Nigeria: Long Walk Towards Anarchy

By Emmanuel Ojeifo  

I knew it would come to this. I knew that the murderers of Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, the 74-year-old Igbo Christian trader killed by irate Muslim youths at Kofar Wambai market in Kano would not be brought to book. I knew that the typical political Nigerian-speak, “We will ensure that the culprits of this dastardly act are brought to book,” is only a euphemism for intrigues, betrayals and cover-ups. I knew that the political, religious and traditional powers that be would ensure that the case is silenced and that nothing comes out of it.

*Late Mrs. Bridget Agbahime

I knew all of these when I wrote my article, “The Media and Extrajudicial Killings” published in Thisday of September 12, 2016. In that piece I argued that the Nigerian news media ought to stay on course and, with patience and persistence, pursue issues regarding human rights violations to their logical conclusion in order to hold political leaders accountable. I spoke in favour of what I termed ‘protest writing’ and ‘protest broadcast’ in media practice in order to bring to the consciousness of media practitioners the huge moral obligation that they have to “to take sides with the powerless against the depredations of power.”

Thus, when the news filtered into the public domain some days ago that the five Muslim culprits who were arrested and arraigned for the gruesome murder of Mrs. Agbahime, have been set free – “discharged and acquitted” – on frivolous grounds by a Kano Magistrates Court, I wasn’t any bit surprised. That has been the pattern of gross human rights violation in Nigeria. The sad part of it is that in the eyes of many Nigerians, tragedies claiming multiple human lives have become “one of those things.”

Like a national ritual, whenever tragic incidents happen we talk about them soberly. Our security agencies run around and get busy for a few days. Political leaders come out to assure us that the culprits would be brought to book. They then pledge that every possible effort will be made to forestall a repeat of such tragedy. End of discussion! We return to business as usual, and wait until something tragic happens again.

Has anyone heard anything about the killers of Mrs. Eunice Elisha, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) pastor who was murdered in Kubwa, Abuja, during the early hours of June 9, 2016 when she went out to preach? Has anyone heard anything about the eight students of Abud Gusau Polytechnic in Talata Marafa, Zamfara State, who were set ablaze on August 22, 2016 by some fanatical Muslim youths on allegations of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed? Fifteen years have passed since a famous Nigerian Minister of Justice was murdered in cold blood in his Ibadan residence.

Ndigbo: Why Joe Igbokwe’s Self-Enslavement Worries Me

By Jude Ndukwe

In his well published diatribe against the Igbo people of Nigeria, Joe Igbokwe, the Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State chapter, who is also a son of Igbo, poured invectives on the Igbo nation while making spurious allegations against them. For those who know Igbokwe’s leanings and past stance on national issues, his latest scurrilous attack on the great people of the South Eastern part of Nigeria did not come as a surprise, the only surprising thing is that this latest attack seem to come somehow awkwardly late and too far apart given the man’s relentless and unrepentant penchant for always attempting to ridicule Nigeria’s most resilient and enterprising people in an essay full of contradictions, lame postulations and outright insults.

*Tinubu and Buhari 

His grouse is that, according to him, the Igbo have refused to move on since after former president Jonathan lost the last presidential election to the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari. In one fell swoop, he accused the Igbo of ethnic bigotry and still went ahead to wonder why it is that the people of the South South region have since moved on while their South Eastern brothers have refused to move on from that election. If the Igbo were ethnic bigots, how would they be so concerned about the loss of a Bayelsa man in an election to the extent that a certain Joe Igbokwe is riled by their stoic and unwavering support to such a man even more than a year after his loss?

Rather than paint the Igbo in such uncomplimentary, yet, false light, Joe should turn his focus on his principals and paymasters who are working tirelessly to continually divide Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines. When the president of a country has officially divided his nation into two political, ethnic and religious lines by the virtue of the “97% vs 5%” declaration of no person less than the president himself, the Igbo view him as one who does not mean well for the nation.

 In this light, the Igbo view Jonathan as a hero because, even though he is not Igbo, he would never have made such a divisive and unpresidential statement not to talk of acting it out. And as if to prove that declaration as an official policy of his, President Buhari’s appointments have not been federal either in character or in intent. To this extent, the Igbo view themselves as endangered species in a nation that easily preaches one Nigeria but state actors do the exact opposite. The president’s continued seclusion of certain parts of the country from State offices and projects, if there is anyone at all, is what is crippling Nigeria. The cry of the Igbo, which the likes of Igbokwe have misinterpreted to serve their own selfish purpose, is that Buhari should not crash the nation with his own hands.

 If anyone sees this as ethnic bigotry, the person has urgent need for an optician and a psychiatrist! With the level of poverty visited on us in Nigeria by the Buhari administration, it is enough to make people like Igbokwe spew nonsense in the name of criticism, and also makes it imperative for regular brain checks to be part of such people’s daily menu. When armless and harmless Igbo embark on peaceful rallies and the military shoot at them without provocation, killing many in the process, not once, not twice, and hurriedly bury them in mass shallow graves in military barracks and elsewhere in order to cover their evil, Joe Igbokwe expects Ndigbo to applaud rather than criticize state actors for their wickedness and insensitivity. Enough is enough! 

Mrs. Bridget Agbahime’s Horrific Butchery(1)

By Mike Ozekhome

Introduction
Few weeks ago, 74-year-old Mrs. Bridget Agbaheme was brutally murdered in cold blood. She had her head gruesomely decapitated from her body in Kano. Her alleged ‘blasphemy’ was that she objected to an ablution by some muslim youths, right in front of her shop, at Kofar Wambai market, Kano, in broad daylight. As Nigerians join their brothers and sisters in Islam all over the globe to observe the holy month of Ramadan, the question can now be asked: Is violence the true tenet of Islamic religion? Does God or Allah need to be defended, or protected by us, mere mortals, who are his creation?
Twenty-four-year-old trader, Methodus Chimaeje Emmanuel, was also killed in Pandogari, Rafi LGA, Niger State, for alleged blasphemy. In Kakuri, Kaduna, 41-year-old carpenter, Francis Emmanuel, was savagely attacked for not participating in the ongoing Ramadan fast. Recall also that Gideon Akaluka, a young Igbo trader, was, in 1995, hideously and horrendously beheaded in the same Kano, allegedly for desecrating the holy Quran. His decapitated head was grisly paraded about on Kano streets, on a pole. I cannot remember the perpetrators, who were initially arrested ever being prosecuted.

*Ozekhome

Nigeria Is Multi-Religious, Not Secular
Nigeria’s Constitution abolishes theocracy. Some erroneously call this secularity. No. Nigeria is not secular, agnostic, atheistic or irreligious. Rather, Nigeria is multi-religious. Section 10 of the Constitution laconically provides: “The government of the Federation or a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion”. Section 15, inter alia, prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion. Section 38 allows freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion or beliefs. When Sections 10 and 15, therefore, specifically mention “religion”, it means we are a religious country, not a secular one. Indeed, the preamble to the 1999 Constitution specifically says Nigerians have “firmly and solemnly resolved to live in unity and harmony, as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God…” Our National Pledge ends with “so, help me God”. The penal code that operates in the northern part of the country is influenced by Islamic principles, while the criminal code that operates in the southern part of Nigeria is greatly influenced by the common law and Christian religion. So, Nigeria, whilst not adopting a particular religion, as state religion, is neither secular, atheist, nor irreligious. Rather, it is a multi-religious country that believes in God Almighty. However, blasphemy, even if any, was committed, in the above episodes, is only a demeanour under Section 204 of the Criminal Code that is punishable with two years imprisonment, not death.

Wrong Interpretation Of The Holy Books
Most fanatics and fundamentalists interpret the Holy Bible and Holy Quran wrongly. For example, they erroneously rely on the Quran, 8:12, which states: “When your Lord revealed to the angels, I am with you. Therefore, make from those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore, strike off their heads, and strike off every fingertip of them.”
On the surface, if taken literally, this would appear to mean that the Quran expects violence to be a divine command intended to inspire terror. No. The explanation from knowledgeable Islamic clerics is that the background to this command was within an actual war situation, dealing with the spoils of war, at the battle of Badr in the year 624. It is just as unfair, therefore, to generalise from this verse and say that the Islamic Religion encourages or condones killings, as it is unfair for critics of Christianity to say that the latter is a violent religion, merely because Christ had said, ‘I have not come to bring peace but a sword’. But, everyone understands that Christ did not mean this literally, or willed that the statement He made be taken out of context. He was merely speaking metaphorically.
In the Holy Quran, 5:32, we are warned: “Whoever kills a person (unjustly)… it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he has saved all mankind”. In the Holy Bible, we are admonished “thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). The consequence of violating this sacred injunction is that, “he that killeth with this sword must be killed with a sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Rev. 13:10).