every sane or reasonable man of Arewa extraction should be too, not the perverted man from arewa, not the husband that maltreats his wife, not the uncivilized or backward arewa man, not the man that is everything that is wrong with our society. No, if anything should define “Arewa Men”, it should be the good, we have great men in arewa, as such, it will never be fair to allow the bad or negative stereotype to define its Men.
The new derogatory name for Northerners now is “Arewa Man”. I say Northerners because if we really understand the derogatory intentions that come with terms or names like Aboki, Herdsmen, Boko Haram and the likes, then we will understand where the term “Arewa Men” is headed. It will define us all, not just a particular gender.
Normally, I shouldn’t bother myself or be offended by something I am not guilty of, but in a world that created a terrorist stereotype for Muslims based on the actions of a few sick ones compared to the overall population of the whole religion, then we will understand where this new term coined by some group of angry individuals who are really allowing their emotions to mislead them is coming from.
Even if the food I eat everyday is laced with thousands of grams of amnesia, I will never dispute the fact that we have quite a number of men in the north (Arewa) who are everything that is wrong with the world, those that also see “Arewa” like a nest of men that are everything that is wrong with our society today will be living in denial if they think there are no ideal men in Arewa today.
Like the saying, “it be your own people”. Accepted, a lot of arewa women today married or unmarried might not be happy with the treatment they get from their men, but a whole lot of them will also never dispute the fact that some men in the north have been nothing short of fantastic to them, fantastic fathers, fantastic brothers, fantastic sons, fantastic uncles etc. it’s painful because personally I am surrounded by wonderful men, Geopolitical zone or geographical location doesn’t matter really, but in this situation, I am focused on the “Arewa Men” because, well, the stereotype is gaining a lot of traction on social media about how much of monsters “Arewa Men” are. And it’s heart-wrenching because there are good men out there, there are a lot of great “Arewa Men”, it’s totally unfair to label all and even make the term “Arewa Men” a derogatory word.
On social media these days, once something happens, it might be something that is absurd or even sensible, but once that thing comes from a man of northern extraction, the next thing you see is the exclamation, “Arewa Men”. These set of people as I see it, have resorted to emotional blackmail, because it seem like they are actually making concerted effort to destroy women, they advocate for even things that are detrimental to womanhood, they are bent on changing God’s Rule or Laws, Laws backed by both Islam and Christianity and even Common sense rules, so if it doesn’t go their way, emotional blackmail follows.
Those that aren’t from the north use this “Arewa Men” term more these days, but it started from those from Arewa, most especially women who might not be impressed by the action of SOME of their men, rightfully or wrongfully, but they have helped so much in planting those words as derogatory terms in the minds of those that don’t know Jack shit about what is happening in Arewa. Yes, there are Arewa Men that are misogynistic, but there are also Arewa Men that will go to the end of the world to honor women, to see that they succeed, to see that they are uplifted, so why is it that it’s the misogynistic Arewa Man you are using in Labeling “Arewa Men”?
Personally, I do believe if we all have to mind our businesses in this world, then the world will never be a better place. On a normal day, I would’ve faced my business, because I know my surroundings, those that I am surrounded by, men or women know the kind of person I am and the men I grew up under, they are nothing but great men, the men I grew up with are nothing but great men, the men I associate with are nothing but great men. Of course, no man is perfect but no human is perfect. Good “Arewa Men” are not responsible for the despicable characters of bad “Arewa Men”.
Today, it’s almost as though whenever “Arewa Men” is mentioned on social media, some “Arewa Men” deep inside feel as though the ground is going to open up and swallow them, myself inclusive, so they try as much as possible to distance themselves from the phrase.
“Arewa Men” has now become a derogatory word. for example, Twitter is sometimes divided based on geographical demography, We have the Arewa Twitter, The Odua Twitter, the 2nd Niger Bridge Twitter, Biafra Twitter and what have you. (You have to be on twitter to understand all these terms).
Then other people try to see Arewa as the divide that is least civilized or enlightened, Although civilization to them is what an Arewa person might see as backwardness, depends on the scenario.
Even though personally, I believe I am on TWITTER, I don’t feel I should associate myself with any stereotype or demographic twitter whatsoever because I feel it’s beneath me to restrict myself to a particular twitter, and I am a human being first and foremost, before I am a man, Nigerian, Northerner, Kakanda etc but sometimes the things that happen on “Arewa Twitter is something that every sane man will never be proud of, the fuckery and the self-ridicule, but these things are things that happen on other twitters on a daily basis, but Ofcourse “Arewa” is usually held on a higher standard for whatever reason and personally it usually hit close to home because well, let’s face it, what kids do on that part of twitter somehow reflects on us as Northerners whether we have a part in it or not, we stay condemning but our condemnation of those acts is usually lost in the hysteria of the issue at hand, may be there aren’t enough voice condemning, as it is safer to mind your business these days, a dangerous stance.
But lately, there is this Virtual group on twitter, (I say Virtual because they mostly exist on social media and not in real life) who have started this campaign of labeling everything “Arewa Men” and they do it passionately as though they are on a mission, well we know generally This group are on a mission against men worldwide, whether you are right or not, whether you support the bad things some men do or not, it doesn’t matter to them that they have fathers or brothers, to them, men are the same, men are trash, arewa men are trash, arewa men are the same, and it seems they will not rest until the Male specie is extinct, or so they think. Lol.
I believe there are women that reserve the right to criticize SOME Arewa Men, rightfully so but not those that engage in misandry and lace their hatred for men in general and then finding shade in the new “Arewa Men” umbrella to perpetrate their Generalized Misplaced anger and unnecessary rage against a particular Gender
Some of the things this particular group stands for is everything that is wrong with our society, i believe standing for women’s right is a must, it’s already written and we must all do everything within our power to enforce it, equality or equity, whatever you believe in, you must do it the right way or not do it at all, you can’t destroy the moral fabric of the society all in the name of fighting for a particular gender, you can’t stand against God’s written rules all in the name of liberation, we won’t allow our sisters, nieces and kids to be misled in the name of fighting for equality, and no anger will deter us.
Personally, by Allah, I believe my position and fight for women liberation is Bigger, Better, rightful and More genuine than what any misguided Virtual Army will ever stand for, I love my mothers, my sisters and the women folk and we will continue to fight for them against any evil whether it comes from men, Arewa Men or any evil army organization.
The truth of the matter is, these development is disturbing, disturbing in the sense that, social media is a powerful tool, and in as much as Ofcourse there are millions of sensible women out there who don’t get influenced by their malicious or evil campaign and will never be, there are a lot of gullible ones out there too who easily get influenced and brainwashed. Besides, it’s not even about influencing humans, it’s about the narrative they are creating or have created about Men or “Arewa Men” as the case may be.
I am responsible for my own actions, and I have resolved to own the name “Arewa Men”, I know who I am and I know what I stand for, and I know that condoning negativity or anything against women will never have my backing, it will also be ridiculous that while standing for women, (I have mothers, sisters, and relatives who are women), if I don’t stand for real and great men as I happen to be a man too, then my purpose in life will be defeated.
I choose to stand for Humanity, Women, Men, Children etc. we can stand for all at the same time, waging war against one while misleading the other isn’t the answer.
I cant teach other genuine and great “Arewa Men” what to stand for, but from the look of things, as things are going, if we don’t redefine the narrative to at least favor the real men, then we will wake up one day and realize that we should have acted early because by then, it must have been too late and the narrative would’ve been too difficult to reverse. If “Arewa Men” will not denote positive meaning, it certainly shouldn’t denote Derogatory meaning
Finally, I do believe even our Arewa Women have a role to play, you can’t possibly allow a group of people who are known globally to mislead people divide our ranks, Arewa men or Women, we are in this together, there are bad arewa men as there are women, there are good arewa men as there are women, Arewa women of this generation are the mothers of Arewa men of the next generation, how the Arewa society of the next generation will be shaped is solely in the hands of today’s Arewa Women, we can deal with our problems together but we should never allow our identity to be tainted.
Deal with the bad eggs, don’t deal with an entire gender from a region just because of the sins of SOME. Stop the dangerous generalization now, let the guilty pay the price of their sins, not an entire group of people.
