Political Arsonists On The Prowl! – Wole Olaoye

Political Arsonists On The Prowl! – Wole Olaoye

  

There is a negative pattern that has been established by some personages under the canopy of religion with the ultimate aim of spreading falsehood and engendering hate between tribes, tongues and faiths in Nigeria. We are all supposed to bow and tremble before their sanctimonious thrones because theirs is the voice from Above. 

 

Many analysts still argue about the best nomenclature for the political clerics. Are they politicians hiding under religion or clerics in politics? Whatever be the case, governments have habitually avoided any confrontation with them. And the clerics in question seem to interpret this to mean that they are untouchable and above the law.

 

Gumi’s Antics

 

During the Buhari days, Sheik Abubakar Gumi announced himself as the authentic go-between regarding any negotiation with bandits and terrorists in Nigeria. Government played down the issue, although many people thought the sheik was overreaching in posturing as an alternative power centre.

 

One thing that is clear is that Gumi has his acolytes who jump on his train whenever he makes an intervention in public, no matter how controversial. I am the first person to acknowledge the man’s right to freely express his opinion. However, I do not think he or anyone else hiding under religion has a right to incite adherents of one religion against another as he routinely does.

 

 

Anyone who has closely followed political developments in Nigeria knows that ethno-religious baiting is big business, especially in the run-up to elections. Usually, the hot air dissipates as soon as a new government is formed. Not this time!

 

The other day, Sheik Gumi voiced his displeasure over, among other things, the appointment of a Christian as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and another Christian as the Chief of Defence Staff. He thought the positions should have gone to Muslims because, according to him, Muslims can be trusted to be just and fair in such positions when compared to Christians. Gumi, a medical doctor and soldier before becoming a full time cleric, ought to know the meaning and implication of a fallacy of hasty generalisation (secundum quid et simpliciter). But does he?

 

 

To add more fuel to the fire, he exhumes the ghost of the assassination of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the premier of the Northern Region in the first republic and that of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who met the same fate, as proof that political and military power should never be ceded by the Northern Muslim to the Southern Christian, except with some extraordinary reassurances and cession of identified important portfolios to the North. His definition of north is, of course, Muslim.

 

Religion is a very feisty issue in Nigeria and there are people who make a living from either starting a political fire or quenching it. Both ways, there is money or political mileage to be made. Unfortunately for the country, this trend has dealt a serious blow to social cohesion over the years. 

 

Gumi and his soulmates do not believe in a secular Nigeria. They only stopped short of calling for a coup. They state quite clearly that the duo of President Tinubu and VP Shettima have not properly used their Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket to favour muslims; rather they’ve been appeasing Christians. So, they don’t deserve the backing of muslims. The political clerics flaunt ill-concocted conspiracy theories about a secret alliance with Israeli security forces, tapping into the ongoing Israel/Gaza conflict with the hope of setting Nigerian Muslims against everybody else.

 

As instigations go, it will take some doing to beat Gumi in his game: The taste of his waspish sermon is in the reading: