Not Northern, not Christian, not elders

Many different newspaper headlines emanating from last Thursday’s Northern Christian Elders Forum [NCEF] statement were enough to confuse a fleeing wildebeest. One newspaper headline quoted NCEF as saying “Nigeria in the throes of Jihad;” another quoted them as saying “Jihad already in Nigeria;” a third said “Jihad has been launched in Nigeria;” another paper said, “NCEF: Nigeria on the throes of war over attempt to impose Shari’a” while yet another newspaper said, “NCEF blames Buhari for national crises.” One thing was clear: “elders” were trying to outdo youngsters in stirring the national hornet’s nest.

Compared to leaders of Arewa Youth groups that issued the so-called Igbo quit notice, none of whom was recognisable by regular newspaper readers, or to Nnamdi Kanu, who became known only because he propounded the secessionist agenda, the NCEF leaders that met in Abuja last Thursday were well known national figures, albeit from another era. They include Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, General Joshua Dogonyaro, Major General Zamani Lekwot, former NTA director general Shyngle Wigwe, former Anambra State governor Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife and their lesser known chairman, Elder Solomon Asemota, SAN.

NCEF[sinceextendedtotheSouthEast to include Ezeife and Wigwe] expressed concern about “the threat of another major ethnic conflict occasioned by the Independent [sic] People of Biafra’s (IPOB) call for secession and the response of Arewa Northern Youths for the eviction of Ibos from the North, the agitations for fiscal federalism and resource control, amongst many other regional agitations.” One problem was that NCEF was arriving fairly late to this issue, weeks after Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s series of meetings with regional leaders had managed to douse the tension. While the crises lasted, the government blamed it on economic recession and youth unemployment; others blamed it on PDP sore losers; still others said the Buhari regime’s unequal treatment of regions was to blame while others blamed foreign powers for planting seeds of discord in Nigeria.

NCEF however smuggled in a new, more volatile explanation. It said, “The real problem with the country is that JIHAD has been launched in Nigeria and Islamists that have been interfering in the governance of the country using “Taqiyya” (approved deception) as “Stealth/Civilization Jihad” and Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen as violent Jihad are relentless in their pursuit of eradicating democracy in Nigeria. The objective of the Islamists (Political Islam) is to supplant the Constitution of Nigeria with Sharia ideology as the source of legislation in the nation. The conflict between Democracy as national ideology and Sharia as a usurping ideology is responsible for the crisis unfolding in Nigeria. The nation is in the throes of Jihad.” This poorly constructed allegation sought to bring Nigeria’s volatile religious divides to centre stage in recent political problems and add fuel to smoking logs. Nigerians are crafty conspiracy theorists but this is one of the most dangerous ever spinned.

And what is NCEF’s proof of this allegation? It said “Jihadists have taken over the education and security apparatuses of the nation to foist Islamic rule.” It has been alleged since 2015 that most heads of security agencies that President Buhari appointed are Muslims and that it was lopsided. Personally I cannot defend that and I have criticised it in at least two column articles. To however proceed from there and infer that every Muslim head of a security agency is a Jihadist and was so appointed “to foist Islamic rule” on the country is unbecoming of T.Y. Danjuma at least, who was already a GOC in the Gowon era when the Head of State and all the military service chiefs were Christians. Yet no one said the country was Christianised.

From all indications, this strange stretching of fact emanated from recent events in General Danjuma’s home state of Taraba. NCEF’s statement “called on the security forces to be impartial and non-discriminatory. It is disturbing the alacrity with which the security forces and top Government officials responded to the attacks against the Fulani on the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State, while remaining insensitive to the serial attacks and killings by the same Fulani herdsmen across the nation.” In other words, why did the military intervene in a major breakdown of internal security on the Mambilla Plateau where a lot of people were being killed and maimed?

I think the answer to that is that the military also intervened in many other places where people were being killed including Plateau, Agatu, Southern Kaduna, Zamfara State, AguleriUmuleri, Ikwerre and Ife-Modakeke to mention but a few. It could be that they moved faster in some situations than in others. In Zamfara State for example, the army launched Operation Harbin Kunama only after bandits had been killing villagers for three years. I am sure there are many reasons for the differential speed with which soldiers move into crisis situations, not the