Symptoms of progress

An analysis towards solving African problems

Nigerian religious crises as the prism of sight

By

Umaru Yusuf

2348065691504 umaruyusuf@yahoo.com Anguwan

Juma no 180 Zaria City, PO Box 271 Zaria – Nigeria.

28-07-2008

3:14 PM Nigerian Time

Towards the end of July, 2009, there were reports from some part of
Northern Nigeria (Bornu, Katsina and Kano) that militant group had arisen.
The name people called this group was ‘’Boko Haramun’’ which literally
means; ‘’Western Education is forbidden’’!

The group employed the tactics of attacking Police Stations. In a

reaction, the President on his way to Brazil ordered the Security Agencies to
stop them at all cost.

Some arrests were made and while some of the suspects claimed they
were not part of the organisation, those that accept to be part of it gave the
following impression:-

1. A woman member interviewed by British Broadcasting

Corporations (BBC) Hausa Service on the 27th of July 2009 (8:30-
9:00 PM) News Season, claimed she was tricked in to the group by a
relative who ran away with her. She had no formal training in
weapon handling.
 2. Then a man who claimed to be ‘’fighting for Islam’’.

Then this group arrested in Sokoto according to the reports of (BBC

Hausa) of 28th July, 2009, 2:45 PM News Version; that they were holding a
meeting to run away to the bush because they suspect they were being
monitored because their sect was involved in confrontation with authorities in
other parts of the country when they were arrested. They were caught with
knifes but no guns!

Two days earlier, I saw pictures of some crude homemade explosives

displayed by the police which were purported to have been made by the
group (‘’Sunday Trust’’ of 26th July, 2009), which the leader, Muhammad Yusuf
in a telephone interview with a local Radio from Kaduna had denied
ownership!

Later in the week the leader, most of his followers, his in-laws and
friends were arrested and summarily executed!

No one will ever know the actual truth of the whole issue since they
were not triad in any court!

These are some pictures of recurring incidences of typical religious

crises in Muslim Northern Nigeria. Sometimes, the crises are between
Muslims and Christians.

Coincidently, there was this newspaper report in ‘’Sunday Trust’’ of July

12, 2009/Rajab 19 1430 A.H. Vol.3 No 46. With front page caption as; AFTER
COLLECTING N500M EACH:

Senators Abba, Akume, Makarfi, Yarima, 39 others Sponsor no bills

Why Northern Reps Didn’t’ Sponsor Many Bills –Ndume

But we should not be interested in why, we should concerned here with

the figures N500M (Five Hundred million naira)! And in Nigeria where the
currency is not stable we have to emphases the year 2009 (very important).

So let us take this as the income of the first Class and let me use my
income (N250, 000 per annum) as the average income of the last Class. The
disparity not withstanding does not create stratification, the type between
the capitalist and the proletariat in 19th century Europe, because of the
following reasons:-

a. There is no social relationship between the two classes because the

last class is not directly working for the first class in most cases
 b. Places of worship, or such gatherings as weddings and condolences
that served as the only social common centres amongst the two
materially un-equal classes, equates everyone.

Because of the reasons above the relationship is said to blend.

The blending notwithstanding, Ignorance and poverty, the later caused

by the former, were two factors that could trig social upheavals. Thanks to
God, not in most cases. For example:- Recently I visited a village (Rafin
Yashin Maikara and the many other nearby clusters of villages) where till
today (31st July 2008) there is no even Primary school in the area and that
does not led to any disgruntled action by the people.

If these clusters of villages were in average producing 100 surviving

children in a year from the time the white man came to Zaria-Nigeria in
(1903) over hundred years now, it means they had produced over 10,000
people that had they been all graduates could have contributed more to the
society then they do now being all illiterates!

These people are agrarian, but because of the subsistence nature of

the agricultural level of Africa which still uses hoe as the basic implement, the
productivity is below sufficient.

The second factor after economic, is international Conspiracy to divide

the Muslims as part of the British Intelligence effort the since the 17th century
to place the Muslim world under Commonwealth of British Imperialism, a
program still in progress (For reference, check a book titled ‘’Spies in Muslim
world’’ published in Turkey), and this is because the Muslim world in addition
to being the traditional enemies of the European world, from the beginning of
the 7th century are also contenders to Jewish/European Alliance in the control
of the World’s resources (Here however, I mean, the Arab Muslims). The
African Muslims are always in the receiving end to all the forms of imperialism
either by the Arabs or and especially by the Europeans.

They knew and they take the advantage of our (non Arab Muslims)
ignorance in the Arabic language, being the language of the Holy and
Glorious Quran, to recruit among the few that knew (again among the Arabs
of the vicinity of the Ka’aba) to create artificial divisions amongst us in order
to divide so could controlled our economy.

To hit the nail in the head I mean wahabism!

We African Muslims have double disadvantage of being both blacks

and Muslims at the same time since Africa had for over 400 years been
stagnant due to the activities of slavers.

The third factor being the unholy alliance between the political elites
with international capitalism to perpetuates Africa as source of cheap raw
materials and labour as well as a dumping ground for second-hand/ absolute
goods.
 The resultant consequences are;-

Much higher level of ignorance ratio relative to educated people due to

incapacity of the larger number of citizen to sponsored the education of their
children in the face of government lower priority to educating the people but
above all means of living that far below average by worst European standard!

Immorality (socially, economically and politically) that obscures focus

and sense of direction. This also brings division among the Muslims with the
dividing line as the attempt by some to initiate corrective actions which will
generate reactionary intimidation.

Polarising religious intolerance among different faith (Christian and

Muslims) thus further blocking united front that will project Africa towards
progressive development and economic emancipations at the detriment of
Africa and according to dialectical materialism to the benefit of the exploiting
capitalist.

Socially generated hater, which serves the purpose of divide and

control exploiters and their agents that further, antagonises and upset
discontent and unpleasant reactions, frustrating African psyche as resultant
outcome benefit ammunitions industries of the first word.

THE REALITIES

There are two distinct classes in Africa which for African socioeconomic
and political uniqueness described earlier (paragraph nine) is sometimes
blended. The state of development therefore, is similar to feudalist state but
of nature that the serfs and the feudal lords were not strictly dependant on
each other with the exception of the attachment between some land holders
that live in town and the villagers that farmed their lands and the very few
manufacturers and petty business tycoons the likes of the Dangotes and their
proletariats, otherwise ours is that of looter lords that siphoned government
treasury ( in some cases if not most dumping the money in Europe and other
places), some few skilled/semi skilled professionals and the government
proletariats that works for very little pay together with their teeming
dependents in one hand and in another a vanguard of subsistent farming
peasants, trail by error repairers of imported finished products, unskilled
workers, petty traders, baggers, praise singers, petty thieves and prostitutes.

Loans collected from such organisations like the International monetary

fund’s (IMF) that attract compound interest but which were not put in any
profit oriented ventures, thus ties to the extractive resources of Africa since
there is no any other means of repayment. Here I foresee the possibility of
taxation or outright re-enslavement of Africans in future if the extractive
resources were exhausted before repayment as the compound interest is
mounting faster and higher than our productive increase!

Our few manufacturing industries like textiles are closing because they
could not withstand IMF conditions like liberalization of trade that neutralised
their monopoly because imported goods of better quality had flooded our
markets at cheaper rates, again for another internal factor; namely power
supply which had defied all corrupt attempts to make it remain constant! This
in turn increases our dependence on foreign exploitative onslaughts at the
same time ever reducing our possible progress towards reliance on our
selves.

This contradictory situation further increase the negative multiplier

effects of our underdevelopment translated as increased unemployment,
poverty and ratio of ignorance!

ANALISED SOLUTION

Globalisation which requires each nation to produce what it could

produce best so that the whole world being a single market could benefit
from the specialisation of each through exchange of what one specialises
with his need from those who specialises in it! But even in agriculture and
exploitation of raw materials which we specialises in, the first world do better
than us, so how can we fit?

The resultant consequences is that; our slim economy is drained

through the activities of multinational cooperates and the IMF that had been
exploiting our recourses in collaboration with our neo-colonist lords who loots
away what is left in the treasury after the debt services and the little that is
done, while the teaming populace were left to live below the required
standard for any saving capacity even in the form of ability to train the
younger generations, since the government in line with the neo-colonial
pursuance of keeping Africa perpetually a source of raw material, is not
interested in serious educational programs, keep Africa far trailing behind the
industrialised nations who in line with what I called the parable of dialectical
material contradiction of the two sides of the same ‘’crescent shaped coin’’
with Africa being the concave side (representing the emptiness) and the
industrialised world being the convex side (representing fullness), one
causing the other from centuries of slavery, colonial exploitation, neo-
colonialism and deceptive globalisation! The image of situation does not
require microscope to view! Raged, ignorant, sometime confused and puberty
redden humans rooming about to survive but only sometimes to be hit by the
bullets of the security agent who was brain washed to believed they are
‘’terrorist’’ or whatever name they were tagged!

Ever since the end of the Soviet era, being the centre of communist
economic experimentations, the next agenda of the capitalist world had been
to crushed what they perceived as Islam’s reawakening, especially with the
inception of the revolutionary Islamic democracy in Iran with its associated
economic system and progressive dynamism, coupled with the western
perception of a treat to Israel’s expansionist arrogance, the bogus thus in the
international arena is now war against the so-called ‘’terrorism’’ and ‘’New
World Order’’, which in reality is a war against Islamic economic system and
spiritualism which is devoid of usury, exploitation and immorality in all its
camouflage Postures.

The non exploitative system is a system that utilise materials both

human and natural for collective good, a system that put back surplus in the
system for the use of all.

To economise words, war against Islam is a lost war, because victory is

always from God who sends Muhammad (Peace and the blessing of God be
with him) with the last message to Men and Goblins.

Islam is not an ideology but a religion which no matter how its enemy
tried, it will never succeed in vanquishing it, so my advice the non Islamic
(and their agents amongst us) reactionaries is to find a means of living in
peace with their Muslim neighbours whom with tolerance they could benefit
from its unique spiritual insights and deep scientific knowledge now that we
are in the age of expansions into the higher horizons.

Strictly materialist minds might be lost here, because we are talking of

spiritual things, yet, is worth trying.

To the Muslims, we should pick the culture of renaissance, democracy

and moral purifications, as the days of the jihad against others are over! It is
now the age of jihad against self! Pursuance of knowledge and its practice,
remembering the first word spoken to the Prophet of God was ‘’Read’’!

The following thus should be solution to our collective African

problems.

African leaders should be realistic by awaking from the slumber of

underdevelopment to educate its people in all practical skills of solving
human problems with all seriousness so as to join the scientific community
and march with it to the new horizons of progress (politically economically
and culturally) in order to liberate African economy and dignity from the
cloches of exploiters it had been since dawn of time!

While doing so, Africa should join camp with God and deviate as far as
possible from all satanic tendencies that would only veiled its vision and
further flung it in to the abyss of decadence and confusion if not another
round of slavery and dehumanisation! God forbids.

In doing so however, we must realise Africa and Nigeria in particular is

a multi religious state which some form of understanding of various faith
must be tolerated to have the type of atmosphere needed for the competition
in doing good such coexistence require for genuine progress.

All the rest will follow automatically!

God of creation be with us. Amen!