Islamization of Nigeria: The billion-dollar question

As ridiculous as that sounds, ‘silence being the best answer for a fool’ doesn’t really work in this clime. In fact, silence translates to endorsement in some instances, so let’s actually explore the possibility just to lay this expensive argument to rest.It is important to briefly review the structure of the government before we list […]

As ridiculous as that sounds, ‘silence being the best answer for a fool’ doesn’t really work in this clime. In fact, silence translates to endorsement in some instances, so let’s actually explore the possibility just to lay this expensive argument to rest.
It is important to briefly review the structure of the government before we list out the ways to ‘Islamize’ the country. This is because in Nigeria we tend to ‘put the cart before the horse’ and just taking a walk down any street would reveal that fact. This is evident in the myriad of examples such as plaza’s built without any thought to parking space, roads built without proper drainage system, millions spent on a Cinderella wedding only to rent a small pitiful flat and beautifully adorned gates with poorly furnished homes just to mention a few.  As you can see, it is a common trait of the system as well as the people itself. On that note, before we talk politics, it is crucial to understand Nigeria’s government model.
Nigeria is a federal republic with 3 arms of government, The Executive, The Legislature and Judiciary. According to the constitution:
1. The Executive-Carries out the law and is made up of the President, Vice-President and The Federal Executive Council consisting of 36 ministers appointed by the President. The President shall be the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the federation.
2. The Judiciary- Interprets the law and is made up of the highest court- the Supreme Court, followed by the Court of Appeal, Federal High Court, High Court of the FCT, Sharia Courts and Customary Court.
3. The Legislature- Makes the law, provides representation and oversight. It consists of 2 chambers the House of Representatives and Senate.
Now this talk of Islamizing Nigeria didn’t come from thin air but has its roots from the time of Usman Dan Fodio’s Jihad over 200 years ago (1804-1810) which swept across most of the north and reached down south to the north of Lagos.  Also, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism at different phases of Nigeria’s history has continued to raise age-old suspicion and created a political struggle between the Christian minority and the Muslim majority in the North. Also in the South, Nigeria was being Christianized by the missionaries and with the advent of Independence; the battle of religion has been meshed with politics. This has created a very toxic and uneasy relationship between politics, religion and ethnicity where in recent times religion has trumped ethnicity. But all in all, the beauty of Nigeria’s democracy is that a semblance of a system exists and the stateless era of Jihad and Crusades has truly gone if only the people choose to let go of it too.
Now let’s return to the possibility of our billion-dollar question: For a President to Islamize Nigeria, he’ll need to completely obliterate this very diverse Nigeria with over 500 ethnic groups and 250 languages to achieve a completely homogenous country. You might be able to achieve that by borrowing the technology from the Hollywood movie ‘Men In Black’ to blank out the memory of all non-Muslims in the country while filling their new blank minds with an Islamic identity. But with a population of over 170 million and half of them non-Muslims, one might need to also rent those scary aliens from the movie as well who will threaten to annihilate the masses if they don’t convert. This will scare the life out of people who will now be directed to make use of every INEC office or LGA office to stand in line and collect their new Islamic identity.
Aside from establishing strong links with Hollywood to execute the audacious plan above, it is safe to say that ‘Islamizing’ the entity called Nigeria is completely impossible. The suspicions and fears that have transferred from generation to generation is completely unfounded and are mere illusions under a democratic system. Our battle is completely a human struggle to determine who gets what, when, where and how wrapped in religious garments by political entrepreneurs. Someone who didn’t have any ideas for leadership had an even brighter idea to distract the people with baseless religious fears to ensure that the people are too busy fighting each other instead of demanding better leadership. This has ensured that citizens live as slaves in their own land while they strive to live in a heavenly kingdom that doesn’t exist on earth.
For the record, the constitution expressly states that the federal government shall not adopt any religion. It also ensures the from Local government to State Government to Federal Government all have to abide by the federal character to reflect the constituency it represents.
On a final note, we must question our basis for prioritizing our love for religion over our desire for development. In the old order, the idea of God actually propelled people to build magnificent structures that in today’s world still attract a pilgrimage as people scramble to see such wonders of the world. Let us seek to obsess over development and Nigeria could just be the next UAE and stop shaming the black race by its chronic underdevelopment and its intense, sordid love affair with mediocrity. When Time magazine regarded Nigeria as the ‘First among equals’ in 1960 and referenced it as ‘Africa’s super power’ it was not based on its size or natural resources alone but in the strength and beauty of its diversity. Why we have decided to use this as a noose to hang ourselves is truly the billion-dollar question?
For those who choose to live in fear of a 200-year-old suspicion who’s manifestation in modern Nigeria is nothing like the organized exercise used to boost trade along the Sahel, please answer the following questions: Does the Benue river or Niger river flow based on who is Christian or Muslim? Do the tomato farms in Jigawa grow based on the religion of the persons that till the land? Do the banana plantations in Ogoni land grow based on the planters’ religion? If no, then as these things grow, bloom and develop based on effort, vision and consistency so also should Nigeria just be itself without strangling itself with an agenda that should remain strictly in the personal space of the citizenry.
Semlin wrote in from Ikoyi, Lagos State