Femi Fani-Kayode, one of the leading
thought leaders in Nigeria, writes on the on-going genocide in Southern
Kaduna and the refusal of the government of Kaduna State to arrest and
prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity targeted at
Christians. This is the second and concluding part of this essay. You
may read the first part HERE.
Meanwhile
one wonders precisely who I planned and discussed these “violent
attacks” with? Was it Rev. Musa Asake, the gentle and amiable Secretary
General of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who I had the
honor of hosting in my home for a meeting or was it the Shiite Muslim
delegation from Sheikh El Zakzaky’s group?
Perhaps it was the group of Southern
Kaduna Christians that came to see me, many of whom had lost their loved
ones in the carnage that took place during the Christmas attack?
Or maybe it was the great and gallant
General Zamani Lekwot from Zangon Kataf who also honored me with a visit
to my home or my friend and brother Dr. John Fulani who also came with
his own delegation all the way from Southern Kaduna?
The dwarf also said that I was being
“sponsored” to write and do these things? The question is sponsored by
who, what with and what for?
Honestly this little dwarf is very
naughty and he needs to be spanked very hard on his tiny little dwarf
buttocks. He is nothing but a pernicious and pathological liar.
If the truth must be told we were not
talking about guns and violent attacks in our numerous meetings but
rather about the wickedness, blood lust, unstable disposition,
irresponsible nature and sheer incompetence of the dwarf’s boss, the
Midget-In-Chief, his Royal Shortness, Governor Nasir El Rufai.
If it is me he is trying to intimidate
with his words and veiled threats of intimidation and arrest then he
needs to go back to his stunted principal and advise him not to bite off
more than he can handle or chew. I don’t scare easily and nothing moves
me.
| State House Photo
And in case he didn’t know, when I am
sufficiently provoked I am like a hurricane or like a one man riot squad
and army. Figuratively speaking I mark my target and I hit it with
precision and power. I never fail and I never miss.
Not even his irresponsible and
insensitive midget of a boss comes anywhere near me in any shape or form
let alone a physically challenged little errand boy like him.
In a direct response to the dwarf Mr. Michael Makeris, who is from Southern Kaduna, wrote the following:
“Picking up arms for self-defence is
obviously the last bastion of hope for Southern Kaduna and not its
first option since the commencement of these mindless massacres.
“This last resort became necessary when
it became glaring that government is not interested in securing and
protecting the lives of the people of Southern Kaduna even though this
is against its oath of office.
“If Government had lived up to its
constitutional responsibility and demonstrated unparalleled commitment
in curbing the menace, citizens have no business bearing arms.
“It is the failure of government that
makes taking up arms necessary. Even America had to allow its citizens
to bear arms when it couldn’t protect them from constant attacks. It is
only natural to arm your citizens or allow your citizens to arm
themselves, when you cannot guarantee their safety.
“It is such a shame that the El-Rufai
Government is not worried about its inability to secure the lives and
properties of the Southern Kaduna people. It is not worried that despite
a twenty four hour curfew, a massacre took place in Goska.
“It is not worried that the Southern
Kaduna people lack arms amidst relentless hostilities. It is not worried
that it cannot arrest and prosecute the murderers but it is worried
that the victims of constant attacks are now rising to arm themselves
for self-defence as enshrined in the constitution.
“Does this not tell any rational mind
that the Government is helping the mindless murderers and condoning the
massacres? How can people who have never spoken against the massacres
since it began suddenly start talking against carrying of arms for
self-defence?
“This tells us the type of criminals we
have in power in Kaduna State and it explains the situation better to
the international community.”
Mr. Makeris has hit the nail on the head. I sincerely hope that the midget and the dwarf are both listening.
They would also do well to learn from the words of Mr. Darius Ishaku the Governor of Taraba state. He said,
“The people must wake up from their
slumber and defend themselves. You can’t just lie down and allow
yourselves to be annihilated by other groups. You have a constitutional
right to self-defense and now is the time to use it. The government
alone cannot do it.”
How right he is. Catholic Archbishop Onaiyekan offered similar counsel. He said,
“I foresee a situation where those
who have been badly damaged and who are being killed daily will be
saying, ‘I cannot sit here and be killed’ and they will organise
themselves, not because they are Christians but because they are human
beings who cannot sit down and allow themselves to be killed…….everybody
has a right to self-defence when they are left without any
alternative”.
Finally the rising star of the
Pentecostal Church and a man of immense courage, Apostle Johnson Suleman
of Omega Fire Ministries, made his own contribution to the debate and
spoke the minds of millions of Christians from all over the country when
he said,
“Someone called me and told me that
there is a plan to send Fulani herdsmen after you and I said ‘ok’ and
the person said I should be careful and I said ‘careful of what?’ He
said the herdsmen are just going to run into the road like herdsmen and
begin to cause confusion and while your security men clear them and you
come out, they will open fire. I said ‘ok’.
“After about a week, he called me and
said ‘please, if they don’t do that, they might bring them to come
around your church premises’. I said ‘its okay’.
“And I told my people, ‘any Fulani
herdsman you see around that has come to attack us you kill him. I have
told them in the church here, that any Fulani herdsman that just entered
by mistake in order to come and attack us, kill him, kill him.
“Cut his head. If they are busy killing
Christians and nothing is happening we will kill them in self-defence
and nothing will happen.”
Whether anyone likes it or not all four of these men have reflected the mindset of many in our country today.
I wonder whether the dwarf will claim
that they are also “opportunists and political jobbers” that are
“encouraging and planning violent attacks” too? I wonder whether they
are also being “sponsored” to say these things?
The truth is that this is a very serious
matter indeed and the situation is getting worse by the day. To
underestimate the resolve of Christians to defend themselves from
further attacks and acts of genocide or to seek to deny them that right
would be a cataclysmic and monumental error.
The dwarf and the midget both need to
grow up, smell the coffee and appreciate the fact that the evil that
they are perpetuating and encouraging in Kaduna state may end up
igniting a religious conflagration in this country the likes of which
humanity has never seen before.
Instead of spending their time trying to
misrepresent, insult, threaten and intimidate others or planning their
utter destruction they should tend to their jobs and protect the good
people of their state.
I say this because what may end up
happening in Nigeria if care is not taken will make the civil war that
raged in Lebanon in the 1980’s and 1990’s and the one that is winding
down and coming to an end in Syria today look like child’s play. God
forbid that we should ever have the Rwandan experience here and we must
do all we can to prevent it.
Urging President Muhammadu Buhari’s
Federal Govermment and its Muslim-led intelligence and security agencies
to silence, arrest and detain Christian clerics and leaders like
Apostle Johnson Suleman or to muzzle, threaten, humiliate, intimidate,
discredit and harrass other servants of God will only make matters
worse.
One wonders how many imams and Muslim
clerics have been arrested and detained for inciting and encouraging
violence and genocide against Christians in their mosques since Buhari
came to power?
What about Miyetti Allah members who
have consistently said that they were responsible for the murder of
numerous Christians in Southern Kaduna and Benue state which they claim
were done in the name of “reprisals” for the killing of their cows? Not
one of them has been questioned or arrested and that speaks volumes.
Given all this timely is the warning
from Senator Ahmed Makarfi, who himself was once Governor of Kaduna
state. He said that if care was not taken “the Kaduna crisis may spread
to other parts of Nigeria”. He is absolutely right.
The bottom line is this: if you want to
stop Christian commentators, community and political leaders and clerics
from complaining about the genocide that the believers and the faithful
are being subjected to in northern Nigeria today you will have to kill
or jail us ALL. And that is something that not even one million Buharis
and El Rufais can do.
Permit me to conclude this contribution with the insightful words of my friend and brother Governor Ayo Fayose. He said,
“Nigerians, either Muslim or
Christian deserve to be protected by the Federal Government, which
controls all security apparatus in the country and the moment they can
no longer protect Nigerians from being killed by rampaging herdsmen
citizens of the country will have no option than to defend themselves.
“If the Federal Government had acted
swiftly like it acted on Apostle Johnson Suleiman’s so-called ‘inciting
comments’ when people were being killed by herdsmen across the country,
so many lives would have been saved…..
“Apostle Johnson Suleiman openly
condemned the killing of Nigerians across the country and went on to say
that Christians should rise and defend themselves if the Federal
Government, which controls all security apparatus, will not defend them
and the next thing that happened was the DSS moved swiftly to arrest
him.
“Isn’t it ridiculous that instead of
running after those herdsmen that have killed over 3,000 Nigerians in
just one year, the DSS opted to arrest a man of God who merely expressed
his frustration on the inability of Nigeria to protect its citizens? Or
who should be arrested between those killer herdsmen and Apostle
Suleiman who merely expressed his readiness for self-defence and called
on Christians to defend themselves if they are attacked by the herdsmen?
“We were all in this country when cattle
breeders openly said over 1,000 Agatu people of Benue State were killed
because over 10,000 cows were killed. We were also told that the
Southern Kaduna genocide was as a result of killing of cows. Up till
today, none of those cattle breeders have been arrested.”
Governor Fayose, as willing as ever to
courageously champion the cause of the afflicted, the weak and the
persecuted, has stated the case and articulated our collective position
very well.
His contribution also serves as an
appropriate response to the inappropiate call by the Sultan of Sokoto,
the leader of the Fulani Caliphate and of all northern Muslims, for the
arrest of those that he has described as “hate preachers”.
What the Sultan fails to appreciate is
the fact that the killings and the genocide by the Fulani militants
preceded and pre-dated the so-called “hate speech” by Christian clerics.
Since he has called for the arrest of so-called hate preachers one
wonders why he has failed to call for the arrest of those who kill, maim
and commit genocide in the name of their god. What is good for the
goose is surely good for the gander.
The truth of the matter is this: the
Christians of Nigeria are not lab rats. Whether anyone likes it or not,
if the government fails to protect us, we will defend ourselves when we
are attacked.
That is the right and proper thing to do.
This is a new dispensation and times
have changed. The days of slaughtering Christians without any backlash
are long over. This is a lesson that the midget, the dwarf, the Sultan
of Sokoto and President Muhammadu Buhari need to learn fast.
Our God is the Lion of the Tribe of
Judah. He created and controls the universe. He is known as the Ancient
of Days. His Spirit resides and reigns in us. We are slow to anger but
irresistible in battle. We are strong. We are Christians. And we serve a
mighty God.
May the Lord of Hosts deliver the people
of Kaduna state and Nigeria from these genocidal maniacs, pernicious
liars and ravenous beasts. (CONCLUDED)
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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