BOKO HARAM AND THE PARABLE OF SOUR GRAPES

Once again, the infallibility and timelessness of the Word of God in the bible are being portrayed, rather in a saddening way, in our Nigerian polity. News (whatever that means these days) had it that over 40 students of the Federal Government College, Buri Yaabi, Yobe State were killed by suspected Boko Haram troops on Tue 25^thFeb, 2014. Distressing and frightening as this is, it brings to remembrance the Old Testament scripture of Eze.18:2; “what do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, ‘the fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? (NIV)”. This is the worrisome part; the children who knew nothing about the sins of their fathers have become guilty by association (or inheritance?).

How does the above scripture applies to the pathetic situation we (?) have found ourselves in,  you may (impatiently) ask. E f’ara b’ale. If you are old enough to witness the inception of current democracy in 1999, then you would easily recollect the chronicles of the various ethno-religious riots that have occurred in Nigeria since then…for now, ignore the unreported ones. And if you are a good reader, you must have read about the pre-’99 ones as well. However, I’ll take the pain to enumerate below just a few of them in order to put in proper perspective my argument;

1. 1.      May, 1953. A riot resulting in the killing of southerners due to a perceived misreporting by southern newspapers of disagreement between northern and southern MPs.
2.  Dec. 1980. Mohamed Marwa Maitatsine, a radical cleric originally from Cameroun but based in Kano led riots against Christians. He was killed by security forces in 1980 but his followers carried on the crusade till 1985 killing in different cities including Kaduna, Kano and Maiduguri. His ethos was similar to that of Boko Haram.
3. 1981 – ’85. The Cross vs. Crescent Muslim/Christian students’ crisis of the University of Ibadan. The crux of the matter was the complaints by the Muslim community of the University who felt that the concrete cross was built in front of the Central Mosque, and as such they felt they were praying to the pillar.
4.   The Jimeta-Yola riots, part of the Maitatsine crusade.
5. 1982. Usman Dan Fodio university, Sokoto religious student riots
6. 1981 – ’82. Kaduna Polytechnic Muslim/Christian student protests.
7. 1986. Ilorin Easter Christian procession riots.
8.  March 1987. Kanfanchan College of Education Muslim/Christian students’ crisis. The riots started with a dispute between Christian student fellowship and Muslim student society over the college’s hosting of the Christian religious meeting tagged Mission ’87. A banner displayed bearing “Jesus campus” sparked complaints from the Muslim students which was promptly removed. A second issue arose over the speeches during the convention. Comments about the Koran and the Prophet (SAW) inflamed tensed passions. Violence engulfed the whole State for a week, killing 12 and claiming several churches and mosques.
9. 1991. “Kano for Jesus” riots. Crusades planned by German evangelist, Rehnard Bonke provoked deadly riots in Kano and environs after a controversial Islamic cleric from S’africa had been previously denied permit by the State Gov’t.
10. 1992. Zango-Kataf crisis
11. 1999. Oro cult killings in Shagamu, Ogun State and the retaliatory massacre in Kano. The ugly scenario continued when O‘dua People’s Congress (OPC) members also went on a reprisal killing spree in Lagos
12.  Feb. 2000. Sharia riot in the Kaduna city and the return leg in Enugu. Scores were killed.
13.  Oct. 2000. Idi-araba/Oko Oba (Lagos) tribal killings. The return leg also took place in Kano. The riot started over the inability of an Hausa man to pay for Public Toilet use in Idi-Araba, Mushin. Oko-Oba, an Hausa dominated area also took up the heat of reprisal violence.
14.  Sept. 2001. Tiv/Jukun crisis. The decade long violence came to a head when soldiers were killed in clear case of mistaken identity. The Tiv militants had mistaken them for Jukun fighters in fake uniforms. 19 soldiers were killed and their bodies mutilated which prompted the Nigerian Army to deploy more troops to Benue State and the subsequent “cleansing” of several Tiv villages and towns, notable among which is Zaki-Biam, where over 200 men were lined up and summarily executed by the troops.
15.  Sept. 2001. Jos madness. The cause: a Christian was appointed the chairman of a LGA dominated by “settler” Muslims. Over 200 killed. Case closed!!
16. Oct. 2001. Kano repeat of madness and home grown terrorism. Some miscreants, irked by the American invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, started hacking southerners to death in apparent dissatisfaction.
17. Oct. 2001. Sharia riots in Kano killed over 100 people
18. 2002. Miss World hosting riots. Violence was sparked by a newspaper write up which Stated that the Prophet (SAW) himself might have picked one of the girls contesting for the pageant for a wife were he to be alive. The commentary was in response to the opposition of some Muslims to the announced hosting of the Miss World contest by the country, after a Nigerian, Agbani Darego won it the previous year.
19. 2004 – 2008: Fulani/Berom crisis over the real owners of the mining city of Jos. The 2008 wars claimed the lives of 2 Corps members (among others) who came visiting from the neighboring Nassarawa State.
20. 2011. Post-Presidential election violence in many Northwest States where scores, including 5 Corps Members were killed by irate youths over results of the elections. The governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda in a typically silly manner attributed their death to ‘fate”.

I deliberately left out the pogrom of 1966 and the violent causes that led to it out of my listing because the matter has not only been extensively written about but it also reminds us of our shameful foundation of mutual hatred and injustices left unhealed. A cursory look from this perspective leads me to mention the work of Ikejiani Clark (2005) whereby he accused the colonial authorities of fanning embers of injustice and inequality –a tact of divide-and-rule—among the different tribes and pressure groups. He posited that “there had been an unfortunate insertions of ethno-religious discrimination and incompatibility in the structures of the State” by colonial powers. Specifically, the colonial administration of Gov. Donald Cameroun “did not encourage the intermingling of religions”. He in 1931 was said to have advised Christian missions to thread softly in Moslem areas so as to maintain the stability of the indirect rule”.

Bearing in mind the chronology above, it is understandable how easy it was to militarize the impressionable minds of an average northern youth who grew in a culture of supremacy battle, hate and violence especially where killing a non-Muslim is viewed as an act of good faith by some Islamists (or Moslems?)

“All that is need for even to triumph is for good men to do nothing”; this quote by Edmund Burke aptly describes the predicament we are in. I often ask the following questions, rhetorically though;

1.      Were there any (groups of) elders, statesmen or clerics who actually went beyond the usual “condemn” (in GEJ’s manner) to actually campaign against religious killings and other forms of extremism back then?
2.          If there were, did they speak up to enough to be heard and counted?
3.     Did the Gov’ts of the northern States really made efforts to ensure justice was done a la prosecution of those who partook in the killings and arson in other to serve as deterrent and to establish confidence of the “foreigners” in the Nigerian project? Or is that too much to ask for, even if their stay in any part of the country is not explicitly guaranteed under the constitution?
4.          How many radical preachers of “martyrdom = 72 virgins” were openly cautioned, denounced or even arrested? Did the Governors go beyond the tongue-in-cheek lampooning of these clerics?

I could go on and on …who would answer them anyway? But again, Burke felt that “whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither is safe”. And I agree with him because obviously you cannot build a peaceful and progressive society on injustice, discrimination and fearful distrust. How many of the Emirs and Sultans strongly denounced and openly campaigned against the militant youths who killed, destroyed and maimed lives and properties of innocent southerners in 2007 when a Danish cartoonist drew a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW) as bomb laden terrorist in faraway Copenhagen? Were they real Muslims back then just as Boko Haramists are much of fakes (misinformed Adeens) now? The strongly worded condemnation nowadays from these custodians of religious sanctity smacks of giving Coartem™ to an already dead child.

In my humble (?) opinion, the grounds for fertilization of extremism were prepared with the waters of indulgence and passive consent to militancy among the youths who were not reprimanded by their elders who should have seen it all owing to age, knowledge of retribution and future of the very youths. You reap what you sow abi? Conversely, the scary but latent fact about this axiom is that SOWING means to do NOTHING while evil is being perpetrated. The Yoruba people say that “a child can easily eat his hunting bounty alone but the parents would share in the horror of dealing with an Anaconda when he eventually brings one home. This proverb perfectly describes my opinion.

Now back to my earlier scriptural quote: I am still at a loss as to what could have motivated BH to kill students in secondary and tertiary schools who probably knew next to nothing about what political struggle is all about.  So why are they been wasted for the sins they did not commit (at least, not directly)? Their fathers have eaten the sour grapes by laying a foundation of their society with the blood of innocent souls. Spiritual or not, blood is life, and it speaks –for vengeance. Deep calleth to the deep right? Then I think “blood calleth for blood”.

I am not gloating over the misfortune of the victims or the predicament of the Northerners. Far from it!!  Rather, I feel hopeless about our situation as help seems not to be coming from anywhere. Our military is winning the war on terrorism on the pages of newspaper especially when Drs. Reuben & Doyin say so (against glaring evidences).  Unfortunately, Nigerians have even become less sympathetic to the killings. We all shrug in helplessness when we hear of such disasters. Gone were the days when newspapers sold like hot cake when people were slaughtered; nowadays it’s just a case of “eeyah,’ o ma se o”, “Mr. president condemns the killings”, “chai”, “the Police are on top of the situation” and other expressions that have come to define our self pity, hopelessness, annoying cowardice and unwillingness to confront our issues.

While it easy for me to sit down and write on this problem thousands of miles away from the hotspots, and as such may be accused of not having perfect understanding of the situation, nonetheless, I believe that the usual notion of “poverty and unemployment are fueling the war” is not totally correct. Poverty and unemployment abound in all regions of the country, but extremism festers in the North mostly.

However, Jer. 31:29-30 says “In those days, people will no longer say ‘the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’. Instead, everyone will die for his own sins: whoever eats a sour grape –his own teeth will be set on edge” (NIV). But please understand that in the preceding texts, the context was that of reconciliation after a somber remorse by the chosen people of God.  The keyword here is redemptionthrough remorse. But then, are we remorseful? Redemption starts with teaching our children the values of equality, liberty, freedom, justice, decorum, mutual respect and tolerance. 

Finally, I want to express my sincere and profound condolences to the families and relatives of the victims of schools attacks in the Northeast. May their deaths never be in vain. Amen.