Re: Keep Your Mouth Shut: Surviving Nigeria's North - Jennifer Chinenye Emelife

ON KEEPING YOUR MOUTH SHUT: SURVIVING NIGERIA'S NORTH

I was about to write as part of my comment on this article by Jennifer Emelife, that surviving in the Muslim north is akin to "walking on egg shells." Then I came across her own take which properly sums it up:

"Living in Sokoto was like walking on broken electric wires; they may appear dead and harmless, but wait until they are charged with current."

Jennifer and I are saying exactly the same thing.

Why on earth would I or my loved ones want to be constantly exposed to such ominous danger? A situation whereby my partner in any relationship is routinely excused for wanting to take off my head for any reason whatsoever, or for actually doing so is bizarre to say the least. "Oh yes, these moslems. You know that they dont take any insult, real or imagined, of their religion and/or prophet, lightly." So what exactly is one supposed to do, when just about anyone can point at you after a disagreement and shout, "blasphemer"? Arm yourself with a personal sidearm to as to shoot first? A case of kill or be killed? Or I am supposed to

"get over it." Like in "get used to it." Really? I cannot. The case for separation gets stronger by the day.

Jennifer wrote:
"I studied at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto – a federal school. As one in the Arts and Humanities, you would expect liberal conversations among students. But we were cautious. The Christians were always cautious. If you disagreed too much with an opinion of a northern course mate, it was because you were an unbeliever.

"I remember one of our General Studies classes, it was a lecture on Western and Islamic Philosophy. Students who were often mum during other lectures became the loudest. Suddenly, we were in a religious gathering, with phrases like Allahu akbar! Mash’Allah! Alhamdulillah! punctuating the lecturer’s explanation. A friend raised his hand and asked a logical question, as though to remind us that we were only supposed to be – at that moment – students of philosophy. The lecturer, in an obvious struggle to be unbiased, jumbled his response, with the students’ stare prompting him to remain faithful. The lecture ended and the class erupted:

‘Allah is one! There is only one Allah!’

‘Only those who believe will make Jannah!’

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
Of the woman killed, beheaded recently in Kano, (was she?), Jennifer Emelife concluded, "She was guilty of talking."
Exactly what she said was clearly  immaterial. Subsequent reports indicated that  "Killed Woman In Kano Did Not Blaspheme, Was Lied Against." The slant of this new revelation is that "had she actually and truly blasphemed, her murder would have been ok, ie justified." Here the police, the other security agencies and the media have completely missed the point.

Blasphemy is a "sin" in religious parlance. What constitutes blasphemy varies from religion to religion. Now, let's get this straight. A sin is not necessarily a crime. A crime is whatever the laws of the land says is a crime. Moslems commit what Christians consider multigamy (as in bigamy) without the Christians batting an eye. Many Christians are also found wanting on this score. On the other hand, a good moslem would not touch alcoholic beverages, a standard libation among Christians. Blasphemy is not mentioned anywhere in the statutes books outlining Nigeria's criminal law. Hence to stress that the slain woman did not actually blaspheme is begging the issue. Anyone pushing that fact (?) is part of the bigger problem.

SHOULD ONYE IGBO KEEP EXPOSING HIMSELF OR HERSELF TO DANGER?

A couple of hours ago, while exchanging views with my daughters who are about the same age bracket as Jennifer, I had posed this question. Is Papa Jennifer still living in Sokoto? Happily? With constant trepidation? Can I deal with that?

In 1974, I undertook my pioneer +1 National Youth Service year in Jos, capital of the then Benue Plateau State. We toured the state extensively,  visiting  Makurdi, Gboko, Oturkpo, Ibi. Katsina-Ala and Takum, (Gen T Y Danjuna's hometown with the Dankaros), on the border with Cameroon, etc. Subsequently I visited some of my colleagues serving in Kafanchan, Kaduna and Sokoto. It was adventure and fun all the way. Years earlier while in secondary school at Enugu and also as an undergraduate at Unilag, I had visited Zaria and Ahmadu Bello University. I still regret my inability to visit Maiduguri. I managed later to take two of my kids on a short trip to Bauchi, where we visited the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Mausoleum. These are the fond memories that I cherish.

Twenty years down the road, I had criticised my wife for not allowing any of our children to undertake the NYSC service year anywhere north of Abuja. As things are now, perhaps I may need to apologize to her. Things have gotten so bad. Yes, a Youth Corper can lose his or her life in an exercise as routine as handling election activities at a polling station on Rivers State or anywhere else. That is bad and inexcusable. But to be hunted as game in a religious upheaval, in what could be termed no-man's-land, is not to be envisaged by any parent, no matter how patriotic.

The future does not belong to old people like me. Hence, my beginning to lose faith in this crazy union may not really matter. That is why I will always defer to the youths. It is their future, their country,  if they still believe in it. What I hear doesn't sound good. I fear for my grandchildren.