Re: Caliph Shekau and Apostle Suleiman: What is the difference?

When the Daily Trust of 31st January 2017 published my piece with the above title I did not envisage the torrent of passionate responses I received. There were quite a number of supporting views as well as an equal number of opposing ones with a good sprinkling of abusive ones. May be that is what […]

When the Daily Trust of 31st January 2017 published my piece with the above title I did not envisage the torrent of passionate responses I received. There were quite a number of supporting views as well as an equal number of opposing ones with a good sprinkling of abusive ones. May be that is what one gets when you write on issues that touch on ethnicity and religion. The said piece touch on the video of Apostle Suleiman now trending in the cyberspace where he was caught profiling and stigmatizing a particular ethnic group and exhorting his congregation to kill them if they were sighted near his church.

 We compared the video with another one where Shekau in the pre-insurgency days was seen preaching hatred against the Nigerian State and its symbols: the National Flag, The National Anthem and the National Pledge. It was also obvious that Shekau’s sermons even in those earlier days were suffused with calls to violence against the State. When the two videos were put together, it was obvious that Shekau and Suleiman were birds of the same feather, both preachers of hatred and death, who deserve the same treatment by our security outfits and judiciary.

 Now due to the dust raised following his cruel proclamations, and his subsequent meeting with the security, the apostle has seemingly withdrawn the obnoxious part of what he said. He was now only quoted to be talking of self-defence, rather exhorting his followers to take the law into their hands. Nevertheless the crazy pronouncement he made earlier is already part of the cyber space and can hardly be obliterated.

 

 Many readers who contacted me also directed me to other sites in the cyberspace where many other similar hate speeches are hibernating. I have found at least two other apostles making similar proclamations in their churches. This is becoming a dangerous trend, which if it is not contained could influence many impressionable youths and direct them to the path of violence and destruction. Many less discerning adults could also fall prey to these demagogic preachers. After all among the Boko Haram insurgents, you find a good proportion of both youths and adults who have been mesmerized and indoctrinated by the sermons of preacher Shekau and others of his kind.    

 

Among those who took umbrage to my piece is a Shola whose views represent the broad criticisms. Shola’s views which I record below, however, skilfully avoided the main issue of profiling, stigmatization and the instigation to violence by Apostle Suleiman. This is what Shola said:

 ‘It is true that we must condemn speeches or comments that tend to incite people against one another especially on ethnicity and religious grounds. Definitely our religious leaders should be agents of peace not disunity. However you should condemn what appears to be intolerance of some northerners against people of other faiths.

 At the slightest opportunity they go about killings and burning places of worship of Christians with impunity. Even when something happens in far Europe that is not in the interest of Muslims they vent their anger on the Christians living in the North. Is it not insane? Remember there are good Muslims in other parts of the country and they live peacefully with Christians including those who choose to worship ogun and omodiaha.

 For long Christians in other parts of the country have endured what appears to be persecution of Christians in the North the inability of security agents to protect the Christian community in the North has made it inevitable for Christian leaders to call on Christians to defend themselves. Worst still the perpetrators of the heinous crimes get away with it.

 So if Apostle Suleiman calls on Christians to defend themselves against people who are angry at their existence in the North, I don’t think that qualify him to be compared to the devil incarnate from the North called Shekau. To answer your question while Shekau went about killing everyone (mostly Christians) who does not support Jihad Apostle Suleiman was only calling on Christians to defend themselves against the agents of Shekau.’

Postscript: You remember Rann? It is still in our consciousness as the town in one of the northernmost points of Borno State that was devastated by Boko Haram insurgency and having the additional misfortune of being mistakenly bombed by our own Nigerian Airforce with the consequent loss of many lives. When I worked in Chad Basin Development Authority in late 1970s and early 80s I visited Rann a number of times and even then I looked at it as run-down, difficult to reach, with an inhospitable climate that could try any human being. And later when as head of the Political Department in the Governor’s Office I   headed the secretariat that created local governments in 1989 the issue of Rann becoming the Kala Balge local government headquarters was very contentious and I noticed that it met with scepticism despite the influence of its leading   sponsor the late General Mohammed Shuwa. Many of us did not know of Rann’s distinguished antecedent.

But all these impression about Rann and other towns around the shores of the Lake Chad such as Musune, Wumbi, Ndufu, Sangaya, Kaza, Ngala, Jilbe, Dikwa, Mofio, Marte, Me and Sigal is bound to change now with the release of a book by Mohammed Adam titled, ‘The Ancient Kingdom of the Southern Chad Basin: History, Traditions and Kingship’. The book has taken the author over 30 years to research, mostly from oral traditions, and write and when I got a copy to read recently I concluded it was clearly a labour of love that has paid off magnificently.

The book chronicles the history and cultural practices of these city states that were once ancient kingdoms on their own, before they were subsumed by the mega Kanem-Borno Empire. The book shall certainly be a treasure trove for researchers and anyone wishing to know more about Rann and the towns within the immediacy of Lake Chad.

The interesting part about the author, Mohammed Adam, is that he had all his life been a civil servant though his interest in acquiring and imparting knowledge has always been acknowledged by the summons he had received from many Borno State Governors to serve as Commissioner of Education.