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The Muslim community in Nigeria commenced their holy fasting month of Ramadan last Thursday, sequel to an official announcement from the office of the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar III, who doubles as the president of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).
One reason Ramadan is an important spiritual tradition is because it transcends all the Muslim communities around the world.
No wonder the Ramadan crescent (moon) was sighted in Saudi Arabia and other countries around the world. What this signifies, scholars say, is that “Ramadan is the ninth lunar month of the Islamic calendar observed by Muslims worlwide as a month for fasting, prayer, reflection and assisting the needy.”
Added to this, scholars explain that the fast entails abstinence from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations to achieve greater “taqwa”, or consciousness of God. During the period, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and sexual activity from dawn to dusk for 29 or 30 days.
Therefore, as I write this piece, Muslim adherents are fasting in compliance and submission to the injunction of their faith.
Some of the traits of every Muslim faithful that has embraced this injuction are the exhibition of peaceful dispositions, not wanting to hurt fellow human beings, good behaviour towards neighbours and being obedient to government laws. Unfortunately, some of Nigeria’s neighbours who are predominantly Muslim countries, like Niger Republic, Cameroun, Benin Republic and Chad, have not been very cooperative, until recently. Since 2007 when the insurgency started and the Boko Haram sect, made mostly of Muslim youths (combination of Nigerians, Chadians and Nigeriens), these countries looked the other way as these youths invaded the northern part of Nigeria, sacking villagers and killing innocent citizens under the spell of indoctrination that had traits of Islamization. These youths also used the neighbouring countries as their base to lunch attacks on Nigeria. Despite the military’s determination to curb their excesses and nefarious activities, they were unrelenting, as they even join forces with other radical Muslim youths known as the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP). They discountenanced Islamic doctrine and held tihgtly to negative indoctrination, believing in lies from their leaders that the war they had embarked upon was approved by God. Even while shedding innocent blood and kidnapping people for ransome, these youths believed in Islamic doctrines and offered prayers five times a day, just like Judas Iscariot who was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus and yet was a traitor. As the country was going into the second tenure of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the nation started witnessing the horrific activities of other radical Muslim youths whom the government described as ‘bandits’ but the Web dictionary defined a bandit as: “An armed thief who is (usually) a member of a band, stealer, thief, bandura.”
These terrorists who were dislodged from one location in the North but retreated are the armed Boko Haram fighters that embarked on vigorous criminality.
The northern part of Nigerian has come under severe security stress since 2009. It has faced recurrent security threats: jihadist groups in the North-East and bandits in the North-West and spread from Borno to Jigawa, Zamfara, Katsina, Adamawa, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Niger states.
It is on record that thousands of people have died, while many more were displaced by these acts of terror.
There have been several reports of kidnapping for ransom, theft, cattle rustling or sexual violence by these bandits in the North-West.
Also, bandits have become so emboldened as to stage highway attacks and ambush the country’s security forces. Concern is increasing about the threat they pose to peace and security in Nigeria.
Till date, neither government nor the security agencies has deemed it appropriate to inform Nigerians of the number of innocent citizens and soldiers that have died during the long period of insurgency. Such statistics are necessary for national development and documentation. If traffic agencies can disclose and regularly publish statistics of road accident victims, one cannot fathom why the Nigerian government cannot disclose the number of soldiers so far killed, with other security agents, in the course of the insurgency, instead of holding on to the errronous belief that such is detrimental to national security. With the commencement of the Ramadan period , alongside the Christian Lent period of fasting, these criminals would definitely want to seize the opportunity to repent and seek the forgiveness of God, thereby laying down their illegally acquired firearms and ammunition. One also believes that, in the spirit of Ramadan, they would release all the victims in their custody.
Meanwhile, several terrorists and members of their family who had a change of heart, like the prodigal son of the Bible, were reported to have surrendered in a repentant manner to the military a few days to the commencement of the month of Ramadan.
No fewer than 100 of the insurgents and their family members surrendered to troops of the Operation Hadin Kai Theatre Command, in Banki and Konduga local government areas of Borno State. This is what Nigerians are yearning for. This why Ramadan is like a recipe for good security in the country, it was also heart-warming that no fewer than 594 rehabilitated Boko Haram members graduated from Federal Government’s Operation Safe Corridor’s De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration camp in Malam Sidi, Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State.
According to the camp commandant, Col. Uche Nnabuihe, “Fifteen clients hail from Adamawa, 495 from Borno, 16 from Yobe, 16 from Kano, three from Gombe, 13 from Kaduna, one from Kogi, 12 from Bauchi, five from Jigawa, five from Katsina, four from Kebbi, one from Nasarawa, one from Plateau, while two are from Zamfara.”
Nnabuihe said out of the 594 graduating repentant terrorists, ‘’590 are Nigerians, while four others are foreigners; three Nigeriens, and one Chadian.’’
The camp commandant stated that “588 clients are Muslims, while six are Christians.”
Indeed, this spirit of Ramadan is needed to pervade the entire space, wherever these terrorists are located in Nigeria and around globe, so that peace can be the recipe the people would derive from the Ramadan season.
The Sultan of Sokoto, owing the significance of the season, and what Nigeria and other Muslim countries facing similar mayhem and activities of armed of criminals, prayed that Allah spares the lives of every Muslim to participate in the exercise and to maximize the benefits therein.
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Our ‘monitoring’ DSS (1)
Truly, I do not envy the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi, who supervises the activities of the Nigeria, covert security service that is supposed to be on the same pedestal with other renowned organizations like CIA-USA, Mossad- Israel, Raw-India; and ISI of Pakistan. except that Nigeria’s version of the security service often confuses the citizens it’s supposed to protect by nosing around the country in search of bad elements. Surprisingly, the directorate arm of the agency popularly referred to as DSS, which officially is the operational arm of the agency. Since it metamorphosed from Nigeria Security Organization (NSO) to what it is presently, many Nigerians seem confused in understanding its actual constitutional mandate. Apart from what the books are referring us to, which entails surveillance of internal security and protection of top government officials, today, Bichi has added the word “Monitoring” as an important key factor of their operational duty. Every leader wants to be known to be relevant so that history would not forget them.
(To be continued)
