Date Published: 05/09/11

Post Presidential Election Violence and Recurring Violence in the North: Root Causes and Solutions

The mindless violence that erupted in some northern parts of the country in the wake of the 2011 presidential elections two weeks ago that saw incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan returned elected was not surprising even though unwarranted. Why the federal government didn’t see this and why the various security apparatus of this nation didn’t anticipate it still beats our imagination. Right from the outset, when key northern leaders started playing the ethnic card and throwing up ethnic jingoism, issuing veiled and subtle, and sometimes open threats under the guise of a phantom zoning formula within the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), all in a bid to ensure the north retains the presidency, keen observers saw all of this coming. That the President and Commander in Chief himself who was the primary target of this sectional ball game because of his southern minority extraction of the Niger Delta region, didn’t realise this and put in place appropriate measures to pre-empt and forestall this cruel violence that was to come in the event of his being elected is a gross failure of leadership. This needless violence that claimed lots of lives notably youth corps members from the south serving their nation in the north could have been prevented.

The potential for violence in cardinal sections of the north is great indeed and it is a very volatile region in this country, prone to violence at the snap of the fingers. So very often, little things triggers off the violence in that region, and when that happens, buildings, churches, Christians, and southerners and very recently youth corps members are the major targets. Sometimes, what sets off the violent chain reaction is negligible. At other times, it could be traced to religious intolerance, agitation for land or communal and local political power, or even such mundane issues as the preposterous hatred for western education as exemplified by the Boko Haram Cult. Boko means education and Haram is something that is forbidden or a taboo that a Muslim should not do. So the Boko Haram Sect believes western education is forbidden or is a taboo. The amazing thing is that no one has been able to truly identify the root causes of all of these crises that have been bedevilling the north, since the birth of this nation. All we have heard is simply words and tough talk by government after government, with no concrete steps being taken to arrest this debacle, and as in other parts of the country, when the dust settles after any major crisis, it is back to square one; business as usual and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

However, the break out of vitriolic violence in major parts of the north following the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcement of the results of the presidential elections is a wakeup call to all stakeholders to critically address this recurring mayhem, for without doubt the violence did cast a dark spot on an election that was widely believed to be generally free and fair by both local and international observers.

For us at Conscience Reports, we decided that we must find out the root causes of recurring violence in the north, with a view to proffering lasting solutions, and so we drafted a team of volunteers living in the north to investigate and report their findings. Our volunteers’ team was drawn from Kaduna, Kano, Borno, Bauchi, Jos and Sokoto. Their findings are quite interesting indeed, but not strange:

First; at the root of the perennial crisis in the north is poverty and ignorance. The rate of poverty and the level of ignorance in the north are legendary. Sadly, northern leaders are either alienated from the longings and aspirations of their people, or they have chosen to simply ignore them by being nonchalant. We are more inclined to believe the latter because the north has controlled political power more than any other part of the country. In about 51years of Nigeria’s Independence, they have controlled political power for 38years. Moreover, of the 36 States in the country, the north has 19; they have more Local Government Areas as well. Not only that, since the return to Democratic rule in 1999, they have dominated the National Assembly as they control more seats in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, and since the real work of the National Assembly is in Committees, they control those Committees and they have more Chairmen and representation in the various Committees. The north equally controls the Local Governments Chairmen Association and the Governors Forum, whether the Chairman of the forum is from the region or not as they have 19 Governors in the forum out of the 36, and very often, the north vote in blocs wherever they found themselves. Yet, the bulk of the north lives in penury, despite all of the powers that their leaders wield. And the only reason this is so is because their leaders are so selfish and self-centred. In the last one and half decade, aside from the relatively new States of Jigawa and Gombe where the leaders there have tried to do something for their people, nothing much has happened. The whole of the resources accruing to that region are being wasted by these monstrous leaders, while their people wallow in abject poverty and crass ignorance. It is no wonder then that the people become a willing tool for thuggery and uncontrolled violence adverse to western education! Lack of purposeful leadership with no vision is the bane of the north and where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.

Second; closely tied to the horrifying poverty and ignorance in the north is the deliberate propagation of the politics of religion and tribal sentiments by the elite of the north. Northern leaders capitalises on the poverty and ignorance of the people to stoke the embers of violence. They often feed the frustration of the people by telling those lies. And though Islam is not and never will be a violent religion, they indoctrinate the people on jihad and make them believe that those who are not Muslims are “Harnes” or “Infidels” who should be taken out. And for most Muslims in the north, anyone who is not in their religion is not different from a heathen, and so they regard them as unbelievers. For these ignorant people, they have been brainwashed that unless someone aspiring for political power is a Muslim, or one that is considered to be sympathetic to their cause, he must not be supported as he or she is not suited to lead. Not only that, they have also been made to believe that unless someone is of the same leanings as them, such a one should not be seen as one of their own. One other thing that points glaringly to the religious connotations of almost all conflicts that usually ends in violence in the north is the deliberate targeting of Christians and churches, whenever there is a conflict or crisis. For instance, in the recent post presidential election violence, at least 30 churches and several businesses, shops and patent medicine stores and pharmacies belonging to Christians mostly of southern extraction were burnt down around the Naibawa, Badawa and Badawa New Layout in Kano. And reports reaching us from Kaduna also indicate that the violence there might be far from over, as there appears to be dissatisfaction with the return of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa as governor elect in the just concluded gubernatorial elections by Muslim fanatics who say they don’t want him, a Christian to be governor. It is also a sad fact that most of the violent crisis in the north usually starts after a general call to prayers; it may be on Fridays or on any other day, but the point here is that it more often than not starts after a call to prayers. Oftentimes, such calls to prayers have nothing to do with the teachings and prayers inherent in Islam, but just the exploitation of the situation by a small but potent minority.

Third; intimately linked to the politics of religion and tribal sentiments is the setting up and running of “Islamiyyas” in the north. Islamiyyas are Koranic Schools where Muslim kids in the north are trained supposedly in the Koran and the teachings of Islam. The kids that are tutored in these Islamiyyas are often referred to as “Almajiris” and the teachers that run these Islamiyyas are known as “Mallams”. It must be noted that the word Mallam could mean either a teacher or a Mister (Mr.) in the north. So when people call someone a Mallam, they are either addressing him as a Mister or a teacher. Most times, these Almajiris leave their homes at very tender ages and they are sent to these Schools for training on the Koran. So often; these kids are not even sent to the Islamiyyas within their immediate environment and they are sent there most of the times by their parents and guardians without resources because of poverty. Thus the kids in most of the Islamiyyas go hungry, live in poor and rat infested shelters not even fit for animals and have barely any clothing. Due to this undeniable fact, these kids or almajiris if you will; start fending for themselves from such young ages; they cater for themselves by either begging or doing all sorts of menial jobs. You can find them washing clothes, using wheelbarrows to carry loads, running little errands here and there just to keep body and soul. As a result, these shoddily run Islamiyyas become a haven for breeding disgruntled kids who resort to violence at the slightest provocation. They become pawns in the hands of cruel and inhuman politicians. Very quickly, we must add here that Islamiyyas are not limited to the north alone. They are indeed found in every Muslim community. Down here in the south, where there are substantial number of Muslims, there are Islamiyyas or Koranic Schools, although they might not be called Islamiyyas in the real sense of the word, but the way they are run and managed is quite different from the manner they are managed in the north. In the south, the kids that attend these Schools often attend, when they are through with their normal Schools and they usually attend in the evenings. But not so in the north, where the Islamiyyas in most cases are run as normal Boarding Schools, and the Almajiris that attend the Schools attend as Boarders without having even an opportunity to attend normal Schools because of extreme poverty. Up north, Islamiyyas are found in most Streets. It is in the Islamiyyas, that the Almajiris received most of their life training; they live in these Schools and feed there. Unfortunately, most of these Islamiyyas are not accredited, have only one or few Mallams who run the School, and they don’t even have a decent environment; in most parts, the Islamiyyas are mere open spaces with little or no covering, and this is where these Almajiris feed, sleep and grow up. Another big issue with the Islamiyyas is the training and orientation of the Mallams that run them; for the most part, the orientation of such Mallams is unknown. If the Mallam has very extreme or fanatical views, or if he is an Islamic Fundamentalist; then, it is most likely that he will pass such training and orientation to his pupils, the Almajiris, and because there is no standard or laid down procedure for regulating the Islamiyyas, there is no telling what really goes on within those Schools! Little wonder then that there are always Almajiris deeply found in every violent crisis in the north. It is equally instructive to note that whenever the Almajiris starts unleashing terror, one could see the Mallams and other notable elders within that precinct either watching or simply turning a blind eye without calling them to order; giving the impression that, they approve of their actions. Yet, the Almajiris holds their Mallam(s) in high esteem. In addition, it is some of these Almajiris that eventually grows up to also have their own Islamiyyas, and the cycle goes on. And the huge population of Almajiris in the north is amazing; about 10-15Million, and they are very young, often less than 20years-as the eminent Priest, Father Matthew Hassan Kukah of Kaduna recently said in an interview, the number is about 12-15Million, much more than the population of several countries. That is large enough, indeed to constitute an Army of dissatisfied, disillusioned and disenchanted Youths! This may also explains why the government hasn’t been able to make any arrest in any crisis year in, year out. Notwithstanding, we refuse to believe that these Almajiris always act alone and unaided. In short, they are not unified enough to act in isolation for they are like sheep that are not concerted and sufficiently powerful to act on their own. Someone, somewhere is always certainly behind them, yet the government hasn’t been able to do anything, because it chooses to turn a blind eye.

Fourth; the other issue that is very connected to the recurring violence in the north is the porous nature of the nation’s borders, particularly in the north. The borders are not well guarded, and people just flocked in and out, whenever they so pleased or whenever the need arises; citizens of neighbouring Muslim countries of Niger Republic and Chad Republic troop in every now and then through our northern borders, and it has been proven that in several violent crisis or conflict in the north, some of the perpetrators used to unleash terror are Chad and Niger citizens. That is not all that there is to it. These Chad and Niger citizens are often the armed bandits in the north constituting a huge headache to peaceful northerners. It is because of our insecure borders that people from neighbouring countries find it very easy to get our Passports and other means of identification as we have no standardised way in this country for genuine citizens to get the Nigerian Passport or the Nigerian National ID Card; no Birth Registration System, No Archiving System and virtually no Database.

Having stated the root causes of the intermittent violence in the north, we would like to quickly address the recent presidential elections and the ensuing violence. Prior to the presidential elections, we did a special analysis on the top 5 presidential candidates and we equally conducted a pre-election poll on these candidates across key States in the nation; following which we released the results of the polls. One issue which we considered inconsequential during the poll which we didn’t mention in the results of the pre-election poll is the religious views of Nigerians towards the two top candidates-incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd). While most Christians, particularly those in the South considered General Buhari as “Darkness” and an “Islamic Fundamentalist”, majority of Muslims regarded President Jonathan as “Harne” or one who does not know God. The interesting thing is that a cross-section of these Christians and Muslims are the so-called educated. Furthermore, General Buhari and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) didn’t lose the presidential elections due to rigging as have been widely alleged by the CPC. While we are not ruling out any form of rigging, and while we will live that to the CPC to prove and for the courts to decide, we want to say here that Buhari and the CPC lost the elections largely due to voters’ sentiments towards President Jonathan borne out of the circumstances that threw him up and not necessarily on his capacity to perform; and partly due to the paucity of funds that made the CPC not to be able to campaign effectively. The CPC has virtually no structure and campaign base in the south. In the whole of the southeast, the CPC was only able to campaign in Aba, Abia State. How then could the Party have won in these regions? On the other hand, President Jonathan not only had voters’ sheer sentiments, he also had the powers of incumbency and State resources; he flew to the 36 States in 37 days on Presidential fleet campaigning effectively. President Jonathan also had the endorsement of a cross-section of Civil Society, Organised Labour, the Business Community and over twenty five Political Parties that did not field presidential candidates. These in our views are the real reasons why the CPC lost the presidential elections. Concerning the resulting violence however, while the distinguished General and the CPC may not have had anything to do with it, their failure to speak up immediately when the crisis started was their greatest undoing and it eventually marred their chances in the subsequent gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections in which voters turned against the Party. Why the General never seized the moment to distance himself and his Party from the barbaric violence when it started is still a surprise to many. Even when he had the golden opportunity of speaking to the Aljazeera cable network few hours after the eruption of violence, he failed to address it; instead he chose to talk about how he has been robbed of electoral victory. Meanwhile, his Party leaders weren’t helping the situation as they kept on accusing even other opposition Parties and shouting epithets capable of precipitating further violence. It took the General another 36hours after the outbreak of the violence before he finally addressed it and distance himself and the CPC from it. It was really an unwise political calculation that costs the Party a lot! The dignified General could have addressed the violence in the nick of time, for it was a rare opportunity for him to silence those detractors of his who sees him as Islamic Fundamentalist.

In order to end this recurring nightmare in the north; we would like to suggest five concrete things that government must do:

Number one; government must swing immediately into positive action to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, injustice, sectarian violence arising from Islamic fundamentalism, and extremism in northern Nigeria, religious bigotry, racism and tribalism which are the fertile soil on which terrorism and extreme hatred for fellow human beings thrives. Northern leaders, especially the governors, local council chairmen and councillors must begin to connect with their people, listen to them and take adequate steps to feel and heal their pains and sufferings. True compassion, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has said is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. Northern leaders must begin to do all in their power to stem this ugly trend. They must begin to teach their people that Islam is not a violent religion as some would have us believe. As the Holy Koran teaches, “Whosoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind.” Again, it teaches, “Whosoever save a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.” Indeed, Islam has proven time and again, through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality. In particular, Muslim Scholars, Imams and Sheiks must end this dangerous and vicious cycle of suspicion and discord by beginning to re-educate and re-orientate their people on religious freedom, mutual tolerance and respect. The enduring faith of over a billion people, as Barack Obama has said so often, is so much bigger than the narrow prejudice and hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism-it is an important part of promoting peace. It is true that as Nigerians, we are marked by our differences. There are differences of religion, race, tribe, et cetera; but so long as we permit our relationship to be defined by these differences, we will embolden those who sow hatred and discord rather than love, and empower those who promote conflict rather than peace and harmony. Our strength can only come by the unity we make of our diversity.

Number two; government must look critically into how the Islamiyyas are setup and run in the north by the Mallams with a view of restructuring and accrediting them, and regularising how they are run and who runs them. Government must take serious steps to standardize, revamp and re-equip them as normal Schools so that they no longer serve as breeding ground for raising juvenile and dissatisfied kids that turns on society at any given opportunity. Government must equally call the Mallams that run these Islamiyyas and let them know that henceforth, they will be held responsible for any form of violence perpetrated by the Almajiris within their precinct. Government must do this because since the Almajiris reverence their Mallams, the Mallams should be able to control and call them to order.

Number three; government must review the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme, so that it can become viable again. The NYSC Scheme was set up to foster unity and bridged our diverse cultures following the end of the civil war. In recent times however, the NYSC Scheme has lost its relevance. A situation where a parent or guardian sends his child or ward to School only for the child or ward to die in the hands of violent extremists in the north can no longer be tolerated. These days, aside from the killings, the NYSC Scheme has become so corrupt that the corps members can influence their own posting if they know people or if they have the money. Sometimes, they even arrange with the officials and places of their primary assignments, and then they can either travel out or engage in their own businesses; and at the end of the service year, they return to collect their discharge certificate(s) for what they really didn’t partake in. It is either the government reviews the Scheme, and re-educate and re-orientate citizens, particularly northerners on its usefulness, or the government should stop posting southerners to serve in the north. If the government cannot review the Scheme effectively to prevent corps members from being wantonly killed, then it should allow students from the south serve in the south, and students from the north serve in the north. Students from the south can serve in the southeast, southsouth or southwest, while those from the north can serve in the northeast, northwest or northcentral. At the worst, government should scrap the entire Scheme, if it can no longer serve its purpose. But we believe that it will be better for the government to effectively review the NYSC Scheme so that students can continue serving in whichever regions they are posted to.

Number four; government must look into how our borders are patrolled and guarded by the security agencies, customs and immigrations. Government must strengthen the security of the nation’s borders and prevent illegal immigrants, so that such illegal immigrants cannot come in here and start perpetrating all forms of vices, crimes and violence.

Number five; government must look seriously into past incidences of violence and investigate them thoroughly, especially the recent post presidential electoral violence, and fish out the perpetrators. Government must stop looking the other way and start holding people accountable for their actions if we must move beyond these issues, and if we want our nation to be taken seriously in the comity of nations. People must be made to know that they will pay the consequences if they mess up, and that there are no sacred cows. The nation’s laws must be strengthened and enforced across board; selective application of the laws can no longer be accepted.

In the final analysis, our loyalties as a people must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every Nigerian must develop an overriding loyalty to the nation and indeed mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in our individual societies and nationalities; declaring eternal hostility against all forms of poverty, racism, tribalism, injustices and man’s inhumanity to man. We have tried in this report to be as fair as possible and to speak the truth as we see it in line with the Scriptures. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth,” and as the Holy Bible teaches us, “Speak the truth...and bear no false witness” and “Do not follow the majority when they do wrong or when they give testimony that perverts justice.” This is what we have tried to do in this report; to painstakingly tell the truth as we know it, trusting that if the content of this report is duly considered and implemented by the government and policy makers, it will go a long way in resolving most of the issues that not only beset the north, but also confronts most parts of our beloved nation.

With abiding hope and audacious faith,

Eneruvie Enakoko, Olaide Ekeolere, Omotunde Adetula, Abu Babangida, Tony Okogu and all of the Conscience Reports Team.