WHY I WILL NOT CURSE BOKO HARAM
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” – Genesis 6:11
At a Christian fellowship meeting last Sunday evening, a sister told us how she had travelled the previous day to Ijebu-Ode for the burial of a colleague of hers who had died as a result of the bomb attack on the UN building in Abuja, allegedly carried out by the Boko Haram sect. The meeting would later be extended late into the night as everyone present had something to say about this latest menace to the Nigerian society. The death of that man, I later realized is the closest the Boko Haram attacks have been to me. But the frightening thought is that Boko Haram is getting closer and closer.
My last note on Facebook, “A Dangerous Trend”, tried to warn Christians folks against enjoying security in their prosperity and developing nonchalant attitude to the political situation in our country. I reasoned that the rich minority will never be secure in the midst of a poor majority according to the Karl Marx doctrine; and that this attitude is alien to the teachings of the Bible – perfectly demonstrated by the life and message of Jesus Christ and his apostles. If my warning did not get your attention, I can see that the bomb on the UN building in Abuja did. How do I know that? Well, there is a new found practice in local churches now to curse Boko Haram.
The introductory quote to this note could read “Nigeria also was corrupt before God, and Nigeria was filled with violence” if we replace earth with Nigeria. There is established corruption in Nigeria today. All the gains made by Nuhu Ribadu during the Obasanjo era have been totally reversed by succeeding administrations. Nigeria continues to rank high among most corrupt countries in the world and only recently been declared the fourteenth failed state in the world, after countries like Somalia, Chad and Zimbabwe. All of these despite being the leading exporter of crude oil in Africa and second only to Saud-Arabia in the world! Nigeria may have known violence before but it got to a threatening dimension when the Niger Delta militants began a spree of bombing and kidnapping. That situation had hardly been quelled before the emergence of Boko Haram in 2010.
Christians folks need to understand that the nation has the twin evil of corruption and violence to contend with, and cursing one while tacitly supporting the other (when we don’t speak against it) is a waste of time. The Economist, writing on the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria, said “Pervasive poverty worsened by unchecked government corruption, is as much part of the problem as fervent religious belief”. The Niger Delta militants’ violence came from pervasive poverty; the Boko Haram violence comes from fervent religious beliefs – all of them fuelled by unchecked government corruption.
It is unfortunate that rather than consider the evil of corruption, some would rather blame General Buhari for inciting the Boko Haram violence. When the Boko Haram sect began unleashing terror on residents of Maiduguri in 2009/2010, no one blamed Buhari then because there were no elections in that year. When Yusuff, their leader, was killed extra-judicially, and the government, supposing to have quelled the uprising , went on to win the elections in questionable circumstances, Buhari was quickly blamed for succeeding Boko Haram activities. Like so many have often rehearsed before, Buhari has lost two elections before this one and not one person has accused him of inciting violence before now. Neither have they succeeded in linking him with Boko Haram despite hiring the CIA and FBI to the work we should be doing.
Also, the solution to the Boko Haram menace is not dividing Nigeria. Nigeria is a geographical entity put together by God to help bring about His own good purpose in the nations of the earth. This nation is far too entwined together for Boko Haram or any wishful thinker to put apart. It is true that their demand for western education to be abolished is unreasonable; nevertheless curbing their activities will take much more than military suppression. The solution to the Boko Haram menace will require such wisdom only God can give, which the President will have to seek from Him by himself (James 1:5), since it has become clear now that Boko Haram will not collect money neither will amnesty work in their case.
The apostle Peter wrote “He that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil(curses-NIV), and his lip that they speak no guile” (1Peter 3:10). The teachings of Jesus is replete with instances where he said we should bless and not curse our enemies. So what do we do with Boko Haram? We should pray for them. When David was in a precarious situation he asked God to turn the wisdom of Ahithophel, the wisest man of that time, to foolishness. May God turn the wisdom of Boko Haram to foolishness. May God endow all their ways with errors – that each of their plan be filled with dastard errors that will walk them directly into the hands of law enforcement agents. May God fill our law enforcement agents with wisdom to curb the Boko Haram violence. May God reveal to us all who their major sponsors are – political or otherwise. May the Nigerian government be sincere with the fight against corruption and may corruption become a thing of the past in Nigeria.
In Genesis 6, when God looked on the earth and saw corruption and violence, he sent a man named Noah to build an ark to save a minority from the earth. Then he sent flood to destroy the earth. He later swore that he would never destroy the earth again with flood. If Nigeria does not curb corruption in its government circles, it will be on a collision course with the wrath of God. He would send another kind of flood to cleanse this nation and afterwards a minority that has kept itself untainted from the prevailing corruption in the society will come up to build a New Nigerian nation. The Boko Haram sect is an accursed group already, but could it be that they are part of God’s cleansing mechanism in Nigeria?

, The Boko Haram sect is an accursed group already, but could it be that they are part of God’s cleansing mechanism in Nigeria?

Brother, God will never use the instrument of evil to cleanse a nation.

Though terrorism and corruption may be of the same parent, terrorism may never be a solution to corruption.

okunboy:

Brother, God will never use the instrument of evil to cleanse a nation.

Though terrorism and corruption may be of the same parent, terrorism may never be a solution to corruption.

I must commend you for taking the time to read the long discuss.
God using Boko Haram to cleanse Nigeria may be likened to God using Babylon to chastise and restore Israel in the Bible. Nothing is beyond Him in bringing His good purpose to pass.
My point in the essay is that it is wrong to only blame Boko Haram for the voilence in the country. Years of corruption has brought this on us, and to resolve the BK menace will require a strong commitment to abolishing corruption and a wisdom that will require dialoguing with the BK sect to resolve it.
Truth is this country is on a timebomb and we must resolve this problem before it is too late.

@DrummaBoy, you are a realist. Nice write-up! We need to educate people on the core-issues and not unnecessary sentiments that facilitate more insecurity and death in our land. Cursing the accursed is a waste of time if they keep acting cursedly with damning repercussions. Christians need to learn this and ask Nigeria's Christian President to clear his head and stop playing victim when he has power in his hands!

Thanks maclatunji
my message is to Xtians. We cant serve BK evil for evil. There is a wisdom dat can curb this voilence

I'll hate to see dis crisis bc a faceoff btw Xtians & muslims. BK r attackn muslims too
We pray GEJ finds God's wisdom

DrummaBoy:

I'll hate to see dis crisis bc a faceoff btw Xtians & muslims. BK r attackn muslims too
We pray GEJ finds God's wisdom

@DrummaBoy, the truth is that the crisis sounds like a Christian vs Muslim thing on on Nairaland and some other websites. Those of us in the middle of red zones know the truth. We have Christians in Borno and some of them have been writing articles trying to let people know the real picture. Boko Haram's primary target has always been Muslims. Christians started falling victims only when they begin to use bombs. But all targeted attacks by Boko Haram were aimed at Muslims especially the clergy. During the 2009 crisis, the sect always give Christians safe passage from the areas they control, but if they catch a Muslims with so much as a simple ID card, they slaughter him.

Muslims feel the heat of this crisis more than anybody because they get attacked by Boko Haram and recently also by the JTF through their scorched earth operations. We log on to the net and also get insulted by people far down South that don't have a faint idea of what is going on.