By Erasmus Ikhide
THE recent senseless massacre in Southern Kaduna, prior to and on Christmas Eve, is despicable to say the least. The suspected Fulani herdsmen reportedly claimed that they were avenging the killing of their cows about two years before. The killings clearly emphasized the well known coordinated and systematic killings by the herdsmen in different parts of the country.
Fulani herdsmen across the country have multitude of sins to their name: violation of ancestral neighborhoods, robbery, torture, rape and the killing of Christians. Whatever the reasons for the latest killings of Christian farmers in Southern Kaduna, the situation reflects how deeply divided we are as a people and nation.
The Crocodile City has been here before, and the tragedy predates the present administration of Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Between February 21 and May 23, 2000, there were violent riots following a proposal to adopt Sharia law in the state. The proposal led to bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims. In the end, it was estimated that 2,000 were killed in the month of February and 5,000 people died in May, respectively.
On June 17, 2012, yet another Kaduna massacre took place in Wusasa and Sabon Gari, where 38 people were butchered on the ground of religious intolerance. The year 2015 was not left out. Between December 12 and 13 that year, 700-1000 people paid the supreme price on account of religious and ethnic differences.
If there is any issue that could burst Kaduna State and the nation at the seams since the civil war, it is mindless religious extremism on which some Nigerians have been nurtured. It is the relentless elite conspiracy set out to turn the masses of the Nigerian people against themselves so that they can remain in perpetual servitude. Nigeria would have been a more peaceful nation if the political leadership had not been primitively exploiting the people’s religious ignorance. Religious extremism is antithetical to nation building.
Basically, religion would seem to have little to do with hate. Nearly every religion seems to preach love, peace and tolerance. But of a truth, we know differently. People often hate people of other religions. Hate is a cancer. It destroys people, churches, mosques and nations. If you hate, your hate may destroy someone else. But, it will also destroy you, and those people that you love. The more horrible fact is that there are people who have been spreading hatred for other religions. They identify some particular religions as heresy and present unauthentic documents at “so-called” cult seminars, web-sites or online cafes as if they were true. They distribute vicious and false information as if they were true. Some of them include: if you were engrossed in such religions, you will be cursed, your family will be disrupted or your life will be ruined, you will not make Paradise, etc. Those who do not know such religions are often to be deceived by such false claims.
A religion must not be a target of removal simply because of the doctrinal differences. The “doctrinal differences” do not destroy families or ruin peoples’ lives and excuse you from going to Paradise. Those who have been accusing Governor Nasir El-Rufai of not tut-tutting at the frightfulness of Fulani herdsmen on the Kafancha massacre missed the point. Only last week, I interviewed one of the very first Christian families to flee a part of Kafanchan while the Fulani herdsmen siege lasted. ‘We appreciate the efforts made by the Governor to protect the Christian communities from the invading Fulani herdsmen terrorising us, but he should do more by sending more security operatives to the area. After all, we gave him our mandate regardless of his faith”.
Frustratingly, Governor Nasir El-Rufai earlier sniffed at the problems early enough. He told journalists few months into his administration: “One of the challenges we are facing in this state is that everything seems to be politicized, ethnicised or religionised”. A very simple problem that can be discussed and resolved by logic and facts becomes converted into issues of ethnicity and religion and so on. So, these are some of the challenges we have to face but we are doing the best we can.
“Our religion is our personal business. Most people in this country believe in one God. We believe we are worshipping the same God in different ways. The moment I got elected, the number of people that came to me who wanted to be the secretary of Muslim Pilgrims Board showed to me that there was a problem. Nobody wanted to be commissioner of finance and so on. That means there is something happening there in the name of religion. But honestly, one of the legacies Arch. Barnabas Bala Bantex and I want to leave behind in this state is the complete separation of religion from governance and hypocrisy associated with it.
“I say hypocrisy because the same person that preaches and incites people against a Christian has no problem going to the hospital to see a Christian doctor if the doctor is good. He would not remember that the doctor is a Christian then. In my opinion, they are just blowing this thing to cause problem and distract ordinary people while they take advantage of the situation and system. We want to eliminate that in Kaduna, we want everyone to feel that, in this state, you can practise your religion without hindrance and your religion and ethnicity would not be a factor in getting government services and appointments. It must be your capacity and competence to deliver, that’s all.
“The problem that we found in Kaduna state is that ethnicity and religion come first, competence and capacity last. We want to reverse that: because we believe that those who work, those that are competent, those that can deliver benefit everyone. I don’t need to have someone from my local government if the government is working. But, if the government is not working and then everybody is stealing, then I would want to have a representative there. This is what has turned our heads. I am appealing to you as our partners, as those that communicate with the general public to help us in our effort to make this state better. When a government works, it works for everybody. Government cannot choose to have schools for one ethnic group or one religion alone. That is what we want to move away from and you can help”.
Erasmus Ikhide, a social activist, writes from Lagos,
twitter @IkhideErasmus1