By Uche Mbah
The Shiite issue may snowball into a crisis that the government may find difficult to manage, as they appear to be doing the wrong things to curtail the Shiites, who may not be acting alone, the Magazine can report.
It will be recalled that in recent times, the Shiite group had become emboldened and had decided on several pronged attacks on the institutions of state. Their first target, it was alleged, was Aso Rock, the Nigerian seat of Power,but they ended up at the gate making broadcasts about their detained leader. They could not penetrate due to the high level of security in the area. They went back and regrouped, and after some weeks, now came back in full force at the National Assembly, forcing the Chambers of the law making body to hurriedly adjourn plenaries while escaping with their lives. They turned their activities to the Federal Secretariat, the seat of the Nations bureaucracy, leaving trails of death and destruction in their park. The result is that Abuja is on lock-dow. It has become a police state.
At the end of days of mayhem, more than twenty had died-official figures placed it at about eleven, including a Deputy Commissioner of Police and a Reporter-and still it appears that it is not yet Uhuru for Abuja residents.
Many of the victims died because Abuja hospitals refused to admit gunshot wound victims, even though the law advising such has been repealed by the police.
The Shiites, a violent branch of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, has been under the Leadership of Ibrahim El Zakzaky, a virulent preacher that attracts follower-ship across board, though his anti establishment preaching are said to appeal to youths more.
It was the same group that formed the Maitasine group that rocked the country under the presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. They are the second largest Islamic group in the world, with headquarters in Iran, as opposed to the Sunni Muslims, the largest group. Nigeria has always been a battleground between these Islamic sects, with Osama been laden, the gentle looking giant that oversaw the formation of Al Qaeda, now late, once declaring that “Nigeria is ripe for liberation”.
The Shiites have been trying on a violent overthrow of the system, which they consider as wrong, because the ruler-ship of the Nigerian state is dominated by their arch rival the Sunnis, many of which are of the Wahhabi extraction. Thus the same tactics being employed by the Shiites today was not new. It was the same method used by Mohammed Marwa the leader of Yan tasine, himself popularly called Mai tasine or the fierry preacher. Mai tasine started during the colonial era, was sent to exile by the British government, returned and opened up shop in Kano where he preached hate. He was killed in 1980 by the military under the leadership of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. The general who led the onslaught against him and his group was Muhammadu Buhari, currently the president of Nigeria. The operation stamp out Yan Tasine cost nigeria an estimated five thousand lives.
Soon another group emerged after Yan tasine gradually died within five years, with remnants of his followers forming kennel of Boko Haram, or Western Education is Forbidden. It was led by Mohammed Yusuf, said to be the son of Mohamed Marwa, the Maitasine himself. His surname Marwa stems from his place of birth, Marwa in Cameroon. Government clampdown on it resulted in Yusuf being killed in police custody after the military handed him over to the police when he was arrested. His murder may have been done with the belief that Boko Haram will fizzle out like the Maitasine did after the death of Marwa.With his death, other international cells that were looking for opportunities for inroads into Nigeria cashed in-more so as Yusuf’s deputy, Abubakar Shekau, took over, and the Northern elite, including the current president, saw their activities as what should be used to push former president Goodluck Jonathan out of power. Boko Haram became humongous, its Shiite base completely obliterated as more political interests took over.
It was alleged that during Jonathan Administration, governors of North east and North west were mandated to donate ten millions monthly for the support of Boko Haram.
By the time Jonathan left, it has become difficult to manage. Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, Islamic state, Fulanis joined hands to make it a sore that will never go. It was also alleged that it became taken over by foreign intelligence agencies for their covert operations. Hence it has become a Frankenstein monster, that even the Army has fifth columnists allegedly working for them right up to the highest echelon.
Today, government, apparently believing they have learnt their lessons, decided to hold El Zakzaky in detention instead of having him killed. But this has pitched them against the Nigerian constitution they swore to uphold, as it is being counted against them as his case has swelled up the number of cases where Buhari finds himself in contempt of Court by refusing to obey court orders. It does not speak well too as he is seen to be using state power to push Sunni Islam to the fore. “Many Supreme Court judges are said to be Sunni Sharia Lawyers, including the current Chief Justice, Mohammed Tanko), declared a Lawyer last week.
Currently, government is torn between international outcry and decisive action on Shiites. And the diplomatic war is on the balance. Reactions are quietly subdued because of the current Iran-US face-off, since Iran is the main backer while the Trump administration is not well disposed to Buhari. It will then be difficult for Iran and US to support the same cause. But the reports of international human rights group may be considered independent.
Chances that the crisis may dovetail into the Boko Haram issue, as those allegedly bent on destabilizing Nigeria may not relent by a long stone. It will be suicidal for this government to give them the arsenal. “You cannot be pushing your own brand of Islam to the fore, and forcing your tribe to take over the country while suppressing other groups and religions. It does not work that way. Not when you do that in total disregard to the economy and sensibility of the masses, who are impoverished every day. One day, something will give. We are sitting on a keg of gunpowder” a Nigerian diplomat confided in this magazine.
That sounds like a dire warning, but will the government listen? Time shall tell.
