Political
Shariah: Aren't the Fulanis pushing us to the abyss?
by Femi Awoniyi
The dismal performance of our
minister of state for foreign affairs, Dubem Onyia, on the CNN news
programme Q&A, in the evening of August 28, once again, brings to a
poignant fore the absurdity of the Nigerian situation.
Chief Onyia would like the
world to believe that Shariah was introduced by its practising
Northern states ”to divert attention” from the failures of their
governments to address the basic needs of the people.
Minister Onyia‘s brief was to
allay international concerns arising from the latest Shariah court
verdict, confirming the death sentence by stoning of an ”adulteress”,
in Funtua, Katsina State.
But Onyia cut a sorry picture on
CNN, trying to deceive the world. For one could easily see the folly
of his position and it was difficult to be impressed by our minister’s
rehearsed hopeless assurances.
The Onyia CNN outing suggests,
before the whole world, that our leaders either don’t have a clear
appreciation of the enormity of the Nigerian dilemma or are recklessly
playing Russian roulette with the fate of 120 million human beings.
For Shariah has far more to do with the internal politics of these
states as our minister, obviously on an errand for President Olusegun
Obasanjo, explained.
Shariah in Nigeria, in its
current variant form, is not about Islam. In fact, it is anti-Islam.
The Fulani-inspired Shariah represents an aggressive and deliberate
politicisation of Islam for political ends. Its objective, by creating
a climate of religious intolerance and fanaticism, is to demonize
non-Muslim Nigerians and delineate them as the others, fragment
our land culturally and give the Fulani elite the capacity to incite
mass violence in their struggle for power in the country.
The Obasanjo-led federal
government has been denying this reality since 1999, thereby toying
with a bobby-trap which could explode in our face soon.
Sudan provides the scare picture
of the terrible consequences of instrumentalizing Islam for the
purpose of politics. More than 1.5 million people, mostly black
Africans, according to UN figures, have perished, since
1983, in the tragic stalemate
caused by the introduction of Shariah in the country. And Shariah in
Sudan is the weapon of Arab supremacy.
In Nigeria, Islam is the excuse
for Fulani privilege. And the Fulani elite continue to ruthlessly
abuse this religion of truth for their selfish ends. A Fulani emir who
secretly receives illegal allocation of crude oil, who sponsors
businessmen for dubious government contracts and shares in the booty
parades himself publicly as the Leader of the Muslim Faithful
in his domain.
And the notorious one-time Fulani
army officer, who, not so long ago, achieved infamy by smuggling into
Nigeria 53 briefcases (containing who knows what!), in league with his
father, is today supposed to be the Shepherd of the Believers
in Gwandu.
That is how much Fulani leaders
have rubbished Islam in Nigeria!
Obasanjo puts up the brave
appearance and he assures us that he is not afraid. But one must be
afraid of those who are not fearful of God, who openly and brazenly
abuse the name of God and His injunctions for their selfish and unholy
pursuits.
Our president says Shariah will
‘fizzle away’. But Fulani political Islam, of which the latest Shariah
is only an expression, has not fizzled away since Othman dan Fodio
treacherously rose against his benevolent Hausa hosts nearly two
hundred years ago.
The obvious threat of
Fulani-inspired political Shariah to the secular order of our polity
continues to be underplayed. The drawback of Shariah, by discouraging
both local and foreign investors from investing in Nigeria, to the
emancipation of our land from economic and social stagnation continues
to be disregarded. The enormous and proven potentials of this evil
political ideology to cause bloodletting on a horrendous scale
continues to be ignored.
Is Obasanjo not repeating the
Ironsi mistake by his politics of Fulani appeasement?
And finally: True Muslims in
Nigeria must make their voice more audible in the defence of their
Faith, a religion of peace, which is being ruthlessly politicised to
cause trouble in our land. When the Fulani leader talks about Islam we
accord his words importance instead of outrightly dismissing him as a
merchant of deceit. If true Muslims do not challenge the Fulani elite,
Islam in Nigeria will continue to be soiled.
Moreover: The battle against Fulani trouble-making
must be taken to Hausaland where the Hausa man is so thoroughly and
hopelessly marginalized. We must free him from the evil shackles of
Fulani political Islam because only then will we have sustained peace
in Nigeria.
