In praise of humility
When he visited the Madalla victims to distribute relief materials and offer his sympathies, the Emir not only asked for God’s forgiveness for his perceived sins but also begged other Nigerians to forgive him. The late President Yar’adua had faced similar criticism for not visiting the victims of Jos religious and ethnic violence. In fact, […]
When he visited the Madalla victims to distribute relief materials and offer his sympathies, the Emir not only asked for God’s forgiveness for his perceived sins but also begged other Nigerians to forgive him. The late President Yar’adua had faced similar criticism for not visiting the victims of Jos religious and ethnic violence. In fact, even President Jonathan himself was criticized for not visiting the Ibadan and Lagos flood victims.
It is normal, therefore, for leaders to face criticisms occasionally over perceived poor judgment. We should, not however, conclude that poor judgment or oversight was a reflection of wickedness by the leaders. No responsible leader rejoices at the death of innocent people, let alone the wanton destruction of property under whatever guise. Awwal Ibrahim is one of the most compassionate and humane leaders you can ever encounter. Sadism is alien to his nature. As Lord Chesterfield noted, “If we don’t know a man, we seek to hate and destroy him, but when we ultimately know him, we feel a duty to defend him.” Prejudice feeds ignorance, which in turn, blurs our judgment. And judgments influenced by these negative emotions are almost always cruelly unjust. It is inconceivable that Awwal Ibrahim will ever take delight in the tribulation of others. No leader who knows the burden of leadership, especially a versed Muslim like Awwal Ibrahim, could intentionally treat the suffering of others with indifference.
The Boko Haram issue is an embarrassment not only to the Emir of Suleja but also all other Muslims and Northern political leaders. Northern leaders – from Emirs, opinion leaders, community leaders and politicians have never faced a moment of embarrassment as the one they have to contend with today because of the Boko Haram. Their seeming helplessness and powerlessness to stop the violence involving invisible snipers and bombers should evoke sympathy for Northern leaders. While the Niger Delta politicians and traditional chiefs had access to the former militants and eventually persuaded them to lay down their arms, the situation involving the Boko Haram is uniquely difficult. With a rigid extremist agenda and hostile to social institutions of control or influence, the Boko Haram members are more difficult to deal with. In fact, no Northern leader can claim that he can meet the Boko Haram face to face and persuade them to disarm. They have no visible presence, which make contact all the more difficult. How many Islamic preachers have lost their lives in the North-East so far for daring to criticize Boko Haram members in their sermons?
Despite the huge deployments of troops to the North-East and the declaration of state of emergency in some areas there, the Boko Haram remains as active as ever. Neither the emirs nor the politicians of the North have the magic formula to end the Boko Haram threat to our security and unity, following the new dimension of attacks on Christian worshippers. I feel sorry for the Emir of Suleja because of the fact that his domain harbours elements linked to Boko Haram. With communities living in the fear of reprisal for exposing the presence of people with nefarious agenda, traditional rulers are just as helpless. Northern politicians themselves are scared of attacking Boko Haram for the fear of becoming targets themselves. Consequently, Boko Haram has turned all of us into captives of fear.
With this kind of tense situation in the North, it may be unfair to link this security challenge to the inaction of any Northern leaders. Northern leaders should not take responsibility for a situation, which seems to defy even the most advanced intelligence system. Their politicians, community leaders and traditional rulers are as helpless as the security men who are professionally trained to detect, prevent and prosecute criminal activities. Nobody can convince me that Northern leaders stand to gain anything in a divided Nigeria or a state of intractable insecurity. If leaders of the Boko Haram are ready to come forward to discuss the terms of peace, there is no doubt that Northern politicians, emirs and community leaders would seize the occasion to save Nigeria this embarrassing calamity of endless death of innocent people. However, the solution does not lie in easy fault-finding at anyone. Absolute security is impossible anywhere in the world and, according to Woodrow Wilson, those seeking total security should go to prison. Indeed, Nigeria has exacting security challenges but these cannot be resolved by seeking simple solutions to complex problems.
Kontagora wrote in from No. 69, Coomassie Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja. ([email protected])