Subverting Buhari: Between fact and fiction (1)

By Aliyu Hayatu

The recent expression of outrage by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), to the removal of Nigeria, by America, from list of countries with religious intolerance, is what has prompted this two-part article.

It is my hope that the Ooni of Ife and Governor Fayemi of Ekiti state will be among those who will read the write up on account of the very considerable interest they have been showing in the promotion and preservation of peace and security in Nigeria. It can easily be recalled that within the not-too distant past, at short intervals, the Ooni visited the Presidential Villa about thrice as part of this crusade. On his part, Governor Fayemi, as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ forum has been most visibly outspoken on the crusade. Since both the Ooni and the Governor are Christians and since in this write up I shall be very critical of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), or at least, some elements within it, I hope the duo will endeavour to ascertain whether the criticism is valid and if so, whether there is the need for them, individually or collectively, to sound a note of caution.

One issue that is not in dispute is that the overwhelming millions and millions of Nigerian Christians are honest, decent and patriotic adherents of Jesus of Nazareth. But a colossus in the arena of Christianity and Christendom, Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, had come out, as reported in This Day newspaper of 26 October, 2000, to reveal that there are also fake Christians whose teachings and utterances were at variance with the authentic gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary. The compelling logic flowing from this Okogie bombshell is that these fake Christians could not be honest and authentic followers of the true Jesus of Nazareth; and therefore, if they would persist in claiming to be followers of Jesus, then that jesus could not be Jesus of Nazareth, but had to be jesus of somewhere else, for the simple, irrevocable truth that Jesus of Nazareth is true and authentic and could never be false. 

In this article, the question will be asked as to whether, in its posture on Buhari and his presidency, CAN had been faithful to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, of truth, honesty and decency; or had behaved as a CAN contraption that is rooted in malice, falsehood and dishonor and is therefore, inclined towards jesus of somewhere else. An immediate answer to this question can be found in a Thursday, 06 February, 2020 edition of the Punch Newspaper, in which CAN was reported to have said that ALL terrorists are muslims. The Ooni, Governor Fayemi and indeed, all those with a conscience that is rooted in the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, may wish to determine whether it is not false, malicious, unchristian and dishonourable to say that ALL terrorists are muslims. Afterall members of MEND, the Niger Delta terrorist outfit who, publicly, defiantly and with impunity, engaged in murder, kidnapping, destruction of oil pipelines and indeed destruction of all manner of property, and outright thievery of crude oil, are not muslims but are Christians. CAN is also, not unaware that the terrorists who destroyed the church belonging to Reverend Nlemanya Wike, who is the father of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, in November, 2020, are also Christians. The media had widely reported on Sunday, 29 November, 2020, confirmation, by Rivers State Police spokesman, Nnamdi Omoni, of the arrest of three persons connected with the attack. Also, CAN is not unaware of the fact that the leader of the gang known as the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu and his murder squads, are terrorists and had been designated as such and proscribed by Governor Wike of Rivers State. Kanu and his terrorist criminal squads are of course Christians. CAN cannot also feign ignorance of the terrorist outrage in Owerri, Imo State, in which a gang of thugs forcibly broke into a prison and released 1844 prisoners. According to a report in Premium Times, dated 05 April, 2021 by its correspondent Nasir Ayitogo, the spokesman of the prison, Mr. Francis Enobere, had issued a statement confirming the incident. Indeed, even beyond Nigerian boundaries, evidence exists which point to the falsity of the claim by CAN that all terrorists are Muslims. Reuters, in a dispatch dated 26 January, 2018, reported on the arrest, in Germany, by German Security agents, of a Nigerian by the name of Amaechi Fred O. who was established to be a member of Boko Haram and who confessed to participating in terrorist activities. Needless to say, this Amaechi is not a Muslim but a Christian. 

By way of a slight digression the question may be asked as to whether the unmasking of this Christian member of Boko Haram had not strengthened the possibility I raised in previous articles that what obtains in Nigeria’s North East today, is not the Boko Haram of Muhammad Yusuf (YUSUFIYYA BOKO HARAM), but the Boko Haram of state actors. I had drawn attention to this strong and real possibility arising from the threat by Asari Dokubo, before the 2015 Presidential election, that Nigeria would know no peace, that he (Dokubo) and the battalions of thugs under him, would turn Nigeria into hell and make it ungovernable, if the electorate dared to reject Jonathan and elect Buhari in that election. As I had asked in the past, is the violence plaguing Nigeria today, an actualization of this threat and is CAN, in its desperate attempt to brand all terrorists as Muslims, a co-sponsor of all this terrorist outrage? 

Yes, is the terrorist violence in Nigeria today, a joint venture of anti-Islam movement? 

There is also the story from Ghana of a Nigerian man who was convicted on charges of abduction and murder by a court in that country in the town of Takoradi on Friday, 05 March, 2021. He told Ghanian interrogators that he was a Fulani herdsman and that his name was Buba Mohammed. But he could not speak the language of either the Hausa or the Fulani. His real identity was later established from his passport, which identified him as Samuel Udoetuk Wills. The passport was issued from Portharcourt on 06 May, 2009. This Samuel was of course a Christian. 

What had emerged from the above Ghana incident was not only a further debunking of CAN’s claim that ALL terrorists are muslims, but is also a solid pointer to the extent to which some misguided, ill motivated Christians, perhaps under the instigation and even the sponsorship of CAN, engaged in acts of terrorist violence in a manner and style calculated to point to Muslims as the perpetrators of such outrage. 

Could it be that elements such as CAN had been inciting, instigating and even sponsoring characters such as Samuel to engage in acts of terrorism with the malicious scheme of making it appear as if Muslims were the culprit? Yes, while speaking on the malicious scheme of non Muslims to engage in acts of terrorism in a manner that would point to Muslims as the perpetrators, an incident may be recalled of a man dressed as a Muslim, (as reported in the Daily Trust edition of Thursday, 29 December, 2011), who attempted to burn down a church in Yenogoa – Bayelsa State.  Security men who foiled the attempt were able to establish that the man was not a Muslim but a Christian by the name Wisdom King from Bendel, (Edo State). If he had not been arrested, Muslims would have been accused for the murderous incident. 

Yes, the question should be asked once again, whether this outrage was incited, instigated and even sponsored by elements who wanted to entrench the false notion that ALL terrorists are Muslims? Then there was the attack on COCIN church in Jos in which a baby was killed and well over thirty people injured. Immediately after the attack, Christians poured into the streets, killing Muslims and destroying their property. But the Sun Newspaper, in a report dated 08 March, 2012, filed by its correspondent Ugbong Ukpon, reported that, after investigation, security agents had established that the manstermind of the attack was Mr. Adams Joseph Ashaba, who was not only a Christian, but a ranking member of the church. 

As is most evident from the instances narrated above, there is sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of terrorists who are Christians and therefore, point to the utter falsity and bankruptcy of the claim by CAN that ALL terrorists are Muslims. Was this deliberate resort to falsehood calculated to engender religious hostility, to paint muslims in bad light both within and particularly, outside Nigeria and to impugn the integrity of the Buhari government?

    The question may be asked once again, whether there is a Jesus content, that hallmark of Jesus – honesty, integrity, truth, honour and decency in the claim of CAN that ALL terrorists are Muslims? Isn’t it clear from what is contained, so far in this article, that what is on ground is a CAN that is less and less inclined towards the laudable, morally upright virtues of Jesus of Nazareth and more and more inclined towards the travesty of jesus of somewhere else? In the second and concluding part of this article, an examination of the malicious outburst of CAN against America’s removal of Nigeria from the list of countries inhibiting religious freedom will be undertaken, alongside the hostility, the highly toxic enmity of those that can be described as CAN’s comrades-in-vendetta and mischief. Do they reflect the honoured tradition and values of Jesus of Nazareth or reflect only the travesty of jesus of somewhere else? 

Aliyu Hayatu  (07037968168)