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nairaland.net • View topic - The North And Religious Syndrome

The North And Religious Syndrome

The North And Religious Syndrome

Postby Richard Akindele » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:12 pm

RELIGION by Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary means that belief in the existence of a god or gods and the activities that are connected with the worship of them.

This activity that is connected with the worship of these gods does not involve violence as claimed by the various religious leaders. Most of them claimed their religion preaches peace and tolerance going by their activities in the worship of these gods. But in the Northern part of Nigeria, the interpretation of this peace and tolerance is different. This is because people in the North do not enjoy anything like peace that these religious leaders talk about rather they experience mostly religious crises.

Peace by definition is a state of living in friendship with somebody without arguing. While tolerance is the willingness to accept some body, especially opinion or behaviour that you may not agree with or people who are not like you. Going by the definitions of peace and tolerance which these religious leaders claimed they preach, it is clear that since the arrival and acceptance of the missionaries in Nigeria, the nation has not really experienced religious crisis but the regional problem created by our colonial masters.

Religious crisis persisted in Nigeria in just one region--the North. Clashes in the Northern part of Nigeria has become an issue of global concern. One wonders if the various religions in the North have a different understanding of what peace is. This is because activities in the North do not show any sign of tolerance among the various religions. There is no state in the North that has not experienced religious crisis at one time or the other. However, as the religious crises continue in the North, the various religious leaders instead of enlightening their followers and cautioning them against this unhealthy development and the implication to the development of the country, choose rather to fold their hands and watch them kill our brothers?

This statement will signal to the youths in another religion to launch a fresh attack in their area where the crisis may not reach. Most often than not, the blame go to politicians, poverty and unemployment. They will say it is not religious crisis but, it is these politicians, they want to use religion to achieve their political desires. But I do not believe them, because no any political office is attached to the church or mosque. Just as there are politicians who want to achieve their desires in the North, so are they in the South. Same goes for poverty and unemployment. The question is, why haven't they used religion to achieve their political desire? Or does it mean that the unemployed youths in Southern Nigeria do not know how to burnt churches and mosques, kill people in the name of unemployment?

I am calling on the North to learn from their Southern counterparts not to kill in the name of religion. In the South, Christians and Muslims live in peace and harmony, so that also should exist in the North. Lack of peace in the North which is different from what is experienced in the South; can be said to be responsible for the disunity of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) unlike the Southern Peoples' forum.

The disunity of Christian Association of Nigeria CAN is also responsible for the persistence of religious crisis in the north. This is because in South, an Igbo man is an Igbo man not minding his religion. Same goes for a Yoruba man. They don't discriminate against either religions. But coming to the North is a different thing entirely as the Hausa is divided into Christians and Muslims. This has led to unending religious crisis in the North. Also Christian Association of Nigeria CAN is divided into Igbos, Yorubas and Hausa, so you find out that as the Hausa Christians are not as many as their Muslim counterparts, no body listens to their complain or cares about them during these tragedies. CAN pays less attention as the entire crisis always affected only the Hausa.

Happy are the Hausa Muslims because they are more populated and united than their Christian counterparts, so they are always at the advantageous part during and after these crises, because whenever they make their complaints known, the whole Islamic community in the country will ensure the offending tribe or tribes as the case may be are dealt with. The Christian Hausa should cry for themselves and wait for divine intervention as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) are not favourable. The reason is that ACF which is supposed to protect all the northern interest, is divided into Christian and Muslim. This is a major problem in the North. No doubt, this has continued to hinder Northern unity.

In the same vain, the Christian Association of Nigeria which is supposed to protect the interest of all Christians in the country is also divided into Igbo, Yoruba and Hausas. This is because in all the crises experienced in the North, CAN has never commented on it or cried to the Federal Government to find a lasting solution or measures to the unending killing of their brothers in the North because it is a Northern Wahala. The recent religious unrest that engulfed Maiduguri and other states in the North clearly gave answer to those who believed in the unity of CAN, and those in doubt are satisfied that CAN is not united.

In the Vanguard newspaper of Monday April 3, 2006; a journalist, while reacting to IBB's answers to an interview, asked why should a cartoon published (in Europe) since September last year erupt into killing of Christians and especially Igbos, six months later? I call on the (ACF) and the entire religious leaders in the North to adopt the policy of tolerance in the best interest of Northern unity. Religion should not be responsible for the disunity of the North because both Christianity and Islam preach peace and tolerance. The Federal Government should intervene quickly in these crises as government's primary aim is to protect the life of every Nigerian irrespective of religion.

Mr. Dachin is a social critic
http://allafrica.com/stories/200604170645.html
Richard Akindele
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