Buharislamization of Nigeria and the danger of silence--The AuthorityAuthority

Sunday 21 August, 2016

It is increasingly disturb­ing the way and manner President Muhammadu Buhari has been running the affairs of this country called Federal Republic of Nigeria. Perhaps more disturbing, is the obviously dangerous quiet and/or siddon look that prevails in the kingdom of the so-called civil socie­ties in Nigeria over this ob­noxious trend. And, by the same token, no less disturb­ing – and even shameful of all (you may add) – is the fact that the Obasanjos of this hell of a country - who once upon a time baselessly accused the erstwhile Presi­dent Goodluck Ebele Jona­than of mainly appointing his Ijaw people into posi­tions of leadership – have suddenly, though somewhat helpless (for fear of being probed), learned to keep mute regarding what they see and/or say nowadays.

In the same vein, “our” Soyinkas of the literary realm who in their various vociferous, melodramatic and vocabulary-laden po­lemics and diatribes, used to advance millions of reasons in preference for and in de­fence of their present-day democratic dictator, Gen­eral Muhammadu Buhari, as against the candidacy of a mild, educated, metropoli­tan, nationalistic and exces­sively tolerant democratic Ex-President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, no longer could talk and/or talk suf­ficiently.

All of whom, like the cowardly Ogundipes of the 1960s, have sud­denly rolled back to their shells. And none, for now, sees nor wants to be seen to have seen the dangerous slide from secular to Islam­ist state which President Muhammadu Buhari has plunged the country into.Equally no less unfortu­nate is the apparent con­spiracy of silence by the Ek­wuemes of this world who (despite their likely and un­derstandable plea for age ali­bi) once stood courageously in the way of the “devilish” intent of the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha, which intent in no small measure is no less the same now both in content and actions of President Mu­hammadu Buhari-led ad­ministration.

One therefore wonders what has happened to or become of the guts of the Ekwumes of today in the face of the growing Buharis­lamization of Nigeria.Perhaps more complicit in this unbecoming sealed lips approach to Buharis­lamization of Nigeria are the yesterdays’ Arewa men of “power must shift to the North” campaign. No doubt, in their complacency so far, they neither can see any longer nor perceive any wrong in Muhammadu Bu­hari’s perilously unrelenting efforts to run the affairs of an otherwise secular state along the line of a Sunni Is­lamist republic – like Presi­dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is doing.

And like the proverbial irresponsible adults at home, these yes­terdays men seem so far to be rather glad watching the she-goat delivering while tethered.Stupid enough, while the engine of the ship of the nation is fast getting closer to knock, these same men appear to be telling those who care to listen that the North is squaring up for an­other civil war to “preserve” the unity of Nigeria by all means(?). Hence, for them, it is better for their people to go for war than to live to see Nigeria being restruc­tured. Hmmm...! By impli­cation, instead of urgently and jointly working towards salvaging Nigeria from run­ning its abysmally high tem­perature of destructive pro­portion, these doddering elements seem to be busy espousing and encouraging the Islamist and porous eco­nomic agenda of this rud­derless administration.

Any wonder, therefore, that Pres­ident Muhammadu, who in­cidentally is of the same age bracket with them, report­edly feels that Nigerians are not in any way suffering/ex­periencing hardship at all?As it were, it need not be overemphasized that virtu­ally every action and/or in­action of President Muham­madu Buhari nowadays is rightly perceived to be taint­ed with religious/Islamist undertone and colouration. If it is not the controversy on his policy of dragging Nigeria into an unholy alli­ance with Saudi Arabia-led Islamic coalition against Islamic terrorism, it will be his reported anachronistic and highly controversial policy proposal to reduce exchange rate for Islamic pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Or, if the stench is not ema­nating from the litany of his lopsided appointments, it will be emitting from the un-secular words of his bizarrely fanatical decla­ration of public holidays for Islamic festivities.

And where perhaps his religious bigotry fails to manifest in the way he refuses to react at times to religion-related happenings and/or Fulani herdsmen attacks across the breadth and length of the country, it will readily find expression in the deplorable mannerism he will eventu­ally adopt in circumstances where he is impelled or compelled to react. Need­less to say that the latter was well demonstrated in his terse statement in the wake of the recent brutal murder of an Igbo woman in Kano by some Islamist funda­mentalists who reportedly stormed, blocked and per­formed ablutions in front of her (deceased’s) shop, which following her objec­tion to this absurdity led to her untimely demise.

In fact, it is interesting to recall at this juncture that “our” President hardly rounded off his so-called condemna­tion of this ugly incident in that very statement without implicitly pontificating un­necessarily about the need for religious tolerance by the person(s) in front of whose shop(s) ablutions was per­formed and those who wit­tingly fomented trouble by indulging in such despicable and trouble-courting act (?). Of course, don’t ask me, this is the same President that wants and demands respect from the citizenry and faith­ful across religious divides (?).

What is more, here we are talking about a “man of good conscience” and Presi­dent who reportedly or­dered the immediate release and empowerment of ar­rested Boko Haram terror­ist detainees (all of whom were Muslims) and, on the other hand and at some oth­er time, allegedly ordered and supported the brutal murder of many innocent, unarmed, hapless and law­ful protesters and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – all of whom were Christians. Yet, in all this, nobody seems to be talking. Perhaps because his name is Buhari, the “lover” of his Hausa-Fulani people and religion - Islam(?).

Source:THE AUTHORITY