Me or Myself: Searching for My Identity

I am a Nigerian. I am a northerner, which means I am a person indigenous to a community in northern Nigeria. I speak the hausa language very fluently. In fact I studied hausa langauge in college, so I write the hausa langauge using the english alphabets well. I do not write hausa smoothly in ajami script. Ajami script uses the arabic alphabets. In my country, I have acquired a name which is not my own. I am generally called 'a hausa man.'

The tag 'hausa man' is because I am a muslim. I practice the Islamic religion. I am trying very hard to live my life according to the dictates of the Qur'an and the Sunna, which means I hold tenaciously to Shari'a. Yet, I belong to a family of dialects within a tribal affinity known as Kilba in the Hong local government area of Adamawa State in North Eastern Nigeria. How am I a 'hausa man?'

I'm I myself or not? Should I be me, whose identity is a convinience for historians? I am looking for my identity. I am not a hausa man. I live in northern Nigeria and speak the language well. Who should I be? Me or Myself?