Jos crisis: a question of nationhood

I would have loved to continue with the 2nd part of faith and politcs but I have been writing my thoughts about the recent ethno-religious crisis in my home city Jos, Nigeria.


Another fight

On November the 28th, 2008 I received what I can only refer to as a distress call from my mother. From her voice I could clearly sense there was trouble. She said: "...Son, please pray for Jos, there is trouble. Muslims and Christians are fighting again". Within the turn of a minute I was taken back to a similar situation that had taken place on September 7th 2001, when we witnessed a widespread destruction of lives and properties; where we saw the great betrayal of trust as friends and neighbors who have shared so much over long periods of time, drew the battle lines against each other and made swords clash. It was a chilling experience, one not even better imagined. Muslims and Christians combed their neighbourhoods in search of each other to dispel.

The irony of a city

Jos popularly called "Home of Peace and Tourism" at this point became a home of shreds and terror. Houses and cars were set on fire, human bodies littered the streets, random sounds of gun shots could be heard from unknown locations as people took shield from whatever they could to avoid stray bullets: some cried for help while others chanted religious slogans; thick black smoke hovered the sky from the burnings beneath and the air was filled with the smell of burnings.

After coming back from such memory trip, with a sense of frustration I hit my fist to the wall and asked: Why again... why must it have to happen again? Have we not learned from the past? I could not put my mind around what could have been the immediate cause of the clash but to only wait until I could call family and friends to know. As hours rolled by, phone calls came and the stories began to take shape and it became obvious that it was still on the issue of religion, politics and ethnicity. These three elements characterized previous crises that took place in 2001 and 2004.

Historical antecedents

Jos, the capital of Plateau State consists of Jos North, Jos South and Jos East Local Government Areas (LGAs); of these three Jos North LGA happens to be the heart of the State capital. Since the creation of the latter two LGAs out of the old Jos Local Government there has been a twist in the North. While Jos South and Jos East have remained politically stable, due largely to their ethnic homogeneity, Jos North seems to have been plunged into a state of religious and ethnic squabbles between the different indigenous ethnic groups on the one hand and the mostly Muslim Hausa-Fulani Muslims on the other. (It is important to note that there are non-Muslim Hausa-Fulani).

The creation of Jos South by the Gen Ibrahim Babangida administration in 1991 and later Jos East by the Gen Sani Abacha administration in 1996 was intended to address the religio-ethnic and political interests and tensions. However, these have only deepened the suspicion among the different groups existing in Jos
To gain further insight and grasp the complexity of the situation, one would have to step back from a specific situation to the larger picture. Let’s look at the North as a region and see how the Jos crises may have its place there.

A romance of religion and politics

Religion has been the major element that defines the north. The northern part of Nigeria is predominantly Muslim and the non-Muslims there are in the minority. Islam's influence of the north has been strong since the ascendancy of the hegemony of the Hausa-Fulani. Islam has not only established itself as a religious institution in the north but has become what shapes and defines the economy, socio-political nuances of this region. With such a posture of strength in the region, non-Muslims have always felt marginalized and alienated from the scheme of society's affair and the fight for self-actualization has been an ongoing battle for the ethnic minorities of the north.

The non-Muslims of the north, although with few in the core Northern Nigeria, mostly stretch through the region of Nigeria popularly known as the Middle-belt region; a name that describes its central placing in the country as well as define its political quest for self-identity and actualization. It is very unique by its composition: a very heterogeneous region of Nigeria with several tribal and ethic groups. In fact it has over half of the almost three hundred ethnic groups of Nigeria. In some cases it takes a journey of less than a hundred kilometers to drive pass dozens of ethnic and tribal groups distinct from each other only by full or a slight linguistic tone and accent. This region is undoubtedly the most ethnically diverse region of Nigeria.

While the diversity of this region remains a major feature that makes it unique, defining it as an entity or a part of the larger northern Nigeria has been a big challenge. For instance, the question of what defines the north will run along many fronts like, religion, language, ethnicity, and culture. When the reality of the diverse nature of the generality of northern Nigeria is brought into the equation, the true drama begins. It ends up being impossible to have a generally satisfactory definition of the north without having some part of the north feeling alienated or aggravated. Historical realities bear testaments to this.

Politically speaking, since the religio-political campaign (Jihad) of Usman Dan Fodio, in the wake of the 18th century which led to the establishment of the Sultanate in Sokoto, Islam has sort to establish itself as the religion of the north seeking to enforce its beliefs in every area of society. This is premise on the fact that Islam makes no separation between religion, politics or the state and culture or tradition, political leaders and traditional rulers in the north have seen their roles as that of upholding and promoting the course of Islam. There has not been any better prove of this than the efforts made by State Governors and other political leaders in the Northern states of Nigeria to enforce the Shari’a legal system in order to achieve the realization of Islamic states. This negates the provision of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which provides for a secular state and a freedom of worship for all Nigerians. However, the dominance of Islam in the North has led to the declaration of some states as Islamic with little or no regard for the non-Muslim population who are equal citizens.

Unlike the middle belt, the core north has a common language which binds its people together. For the people of the middle belt Hausa is simply a second language. This common language and religion in the core north has helped create some level of unity, and makes the presence of any other religion to be seen as a threat to Islam’s, and by extension the Hausa Fulani’s firm grip over the north. Whereas, there has been relative "religious peace" in states with an almost absolute majority of Muslims (and that is not without a strong discrimination of the minority non-Muslim population) parts with a seeming dominant population of non-Muslims (usually Christians and some traditionalists) seem to experience series of religious clashes erupted as a result of Islam’s attempt for territorial expansion and wider political domination. This can be true of Southern Kaduna, Zaria, parts of Bauchi, Parts of Kano, among the Tiv, Jukun and Plateau people.

A time for an honest and just reflection

The recent crisis in Jos, in my opinion is a further reflection of unresolved questions. These questions are key to any honest discussion of national unity at any level of the Nigerian society. The crisis is not the main problem but a symptom of a need for justice. A call for such discussion is not a call to disunity as injustice is the greatest undoing of unity. For example, in the core north even Christians who are indigenes of those States cannot win elections there talk more of Christians who are settlers, but the Hausa-Fulani man who is not an indigenous person in Jos wants to dominate its political sphere. Is this just and fair? The Christian child in the core north does not enjoy the privilege to receive Christian religious instruction in public schools, but the Muslim child gets Islamic instruction in public schools within Christian dominated areas in the Middle Belt. Is this just and fair? A failure to discuss these issues will only continue to postpone healing and prolong the problems.
While there have been crises along religious lines, they have also always had ethnic undertones with them. Within the Middle Belt region there have been clashes in the past that owe to ethnic sentiments; take for instance a long history of conflict between the Jukun and Tiv ethnic nationalities, which lingered for a long period, the ethnic crises between the Kataf people and the Hausa Fulani. Other parts of the region may have not recorded bloody ethnic conflicts that cost lives and property but their politics have always suggested deep ethnic diversity. A lot has been done in the name of ethnicity: good or bad. In Plateau, a home to a large number of minorities, there are the minorities of the minority who feel marginalized by the so-called major ethnic groups. A very close look at the way politics have been in Plateau State in the past two decades reveals a people so divided by tribal and ethnic sentiments than are willing to admit to. There exists certain suspicion between the people of southern Plateau and that of the Northern part of the State. In fact, the three main indigenous tribes in Jos North Afizere, Anaguta and Berom are suspicious of each other’s intent and fear one may dominate the other. This of course is not just a regional problem nor is it only found in Plateau State but it reflects the state of the Nation Nigeria.

Crises of identity

The fact is that being a Nigerian is the last of many layers of identity. My brother in-law told me a story of a European missionary who attended a seminar that was to help foster peace and religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims in the north, at the end of the gathering an excited fellow from the audience shouted out: "Who believes in Nigeria?", almost all the people lifted their hands as they shouted "I!!" Just about the same time he gave a follow-up question to the first: "Who believes in a Nigerian?" at this point, one could hear the pin drop. This is something that has been consciously or unconsciously engrained in our psyche. What does it truly mean to be a Nigerian? The answer is a long list of identities; one is first a member of his ethnic group, then a member of his/her religion, then a member of his/her region, then a member of his/her political party and maybe then a Nigerian.

There is a deep seated mistrust between one ethnic group to another and giving the historical and contemporary realities in the north between religion and politics vis-a-vis ethnic diversity in the Middle Belt, individual groups defined either by religion or ethnicity assume their continued existence depends on them. In Jos, this is clear in the composition of the two major political parties: the People's Democratic Party is composed of largely Christians and indigenes of Jos while the All Nigerian People's Party is largely composed of Hausa Fulani Muslims. This reality was true during the Ibrahim Babangida's Social Democratic Party SDP and National Republican Congress NRC. People pitch in base on their religion and ethnicity.

Men of common heritage

It was Yusuf Maitama Sule who, in a program on National TV said: I am made to love mankind and not only my-kind -I thought that was a powerful statement to have come out of one of the respected leaders of the North. The failure to see that all men are alike is one of the problems. Even though we are a deeply religious people, we still have not come to grasp that all men are created by the same creator we claim we believe in. The genius of the American declaration of independence:
“We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is not only true for the Americans but holds a universal truth for all men. We are first humans, created by a living and personal God before we are any other thing. As humans, we all share some common experiences, aspirations and expectations to life. We love the right to life for ourselves and family; we love liberty: our constitution, however deficient, does provide for some of those inalienable rights. If we desire these then we have to give same to our neighbors by observing the golden rule or in the words of the philosopher Emmanuel Kant, the "categorical imperative: Love your neighbor as yourself; Act only in that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

Re-thinking nationhood

A way forward for Nigeria and Nigerians will mean an honest return to the concept of National rebirth addressing the question of national identity, equity, fairness and justice. As a matter of National identity we must come to terms with what truly makes us Nigeria and Nigerians. As a federation, we have to accept the fact that there are different groups and interests. These should not be a deficiency for our country but a strength. Imagine the immense potentials our diversity brings to bear in our country if we see each group and interest as part of the whole and realize that our beauty is in our diversity. When we disagree, it should be for the purpose of constructive progress for all. From the rainforest region to the creeks of the Niger delta and to the rocky plains of the plateau and up to the hot desert of the North we are all Nigerians and should not only have the right to speak but be heard wherever we go. In the spirit of true national rebirth, we must decide the most honest way to re-think our governing structure and see ways to truly make our federating units function and give leadership to the Nigerian people.

Nigerians are deeply religious. I do not say this in a derogatory way. It is almost the soul of our country. We display our sense of piety in every area of our life. In fact, in times of economic and political turmoil, Nigerians have found great strength and comfort from faith. We revere sacred people and items so devotedly yet a common sense of valuing human life often defy the peace our "religions" claim to be or give. My faith teaches me a culture of life; that there is such thing as the decency and dignity of human life; that protecting and promoting life is an act of worship to the creator of life. We need to find ways to function as a nation, defining clearly that fine line between state and religion. The idea of keeping this two separate is not godlessness but the way forward for this religiously plural society of ours. It is simply acknowledging that within our society, there are different spheres or institutions and they must each exercise independence for effective functioning. We must have a strong constitution that reflects our collective values and provide for citizens regardless of there faith and creed to go on without fear of molestation. Politics should not be used to promote religious agenda nor should religion be used to promote political agenda, be it in the North or South. Political office holders who have sworn to uphold the constitution of the federal republic should be faithful stewards who live by that oath. Should they desire to promote their religion through the means of political office, they should be impeached as abusing the oath of office and the constitution which contains collective guidelines for operating government.

Last word

Finally, I do not pretend to have provided answers to the many questions on this whole issue. I do not intend, in this writing to indict one religion over the other but to point to acts of injustices and unfairness where they have been shown and to call for a change of attitude where necessary for the collective good. God save Nigeria.