REDHERRING. This, in my assessment, is one word that captures the debates that erupted in the wake of the threat by the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, to attack elements in Nigeria who he accused of levying a genocidal war on Christians. Trump virtually ordered Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to deal with the sectarian Islamist terrorists who are hell-bent on fully Islamising Nigeria at any cost, or face the consequences. And, according to Trump, the consequences of not acting now will be dire for Tinubu, and presumably for non-Christian Nigerians. On its part, the Nigerian regime has vascillated from flatout denial of the existence of genocide on Christians to a semblance of admittance of such but quickly adding that whatever is going on has not been sanctioned by the state.
Some Muslims, individuals and institutions, have been upfront and vocal in denying the existence of genocide on Christians especially in the Central parts of the country. What has been obvious, however, is that they struggle with the truth and reality in their strident denials. The deniers of genocide in Nigeria have not come to terms that we now live in the so-called ‘Global Village’, with rapid advances in technology and communication. The world knows and follows whatever happens in our country. The same way we also know and diligently follow whatever happens elsewhere in the globe. Not even North Korea that has inherited the label of the Iron Curtain from the defunct Union of Socialist Soviet Republics [USSR], has completely succeeded in shutting out the prying eyes of the world. Countries are in the business of spying on one another whether friends or foes. And gathering information. The scale of what goes on in relations between, and amongst countries, was laid bare in 2010 and afterwards when WikiLeaks dumped online a highly confidential cache of information and diplomatic cables from the embassies of the US. Secret military information was not spared.
That incident that embarrassed governments and individuals was an eye opener to the naive and unwary. But a discerning segment of the governing elite knew the dog-eat-dog part of relations amongst countries. For this group they knew that every cocktail party, every high profile dinner, every conversation between a government officer and a representative of another country, no matter how innocuous, were veritable forums for information gathering. Those who are adept at such issues will tell you that the Argungun Fishing Festival in Kebbi state, the annual Ojude Oba which is supposedly a cultural splash in Ogun state, and the yearly Ofala Festival in Anambra state, are not usually treated lightly by serious foreign governments. Embassy staff may not necessarily be dispatched to gather information from such so-called light-hearted events. Some foreign governments use spies who fly into this country as ordinary tourists to attend and do the same job of serving their fatherland. Credible and first hand information is power, and serious countries do not spare any costs to obtain them. Except to humour ourselves, the disputations on the existence of genocide on Nigerian Christians is a no brainer. The evidence is in public display, and on the record.
For our country, the hint of possible genocide started from before the beginning. Three years before Nigeria’s independence from Britain, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the Premier of the defunct Northern region had said: “We the people of the north will continue our stated intention to conquer the south and to dip the Koran in the Atlantic ocean after the British leave our shores.” Twelve days after Independence on October 1, 1960, the same Bello spoke to the Parrot newspaper, and said: “The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities in the north as willing tools and the south as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their [own] future”. Later that same year, he said that he would” allow Sir Tafawa Balewa to go [to Lagos] and become Prime Minister [of Nigeria] and lead the unbelievers of the south whilst I will stay in the north and lead the faithful”. Saudana was not a lone wolf on Islamic fundamentalism. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the man who later became the prime minister had in 1947 on the floor of the Northern House of Assembly said: “We do not want our southern neighbours to interfere in our development. We have never associated ourselves with the activities of those people. We do not know them, we do not recognise them, and we share no responsibility in their actions. We shall demand our rights when the time is ripe. If the British quit Nigeria now at this stage, the Northern people will continue their uninterrupted conquest to the sea”. Has any political leader from the north disavowed these commitments and publicly stated aspirations and goals by their fathers, Bello and Balewa, more than half a century since they were made? The answer is no.
Those who are minded to argue that some of the avowals of the Sardauna and Balewa had been vitiated by the fact that some non Muslims had led the country and ruled over Muslims are merely indulging in gamesmanship, or are just crassly ignorant. Have they really? Was it not under President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian [1999-2007] that the country was split virtually into two with all the states in the north, apart from those in the Middle Belt, introducing the Islamic law of Shari’a. In that area of jurisprudence, the Shari’a states became self-governing. It has remained so. Goodluck Jonathan, also a Christian, was president between 2010 and 2015. He was hunted and haunted out of the presidency by Muslims including those in his People’s Democratic Party [PDP]. Yes, there were other collaborators in the travails of Jonathan. His accession to power when President Musa Yar’Adua became terminally sick was hellish. And his ouster from the office was even more so. Now elements in the same Muslim north are wooing Jonathan to throw his hat into the presidential ring because their orchestrated Muslim – Muslim presidential combo appears to have failed them miserably. They want to use and dump him again. But the decision is Jonathan’s to make.
Back to now. IsTrump really properly guided before issuing his recent threat about dealing with those who are committing genocide on Christians in Nigeria? Sardauna and Balewa said that the country will be the estate of Muslims and their progenitor Dan Fodio. And the indications are that their wishes had been accomplished even without their having to dip the Koran in the ocean. Except for the delusional Christians, this country for all intents and purposes, and by law is an islamic state. Our rulers merely pay lip service to it being a secular or multi-religious country. It’s not in law and otherwise. This is probably the only country in the world governed by different laws – criminal code in the south and penal code in the north. But more glaring about the Islamic flavour of the country is in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. Those who are diligent and concerned have taken their time to scour through that document. And their findings, though not surprising, were jarring. And they attest to the Islamic nature of the country. Delusional Christians are free to continue to live in their cocoon.
Pastor Femi Emmanuel who was once neck deep into partisan politics has severally done viral videos on the absurdity of the Nigerian Constitution as it pertains to religion. Currently, a study of the same constitution by Josephine O. Soboyejo, Ph.D, based in the US is trending on WhatsApp. She said that she is a researcher of repute. According to her: “The evil going on in Nigeria is ancient, well planned and systematically executed. Why do you think that they quietly stole Shari’a Law into the Nigerian Constitution? Was Shari’a Law ever enacted into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria [FGN]? By who? When? Where? How? What for? I spent forty-five years in the political space of Nigeria, serving as an elected member of the Federal House of Representatives, representing Ikeja federal constituency under the UPN [2nd Republic], and as a state commissioner under the administration of HE, Senator Justus Gbenga Daniel in Ogun state. I was a former Board Member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies [NIPSS], Kuru, Jos [2006-2007]. The annihilation of Christians in Nigeria, especially in the Middle Belt Region: Plateau, Kaduna, and core Northern States, is a fact and not a Myth
“The extermination is not only through violent conflicts, terrorism, killing, and displacing Christian communities. It also integrated Islam fully into the Nigerian Constitution as if that were the only religion in Nigeria. The traditional politics of the Nigerian people have a strong linkage to the belief in theocracy, and Nigeria will not enjoy sustainable peace until the proper legal foundation is laid. Islamic Canon Law [Shari’a] was inserted [not enacted] in the Nigerian Constitution in Sections 200, 260-264, creating a dual ideology. Shari’a is mentioned in the Constitution sevent-three [73] times, Islam is mentioned twenty-eight [28] times, Muslim s mentioned ten [10] times, and Grand Khadijah is mentioned fifty-four [54] times. This same Constitution has no mention of Christ, Christian, or Christianity [and certainly not Church]. Nigeria, which is a ‘Secular State’, is constitutionally an islamic state. There is evidence of an islamic Agenda for Nigeria, and the current political leaders are involved. The leadership structure of the APC [All Progressives Congress], the ruling political party, reflects Islamic values. All their top echelon political leaders are Muslims”. A Christian from the Middle Belt recently replaced the Muslim national chairman.
Dr. Soboyejo asserted that: “The dual ideology is more evident in sections 1 and 6 of the Nigerian Constitution. Section 1 states that the Constitution is supreme, higher than any other law, but paragraph 1 of section 38 on freedom of expression says you are free to practice any religion of your choice. The same Constitution has Shari’a in section 6, subsection 5F & G. Shari’a says if you practice any other religion apart from Islam, you will die. This has become calamitous for Nigerian Christians” particularly in the Middle Belt region of the country”. Going by the extant Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], people of other faith who are practicing in this country are doing so at the benevolence of Islamists. In July of 2019, CNN reported how a Muslim cleric in Nigeria was honoured in the US for saving Christians from certain death. It said: “Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, along with four religious leaders from Sudan, Iraq, Brazil and Cyprus, were awarded the 2019 International Religious Freedom Award, which is given to advocates of religious freedom. Abdullahi was recognised for providing shelter for hundreds of Christians fleeing attacks from Muslim herdsmen who had launched coordinated attacks on Christian farmers in 10 villages in the Barkin Ladi area of Plateau state on June 23, 2018. The cleric refused to give them up when their attackers asked about their whereabouts. The Imam gave refuge to his Christian neighbours, sheltering 262 Christians in his mosque and his home… then stood outside the doors confronting the Muslim attackers, pleading with them to spare the lives of the Christians inside, even offering to exchange his own life for theirs”. More than 80 people were killed in the attacks. Non Muslims are routinely killed by blood thirsty Muslims for blasphemy. Akaluka and Deborah were among the statistics of people murdered in cold blood in the name of Islam. And nothing happens to the perpetrators. They walk away, ready to kill again, and again, and again. It will finally be game over when rabid Islam fully captures the Yoruba nation as it is currently working hard to do. Its promoters have been testing the waters. The prospects of the embrace of that brand of Islam are not looking bad. After all the Yoruba nation could be said to be composed of half Christians and half Muslims in terms of its population.
