By our Correspondent.
The sad religious crisis was an incident, which engulfed Kaduna metropolis and environs, during the period 21st – 26th February, 2000. It was the saddest moment, and the one immediate cause that was known to the general public was the invitation of moves through the then Kaduna State House of Assembly to institute the application of Islamic Legal System in its totality that was civil and criminal as the operative law in the state.
The House then set up an 11-man Muslim Members Committee to look at how the Sharia Law would be implemented in the State. The membership consisted of 1 Christian to 11 Muslims. There were demonstrations by Muslims, who insisted on institution of Sharia Law. The Christian Community on the other hand, claiming their democratic right to expression also embarked on a peaceful demonstration, which took place on the morning of Monday, 21st February, 2000.
On returning home after handing their protest letter to Government House and House of Assembly on their position on Sharia issue – some Muslim youths attacked them on their way back, and that resulted to the deaths of some Christians, which also gave rise to explosion of violence.
In a paper, “The Position of Tiv Nation on the current crisis in the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” by Wantaregh Paul Unongo, President-General Tiv Progressive Movement-cum National President, Middle-Belt Association, former Minister of Mines, Power and Steel Development, dated 21st April, 2000, had this to say on Kaduna Sharia Riots.
“A close examination of the horrendous Kaduna Muslim riots, dubbed, ‘Sharia Riots,’ reveal a foreboding frightening phenomenon of crass opportunism of frightening proportions by the elite class of this nation; this time, by the elite leadership from the Muslim North, in their struggle for continued political dominance of the nation-State of Nigeria.
The Tiv nation submits humbly but firmly, that what happened in Kaduna (and elsewhere in the Muslim North) had nothing to do with the defence of Islam, neither was it a struggle for the entrenchment of Sharia in Nigeria, for the enjoyment of the full rights of Muslims. If the contrary was the case, MR. JATO-AKA, A TIV MUSLIM, residing in Kaduna, would be alive today.
MR. JATO-AKA, when he was taken along with some of his Tiv tribesmen, to be slaughtered, believing that the knife was only for the ‘infidels’ and Christians of Tiv ethnic origin, protested and informed his would-be killers that, he was a Muslim brother. Thereupon, he was tested on some tenets of Islam, on the Haddih and was requested to recite from memory chunks of the Qur’an. Mr. Jato-Aka acquitted himself rather well because, indeed, he was a Muslim.
Reports have it that, having satisfied his “Muslim Brothers,” who were presumably struggling on his behalf, to entrench their Muslim Sharia, the Muslim Rioters proceeded calmly to kill Mr. Jato-Aka all the same, protesting that, “NO TIV MAN COULD BE A TRUE MUSLIM.” President Buhari is knowns to be an Islamist. In one of his interviews, for example in 2000, with Freedom House, he was reported to have said, “I can die for the cause of Islam, if necessary. We are prepared to fight another civil war.”
On the 11th of February, 2017, the United States Congress affirmed that, the most dangerous nation on earth for anyone to be a Christian is Nigeria. This means that, Nigerian Christians have become endangered species in a country in which they constitute over 50% of the population.
According to the Global Index on Terror, the 1st and the 4th most terrible Islamic Terrorist organizations in the world operate in Nigeria. A Boko Haram is 1st, while the Fulani Herdsmen is 4th. The question one will ask is, if those terror organizations are not fighting Jihad, what then are they doing in Nigeria?
Under Buhari administration, every key and sensitive position in National Security were held by Fulani Muslim and some by Hausa Muslim in the north of the country, in outright violation of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution.
In the early life of his administration, the writer recalled that, more than 95% of senior Army Officers retired from the military were Christians. In NNPC, more than 95% of the new appointments into the Senior Management positions were Fulani Muslims, with some from the Hausa stock.
These lopsided appointments in National Security were conclusive that, there existed a deliberate plan to keep emasculating Christians in the South, the Middle-Belt and the North. It is a fact that, appropriating all security positions to the Fulani Muslim North, and Hausa North, the herdsmen operate in mostly Christian-dominated areas, killing, maiming, raping, kidnapping, displacing people from their homes with impunity. The Hausa areas are also having their share of the killings, kidnapping, race displacement of their homes into IDP camps, and so were forced to react.
The Police and members of the Armed Forces were compromised. If not so, they successfully prosecuted the Civil War of 1967 to 1970. Besides, they have been ranked the first in professionalism by the United Nations, while performing outside their own country. Therefore, there was a secret agenda to wipe out the Christians, particularly in the Middle-Belt and other areas of the country.
It will also be interesting to note that, the Sultan of Sokoto, who is also the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, was reported to have said during a public function in the USA that, “I DO NOT RECOGNIZE ANY NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION AND THE ONLY CONSTITUTION I RECOGNIZE IS THE KORAN.”
The Sultan was, in 2011, in Harvard far away USA, a foreign land when he made the statement. And this is the same man, who said he wants peace to reign in the country. Again, the question to ask is, who is funding and quipping the Fulanis’ Islamic insurgents in the country?
The administration, headed by President Buhari, was far more than bigotry. In a population that is made up of about over 80%, which can be said equal number of Christians, Muslims and adherents of other faith, Muslims occupied the following strategic offices to the exclusion of other Nigerians: These were: Finance Minister, Defence, Justice, National Security Adviser, Chief of Army, the Inspector-General of Police, Director-General Nigeria Security and Civil Defence and many others.
Sharia Law, contrary to the provision of the country, is in operation in twelve (12) States or more, but the states are the poorest. The Head of the Nigeria Law School was one time Professor of Islamic Studies. Until then, the Chief Justice of Nigeria was one time Judge of the Sharia Court of Appeal.
By the writer’s estimation and expectation, the lawyers that majored in Sharia Laws form a tiny percentage compared to over 90% Common Law Lawyers. Such appointments would not have taken place in a civilized Democratic Government. Lazy people are not supposed to be rich. But, when you see those, who are doing nothing but are very rich, no doubt they are Government Treasury looters.
The Champions of Sharia live without principles, and yet, they have access to economic opportunities. The situation that added more fears in some parts of the country is the operation of Mafia group. African Guardian news magazine argues that, the Kaduna Mafia is a “Force manipulating government and institutions, putting its wards in strategic political, economic and military bodies and exacting retribution for transgression against its will. In effect, it’s a force that calls the shots immaterial, who sits at the head of government.”
The future of Nigeria’s Democratic Process was decided in the case of Ibrahim V. Mari (1996) (Pt.430) 322 at 337. Honourable Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad of the Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal had this to say: “I am of the firm view that for a nation such as ours to have stability and respect for democracy, obviously, (the) rule of law must be allowed to follow its normal course unencumbered. If, for any reason, the Executive arm of Government refuses to comply with court orders, I am afraid that arm is promoting anarchy and executive indiscipline capable of wrecking the organic framework of the society …”
There is nothing in the country that says court orders cannot be enforced immediately the orders are made. Court orders, as far as the public is aware, are enforceable instantly until reversed by another validity made court order.
The Buhari administration did not have record, or records, adhering to many judgments of various courts in all cases that it got involved in. Honourable Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, JSC, as he then was, warned of the danger that followed the non-implementation of courts’ order. He maintained that, “The court system cannot be maintained without the willingness of parties to abide by the findings and orders of a competent court until reversed on appeal.
This presupposes that, no party … can say, ‘I do not like the order made and I will not obey it …’ That posture has to be condemned in the strongest of terms, if we are not to say goodbye to the rule of law.” Justice Oputa again had cause to warn in the celebrated case of Governor of Lagos State Vs Ojukwu 1986), 1 NWLF (Pt.18) 621 at 641.
It is true that the history of the frustration of people’s collective hopes in this country has been characterized and hinged upon the arbitrariness on the part of those, who find themselves in positions of authority; and these are the same people, today, who have generally managed or mismanaged our public affairs as their whims and caprices dictate. The present administration is not an exception; it has committed so many unconstitutionalities and illegalities, too.