Muslim North

Muslim North: Is Its Talibanization Feasible?

Abdullah Musa

What is most painful, said the highly angry Igbo man, is that, a man who has no kobo, will kill a man who has millions!

I was sitting some few years back in one of the numerous motor mechanics’ garages spanning the length and breadth of Kano, which in most cases were manned by people from Southern Nigeria. The Igbo man, whose statement I quoted above was visiting his friends in the garage. Someone who had not seen him for sometime was inquiring where he had been, and he replied he had relocated to Abuja; for Kano, he said, had become something else.

The period was not very far away from one of the recurring incidences of religious crises in Kano. The Igbo man was complaining about those some call street urchins, who turn themselves into a voluntary army to kill in the name of tribe, but align it to religion. Igbo apparently place great premium on wealth; and they have a very good system of networking that helps their kin to make money through trading.

Much more than any other tribe, the Igbo have borne the greatest brunt in the North during such crises. But they were not spared by OPC of South West, during their battle at the port. Their trading system is exclusionary: the chain of shops will be Igbo all through; may be some find that irksome during crisis. That in real fact is not the issue. The issue is that Nigeria is such a country where you only own where you belonged to before 1914.

Except for Shagamu in South West, I do not think there is any other place in Nigeria where two different tribes integrated fully: Hausa and Yoruba; with inter-marriage, and dual lingua franca. Even that achievement was shattered by OPC when their campaign of terror reigned. That integration was helped greatly by the commonality of religion: Islam. I doubt very much if the integration were possible between Muslim Hausas and Christian Yoruba.

As I write, Kano is yet one week away from the tragedy of bomb blasts that claimed nearly 200 lives. The dastardly act was attributed to Boko Haram; an insurgent group that has despoiled Maiduguri and Damaturu. Islam is strongly embedded in the hearts of Nigerian Muslims; particularly the Hausa-Fulani. They are not ready to equate any other relationship with it. They may not be willing to trade or negotiate away any of its prescriptions or prohibitions. Why the tenacity you may say?

Well Islam is a religion that is absolutely clear about the direction its believers are to follow. More significant, in Islam, there is basically no room for maneuver when it comes to the pillars; you are either a believer or you are not. Islam is also not a voluntary association: you cannot enter and exit at will. Exiting after belief carries the death penalty. At the end of the day, there are two stark choices: you conduct your life according to its teachings and go to Paradise when you die; or you disobey its teachings and go to Hell. There is no middle ground.

From whom does the Muslim take guidance about matters relating to religion? He or she takes it from the Imam. The Imam tells him or her to reject any law that goes contrary to the teachings of Islam. Secular authorities have no paradise to offer. In real fact, due to the treacherous nature of African secularists, they even have no earthly paradise to offer, talk less of the celestial one. When the European came and amalgamated Nigeria, he discarded the Muslims’ law, and introduced his own. His law permits most of the things the Muslim is under obligation to hate.

Now there is a democracy. Now here is freedom of speech. Now there is freedom of religion. So Sani Yariman Bakura, the then Governor of Zamfara state found out that he could constitutionally enact Shari’ah in his domain. Then all hell broke loose! Anti-Shari’ah gladiators sprang up. Democracy; rule of law; freedom of religion; the courts; were all forgotten. Emotions were on the saddle. In the end, Nigerians went on undeclared war; lives of course were lost. More damaging was the fall-out: mistrust and hatred between Muslims and Christians took deep roots.

When the political dribbling between the Muslim North and South came to an end, the North relinquished power to an Obasanjo. He set out to avenge the wrongs done to him personally, and to his tribe by the Northern Establishment. At the end of his eight-year tenure, he foisted upon the North, an ailing Yar’adua. We all know what happened: Jonathan Goodluck became President. When he sought to become a President on his own right, the nation split again along religious and geographic lines. Goodluck won; and the North is still hurting.

Then from nowhere (at least that is my perception) Boko Haram sprang up. It chose to have head-on collision with security agents; particularly with the police. People are now left to speculate, and nobody seems to have an answer. Is Boko Haram out to take over the North; push the Southerners out, and establish a Taliban-like rule? I do not know. But if it were so, is it realistic? Well is it realistic for a few thousand Nigerians to corner the nation’s resources for themselves and families? It may not be, but that is our current reality.

Is Boko Haram a creation of America, out to destabilize Northern Nigeria, so that Southerners are forced to flee, thereby forcing the break-up of Nigeria? Since they excised South Sudan from Arab Sudan, what stops them from doing so with Nigeria? The rulers are busy stashing away their loot such that they do not have time to see the faint outline of earth quake lines beneath their feet.

Grapevine has it that Kabiru Sokoto is a popular preacher within the area he operates. While listening to Radio France Hausa service today, I heard someone complaining that the federal government arrested their teacher; and he later mentioned the name of Kabiru Sokoto. So it is possible, Boko Haram has popular grassroots support. It may be the person on the Radio is not a militant of Boko Haram; but has apparently accepted its goals and aspirations. So if Boko Haram is able to outgun the federal government of Nigeria, then it might certainly receive hero’s welcome in many areas of the North.

The obsession of South East today is oil. They do not appreciate the fact that the ideology taught by Boko Haram will not give weight to what they might call such fleeting fancies. In the event push comes to shove, there might emerge two clear winners: South East will have its oil, while Boko Haram will have its Muslims masses to mould into whatever shape they desire. The losers will be the Muslim elites of Northern Nigeria; who might really not want to answer to a Boko Haram government; nor can they be able to pattern their lives according to the strict, puritanical Islam which Boko Haram will unleash on the society.

Were it a laughing matter one would want to double up with laughter; seeing an enemy (the elites) vanquished by a non-elite adversary (Boko Haram). A Hausa proverb is apt here: Ruwa ya kare wa ‘dan kada; meaning the lake has dried up on the crocodile.