Is General Danjuma now a Christian Leader? (II)
Mercifully, the Federal Ministry of Education has requested the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), the body responsible for school curriculum, to return CRK and IRK as stand-alone subjects. You wonder where these Christian elders were when “religion and national values subject which denigrates Christianity and promotes Islam”, was written down by NERDC under the regime of their darling President Goodluck Jonathan.
The truth is that being a Christian Minister, Professor Yemi Osinbajo would have spoken out if Muhammadu Buhari had truly launched a Jihad against Christians, or is the Vice President more loyal to the President than to his God?
It is sickening; it’s irrational, intemperate and contemptuous for General Danjuma and co to suggest that Fulani herders should be given Sambisa forest to rear their cattle. Even if these elders believe that Boko Haram is a Northern/Muslim and not national problem, the fact is that national resources have been deployed to fight the insurgency.
Our Christian elders also said they were disappointed that other states had availed the Fulani of grazing land for their cattle. Accordingly, Danjuma and co cannot “understand the rationale behind the action of some state governors who are willing to release the ancestral land of their people as grazing reserve.” It’s shameful of Danjuma and co to mock some of our discerning governors who’ve graciously parcelled out some land for the use of cattle owners. The use of such emotive description as “ancestral land” to discourage such state governors from giving out land for such purpose is also reckless. Tell me, which land is not ancestral? Any wonder, such facility was denied them in Taraba where the Fulani are as indigenous as anyone else! Danjuma and Christian elders’ disdain for the Fulani cannot be more self-evident! What about the Christian elders’ hypocritical prayer for the wellbeing of Buhari - to return and resume the Islamisation of Nigeria!
General Danjuma should know that he is not in the same class as the “cry, cry” bad loser called Chukwuemeka Ezeife and a bigoted, doom-laden Solomon Asemota. Therefore, for Danjuma and company to seek to muddle the waters, using religious battle cry, is a disservice to this country.
General Danjuma must not walk with Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a desperate, malicious and miserable Igbo man burdened by unfulfilled wishes. Ezeife is a failed politician who held power by the tail when he was installed briefly by Babangida as the governor of Anambra, and since that opportunity slipped off his hands, he has belonged to every noisy anti-government forum agitating for this or that. Ezeife is decidedly in opposition to this government, he’s in Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, he’s in Ohaneze, he’s in PDP, he’s in NCEF, he’s everywhere with his sour visage!
TY Danjuma is a major beneficiary of the little peace that this country has enjoyed. If he thinks there is anything untoward regarding governance in this country, he can issue his statement all by himself and needs not to pose as a Christian leader. Millions of Muslims in this country are paupers and Danjuma cannot pretend that he doesn’t care about them or escape responsibility for their plight, being a leader. I dare say that countless young men and women who have looked on to Danjuma as a role model are greatly disillusioned with his latest inflammatory statement on the platform of Christian elders.
If Asemota, Ezeife, Moses Ihonde, Shyngle Wigwe, and those other old men didn’t fight civil war, Danjuma did. He wore the Nigerian Army camouflage uniform and needs to be circumspect in his statements so as not to unsettle the tenuous religious balance in the country. Danjuma fought for the unity of this country and ought to steer clear of demagogic statements in favour of one religion.
If Asemota, Dogonyaro and Ezeife don’t have oil well, Danjuma has and he perhaps didn’t get it because he was a Christian elder, most probably he got it because of his service to Nigeria. He couldn’t have been given the oil well because he is a Christian! By the way, the Niger Delta militants have continuously counted Danjuma’s oil well among those given to Northerners and they don’t distinguish between Christian or Muslim owners!
The status of Danjuma’s oil well was altered by another Christian, former President, General Matthew, sorry, Olusegun Obasanjo, may be because he knows the limits of Danjuma’s national service. Today, the two are not even on talking terms. Obviously, people are not just united by Christianity and even if they are, they can be disunited by the quest for materialism. If a Jihad has truly been launched by Buhari against the Christians of this country, I really cannot fathom why Obasanjo has not spoken against it. Or maybe Obasanjo is not a Christian!
General Danjuma, please note that you are not in the same class with these wretched characters called Nimyel Dogonyaro, Solomon Asemota, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, etc; so please do not diminish yourself. They neither own oil well nor did they fight in the civil war, please don’t lend your good name to their brinkmanship, please clear with the current number two man in this country, Professor Osinbajo, who happens to be a Christian preacher, if this government has truly launched a Jihad, and if it has, please come out with a statement of your own. Your lone voice is loud enough to be heard by all of us even when it is not lent to some Christian elders.
Take note General Danjuma, whether as an army general, businessman or politician, divisive, emotional and provocative statements on the platform of religion (like the one issued by your NCEF) does not suit you, if anything, it damages your reputation. In the meantime, the Jihad statement issued by your group is manifestly disingenuous, preposterous, unconscionable and wicked and it diminishes you.
Lt General TY Danjuma, please stay above the fray.