SOWING THE SEEDS OF HATRED AND CONFLICTS

In the last few weeks, virtually every Muslim or Christian Nigerian, has received texts and other electronic messages from friends and acquaintances conveying advise or other messages which are targetting religious groups with regards to the forthcoming elections. Daily, many of us receive messages and requests to forward such messages to others, which abuse leaders, or people of other faith, and which inflame our passions and fear that people of other religions are about to wage a war, even if through the elections, against us.

Since the PDP Convention, and even long before it, campaigns on religious grounds have assumed frightening dimensions. Before the PDP Convention, the campaigns were low-keyed, and they centered  basically around the creation of the impression that President Goodluck Jonathan represented Christian interests, and Atiku Abubakar represented Muslim interests. After Atiku lost the nomination to President Jonathan, the messages became bitter and more abusive, as well as more inciting. Muslim Governors from States which over-whelmingly voted for Jonathan were abused with titles for Christian leaders, and Christians messages celebrated Jonathan’s victory as the victory of Christianity over Islam.

          The battles moved from Eagle Square to Churches and Mosques, and our telephones. More and more people are receiving messages that portray the forthcoming elections in purely religions terms. Political Parties other than the PDP are the fuelling this dangerous trend by appealing to Muslims to vote for their own candidates, because the PDP is fielding a Christian candidate. The cumulative effects of these messages will be to sow the seeds of deep hatred and future conflicts in our hearts and actions. Nigerians will be completely polarized along two religions lines before, during and after the elections. Muslims, particularly those from the North, will be made to believe that their faith is under attack, and the elections will be like a war they have to win to defend Islam. Christians are being made to believe that they are or the verge of destroying the dominance of Hausa-Fulani Muslims and Northern Christians minorities are about to achieve a historic victory for freedom.

People from the South are witnessing an unprecedented campaign to rally all Northern Muslims around a Muslim candidate, and even some of them who are largely indifferent to the factor of faith in Nigerian Polities will now assume a religious position and posture. Nigerian Muslims will feel that all Nigerian Christians are ganging up against them, and the tendency to close ranks  will be more pronounced . Tensions will rise, and the inevitability of conflicts and widespread violence around campaigns, and the elections and post-election issues will put the nation’s unity and security to a severe test.

Politicians appear to have lost substantial political grounds, and are resorting to the most destructive divide-and-rule tactics that are likely to destroy the foundation of our peaceful co-existence as a nation. Politicians whose credentials as good Muslims or Christians will not stand up to rigorous scrutiny are being put forward as representing all Muslims and Christians, and communities are being torn apart to support them on religions grounds. No one is talking about credibility, experience or honesty of leaders, but their faith. Our next leaders are likely to be elected only because they are Christians or Muslims, yet how they lead us will not be determined by their faith.

Some people in our country are sowing dangerous seeds of hatred and conflict in our nation, and all of us will pay the price  for it. No election in this country has exposed our weaknesses as a nation as much as this one, and no election has used religion and other dangerous propaganda as much as is being used.

No one will tell Muslims or Christians not to vote one of their own in a free and fair election, but elections exist as alternatives to war and other forms of violence. We do not need to put fear and hatred in the minds and hearts of people to get people elected. Those who hide behind their religions faiths alone to seek for our votes are most likely those who have very little to offer. There are good Muslims and Christians who can be voted to give Nigerians good leadership; and there are bad and undeserving people among the Christian and Muslim communities. Nigerians need to remember that we will require a peaceful and secure Nigeria to live in after these elections. If the campaigns and the elections are conducted with such bitterness and hatred and conflicts, there may be very little of Nigeria for either Muslims or Christians to live in. This is why all Nigerians should be wary of these campaigns to pitch Muslims against Christians by people who, when there are conflicts, will not pay any price for them. Those who use our religions beliefs to achieve their political goals should stop it, because our people can decide what is best for them.                                                     

NO POLITICAL ROLES FOR ROYAL FATHERS

On Monday 24^th of January, Traditional Rulers from all the geo-political zones in the country, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, visited President Goodluck Jonathan. The purpose of the visit by the traditional rulers was to discuss security of the nation and the need to use the rulers to foster greater national unity.  While appealing to the traditional rulers to work with the government to achieve security, stability and unity, President Jonathan informed them that he has forwarded a bill to the National Assembly to give constitutional backing to their roles as custodians of traditions and customs of the people. The traditional rulers reportedly welcomed the initiative to give them a greater say in the nation’s affairs through legislation.  

          The efforts to involve our traditional rulers in additional activities, over and above what they are already involved in, is fraught with many dangers, and although the demand for this is neither new nor strange, it is important that its implications are made clear both to the rulers and the public. Our traditional rulers have legally-defined roles and functions in all States of the Federation in all our States, and they are recognized as custodians of our   culture and traditions, and they have defined advisory roles in their relationship with State Governments. They have important powers to appoint and remove lower-level traditional rulers, settle community disputes, advise on security issues and generally provide the type of leadership which has its own values and standards that are consistent with our cultures. Many prominent traditional rulers play key roles in organizations such as National Religious Council (NIREC), and are routinely consulted by Governors and even by Presidents on matters of national security and development. They serve in Councils of Chiefs, and many have appointments as Pro-Chancellors of our Universities.

          Our Traditional Rulers are therefore neither idle nor irrelevant. They do precisely what traditional rulers do in a democratic setting; which is to anchor our cultural values around their persons and offices, provide sources of mobilization, enlightenment and unity for their people, and add considerable weight to the efforts to provide security and achievement of peace. During political conflicts and crises, traditional rulers generally provide sources of comfort and bridges across conflicting groups.

          The clamour to give traditional rulers legislated powers beyond these roles can only mean one thing, and this is to involve them more directly in political, and therefore, partisan activities. This is dangerous for the nation, and even more dangerous for the institution. Our system of government has no roles for anyone who is not elected on the basis of competitive, partisan politics except for traditional rulers who assume important positions on a hereditary basis, and who are, by law and by tradition, insulated from partisan politics. When traditional rulers ask for greater involvement in the scheme of things, we have to ask exactly what they want. Politicians are very jealous people, and they will resist any incursion into their terrain by traditional rulers. Do they want to make laws for citizens, which is the responsibility of legislators? Do they want to implement laws and execute programmes and projects, which is the responsibility of the President, Governors and Local Government Councils Do they want to exercise judicial responsibilities, which is the role of the judiciary? Do they want more involvement in security administration and management than they already have? Do they want more powers to administer, or participate in selection of people into key positions, all of which are being done by other institutions which are empowered to do so by law?

          Mr. President has not disclosed the contents or the purpose of the bill he sent to give constitutional backing to the roles of traditional rulers, other than that it will enhance their roles as custodians of the tradition and customs of their people. If this is all the bill will do, Mr. President is best advised not to bother, because every Nigerian already recognizes traditional rulers as custodians of our traditions and customs. If the bill seeks to give them powers beyond this, the National Assembly will be advised not to pass the bill. If the traditional rulers fail to see the possibility that they are being used by politicians on the eve of important elections, Nigerians will remind them to be wary of intimate relations with politicians. The timing of this visit, and its publicized purpose is at best suspect. If traditional rulers want to visit President Jonathan to discuss national security and unity, many people will ask how effective they have been, either individually, or through NIREC, the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs or Christian Association of Nigeria in dealing with the problems of Jos or Borno or the Niger Delta? In many of these conflicts, traditional rulers have been part of the problems, rather than the solutions. Many of our Royal fathers are already neck deep in the political affairs of their States or communities and many are fast losing their respect as neutral fathers in bitter political conflicts. Instead of being agents of unity, many of them have become sources of bitter and prolonged division, and their appointments or conduct while in office have pitched their communities against each other. If traditional rulers want to be more involved in politics, they should join politics. Otherwise, they should distance themselves from partisan politics.

          The most effective strategy for preserving our traditional institutions as custodians of our culture and tradition is to isolate them from the negative influences of a developing democracy such as ours which tends towards involving every person, institution or value into the contest for power. There is no scope for expanding the influence of traditional rulers without exposing them more to a process which will erode their already threatened roles of traditional fathers who should be above political partisanship. A government that gives them the impression that it can do this may only be using them. They should be able to see this, as enlightened rulers, and steer clearly away from the current political maneuvers for the April 2011 elections