18 June 2014

By AbdulKabir Al-asfar

In recent times the Nigerian state has been rocked by a spate of nation threatening attacks which did not only draw blood and shatter lives but struck at the very heart of the existence of the geo-political entity called Nigeria, the bloody killings and terrible kidnappings of innocent children elicited reactions which themselves have made clear to any objective observer that there are various strains and shades of Boko Haram, different in form , diverse in appearance but united in the clear objective of hate , bigotry and lack of empathy for others.

From the criminal bandits who have relentlessly pursued a program of wanton killings and destructions… people who put young boys to the knife for no other reason than the fact that they decided to be educated … who kidnap young girls for bizarre and non understandable reasons… whose sole goal seems to be the unrelenting killing of innocents…. such I refer to as Boko Haram type 1. Their case is perhaps the most apparent, even if they are the most deadly…

To muslim-denialists who deny the fact that Boko Haram exist … Muslims who continue to live under a self imposed delusion that Christians are responsible for boko haram, that the killings these bandits carry out are nothing but orchestrations of the Christian association of Nigeria or to some of them the machinations of the C.I.A in the quest for the destruction of Nigeria … as a muslim I find this position embarrassing, illogical and pathetic. Why?

The late founder of boko haram , Muhammad Yusuf was known in Islamic circles as far back as 2002, his audio  CDs were sold in shops publically as he spewed his warped version of what Islam and muslims should be …not only this , this man was confronted and debated on these heretical  thoughts  by the likes of Shaykh Jafar Mahmud Adam and Shaykh Muhammad Awwal Albanee Zaria , who both died mysteriously under a hail of bullets  … stories abound amongst young gullible muslims about how they were indoctrinated and mobilized for sinister missions in and around Maiduguri  … It is on record that security operatives battled strains of this atrocities before the present escalation and Muhammad Yusuf himself was arrested several times only to be released later … so when did CAN start sponsoring boko haram? Or does it seem reasonable that CAN would kill so many Christians so as to give muslims a bad name? People who think in this sorry way fail to realize that it was our late president Umar Musa Yar'adua (may Allah be pleased with him), himself a muslim, who issued the instruction that the sect be put down as brutally as possible… and it was soldiers and police men, who had muslims amongst them, who carried out these instruction. Why were there no screams that Christians were involved then? What about the numerous prisoners in the hands of the state? How come a sizable chunk of them are not Christians?

Yes … we  have had deranged or deluded individuals who tried to reap from the conflict …like the pastor of a town in Osun state who organized that his own church be terrorized by members of his congregation dressed as muslims so as to put the blame on muslims!

However, extending his action to all Christians would be an irresponsible generalization based on the background information we have about boko haram.

Arguments like this abound on social media … it is unfortunate how instead of facing our problems, some muslims are engrossed in the pathetic peddling of conspiracy theories!

So also do we have Christian-propagandists who, blinded by hate and bigotry, see the boko haram phenomenon as an opportunity to deal with the muslims . The warped logic of such individuals can be given in the following syllogism:

All members of Boko haram are muslims

Boko haram members are terrorists

Hence all muslims are terrorist!

Arguments of this nature ,  unsound and invalid , readily falls into the hands of wolfs in sheep clothing who want to fan the embers of hate and bigotry by any means possible even if with arguments  any sane person would recognize as false and illogical since not all muslims are members of boko haram!

So also is the analogy that not all muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are muslims!

What about Joseph Kony of Uganda? Who heads the lord's republican army (LRA) which is fighting for the implementation of the biblical Ten Commandments?!  In fact veteran human rights activist and lawyer Femi Falana, a Christian, wrote in an article (titled President Museveni's Hypocritical Attack On Nigeria ) for Sahara Reporters on May 13 2014 "…It is indisputable that the record of atrocities of LRA is by far worse than that of the boko haram sect. It is common knowledge that the abduction of children and women is the hallmark of the LRA. From the account of the Human Rights Watch between 1987 and 2006 "at least 20, 000 Ugandan children were abducted. More than 1.9 million people were displaced from their homes into camps and tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians died. Nearly the entire population of Acholiland was displaced due to a combination of LRA actions and the Ugandan government's forcible resettlement of people in camps. Living conditions in the camps were horrific, and for years communities were largely cut off from basic necessities. The death toll from cholera and other diseases was often higher than from the conflict itself"…"

Would it be sane or logical for any Muslim to assert that all Christians are terrorists because of the warped theology of Joseph Kony?

‘Denialist' and propagandist are boko haram type 2.

And the most pathetic has been the reactions of politicians to the current crisis , every action and inaction is seen only through the lens of the upcoming elections…some people want their tribesman still in power , some want him out..Some people say it's time for APC some say the PDP must continue…and they play fiddle, as Emperor Nero did, while the nation burns. Even the presidency is not free of confusion if the reactions of individuals close to the presidency is worth anything… a certain Christian leader close to the president believes boko haram is an Islamizing army ( never mind the fact that Muslims have lost their lives in droves) while a former Niger delta militant (by the way a Muslim) also close to the president believes it is a tribal war unleashed by people he calls "fulanis from futa jalon" , the presidency took more time than necessary in reacting to the abduction of the girls since it was considered mere political propaganda by the political opposition!

In a scathing article (titled :Boko Haram : Military is the problem, not the solution) in ‘The Huffington Post Uk' of June 16, 2014, Daniel Brett lashed our nation's military and certain politicians of being in collusion with Boko Haram .

It is shameful that the two most important institutions of the Nigerian state are so effectively ridiculed and pilloried  by foreigners (like US Senator John McCain, former US secretary of state Hilary Clinton etc). If I were to summarize Daniel's article I'll simply say ‘we've become a banana republic!'

Let us call these individuals Boko Haram type 3!

If the war of terror waged by Boko Haram type 1 is to be won, Boko Haram type 2 must be shamed and silenced; Boko Haram type 3 must be sanitized, reformed and purged!

We stand on the brink of an ethno-religious war of gargantuan proportions and unimaginable severity, the killing fields of Rwanda and Burundi would pale into insignificance if these are not corrected … it is our collective responsibility, for our future and our children's future…if there will be a future.

alasfaralmalikee@yahoo.co.uk