"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread " and at the risk of
sounding naive, or as an over-simplifier who states only the most
obvious, aren't the North – South, the Christian -Muslim divide and to
some extent the historic realities of Igbo East - Yoruba West ethnic
rivalry, permanent features of the so called One Nigeria / "Lugardist
experiment"?
Ayo Obe,
I'm a layman. And docile too. Your knowledge of Nigeria is much more
detailed than mine will ever be but when you ask whether there's any
"north-south polarisation " the answer is, admittedly not like North -
South Korea. So " polarisation" is an extreme word. Even in Nigeria's
identity politics and not applicable to the North-South divide in
Nigeria. But you must admit that there is a tension. which can be
defined/ measured along the North - South axis
For the time being, with Muslim Atiku as " the consensus candidate of
the North" pitched against Christianity's Goodluck Jonathan of the
South - (East) isn't it a clear-cut case of a Northern vs. Southern
contender , as in the disputed Ivory Coast elections?
In Igboland, "Hausaman" means/ is co-terminous with "Muslim". Which
does not mean to say that once upon a time Sokoto's President Shehu
Shagari did not have Anambra's Alex Ekueme as his vice-president -
the one who received the Pope when he visited Nigeria in 1982. Or that
my man, the Fulani Muhammadu Buhari - Yoruba Tunde Idiagbon
partnership was not a successful one.
And many other examples of astute demographic calculations which have
produced viable North -South partnerships.
In my view it's a great pity that Muhammadu Buhari was cheated at the
last presidential election. He could have made a world of difference.
If Atiku is a marketable product then it's probably his turn to be
elected - if a better Northerner doesn't show up.
Goodluck Jonathan - like Joe Biden , is in all probability a
transitional figure, if he cannot be a compromise middle candidate
from the South East. The Igbos with their secessionist tendencies may
feel comfortable with him, he is after all within their regional
sphere of influence but not the North and probably not the Yoruba
either – not because of his Ijaw ethnicity but because he has still
not shown a strong hand, for example in dealing with the spate of
religious based violence all over the place.....
The main tenet that Farooq Kperogi conveys is that the Qur'an
ascertains that Christians, Jews and Sabeans are not kuffar
( infidels): Going further than that - since there are not so many
Jews in Nigeria and certainly no Sabeans either, all the Muslim
leaders could also quote the Qur'an, 5:82 from the minbar : "And
thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe
(to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there
are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud." -
although it's possible that the Qur'an's author did not have the
present political climate of Nigeria or Nigerian Christians in mind
or as the main import when that verse was revealed.
The fact of the matter is that just as Christianity is an essential
part of e.g. Igbo identity so too Islam is part of the Northerner's
religious, cultural and political identity , there's the rub - and
unlike Muslim Senegal voting for a Christian Leopold Sedar Senghor as
its first president, given the present state of world affairs and
Nigerian Northerners Muslim consciousness they are not going to vote
en masse for Goodluck Jonathan – a Christian from the South, when they
would much prefer a Muslim.
Perhaps that's why Goodluck Jonathan is dragging his feet when it
comes to dealing with the politically inspired religionists' violence
and treading ever so gently. He does not want trouble. He does not
want to be seen as being too Christian. Muslims on the other hand are
not afraid of being Muslims.
On 3 Jan, 00:28, Ayo Obe <ayo.m.o....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well yes, there have been bombs in Jos, Abuja & Bayelsa. And Warri. Book Haram has also launched attacks. So in parts of the country there has been inter-religious violence, and in other parts there has been violence associated with political parties, or perhaps I should say A political party. But north-south? The PDP has certainly been having a north-south argument but has it resulted in north-south polarisation? Sure, today's papers have been carrying adverbs which try to create a link between Atiku's 'peaceful change impossible, violent change inevitable' and the recent bomb blasts, but is that the same as north-south violence? I mean if we are supposed to believe that Atiku is that dumb (or at least, that the people around him are) but since some of us also lived through the Abacha era where bombs went off in Lagos for the purpose of being ascribed to NADECO but were actually planted by Abacha's henchmen, whether by reason of their own over-zealousness or by reason of direct order I can't remember, the answer to the cui bono question isn't as clear cut as we might be expected to believe.
>
> Anyway, my question is: what is the actual basis - outside the PDP and its wahala - what is the evidence of north-south polarisation? If we are indeed so polarised (and I appreciate that the vitriol that spews from Internet fora might lead anyone to believe that we are all continually at each others' throats) why are the two most popular other candidates even outside the north, Ribadu and Buhari? (Sorry o, Bob Dee.) Yes, it may be that people think they will tackle corruption with more vigour than our current rulers, but even if it is a wrong perception, is there any north-south element in that perception? Despite a certain degree of scepticism on my part, this is a genuine question - we have marked Christmas & the New Year in near total blackout so there may be some news items that I've missed.
>
> Ayo
>
> On 2 Jan 2011, at 20:35, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear Brother Farooq,
>
> > The situation is very serious. Further polarization between Muslim and
> > Christian, between North and South. A probable protracted state of
> > emergency, with soldiers and military police in the streets,
> > everywhere, instead of in their barracks, where they belong. Nigeria
> > is on the precipice of being destabilized even before the next
> > presidential election and the most recent posting I read from another
> > Nigerian forum suggests that we are about to witness a coup d'état.
> > Where would we be then? We'd be in sh-t creek.
>
> > To quote the posting fully :
>
> > "Sudden eruption of violence,
> > meaningless threats like Atiku and IBB's,
> > bombings in the name of Allah in the North,
> > and bombings for Satan in the South,
> > police extra judicial killings,
> > Soldiers lining up innocent citizens and executing them in broad
> > daylight.
> > ............and to top it all, a deluded populace with brother Tope
> > Fasua leading the pack........
> > All of the above, my peoples, I call "PRELUDE TO A COUP".
>
> > It's good that you (Farooq) speak up. The voice of reason should be
> > listened to. Of course it would be even better if your insights could
> > filter across to where your words could have more of an effect – on
> > the ground, in Nigeria. Perhaps you could offer your advice and
> > recommendations to the Nigerian Authorities. If you were to teach say
> > on Nigerian national TV and get across the contents of this your
> > posting - it should be having an impact on people's lives. But to
> > merely state them on an elite forum doesn't go far enough.
> > On 23rd of October 2009, I had lunch with the station Master of the
> > Freedom Radio station of Kano, Muryar Jamaa, during the European
> > Development Days conference in Stockholm. He was the sole Nigerian
> > representative at that conference. That's a radio station that should
> > interview you.
> >http://www.freedomradionig.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=...
> > I was fortunate and he gave me some other insights and quite a
> > different perspective on the Boko Haram.This shows how differently we
> > may see things from a distance:
> > I reported about that meeting, here:
> >http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/browse_thread/thread...
>
> > This time, just like the last time, everyone's disgusted about this
> > cycle of violence, of revenge and counter-revenge. The cycle is likely
> > to continue unless the government and its security agencies do their
> > duty and get serious about tackling the problem and protecting the
> > lives of all Nigerian citizens. It's not bloody likely that after the
> > ritual platitudes and all the disgust has been expressed or spread by
> > the Nigerian & international media , "the nation will be anesthetized
> > into a false sense of security and normalcy, the culprits will never
> > be ferreted out much less punished, and everybody will go to sleep:"
>
> > Radical literalism put on hold:
> >http://www.africanexaminer.com/manroorah0102
>
> > The half dozen other Nigerian forums that I belong to have been
> > discussing this issue and we've been there before, several times.
>
> > There are so many causes of this bloodshed: Jos has its own particular
> > problems (the immigrants to Jos vs. the indigenes etc) The Boko Haram
> > and how to de-radicalise them is another set of problems that has to
> > be addressed. High-handed brutal military action of the type that
> > massacred so many members of Boko Haram including its leader, so
> > ruthlessly, in Maiduguri is not the solution. On that occasion there
> > were not even any prisoners of war taken to be put on trial. The
> > leader could have been put on trial instead of being slaughtered. The
> > Boko Haram ideology could have been put on trial - and perhaps
> > defeated – by giving some reasons for the necessity of a Western
> > education, although, in my view, it should not be treasonable offence
> > if one does not want to go for a secular/ Western education. Nor do I
> > believe that the solution is for such a religious group to be
> > exterminated. That's called genocide. The recent Boko Haram actions
> > are probably counter-measures, revenge, for that earlier police
> > military massacre.
>
> > In the 80s the Maitatsine Sect was operating in the Borno, Gongola
> > area and had many supporters. I thought that that sect faded away, and
> > was surprised to read this a few days ago – and take note about the
> > helpless "locals who have to join 'religious community' "out of
> > necessity":
> >http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=200088
>
> > On Jan 2, 2:54 am, "Farooq A. Kperogi" <farooqkper...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >> Saturday, January 1, 2011
> >> Jos bombings: Can we for once be truthful?
> >> *By Farooq A. Kperogi*
>
> >> A monstrous mass murder of innocent souls has occurred in Jos
> >> again<http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/newsflash/multiple-xmas-...>
> >> and
> >> we are, as always, being insulted with unimaginative, flyblown, and
> >> soporific platitudes by our political, media, and clerical elites. Almost
> >> every prominent Nigerian who has commented on this heartless, high-tech mass
> >> slaughter has mouthed one of three predictably ready-made bromides: oh, this
> >> is all about politics, not religion; it's a failure of security and
> >> leadership; and it's the consequence of poverty.
>
> >> This is the safe, standard, prepackaged rhetorical frippery that our elites
> >> effortlessly regurgitate whenever violent communal convulsions erupt in any
> >> part of the country. But this is getting insufferably trite. If the
> >> hypocrisy or intellectual laziness that actuates these thoughtless,
> >> simplistic sound bites didn't have far-reaching consequences for our
> >> continued existence as a nation and, in fact, our very survival as a people,
> >> one would simply yawn in silence and ignore them.
>
> >> But it so often happens that after these hypocritical, clichéd phrases are
> >> uttered, the nation will be anesthetized into a false sense of security and
> >> normalcy, the culprits will never be ferreted out much less punished, and
> >> everybody will go to sleep—until the next upheaval recrudesces and jolts us
> >> all out of our pigheaded complacence.
>
> >> <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cIW44Bimg1A/TR9elwK1sXI/AAAAAAAAAyI/MZlXjqz...>
> >> A
> >> scene from the bombings in Jos
>
> >> And then the predictably mind-numbing, mealy-mouthed banalities will be
> >> invoked again by the elites to explain away what happened, and so on and so
> >> forth. This rhetorical formula is safe because it absolves people in
> >> political and cultural authority from the triple burdens of thinking,
> >> confronting uncomfortable truths, and taking action. That's why politicians
> >> are often ironically the first to blame "politicians" for the episodic fits
> >> violence that now habitually punctuate our national life. Well, "politician"
> >> is a floating signifier that encapsulates everybody in politics, and what
> >> refers to everybody, as they say, refers to nobody. Case closed.
> >> To be sure, political manipulation, inept security and leadership, and
> >> poverty are all deeply implicated in the perpetual cycle of violence and
> >> recriminations that have become fixtures in our socio-political landscape.
> >> But a murderous pervasion of religious doctrines and violent, unthinking
> >> ethnic particularism are even greater culprits. People who are brainwashed
> >> into believing that those who don't share their faith deserve to be
> >> murdered, or people who are so wedded to their ethnicity that they lack the
> >> capacity to tolerate others, are just as dangerous and as culpable—if not
> >> more so— as the politicians who "manipulate" them.
>
> >> Poverty, in and of itself, does not predispose people to violence. There
> >> are much poorer countries in Africa than Nigeria that are remarkably
> >> peaceful. Take, for an example, Benin Republic,
>
> ...
>
> läs mer »
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