It all started when the Byzantine Emperor, Alexis Comnenus, requested
aid from the west against the Muslims. On November 27th, 1095, at
Clermont in central France, Pope Urban II delivered the sermon which
launched the expedition now known as the First Crusade. He called on the
faithful, in particular the lords and knights who formed society’s
military élites, to relieve the oppression of Eastern Christians by
Muslims.
But before the first arrow was fired, one man caused the death of
thousands of Christians. He was a Monk, his name was Peter the Hermit, a
monk and priest, he led an army of angry Christians to their death at
the hands of the Turks in Asia Minor.
In 1187, after the capture of Jerusalem by the Moslem warrior Saladin
(Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub) Pope Urban III collapsed and died on
hearing the news. His successors, the short-lived Gregory VIII, and then
Clement III called for a new crusade to reclaim the land of Christ’s
birth for Christianity. This call-to-arms was received enthusiastically
by many of the great nobles and princes of Europe. In England, France,
Germany and the Low Countries crusading fever swept across the land like
wildfire, and thousands of knights flocked to “take the cross”.
Christian Europe mobilized the greatest forces even known in history to
destroy Saladin and his Muslims and thus declared the third Crusade.
This campaign was led by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (also known
as Barbarossa), Philip II, king of France and the fierce Richard the
Lion Heart king of England. The Campaign was a disaster like previous
ones. Emperor Barbarossa died before he reached Jerusalem, Lion heart
and King Philip later abandoned the Crusade after failing to conquer
Saladin and Millions of people died.
I took the pain to explain this fact of history because those who fail
to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. After listening to
Apostle Johnson Suleman’s sermon where he ordered his members to kill
Fulani herdsmen in self-defense and the circus that followed with the
attempt of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him, I felt
sorry for Nigeria. While I may not hold brief for Apostle Suleman, I
would rather advice caution. I knew the man of God spoke in good faith
in defense of the people so dear to him, especially when these innocent
citizens have repeatedly been victims of reckless and undeserved
attacks. But an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.
It’s very unfortunate that our nation has been so chronically misruled
that men of Faith had to take the role of government to address national
problems. If our social justice system had been functional, Fulani
herdsmen would not have been killing innocent Christians and the course
of justice would have been served and those implicated properly
prosecuted. It was the failure of our government to protect her citizens
that prompted the frustration and anger expressed by Suleman during his
sermon
But again, words have consequences, Apostle Suleman, please sheath your
swords. What we may certainly not wish for Nigeria at this moment of
economic depression is another Crusade. Instead let’s use love to
defeat hate, wisdom to defeat ignorance and mutual trust to sow seeds of
National Unity. It is well; sheath your swords Apostle Suleman
Now, Selective justice like it’s vice “alternative facts“ is a
political fraud. President Buhari who while addressing members of the
CPC from Niger State in 2012 warned that 2015 would be bloody if
elections were not transparent was not arrested by President Jonathan
and was not grilled by the DSS. Why would Apostle Suleman be fit for
arrest by the Presidency after making the same threat Buhari made few
years earlier. Where was the DSS at that point in time, did they just
wake up from slumber? We cannot move forward as a nation when we use
selective justice to defraud tax-payers. It’s simply a witch-hunt.
Apostle Suleman erred in advocating jungle justice in a digital age,
which has the dangers of setting a dangerous precedence but the
Presidency also erred also by using the instrumentality of the state to
intimidate a law abiding citizen who expressed his fundamental rights to
free speech.
The government should rather make an inquest to the remote causes of
this self-inflicted religious hate, find the problems and fix them where
necessary. No Nigerian is a born terrorist; terrorists are made – by a
combination of bad governance and failed leadership. President Buhari
may not be the culprit here, he may have inherited the problems but as a
leader, he should do everything possible to fix these problems as best
as he can.
We have all made mistakes but progress is still possible. Let the
president appoint Apostle Suleman and a respectable Iman from Northern
Nigeria to lead a reconciliatory commission where all issues will be
discussed and an inter-faith solution, mutual love, respect for life,
respect for human dignity and education through religious tolerance
promotional activities championed. Let us refrain from throwing away
both the child and the water. Let us look into honest complaints and
concerns from both sides, meet each other in the middle and everybody
will be a winner
Written by
IKECHUKWU CHINEDU
Stockholm, Sweden