It all started when the Byzantine Emperor, Alexis Comnenus, requested
\naid from the west against the Muslims. On November 27th, 1095, at
\nClermont in central France, Pope Urban II delivered the sermon which
\nlaunched the expedition now known as the First Crusade. He called on the
\nfaithful, in particular the lords and knights who formed society’s
\nmilitary \u00e9lites, to relieve the oppression of Eastern Christians by
\nMuslims.<\/p>\n
But before the first arrow was fired, one man caused the death of
\nthousands of Christians. He was a Monk, his name was Peter the Hermit, a
\nmonk and priest, he led an army of angry Christians to their death at
\nthe hands of the Turks in Asia Minor.<\/p>\n
In 1187, after the capture of Jerusalem by the Moslem warrior Saladin
\n(Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub) Pope Urban III collapsed and died on
\nhearing the news. His successors, the short-lived Gregory VIII, and then
\nClement III called for a new crusade to reclaim the land of Christ\u2019s
\nbirth for Christianity. This call-to-arms was received enthusiastically
\nby many of the great nobles and princes of Europe. In England, France,
\nGermany and the Low Countries crusading fever swept across the land like
\nwildfire, and thousands of knights flocked to \u201ctake the cross\u201d.
\nChristian Europe mobilized the greatest forces even known in history to
\ndestroy Saladin and his Muslims and thus declared the third Crusade.
\nThis campaign was led by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (also known
\nas Barbarossa), Philip II, king of France and the fierce Richard the
\nLion Heart king of England. The Campaign was a disaster like previous
\nones. Emperor Barbarossa died before he reached Jerusalem, Lion heart
\nand King Philip later abandoned the Crusade after failing to conquer
\nSaladin and Millions of people died.<\/p>\n
I took the pain to explain this fact of history because those who fail
\nto learn from history are doomed to repeat it. After listening to
\nApostle Johnson Suleman’s sermon where he ordered his members to kill
\nFulani herdsmen in self-defense and the circus that followed with the
\nattempt of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him, I felt
\nsorry for Nigeria. While I may not hold brief for Apostle Suleman, I
\nwould rather advice caution. I knew the man of God spoke in good faith
\nin defense of the people so dear to him, especially when these innocent
\ncitizens have repeatedly been victims of reckless and undeserved
\nattacks. But an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s very unfortunate that our nation has been so chronically misruled
\nthat men of Faith had to take the role of government to address national
\nproblems. If our social justice system had been functional, Fulani
\nherdsmen would not have been killing innocent Christians and the course
\nof justice would have been served and those implicated properly
\nprosecuted. It was the failure of our government to protect her citizens
\nthat prompted the frustration and anger expressed by Suleman during his
\nsermon<\/p>\n
But again, words have consequences, Apostle Suleman, please sheath your
\nswords. What we may certainly not wish for Nigeria at this moment of
\neconomic depression is another Crusade. Instead let\u2019s use love to
\ndefeat hate, wisdom to defeat ignorance and mutual trust to sow seeds of
\nNational Unity. It is well; sheath your swords Apostle Suleman<\/p>\n
Now, Selective justice like it\u2019s vice \u201calternative facts\u201c is a
\npolitical fraud. President Buhari who while addressing members of the
\nCPC from Niger State in 2012 warned that 2015 would be bloody if
\nelections were not transparent was not arrested by President Jonathan
\nand was not grilled by the DSS. Why would Apostle Suleman be fit for
\narrest by the Presidency after making the same threat Buhari made few
\nyears earlier. Where was the DSS at that point in time, did they just
\nwake up from slumber? We cannot move forward as a nation when we use
\nselective justice to defraud tax-payers. It\u2019s simply a witch-hunt.<\/p>\n
Apostle Suleman erred in advocating jungle justice in a digital age,
\nwhich has the dangers of setting a dangerous precedence but the
\nPresidency also erred also by using the instrumentality of the state to
\nintimidate a law abiding citizen who expressed his fundamental rights to
\nfree speech.<\/p>\n
The government should rather make an inquest to the remote causes of
\nthis self-inflicted religious hate, find the problems and fix them where
\nnecessary. No Nigerian is a born terrorist; terrorists are made \u2013 by a
\ncombination of bad governance and failed leadership. President Buhari
\nmay not be the culprit here, he may have inherited the problems but as a
\nleader, he should do everything possible to fix these problems as best
\nas he can.<\/p>\n
We have all made mistakes but progress is still possible. Let the
\npresident appoint Apostle Suleman and a respectable Iman from Northern
\nNigeria to lead a reconciliatory commission where all issues will be
\ndiscussed and an inter-faith solution, mutual love, respect for life,
\nrespect for human dignity and education through religious tolerance
\npromotional activities championed. Let us refrain from throwing away
\nboth the child and the water. Let us look into honest complaints and
\nconcerns from both sides, meet each other in the middle and everybody
\nwill be a winner<\/p>\n
Written by
\nIKECHUKWU CHINEDU<\/p>\n
Stockholm, Sweden<\/p>\n
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n