By Emeka OMEIHE
Something symbolic happened on Christmas day in Samaru, Kaduna State that should be of serious interest to the leadership of this country. Coming on the heels of the recent release of the 2018 report of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom which recommended Nigeria’s designation as a country of particular concern, it should resonate as a welcome development.
The US report had observed that “Religious freedom conditions in Nigeria tended negatively in 2018. The Nigerian government at the national and state levels continued to tolerate violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief and suppressed the freedom to manifest religion or belief. The Nigerian federal government failed to implement effective strategies to stop such violence or to hold perpetrators accountable”.
The report cited the continued detention of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria IMN, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaki, his wife and followers by the DSS and the police as factors that influenced the current rating. Curiously, IMN known as the Shiites, for an entirely different reason, made newspaper headlines few days after the US report.
Not unexpectedly, the report has been a subject of dispute between the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar111, who also doubles as the head of the Islamic religion in the country and the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN. The Sultan differed with CAN on its endorsement of the US report that there is religious persecution in the country. CAN president Rev, Samson Ayokunle accused the Sultan of living in self denial insisting that there is religious persecution in this country. CAN listed incidents of religious discrimination and persecution that have been brought before the Interfaith Forum which the Sultan co-chairs with the CAN president but which remained unaddressed.
But on Christmas day, the Shiites took the nation by surprise when they attended a Christian church service at the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Diocese of Zaria, Kaduna State preaching peace and religious tolerance. That was perhaps, the first time in recent memory an Islamic religious group with very large following would attend a Christian church service.
It was a very rare and symbolic event especially given the hindsight of the incalculable harm religious bigotry and fanaticism have wrought on this country. It also came as a pleasant surprise that a group that has been I n protracted confrontation with the government and was cited for categorizing Nigeria among six countries that suppress religious freedom and worship could come up on that positive note. It is however, not clear whether the outing had long been planned before the US negative rating of Nigeria in the religious intolerance index or it was designed as an image polishing stunt for the IMN.
Whatever the case, it is a good move that should be further explored and sustained. Before now, many would have considered such outing inconceivable in this country. At some other times, it would have been considered a taboo attracting the ire of those who take laws into their hands to avenge any infraction to their faith.
The leader of the team, Prof. Isa Hassan-Mshelgara captured the import of the visit very succinctly when he said it was to promote love, tolerance and understanding among Nigerians. Hear him: “We came to celebrate Christmas with fellow Christians because we consider them as our brothers. We feel that we should come and visit them so as to clear some of the unnecessary imaginary boundaries that have been created…boundaries that could not be seen that kept us far away from each other so we want to bridge the gap”.
An apparently elated vicar of the Church, Rev. Isuwa Sa’idu observed that the visit showed that Nigerians are looking forward for peace and they “are actually pursuing it and not just with words but with action”. He urged the visitors to sustain the tempo for the good of the nation.
It is heart-warming that this handshake between Muslims and Christians is being driven by religious leaders themselves. The way they have all spoken, shows clear understanding and concerns for the inherent danger in the continued division of peoples of this country along religious lines- a division that has resulted in avoidable religious crises leading to losses in lives and property of inestimable value.
Not unexpectedly, the Boko Haram insurgency and the litany of riots in parts of the country had their roots in religious intolerance and bigotry. Our poor rating within all development indices are also inexorably tied to the dangerous deployment of religion by our leaders for self-serving purposes. Religion which should be a private issue has assumed such preeminence in governance process that something urgent has to be done to relegate it to the private realm to which it rightly belongs.
Sadly, some of our leaders would not allow that happen as they have turned themselves purveyors of religious schism and fanaticism. No other development bears ample testament to this than the recent statement credited to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad when he called for constitutional amendment to accommodate more aspects of the Sharia law.
Mohammad while admitting there are sections of the constitution that allow the implementation of Sharia’s personal law boasted that “we have the number to amend the constitution to suit our own position as Muslims”. The statement is not only reprehensible but in very bad taste. Coming from the head of the nation’s judiciary, it illustrates most poignantly the desperate levels our leaders could push religion to satisfy interests that are self-serving. It is also very insensitive to the current mood of the nation.
Sadly, it is the pursuit of agenda of this nature that gives further credence to the negative rating of Nigeria by the US in the religious intolerance index. What Mohammad was saying in essence is that Muslims in the National Assembly have the required majority to amend the constitution to suit their religious predilections and they should move ahead to do just that. By further extrapolation, he wants Muslims to team up against Christians and tinker with the constitution with a view to giving it a theocratic coloration. Nothing can be more inciting than this.
If such negative advocacy could come from such a highly placed judicial officer, then we are in serious danger. How then can we reasonably blame the US report for rating Nigeria low in the religious tolerance ladder? Rather, what Mohammed succeeded in achieving by that very inciting and tendentious statement is to further reinforce the rating. Thus, the position of the Sultan has been seriously weakened by the clannish and sectional posturing of the nation’s number one law officer.
In saner climes, Mohammad would not be allowed to stay a day longer in his current office. But that he can get away with that statement, mirrors very vividly the dangerous level to which religion can be deployed to serve very selfish and parochial ends. It is a great disservice to the bold and visionary Christmas move by the IMN.
Leave a Reply