To ward off terrorism and banditry, Nigeria must take strong action against religious extremism. It must be defined and eliminated by our constitution.
When Nigeria fought the Civil War with the Biafra separatist movement, it ran for three fierce years and only providence gave the Nigerian side victory. But now Nigeria is in another war that the military tells the nation is asymmetric. It is now 16 years and still running. It is a war of Fulani bandits and terrorists against other Nigerians.
The Fulani employ the bandits who once were called Fulani herdsmen but now out of pressure from the Fulani elites who said they should not be profiled as Fulani herders have transformed into terrorists. It took years to brand them terrorists because the elite Fulani who use them would not allow even the label “terrorist.” A war expert told me labelling them terrorists will allow the military to deal with them with strong hands. Without that label, I’m told Nigeria will not be able to deploy the Tucano jets Nigeria purchased from the USA. Until these bandits began to abduct and rape the wives of elites in the cities, the very elites sponsors did not allow the nation to label terrorists by a law. The law to do it will not just be passed in the legislature; they blocked it. The administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan could not do it because he was the very reason the bandits were put together. Despite his kowtow to the Fulani elites, they still will not allow him rest. He must be removed from power because he is not one them. He is from the Niger Delta and even though the Niger Delta produces the oil which is the financial life line of the nation, yet Goodluck Jonathan does not deserve respect, he is not a Fulani who are the presumed owners of Nigeria. That is what their great grandfather told them. Every inch of Nigeria belongs to them.
Not until the bandits had gained the upper hand in Zamfara State killing their fellow Muslims because of control of gold reserve in that state and causing problems for the Fulani elites did former President Muhammadu Buhari remember he had to don his military uniform once again to drive some terror to the bandits who he helped nurture. Nurture the bandits? Yes, the story goes like this, there are allegations yet unchallenged, that Buhari, Nasir El Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Usman Mohammed Bugaje, former PDP chieftain and others in APC, and possibly the current president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who nurtured an ambition to succeed Buhari as president, imported a group of armed Fulani from other parts of West Africa into the country to show former President Goodluck Jonathan the way out forcibly if he decided not to leave power. These foreign Fulani elements having seen the good of Nigeria and Jonathan having left power voluntarily because his ambition, according to him, is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, did not leave the country when their service was no longer needed. For this set of Fulani, Nigeria is too prosperous a nation not to enjoy her goodies. Together with their kith and kin in Nigeria who enjoyed great patronage from Buhari who was the patron of the Myetti Allah, the umbrella association for all Fulani cattle herders, they became a thorn in the flesh of Nigerians. They could not be touched, they were the apple of Buhari’s eyes. With these two sets Buhari hoped to fulfill his unexpressed desire to Islamize Nigeria. At a time Buhari was so pushed by that desire that he didn’t know when he said he would distribute one Quran to each secondary school student in Nigeria to improve their morality. I think somebody must have pinched him by his side to remind him that Nigeria is a federal state and a multi-religious society, and he did not have power to do that. He abandoned the idea subsequently.
But Islamisation still burns in his bones. Buhari surrounded himself in power by all manner of Fulani elites. So Nigeria has three categories of terrorists; the Boko Haram that was terrorising the North East, a section of local Fulani herdsmen who formed the bandits and are ravaging the North West and foreign Fulani who with their local collaborators filled the forest of Nigeria, and are kidnapping Nigerians and ferreting them to the bush from where they demand ransom to set their captives free. Many of their captives were killed. But who are these three categories of terrorists. Only one category of them brought to foment trouble should Goodluck Jonathan not want to leave power are foreigners. The Boko Haram, who are they? What produced them? What empowered them? There is talk generally that President Bola Tinubu must act fast to defeat Boko Haram and bandits. He can’t do it. This is the time the weakness of the president will manifest: the man who is strong in politics but is not a statesman. He thinks only of himself, his family and his friends, and not about Nigerians.
Defeating Boko Haram and banditry will come only when we know the source of those evils and call them what they are not minding whose ox is gored. Mohammed Yusuf was the first leader of Boko Haram. How did be become enemy of the state? He was born by a Muslim father. He dropped out of school, Gemini AI said. Gemini AI did not tell us why. But we can hazard some guesses. His father could have been poor and unable to send him to school. So if Mohammed Yusuf had the opportunity of a free education funded by the state, he could have had the opportunity of a good education and would have turned out differently. After he dropped out of school he stayed at home learning the Quran under the guidance of his father. Statistics say there are over ten million out-of-school children in Nigeria, most of them in the north. The north pays no attention to them, some southern governors are joining them too by neglecting education. These out-of-school children are potential recruits into Boko Haram and banditry. To defeat terrorism and banditry, Nigeria must provide education for children of school age. But President Tinubu cannot fund university education as he loudly said. Then the nation will have to continue to contend with banditry and terrorism.
Why was Yusuf’s father not able to provide education for Yusuf’? Perhaps he has too many children. Islam permits, it did not compel four wives, you can marry four wives if you can love them equally. Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar 111 has only one wife. We don’t know why but perhaps he knows he can’t love two women equally, let alone four women always brawling because of envy. Perhaps by his education he knows that a one-wife man buys peace for himself and unity among his children. Multiple wives gives multiple children and multiple children results in unmanageable population. Huge population has become a tool in the hands of political elites in the north with which they win elections. China’s Mao Zedong, was a Marxist theorist, revolutionary, the first chairman of the People’s Republic of China, was like the northern elders. He thought that huge population is instrument of international power until over four million Chinese died of famine and starvation. His successor, Deng Xiaoping saw the illogicality of that thinking and stopped it. He began the policy of one-child per family (Now relaxed to three) and also opened up China to market-driven economy away from the strictly communist production of Mao. The result is what we see today, a developed China that is striking fear into the heart of Octopus America. There must be someone who must compel a strict population control in Nigeria. God himself knows we don’t have enough resources to take care of the current population and we will never have. It must be a countrywide policy and no religion must be respected in that regard. Former president Muhammadu Buhari said he was consulting when he was asked to curtail population. Maybe we will see the result of his consultation in the near future. Until population is curtailed, especially in the north, there will be many more Mohammed Yusufs, and terrorism and banditry will not end. When Mohammed finished learning at his father’s feet, he also learnt under several prominent Islamic teachers. When he qualified he was said to be the equivalent of a graduate. First he joined the Shia group, the second largest branch of Islam. He became a Salafarist, a very radical group of Islamists. Not satisfied with the extent of their radicalism, he formed his own group. He preached against Western education, secularism, democracy, and the concept of evolution. He believed that Sharia must be imposed on society. His sect believes that Muslims must engage in politics, in fact taking power to impose Sharia.
To ward off terrorism and banditry, Nigeria must take strong action against religious extremism. It must be defined and eliminated by our constitution. Many people praise the effort of Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore but Lee himself told the story of what he did to eliminate religious extremism. He said: “In the beginning we locked up many religious extremists without trial.” Lee was an Oxford trained lawyer who knew everything about human rights and the rule of law. He knew also that nation building demands tough action against all factors that can hinder a nation at its formative years. Today Singapore is a good story to tell. Religious extremism is not restricted to Islam, it is also in Christianity and it could be in the traditional religion. Islam fractured immediately after the death of the Prophet when there was division about his successor. That broke Islam into Shia and Sunni and it remains like that till today. Division within the two major blocks have developed. Celestial Church of Christ splintered into divisions immediately after the death of its founder, Bilewu Oscoffa and the divisions are still multiplying. The same thing with the Cherubim and Seraphim. Some Pentecostal churches have also splintered. Nigeria must make the issue of religious extremism as a constitutional matter. Mohammed Yussuf died violently when he was killed in a scuffle with the police. His successor Abubakar Shekau was more hardened. His own life trajectory reflects who terrorists are. He was born by an Islamic teacher who taught him. An ethnic Kanuri, he was sent to Maiduguri to be almajiri. He reportedly begged for food on the street, a common practice among the almajiri.
Abubakar Shekau, the former leader of Boko Haram, attended the Government Secondary School in Konduga, Borno State, and later enrolled in the Borno College of Legal and Islamic Studies. He believed Sharia must be imposed on society. When he took over from Yusuf, he escalated the crisis. He aligned with Al Queda. He was known to be very brutal, slaughtering his victims like one will slaughter a ram. His group splintered when ISIL ( Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant) also known as the Islamic State, ISIS, appointed another leader for Boko Haram which he did not like. He was said to have a photographic memory that enabled him to have his own interpretation of the Quran, and also fluent in Hausa, Fulbe, Arabic and English. He reportedly committed suicide when the rival ISWAP cornered him. Shekau’s background as an almajiri formed in him a very crooked and wicked character turning him from someone who should have been a profound intellectual into an extremist, who aims to destabilize society, according to his narrow and unsophisticated interpretation of the Quran .
Alamajiri system must be cancelled by a legal instrument. Parents must have the responsibility to look after their wards. Parents who won’t must be sanctioned by jail terms. Nobody must commit the care of his children to others. This is why the issue of population control and control of marital pattern is very essential. Nobody must use his sexual indiscipline to wreck society. Secularism must be emphasized in our constitution and it must cover the entire country. We have seen the problem we have with democracy. While leaders from the north talk adoringly about democracy, in their heart they don’t want it. They, like Yusuf and Shekau want to impose Sharia. We have seen that in the smuggling of Sharia provision into the Constitution. A recent viral video showed a man in Abuja who had a commercial dispute with another person. The Sharia Court of Appeal ordered to lock up the shop of that man, who is a Christian and Igbo. They will sell off the goods in his shop. But the man is not a Muslim, so why did they bring him under that system. Those who want Sharia always tell the rest of us that it does not concern non-Muslims. Ilorin is called an Islamic city where the Yoruba Isese traditional worshippers cannot operate. The Emir of Ilorin gave an order to drive Isese worshippers out of the city.
The trajectory of Bello Turji, one of the most notorious bandits, who has done much damage to lives is another story that tells the source of that evil. He has no formal education, and over 30 years he has been roaming the forest tending his herd. He had conflict with some people in settled communities, possibly the Hausa. He alleged his cows were stolen and given to an emir. His efforts to sue the emir failed because of the usual corruption. Six of his siblings and an uncle were killed. He took to banditry and formed a group which he leads till date. The Nigerian military has not been able to arrest him and he has led many deadly ambushes against the security forces. He has killed over 200 people. He has had several peace negotiations with state governments which he has often reneged on. Like others, he also has no formal education. With welfarism declared by a constitutional mandate, potential bandits like Bello Turji will find their feet. Nobody would spend some years in school, secure a good training and a good job or business and want to put himself at a risk of being a bandit. Bandits are very brutal thieves. They will continue to be if they are not educated. A cow herder following cows in the thick forest, exposed to wild animals cannot but be wild like the animals that he encounters. Fulani herders must be settled in ranches and be given education.
Some are praying now so that Trump who has declared to help Nigeria to wipe off these terrorists and bandits will not come. One of those prayers I saw making the rounds on social media is from the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar 111. It was addressed to all Muslims. Good effort, but my little knowledge of God is that he does not answer the prayer of sinners. I’m sure some of the Muslims who will say that prayer have murdered persons in the past in the name of Islam. Perhaps those of them in Sokoto participated in the killing of Deborah Samuel, the Shehu Shagari College of Education student who was killed because she confessed Jesus as her helper in her exams which she passed. Even the Sultan himself is complicit. We are not aware whether he made any effort to get justice for Deborah Samuel who was killed not too far from his palace, according to reports. Let’s not deceive ourselves playing religion. Trump will come because government here will continue to lack the will to do anything. Tinubu does not have the muscle to move against the terrorists and bandits in the north. Trump is the man that will set Nigeria to rethink our wickedness and set this nation right. We are in the harvest season of our misdeeds. God must revenge. The emir who got Turji’s cows will have to pay for it somehow. I recommend that all our traditional rulers, because they have outlived their usefulness, should vacate their thrones while elected mayors take over the towns and cities.
First Published in METRO
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Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.
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