‘There can be no peace or co-existence between the "Islamic Faith" and non Islamic societies and political institutions…Islam clearly excludes the right and possibility of activity of any strange ideology on its own turf, and the state should be an expression of the religion’.

No, Ibraheem Zakzaky did not actually make the above statement neither is it one of mine. Ibraheem puts it this way: Removal of the present system governing the society which is not Islamic, establishment of an Islamic system in its place, provision for a just Islamic order and finally enforcement of the Islamic Law, the Shari’ah, to protect and safeguard it. In other words the Shari’ah states of Nigeria are going about it backwards!, not that he disagrees with their objective.

Objective

I still insist that the Shari’ah as presently propagated, is just a tool to counter the national identity as voter card program, which is being robustly resisted by the northern leaders of thought, but if I am wrong, and Muslems actually want Shari’ah for the whole of Nigeria, as postulated by Sanusi L. Sanusi thus: –The Fulbes are present day zealots not for the ‘modernization’ but ‘islamization’ of Nigeria and West Africa; then, they have to embrace the Usman dan Fodio approach as enunciated by Ibraheem above. The questions Muslems need to sit back and ask themselves are: How feasible is this objective? and what price are they willing to pay?

Feasibility

Removal of the present system governing the society which has been described as secular and multi religious [but member of the Organization of Islamic Countries] is relatively simple. Certain things are given: To change the Nigerian society you must first accept that it is multi religious and made up of two main groups, the monotheistic which the Islamic and Christian sub groups belong and the polytheistic which you can put the traditional or indigenous religion of Ndem, Ogun, Egbesu, Oshun, Long Juju, Sango etc. That, most if not all present day living adherents of these different faiths were born into it. If you were born in Gusau there is a 99% likelihood that you will be a Muslem and the same holds for somebody born in Uzuakoli being a Christian. That, most of our people have adapted to both groupings, calling on each as the occasion demands. To buttress this, the Cross River state governor is a Christian, but will he refuse to acknowledge the Ekpe masquerade when it salutes him? Even Mary Slessor, a Scottish missionary in her letter of January 17^th 1905 to a Mr. Patridge of Ikot Ekpene advised the new British administrator to use Mbiam [liquid substance which is tasted and sometimes put on various parts of the body, in taking traditional solemn oaths] to resolve a dispute. Are marabouts accepted in Islam? Are they not still prevalent in northern societies? When the senate president took off with the mace, he claimed, he hid it in a cave located at Ogbunike and guarded by seven foot long pythons., in other words a shrine. That, the greatest resistance to islamization will come from adherents of traditional religion. That, few, if any, renunciation of faith takes place, changing from the Muslem faith is apostasy and would be visited by death. The problem therefore for the ummah, is getting those who were not born into the Muslem faith to cross over and join.

System

For the Muslems to succeed, they should first take a look at how Christianity overran southern Nigeria. After the Portuguese traders left in the 15^th century, in, came the missionaries spearheaded by the Presbyterians, or the Church of Scotland Mission, which was later followed by the Methodist and the Catholics. The prevalence of Catholics in Ibo land could be attributed to the time they arrived, as the Presbyterians had already taken over the lower south east area closest to the Atlantic coast. What did these missionaries have in common ? They did not preach faith on an empty stomach. They provided health care, introduced modern farming principles and most importantly they built SCHOOLS., where they captured the young minds of unbelievers. It is simpler to convert the young than the old. It is also more cost effective, because with the young, you are sure of getting their forthcoming children into the fold. This pattern could also be seen to a lesser extent in the north.

The present approach by the Muslems is a non starter, one cannot change social or religious habits by force, deception or blackmail in the 21^st century. You are bound to meet resistance that will harden your opponents position. To achieve such a level of social engineering which religious conversion entails, especially with the amount of ‘good’ blood that have been split between the two communities is a very tall order. It is not enough for the Muslems to take over St. Johns College, Kaduna, baptize it Rimi College, build a mosque on its premises and think the battle is won. It does not make any sense if you want to islamize Nigeria, for the President of Libya to build a $300 million dollar Islamic university in Kano. You are preaching to the converted!. Take that money, build a free and well equipped primary and secondary schools in southern Nigeria. Insist on Islamic worship, Arabic and English languages, with all the best western education can offer, throw in an offer of free university education for any convert that retains the faith. We promise that the Koran will be dipped into the Atlantic.

Price

The juxtaposition of different ethnic nationalities in the melting pot of the Nigerian state, makes for an un-winnable situation in the battle for the soul of Nigeria. We believe, that there is no possibility of either of these two great monotheistic religions taking over Nigeria. Are Muslems willing to sacrifice the doctrine of ‘pulaku’ being rewarded with ‘mulki’, because the new converts will start asking questions. Do they think the Bini Muslem with his ‘tasbatah’ in hand will sacrifice the institution of the Oba for that of the Sultan of Sokoto. How would you convince him that only the Fulbes are qualified to head the Muslem Ummah in Nigeria, when he knows who the first son of his Oba is? It is impossible to make a Muslem out of an Mbano man and tell him not to strive and improve himself because it is the will of God. The Ijaw Muslem obviously will still insist on controlling his resources after all Kuwaitis and Saudis are Muslems but they are not in the same country.

The rational thing for Christians and Muslems to do, is for them to sit down together and map out their areas of influence and reach an understanding against poaching. We polytheists are not frightened of foreign Gods or religions, neither do we need to fight or canvass for followers. We believe the more the merrier and our Gods will fight his battle and ours.

Prayer

Countries seldom survive protracted religious wars in one piece. Therefore, on behalf of the silent polytheists in Nigeria, we ask that religion be expunged from the constitution. Christians and Muslems should calm down if they love the country called Nigeria, killing each other in the name of their God is ungodly. We note that, the battle line has been drawn, the southern Christian fellowship with their northern counterparts have launched the Macedonian Initiative to recover lost ground. If either party succeeds and there is a Nigeria at the end of the day, the toll on the fragile nation state will become unbearable and the winner will end up with a pyrrhic victory. If on the other hand Christian and Muslim believers think their cause is right, and both sides refuse to back down, the declaration above clearly states, ‘that, there can be no peace or coexistence between the Islamic societies and non Islamic societies and political institution’., and any faithful Muslem has to live by the dictates of his religion. We should be honest with ourselves and accept that, the idea of a multi religious, truly federated state like Nigeria , especially with a Christian at the helm, is clearly UNISLAMIC!. Therefore, we pray that Nigeria be reconstructed as a confederation, [with a central military, but zonal police force, not state.] or, the governing institutions be separated amicably.

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship; nor worship ye that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which ye worship. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.

THIS IS THE VOICE OF GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those who have ears let them hear.

Orok Edem

August, 2000