PUBLIC ENEMIES AND FALSE REGIONAL LOYALTY

""Truly, we were born with nothing, but when wecame into this world, we all need something and if we work hard enough, we willacquire something. However, Causing division and destruction on the surface ofthis earth is not the best way to acquire whatever we desire.

Therefore, If you are a christian, be a good Christian. If you are a Muslim, be a good Muslim. Even if you are a traditionalist, just be a good one. It is my believe that, if every Muslim and christian in the world choose to be good, there will be little or no problem in the world.""

Public enemies are citizens that derive joy in public disorder,create enmity among tribes, promote sectionalism and widen religious divide between citizens for selfish benefits. They love anarchy than peace and gain from negative occurrences.

They mostly hide under the bannerof their religion or tribe to perpetrate this evil agenda against the nation,but many are still unaware of their destructive agenda. 

With this unholy pursuit, some had gotten to the position of authority,occupying various high offices, attain celebrity status as well as being regarded as respected religious figures. 

This is so unfortunate for Nigeria as many young people have joined this cliq to continue the trend of negativity especially on the social media.

It is equally unfortunate that Nigeria has gotten to a stage where young victims of misrule and bad government are made to ignore integrity and capability to deliver good governance in making choice of leaders, they are rather programmed to be concerned about the religion or ethnicity of the intending leaders. Majorly, this is the handy work of the public enemy.

It has deteriorated to an extent where, irrespective of the competence and capability of an intending leader to deliver good governance, his religion or ethnicity is mostly a constrain.

The beneficiaries of this ugly scenario ensured that, to have follower-ship and be loved by Nigerians, the easiest means to achieve this is to follow one of the two (2) means. Religion or ethnicity.

Let me explain how these 2factors are utilized in the Nigerian polity.

1.       Religious bigotry.

If you are a Muslim, you have to attack anything Christianity, condemn it, claim they are marginalizing Muslims,insult Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and every thing related to Christianity. 

After this is done, check your public support level and trust me, you will find that some large crowd of ignorant Muslims are always supporting you no matter how stupid and unreasonable you sound. It doesn’t matter if you are not making sense, it also doesn’t matter even if what you are doing is against the principle of Islam, just do it and claim you are doing it to protect Islam and your Muslim brothers.

Also, if you area Christian, make sure you master the act of using English language to redefine minimization. Attack Muslims, condemn them, abuse Prophet Muhammed, insult everything Islamic. Call Muslims terrorists, blood suckers and murderers. Claim Christians are being marginalized, hit up the polity with unguided statements to further widen the divide and be rest assured, your public support level  will rise dramatically. 

It doesn’t matter if you are senselessly doing it to gain wealth and publicity, it alsodoesn’t matter if you are doing it out of your own stupidity and bigotry.

You even stand a greater chance if you are known to be either an Islamic cleric or Pastor like Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Shiekh Gunmi and their likes leading a congregation or an organization.

If you are a pastor, you can sign a gentle man agreement with an Islamic scholar and both of you shall engage in this public exchange of religious attack since it is a lucrative venture.

When you go public,raise your voice among the Christians and tell them how Muslims are trying to Islamize Nigeria. Your Islamic colleague would do the same among the Muslims and both of you shall command huge ignorant follower-ship.

I recall a fraudulent incident that occurred in Taraba state in 2010

 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (efcc) arraigned 3 clerics, 2 leaders of the Taraba state chapter of the Muslim Council, Alhaji Inuwa Usman and Alhaji Chindo Boseand a reverend father, Rev. john Simon Jatutu who is the leader of  CAN in the state.

According to report, economic and financial crimes commission (efcc) arraigned the 3 clerics before Justice M.S Shuaibu of the federal high court, Yola in Adamawa state on a six count charge bordering on money laundering and obtaining N10 million by false pretense. Efcc stated that, the Muslim clerics were alleged to have conspired with Rev. Jatutu to divert part of the funds  approved towards the celebration of the country’s golden jubilee.

A statement by the head of publicity of the efcc, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren said,  the Taraba state government had approved in September 2010 the sum of N42 million for the Christian Association of Nigeria  and Muslim Council for purpose of the 50^th independent celebration.

However, the 3accused persons cornered N10million each from the Muslim Councils and CAN share of the grant. Members of the groups later got wind of the actual figure approved for them which prompted a petition to the efcc.

It is worth to note that, when christian and islamic clerics pursue personal interest of engaging in stealing what is meant for the large group, they are united and see no barrier. But after sharing the loot, barrier will suddenly surface and they pitch citizens against each other.

Furthermore, It has been observed that, If you choose to be an objective person in terms of religious issue, neither your fellow religious person nor others from the other religion would take you as friend. 

If you are a Muslim for example, make sure you do not condemn any Muslim leader when they act wrongly. Instead, praise and defend the leaders or just keep silent. To them, that is religious loyalty.

Also, If a christian leader act wrongly, don’t try to condemn him or her unless you are ready for war of words. 

If your name is Abdulrazaq for example, no matter how truthful, objective or sincere you are,expect to be attacked from various quarters. Christians shall hit you hard,call you all sort of names, blooding sucking boko haram,hypocrite,hater etc.Even when they are victims of the same abusive action, they prefer to be victim and defend their fellow religious fellow than to be truthful.

Therefore,unless you are ready to loose friends and be very unpopular like me, don’t tryto be neutral and objective in religious discuss.

To gain friends and be famous among Muslims, be a Muslim bigot, and to be popular among Christians,be a christian bigot. If you are the objective type, both Christians and  Muslims don’t care about your neutrality, very few truthful, objective and sincere adherent of both faith would adore you.

Truly, we were born with nothing, but when we came into this world, we all need something and if we work hard enough, we will acquire something. However, Causing division and destruction on the surface of this earth is not the best way to acquire whatever we desire.

Therefore,If you are a christian, be a good Christian. If you are a Muslim, be a good Muslim. 

Even if you are a traditionalist, just be a good one. It is my believe that, if every Muslim and christian in the world choose to be good, there will be little or no problem in the world.

2.       Regional hypocrites:

Another major route to fame in Nigeria is being a regional hypocrite.

When names such as Femi Fani kayode, Edwin Clarck, Femi Aribisala, Adamu Ciroma, Junaid and others  come to mind, nothing is remembered of them other than the regional rants and divide they are promoting.

When you visit the social media space for example, there are countless regional champions trying to undo each other by means of spreading propaganda and lies to get popular. These hypocrites are divided between North and South. 

No matter how incompetent a northern leader is, never criticize him, else, the northern regional champions would attack like there is a war. Also, No matter how incompetent a southern leader is, don’t attempt to express your opinion about his leadership or else, expect bashing from these regional champions. Though, they mostly claim to be regional champions, but in reality, they are nothing, but regional destroyers.

These regional destroyers don’t need to know the individual leaders, they also don’t need to be aware of the issue is discuss or have any prior knowledge, even if the individual is guilty or not, they don’t care, reasonable or unreasonable, it doesn’t matter. They are ready to defend everything, by any means no matter how evil it is.

With the way they blindly  claim to defend their region, you will get an impression that they love the region and are passionate about defending its general interest, but a close examination reveals that,personal gains and undeserved honor is their target. 

If you ask yourself, who are those defending president Jonathan, Stella Oduah, Allisson Madueke and others despite the obvious failure in this administration? 95% are from the South. 

To them, it doesn’t matter if $20billion is unaccounted for, it doesn’t matter if Stella Oduah spent N250million meant for the public on her personal upkeep, it doesn’t matter if the president can’t guarantee security of lives and properties, it doesn’t matter if over 200 girls are missing for over 2 months, it doesn’t matter if ASUU went on strike for over 5 months, it also doesn’t matter if ASUP have been on strike for over 8 months keeping polytechnic students at home.

Again, who are those defending Sanusi Lamido, Sule Lamido and others? 95% are from the North. To them also, it doesn’t matter if Sanusi had misappropriated billions, it doesn’t matter if he does selective donation of public funds, it doesn’t matter if a CBN governor gave wrong figures that misled the whole nation and subject thecountry to international ridicule, it also doesn’t matter if the children of Lamido are found with huge public funds.

Their basis for defending and supporting these people are not about the issues, but false regional loyalty and personal interest.

Consequently, any Nigerian that speak truth and remain objective on national issue is seen by both side of the divide as an enemy that must be hated by all means. Such enemies as they perceive are assumed to be working against their regional interest no matter where they come from. 

For example, if a man from Beyalsa state find the government of Good luck Jonathan as being very poor and expresses such in public domain, such man may be attacked and regarded as an enemy working against south south interest.

The regional category is even further divided into ethnic and tribal champions. The likes of Asari Dokubo and others that consider promoting one single ethnic group within a region are perfect examples. To these groups, anything outside their ethnic group is a threat that must be neutralized or eliminated. Through such regional blind promotion, many had become famous and enjoy public respect within their sphere of clout.

So, if you want to enjoy such status, you can never be neutral, truthful or objective when discussing national issues. These groups are like boko haram that believes in only one principle,’’ its either you are with us or against us’’. If you are with them, forget about neutrality, objectivity and sincerity. Just channel every of your words and action toward promoting the vision no matter how bad it is. Here, Nigeria’s interest and the good of general public is never a consideration,what is considered is basically the maintenance of power by that regional interest.

Finally, let me end this piece by noting that, these set of groups and individuals are the public enemies hiding under fake regional loyalty. They cannot benefit the nation in anyway, neither can they benefit the region they claim to represent.

The good people of every region must quickly identify these set of destroyers and dissociate themselves from it to avoid giving the bad people privilege over the good.

BY Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

Discus4now@gmail.com

The state of Boro

Isaac Adaka Boro is not lying in state. He is haunting a state of lies. When his folks in the Niger Delta exhumed and re-interred him, they only performed a ritual that mocked reality. Adaka Boro, a name that rhymes in poems, fulminates in books and essays, chimes in songs and rollicks on dance floors, has never passed away. 

Boro has burrowed our lives and unearthed all our hypocrisies as a nation. 

Nigeria’s best musician ever, Rex Lawson, paid tributes to his vision and valour. 

But the recent account of him came from the masterpiece of that carnage, written by General Alabi Isama. He told the story about how he was killed in the uniform, ironically not of Biafra but of Nigeria. In the damp and ominous atmosphere of the Niger Delta, Boro was searching a building for Biafran stragglers.

 But he did not know that an Igbo soldier stalked in the shadows, positioned himself and blasted the Ijaw hero to death. No one has contradicted Isama’s account. In the book, The Tragedy of Victory, Isama portrayed Boro as one of the valuable hands of the Third Marine Commander, under the feisty zeal and predatory cunning of the diminutive Adekunle. Isama was the chief of staff.

Boro represented a contradiction. He fought to excise his people out of Nigeria. Eventually, he exerted his soldiery in cementing the survival of that same entity he despised. A soldier from Biafra that tried to fulfil his subversive fantasy gunned him down. He became the distorted vision of sacrifice but not the sacrifice of his own vision.

The contradiction was typically Nigerian. It is the soul of Nigeria, a rabid show of togetherness only exhibited by a zest to undermine that togetherness. We call one Nigeria, but we worship tribe and disdain Nigeria. The American poet of democracy wrote, “Do I contradict myself? Yes I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” Walt Whitman was emphasising the American obsession with itself, its self-renewing energy, its desire to melt together its various peoples and races in spite of its yawning differences.

We can see the United States confront its turbulent divergences, its compulsion to morph from a mosaic to a melting pot. It is an imperfect attempt. It has shed blood, ruined families, but wrought a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods, and hoisted a Barack Obama.

Boro died in flesh that day the Biafran soldier extinguished him. But he regenerated powerfully. He abandoned the dust of nothingness. He came alive, and he became Ojukwu and his generals who gave the federal soldiers and Yakubu Gowon blood for every blood, flesh for every flesh, bone for every bone. For 30 months, the spirit of Boro hewed down the Nigerian tree.

When the war ended, we thought we were done. The ghost gave a reprieve, but he walked the night of Nigeria and allowed a honeymoon of illusion. We cannot, however, forget that Orkar and his fellow coupist plotted with Boro when they wanted to slice off Arewa in a fumbling fiasco. Boro also wanted it to fail, so the nation could look at itself and ponder its tragic hypocrisies. We tagged along shamelessly.

So, today, we know he was not killed that hapless noon of the civil war. He said to Nigeria, “I was he that was alive, and was dead. Behold I am alive till the end of time. I hold the keys to Nigeria’s hell and death.”

So we see it today. Why is it that we did not see the Niger Delta folks perform a ceremony of reburial in the past? Why today?

It is because it is now that he cannot be buried. Today he is more alive. He is telling us he is alive and well and portentously so. He is alive in the Enugu State House. He growled with the subversives of Biafran dreams who attacked the government house. He chanted with them when they disdained Nigeria and brandished Biafra. They want back not just Biafra, but the shimmering beard of the Ikemba, his glistening pate and also the glittering dame, the svelte Bianca.

He is with Boko Haram, the young and virulent bigots who slit throats, burn down houses, waylay emirs, despise books and western education, kidnap Chibok girls, and loft high a leader online who celebrates his barbarities. He abides the contradiction of a body that despises books but uses the same literacy to propagate its sovereignty.

He spoke inelegantly with the Adamawa fellow in the sham of a national confab, who threatened to go away with northern Nigeria to join his neighbours. Boro took him seriously because he appeared to him in his dream.

Did we not see Boro when Yar’Adua was sick? Boro thwacked and flared all over Abuja and ignited the nation to give the top seat to an Ijaw son. Once he got there, he made sure the Ijaw son would not be a tower of grace. Rather he planted a seed like Boko Haram to germinate and sprout into a monstrous bower. Under the same son, we know that it is not about differing tongues alone that we bicker but also over differing gods. One God is better than the other, and it does not matter the humanity, the wisdom of their worshippers.

But then, we have seen Boro in the land of Oduduwa. They now call for regionalism. They want to be their own law and their own grace. Boro is holding sway. His is arming Boko Haram as he armed the militants of Niger Delta and the OPC and the MASSOB. No one should wonder how the arms get into the country. They come in spirit.

Boro may be no one’s hero. He did not walk his talk. But he is us, groveling in self-deceit today. We abide the lies. That is why he is not lying in state. He is flying in our face and instructing us. He is like the ghost in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who says, “I am thy father’s spirit, Doomed for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purged away. 

But that I am forbid, To tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word, Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood…”

Boro’s prison house is us, and we must shed ourselves of the hypocrisy before we can fly out of the cage. Then he can truly be buried and forgotten.

- In Touch, The Nation newspaper, 09/06/2014

Boko Haram-led Pogroms, Ethnic Cleansing And Medieval Bestiality In Nigeria's North East

By Dr. Pogu Bitrus (of Chibok),
 Rev. Ibrahim Dauwa (of Gwoza)
 and Rev. James Yaga, JP

Against the background of denials by high-ranking functionaries of the Muslim establishment in Nigeria that the Boko Haram insurgency is not a Muslim agenda, we owe it to ourselves and the world to set the record straight. In 2012, in a widely publicized video recording that is easily accessible on the internet, Abubakar Shekau, the late erstwhile leader of Boko Haram announced the mission statement of his sect. Among other things, he said “this war is not political. It is religious. It is between Muslims and unbelievers (arna). It will stop when Islamic religion is the determinant in governance in Nigeria or, in the alternative, when all fighters are annihilated and no one is left to continue the fight. I warn all Muslims at this juncture that any Muslim who assists an unbeliever in this war should consider himself dead.”

This mission statement explains why Muslim communities have been viciously attacked for having within them persons who served as informants to the authorities. While we appreciate the concern of well-meaning persons in Nigeria and world-wide over the fate of more than three hundred female students abducted from Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram sect we want to draw the attention of the world to the fact that the abduction saga has become a distraction that has left our communities to free-pillaging and rampaging by Boko Haram.

These are the facts that happened in the past four weeks:

In Ataggara, Southern Senatorial Zone of Borno State, Boko Haram attacked and were repelled by the community. Community leaders went to Pulka, where a military formation exists, to report the attack and were assured that a unit would be drafted to the town to protect the people. The following day some people appeared in Nigeria Army issue in nine armoured personnel carriers bearing the colours and insignia of the Nigerian Army. They announced to the villagers that they had come to assess the security situation. When the people gathered to hear them, the men that came in armoured personnel carriers, and in Army uniform, opened fire and killed over two hundred and fifty men, women and children. Those who were able to take to their heels were pursued by the marauders into the bush and when they were caught up with, were either butchered with knives or shot to death. The survivors have taken refuge in Cameroun, or in friendly communities;

In Bokko Wizhe, four people died when Boko Haram terrorists opened fire indiscriminately in the predominantly Christian community. About two thousand survivors have fled to Cameroun and neighbouring states;

In Bokko Timta, about 1,500 Christians had to flee to Cameroun and other states in Nigeria after Boko Haram attacked their community;

In Kugyly, about 2,500 fled the village to Cameroun and other states in Nigeria after they were visited by Boko Haram;

In Ngoshe, 46 persons were killed by Boko Haram and more than 3,000 had to flee to Cameroun and other states in Nigeria. None of the houses and churches in the community escaped being torched;

In Gava, 26 persons were killed by Boko Haram. About 2,000 people fled to Cameroun and other states in Nigeria. All the houses and churches were burnt down;

In Amuda, 17 persons were murdered by Boko Haram and more than four thousand people fled to other places. The Village Head is, at present taking refuge in Nasarawa State;

In Halaghwa after an undetermined number of persons were killed by Boko Haram, about 500 persons from the community fled to Cameroun and another 2,000 fled to other states in Nigeria;

In Agapalawa, 15 persons were killed by Boko Haram and more than 4,000 had to flee to Cameroun;

In Ganjara, 46 persons were killed by Boko Haram and more than 2,500 fled to Cameroun;

In Jibrili, an undetermined number of people were killed by Boko Haram and Christian houses and churches burnt to the ground. The remnant of the people have fled to Cameroun;

In Zamgba, Boko Haram attacked and killed 13 people, and about 1,700 were forced to flee to Cameroun;

In Ashigashita, Boko Haram attacked and killed 10 people. The remnant of the community fled to Cameroun;

In Vale, Christians were completely chased out. Their belongings were looted by Boko Haram and their sympathizers;

In Kwadale, an undetermined number of persons were killed by Boko Haram and about 2,000 fled to Cameroun;

In Pulka, 30 persons were killed by Boko Haram, including the Village Head Mallam Ali Pulka. Many members of the community have fled to Cameroun leaving about 4,500;

In Kirawa, all the Christians fled to Cameroun after the village was taken over by Boko Haram;

In Chinene, Boko Haram killed 14 persons, more than 500 fled to Cameroun, about 1,000 fled to other states in Nigeria, while about 1,000 are still in the mountains as all motorable roads have been blocked by the sect;

In Arboko, more than 10 persons were killed by Boko Haram, all houses and churches razed to the ground, and about 2,000 have fled to Cameroun;

In Chikide, 2 persons were killed by Boko Haram, and about 1,500 have fled to Cameroun and other states in Nigeria;

In Barawa, more than 20 persons were killed by Boko Haram, and the community’s houses and churches burnt down. Survivors have fled to Cameroun, other states and the hills;

In Pege, Boko Haram killed five persons by Boko Haram, and about 1,000 members of the community have fled to Cameroun and other states in Nigeria;

In Kaghum, Boko Haram killed more than 20 persons by Boko Haram, and more than 3,000 members of the community have been forced to flee to Cameroun, other states in Nigeria and the hills;

In Angurva, an undetermined number of persons were killed by Boko Haram, and some 4,000 persons have fled to Cameroun;

In Baladigavuraza, Boko Haram killed 3 persons, about 2,000 persons fled to Cameroun and another 500 fled to other states in Nigeria;

In Kunde, some 7 persons were killed and the community’s houses and churches burnt. About 2,500 fled to Cameroun and the hills;

In the past fourteen days the following communities in Damboa Local Government area have been over-run by Boko Haram: Kwapchi; Shawa; Daku; Kwamjilari; Blakat 1; Blakat 2; Blakat 3; Mulgwe 1; Mulgwe 2; Mulgwe 3; Katsalabulari; Kulali 1; Kulali 2; Kuburuvhu; Kautivha; Izghe 1; Izghe 2; Izghe 3; Kaya 1; Kaya 2; Konchi;

Mbulakuduga (Alagamo) in Askira Uba Local Government Area was over-run within the same time frame;

Takulashi of Chibok Local Government Area was also over-run in the past few days.

In all the communities it has over-run, Boko Haram has removed the Nigerian national flag and hoisted its own flag, the flag of jihad.

We want to place on record that all the communities mentioned above are predominantly Christian. Why are we being attacked now? The answer lies in the result of the 2011 Presidential Election. It is on record that the Middle Belt, which the Southern Borno State Senatorial Zone is a bona fide part of, voted massively for President Goodluck Jonathan; a fact that enabled the sitting President to succeed at the polls in 2011. Going towards 2015, Boko Haram, on behalf of the oligarchic North, wants to decimate and displace our communities so that we would be less of a factor. Why is President Jonathan not instructing the military ro protect our communities? We are aware that the the Nigerian military is a deeply divided fighting force.

As the Ataggara case above illustrates, when some Muslim commanding officers and others receive reports from our communities, they pass such reports to Boko Haram who come in Nigerian Army issue uniforms to perpetrate pogroms in our communities.

Boko Haram has many atrociously wealthy sponsors on account of the fact that successive governments in Nigeria have always patronized Muslims to our exclusion. It is primitive capital that those Muslims have accumulated from the Nigerian state that they are deploying to decimate our populations. Our most profound prayer to President Jonathan, which we want other Nigerians and the international community to pressurize him to accede to, is that he should arm our communities. if we have access to arms and ammunition like Boko Haram, we would have a sporting chance of defending our lives, dependants and property. We would not run away from Boko Haram. Our President should please do this in good time before it is too late. We have a right to live in peace in our communities and to vote our choice without any fear, however we choose to do so in electoral contests in our country. That is an irreducible minimum for every citizen.

As communities in the defunct Northern Region we are not unaware of the inspiration of Boko Haram and their sponsors. It is no news that the average Northern Muslim thinks that Nigeria is his to dominate, and its riches his to dispense. In October 1960, the late Premier of the defunct Northern Region and Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, had declared:

“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great-grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities of the North as willing tools and the South as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their future.” (Parrot Newspaper, 12th Oct. 1960; republished on November 13, 2002, by the Tribune Newspaper, Ibadan.);

Before the late Sardauna made this very revealing statement, the Conference of Northern Chiefs, in response to a letter from the UK-based West African Students’ Union (WASU) to the Northern emirs asking them to support the constitutional evolution of Nigeria into an independent nation, had declared “holding this country together is not possible except by means of the religion of the Prophet. If they want political unity let them follow our religion.” (Obafemi Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom, London: Faber and Faber, 1947, p.51.);

We recall that the Fulani Jihad failed woefully to Islamize our people in the 19th Century. We also recall that the Kanuri, who had been practising Islam for more than eight centuries before the Fulani Jihad, could not Islamize our people. Boko Haram seeks to succeed where their more illustrious ancestors failed.

If the Federal Government of Nigeria would not arm our communities to defend ourselves, the least it can do is not to stand in the way of other Nigerians and members of the international community who are so inclined to help arm our communities. Boko Haram, as its mission statement as espoused by the late Abubakar Shekau states, the only time it would be mollified is “….when Islamic religion is the determinant in governance in Nigeria or, in the alternative, when all fighters are annihilated and no one is left to continue the fight.”

Our people refuse to be forcibly Islamized. We, also, insist on making our own free choices. It is our belief that it is only on the basis of mutual respect that nations can be built. We would like to contribute our quota to building the Nigerian Federation into a nation and call on others to follow our peaceful path. But if the forces of evil insist on pursuing their present murderous course, our people will be forced to respond in kind and to meet force with force. The present path of violence by Boko Haram can only lead to destruction, Boko Haram’s destruction as well as others.

We thank you for giving us an ear.

Dr. Pogu Bitrus (of Chibok), Rev. Ibrahim Dauwa (of Gwoza) and Rev. James Yaga, JP (of Gwoza)

Who will bury their dead?

 “That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.”

In a city called Lano, the king died, and the people decided to abolish the monarchy and install a novelty: a mayor.

The position was on offer to the highest bidder. Muslims wanted their richest man Adamu to buy it and therefore enthrone Sharia. The Christians with their gung-ho bishops queued behind Isaac who was their plutocrat. If the Muslims knew Adamu with his liberal zakat offering, why could the Christians not praise the Lord for the munificence of tithing from their beloved Isaac?

It was hard to tell who was richer until Suleiman Solomon or Solomon Suleiman materialised. No one was sure of the name order. But this man who sometimes wore the Islamic turban or the Christian cross and who knew his psalms as well as his recitation of Islamic text, preened over his pots of money. He preserved the mystery of his name order by calling Solomon his last name when he supped with Christians and Suleiman his surname when with Muslims. He owed eternal debts to the father of the faithful for the two faiths he bestowed humanity.

Though he claimed his blessings came from his tithing and zakat, the elders of both faiths disavowed him and called him a corrupter of the faith. But the city elders who presided were moved by Solomon Suleiman’s campaign line: Muslim money for Muslims, Christian money for Christians. So, he promised that once he became the mayor, he would split the city’s money in half. Half of it would go to the Muslims and the other half to the Christians.

The fundamentalists were defeated and the majority tagged along with their new interfaith hero. He was equal parts god and equal parts the devil, noted the citizens. The Christians said the part of him that called Jesus belonged to God, and the Muslims said the part that worshipped on Fridays at mosques belonged to Allah. The other part, depending on whether you spoke to a Christian or Muslim, belonged to the devil.

The Lanoites went along in relative harmony until things began to unravel. One midnight, the two-year-old son of Nurudeen Mukhtar caught a serious fever, and in another part of town, the pregnant wife of John Jacobs was on the verge of delivery. They could not access their usual hospitals because of the distance. Mukhtar decided to visit Sacred Hearts Clinic. His son’s temperature had reached such a fiery point as he and his wife could not manage until the crack of dawn.

So, out of desperation, Mukhtar bore his son on his shoulder and hurried to the Sacred Hearts.

The frustration began early. On introducing himself to the nurse on duty to register his son, Mohammed, the nurse quickly replied, “but you should know that people with such names cannot receive treatment here. Why don’t you go to one of your hospitals? Even if I wanted to help, I would be in trouble.”

Meanwhile the little boy, more febrile and fragile by the second, looked with an eye that looked as though about to expire. The father cried, and begged, and asked the nurse to have mercy.

“It is not about mercy,“ declared the nurse. “It is about faith.”

John Jacobs’ wife, Elizabeth, had no option but to rush into Ansarudeen Hospital, which was the closest and only one within range. When he and his wife managed to enter the premises, they expected sympathy. His wife, already irritant and cursing her husband for choosing that time of night for her delivery, would not listen when the spouse begged for forgiveness.

The real forgiveness, however, was not forthcoming from the resident doctor who saw them and knew from their dressing that they could not be true believers. If he found out that they were believers, he would chasten them before reluctantly administering help. But the Jacobs did not want to forswear their trust in Jesus. So they both decided to say they were Christians and the doctor, a true believer, told them to go to the hospital of their God.

“Can’t you see my wife’s condition?” protested John Jacobs.

“Can’t you see that this hospital is named Ansarudeen? Even if we tried to help, you may die. The sovereign of cure is Allah, not Jesus,” replied the physician.

While both families tried to overcome their crises, commuters and travelers had to come to terms with their roads. Suleiman Solomon had constructed two sets of roads, one for Muslims and one for Christians. That very night a transporter was passing through Lano, and then he met a roadblock. It was a Muslim roadblock with policemen clad in peculiarly Muslim police uniforms. They asked the driver his name, and he said he was Hussein but the policemen discovered that about a quarter of his passengers were Christians.

They told the Christians to disembark, and that they were not allowed to take advantage of Muslim facilities. The Muslims remained on board while the Christians were ordered to walk a bush path for about seven kilometres where the Christian road began. They complied. After several hours of trekking they met the bus and the driver who obliged at the end of the Muslim highway, and found their seats. Before they reached there, they witnessed a dramatic scene. A very hungry beggar had Christian currency and wanted in that hour of night to buy tea and bread from a seller who catered to Muslims in the neighborhood. The Muslim would not sell and the Christian beggar wondered why he would not sell. “Can’t you see you have not sold anything all night? You get a customer and you say no,” the beggar intoned.

“Your money is sinful,” replied the seller.

But a Christian roadblock awaited them with Christian policemen dressed in Christian police uniforms. Hussein was not permitted to drive, so one of the Christian passengers took over the steering, while the Muslims entered the bush like the Christians and met at another intersection of Muslims. About two yards separated both roads, and it was called conversion pass. The Muslims rejoined them in the bus at about 4am and they decided to rest. But a strange and ravenous wind howled in and scooped the bus from the edge of the road and it rolled over into a deep ravine.

That night, not faraway, buzzed with a Christian party and people had had their fill of rice and stew and lots of drink. Somehow the word passed round that the tomato in the stew was purchased from a Muslim market. No one was able to authenticate it. Even when one or two persons came to deny the rumour, it was too late. Nausea had caught everyone and they ran to the conversion pass. They looked over the ravine and puked profusely. The throaty choir of retching, puffing, rasping, coughing, spitting resembled a coarse comedy if it did not sound like a dirge. It could have been a funny sight as all of them in their glorious shirts and dresses decided to retch on the road and into the ravine.

They did not know that a more terrible act of the devil had happened at the receiving end of their vomit. All the passengers and driver died as the vehicle caught fire and burned everyone beyond recognition.

The next morning, the question was where to bury the bodies. They could not identify who was Muslim or Christian, and they could not bury them in any of the available cemeteries because there were only Christian and Muslim cemeteries.

Even if they were to bury them, they could not put them in a casket. It was not acceptable to swaddle a Muslim in a Christian casket and vice versa.

Suleiman Solomon or Solomon Suleiman pondered these riddles. It became the least of his worries when the news also broke that a Muslim boy died outside a Christian hospital and a woman delivered a stillborn girl on the roadside.

- In Touch, The Nation newspaper, 02/06/2014

EXCLUSIVE: How Arik Air “steals” from us — passengers

Nnenna Ibeh

“The whole experience has left me feeling violated. I do not intend to fly Arik Air anywhere outside Nigeria.”

When Elizabeth Nwafor booked an Arik Air ticket from Lagos to Johannesburg, South Africa, the last thing on her mind was being robbed en route her destination.

Ms. Nwafor went on a short vacation to Johannesburg on October 24, 2013. She boarded the Abuja– Lagos-Johannesburg flight with the airline using its Boeing 737-800 plane for the W3103 international flight.
Immediately she arrived Johannesburg and retrieved her briefcase from the luggage section, she noticed its lock had been broken.

On noticing the broken lock, Ms. Nwafor said she approached the Arik Air desk in Johannesburg to inquire if there was security check on her bag.

“When I picked up my luggage, I noticed that the padlock of my briefcase had been broken. So I went to the Arik desk in Johannesburg to file a complaint and find out what had happened; probably they must have broken it for security check although I did not see any sticker to indicate that,” Ms. Nwafor said.

To her surprise, the man on the desk informed her that there was no security check on her bag as such checks were not done by the airline in Johannesburg, and any such checks would have been done in Lagos.
However, he gave her a complaint form to fill; should she “discover any items missing from my suitcase.”

Ms. Nwafor told PREMIUM TIMES she decided to keep mum on the incident as she had no time to check through and be sure there were missing items in the bag.

“I wasn’t going to say anything about it,” she said. “But when we arrived in Lagos on our return flight, I boarded the shuttle bus with a number of people; about 20 of them and it turned out that nine had had the same experience and things were actually stolen from them.”

While Ms. Nwafor was lucky nothing was stolen from her bag, several other passengers on a similar flight three days later had worse experience.

A team of victims
Prince Sajere, who led a nine-member contingent, including the Miss Ambassador for Peace 2013, on a trip to Johannesburg said the flight was a very sad experience for his team.

He explained that having had his bag broken into and property stolen on a previous Arik flight, he only felt bad for the young women he travelled with as most of them were on that route for the first time.

“It was a sad experience. I led a team of beauty pageants from Lagos to Johannesburg on the October 27; the flight was by 10:45pm.

“Before we boarded the flight that very day, they called the attention of one of us that her bag was torn, immediately I saw it I knew it was Arik that tampered with it because one time I travelled with my family on Arik (Lagos to Johannesburg), they stole my iPad device.

Mr. Sajere said he asked the lady to check for any missing item in the bag. She didn’t because of her eagerness for the trip and because people had started boarding the plane.

The situation, however, worsened upon arrival in Johannesburg.

“Immediately we arrived, a particular girl started complaining that her iPad was gone from her bag. The girl that her bag was torn then realized that her clothes and jewelry were stolen; my perfume and shoes were also stolen from my bag. Every one of us had one or two things missing from our bags,” Mr. Sajere said.

Just like Ms. Nwafor, Mr. Sajere and his team complained to the airline’s desk in Johannesburg, but were referred to Arik Air’s headquarters in Lagos.

Mr. Sajere told PREMIUM TIMES that Arik Air officials in Johannesburg blamed their Lagos colleagues for the theft. They also told him that they had received many such complaints from Lagos passengers.

“We complained at Arik office in Jo’burg and they said we have to get back to Lagos to make a complaint, that it must be the Arik people from Lagos. They also said that a lot of complaints have been coming from their direction,” he said.

Any hope that Mr. Sajere and his team would get a redress at the Lagos office of the airline was dashed a few days later.

“Immediately I got to Lagos with the team, we went to the Lagos Arik office on November 1 (2013). I was speaking with the station Manager; a Yoruba guy, I can’t recall his name. He was nonchalant over our complaint and later two guys came as if we were in a court asking us what happened, when and how it happened and so on. Then they said we should go online to fill a form which can easily be denied and meanwhile there was no form online to be filled out,” he said.

When the team boarded the transit bus from the international terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to the local terminal, they realised they were not the only victims of the theft on the Arik flights, they met Ms. Nwafor and other passengers who suffered similar fate. All had returned on the same flight to Lagos from Johannesburg and shared their experiences.

“Immediately we boarded a transit bus in Lagos international airport to local, I was just trying to talk to the lady beside me about what happened,” Mr. Sajere said. “Immediately everybody started complaining about the same issues. It’s a pity that this happens here often, where our litigation doesn’t work, nobody cares.”
One of the members of Mr. Nwafor’s team, Queen Irene, was too angered by the loss of her white mini-iPad that she declined to speak further on the matter.

Another passenger on the same flight, Etim Emoh, told PREMIUM TIMES that two pairs of shoes were stolen from his bag on another flight to Johannesburg.

Aviation officials react
Several Arik officials spoken to at the Lagos airport by the victims and PREMIUM TIMES reporter blamed aviation officials who manage luggage handling for the theft.

But the spokesperson for the aviation agencies, Yakubu Datti, told PREMIUM TIMES that it was totally irresponsible for any airline operative to blame the aviation agencies for its inadequacy.

“We don’t get involved in their searches and they should be able to own up,” Mr. Datti said. “It’s a lazy argument for anybody to blame other people for their ineptitude. We create a plane ground for all users of aviation services and if one out of 10 airlines are blaming us for their inadequacy; it’s a rather lazy argument.

“We believe that any airline not only Arik should sit up to their responsibilities to the passengers because whoever pays to expect some services by these are airlines have the Passengers Bill of Rights protection.”
He noted that all Nigerian air travellers’ right must be respected as contained in the Passenger’s Bill of Rights.

“The Nigerian passenger’s right must be respected as it is done internationally, that is why we do not condone any action in form of disrespect to any passenger flying Nigerian airlines.

“The Passenger Bill clearly states the sanctions and in every airport there is the Consumer Protection Commission, [CPC] desk headed by a Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, staff, where passengers can lodge their complaints,” he said.

He also said there are telephone numbers available for air passengers to call and lay their complaints, saying it is only when such complaints are laid that the agencies undertake investigations.

Furthermore, he encouraged passengers to lodge their complaints or displeasure from any operative to the CPC/NCAA desk.

Despite the complaints by the passengers, however, Arik absolved itself of any wrongdoing.

Arik Air responds
The Public Relations Officer of Arik, Ola Adebanji, replying to a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry, said while Arik Air is not justifying damage or loss of items by passengers, such cases are global problems not peculiar to the Nigerian airline.

“It is important to state that issues bordering around missing, lost or damaged luggage is a worldwide problem in the air travel industry and not peculiar to any airline,” he said. “For instance, in 2012 alone, nearly 1.8 million pieces of luggage were lost, stolen or damaged by major U.S. airlines- and this is just on domestic flights.”

He also said that Arik Air does not condone stealing by its employees and that most of the thefts are not perpetrated by Arik staff.

“In as much as one is not justifying lost or missing luggage on Arik Air flights, I would like to say that most, if not all of the incidents on Arik Air’s flight were not perpetrated by the airline’s staff.

“Quite a lot of activities are involved in flight operations especially handling of passengers’ luggage. Though the passenger has a contract with Arik Air, other parties are involved in ensuring the contract is discharged,” he said.

Mr. Adebanji explained that the airline has “intensified efforts to ensure that our security staff monitors our passengers’ luggage from the point of check-in to loading.”

He advised all passengers to keep their valuables in their hand luggage and to also notify Arik’s check-in staff of any luggage that contains fragile items to ensure accurate tagging and handling.

The spokesperson said the airline’s recruitment process is usually thorough and applicants tested for integrity. He also said any staff proven guilty of such act would be appropriately dealt with, and passengers compensated in line with aviation industry practice.

Although none of the theft victims of the Lagos-Johannesburg flights got or plan to seek compensation, their frustration has helped them make a decision on the airline.

“The whole experience has left me feeling violated,” Ms. Nwafor said. “I do not intend to fly Arik Air anywhere outside Nigeria based on the number of people that were robbed on a single flight. It suggests to me that whatever is going on is well organized and involves more than two people at any given time to pull it off time and time again.”