In the past lies the problems of the present and in the present
lies the answers to the future or the destruction of it. History
is very fascinating and in history lies the beginning of Boko
Haram and the possible solution to the whole imbroglio. After
listening and reading all the stories and raging debates on
Boko Haram, I transported myself back into past and march
slowly to the present in an attempt to see through the future.
I will start from the beginning.
When in 1999, some politicians in northern Nigerian started
agitating for Sharia law, they had no idea what it would lead
to. It was simply a political tool to gain popularity among
their people and to win election. They were obviously not
bothered that it could snowball into sectarian violence and one
would not be wrong to say that some people wanted it all to
come crashing down on Olusegun Obasanjo's government so
that it spoils his incessant trips oversea to canvass for foreign
investment. The Sharia logo was, 'Sharia, Our Pride Their
Fear,' and as an undergraduate in 1999 living and schooling in
the troubling city of Kano, I didn't need a soothsayer to tell
me that the atmosphere was pregnant with trouble.
Sharia law finally kicked off in Ahmad Sani Yerima's Zamfara
State on 27th October, 1999. Muslim clerics who would
obviously be beneficiaries of the whole Sharia system started
pilling up pressure on their various State Governors. Sharia
was a hit and Ahmad Yerima, the man who summoned
courage to start it all, an instant celebrity, at least among
Muslims of Northern Nigeria.
When a man's hand was cut off for alledgely stealing a cow in
Zamfara State, majority of muslims applauded such action to
the horror of the outside world. It took pressure from the
international communities and Non-Governmental
Organizations to save several women sentenced to death by
stoning for alledged adultery in Katsina, Bauchi and Sokoto
State in the period between 2000 to 2003.
In 2000/2001, the whole Sharia upheavel took another
dimension. As muslim leaders put pressure on Ahmad Makarfi,
the then Kaduna State governor, to implement Sharia law in
the state, the indegenous people of Southern Kaduna who
were predominantly Christians and against Sharia as they
believed it would affect their livelihood vehemently opposed
the introduction of Sharia law in the State. What followed was
the deadliest sectarian clash between Christians and Muslims
ever experienced in the State's history. The rioting in Kaduna
and environ was soon to spread to Jos and most parts of
Plateau State.
In between the Sharia clash, something dramatic happened in
the United States on 11th September, 2011, that came to
influence and inflame the existing animosity between
Christians and Muslims in Northern Nigeria. Terrorists hijacked
airplanes on US soil and crashed them into targetted areas
with the World Trade twin towers reduced to rubbles and the
Pentagon. Osama bin Laden, American prime suspect became
a heroic figure in Northern Nigeria and anti-US sentiment
increased and was promoted by clerics. Osama bin Laden's
posters littered everywhere. In fact a month after 9/11, US
attacked the Taliban government in Afghanistan after an
ultimatum to the Taliban to handover Osama bin Laden
elapsed. Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban government a
friend indeed refused to handover Osama. As US bombs rained
on Kabul and Kandahar, Muslims and anti-war protesters all
over the globe came out to protest. In Nigeria's city of Kano,
the anti-US protest turned into riots with hundreds of
Christians killed.
In 2002, Sharia apologists in Northern Nigeria complained
bitterly about Miss World Beauty Pagaent being hosted in
Nigeria. It took the mistake from This Day reporter Isioma
Daniel to give them an opportunity to incite their army of
uneducated and hungry youths to go on rampage. Again,
Kaduna caught fire, as Isioma's article which was seen as
being disrespectful to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) led to
another attack on Christian which resulted into another deadly
riot.
The Sharia law implementation and all the trouble that
followed put Nigeria on headline of international media and
began to attract extremist elements to the country. Niger
State governor expelled a group of foreign Islamists from his
State shortly before the Boko Haram problem took a
dangerous dimension.
Late Muhammad Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, started
his sect between 2003 and what fertilize the ground for his
ideology to flourish was the implementation of Sharia Law by
politicians and religious leaders to cash in on the national
cake. It was easy to get an army of followers as the Sharia
law embarked by the Muslim North which nosedived the
hopes and aspirations of the common man failed immediately
to tackle social and economic problems it promised to tackle.
The failure of the Nigerian state to do anything about the
welfare of Nigeria made it easy for such militant ideology to
take root. The inability of the Nigerian government to take the
whole thing serious from the onset is responsible for some of
these problems.
The promotion of fanaticism and fanatical ideals by religious
leaders must be combated by government. The Almajiri
institution should be reformed and the Nigerian child protected
and government must ensure every child is educated.
The Government of Goodluck Jonathan has not shown any
sign or seriously that it is capable of handling the Boko
Haram imbroglio. In fact Goodluck Jonathan's statement
recently in the Diaspora when addressing some foreign
delegation is directly responsible for the spat of attacks on
Christian worshippers in Bayero University, Kano, and police in
Taraba State where over forty people were killed.
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