When you take everything away from a man or a people, including their
\nhumanity, their loved ones, their land, their possessions, their faith,
\ntheir God, their self-respect, their identity and their dignity and you
\nput them and theirs under the fire and sword morning, day and night you
\ncannot expect them not to voice their pain and not to scream and a shout.<\/p>\n
And when the screaming and shouting goes unheeded you cannot expect them
\nnot to hit back and attempt to break the yoke of torment, subjugation,
\ntyranny and slavery.<\/p>\n
No matter how powerful you are and how long you have been killing them and
\nall that are theirs, one day they will rise up, pull you down from your
\ngiddy heights and cut open your throats.<\/p>\n
If history teaches us nothing else, it teaches us this. The morale of the
\ntale is as follows: mind how you insult and mock your victims and those
\nthat you treat with contempt, kill at will and hold in bondage because one
\nday their time will come.<\/p>\n
It is in this context that I view the shameful call by the Council of
\nImams for the arrest of the President of the Christian Association of
\nNigeria (CAN) and Christian leaders in Southern Kaduna for asking\u00a0 the
\npeople to defend themselves from genocide.<\/p>\n
The call is not only reckless and provocative but it is also self-seeking
\nand dangerous. They must stop this nonsense.<\/p>\n
The facts are as follows. 808 Christians were butchered on Christmas eve
\nand Christmas day by the Muslim Janjaweed Fulani militia in Southern
\nKaduna. Not one of the butchers and bloodthirsty murderers have been
\nidentified, apprehended, killed or arrested since then by our security
\nforces.<\/p>\n
The Christians of Nigeria are still in mourning and the people of Southern
\nKaduna are still in trauma.<\/p>\n
Yet there have been no soothing words or expressions of regret,
\nconsolation or solidarity from any Sunni Muslim group in the country since
\nthe pogrom took place.<\/p>\n
Only threats and insults from the Council of Imams. The only exceptions
\nare the Shiite Muslims who have consistently expressed outrage about what
\nis going on in Southern Kaduna and who have themselves also been subjected
\nto mass murder and genocide in Kaduna state simply because they are not
\nSunnis.<\/p>\n
You first butcher the flock and then you say that the shepherd dare not
\ncomplain or attempt to protect those that are still left behind and alive.
\nWhat type of monsters are these?<\/p>\n
The Supreme Council Of Islamic Affairs made matters worse by saying that
\nthose that killed 808 Christians in Southern Kaduna on Christmas eve and
\nChristmas day were “unkown elements”.<\/p>\n
Really? This, perhaps, is the biggest insult of all. It is rather like
\nsaying that those that perpetuated the holocaust against the Jews which
\nresulted on the cold-blooded murder of 6 million Jews were “unkown
\nelements”. It is insensitive and it is callous.<\/p>\n
It represents the greatest perversion of truth and most bestial denial of
\ndecency and justice that Nigeria has witnessed in many years.<\/p>\n
It is falsehood and pefidy, cooked up and served by a group of
\nunconscioble and uncontrollable dark and evil men who believe that they
\ncan get away with anything and that they are a law into themselves.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Miyetti Allah, an umbrella organisation that speaks for the
\nFulani herdsmen and the Janjaweed militia, have said that the mass murder
\nof Christians that took place in Southern Kaduna on Christmas eve and
\nChristmas day were “reprisal” and “revenge” killings for the murder of
\ntheir kith and kin by the Christians of Southern Kaduna in 201. Need we
\nlook any further for who the culprits are?<\/p>\n
In his own contribution the Minister of Internal Affairs, General
\nDambazzau, who is himself a Fulani Muslim, has roundly condemned CAN’s
\ncall on the Federal Government to do its job and protect the people of
\nSouthern Kaduna and their counsel to the Christians to defend themselves
\nwhere and when the government fails to do so. I ask again, what type of
\nmonsters are these?<\/p>\n
And why has our President refused to call them to order? Is it because he
\nshares the same faith and comes from the same region as them? Is it
\nbecause the President himself is not only a Muslim and a Fulani man but
\nalso the Life Patron of Miyetti Allah?<\/p>\n
Professor Wole Soyinka provides profound insight into the matter. He said,<\/p>\n
\u201cReligion in the history of this continent has been a disastrous venture,
\na disaster in many zones and continues to be even so today. In this very
\nnation in Southern Kaduna, over 800 souls were brutally extinguished
\nsuddenly. While the issue of grazing lands versus farming is
\nunquestionably part of the conflict, it is equally undeniable that
\nreligious differences have played crucial role in the conflict. And yet
\nsome weeks before the latest outrage, the governor of that state was
\nquoted to have claimed that peace was nigh since he had sent funds to the
\nearlier wave of killers and they had agreed to end their killing spree.
\nWhat astonished me was not the admission by the governor but the
\nastonishment of others at such governmental response to atrocity. There
\nwas nothing new about it. Has appeasement to religious forces not become a
\nNigerian face of justice and equity? First lethargy and then appeasement.
\nWasn\u2019t Boko Haram\u2019s Muhammed Yusuf not a beneficiary of appeasement in a
\nsimilar fashion? Southern Kaduna has reminded us once again that the
\nmonster always lying waiting to pounce under the guise of religion. If you
\nask why General Buhari did not act fast enough when these events take
\nplace, which degrade us as human beings, well it is perhaps he has been
\nwaiting for the governor of that state to send money to the killers first
\nfor them to stop the killing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever the reasons are for the indifference of our President and the
\ncallousness and insensitivity of the Council of Imams, the Supreme Council
\nof Islamic Affairs, Miyetti Allah, Governor Nasir El Rufai, General
\nDambazzau and all those that support them, it would be wise for them to
\nappreciate the fact that the patience of the rest of the country is fast
\nrunning out and that they are set to provoke a chain of ugly events the
\nend of which will not augur well for them or their cause.<\/p>\n
Nothing reflects this better than the words of Bishop David Oyedepo of
\nWinners Chapel, who is one of the most influential and powerful clerics in
\nthe country, when he said,<\/p>\n
“Since when has it become a crime for Christians to say they can defend
\nthemselves ?
\nMust the north always rule? If Nigeria will break let it break. No
\nmarriage is by force. I curse every Islamic northern forces sponsoring
\nthis uprising of Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram in Jesus name. You catch
\nanyone that looks like them, kill him! There is no reporting to anybody.
\nKill him! Pull off his neck! And we spill his blood on the ground. What
\nnonsense. They said why should Christians say they could defend
\nthemselves, hold it! What stupid statement, why should Christians say they
\ncould defend themselves? So, they should watch for you to put a knife to
\ntheir necks? You think we are dummies? What! What? All those zeros census
\nthey are fake. Where are the human beings?Where are they? We go around the
\nplace. Where are they? We\u2019ve never had a successful census in this
\ncountry. Where are they? Don\u2019t mistake only those in politics as in power.
\nThe anointed in the Lord are the ones in power. By divine ordination,
\ndon\u2019t mistake that. There was a king in the land but Elijah was
\ndetermining the events of the nation. If I say it will not rain here for
\nthree years, it will not drop. What nonsense! Who born their mother, who
\nborn their father? They are too small. Come! Get excited and walk in
\nconfidence. Any devil that misbehaves around you will be slain by the
\nfire!\u201d<\/p>\n
Again Darius Ishaku, the Governor of Taraba state, said,<\/p>\n
”The people of Southern Kaduna must wake up from their slumber and defend
\nthemselves. You can\u2019t just lie down and allow yourselves to be annihilated
\nby other groups. You have a constitutional right to self-defense and now
\nis the time to use it. The government alone cannot do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clearly the drums of war and conflict are already beating in our nation
\nand no-one takes a greater share of the blame for this than those
\nidentifiable forces that are encouraging, sponsoring, protecting and
\ncovertly supporting these barbaric and murderous Fulani militias and
\nherdsmen. They are all, to the last man, nothing but monsters and beasts.
\n(TO BE CONCLUDED).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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