FEMI ABBAS 

 

The title of today’s article in this column is the title of a lecture that yours sincerely was invited by Nigerian Interreligious Council (NIREC) to deliver as a guest speaker at its two days meeting of February 11 and 12, 2013 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

It was the tradition of NIREC to organize lectures on a quarterly basis to enhance its members’ understanding of the other religion. Thus, as yours sincerely was invited by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) to deliver a lecture on ‘Solution to Terrorism’ from Islamic perspective, so was a Professor from the University of Jos invited by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to deliver a similar lecture from Christian perspective.

His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto, was present at that meeting as the President General of the NSCIA and Co Chairman of NIREC while Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsegbulemi Oritsejafor was also present as the President of CAN and Co Chairman of NIREC.

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State at that time was Godswill Akpabio who was also present at the occasion”.

“But surprisingly, an incident occurred on that occasion, which has since remained an indelible scar on the body of NIREC. Shortly before the commencement of the programme, the CAN leaders suddenly came up with a strange demand.

They indicated that the delivery of Femi Abbas’ own lecture would not be allowed. And no reason was given. All efforts by the leadership of NSCIA to know the reason why Femi Abbas’ lecture would not be allowed ended in a forlorn as CAN members threatened to walk out of the venue if NSCIA insisted on the presentation of the lecture”.

Resolution

After a long time of debate and arguments on that strange demand, the NSCIA decided to rest the matter by allowing CAN to have its way if only to avoid sending a wrong signal with dangerous backlash implications to the nation.

After all, it would be ridiculous for the NSCIA with its globally acknowledged dignity to joins issues with CAN on a frivolous demand.

Thus, the Professor from the University of Jos presented his own lecture from Christian perspective while yours sincerely was given the treatment of ‘a chicken in a pond’.

If that was not terrorism what other name could it be called? Now, ironically, it is the same CAN that is organizing and coordinating a nationwide Christian walk against terrorism. Is that not laughable? But since no one can give what it does not have, it cannot be surprising that nationwide walk is CAN’s own solution to terrorism.

Backlash

For five years after that unbridled insult, no NIREC meeting was held until 2018 when another President of CAN emerged in the person of Dr. Supo Ayokunle who has since continued his predecessor’s belligerent propaganda in the name of religion.

Meanwhile, despite the shoddy treatment given to the Muslim wing of NIREC by CAN, it was the latter that still went public on the matter by accusing the NSCIA of blocking NIREC meetings.

But for large- heartedness and magnanimity of His Eminence, the Sultan, NIREC would have been permanently forgotten and probably consigned to the refuse bin of Nigerian history.

Please, read below the contents of the lecture which the CAN, under Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, prevented yours sincerely from presenting for undisclosed reason:

The Lecture

‘Terrorism: Genesis, Causes, Effect and Solution’.

“In Yoruba ancient mythology, a dragon fly dancing on the surface of a stream was believed to symbolize a puzzling omen.

But convinced that killing the fly would not remove the omen, the elders in that vicinity consulted an oracle which disclosed that the dancing dragon fly had its drummer beneath the water.

Unless that drummer could be identified and stopped from drumming, the dragon fly might continue to frighten the stream water drawers with its puzzling dance ad infinitum”.

Historical Factors

“The historical factors that gave rise to terrorism clearly transcend religion. When the first act of terrorism was perpetrated by a Jewish Zealot group, over 2,000 years ago, neither Christianity nor Islam had taken any firm root.

Although Prophet Isa (Jesus) had come and gone by then, his divine mission had not effectively reached the Gentile. And Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who later brought Islam to mankind had not been born.

If violence alone is what constitutes terrorism as many people wrongly tend to believe, then, it never emanated from religion though religion has sometimes been used as a cover up and blamed for it. No genuine message from Allah ordains or supports violence of any form among human beings.

Therefore, the engendered terrorism by the Jewish Zealots in year 06 CE was rather a violent expression of resentment for the domination of the Jews by the Roman Gentile than a fight between two religions (see Luke 6:15, Acts 1: 13 and Mathew 10: 4 for confirmation in the St. James edition of the Bible). By connotation, that resentment was a resistance to exploitative domination of a culture by another culture. Thus, as it was in the beginning, so it is today.

The Theory of Terrorism

From the brief historical account just given above, it should be clear that terrorism is neither a phenomenon peculiar to the modern time nor a new innovation rooted in religion. And its causes and effects remain the same today as they were some centuries back.

What should be understood about terrorists’ method of operation is that any evil doer will simply look for a justifying reason to indulge in. And it does not matter to them whether such reason is tenable or untenable.

Read Also: Presidency lauds CAN for anti-killing protest march

 

And, invariably, the reason often given is one that appeals to people of their like minds at least in the immediate vicinity. This is to elicit sympathy and support of feeble-minded elements around with tendency for roguery.

The common denominator among all terrorists is the theory of “using what you have to get what you want”. This theory has a fundamental meaning to all peaceful or violent agitators in their quest for they often call redress against what they perceive as injustice”.

Beyond Boko Haram

“It is not only in Nigeria that some vandals like Boko Haram and Akhwat Akwop are using religion (Islam and Christianity respectively) as cover for terrorism. At least the case of Joseph Kony of Uganda who waged a rebellious war on his country and on Central Africa Republic for decades ‘in the name of Jesus’ can still be vividly remembered.

For over two decades of his atrocious operations, that former Catholic altar boy from northern Uganda used Biblical Ten Commandments to execute his terrorist activities with which he recruited thousands of kids into his army and killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of innocent people including women and children indiscriminately.

At least for that calamitous period, Joseph Kony and his over 3,000 heavily armed teenage soldiers that constituted a terror army in the region were a minority group among Ugandan Christians just as the devilish Boko Haram members in Nigeria are a minority group claiming to be Muslims and using Islam as a cover. Yet, Kony’s evil activities did not make him a crusader for God as he claimed neither was Christianity blamed for his satanic activities”.

“Anybody can give any religious or mundane reason to justify any evil activity, according to his or her interpretation of the religion or ideology he claims to profess in order to get what he/she wants. But that does not make such an evil agent a true adherent or representative of his claimed religion or ideology”.

“The concern here is much more about national security, through safety of lives and property than flagrant apportionment of blames through sheer religious sentiment”.

Origin of Atomic Bomb

“In modern time, the origin of using bomb either as a weapon for war or as an instrument for terrorism can be traced back to 1939.

In August that year, a German American physicist, Albert Einstein, sent a letter to the then U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to hint him of the possibility of discovering a powerful explosive device through the fission of uranium and warned Roosevelt of the danger in allowing other nations to develop it before the US.

In response, the U.S. government established the top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 to develop an atomic device.

The leader of that Project was a U.S. Army Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves whose team worked in several locations but largely at Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The team designed and built the first atomic bomb which was test-exploded at Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. And that was the weapon used by the US to destroy Japan’s two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the World War II an incident that brought that war to an abrupt end”.

Non-Proliferation Treaty

“Following the above episode, the fear of proliferation of nuclear arsenal compelled the so-called super powers to initiate the idea of Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty which was signed in 1968. By that initiative, virtually all countries of the world besides the known nine nuclear nations formally pledged not to manufacture those weapons.

The pledge was made under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which came into force in 1970. The treaty was later ratified by 187 non-nuclear weapon states. Yet, secret proliferation of those weapons remains one of the major causes of terrorism in the world today”.

Global Concern

“The problem concerning terrorism here is not about the signing or breaching of treaty per se. Neither is it about armament reduction. It is rather about some nations’ determination to balance power with rivals.

This was the factor that led to the invention of atomic bomb by the US in the first instance. And this factor has now advanced to the stage of balance of terror not only among nations but even more between those perceived as oppressors and certain groups who feel oppressed.

Thus, the more the knowledge of developing weapons of mass destruction keeps spreading, and the more the strategy for policing proliferation of nuclear weapons becomes intensified, the more the world is finding it difficult to ventilate a peaceful atmosphere for any confident existence of mankind”.

The Super Power Syndrome

“The lopsidedness created by the super power syndrome has turned the whole world into one massive animal farm in which all animals are supposed to be equal but some are claiming to be more equal than others.

This was the kind of situation which forced the former colonies to rebel against their colonizers in various ways in order to become independent.

One can imagine what could have happened if other super powers like Russia and China were to be as aggressively bellicose as the US, Britain and France. Arrogance of power is a major propelling force  that often instigates terrorism in various parts of the world, which must be shed if terrorism will be sincerely repelled.

Today, terrorism has so much become an implacable monster that no single country or clique of power mongers can confront without the cooperation of all other countries. And such cooperation must be on the terms of majority of those other countries and not on master/servant terms”.

 

Internal Terrorism

“As for internal terrorism which is far more dangerous than the external one, only good governance can curb it and ventilate the atmosphere for peace”.

“No government has ever been able to defeat terrorism by the use of force. Nigeria cannot be an exception. Wherever terrorism is seen to have simmered, diplomacy and dialogue, rather than force, must have played a vital role in its dysfunction.

This fact must be considered very seriously. And in finding solution, three major hitherto unfocused areas must now be handled without levity. One is checkmating sources of weapons used by the terrorists. Another is a device for mass employments of the youths.

And the third is official regulation of religious propagation in the country to check possible excesses that often breed fanaticism as well as the danger in commercialization of religion. Managing these three areas will definitely make tremendous difference in curbing the spate of violence in the land”.

Conclusion

“Despite our diversity in tongues and faiths in Nigeria, we have managed to come this far to live together in harmony as a people. What remains is the maintenance of that togetherness based on tolerance and compromise. We must not allow religious or tribal sentiments to destroy the house which the Almighty Allah has guided us to jointly build. God bless Nigeria!

 Femi Abbas

 

“Right-wing propagandists like Limbaugh and Coulter are essentially entertainers, entertainers who stimulate prejudice, selfishness and meanness the way a comedian works for laughs or a tragedian plays for tears. Theirs is a new art form, exclusive to America and bewilderingly successful. In place of traditional conservative ideology, they offer their audience partisan belligerence and a complete package of mail-order hatreds, designed for the conceptually and ethically impaired”.    By Hal Crowther

 

Peoples’ public utterances or conducts, in any decent society or civilized culture, are a vivid reflection of the houses in which those people live. A discernible person does not necessarily need to visit such houses before knowing whether they are built of glass or of mud.

Perhaps, that is why a common African adage which says that “an empty vessel makes the loudest noise”, is always handy and potent across nations and cultures in this tropic continent when it comes to lousiness in utterances.

Whenever some concerned  Muslims become restless and agitated about the constant foraging belligerence with which some unguarded mouths whose monotonous hobby is to disparage Islam and Muslims that adage is the reference with which they are calmed.

After all, it is better for any bottle that is overfilled with a bobbling liquid to experience a revolt from within its hollow self than from outside its clime. That is a matter of diabolical insurrection. It was this undisputable   fact that motivated the title of today’s article in this column.

 

The First Salvo

The first salvo against the unbridled allegations of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was fired last week, by an unassuming   Nigerian member of that Association who is known for thoroughness and frankness on conviction.

His name is Philip Agbese, a Christian theology teacher from Benue State. His salvo this time was aimed at curbing certain frivolously reckless statements often made bellicosely by certain unguarded clerics in the name of CAN.

But despite the frankness with which he sent his message, Philip Agbese, as usual, ensured that his message was a clear admonition meant to save today’s Nigerian Christian flock from derailing spiritually. Below is his message:

“Let me begin with self-introduction. I am a Christian and a communicant of the Roman Catholic sect. In life, change is inevitable. So, at some point in my undergraduate days, my faith dragged me to the Pentecostal ministry on campus.

I rose to the rank of an Assistant Pastor with a campus Pentecostal ministry. I have served in similar capacities at home and abroad.

I played strong and influencing roles at the University of Ilorin Christian Fellowship Association (UCFA). It was at a time most of the leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) now were still in Theological Seminaries for vocational training in order to become pastors”.

 

Testimony

“By my religious practice, I have tested the fruits and experienced the teachings/doctrines of both orthodox and Pentecostal Christian sects. My faith has remained strong and unwavering in the worship of God through the Christian religion.

My romance with multiple Christian organizations is enduring. I am versed in the doctrines of the church and the modus operandi of Christian associations, like adherents of Aristotle and Socrates.

In the past few days, the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), its sub- associations and the Presidency have been embroiled in very bile public altercations.

The recent war of words is spurred by the unfortunate abduction and eventual death of Pastor Lawan Andimi, the CAN Chairman, Michika LGA, Adamawa state and others by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Nigeria.

It’s a doleful moment for the Christian community in Nigeria. I empathize with all the brethren and the government of Nigeria over these tragic incidents.

Like English poet and cleric in the Church of England, John Donne said in a verse, “Oh death, thou are wicked.” May we be consoled, as we pray for God’s intervention to halt the evil and beastliness which have engulfed our land”.

 

Unwarranted Brawls

The brawls between CAN leaderships at different levels and the Presidency as symbolized by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina have degenerated into plain invectives and resort to uncouth language by CAN, which smolders with hate passions.

I have keenly monitored these exchanges. What I discerned clearly is its slide into who is right or wrong between CAN and Adesina. And by my treasured experience, vintage position and knowledge of the issues, I should be able to tell between CAN and Adesina who is wrong.

Abroad for further studies, I remained an elder in the Student Campus Fellowship of Salem Church, United Kingdom (UK).

I have busied myself with the gospel for many years in foreign lands. And I still render my assistance even whilst on leave from the pulpit. All these qualify me both as a believer and a Christian elder to interrogate the position of these two believers- that is, CAN and Adesina”.

 

Disappointing response

The recent response of a Christian sub-group by the identity of Nigeria Christian Graduate Fellowship (NCGF) to Adesina titled “No, Adesina, You Are Wrong,” was most disappointing. It was signed by Prof. Charles Adisa and Mr Onyenachi Nwaegeruo, National President and General Secretary of the association respectively.

In the public statement, in reaction to the Presidential media aide’s earlier position at the doorstep of CAN’s national leadership, I was stunned at the sheer display of unjustified anger, umbrage and a vacuous appeal to Adesina to repress the truth because it concerns Christians.

We must know and uphold the religious sanctity that truth should not only be domiciled in our churches, but also in our hearts as Christians.

We cannot seek to replace mendacity with falsehood because of the desperation to erect a bulwark around Christianity. I find the outbursts of CAN and NCGF very abhorring; profanely ungodly!

I perused repeatedly to find where Adesina’s reply to CAN denigrated church leadership, disappointed Christian or where he reneged from supporting the church when it mattered most as generously pontificated by NCGF. But there was no such clue either overt or concealed”.

 

Partisan “Messengers

Some of us have come to understand that national leadership of CAN and affiliate associations have become misguided and partisan messengers of God on the pulpit.

They have no regard for either the teachings of Christ or the religious doctrines they publicly profess. They have de-robed themselves of truth for partisan convenience!

For a first, it is now common knowledge that CAN has over polluted itself and can no longer speak for the body of Christ.

Yes, I say this with a religious conviction because in our clime, religion and politics are distinct. Any attempt to lump the two as presently promoted by CAN disrupts religious and political harmony.

So, CAN or NCGF’s statement in countering Adesina were more political and betrayed the body of Christ in Nigeria.

I agree with Adesina that CAN cannot mix sympathy and bias wrapped in one. CAN cannot erect a multiple tripod. It should confine itself to issues of religion. It has no business dictating to President Muhammadu Buhari how to administer Nigeria or when to sack his Service and Security Chiefs”.

 

Functions of Opposition

CAN cannot overtly perform the functions of opposition parties. And that’s where Adesina is right! It was enough to mourn the death of Pastor Andimi and others murdered by terrorists.

It touches my heart deeply. It was alright to persuade the Presidency to ensure the release of our little sister, Leah Sharibu still in captivity of Boko Haram.

But I was amazed when CAN began to raise issues of the President’s bias, nepotism or lopsided appointments and determining who should be sacked, retained or appointed by Mr. President. It is stretching their freedom of expression and religious liberty beyond the limits of church righteousness”.

 

Discord and concord

“Adesina could not have been wrong to draw attention to their reckless comments. Like Adesina said, “You can’t sow discord, and expect concord.” I don’t know which clause in Nigeria’s laws recognizes CAN under the Federal Character principle for it to morph into a partisan or ethnic pressure group against the federal government. The response of NCGF was most unchristian.

They bandied falsehood, as facts and inflated figures of terrorism/ herdsmen killings in Nigeria under the Buhari Presidency. And NCGF embellished hate preachments coated in their known partisan biases.

I was pissed off completely, when NCGF said, “Finally, on the general security situation in the country, does it not occur to Adesina that he is deluded to believe that their government is winning the war against insurgency? He is not seeing that whatever seem to be the magic and gains of 2015 has been reversed in 2019.

Yes, there are no incessant bomb explosions, but number of Nigerians killed by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen between 2018-2019 are far higher than 2009-2014. Can Adesina check available records both within and outside the country?”

Haba! Why would leaders of the church publicly lie so freely? I don’t know which authority they gleaned to arrive at such humongous figures”.

Read Also: CAN disowns ‘pastor’ who faked own kidnap

 

Report of Amnesty

I advise CAN to visit the 2019 report of Amnesty International (AI), Nigeria’s covert enemies; Human Rights Watch (HRW) and any other such organization which document Boko Haram/herdsmen killings in Nigeria within the period they cited. Its only at this point, CAN would realize that they lied to themselves and the Christian community while standing on the sacred pulpit.

Let me juxtapose this single incident of terrorism. On January 3-7, 2015, serial raids of Baga town, in Northern Borno state by Boko Haram, left nearly 2,000 persons dead.

When CAN takes time to consult AI, HRW and similar other organizations’ latest reports on documented history of Boko Haram/herdsmen killings, it will dawn on these leaders how they lied to service their ego. I don’t expect barefaced lies from my Christian brethren intent of discrediting the Buhari Presidency.

And as far back as 2013, former President Goodluck Jonathan told the UNGA in New York that Boko Haram has killed over 13, 000 Nigerians from 2009 to 2013.

These are figures in public domain. CAN cannot mix hatred for Buhari with hypocritic posturing for Nigeria’s Christian community.

Buhari is antichristian, insisted NCGF! That has been the narrative concocted against President Buhari for ages. But in the general Christian community in Nigeria, we have come to know it only exists in the imagination of leaders of CAN.

Adesina cannot be wrong by asserting that such malicious persecution of Buhari has outlived its usefulness. It’s extremely stale! Facts on the ground heatedly contradicts the position of these CAN leaders”.

 

Candid Advice

“I advise CAN and other Nigerians not to look far, but revisit even results of the 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria. Buhari was not only overwhelmingly reelected with majority votes.

Interestingly however, bulk of these votes for President Buhari came from Christians and Christian states.

What other affirmation does CAN requires to know President Buhari has no religious bias or is an Islamic extremist? Much as I can understand, CAN leaders spoke in favour of personalized convictions, which have nothing to do with Nigeria’s Christian community or the Church of God.

I dare say, whilst Adesina is doing his job as Presidential spokesman and can easily be forgiven, the leadership of CAN is indebted to Nigerians. CAN owes the entire body of Christ in Nigeria an apology for polluting the organization with lies and profane thoughts.

It must apologize for its other scandalous acts. This CAN is evil in itself and the crux of the multi-layered problems besieging and compounding Nigeria’s progressive development”.

 

Boko Haram and CAN

“May I boldly state that CAN is older than Boko Haram in evil and wickedness. It is better for unbelievers to pledge allegiance to the god of Mammon, but worse for believers. The Bible says such a person will roast in hell.

This is the same body that went to town to celebrate one of its own after a sister accused him of rape. It took the intervention of some “ungodly believers” Christians’ like us for the voice of the sister to be heard, even if for the sake of fairness.

It is the same CAN that defended Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM) who stood on the sacred altar and incited his congregants to kill every Fulani man at sight, much against Biblical injunctions and religious/church teachings.

I have known CAN for many years as a disgrace to the body of Christ. In 2005, one of the wings of CAN was enmeshed in the Benny Hinn crusade scandal in Nigeria for doing everything wrong.

That wing of CAN later took over the leadership of CAN. It has left us with this odious stench that each time we tell people that we are Christians, we must hide our faces in shame”.

 

Conclusion

CAN, you are so wrong on the Buhari Presidency! I pray that CAN should rediscover itself. Almighty God, we seek your intervention!”

 

Second Salvo

In another development, one other Christian group named United Christian Forum of Nigeria (UCFN) made a press on Tuesday, January 28, 2020. In which it differred with CAN on Religious Persecution” and caution the latter against inflaming the country with religious brigandage.

The group disagreed with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) over the latter’s allegation that the Boko Haram unrest was targeted at persecution of Christians. The Secretary-General of UCFN, Rev. Oyekanmi Rafael who presented the statement advised the leadership of CAN and opposition politicians against helping insurgents to cause unrest in the country.

Addressing a world press conference in Lagos, the forum expressed worry over what it called, “wording and choice of language” used by CAN and opposition leaders in response to recent killings in the North-East. Rev. Rafael stressed that playing the religious card could sow the seed of “discord, disunity and inflame passions of hate and violence in Nigeria.”

He decried the recent killings and attacks carried out by the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), as well as the high rate of kidnapping, abductions, armed robbery, herders/farmers clashes and other communal activities.

The UCFN scribe specifically condemned the killing of CAN chairman of Michika LGA in Adamawa State, Pastor Lawan Andimi by the Boko Haram and other clergymen murdered by the insurgents while commiserating with their families.

The group however differed with the CAN leadership, saying it was “astounded” by their reaction which gave religious colouration to the heightened insurgents’ attacks. “But as much as these incidents are painful and near inconsolable especially to the families of the victims, there is cause for us as leaders at whatever level or as individuals to observe restraint in the sentimental interpretations we give to the unfortunate incidents”.

 

Comment

Given the delicate national situation of this period in Nigeria, it is assumed that the two statements above will not be tagged a ploy to ‘islamize’ Nigeria as the usual? Those two statements were brought up in this column not only to show that some people are reasoning, but also to congratulate Muslim leaders in the country for not joining provocative words with war mongers.

By Femi Abbas

 

Another week of tears and sorrow began in Nigeria last Monday with throbs of agonizing   breaking news from the media waves revealing an episode of gruesome murder of two prominent Nigerians in two different parts of the country.

One of those said to have been murdered was Reverend Lawan Andimi, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government area of Adamawa State. The other, was Idnatius Adunukwe, a Lagos-based billionaire business mogul from Ebugu State.

The one was reportedly killed in Michika, Adamawa State of Northern Nigeria by members of the satanic group of brigands called Boko Haram. The other was allegedly killed by certain dare devil agents of the Lucifer in Ajah, Lekki area of Lagos State.

 

The Puzzling Aspect

The puzzling aspect of the agonizing incidents is the coincidence in time and manner of the murder of both men almost one thousand kilometers apart. Yet, there is no evidence of any linkage in the evil operations of those criminal groups.

This is a confirmation that money-induced crimes have become a coded conundrum which all Nigerians must jointly stand up with determination to decode in unison irrespective of ethnic or religious background.

To engage in stratification of such crimes by narrowing them down to religion, as some people are now doing, is to trivialize human life and thereby strengthen the criminals who often take joy in societal division over their criminal activities.

 

Equal Mourning

Incidentally, the two personalities murdered for ransom this time are Christians whose deaths deserve equal condemnation and mourning.

And it is evident that over 95% of those who have been killed in the Northeast region since the emergence of Boko Haram in 2009 were Muslims. Also, more than 90% of those displaced from their homes and are still aimlessly marauding are Muslims.

If the human vampires called Boko Haram members are hiding under religion to commit death-terminating crime, does that make them religious? And in another skirmish in the same Northeast region about three days ago, seven Nigerian soldiers were killed by Boko Haram devil in an ambush were several others were terribly wounded.

And nobody asked whether those killed soldiers were Muslims or Christians. All we know is that they were human beings and Nigerians who ordinarily deserved to live and live well.

If the devil reincarnate group in Lagos and other parts of the country are taking business as the cloak under which they are operating, does that make them business people? From the names and origin of those arrested for killing billionaire Anukwu, it is clear that they are all Christians? In such a situation what moral right will anybody claim to term the killing of that man a religious persecution?

 

In the Melee

Unfortunately, in the melee of all these crimes the only available weapon for most Nigerians (Muslims or Christians) to counter the seemingly implacable menace in the country is verbal condemnation which is grossly ineffective. If there is any time to admit the truth and face the reality that crime has neither religion nor ethnicity, it is now.

 

A Criminal Conundrum

Before the two men named above were gruesomely   murdered, they had been separately kidnapped for ransom and their killers did not ask about their ethnicity or religion.

What mattered to those devil reincarnates was money and nothing more than the satanic money which they wanted by all means.

By the way, even after the devils that killed CAN Chairman were offered N50 million, according to reports, did they not go ahead to kill him? And that was not the first time they did that. The case of a Muslim traditional ruler who was killed in a similar circumstance remains fresh in the memory of his family and relatives.

 

What Matters

On the other hand, what now matters to the families, relatives and associates of these two latest victims as well as all other Nigerians who value sanctity of human life is the fact that the two murdered personalities were not just human beings but also Nigerians with right to live.

They had spouses, children and dependents. Thus, they were not the only victims of such fortuitous death in the hands of those devils. Their dependents too have been subjected to partial death.

Although the criminals in the case of Adunukwe have been arrested, according to the Nigerian Police, and they have reportedly made confessional and other useful statements, many questions are still waiting for answers.

For instance what becomes of those criminals after arrest and trial? And how can such evil occurrences be   prevented permanently in Nigeria? Meanwhile, there has been no clue to how the kidnappers and killers of the murdered CAN Chairman can be tracked down and arrested. Rather, we are all busy lamenting as if lamentation is the solution to these heinous crimes.

 

Incompatible Law

Now, if we truly want to face the reality of this time in Nigeria without self-deception, we should reintroduce death sentence as punishment for murder and even other major crimes including corruption.

To continue with a law system that is incompatible with our culture and tradition as Nigerians is to set a guillotine for ouselves in a deceptive circumstance.

Besides, should the loud echoes of ‘human rights’ for criminals who sentence innocent Nigerians to death without any regard for law be further encouraged? Is human rights advocacy for criminals not tantamount to encouragement for crimes? We need to ponder on these facts and call on our legislators to act accordingly.

We are able to lament on the death of those who were gruesomely killed because we are alive, we do not know whose turn is next under the criminals’ guillotine.

 

Nigeria as a Drama Theatre

Writing a drama is like conceiving a pregnancy in the womb of a woman. Can any responsible impregnator claim to be confortable until the conceived child is delivered? For a drama to be practically actable the writer must take into consideration not only the theme, the setting, the characters and the complications that may build up spirally to the climax in such a drama. He must also think of the anti-climax of the drama as well as its possible denouement.

 

A Playwright’s Ingenuity

Nothing shows the ingenuity of a playwright as vividly as the crew of actors who put into action the script that gives brings the drama alive on stage in the first place.

Such is like delivering a pregnant woman of her pregnancy successfully. If the delivery process is not carefully handled, the deliverer may end up becoming an undertaker.

And that is when a drama is said to be tragic. The similitude of a playwright in today’s Nigeria is like that of the rule of law.

In any democratic country, operating laws are based on the constitution. But where the constitution of country is borrowed from another country without any regard for the cultural tradition of the borrower, any misdemeanour of such a country must not be seen as strange.

 

The World as a Paradox

The entire world today is a paradoxical theatre in which about eight billion human beings including Nigerians are watching a drama. Whether for ecstasy or dismay, the viewers of the drama may randomly roar into controversies as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer in the theatre is what may become of his favourite character.

Read Also: NGF condemns killing of CAN chairman by Boko Haram

 

In the current global drama against which we had been admonished in the Qur’an as quoted above, the concern of this columnist is the ‘colony’ called Nigeria.

This is not just because the colony is my immediate constituency it is also because Nigeria is the heart of Africa and the headquarters of the black race. If anything negative happens to her the whole of Africa and even the entire black race may cease to be at rest.

 

Hidden Agenda

A clandestine script was unveiled in respect of Nigeria in 1995. Its contents revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by year 2015.

The designers of that devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without suggesting any solution. And, to portray their dream as a realizable one, they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project using some hazardous occurrences in the land as evidence.

For students of International Relations, such a prediction could not have been strange. It was part of the strategies often used by the imperialists either to re-colonize some old colonies psychologically or to scoop on and dominate their economies in a typical imperial capitalist manner.

They had done it successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations all of which have had their bitter testes of the pillage can testify to this assertion.

It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonization of African tribes. If any of the above countries had resisted the evil project and stood their ground at the time of execution of that evil project, perhaps the world would have been spared of the throat-cutting threat posed today by the United States and her allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

 

The Cult of Capitalism

Incidentally, the US which now champions the imperialists’ cult had also been a victim of this same imperialists’ guillotine especially in the hands of Britain.

Yet, the cult of capitalism which has become their common bound would not allow the duo of US and Britain, which had been mutually antagonistic, to dwell differently today because it is only in such connivance that the fruits of their common interest can be harvested.

Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from countries that had toed the imperialists’ path.

Rather than looking inwards for solution to our domestic problems as the US did before the two World Wars, our governments (Federal and State) do not only look up to ‘Uncle Sam’ for solution even to a minor problem but also cry out to the President of America for help to overcome minor hitches.

It is just like the situation of a baby who has so much adapted to being spoon-fed that he would want the ladle to remain in his mouth even while asleep.

 

Today’s Nigerians

Today, Nigerians can hardly think on anything without reference to America or Europe. Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise.

This has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Rather, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in a particular year even when there is no concrete plan for such.

No truly progressive country has ever indulged in such a senseless propaganda with success. What would have ordinarily justified such   propaganda is to surprisingly zoom into the global economic stage as the above listed countries had done. But Nigeria’s endemic corruption that has become a culture would not allow such a progressive leap.

 

Security Architecture

The security of any serious country is like the heart in human body. Handing it over to someone else is like paving way for one’s own death. No serious government will ever trivialize the existence of its nation to that extent.

We all know that whoever pays the piper must surely dictate the tune. And in diplomacy, there is neither permanent friend nor permanent enemy.

A government is said to be of essence and in control of affairs only if it is believed to be capable of protecting its citizenry and defending the territorial integrity of its nation.

Any government that is incapable of doing this and would rather decide to throw the gates of its nation open to foreigners for whatever reason is unfit to be called a government.

That was the prevailing situation for many years before the current government came on board. But despite well intentioned efforts of the current regime to rectify the situation, the forces of evil are bent on the continuity of their evil machinations as facilitated by indemnified corruption. Where are going from here?

 

Nigeria’s Vintage Position

The real problem that Nigeria constitutes in Africa today is that of serving as a regional incubator for corruption and yet continues to depend on the engineers of Africa’s problems for unrealizable solution. In a logical poetic stanza many centuries ago, an Arab poet once opined thus:

“We all blame our time for our misdemeanour; when the misdemeanour blamed on our time is actually in us; We smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleanse us of any blame; Were time endowed with mouth to comment on us, it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; Certainly no hyena eats a fellow hyena; as some of us, humans, openly eat the flesh of our fellow human beings”.

 

The Truth of the Matter

The truth of the matter is that the roots of the multi-dimensional problems staring Nigeria on the face today are traceable mostly to the corridors of our governments.

Of all the vices that constitute seemingly insuperable problems for Nigeria today particularly corruption, none originated from a source other than that of the governments. Even where such corruption happens in the private sector, it will be discovered to be a derivative of the public sector either through obnoxious policies or deliberate nepotism or religious irredentism.

How, on earth, can we classify the case of a notorious, so-called frontline cleric, who was given contract by the government in 2014 to smuggle arms and ammunition into our country from South Africa with his own private jet in the name of political patronage in a multi ethnic and multi religious society like Nigeria? Yet, the same government wanted Nigerians to accept that fraudulent act as a normal government business.

 

We are our own Problem

We are our own problem. We know the sources of what we call problems. And we know how to proffer solution to them.

But we inadvertently incubate such problems to enable us find our own selfish way without minding where that way may lead us. And, like ‘lotus eaters’ in ‘Odipuxs Rex’, we are so much drunk with the lotion of corruption that it has become difficult if not impossible for us to part way with it.

Thus, like the pot that calls the kettle black we continue to deceive ourselves by mischievously passing the bulk anytime the die is cast.

 

Admonition

Allah’s words will never look for relevance. They are forever the reference points for those who are rightly guided. Through such words, Allah warns in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah does not change the situation of a nation or community until they themselves have resolved to change it through their attitude”.

Acting the imperialists’ evil script as often done will do no one any good in this country. Nigeria must be herself without blindly imitating any other country. The beginning may be tough. The road may be rough. The journey may be long. But the destination is reachable. GOD SAVE NIGERIA!

By Femi Abbas

 

“Whoever deviates from My guidance will surely live a hanging life and he will be resurrected a blind person in the Hereafter…” Q.4:115

 

Monologue

This article is an update of an earlier one published in this column on the same subject matter some time ago. The need for this update is warranted by the seeming diehard nature of the subject in question. And the current rapid frightening developments engendered in the Middle East by President Donald Trump of the United States are a confirmed justification for this update.

 

Today, ‘The Message’ column decides to migrate from the chronic insanity of Nigeria’s political/religious tempest, being elicited by some Nigerian satanic agents, to an implacable global imbroglio being bellicosely engineered by a disastrous American ‘Trump’ who is vigorously fanning the ember of an impending disastrous American war furnace with which to roast the world flesh and soul.

Perhaps through such a migration, a way of inhaling a breeze of peaceful atmosphere in Nigeria may be paved even if temporarily.

 

Trump’s Predating Venture

At the instance of an accidental American ‘demonic Fuhrer’ called Donald Trump, whose ancestral origin is Germany where a devilish Adolf Hitler ignited the World War II in 1939, another global war may soon be fortuitously inflamed, the consequences of which no mortal being may be able to predict with precision.

As a matter of fact, the agenda for this impending global war had been   clandestinely kept in the front burner of Trump’s administration since his assumption of office as American President in January 2016. And the agenda has been gathering such a demonic momentum that is capable of causing a global cataclysmic shudder signalling a dangerously swinging pendulum of unwarranted war.

 

Memory Lane

It will be recalled that since Trump manoeuvred his way surreptitiously to presidential power despite losing the US presidential election to Hilary Clinton by over three million votes in 2015, he has been restively engaged in multifarious tacit wars of attrition with virtually all continents of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa and even South America directly or indirectly.

At least, the memory of his confrontation with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un and his frequent vociferous altercations with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping as well as his diplomatic row with the French President, Emmanuel Macron and the Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are too many to forget so soon.

Also, the case of his unilateral declaration of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel against the United Nation’s authentic resolution to the contrary remains fresh in the memory of the world.

his obnoxious position over the callous murder in cold blood of the Saudi Arabian born American journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, are citable in the catalogue of his crimes against humanity.

 

A Bull in the China Shop

Besides the above, it is historically unforgettable that in almost two and a half centuries of America’s post- independence existence, no President of that country has ever sacked and replaced as many of the Principal staff in the White House as Trump has done in less than three years.

Even his official declaration of the entire American media as an open enemy of his regime is enough attestation to this man’s draconian hallucination. All these have turned the US’ White House into a china shop occupied by a wild bull.

 

Assassination of Iranian General     

Last Friday, the cable network globally throbbed with breaking news revealing the assassination of an Iranian Army General, Qosem Soleimani, by the American forces at Baghdad airport in Iraq on the instruction of Donald Trump.

That heinous act has attracted a reprisal from Iran which commenced last Wednesday after the heroic burial of the late General. Such reprisal was the first by Iran against the Us since the faceoff between the countries began in 1979. It was a direct way of saying enough is enough.

 

A President’s Brigandage

A couple of years ago, Al-Jazeera Television reported the news of an American military drone that was fortuitously shot down by the Iranian National Guards on Iranian territory. That was the second time a dangerous accident of that nature occurred on Iranian territory within a decade.

It is on record that some years back, an American war plane strayed into the airspace of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the troops of the latter nation promptly shot it down. The incident occurred when Dr. Barak Obama was the President of the US.

And that incident looked like the climax of an American allegation that Iran was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, especially, nuclear armaments. That disturbing development which dragged Iran to the United Nation’s Security Council for explanation further heightened the already existing tension between the US and Iran which had been on for decades.

 

Genesis of Faceoff

The genesis of the faceoff between the West and Iran actually took roots in the latter’s unexpected revolution of 1979 which caused a diplomatic row between the two geographical blocks. That row actually started in February 1979, when Iran jumped democratically onto the world stage with a fortuitous revolution that held the monarchs of the Arab States of the Gulf region spellbound.

The revolution was the climax of the struggle, in Iran, which began in 1963 between the oppressed people who were seeking emancipation from the shackles of proxy American imperialism and the implacable internal oppressors who wanted to keep that country’s innocent peasants in perpetual subservience to enable the country maintain the ugly status quo of the time.

It was the miraculous success of that revolution that altered the grand design of the Western powers for the Muslim world.

 

 Imam Khomeini’s Emergence as Iranian Leader

Following the relentless situation in Iran, which prompted   people’s liberation struggle that commenced in 1963 and culminated in a successful revolution in February 1979, the late Imam Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini emerged as the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Iran.

Unlike Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey, who subjected his country’s culture to that of the West at the expense of Islam in the 1920s, however, Imam Khomeini knew that the greatest virtue that could be lost in the life of man was culture. He knew that without a clear-cut culture a man couldn’t be better than a beast.

He knew that such values as law, education and religion, which guide man in his peregrinations on earth, are the attributes of culture. He knew that a nation, which subjects her culture to that of another nation has enslaved herself permanently to the caprices of the imitated nation.

Thus, Khomeini saw Islam, (the culture of over one billion Muslims in the world at that time), as the main target of the Western imperialists and decided to defend and protect it against the   grand design of the West.

 

The US Rescue Strategy

In the Iranian revolution melee, some Iranian students besieged the American Embassy in Tehran and held the staff therein hostage on allegation of destructive espionage. However, in a desperate move to rescue those staff, the Us deployed some war planes with the instruction to invade the new Islamic Republic and terminate the revolution if possible.

Thus, while some US F15 bomber jets deployed for that assignment were approaching Iran, the then American President Jimmy Carter engaged his country’s top pressmen in a media chat without giving any hint of the impending military operation in Iran.

The tactics was to divert the attention of the press and that of the public from the illegal Pentagon’s military expedition. But no sane person can ever fault the contents of the Qur’an. About 1400 years before that incident, a verse of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) thus: “They (the unbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed. Allah is the supreme schemer”. Q. 3:54.

 

Outcome

Jimmy Carter’s thought was that by the time he would have finished addressing the pressmen the news would have reached him that America had successfully invaded Iran to restore imperialism by reinstating the Shah Pahlavi.

He had therefore intended to announce the news of his ‘great’ successful scheme to the press as the epilogue of his address briefing. And that would have served as his impetus for wining that year’s election for a second term in office. But, as Allah would have it, instead of the expected news, what he got was a shocker of his life.

 

How the Strategy Failed

Two of the F15 fighters deployed for the operation miraculously collided in the air just at the point of entering Iran and crashed with their contents, thereby consuming the lives of the 16 top Air Force officers on board while the other fighter jets had to turn back haven run into confusion.

When that devastating news reached Carter, it was too much for him to hide and it quickly became a public knowledge.

Thus, the mighty America failed woefully, with her technology, in circumstances she has never been able to analyse and explain convincingly. With that scheme, it became obvious that Jimmy Carter of the Democrat Party had dug his own political grave.

Of course, he lost the election to the cowboy turned Politician, (Ronald Reagan) of the Republican Party who succeeded him in office. For about 444 days (well over a year), 52 American diplomats held hostage in the American Embassy remained under the siege of the Iranian students. It took high-level diplomacy, through third party countries, to get them released much later.

 

Freezing of Iran’s Foreign Reserve

Despite getting her staff released through diplomacy, America still felt she was not yet done. She went ahead to freeze Iran’s foreign reserve of about $80 billion in addition to imposition of economic sanctions on that country with the intention of running that country’s economy aground.

The only Iran’s offence in that episode was to have been audacious enough to want to chart an independent political course that could liberate her citizens from the manacles of the Western imperialism championed by the US. Ever since, the relationship between America and Iran has remained icy.

 

The West’s Grand Design

The West’s grand design for the Muslim world through the Middle East was first expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman when he observed as follows:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources.  They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions.

These people have one faith, one language and the same aspiration. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another….If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world.

Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

 

Emergence of Zionism

Sir Bannerman’s observation was in further pursuit of an earlier demand by an Austrian Jewish lawyer and Journalist, Theodor Herzl, the initiator and leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879. In the euphoria of a chauvinist’s ambition, shortly after the establishment of the Zionist movement, Theodor Herzl, made a demand thus:

“Let sovereignty be granted us (the Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation. The rest, we shall manage by ourselves…”

 

Read Also: United States, Iran and the rest of the world

 

The Balfour Declaration

In response to the West’s clandestine agenda many decades after Herzl’s demand, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour, issued a devastatingly insensitive declaration that now bears his name in history. That seemingly conspiratorial declaration, which forcefully conceded a major chunk of Palestinian land to the Zionists as a home, became a thorny point in the serenity of the world.

Since then, the infamous Balfour declaration has put the Middle East in an incessant turmoil to the discomfort of the world’s peace and harmony. The declaration read partly as follows:

“His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”

 

Implementation

To facilitate the implementation of that agenda effectively, some other Middle East countries had to be decapitated economically and politically by excision from them, some juicy chunks of their lands. Thus, Lebanon was excised from Syria and Kuwait from Iraq.

The strategy was to cause a dissention among the citizens of those countries with the intention of breaking the yoke of the Muslim unity which Bannerman had targeted in his infamous observation quoted above.

 

Escalation of Faceoff

Meanwhile, in reaction to the recent fortuitous encounter between Iran and the US as caused by the latter’s intrusion into Iran’s territory which led to Iran’s prompt military reaction, the US authorities said that the destination of the shot American military aircraft was Afghanistan and not Iran. They explained that the pilot of the   plane only accidentally lost control and strayed into Iranian territory.

 

Siege on British Embassy

Shortly before the above narrated incident, Some Iranian students had laid siege on the British Embassy, in Tehran, in protest against what they called an intolerable meddling by the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron’s government, into the internal affairs of Iran.

And in reaction to that siege, Britain quickly evacuated her diplomats in Tehran and sent the Iranian diplomats in London packing despite Iran’s official regret and apology over those students’ unauthorized action.

 

Complication

To further complicate the tension over that incident, the French government issued a 48 hour ultimatum to Iranian diplomats to quit France. That was done in solidarity with the British government in the spirit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as European Union (EU).

From thence, things started to move so fast that it became difficult to predict what would happen next. Most diplomatic observers saw a similarity between those developments and the unexpected occurrences of the early 20th century that precipitated both World War I and World War II.

 

Reoccurrence

In reaction to the reoccurrence of the above incident a couple of years ago, the American ‘Fuhrer’, Donald Trump, said “Iran had made a big mistake for which she would pay heavily”. But when the world media pressed him to further explain what he meant by that statement, he simply asked them to wait and see what would happen next.

His argument was that Iran had no right to shoot down the American drone because that drone was operating at the international and not Iranian territory. However, a detailed show of the encounter by Al-Jazeera confirmed that the drone actually intruded into Iranian territory without the permission of the Iranian authorities.

 

Iran’ Nuclear Project

However, the relationship between America and Iran further deteriorated recently when the latter started a nuclear project with which to prop up her economy. America responded with a threat saying the United States would not tolerate any nuclear project in Iran because the latter could not be trusted with such a project.

 

The World’s Bull Dog

Only a fool will not know that the United Nations (UN), as presently constituted, is the bull dog of the US through which the latter barks randomly at the rest of the world.

But for the recent Iraqi episode that became regrettable for the self-appointed policeman of the world, and of course, the North Korean case, which has become a cancerous sore on the head of the US, another Gulf war would have either ensued or become imminent before now.

 

Secret of American Military Successes

The secret of America’s military successes in various parts of the world is neither in technological advancement as generally believed, nor military superiority per se. The failed rescue mission in Iran shortly after that country’s revolution has confirmed that.

It is a historical fact that the secret of America’s military successes in various wars around the world are rather due to her ability to cause dissension among some other nations and races.

Before now, Iran was never a prey to America’s direct military aggression, even when the Shah Pahlavi was in power, because that Gulf country has never played a fool dancing to the sour music of the predatory country called America in a seeming military market.

 

Sanction as a Weapon

Now, with a recent threat of invasion of Iran by Israel on the one hand and economic and political sanctions against that country by the US on the other, will history repeat itself? One fact has become clear about the US political trend since her withdrawal from her self-isolationism in 1945: The success of her internal politics has been invariably determined by her aggressive foreign policy.

Thus, many American Presidents have won or lost elections at home due to the foreign policy of the concerned President. And that is why most of America’s foreign aggressive postures are belligerently displayed in election years.

For instance the current audacious military bravado being displayed against Iran in Iraq by Trump is either to get public sympathy against an impending impeachment which he now faces or to get re-elected as the US President.

But with the current prevailing delicate situation at hand will this same US political tradition repeat itself? The days ahead ll answer this fundamental question as events continue to unfold.

But with the stern objection by Russia and tacit indifference by China to the use of suffocating economic sanctions against the people of Iran, the US may have to watch her steps very carefully especially when most European countries that are members of NATO remain aloof.

Iran is neither Iraq nor Afghanistan. The world cannot afford another global war now. And an American Trump should not attempt to plunge it into one by taking that Iran’s military capability for granted. A word is enough for the wise.