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Let me begin today’s discourse with an observation that many of us in the critical segment of our population consider very vital. We love misrepresentations. A matter is simple and straightforward yet so many will pick up and go on a voyage of reckless different meanings and conclusions.
This trend must worry us for the simple fact that the number of learning institutions in our country are so many and each year hundreds of graduates are churned out. Enlightenment should naturally bring far better behaviour, good reading of issues. But it doesn’t seem that is what is happening. Many of us are still walking the path of old tribes men, we think and reason like them. This should be of concern if truly we love Nigeria bequeathed to us by the British colonialists.
The focus today is on the address given by Sheikh Yayaya Jingir,, a Muslim religious leader in the capital of Kano State during a ceremony organized by the state government. It was a packed arena with two serving governors present. The Imam (Islamic teacher) was brought all the way from Plateau State to come and give his message to the nation via Kano State. If you are to ask some of us in the critical segment of our population, he did a “very good job” of the assignment.
For want of space we look at the message he delivered very powerfully with fellow Nigerians cheering, including the governors clapping for him. Governors who should be aware of what polarization could do to a country at a time of great economic stress. Inflammatory talks which some describe as “provocative utterances” shouldn’t have a place in the present Nigeria.
Unfortunately, the trend has been with us since independence when the northern leaders said the white colonialists can stay on because they weren’t ready for self rule, through when independence talks and negotiations failed forcing Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the branded leader of the Yoruba to go public with the statement that constitutes the topic for today’s discourse.
When Awolowo described the country as ” a mere geographical expression” many derided him and gave him names like the avatar he was; he stuck to his conviction till he passed on. In the midst of the civil war that followed in the early days of self-government, infightings and supremacist struggles caused the military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, who had a change of name from Jacob Jack Gowon to also tell the country “the basis for national unity no longer existed.” He retracted when the consequences were made clear to him.
Since then a lot of Nigerians have thought we have gone past the point where individuals would leave substance to chase shadows but unfortunately people, especially leaders keep acting in ways and talking in manners that raise doubts if the mouthing of national unity as non-negotiable isn’t about hypocrisy and sloganeering. Hypocrisy talks of people failing to subject themselves to standards prescribed for others.
Sloganeering like the word deals with saying something repeatedly even when in your hearts you all know and even it is not worth taking into the heart. Sheikh Jingir said: “Here I urge you to prepare your votes. Let us show the world that infidels (reference to Christians) are lying that they outnumber us. We have to show them their limits.”
He throws in the fatal jab to the chin: “Nigeria is a Muslim country and if you don’t want to accept Muslim/Muslim ticket you should leave Nigeria because it belongs to us. If not for Muslim-Muslim ticket, Christians in Nigeria will think they are more than us.”
It was his day, the platform was great. So, he fired on: “This is why we must make sure the Muslim-Muslim ticket continues to succeed so that our dominance will remain.” He openly said President Bola Tinubu has been his close friend and praised him as his political hero over the Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is instructive, and a declared advocate of the arrangement.
It was cutting the nose to spite the face. The invitation of Jingir from Plateau State to Kano during the special event of mass wedding of about 1500 persons wasn’t a happenstance, it was a deliberate action to gain political mileage at the expense of the citizens and the progress of the country. We have not created a country let alone the march towards nationhood because of acts of this nature by our so-called leadership class.
Those who extended invitation to him are well aware of his antecedents, ethnic and religious conflicts have engulfed plateau State so frequently and lives have been lost, it is probable those who invited him know his roles and his philosophy about religion in public affairs. Jingir didn’t fail them but he failed the country. There may not have been spontaneous protests on the streets but the outing has firmly placed the country on the tender box.
The question of supremacist fears has been there and the signs very visible but some sections have tended to gloss over the matter because it has been veiled non has been about emboldened actions. The insurgency by Islamic terrorists have raised concerns and was beginning to force other nationals to wake up to what could eventually grow into war of attrition that kind of conflict everybody begins to carry guns without knowing who the target is, everybody standing could be a target until the federal government began to see the need to be more serious with internal security.
Truth is we have witnessed some gains but recent outbursts have reversed the gains. It was Modu Sheriff former Governor of Borno state who a few weeks began the walk on the lane of retrogression when he said Nigerians especially northerners won’t vote and Igbo because they fought a civil war against the country. The failed Governor was making these kinds of very derogatory remarks fifty six years after the said war ended. You analyze such a reckless statement and one is at loss if truly we desire to build a country that would find its place among the comity of countries in the developed world.
Jingir came shortly in the heels of that outing, the Sultan of Sokoto who goes about talking about unity has spoken but didn’t condemn the man and his outburst he simply appealed for unity as if peace and unity are objects that drop from heaven. Except for Kwakwanso, former governor of Kano and vice presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) most northern personalities with national exposure have kept quiet.
Silence embolden felons. It can also mean support. Truth is those who play with religion joke with fire, whether Americans had to intervene to knock sense into us on religious expansionism or not, truth is Nigeria of today isn’t Nigeria of post-independence. The population is huge and the terrain is difficult, those who promote the crisis using religion should know by now that it won’t be a cheap war like we had with the civil war.
Yes people will die, property and territories destroyed but in the end there won’t be anything like the beautiful country we have which we should cherish. This is the truth. What is more the Christian faith in all of this has appeared docile but the posture is very deceptive. A segment of the population of the faith are becoming more than agitated, some of us have heard them say,” the day they gave birth to a rascal abroad is the same day one was born within”. This thinking and mindset has wider implications.
Truth is if we want to build this country into nationhood we must move from pretence and step into the path of seriousness with the sacrifice involved. We must agree we are one and in truth begin to speak and act in a like manner. Behaving differently and allowing outside interest to dictate what should happen would be counter-productive. It is not about having control of the military. Roman and British empires had more formidable armies yet they collapsed and evaporated from history.
Where is the Christian Association of Nigeria? What level of interface do they have? What is their vision of Nigeria? The country needs a “balance of force” if the misguided ones won’t take advantage of the citizens’ docility and culture of the “it doesn’t concern me” plaguing the land. Evil thrives and takes root when citizens become spectators over how they are governed.
