Ending Radicalization and Extremism in Nigeria

Op-ed, West Africa  |  01.03.10   By Kingsley Ewetuya

In perhaps his most iconic work, Fela Anikulapo Kuti in the song “Coffin for Head of State” irreverently bemoaned the unseemly encroachment of Christianity and Islam in our politics, commerce and national affairs.

He satirically lambasted the influence of the clergy and Imams–particularly their unbarred access to those who line the corridors of power. In doing so, he was labeled a heretic and an anti-establishment radical who opposed the social order that these religions create for the betterment of mankind. In his words:

“I waka many business anywhere in Africa
I waka many business anywhere in Africa
North and South dem get dem policies
One Christian and the other one, Muslim
Anywhere the Muslims dem dey reign
Na senior Alhaji na ‘im be director
Anywhere the Christians dem dey reign
Na the best friend to Bishop na ‘im be director
It is a known fact that for many thousand years
We Africans, we had our own traditions
These money-making organizations
dem come put we Africans in total confusion”

It is no wonder that upon reading these words many regard the late “Abami Eda” as a prophet, for what he sang about was not just the tragic events in Lagos during the seventies but a foretelling of a more ominous trend in Nigeria: Radicalization and Fundamentalism.

He was not lampooning Christianity and Islam per se, but was more concerned about the dangerous consequences of religious extremism in our country if allowed to go unfettered.

We would have done well to heed his words rather than simply nodding our heads while enjoying the Afrobeat and watching with mouths agape while his dancers rhythmically gyrated their hips.

While we were fiddling, our Rome was burning.

The attention of an otherwise jovial world was shaken during the Christmas yuletide when Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, 23, boarded Delta Flight 253 with the hope of detonating an explosive device, killing those aboard.

For most of the world it was terror, for Nigerians: shame. Mutallab as it had been noted ad infinitum is a “Nigerian national.” He was one of our own.

And so it came to pass that on December 25 2009, the name of Nigeria was added to the subconscious list of nations to be frightened of when boarding a flight.

All of a sudden, pundits and “terrorist experts” were on every network alluding to Nigeria’s “strong ties” to terrorism. The mention of this unholy alliance came as a shock and surprise to many.

While our Minister of Information on behalf of our politically oxen-yoked vice-president drafted a statement “abhorring all forms of terrorism,” Nigerians at home and in Diaspora were creating multiple Facebook groups showing their umbrage and denunciation of the attempted terrorist plot.

We have shown our shame, anger and abhorrence of this attempted attack. Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan with a straight face instructed Nigerian Security Agencies to “commence full investigations of the incident.”

Good luck with that Mr. Vice-President and while you’re at it, kindly direct our “security agencies” to uncover the murderers of Bola Ige, Funsho Williams, Ayodeji Daramola and countless others whose blood were shed in the elusive search for the rule of law in Nigeria; but I digress.

The issue at hand is the failure of our government and our people to combat radicalism and fundamentalism in Nigeria.

While many questions have been asked about how Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab was able to board planes from Lagos to Amsterdam all the way to Detroit with explosives in his underwear, thus giving a new meaning to the 60s musical hit “Great balls of Fire,” we have failed to ask how the son of a wealthy banker in Northern Nigeria became aligned with Al Qaeda.

As despotic as the military regimes in our nation’s past were, they were not state sponsors of terrorism like Afghanistan. So what explains this sad event?

Nigeria despite its mineral wealth remains a poor nation and when people are poor, they take solutions to tackle their myriad of problems wherever they can find it, while the rich seek power and preservation of their wealth via unorthodox means.

In the South, it is the new age prosperity gospel preachers who teach that divine prosperity comes from God with the infallible Pastor as the conduit. So people, rich and poor alike, flock to places where they are told to give all their material goods as a “seed of faith” for divine blessings.

Others are led to so-called churches where innocent children are branded witches, wizards, and the cause of poverty in their locality. Meanwhile, our “honourable” politicians flock naked in the dead of night to fetish shrines in Okija and Ogun to swear blood oaths among themselves to secure political fortune.

In the North, the words Boko Haram have entered our national lexicon. In July 2009, this extremist sect instigated the attacks in Bauchi State which killed many innocent people. The killing of the group’s leader Mohammed Yusuf by the Nigerian police essentially saw the death of the matter. However, the issue of radicalization remains alive and well.

According to the August 14 issue of the Vanguard, the Boko Haram organization issued a statement in part saying:

• That the Boko Haram is an Islamic Revolution which impact is not limited to Northern Nigeria, in fact, we are spread across all the 36 states in Nigeria, and Boko Haram is just a version of the Al Qaeda which we align with and respect. We support Osama bin Laden, we shall carry out his command in Nigeria until the country is totally Islamized which is according to the wish of Allah.

• That Mallam Yusuf has not died in vain and he is a martyr. His ideas will live forever.

This organization has been in open existence since 2002 and until this year operated with impunity.

Successive Nigerian governments have closed their eyes to radicalization and fundamentalism all over the country from both Christianity and Islam to the detriment of the nation.

Perverse interpretations of these religions have seeped into the minds of our people and now we see the crystallized result in the form of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab whose father was so concerned by his fundamentalism, that he voluntarily reported his son to Nigerian and American authorities.

Nigeria needs more people like Alhaji Umaru AbdulMutallab who are not intellectually blind to the differences between reverent devotion and errant dogmatism.

It is time that our leaders pay attention to the radicalization of religion in all parts of our country and build an impenetrable wall wholly separating Church, Mosque, and State.

It is high time we address the “money making organizations” in the South who rather than preach the true gospel, aid and abet corruption by receiving donations from openly corrupt public officials.

Dare I say that churches need to be taxed? And why won’t our government address the recent spate of fetish and occult practices among our politicians?

What message does it send to children who hope to enter public service one day? Are shrines and blood oaths the breeding grounds for legislative or gubernatorial hopefuls and are churches the laundering shelters for ill-gotten wealth?

When are we going to have brave Northern leaders who realize that “one nation bound in freedom” has no place for a separate Sharia Law especially since Chapter I, Part II, Section 10 of Nigeria’s constitution clearly prohibits the adoption of any religion as a state religion.

How many innocent men, women and children must be killed before known extreme clerics are curtailed so as not to produce more Umar Abdul Mutallabs who shame Nigeria?

When are we as a people going to wise up, eschew the hatred and bigotry we have for each other and refuse to be swayed by those who pervert religion for their ignoble purposes and play on our mistrust for each other?

There is a witty saying among Nigerians that “A man who is trampled to death by an elephant is a man who is both blind and deaf.”

Until we as a people finally stand up to be counted and act, the elephant of radicalism and fundamentalism which we have been blind and deaf to since our founding will crush us.

More Umar Abdul Mutallabs will arise from all corners of our country, from every tribe and ethnicity to the detriment of us all no matter how many press statements are released or how many Facebook groups are created.

Nigerians from all parts of the country, from every ethnic group and tongue must stand up against extremism whenever and wherever this elephant rears its ugly head

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