Learning how to fight…peacefully

One of the things that most struck me in the book was its focus on grace and the powerful testimonies of how once outspoken warmongers had become peace advocates—the revolutionary change that can happen when two opposing sides meet and realize how much they have in common. Such change is found in the story of […]

One of the things that most struck me in the book was its focus on grace and the powerful testimonies of how once outspoken warmongers had become peace advocates—the revolutionary change that can happen when two opposing sides meet and realize how much they have in common. Such change is found in the story of one of the authors, Reverend Yakubu Pam, who had once, in his own words, believed “an eye for an eye. Kill one Christian, kill one Muslim. We will retaliate”. As one-time chairman of the Plateau State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Pam had been so confrontational after the 2004 Yelwa crisis that President Obasanjo, on a visit to the state, called him an “idiot.” However, as he began to work on the Plateau State Inter-Religious Committee and for the first time became friends with Muslims, his outlook began to change. By 2009, his old prejudices had been so transformed that he founded the Young Ambassadors, to bring Christian and Muslim youth together to work for peace. January 2011 found him standing on a car in front of Christian youth who were preparing to attack a neighboring community, shouting “You must stop this thing!”

Another powerful story of a change of heart is found in the story of Magaji Sule, who was a self-admitted political thug in Bukuru. He had led Muslim youth in attacks and burned houses. However, in 2010, an encounter with Rev. Pam caused him and a Christian youth leader in the neighboring community of Gyel to call off mutual hostilities. After both youth were recognized with a “Peace Ambassador certificate to honor their courageous efforts to maintain peace in their communities” they embraced and became friends. From that time Magaji Sule has become a “zealous peace ambassador,” doing much to keep Bukuru calm in times of crisis. On the Christian side, Augustine Davou, who had once fought among Christian youth, found his thinking changed following a football peace training program with YACPIF. On site of the 2010 Christmas Eve Gada Biu bombing in Jos, Augustine stopped a group of Christian youth from lashing out against the Muslim community, telling them violence “is not going to help the situation. In anything we do, let us not just do it for the sake of today, but let’s think of tomorrow.”

These three stories were directly related to the YACPIF advocacy group, but other chapters narrate powerful stories of other Christians and Muslims who despite being personally harmed followed personal convictions to love their neighbor. Hajiya Nafisat, for example, the national legal advisor for the Federation of Muslim Women Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) has been uprooted multiple times since the 2001 Jos crisis. In 2010, the house her family had spent twelve years building was burned by Christian youth. However, only three days after her house was burnt, she went, wearing donated second-hand clothes, to speak at a peace forum, telling a mixed Christian and Muslim youth audience, “I believe it was just madness, something just went off in us and then brought out the inhumanity in us. Despite that, there were good lessons: that Christians were saved by Muslims, and Muslims were saved by Christians.” Similarly the newly built home of Ustaz Farouq Muhammad, third imam of the Fiber mosque in Jos, was destroyed by a Christian mob in 2009. Later, he discovered some Christian laborers, who worked in his company, wearing his clothes. They told him that they had not realized it was his house they had destroyed, and he allowed them to keep both the clothes and their jobs. He said that he learned forgiveness from the Qur’an, saying, “He who has patience and perseverance and will forgive and forget, this is very difficult but the reward is big.” Another example of forgiveness comes from the story of Pastor Sunday, whose church building and home was burned twice by Muslims, but who continued to build relationships with his Muslim neighbors, including paying out of his own pocket for his parishioner’s windscreen that a Muslim child had broken. When he was called before the Plateau State governor in 2004 during a mixed Christian and Muslim delegation, he told the governor good stories about his Muslim neighbors including that some had been wounded while trying to protect the church. Pastor Sunday has become a strong advocate of Christian and Muslim community integration.

These are just some of the stories that demonstrate that humanity and grace exist on both sides of the religious divide in Jos, and by extension much of the rest of the north. Pam and Korb point out how these examples illustrate theories of peacemaking developed by other leaders of non-violence around the world, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi.

The book is complemented by a colour photo insert of some of the people and events described, including a few of my own photos. The main critique I have of the book is that interviewing in English seems to have limited the expression of a few people who might have been more comfortable speaking in Hausa. Translation may have made for smoother reading. However, despite a few flaws of this sort, I think the book should be required reading not only in Jos, where most of the stories occur, but also across the country. In an age where extremists seem to rule and stereotypes and myths feed mutual violence, we need to be reminded that prejudice is the greatest cause of division. The most important fight of our lives should be one in which we join hands across the divide in a nonviolent struggle for peace. The role models described here show us the way.