Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba and Kanuri are the largest five tribes in Nigeria, each with a distinct language, culture and tradition. For example, the word “come” is “zo” in Hausa and “ware” in Fulfulde (Fulani language) and “welcome” is “barka da zuwa” in Hausa and “wali jam” in Fulfulde. A Hausa man has to learn Fulfulde and a Fulani man has to learn Hausa just as a Yoruba man has to learn Igbo and vice versa. All the five major Nigerian tribes were considered as distinct from each other until recently when it was sought to castigate the Hausa and the Fulani tribes. So, their close associations and intermarriages were used as criteria for lumping them together to create one new tribe that was initially called the “Hausa/Fulani” or “HausaFulani” (with a separating slash or hyphen) and now out-rightly called “Hausa Fulani!” If intermarriages and close associations are criteria for the emergence of new tribes, then there would have been the new Hausa-Kanuri, Igbo-Yoruba, Kanuri-Fulani, etc, tribes in Nigeria. But the poor Hausa and Fulani tribes are the only victims and a convenient term, “Hausa Fulani” (not Hausa and Fulani), was coined to ease their being castigated and ridiculed!
