Jonathan Is The Solution, Not The Cause Of Nigeria’s Woes! By- His Eminence, Prof. E.M. Uka(Prelate and the General Assembly Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria) To assign to President Jonathan the woes that are plaguing Nigeria today is one of the greatest ironies in Nigerian contemporary history. This essay is geared to prove without any fears of contradiction that he is the solution not the cause nor the source of Nigeria’s problems. For now, lets consider the verdict of Nigerian history as it relates to the Nigerian romance with Muslims and Muslim leaders in Nigeria. According to Kenneth Cragg in his book - ‘The Call of the Minaret’ “Islam has always been confidently a political religion. He said that Muslims by definition were never meant to be alien-ruled. Their state is an inseparable part of their religion. In history, Islam is a supreme displacer of Christianity. This fact is proven by Jenkins, a keen Researcher in Middle Eastern Christianity, he observed “that in 1050 the population of Asia Minor was mainly Christian, but by 1450 Christians were reduced to 10-15% of the population. Also, between 1200-1500 the number of Christians in Asia Minor fell from 21milliom to 3.4 million. Even as late as in 1900s Christians were about 11% of the population throughout the whole of the Middle East. Thereafter, Jenkins concludes “for practical purposes Middle Eastern Christianity has within living memory, all but disappeared as a living force.” Historically, the path of dialogue between Christianity and Islam has not worked out in practical terms. This is due to the fundamental belief of the Muslims in holy Jihad through which they seek to subjugate the entire world into submission to Allah and his law-sharia. In view of this, it seems impossible to have any meaningful dialogue with Islamists who are committed to violent Jihad. Islam, it should be noted, is not just a religion; on the contrary it is a complete political, economic, social, educational and religious network with its own forms of governance. It exercises its own laws, teaches the young and controls the society. Ideally, the Muslim Ummah or community encompasses all the Islamic nations which operate as one empire. The goal of Islamist idealists today, is to restore this union of Islamic peoples and then extend its power and control over the entire earth. Today the unfolding ugly drama of Boko Haram atrocities culminating in the broad day light abduction of 234 secondary school girls under the very watch of the State Governor – the State’s Chief Security Officer, is not a surprise because that’s part of the calculated strategy of Muslim leaders to render Nigeria ungovernable and discourage the sitting President from running for the presidency in 2015. Their main organ of insulting and frustrating the efforts of the incumbent President is through the print and electronic media under their control. They insult the office of the President as if they do not know that it is a sacred office. They carelessly and thoughtlessly blame all the woes inflicted on Nigeria by Boko Haram on the presidency. They think that nobody is seeing them, they forget that the God of Israel and the Christian God is the “all seeing God”. He sees everything that happens everywhere in the world, including Nigeria. Not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without His knowing. Some of the Muslim leaders forget they are flesh and blood and not God. However in spite of how much they might blow up their images in their Newspapers to look like gods, they are not. They are mere mortals, ash and dust that shall one day be swept away into the dustbin of history to face the wrath and judgment of God, for “it is appointed unto man to die once and after that judgment.” In view of the foregoing, I state categorically that it is the Muslims in Nigeria that are the real cause of all the woes that have befallen Nigeria since 1914 not Mr. President. All their grouse is that they are not in power and they can’t imagine the contradiction of being ruled by a non-Muslim. Hence a man, Dapo Thomas in Sunday NATION (May 11, 2014 P68) could write with lamentable display of ignorance: “God, Why Punish us (Nigeria) for Jonathan’s Failure?” Rather than ask God, Why Punish Nigerians by injecting Muslims into our body politics?” Let’s examine the historical facts to prove this point: Major Religious Crises in Nigeria after the Civil War (1970-2014) The Sharia Crisis (1976 -1979) The Sharia issue is as old as Islam itself in Nigeria. It was the aim of Usman Dan Fodio to implement it in the northern emirates in order to reform what he perceived as the lax in the practice of Islam among the Emirs. Matthew Kukah made reference to this point when he said: the jihad of Usman dan Fodio was the establishment of an Islamic State based on the Sharia (Kukah: Religion, Politics and Power …pl15). That the Sharia issue is major source of conflict in the Nigerian body polity, is incontestable. It was this Sharia debate that set the stage for the prevalent religio-political crisis that existed at the time when Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the president during the Second Republic (1979 - 1983) The Shagari Regime Religious Crises (1979 -1983) Although the Sharia provisions were not included in the 1979 Constitution in exactly the same way the Muslims demanded, they at least saw the election and the swearing-in of President Shehu Shagari as Allahs will for Nigeria. With Shagari, a Sokoto prince and a Muslim, Muslims felt that the stage was set for the achievement of the will of Allah: effective Islamization of Nigeria. Kano Riot (18-29 December 1980) The December 1980 Kano Riot, because of its bloody nature and high level of destruction involved, has come to be referred to as the first religious and bloody riot in contemporary Nigeria. However, according to the report of the Tribunal of Enquiry set up after the 1980 riot, it was observed that prior to the Kano outbreak, there had been over thirty violent incidents of religious riots in the northern states. But these were nothing compared to the December 1980 event. Burning of Churches in Kano (October 1982) The burning of Christian churches in October 1982 is an example of an inter-religious crisis in Nigeria. This was the first open and violent religious conflict between Christians and Muslims. The action of the Muslims was probably fuelled by the laying of the foundation for a Christian Church near a mosque in Kano. As noted by Matthew Kukah, although there was no evidence of hostility visibly shown by the visit of the Archbishop to Kano, it was not accidental that the site where he laid the foundation stone for the building of the new Church became the scene of the violence that erupted in Kano six months after the visit. The violence was targeted at Christ Church in Fagge, Kano Metropolis (Kukah p 157). The Buhari Regime Religious Crises (1983 -1985) The Buhari regime which overthrew the Shagari-led civilian administration did not do much to allay the fears of non-Muslims, especially given the peculiar nature of the composition of his government and their policies. All the members of his Supreme Military Council were Muslims - either Northern Muslims or Muslims from the South. This fact made Christians very uncomfortable. It is doubtful if his mindset against Christians has changed, for it is difficult for a leopard to change its skin. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Crisis (January 1986) During the Babangida regime, information filtered out to the public that Nigeria had sought admission into the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). This raised a lot of anxiety among Christians who now believed that the federal government was systematically engaged in the process of Islamizing the country. In January 1990, Christians in four northern towns protested against the marginalization of Christians in the country. Protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as: “We reject OIC”, “Islamization of the country is totally rejected.” “We are ready to buy our rights with our bloods”. Christians were now determined either to fight for their rights or defend themselves whenever they were abused or attacked. Such preparedness was acted out in what came to be known as the Bauchi Riot. Kano Riot (11 October 1991) The Kano religious riot, 1991, was a case of an inter-religious conflict. A group of Muslim youths attacked people in Sabongari and the Fagge area of the metropolis. The attack was a protest against the religious crusade organized by the State Chapter of CAN with a German Christian preacher, Reinhard Bonke, in attendance. Obasanjo Regime 1999-2004 In January 2000, the Governor of Zamfara State Ahmed Yerima introduced the Sharia legal system in his state. Since then, several Northern States have followed suit. This has led to several riots and destruction of lives and property both in the North and in other parts of the country. OBJ the then president did nothing to stop this violation of the Constitution which forbade the making of any religion a state religion. The Presidential Election 2011 – with Goodluck Jonathan on the Lead As the early results of the presidential election showed that Goodluck Jonathan a Christian was leading, Islamists went on the rampage attacking Churches, Christians and Muslims who they perceived supported Jonathan. In Kaduna State, tension grew when the Muslim Governor was elevated to the Vice-Presidency of the country after the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua in 2010, and the then Christian Deputy Governor of Kaduna constitutionally became the Governor. Even though the Muslim Governor was appointed as the Vice-President of Nigeria, Islamists didn’t want a Christian to become the Governor in Kaduna State. Against their wish he became the Governor and went ahead later to win a highly polarised election in 2011. Later he died in a helicopter crash to the open jubilation of Muslim youths who rejoiced that power has returned to a Muslim. Since Jonathan, by divine intervention became President, the menace of Boko Haram came to the fore targeting churches, shooting worshipers and carrying out suicide bombings. Several churches have been attacked, many Christians have been killed and hundreds injured. For example, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a series of bomb blasts in Jos, Plateau State, which occurred on Christmas Eve of 2010, and claimed at least 80 lives. The Islamist group also carried out the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State in central Nigeria in which 44 people were killed and many injured (two other churches were also attacked on the same day). A suicide bomb attack on COCIN Church Headquarters in Jos on 26 February 2012 left three dead and 38 injured. Eleven people died in another suicide bomb attack targeting St. Finbarr’s Catholic Church in Jos on 11 March 2012. On 29 April 2012, Boko Haram militants stormed the campus church services at the Bayero University Kano (BUK) with bombs and guns, leaving nineteen students and one professor dead. Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for carrying out a suicide bomb attack on Harvest Field of Christ Church in Bauchi State on 3 June 2012, where 21 people were killed and 45 others injured. On 17 June 2012, Boko Haram carried out simultaneous attacks on three Churches in Kaduna State: two in Zaria and one in Kaduna metropolis, killing over 50 people and wounding 131 others. Around the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha holiday on 28 October 2012, a Boko Haram suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Malali, Kaduna metropolis, killing fifteen people and injuring many others. Again, the sect carried out twin bomb attacks on Church in Jaji military complex near Kaduna on 25 November 2012, which claimed eleven lives and injured 30 others. Christians in northern Nigeria have learned from previous years that Christmas is a time for extra vigilance. In spite of that, in 2012, Christmas was marked in a low key manner amid increased measures all over northern and central Nigeria. Nevertheless, Boko Haram managed to carry out attacks on Christmas Eve in Potiskum in Yobe State and in Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital, in which twelve Christian worshippers were killed. SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN NIGERIA There is no better time than now when Nigeria is 100years (1914-2014) for her to consider truthfully, dispassionately, honestly measures we ought to take as a people to preserve our unity in diversity and diversity in unity. The need for a crucial meeting like the National Dialogue/Conference is vital to forestall the negative predictions by some Western governments that the entity called Nigeria might break up in the magic year, some say 2015 others say 2020. So far and of a truth, instead of unity we have been experiencing mutual suspicion, ethnocentric and religious rivalry; instead of faith in God we act as if we are godless; instead of peace, we are at each other’s throat struggling for material things and for posts we shall all leave behind when we die, for we came into this world empty-handed and shall depart empty-handed. By way of summary, let it be clearly stated that Boko Haram’s campaign of terror provides an appalling example of how Muslim jihadists have used the guise of insurgency to perpetrate unprecedented persecution on Christians and Nigerians. Their goal is clear, to Islamise Nigeria and unseat the President. In the light of the above clear cases of religious persecution against Christians especially in the Northern part of Nigeria, and the threat of these sad developments to the corporate existence of Nigeria; and given the provocative statements like: “there will be bloodshed if Goodluck is re-elected” warns Junaid Mohammed – a Second Republic member of the House of Representative and Russian trained Medical Doctor. He declared that blood would flow on the streets of Nigeria, should President Jonathan insist on running for the presidency in 2015. (Sunday SUN Dec. 1, 2013. P63). Similar statements include: “There will be bloodshed “if there is a repeat performance of the massive rigging that the North witnessed in the presidential election of 2011 in 2015, Nigeria will burn.” Another key player and presidential aspirant said, “both the dog and baboon shall be soaked in blood”. According to Femi Fani-Kayode: “These words must be taken very seriously, indeed they reflect the thinking and mindset of millions of people from both sides of the political and regional divide… One thing that I believe is that we can at least agree on this that perhaps it is time for us to be courageous enough to begin to talk about these issues openly and debate them… Whatever happens in 2015 and whoever wins, whether it be a northerner or Goodluck Jonathan of the South-South, I see blood on the horizon, and I see disaster approaching.” Kayode continues “…is it not time for us to begin to accept the bitter truth that our marriage is uncomfortable and unhappy and that it may not have been made in heaven or ordained by God? Is it not time for us to have a confederation of nationalities in Nigeria and to re-structure the country drastically to give maximum autonomy to the various regions and nationalities or indeed is it not time to just break up and go our separate ways? (The NATION, Wednesday Oct. 2, 2013). National Conference/Dialogue Could the stark reality of the problem posed by Fani-Kayode and others like him be addressed through the platform of the committee on national dialogue/conference? Could this committee charged with the responsibility to resolve the issues that cause tension and friction in politics, re-enforce the ties that bind the many ethnic nationalities (250 of them) and ensure that Nigeria’s immense diversity continues to be a source of strength and greatness? The Lesson from History A peep into the history of the tendencies of ethnic nationalities clearly shows that if unchecked, they could lead to the unintended consequences of the breakup of one time united nationalities. For example, India broke up into three: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Czechoslovakia broke up into two: Czech Republic and Slovakia Republic. Yugoslavia after President Tito broke up into five: Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. The Soviet Union broke up into 15 separate ethnic nationalities: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhtan, Kyrgystan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Even some Federations put together by the British, like the East Africa Federation has since dissolved into Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved into Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The Federation of Malaysia and Singapore split into Malay, Singapore and North Borneo. Only the Federation of Nigeria is still standing and the British are encouraging us to stay together as a regional power when they themselves are dissolving into three separate nationalities of England, Wales and Scotland. These contemporary realities should compel every reasonable Nigerian to note that the Muslim community and Muslim leadership are the cause of the political instability in Nigeria today not President Jonathan (QED).
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 05:12:19 +0000
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