"Unfolding events however must jar us from any smug assumption that all is well; that once we succeed in shouting down those we disagree with; or use state power, whether brazenly or subtly, to have our way, it’s all good."
In “Good Luck, Dr Jonathan, You’ll Need It", published last week, I made the point that our nation was currently deeply divided. I placed the responsibility for the division upon the shoulders of the so-called political class, which made an agreement on power rotation, otherwise known as zoning, and could not keep it. Of course, in my book, the most important single culprit, and I have said it times without number, is the president and president-elect himself.
I was under no illusions that it would be a popular reading of the situation, which was why I described it as a ‘politically incorrect” position that would be seen as retrogressive. I was right. I got mails and sms where I was called all kinds of names, many of which will make my mother uncomfortable in the great beyond. I thank everyone who even bothered to react at all! It’s the stuff that democracy is made of.
Unfolding events however must jar us from any smug assumption that all is well; that once we succeed in shouting down those we disagree with; or use state power, whether brazenly or subtly, to have our way, it’s all good.
Without commenting directly on the rights or wrongs of the individual’s (or group’s) position, at this stage, please read or reread the statements credited to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of the Christian association of Nigeria, and the reactions to it by both the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and even the Sultan of Sokoto over what is now known and called post-presidential election violence.
A Daily Independent newspaper report by Mrs Aramide Oikelome quoted the cleric as follows:
“I believe in one indivisible Nigeria, but I also believe that if Nigeria is ever going to remain one nation, which I believe it could, then certain persons must be sanctioned because of this continued violence we are experiencing in the Northern part of Nigeria…Let us not pretend by always saying the violence is taking place in some parts of the country. Muhammadu Buhari and others like him should not be allowed to roam the streets of this country because they are part of the confusion that has enveloped the nation today…government has already blamed Buhari for the post-election mayhem in the North, which has also claimed the lives of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members…
"I don’t know how the Federal Government should sanction sponsors of such mayhem that has left hundreds of innocent Nigerians dead, but I think the government should do something to keep this nation one indivisible entity for the benefit of every citizen…I believe we are experiencing violence in parts of the North because certain highly placed persons in this country magnified the PDP problem of zoning offices and gave the impression to the electorate and the generality of Northerners, especially the gullible illiterates, that it was their turn to rule…Basically, what we are seeing today is the fact that they feel that it is their turn to rule. Those people who are perpetrating the mayhem do not know who won election and in what place…
"We will never arrive at a solid, united, indivisible, and powerful Nigeria unless we are prepared to tell the truth to each other and face the truth. There are those who already have a religious agenda and they have been promoting it and working very hard to implement it…If the problem is purely political, why are churches being burnt? Why are Southern NYSC members being targeted? Why are pastors being killed? Why are Christians generally being hunted in different parts of the North to be killed?...It is because the religious agenda is real and there is a religious undertone to all the crises in the North…These are facts that the security agencies should dispassionately look at and treat with dispatch with a view to arresting the perpetrators and prosecuting same for the sake of peace of the nation…These people must not be allowed to go on like this. The government must wield the big stick at this time and do whatever it has to do to put to a permanent stop to all this madness and bring peace to this country…We cannot continue to allow this thing to go on like this. Enough is enough.”
"I don’t know how the Federal Government should sanction sponsors of such mayhem that has left hundreds of innocent Nigerians dead, but I think the government should do something to keep this nation one indivisible entity for the benefit of every citizen…I believe we are experiencing violence in parts of the North because certain highly placed persons in this country magnified the PDP problem of zoning offices and gave the impression to the electorate and the generality of Northerners, especially the gullible illiterates, that it was their turn to rule…Basically, what we are seeing today is the fact that they feel that it is their turn to rule. Those people who are perpetrating the mayhem do not know who won election and in what place…
"We will never arrive at a solid, united, indivisible, and powerful Nigeria unless we are prepared to tell the truth to each other and face the truth. There are those who already have a religious agenda and they have been promoting it and working very hard to implement it…If the problem is purely political, why are churches being burnt? Why are Southern NYSC members being targeted? Why are pastors being killed? Why are Christians generally being hunted in different parts of the North to be killed?...It is because the religious agenda is real and there is a religious undertone to all the crises in the North…These are facts that the security agencies should dispassionately look at and treat with dispatch with a view to arresting the perpetrators and prosecuting same for the sake of peace of the nation…These people must not be allowed to go on like this. The government must wield the big stick at this time and do whatever it has to do to put to a permanent stop to all this madness and bring peace to this country…We cannot continue to allow this thing to go on like this. Enough is enough.”
The CPC’s reaction signed by Buhari’s spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, came fast and strong. It reads in part: “ It is on record that (Buhari) has distanced himself and the CPC from the mayhem severally, and strongly condemned the burning of worship places and alleged killings of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members. To date, nobody has brought out any contrary facts beyond false innuendos and character assassination which Oritsejafor has also been recruited into…while we concede to the Villa Priest, who is widely believed to be a beneficiary of the rot that presently defines governance in Nigeria, the right to defend the tainted victory of the PDP, we frown at the use of the CAN mask to prosecute his Aso Rock brief…Our collective memory is not so short as not to know that unlike other revered men of God who have been on that exalted seat and spoke truth to power in the order of Samuel who put God’s command above the fat of oxen, we don’t have a quote of Oritsejafor on the unbridled corruption and open banditry that has been the defining rule of governance in the country…If Oritsejafor happens to be a sounding board for President Goodluck Jonathan’s crackdown, we strongly suspect he is, we can only say: good luck.”
Space does not allow me quote from the statement by the Sultan of Sokoto; so I guess I’ll just begin from that next time. But one thing is clear, the division is deepening and it will take thinking out the box to handle what’s coming. Let’s not get so carried away by the euphoria of the moment and go to sleep. God bless and keep Nigeria.CONTINUES
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