In every community, there are interesting stories which have helped in shaping the lives of people in the community, stories handed down by their forefathers on how they have come to being.
In Baragoni, a community in Bwari area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) comes such story, a story of an old woman who unfortunately, no one could tell her name.
According to the story, the old woman helped to save the people in the community from their enemies. It is the story of survival and ultimate sacrifice.
The story has it that in the olden days when there was war between the people of Barangoni and their enemies, the cave became a hiding place for the people.
Their enemies were surprised that whenever they attack Barangoni village, there was no one in sight. From the mountain which was their place of abode, Barangoni people always sighted their enemies and immediately rushed to their hiding place.
The enemies marvelled at the ability of the Barangoni people to escape into thin air, because that was their believe then. The ability to suddenly escape earned the community the name Barangoni.
One day, according to the story, the community people who were formally called ‘Iku’ were suddenly attacked by the enemies. They were taken unaware and they all rushed to their hiding place and the enemies continued their pursuit.
That was when an old woman whose name was unknown turned around, eager to save her village. As the enemies came upon her, she turned into a stone and the story has it that the woman-like-stone would be seen till this day on top of the mountain near the place the community is living today.
What followed after she turned into the stone was the most interesting fact. The enemies shaken from what they have witnessed retreated and take to their heels. After that, the community was left alone by the enemies.
The Village head of the community, Danlami Nana who spoke to FCT Watch stated that the elders of the village still go to top of the mountain to perform sacrifices occasionally, “although, the frequency to which they do that has reduced due to the coming of the Christian and the Muslim religion.’’
Nana who explained that other traditions like; the village head not eating until his subject that has died have been buried and not eating or bathing when the sun has set, still exist and must be obeyed by the head of the village.
‘’As the head of the village, you would not want to do anything that would bring calamity to the people you are asked to take care of. So, we have to keep doing these as we have learnt from our fathers and forefathers before us,’’ he said.
Nana also explained that in those days, the elders would take sacrifices to the top of the mountain to plead to their gods for them to grant the people a fruitful harvest, added at the community was known for farming prowess.
The village head further stated that the community cultivates yam, guinea corn, and cassava and they were harvested not just to be consumed at home, but for commercial purposes.
‘’Although I am the village head, I still farm. It is my occupation. I cultivate yam and cassava. People come all the way from Bwari and other places to buy from me. When some traders want cassava, they come to me and I will usually show them the part of the land where the cassava is being planted for them to uproot themselves.
“They usually come to the place with their vehicle to carry them. I have paved a way through my farm, so that their vehicles would have no problem in reaching to my site,’’ he said.
Nana said that the Barangoni community lives in peace, adding that more non-natives have come to settle in the area.
‘’The population in this community keeps increasing every day. I think people come who do not like the busy life of the town come here to settle down,’’ he said.
He stated that the increase in population has also stressed some of the amenities they have been able to enjoy, example is the electricity supply in the community which has to been rationed amongst the different parts of the community.
‘’We are only using one electricity transformer. We need another one, so that we will have stable power supply in this area. The light has always been rationed with the increase in population,’’ he said.
Nana stated that boreholes in the community have also been over stretched, explaining that some of the boreholes in the community have broken down and pleaded with the council’s new administration to help them rehabilitate it.
‘’Sometimes, I have to use my money to repair the broken down boreholes. I have done that twice. If the broken down boreholes are taken care off, we will be able to heave a sigh of relief,’’ he said.
As the community awaits provision of basic amenities, one thing is certain, that the Barangoni story will continue to remind everyone of the story of Lot’s wife in the Bible, who in her case, turned into a bag of salt because she had disobeyed an order, but in the case of the Barangoni, the old woman who was unselfish turned into a stone to save her people.
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