The recent senseless killings in Southern Kaduna, prior to and on Christmas Eve, are despicable to say the least. Fulani herdsmen vaguely claimed they were avenging the killing of their cows some two years before. The killings clearly emphasised the well known coordinated and systematic religious and ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the Fulani Pan-Arabism who took it upon themselves to kill perceived ‘infidels’ on behalf of ‘God’.
Fulani herdsmen across the country have a multitude of sins to their name: violation of ancestral neighbourhoods, robbery, torture, rape and the killing of Christians. Fulani herdsmen have become another frightening version of ethnic cleansing and among the cruellest and most ruthless of Islamic fundamentalism.
Whatever the pretence or self-confessed reasons for the latest sordid acts of brutal and animalistic aggression against the Christian communities in Southern Kaduna, who believe God should be worshipped differently, readily reflects how deeply divided we have been as a people and nation.
The Crocodile City has been here before, and the tragedy predates the present administration of Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Between February 21 and May 23, 2000, there were violent riots following a proposal to adopt the Sharia law in the state. The proposal led to bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims in Kaduna State.
In the end, it was estimated that 2,000 people were killed in February and 5,000 people died in May, respectively. By November 22, 2002, another round of religiouslyinduced bloodbath enveloped the state. The Miss World Beauty Pageant claimed the lives of more than 200 people.
The controversial Miss World beauty pageant, which was meant to be held in Kaduna, was relocated to London after violent clashes between Muslims and Christians, caused by what some Muslims deemed to be a “blasphemous” article in a newspaper about the event.
The Miss World riots were part of the Sharia Conflict that started in 1999 when several predominantly Islamic states in Northern Nigeria decided to introduce Sharia law.
On June 17, 2012, yet another Kaduna massacre took place in Wusasa and Sabon Gari where 38 people were butchered on the ground of religious intolerance. The year 2015 was not left out. Between December 12 and 13 that year, 700 to 1000 people paid the supreme price on account of religious and ethnic differences.
If ever there was any issue that tend to burst Kaduna State and the nation at the seam since the civil war, it is mindless religious extremism on which some of the denizens of the northern citizens of the country have been nurtured to hate other religious faith, especially the Christian faith.
It is the product of relentless elite conspiracy set out to turn the mass of the Nigeria people against themselves so that they can remain in perpetual servitude. Nigeria would have been a more peaceful nation if the political leadership has not been primitively exploiting the people’s religious ignorance unto the bargain or are aware that religious extremism is antithetical to nation building.
Basically, religion would seem to have little to do with hate. Nearly every religion seems to preach love, peace, and tolerance. But of a truth, we know differently. People often hate people of other religions. Boko Haram bloodthirsty militias, Fulani bloodcurdling group and other head-chopping gangs are ready example of religious intolerance gone berserk. The more horrible fact is that there are people who have been educating hatred for other religions.
They identify some particular religions as heresy and present unauthentic documents at “so-called” cult seminars, web-sites or online cafes as if they were true. They distribute vicious and false information as if they were true. A religion must not be a target of removal simply because of the doctrinal differences.
Those who have been accusing Governor Nasir El-Rufai of not tut-tutting at the frightfulness of Fulani herdsmen on the Kafancha massacre missed the point.
Frustratingly, Governor ElRufai sniffed at the problems early enough.He told journalists few months into his administration: “One of the challenges we are facing in this state is that everything seems to be politicised or ethnicised or religionised”.
A very simple problem that can be discussed and resolved by logic and facts becomes converted into issues of ethnicity and religion and so on. So, these are some of the challenges we have to face but we are doing the best we can. “Our religion is our personal business. Most people in this country believe in one God.
We believe we are worshipping the same God in different ways. I want to leave behind a state where there is complete separation of religion from governance and the hypocrisy associated with it. “I say hypocrisy because the same person that preaches and incites people against a Christian has no problem going to the hospital to see a Christian doctor if the doctor is good.
He would not remember that the doctor is a Christian then. In my opinion, they are just blowing this thing to cause problem and distract ordinary people while they take advantage of the situation and system.
We want to eliminate that in Kaduna. A word for Governor Nasir El-Rufai – the Governor has the opportunity to rebuild the people’s confidence in the Kaduna and Nigeria projects or ruin it permanently. The reason being that, the same religious extremism that have tamed and arrested peace and development in virtually all the northern states, terrorises Kaduna State alike.
Erasmus Ikhide, a social activist writes from Lagos. He is on twitter @IkhideErasmus1
