An Open Letter to Northern Leaders

The Hausa have a wise saying: Wanda ya ki ya ji Bari, zai ji O! O!

Some of us have watched with dismay development within the northern states of Nigeria degenerate from what we thought was a positive change to a state of anarchy today as we move towards next year's general elections.

The development in Jos particularly and Plateau state in general, is most frightening especially with the bombings in the city of Jos on the 24th of December. The state governor finally has attributed the violence to the works of his political opponents while his prophet has attributed it to a non-existing Muslim group with a very, very dangerous name.

Without wanting to exacerbate the situation, we want to advise northern Muslims and Christians to be careful with the concepts they use as we find solutions to our problems in the north. Al-Mansurah City takes us back to the seventh Crusade and the humiliation suffered by the crusaders at the hands of the Muslims.

Do we need this at this time in the northern parts of the country and the efforts being put into resolving the crises in Jos north local government? Does any religious or political leader in this country need to take us back to the Crusades in order to remain in power? This is why the Hausa proverb above referred needs to be taken seriously by our uninformed, self-appointed religious leaders and politicians. These category of leaders need to be careful with their utterances and stop shooting from the hip.

So many workshops, retreats and conflict management and prevention conferences have been held on Jos, a good number of these were held outside Jos which afforded us the opportunity to interact and obtain objective interpretations and solutions from these participants. We found-out that Muslims and Christians from Plateau are genuinely committed to working together for peace and peaceful co-existence with their neighbours on the Plateau. Some of these participants went back to embark on joint projects as proofs of their commitment to peace.

The joint effort by youths from Langtang North Local Government Area is a good example. Alas! What we are experiencing today is the opposite of what our participants were committed to. We are of the opinion that there must be some religious leaders working in tandem with political leaders on the Plateau who are bent on not allowing peace to reign in that state.

So many solutions have been put forward by the various groups including NIREC, an umbrella organization of both Muslims and Christians in the country. Recently and for the first time, we read that those who were convicted of committing murder during the Dogo na Hawa crises were convicted and imprisoned. To many, that is a good beginning. We question however if that was enough. A Military friend said to me only yesterday:

"Those convicted are the foot soldiers, until the Generals are apprehended, the crises will not stop". I hasten to say, good talk my brother! While the federal government is now beginning to act tough, she needs to confront the untouchable political and religious leaders by bringing them to book and sending them to jail if found culpable.

Furthermore, northern political, religious and traditional leaders must stop, think and remember that power belongs to God, He gives it to whomsoever He wants: la haul a wa la quwwata I'lla billahi is how the Arab puts it. This class of rulers in the northern states should please learn a lesson from the Yoruba states where the Muslim-Christian mix is almost the same as in the central and some north-western zones of the north. Though they have their political differences and even ethnic, we have never heard of this zone degenerating to the level of destroying their places of worship and killing each other in the name of Islam or Christianity. These categories of leadership in the northern states have disappointed the populace by their greed for power and wealth; it is time they made up their minds on leading us with the fear of God. In the light of this, we offer the following as some food for thought to our religious, traditional and political leaders in the northern states of Nigeria:

1. We are all equal in the sight of God, the fact that one is a leader-traditional, political or religious-does not mean he or she is superior to the others in the sight of God: annas sawasiyatun ka asnan al misht.

2. The religious class must, without delay, accept the given here in the north that Muslims will always be here as well as Christians. The self-deception that one community will wipe the other out will fail, because such an outcome will never and can never happen. The north will forever be a part of Nigeria with Muslims and Christians looking for converts from each other and from that minority community made up of those who do not belong to either Islam or Christianity.

3. Northern Muslim and Christian leaders should stop promoting political leaders on the platform of their religious affiliation. Women and men who seek for political leadership should be presented as candidates who fear God, love the people as fellow citizens and are willing to be accountable to the electorate. Nigeria is blessed with men and women with godly leadership qualities; they need to be encouraged to accept to lead irrespective of their religious professions.

4. Religious leaders use religion not for the sake of development but to be on the payroll of political leaders who belong to their religious community. This is an un-Godly act; it compromises religious tenets, removes the prophetic edge of declaring the mind of God and thereby promotes corruption.

5. More specifically now on Jos. The political situation is complex but we can resolve it if we desire to do so. The Hausa-Fulani group is being accused of wanting to Islamize that local government area in particular and plateau state in general. In finding a solution to the degenerating relationship between these two communities on the Plateau, is there a way for the Muslim community to assure those making this allegation that there is no truth in that belief? Is it possible- fi si bili-llah - for the Muslim community in Jos North Local Government area to practice la ikraha fi din? Conversely, the Hausa-Fulani community also needs to be assured that they belong to Plateau by those who claim to be indigenous to the area and treat this community as aliens from Bauchi and Kano particularly.

Like the Palestinian and Israeli conflicts - the writer has had several opportunities to meet with and seek for ways of finding solutions with some of their political representatives-, the solution to the conflict in Jos is in the willingness of the leaders to be honest, less selfish, accept one another as Nigerians, and honestly live out their religious beliefs. Let the truth be told, the solution is in the hands of the religious, traditional and political leaders in Jos in particular and the northern states in general. In the words of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, "Let us accept our differences and learn to live with them".

By Dr Idowu-Fearon is the Archbishop of Kaduna Anglican Diocese
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201101101473.html

Just like pouring water on a fowl's back

The hausa and Biroms not only need to stop killing one another but also they need to stop killing southerners like ibos in their communities.

One remembers the riots from the 50s till date when they targeted ibos, now you are targetting each other,
Also I suggest to hausa not to seek political posts in jos just as non indigenes don't seek political posts in kano , shekena.

kettykin:


The hausa and Biroms not only need to stop killing one another but also they need to stop killing southerners like ibos in their communities.

One remembers the riots from the 50s till date when they targeted ibos, now you are targetting each other,
Also I suggest to hausa not to seek political posts in jos just as non indigenes don't seek political posts in kano , shekena.

i agree but they both need to stop this there madness of killing each other

The Boko Haram is going to be worse than the Maitatsine Uprisings in the early 1980s if the government fails to exterminate it.

The military intelligence in Nigeria is very poor and without good military intelligence Nigeria cannot guarantee the security of lives and properties threatened by daring Islamic militants who see themselves as jihadists.

The Boko Haram sect has links outside the borders of Nigeria.
They have been trained in guerrilla warfare and fully armed.

See In Nigeria False Prophets Are Real Problems on http://worlddefensereview.com/pham101906.shtml.

http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/83/331/251.extract