The Muslim-Muslim ticket man in the North, Mr. Sani Yahaya Jingir, made headline news for some days. He made some disturbing and controversial comments which many Nigerians, both Christians and Muslims, found nauseating, as they could not believe such words were coming from a religious figure.
What is even more disappointing is that he is not a figure in a fringe religion or a religion that is almost going into oblivion. He is a figure in Islam, a religion of peace. Many have likened him to Shekau, saying what he has not done is carry arms.
I do not intend to address the divisive comments in this column. I addressed them briefly in my last week’s piece. What I intend to do now is to explain why I think the other prominent guests at the mass wedding ceremony where Mr. Jingir made those comments could be excused. Among those seated, whom many criticized for not cautioning Mr. Jingir, is the Kano State Governor, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, along with other prominent politicians, traditional rulers, clerics and intellectuals.
Some of them obviously clapped when Mr. Jingir made those controversial comments, which many interpreted as a sign of approval. It is possible they were carried away by the way Mr. Jingir dramatized his divisive presentation like a trained sensationalist. I don’t think, and I cannot believe, that all the dignitaries at the occasion would descend to Mr. Jingir’s level of thinking.
One of the personalities at the occasion who was seen clapping when Mr. Jingir spewed those comments is the Commander-General of the Kano State Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim-Daurawa. He, along with others, has been criticized for not cautioning Mr. Jingir while he made the inflammatory remarks. Cautioning an old man who claims to be a cleric by a younger man like Daurawa, at such a public event, might be seen as a sign of disrespect.
But Daurawa did something better than cautioning the old man. A few days later, in an interview, he gave an explanation of the same-faith ticket. The Sheikh, who seems incapable of discussing an issue without a smiling face, said something opposed to what Mr. Jingir advocated at the ceremony where he was also seated and seen clapping. Daurawa subtly alluded to the fact that Jingir speaks for himself, not for the Muslims, without mentioning his name.
He humbly aired his opinion, presenting it as if he was speaking only for himself, not for the Muslims. But he actually spoke for the majority of Nigerian Muslims, from the perspective of knowledge, experience, and lived reality, not bigotry. Daurawa deconstructed the Muslim-Muslim concept and reduced it to nothing.
To Daurawa, and to all Nigerians with common sense, people should be free to vote for any candidate, whether the ticket is Muslim-Muslim, Christian-Christian, Christian-Muslim or Muslim-Christian. He categorically stated that all the religious combinations are the same. I have also been struggling to see any difference too as far as Nigerian democracy and constitution are concerned.
He urged Nigerians not to make elections a religious issue, because they are not. What Nigerians should focus on, the Sheikh explained, is good governance. I, Abdulkadir Salaudeen, strongly believe I will practice Islam much better in an atmosphere of good governance than under a ruthless Muslim-Muslim government that is not only oppressive and punitive, but also makes it difficult for servants of God to earn the pleasure of their Lord.
Under the so-called Muslim-Muslim government, many practicing Muslims who will argue that taking interest-based loans is worse than murder and committing adultery now survive on such loans. Muslims now survive by practicing, or indirectly encouraging, usury — taking one interest-based loan after the other, waging war against God (Qur’an 2:275-281) — to breathe under a Muslim-Muslim government.
Muslim wives are serially raped, for fun, in the presence of their Muslim husbands and Muslim children by “Muslim” bandits in Muslim-majority states, without the Muslim-Muslim government raising an eyebrow. Muslims are killed like game for fun, and no one with an audible voice among the Muslim-Muslim fanatical clerics complains about Muslim genocide. They did not complain to Donald Trump, which is understandable. But they do not also complain to Muhammad Bin Salman or any other Muslim leader across the globe.
(What I wrote above about how Muslims fare under the Muslim-Muslim government is just to sound alliterative. Christians, animists and the irreligious in Nigeria all suffer the same fate).
According to Daurawa, politics should be about competence and service rather than the religious identity of candidates. What we should be asking, Daurawa urges, is: Who is the candidate? What has he done and what is he capable of doing? Not just religious identity. He explained further that the system of government is democracy, not Sharia, and that Nigeria’s Constitution does not recognize, nor does INEC register, religious political parties.
Even Mr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who once strongly believed the PDP is the party of Nigerian infidels, has joined the party. He did not join it as a follower but as a leader and gubernatorial candidate. As far as I know, Pantami joined the party as a Muslim, not as an infidel. That is why this column always emphasizes that Nigerians should use their God-given senses when clerics make sensational, nonsensical, and divisive comments from the pulpit.
Clerics are not to be followed blindly. In fact, to follow a cleric in our time and age, one needs to keep both eyes wide open with a powerful searchlight to see clearly. Clerics are not to be trusted by default until they prove to be trustworthy. This is the stark reality of our time, unfortunate as it is.
Daurawa further advised that no one should insult or attack anyone because of a religio-political ticket. He called on young people to reject drug abuse, stay away from violence, and peacefully participate in the electoral process.
It should not come as a shock to anyone if Daurawa is declared an apostate for his reasonable and thoughtful explanation by those who prefer to eat grass under a Muslim-Muslim government than to live in comfort under an “infidel-infidel” government. I urge them to include me among the apostates. They should do so publicly so that we can know the “Who is Who” in the long list of Nigerian Muslims-turned-apostates.
For the mullah who prefers to eat grass under a Muslim-Muslim government rather than live comfortably under a non-Muslim government, I wish those in the belly of the earth could react to events on the surface of the earth. Karl Marx would have been giggling in his grave. He would have felt like a prophet and felt a deep sense of nostalgia and vindication by his famous words: “Religion is the opium of the masses.”
While I don’t have a problem with anyone with a strong desire to eat grass — it is a choice — I urge other sane Nigerians to vote for competence, merit, and patriotism.
In conclusion, I commend Sheikh Daurawa for speaking the truth that resonates with Nigerian Muslims while risking being a victim of “Jingiristic Apostatization.” May our sanity never depart us.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
