Over seven years ago, on February 2, 2008 to be precise, I had cause to write a piece on these pages about “The persecution of Shi’a Muslims in Sokoto.”
The context was the murder in that capital city of the Muslim Umma in Nigeria of, one, Sheikh Umar Danmaishiyya, one of the severest critics of the Shi’a in Nigeria, in July 2007. Following this murder, one, Malam Qasim Umar Rimin Tawaye, the leading Shi’a cleric in the city, was detained, along with 138 other members, on suspicion of committing the murder or being complicit.
In addition, the family house of Malam Umar Sanda Gudu, Malam Qasim’s father, and several other property belonging to the sect’s members were demolished by the authorities.
More than a year after the incident, Malam Qasim and his fellow Shi’ites remained in detention without trial. This detention without trial and the demolition of their property, along with their constant harassments by the authorities, was what I condemned in my piece in question as their persecution.
The bloody clash last weekend between the Nigerian Army and the Shi’ites in Zaria, their self-declared capital and home of their spiritual leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, looks very much like a repeat of Sokoto – only on a more frightening scale because the army has been far less restrained than the civilian authorities in Sokoto were to the sect’s alleged infractions.
Yet, as in Sokoto seven years ago, the Shi’ites are unlikely to attract much sympathy even from their Muslim brethren precisely because, down the years, they have managed to alienate just about everyone else by their isolationist tendencies and the spiritual arrogance of their leadership. However, even without these flaws, many a Sunni, who constitute the vast majority of the Muslim Umma in the country, as in the rest of the world, do not regard Shi’ism as Islam, mainly because of the higher esteem with which Shi’ites hold Prophet Muhammad’s family than they do his Sunna, i.e. his words and deeds, which mainstream Islam regards as the second most important guide for behaviour, after the Holy Qur’an.
Far from attracting public sympathy to them, the weekend clash in Zaria is more likely than not to have been seen as giving their sect – which, for some strange reasons, rejects being labelled Shi’a and instead insists on calling itself “Muslim Brothers” – its comeuppance for its almost total disregard of authority and of the rights of others.
A recent telling example of their disregard for authority and other peoples’ rights occurred early this year in the run-up to this year’s election in March/April. On that occasion a disaster similar to last weekend’s would have occurred, but for the exemplary restrain which the then governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Ramalan Yero, demonstrated.
The incident occurred when the governor went on a condolence visit to Gyallesu, the Tudun Wada, Zaria, neighbourhood where Sheikh Zakzaky holds court. At a long distance from the residence of the deceased, some followers of the Sheikh stopped the governor’s convoy and insisted he and his entourage must disembark from their vehicles and trek the distance. When all entreaties failed, one of the governor’s guards fired shots into the air to clear the way. There and then the governor rebuked the orderly and submitted himself to the demand of the Shi’ites.
Back in Kaduna, the governor summoned the relevant local government chairman and asked him to find out from the Sheikh if he knew of the humiliation he was subjected to. The Sheikh reportedly said he didn’t. However, the governor never received any apology.
As governor of Kaduna State, Yero, of course, did not symbolise the authority of the Nigerian State as does the army chief, Lt-General Tukur Yusuf Buratai,whose convoy the Shi’ites blocked on his way to an official function in Zaria’s Army Depot and to pay a courtesy call on the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, even after he came down from his vehicle to plead with them. So if Yero was ready to suffer their disrespect gladly, they ought to have known that rare is the soldier who would tolerate even the smallest slight from a “bloody civilian.”
However, predictable as the army reaction to the foolish behaviour of the Shi’ites was, there is simply no justification for its overkill, which was what it was, considering the premeditated demolition of many of their property all over Zaria and the heavy casualties their leadership suffered, including their second-in- command, Sheikh Turi Muhammad Turi, who I personally know as exceptionally humble in spite of his rank in the sect.
What the Shi’ites did last weekend in trying to stop an army convoy was not only foolish. It was illegal, even criminal. In civilised society, however, the penalty for illegality and crime is not extra-judicial killings and the demolition of the property of suspects. In civilised society, each and every penalty must follow due process.
For, as that famous twentieth Century American Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, I love quoting on these pages said,”Our government… teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
This is the principal lesson of Boko Haram which we have been battling with since 2009. If we want to avoid a second religious terrorist front when we are yet to end the first, we should heed the call by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’adu Abubakar, for a judicial inquiry into what happened last weekend and ensure that every guilty party gets its just desert.
FEEDBACK
Uwazuruike, Kanu and the rest of us (November 25)
When the Igbo finally leave and MASSOB hopefully succeeds in “stopping kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal tendencies”, I am sure Nigeria too will be a better place. It’s not a bad deal. It’s a positive sum game. Nigerians should give it a try.
Suleiman Kano,
+2348054300625.
Is it not ironical that for those who see themselves as saints to want to be in the same union with 419ners and drug peddlers all over the world who want to leave and be on their own? Any further proof of who the parasites and hypocrites are?
Amaechi Orakanma,
+2348033722549.
You are right; Uwazuruike and Nnamdi Kanu are not sincere. But then Buhari should also be fair to all.
Chukwudi Dick,
Lagos.
+2348035410176.
Bilkisu as a friend indeed (December 2)
Just finished reading your column on Aunty Bilkisu. Tears in my eyes, but a firm belief she is aljanna bound. Take solace my big brother.
A.M. Muhammad, Esq
+2348067697000.
Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf wasn’t the pioneer editor of Sunday Triumph. Rufa’i Ibrahim of Peoples Daily was, while she was the second. She couldn’t have been the first editor as she had just joined the profession when production began in 1981. I should know, being one of the reporters at the time.
A, Muhammad,
Kano.
+2348099472747.
For the record: I was not Bilkisu’s news editor. We were appointed the same day, she as editor, New Nigerian, me as, editor, Sunday New Nigeria, in 1987. We were sacked the same day by the late Sidi Ali Sirajo when we rejected his version of “journalism.”
A month later he too was sacked. We were then asked to return to NNN, but not as editors. We rejected the offer and joined you at Citizen. Bilkisu returned to Allah (SWT) the way she had always prayed for. May Allah have mercy on her. Amin.
Mohammed Suleiman Bomoi
+2348029453789.
Towards a viable federation (December 9)
The “geography” you referred to in the allocation of revenue is actually two factors: terrain and land mass. The former was introduced by southern states, the latter by northern states as a counter. The result was the nullification of the supposed advantage gained by each side, a return to the status quo ante. Goodwill is what is in very short supply among the leadership, hence the marching on the same spot we are witnessing.
MT Usman,
+23433067825.
A good article and analysis as always. However, Gen. Yakubu Gowon was over thrown on the 29th of July 1975 and not July 1976 as you stated.
Alhassan Lanle,
Minna.
+2348036912830.
General Gowon was overthrown in 1975 not 1976. Chief Rotimi Williams and Dr. Nabo Graham-Douglas were the first to be appointed SANs in 1975.
Dr Mann Tolofari,
Port Harcourt.
+2348038749534.
