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What’s Religion Got To Do With It? A Reaction to Amanze Obi

Sahabi Garba Aliyu

I hold this profession, journalism, in all the esteem it deserves, and I particularly find it quite sacred. Those that find themselves in this profession should take recourse in having to share in the divine occupation of Arch Angel Gabriel (Alaihis-Salam). For those that similarly, follow in the footprint of early journalists, the sacred duty is to tell the truth – truth, as we know, is divine – thus, it is a cardinal in this calling to “print and be dammed.”

As a Muslim I crave for peace, as it is also very sacred; and if I am allowed to share this opinion with the public, I disagree with Governor Bafarawa’s penchant for proliferation of mosques even though I support that of the mass media outfits. I was particularly delighted when Daily Sun made its debut and I became even more enthralled when it secured quite a number of good columnists under all sorts of banners; under such situations I believe, newspapers would be compelled to maintain certain principles, most importantly, that of upholding the virtues of truth and accountability. Yes, accountability, i.e. to investigate and get to the root of a matter, before going to press – this is accountability.
All this digression is to bring to the surface a folly so cheaply found with our journalists of today; quiet a number of them find a tool, in this hitherto, sacred calling, of blackmail, vendetta and spite; and for those that maintain columns, their cheap temerity is to exaggerate their intelligence and more often than not, they fall victims of under estimating others, especially the readership.
A columnist with Daily Sun, AMANZE OBI –under the guise, Broken Tongues readily comes to my mind any time I reflect on the above misdemeanour. I am a keen reader of “broken tongues”, and it is not just for his recent article on the recent religious crisis in Sokoto under the title “What’s religion got to do with it?” Which would co-incidentally, form the bulk of my rebuttal, but almost at all the times that I perused Obi’s write-ups, I have found his tongue broken indeed.
I am picking on Obi’s article on the religious crises, in Sokoto, because in it, I have found all the other loose ends in my readings of Obi’s articles. Firstly, Patronage; just as in other issues Obi picks an interest to write on, this one on Sokoto, did not go beyond mere patronage. Obi would not bother about the sensitivity of an issue for as long as there is an interest to be served. I find Obi to be too un-professionally patronising on many occasions. Let me ask for instance, what otherwise Obi knows about Sokoto other than, perhaps, its location on the Nigerian Map, as to write on religious crisis in the metropolis; he is equally, barely informed of Islamic religious sects, to justify his attempt at differentiating what constitute politics or religious in the on-gong upheaval. More foolish however, is his descriptions of the person/ character of governor Bafarawa in which he (Obi) LIES. Amanze Obi also lied to the Nigerian public on developmental perspective, particularly, in Sokoto.
Truly Sokoto was peaceful, still is, and the only reason you have that peace is breached is when you have a minority group under the guise of religious rights practices, constituting a thorn in the flesh of the majority. In Sokoto of only yesterday, Shiites was not even known; coming from no where, this sect is bent on taking over the two most recognised mosques in the heart of Sokoto metropolis; and no matter how strong the followers of this sect may feel, it is in the right of the majority to disagree with them and indeed, in the interest of peace, that this feeling of the majority is respected.
When this tension becomes palpable within the majority of the Muslim in Sokoto, the major expectation among them (the majority) was for the government to act accordingly, to check this minority sectarian incursions; the point is to appease the majority who felt in that palpable tension, could rise and take the law into their hands against the minority. For any sensible government, there is a multiple of factors to consider here; the peace of the majority, that of the minority which could only be secured or guaranteed if the government is swift in its reaction to the incursion of that same minority; that in the event of collapse of law and order, not only would the fomenters in this case, the minority Shiites, suffer, even the innocent citizens would be affected, and in the impending scenario, no sane person would rule out mob action vis-à-vis a prowl from the hoodlums.
In Sokoto, even before the escalation of hostilities and the enormous loses, the response by the government was inept. Bafarawa is on record to have said that, government could not arrest the Shiites sect leader in Sokoto even after his group violated a police order restraining a planned procession by this same sect; both the governor and the commissioner of police admitted this and it is on records. This is foolhardy, for a government that could bar all the consequences to foray into the Sunni majority and arrest some of its clergies, the allegation that Bafarawa is pro- Shiites sect has certainly, lent some credence, here.
Another folly from these same amateurs is to at all time, there was a skirmish, most particularly on Fridays, for it is on these congregational days that this sect stirred most disaffection by its affront on the majority Sunni-inclined Muslims, the “government” so discontent with itself, engages in blame apportioning game. All the time their disrespectful accusing fingers were directed to the sultanate, oblivious of its responsibility, this “government” with Bafarawa as its “Chief security officer” denounces its role and in their megalomania they impute political motive. For those that can not withstand the heat in the kitchen, please quit, i.e. if Bafarawa feels so incapable to be decisive, he should quit; it is not humiliating to step down, his political mentor, General Babangida, once did that, and he still breathes, this is more honourable than to take on virtually, all the revered names in a futile contest.
In a rare display of Media-tout syndrome, Amanze Obi is redefining the two concepts of spiritual and reticence vis-à-vis to suit his white-wash attempt on Bafarawa. I hardly would blame Obi, he has to tout and be seen to be doing so even if it would mean lying in the process; otherwise what is spiritual about Bafarawa? And Obi should also cite instances of Bafarawa’s reticence this is a person that expresses his opinion however pungent and even on matters he is hardly conversant with. And if Obi doubts this, though I am sure he would not, he should take a survey from among Bafarawa’s counterparts in the thirty-five other government houses.
Toughness and clear headedness” were Obi’s assessment of Bafarawa’s conduct in discharging his affairs of office. How can any single encounter justify this profound assessment? Well conversant as Obi may be with this “Bafarawa personality”, what attention to detail drove Bafarawa to pay twice for the same contract job on the Bafarawa Qur’anic Institute? After a contractor ally of his had done his worst on that piece of land, virtually, all the structures had to be re-done. In the few hours that Obi spent assessing his idol, had he seen a Chief Executive that would dispel expert advice on why a house should not be built in just two weeks, considering the nature of the terrain and the kind of work therein?
Well since Obi is collecting memoirs on Bafarawa let me take him further on this. Bafarawa spent hundreds of millions to built Villas in what we call Government Lodge 1, against experts’ counsel. He went ahead to build these massive houses, and as at now, all of these structures have betrayed Obi’s “encounter with a reflective man”. The same goes for his pet-project at the Polytechnic of Sokoto State. All of the major works had to be re-done because of the shoddy, unpatriotic job firstly, executed by Bafarawa’s number one ally.
I am like obi against acts of arson; but I am usually not surprised when an indolent, indecisive ‘government’ suffers these consequences? When a similar religious matter reared its ugly head in Kebbi State, the Governor there, Adamu Aliero was swift, and with one fell swoop quashed the matter never to be heard of again - to its rightful place or the bottomless pit - so to speak. But does Obi know that, Bafarawa boasted at that time that Aliero, the Kebbi Governor, was weak and ineffective to have allowed such an unnecessary distraction to rear its ugly head in his State? Now guess whose state is affected?
It may sound naïve to assume that Amanze Obi has not even a rudimentary knowledge of political economy, but then, let’s examine the following facts. In a rage of anger and disenchantment, a mob action assumes all sorts of colouration. This theory is so universal, that believing it to border on the logical may only help to drive our point further home – this place i.e. Sokoto has never witnessed an enormous capital flight than between 1999 to date. This is not news. Many people have voiced their opinion against this. Well, to Obi, this bears a repetition. If Obi thought all the major road jobs constructed in Sokoto State were handled by our people, now I am telling him, it is not so! And if Obi had done his home work on Sokoto State, that well, he would have known that, no single sector consumed, if I may emphasise, MORE THAN SEVENTY percent of the State’s income than this road construction “mirage”, and all these were handled by firms from outside the State; granted, these were major jobs requiring experience and expertise. O.K.! Whatever informed giving major supplies to some persons outside the State for share patronage and at the expense of our own bona fide contractors?
Against this backdrop and many more, like government engaging itself into buying and selling even of those commodities readily available in our markets and at no subsidy; leaving our home-grown merchants and traders in the cold. The people are hard pressed. Bafarawa for Amanze’s information admitted only recently, as he did before his electioneering campaign, that, there is hunger in this place. Before he commenced his campaign, Bafarawa had a theory that because of the hunger in the state, it will take only the dropping of few grains here and there and the election will be his for the taking. The situation has not changed today. Instead, things have drifted from bad to worse. So, please Obi, nobody says you should not be Bafarawa’s friend. You can even decide to inter-marry or perhaps, even go on to secure each other’s Local Government indigene ship, but to engage in matters you are obviously unfamiliar with for a mere mess of pottage about, is, to say the least, the worst form of mis-education. Your practice of cash-and-carry journalism is perhaps why your own people have failed to overcome the issue of their marginalisation, more than four decades down the road. It is not “what religion has got to do with it”, it is what disenchantment, hunger and thus, catharsis, has got to do with it.
I would not also so quickly condemn Amanze on his “beautification of Sokoto Township”. This is because I do not know if he (Obi) grew up in Sokoto; for all I know, Sokoto has maintained that status for a long time, I would not brag about it because I know, there are better things to say than just “my place is the most beautiful”. How about “my people are the most educated?” Or better still, “my population is well fed?” But if Obi like us grew up in Sokoto, he would have known that, Sokoto had known, seen and operated traffic lights since the seventies. His Excellency President Shehu Shagari (The Turaki of Sokoto in his time as the 1^st Chairman of SUDA (Sokoto Urban Development authority) as it was known then, would bear me witness on this, not just because he was instrumental to this development, but for the fact that, on the junction to his private residence in Adarawa area, Sokoto and at the east-end of the most popular street in Sokoto i.e. Emir Yahaya, were traffic lights that shone like the northern star, and so also on many other major streets. Not only that. Not so long ago, a Youth Corper serving during the era of Navy Captain Adisa Raji, (a Military Administrator), rehabilitated some of them as part of her Community Development efforts.
The only reason we would not lose our faith in this sacred job of journalism is, for just as we have the Obis of this world who engage in acts that smear this noble profession with bad light, there are those who have taken the gauntlet to stand for the truth and nothing else; and I am sure as we continue in this pace more of us, and Obi, too would be enlightened. Allah Yasa mu gane Gaskiya kuma mu bi ta.