allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Making Argungu Festival Cheat-Proof (Page 1 of 1)

The recent allegation of fraud against the winner of this year's Argungu Fishing Festival competition in Kebbi State has raised concerns among Nigerians about the credibility of the highly prized competition of the 74 year-old annual festival. Yekeen Nurudeen writes on how to make the event cheat-proof while maintaining its long standing reputation.

When Bello Yau, 48, emerged from the Matan Fada river and staggered up the stone steps to have his catch tagged and weighed, which eventually turned out to be the biggest catch of this year's Argungu International Fishing and Cultural Festival, he did not appear with expected enthusiasm. His countenance did reveal he was worried even after his fish weighed 65.95kg and was declared the biggest and winner of the four day cultural festival, "says Balogun Bashir, leadership's Photojournalist who captured the scene live.

According to Bashir's conversation with Yau who won a brand new Honda Civic car for his feat, he might not be the original killer of the fish but just a lucky man whose strength saw him through in the water to wrestle away the fish where about four men had engaged one another in a battle of survival of the fittest. The photojournalist said that the winner told those who questioned him about his mood after winning the contest that he slugged it out with other men who also wanted the fish in the water and was not sure if one of them was not seriously wounded in the water.

Perhaps, his refusal to swear by the Quran before the Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Mera, the custodian of Matan Fada river on the allegation that he smuggled a dead fish into the river a day before the competition, was as a result of his clear awareness that he did not actually kill the fish himself but was only fortunate to whisk away the already wounded fish from his co-contestants. Hence, if after claiming all the prizes, he was alleged to have smuggled the dead fish into the water with the assistance of one Zazzagawa, it might be an Herculean task for him to prove his innocence.

Therefore, the onus of evidence in this damaging case depends largely on Yau and those who alleged him of the fraud. However, his inability to exonerate himself or otherwise at the end of it all couple with the ripples the allegation has generated would to a large extent have some kind of effects on the reputation of the Argungu fishing competition and the nation as a whole. Although Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Mera has since allayed fear that the development might have any negative impact on the festival and the emirate.

It is understandable that, Alhaji Mera, as the custodian of the festival and the Emirate, should naturally rise up to defend his territory and do a subtle image laundering as well as a quick damage control for the festival. Argungu fishing and cultural festival has grown beyond mere local event to an international annual tourists attraction and can only be seen as constituting a major event for which the attention of the whole world is directed towards Argungu Emirate in Kebbi State in March every year.

That Argungu International Fishing and Cultural Festival like the Osun Osogbo festival in Osun state and Ojude Oba in Ogun state among several other traditional and religious festivals across the nation has etched the name of the country on the world's record is a truism. And it is against the popularity that it has attracted since 1934 when it started, that government at the three tiers and corporate bodies have thrown their moral and financial weight behind its organisation.

It's now 74 years on that the competition started as a mark of the end of the centuries old hostility between the Sokoto Caliphate and the Kebbi kingdom; as an exotic and exciting event, besides being a festival that is truly African in which over 30,000 fishermen come from within Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries every year to be part of the frenzy, how disparaging this allegation of fraud could be to its reputation can be imagined. Albeit, this is the first time such would be recorded, if eventually found to be true, there are fears among watchers that this might have some diminishing effects on the trust and confidence of not only participants who genuinely attend the event, but also tourists who have made it a yearly ritual to be part of the excitement.

Argungu is the kind of festival that is seeing on television which captivates viewer's interest, but only by visiting can one really discover what it's all about. Now that it is becoming vulnerable to cheating, the purpose of it being an important time in the Nigerian calendar as a respected tourist attraction and source of revenue would in no time be defeated. Bello Yau remains innocent of the allegation until the case is proved beyond reasonable doubt with incontrovertible evidence. But if he pleads guilty at the end, it might be a devastating blow to the festival and the nation's image.

He (Yau) has accused those behind the allegation as being jealous of his feat. Time would clearly vindicate him and his traducers. And the police in Kebbi state have also promised to unravel the mystery behind the whole issue. In a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the police were quoted as saying that Yau and his accomplice had confessed their crime and that appropriate actions would be taken against them. But in an NTA network news, the man in the middle of the crisis, insisted he was being envied by some people.

In the NAN report, the emir said, "We must expose this kind of cheating because our tradition and culture hate cheating and hence we will not accept this to happen here". While efforts should be directed towards unraveling the truth of this matter as said by the emir, it is imperative that efforts should by now be equally multiplied by the emir, local, state and federal government to protect the sanctity of the Argungu festival from any future occurrence of this discomforting event.

To forestall this, there may be a repeat of what happened in 2006 when the fishing aspect of the festival was banned when organisers said the water level was so low and that the narrow Matan Fada river was very muddy and thus raised safety concerns for the estimated 30,000 competitors. But this time, the postponement of the event could be to ensure that the river is well stocked such that it could rule out any possibility of smuggling of a big fish into it. This becomes pertinent as observers have raised posers about the possibility of a small river as Matan Fada which is infested year-in-year-out by over 30,000 fishermen to be able to produce a fish or fishes that weigh as much as 75kg as was the case in 2005 or 65.95kg in 2008.

Those who share this sentiment have wondered, before the current expose about the genuineness of the claims of heavy fishes previously caught that normally require about three to four men to hoist them on to the scale. This is especially relevant when it is not clear if the river has always been exclusively preserved for the festival without allowing fishermen to make incursion into it on ordinary days.

In the words of Folarin Shyllon of the faculty of Law, Olabisi Onabanjo University, "Argungu Festival (Fashin Ruwa) is a celebration of life. It is a tool of conserving natural resources, maintaining and promoting traditional life. It is the precursor of today's fishery management measure. The local people believe they have been fishermen for all time. The effective conservation of natural resources is closely linked to the use of the local knowledge and hence the life of the community. It is also part of an ancient fertility ritual which, from the point of view of the local Kebbawa people, is the most important aspect of the occasion".

If these are true about Argungu festival, it goes to suggest that all hands must be on deck to protect and preserve the cultural heritage of the Kebbawa people. To ensure this, there must be a constant security guard either on the order of the emir or the state government to constantly monitor the movement of people and their activities around the river before and during each occasion. Again, if possible, the area should be sealed up between now and next edition of the festival. Otherwise one of the nation's cherished tourist attractions could just be in jeopardy.

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