South-west’s hijab tinderbox
Many Nigerians will be excused if they considered Rivers State and
the Boko Haram-infested North-east as the two most volatile spots of
Nigeria. Before the tension in Rivers state was defused with the yanking
off of the errant police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, the situation in
the oil-rich state was dangerous indeed. Or so it was made to appear by
Gov. Rotimi Amaechi, who effectively demonized the PDP and Mbu. The
blatant partisanship of Mbu against Amaechi’s political interests had
not helped matters; so also the garrulous disposition of the Supervising
Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike.
Matters got to a head when a senator of the Federal Republic was shot while a partisan police team was trying to prevent a pro-Amaechi rally from holding. That overzealousness not only drew the ire of many, it also jerked the opposition APC, in whose fold Amaechi now belongs, into action. The 2014 budget became the grass that would suffer if the Rivers state shenanigans continued. Mercifully, commonsense prevailed and peace – hopefully – has returned to the Garden City; if the new Rivers state CP carries himself decently, that is.
The situation in the North-east is, unfortunately, not as easy and straight-forward. New Service chiefs have been appointed to try their hands – and luck – at the problem. They have been up to a shaky and jerky start. A purported hasty statement setting a dateline of three months for the rooting out of Boko Haram was withdrawn with as much haste by the issuing authority while the insurgents have shown no sign of letting up the pressure.
Everyone seems to have forgotten – or resigned to – the killing fields on the plateau but the horrific yields from that angle have not paled when compared to the gory tales of Boko Haram’s onslaughts. We now know that except the security situation in the North-east especially is quickly brought under control, it may be hard for elections to hold there in 2015. And
that could have very grave repercussions. The damage done to the economy of the region is extensive and the resources needed to respond to it enormous. Already, we have seen protests in the National Assembly about the “meagre” resources budgeted for the region in the 2014 budget. That issue is bond to rear its ugly head again if and when the National Conference kicks off, hopefully, in a few weeks’ time.
The National Conference itself is one dangerous bend that many believe this country will be hard put to negotiate this year. Shall we succeed or shall we flounder at this sharp corner? To ensure that we succeed, government has slammed a “no-go” area around the country’s continued existence as an entity. It remains to be seen, however, if, once the conference starts, it can be stopped from taking on a life of its own. There are also those who are threatening a boycott of the conference. If enough influential stakeholders boycott, then, the conference’s integrity and relevance will be seriously called into question.
There are those who have argued that the conference is a sure recipe for disaster, installed at this particular point in time to scuttle the 2015 elections and foist something like a state of emergency on the nation. Even if it does not get that bad, it is difficult to see how the competing and conflicting groups and interests will resolve issues within the stipulated three
months. What if nerves are inflamed and passions flared at the conference and fisticuffs are exchanged, just as we have witnessed on a number of occasions on the floors of our legislative chambers? It is so easy to completely truncate the conference – just 26 percent of the conference members can hold the entire conference and, by extension, the whole nation, to ransom. Shall we call that the tyranny of the minority? The majority will have their say; but the minority of 26 percent, if they say “nay” on any or all issues, will have their way.
But by far the greatest threat to the survival of our renascent democracy may yet come from an unexpected quarters – the South-west. For one, this is the region whose current political leaders are at the fore-front of the formation of a vibrant opposition party that is giving the ruling party nightmares. For another, these are the same political leaders voicing strident opposition to the National Conference and threatening a boycott. If they do, that will automatically take the shine off the conference, even if government finds an ingenious way around
the intransigence of the APC leaders to craft the semblance of a representation for the South-west. But beyond these is the religion tension that is rearing its ugly head in the region. The South-west is one place where crisis of religion should never be allowed to take roots because if it does, it has the potentials of finishing up the people. There is hardly a family in Yoruba land that is not a rainbow coalition or a mosaic of the three dominant religions of Christianity, Islam, and Traditional Religion.
We warned when this evil began to mushroom in one of the states of the region; now it has become a Frankenstein monster that even its creators are no longer able to put under control. It is a crisis that may soon become an epidemic. Religion is a Pandora box that is best not opened. Once it is opened and the genie escapes, to capture and put it back is always herculean.
This is one sleeping dog they should have allowed to continue its sleep; now that they have roused it, it is difficult to bring back the status quo. The governor of the State of Osun has his body language to blame for the religion mess he has got himself and his state into.
Unfortunately, the crisis is not going to be limited to his state but is going to spread to the entire region. Protests for and against the wearing of hijab is spreading and will continue to spread in the South-west for two simple reasons. One is that politicians will fuel it to gain political advantage. Two is that many of those who will be used as canon-fodders for the looming religion war in the South-west are ignorant of the fact that many of those camouflaging as devout Christian and Muslim leaders are not.
I stand to be corrected: Few political leaders that we have today maintain their integrity on religion while virtually all run helter-skelter between alfas, prophets, and babalawos. There are few leaders today who are not sold to cultism; most camouflage with religion to deceive the people. The day the ordinary people realise this, they will desist from being pawns on the chessboards of heartless political leaders who exploit religion for their selfish advantage.
Then something borders, even amazes, me: The ease with which individual governors on the platform of the same party can just wake up from the wrong side of the bed and begin to implement policies and programmes that are diametrically opposed from one state to another. What roles does their party play in policy formulations and programmes implementation?
Do the parties coordinate/review policies and programmes to be implemented in the states under their control or are the governors, once elected, free agents and one-man riot squads free to unleash their fancies, whims, and caprices on the hapless people of the states where they are the CEO? It certainly was not like this under Awo. And what, if I may ask, has become of all the talks about regional integration?
Matters got to a head when a senator of the Federal Republic was shot while a partisan police team was trying to prevent a pro-Amaechi rally from holding. That overzealousness not only drew the ire of many, it also jerked the opposition APC, in whose fold Amaechi now belongs, into action. The 2014 budget became the grass that would suffer if the Rivers state shenanigans continued. Mercifully, commonsense prevailed and peace – hopefully – has returned to the Garden City; if the new Rivers state CP carries himself decently, that is.
The situation in the North-east is, unfortunately, not as easy and straight-forward. New Service chiefs have been appointed to try their hands – and luck – at the problem. They have been up to a shaky and jerky start. A purported hasty statement setting a dateline of three months for the rooting out of Boko Haram was withdrawn with as much haste by the issuing authority while the insurgents have shown no sign of letting up the pressure.
Everyone seems to have forgotten – or resigned to – the killing fields on the plateau but the horrific yields from that angle have not paled when compared to the gory tales of Boko Haram’s onslaughts. We now know that except the security situation in the North-east especially is quickly brought under control, it may be hard for elections to hold there in 2015. And
that could have very grave repercussions. The damage done to the economy of the region is extensive and the resources needed to respond to it enormous. Already, we have seen protests in the National Assembly about the “meagre” resources budgeted for the region in the 2014 budget. That issue is bond to rear its ugly head again if and when the National Conference kicks off, hopefully, in a few weeks’ time.
The National Conference itself is one dangerous bend that many believe this country will be hard put to negotiate this year. Shall we succeed or shall we flounder at this sharp corner? To ensure that we succeed, government has slammed a “no-go” area around the country’s continued existence as an entity. It remains to be seen, however, if, once the conference starts, it can be stopped from taking on a life of its own. There are also those who are threatening a boycott of the conference. If enough influential stakeholders boycott, then, the conference’s integrity and relevance will be seriously called into question.
There are those who have argued that the conference is a sure recipe for disaster, installed at this particular point in time to scuttle the 2015 elections and foist something like a state of emergency on the nation. Even if it does not get that bad, it is difficult to see how the competing and conflicting groups and interests will resolve issues within the stipulated three
months. What if nerves are inflamed and passions flared at the conference and fisticuffs are exchanged, just as we have witnessed on a number of occasions on the floors of our legislative chambers? It is so easy to completely truncate the conference – just 26 percent of the conference members can hold the entire conference and, by extension, the whole nation, to ransom. Shall we call that the tyranny of the minority? The majority will have their say; but the minority of 26 percent, if they say “nay” on any or all issues, will have their way.
But by far the greatest threat to the survival of our renascent democracy may yet come from an unexpected quarters – the South-west. For one, this is the region whose current political leaders are at the fore-front of the formation of a vibrant opposition party that is giving the ruling party nightmares. For another, these are the same political leaders voicing strident opposition to the National Conference and threatening a boycott. If they do, that will automatically take the shine off the conference, even if government finds an ingenious way around
the intransigence of the APC leaders to craft the semblance of a representation for the South-west. But beyond these is the religion tension that is rearing its ugly head in the region. The South-west is one place where crisis of religion should never be allowed to take roots because if it does, it has the potentials of finishing up the people. There is hardly a family in Yoruba land that is not a rainbow coalition or a mosaic of the three dominant religions of Christianity, Islam, and Traditional Religion.
We warned when this evil began to mushroom in one of the states of the region; now it has become a Frankenstein monster that even its creators are no longer able to put under control. It is a crisis that may soon become an epidemic. Religion is a Pandora box that is best not opened. Once it is opened and the genie escapes, to capture and put it back is always herculean.
This is one sleeping dog they should have allowed to continue its sleep; now that they have roused it, it is difficult to bring back the status quo. The governor of the State of Osun has his body language to blame for the religion mess he has got himself and his state into.
Unfortunately, the crisis is not going to be limited to his state but is going to spread to the entire region. Protests for and against the wearing of hijab is spreading and will continue to spread in the South-west for two simple reasons. One is that politicians will fuel it to gain political advantage. Two is that many of those who will be used as canon-fodders for the looming religion war in the South-west are ignorant of the fact that many of those camouflaging as devout Christian and Muslim leaders are not.
I stand to be corrected: Few political leaders that we have today maintain their integrity on religion while virtually all run helter-skelter between alfas, prophets, and babalawos. There are few leaders today who are not sold to cultism; most camouflage with religion to deceive the people. The day the ordinary people realise this, they will desist from being pawns on the chessboards of heartless political leaders who exploit religion for their selfish advantage.
Then something borders, even amazes, me: The ease with which individual governors on the platform of the same party can just wake up from the wrong side of the bed and begin to implement policies and programmes that are diametrically opposed from one state to another. What roles does their party play in policy formulations and programmes implementation?
Do the parties coordinate/review policies and programmes to be implemented in the states under their control or are the governors, once elected, free agents and one-man riot squads free to unleash their fancies, whims, and caprices on the hapless people of the states where they are the CEO? It certainly was not like this under Awo. And what, if I may ask, has become of all the talks about regional integration?
No comments:
Post a Comment