Boko Haram: A time for home truths

As-salaam-alaikum.

Time has come for us Nigerians, Christians and Muslims alike, to engage in constructive dialogue over the Boko Haram issue. The spread and continuous rise of the Islamist extremist group to prominence calls for urgent attention, before the domino effect causes a major shaking to the unity of the Nigerian nation, a shaking that will shake her to the roots, the consequences of which no one could tell for now. With killings upon killings, assassinations, and now bomb blasts, Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group which started like a little organization in Northern Nigeria now sends jitters across the entire nation, so much that even whole state governors, chief security officers of their states, now render apologies to the group. So, it is due time to discuss, let us save ourselves the unnecessary stress of more ethnic and religious tension, mindless waste of human lives, and the continued perpetration of mutual distrust, hatred and bitterness in Nigeria.

Boko Haram’s demands are two-fold, and they have threatened that unless these demands are met, their “holy war” against the Nigerian state will continue. One is the eradication of western education from Nigerian schools and second is the adoption of Sharia law throughout Nigeria. However, as scary, violent and militant as Boko Haram is, their demands CAN NEVER be met in Nigeria, a country evenly shared between Muslims and Christians.

It is therefore pertinent to take a cursory look at the position of Islam and Western education, and seek the truth on this matter. For a moral war must first be won against Boko Haram before a military onslaught, if not, the group will resurge everytime it is crushed with violence and not first with reason.

Is Islam really against western education? How possible would that be, for the picture painted by true Muslims all over the world does not say so. One would wonder from whom the group draws its inspiration. For even in the world’s core Muslim nations, western education is not only allowed, it is practiced, its ingenuity enjoyed and also built upon. The world’s most vocal Islamic voice against the West today is no other than President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

He has shown no respect or acceptance of the west and their ideals. However the man has a Masters of Science degree and a PhD in Transport Engineering from a University. Who said Islam is against Western education? President Ahmadinejad has indicated his interest in building a nuclear weapon and has gone far in the process. The entire world is terrified at the prospects of a nuclear armed Iran. Nuclear weapon technology is a brain child of western civilization, resting squarely on the shoulders of Albert Einstein’s research and theories! Also late PLO leader Yasser Arafat was a Muslim inspirational leader and he was as much a Muslim as any Muslim could be. He had a degree in Civil Engineering from a University! Somebody, somewhere, is perpetrating a fraud in Nigeria!

In the UAE, a predominantly Islamic state, with an Islamic constitutional monarchy, that country has utilized the benefits of western education to such a level that today, some of the world’s best infrastructure is found there.

The Burj Al Arab, the hotel touted as the only 7-star hotel in the world is situated in Dubai, UAE. Designed by a British architect, built and supported by a crack team of American, British and Arabian engineers and builders. How would they have achieved that without utilizing the revolution of western civilization and education? Somebody, somewhere in Nigeria is perpetrating a fraud!!

The Sharia law on its own, is the natural heritage of the true Muslim. It is a strict set of codes that seeks to instill extreme fear of wrongdoing on a people and to make them live righteously. Its punitive measures are heavy on the wrongdoer but the Koran also has established effective measures to ensure that these heavy punishments are not dealt on people at the slightest provocation. The Sharia system is divinely written for the Muslim however the Sharia law cannot be elevated above the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is a sovereign secular state. That fact is incontrovertible. That fact can never break, any attempt to break it would lead to an automatic disintegration of Nigeria and ultimately result in turning our motherland into a theater of war. There is no indigenous ethnic nationality in Nigeria that cannot fight a war, but it is better to avert a war, for after wars have been fought, the causes of the war are usually settled at a roundtable! So why the unnecessary and wanton shedding of blood?

With all the problems beleaguering the Nigerian nation, we are the last set of people who should have a group demanding for a boycott of western education. With the level of backwardness in many parts of Nigeria, all hands should be on deck to push this nation forward. The education of our children should be the topmost priority of every man and woman who fears Allah. The Boko Haram crisis is going to take Nigeria backwards and not forward. It will do us more harm than good. It will erode the last diminishing fabrics of nationhood in Nigeria. It is evident that the Boko Haram crisis is the handiwork of a larger agenda, a political agenda. Boko Haram has become the voice of some disgruntlement caused by political infractions. And this huge fraud disguised in religious extremism has fed into the heart of an impoverished populace.

It is not surprising that Boko Haram has its major base of operations in Maiduguri, for in that ancient city, is a huge populace of young people who have never known anything but a lifetime of deprivation and untold poverty, swarming the entire city in their hordes. The level of poverty inflicted on the masses of Nigeria, with particular emphasis now on Northern Nigeria and zeroing in on Maiduguri is appalling. The extent of backwardness is scary. It is so evident, in the marketplaces with the millions of houseflies, in the streets with so many unkempt young people, and in the entire city with its swarming population of Almajiris. Almajiris! That singular crime against humanity perpetrated by Northern leaders against their own people. Yes, a crime against humanity it is for children under ten years old to be allowed to roam the streets in dirty clothes, with dirty bodies, with dirty plates in their hands, hungry, angry, usable for any sinister plot by those who feed them with the little food they get.

I have seen these children and played with them, rubbed bodies with them and I dare say that the judgment of Allah will come someday on those who have created a society that does this to her children. For Saudi Arabia is an Islamic nation, and the capital city and Holy land of all Moslems on earth, and they have not made their children into Almajiris. The UAE and its seven emirates is an Islamic nation, yet their children are well fed and taken care of, with the highest benefits of both Arabic and Western civilizations. The oil money these countries have, we also have enough in Nigeria, so the leaders of Northern Nigeria cannot hoodwink us and make us think the existence and perpetuity of the almajiri is a part of Islam. No! Allah has given to all nations and regions what is required to take good care of their people, the original Arabian Islamic nations have proved it. What we have in Nigeria is nothing short of the wickedness of leaders who have converted the resources of their people into private wealth. Leaders who have become billionaires whilst the majority of their people still live in the dark ages! Yet they perpetuate this status quo with the blindfold of religion! And I am not being regionally prejudiced on this matter of corruption and its consequences on the Nigerian people, for in Western Nigeria where I come from are also plenty of pauperized youths, area boys, who live daily a life of crime, sleeping under bridges and at bus stops, earning their daily food from one chance buses and picking pockets; in the city of Ibadan are a lot of these youths as well, as well as adults, in the inner cities of Beere, Molete, Oluyoro, the very environment bears testimony to the height of man’s injustice to man, while our government officials and politicians live in highly fenced mansions, with looted billions in their accounts, and a motorcade of armed policemen to guard them when they go out! Hmmm! One day bushmeat go catch the hunter o, akwai magana!!

There are conspiracy theories that lay claim to the fact that the North is disgruntled at Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency and that Northern leaders have lent their support to Boko Haram to destabilize Nigeria as a consequence. While I choose not to believe such a story, yet it is pertinent to mention it. The Presidency is only for four years. If a Northerner is not President now, a Northerner would be President sooner than later. So why destroy the entire unity of the nation now, grow a monstrous behemoth of a terrorist organization simply because the North does not have the Presidency at this one moment! Time flies so fast, one would hardly notice. If this conspiracy theory is true, then something is definitely wrong with us in Nigeria.

And of course, the reality of our nation bears witness to the fact, where the President comes from has never resulted in progress, development and any meaningful economic advantage for the people of the region in question, rather than the further enrichment of a slim group of power mongers and hangers-on who pretend to be politicians and statesmen. The entire eight years of former President Obasanjo’s rule, what meaningful advantage, progress or development did it bring to Western Nigeria?

From 1979, to 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a succession of Northern President and Heads of State, what meaningful positive impact did those 20 years have on the life of the average Northerner, other than an empty euphoric feeling of “It is our time”, and all such delusional feelings of pyrrhic victories? All across Nigeria today is excessive poverty and backwardness, abeg make we give ourselves sense joo!

It is time for the Nigerian government to take a solid and unapologetic stand over Boko Haram before it snowballs into a ravaging movement that would be too much to handle for the Nigerian military. It is time for moral leaders in Nigeria, of Northern origin and Islamic by religion to speak out against this vexatious issue. Men like Gen Buhari; men like Lamido Sanusi. Lamido Sanusi! Yes, it would be interesting to hear the CBN governor speak out now, or he would lose credence as an emerging truly national leader and hero. I have become a huge fan of this man for his forthrightness and candour, for his stand and outspokenness against corruption in the banking sector, for the outspokenness and boldness with which he confronted the national assembly over their excessively huge wages, for his popular and famous “I am a Nigerian” speech. It is time for him to speak again now. Many have argued that Sanusi is an Islamic and Northern apologist. I have argued that he is a man who loves his religion, loves God and has done right by the Nigerian nation in deed and in speech. Now is the time to show that truly, he stands against evil regardless of the ethnic nationality or religion of the evil doer, whether they are corrupt southern Christian Pastors in the banking Industry, or Islamic extremists of Northern origin, where he comes from.

The global bickering between Christianity and Islam has a long, long history. A history told with the sharp blades of metals, the blood of the innocent, untold pain, and bitterly fought wars. Yet, both religions are from God, the same God we Christians call Jehovah, and Muslims Allah. Both religions originate from Abraham, or Ibrahim, the man whom God blessed as the father of many nations, the father of Ishmael, progenitor of Islam, and Isaac progenitor of Christianity. God be praised for sending his son the Lord Jesus Christ to alter the course of history with his teachings on love, forgiveness and the abolishment of the “an eye for eye” custom in Judaism. For if Christ had not come to erect this new faith, and the world had been one of Judaism and Islam, as against Christianity and Islam, the world itself today would be a huge battle ground. The oceans would be red with the blood of humans and the mountains buried under humongous debris of decomposing corpses. But Christ even goes as far as preaching the message which says when you are hit on the right cheek, turn your left cheek to be hit as well but do not strike back. He goes on to say if a man takes your scarf, give him your cloak as well, and He also says, to forgive, forgive and forgive continually, seventy times seven He stipulated we are to forgive our detractors, by that he meant, always to forgive. The summary of His message is “Love your neighbor as yourself; do unto others as you would have them do unto you; if you cannot love the man you see, how can you love God whom you do not see?”

The Boko Haram debacle threatens to stretch the limits of Nigeria’s already weak and tired unity. The January 15th coup of 1966 caused the most severe challenge to our national unity, literally tearing it apart before it was sealed back, albeit weakly, by a civil war. The June 12, 1993 elections also stretched the unity of this country to a dangerous precipice. On both occasions, Nigeria survived it, but not without indelible marks of deep injury. The Boko Haram issue if not properly handled could as well summarize the whole story and drive the nation apart forever. President Goodluck Jonathan has a call on his hands, he needs to take a decisive position over this issue, and the leaders of Northern Nigeria have a lot to do to help preserve the unity of Nigeria. Pray, when are we going to start on a journey to mutual love and true nationhood in Nigeria, to foster progress and development when all we have spent the last 50 years doing is a supremacy battle between the North and the South? Khai!

Nigeria, fix Boko Haram; or Boko Haram will fix Nigeria.

As-salaam-alaikum.