Many people are fed up with religion of recent. Some have even concluded that religion is our problem in Nigeria more than ethnicity. It is used as a cover for corruption and bad governance. These people hinge their arguments on the lifestyle of some of these so-called men of God who, in alliance with politicians, make life difficult for the masses. The masses could not breathe. They are being whipped regularly by those who should cater for their needs after working hard and paying tax. When the masses cry, these “men of God” would insist it is wrong to cry when one is being beaten by those in authority. “You have to bear the hardship with patience,” they exhort.
This class of clerics see nothing wrong with looting of state resources provided the looters are in power and share the same faith with them. Many Christian clerics considered it a religious duty to support and defend the former President Goodluck Jonathan during his regime. It does not matter how he ran the affairs of the state. Then Muslim clerics were social activists and human rights fighters. They cried uncontrollably over the sufferings of the masses. Masses fell in love with them. They felt that, at least, clerics were speaking for them. This is what religious men should do. They should stand out firmly for justice so that people can focus on worshipping their Lord.
Hunger in Nigeria recently made people give preference to looting of food items from a truck over the worship of their Lord. (Looting of a truck loaded with food items somewhere around Zaria last Friday comes to mind). No amount of preaching and admonition would stop some of these hungry people—in this current regime of hunger—from stealing. Attacking vehicles loaded with food items is nothing to them. Others have resorted to selling their innocent children in order to survive. As I am writing (Thursday), some gunmen just kidnapped scores of students in Kaduna State. It is safe to say only God knows their number but some media reported that more than 200 students were kidnapped. Looters of truck loaded with food items did the looting with pride and sense of relief. No regret. No compunction. No thought of repentance because, to them, no sin is committed—they are even generous. After all, they are not kidnappers.
We are in a state of anomie—a state wherein crimes are not seen as crimes because everyone is virtually a criminal. Hunger in this regime is first of its kind. Is it not shaming, shameful, shameless, and shameworthy that a country at war feels the moral obligation to send grains to dying Nigerians? Or are we already in a state of war? Our rulers’ moral obligation is to see that we suffer and die. I just hope the grains from Ukraine will go round to rescue many Nigerians from the jaw of death. Though I won’t be surprised if the grains disappear into the thin air like Buhari’s rice pyramid. I join other Nigerians to thank Ukraine for this nice gesture. May the Almighty restore peace in the country. I urge other countries across the globe to help rescue the Gi‘ant’ of Africa from the claws of its rulers so that the masses can breathe (feed).
It is now that I understand why some Nigerians chose to remain in Ukraine when war broke out in the country despite Nigerian Government’s planned evacuation under Buhari. Expressing his preference for Ukraine over Nigeria despite the war in the former, one Ukrainian based Nigerian said: “It’s like after God has lifted you one step higher, you want to go two steps backwards.” To him, coming to Nigeria “is like being demoted.” The Qur’an is right anyway. It says “al-Fitnah [oppression, persecution, hunger, etc.] is worse than killing” (Q2:191; 217). They prefer to die in war-torn Ukraine than to die of hardship and hunger in Nigeria. That was when Buhari planted the seeds of hunger. Now under President Tinubu, the masses are harvesting hunger. Buhari’s seeds have germinated. It is hunger everywhere and Buhari is happy with Tinubu’s performance. At least he (Tinubu) pushed his (Buhari) hunger project to its logical conclusion.
Since Buhari knows what he planted, he warned Tinubu not to call him to account for anything. He is not ready to answer any question. Who can even dare call him for questioning? Only God of course. Many Muslim clerics will object to it just like many Christians warned against investigating Jonathan—being their brother in faith. Throughout Buhari’s wasted eight years which plunged us into this mess, some Muslim clerics were firmly behind him just for the fact that he is a Muslim. Other Muslim clerics who found Buhari’s misrule too bad to associate with went into hibernation after six years of being socio-religious activists during Jonathan regime. This is what religion (as practiced by our clerics) has done to us.
Do not be surprised that some of these Muslim clerics now complain about hunger and criticise Tinubu’s killing policies despite the fact that he is a Muslim. There are two possible explanations. Hunger has pushed them (those clerics) to the wall, so they do not have option than to cry out. It could also be because they do not see Tinubu as Muslim enough to be defended in the name of religion. Amazingly, there are some species of Muslim clerics who strongly believe that this government must be defended even if hunger would kill all of us. Nigerians should be patient and must be patient. Criticising this government, to this clerics, is tantamount to criticizing Islam because it is a Muslim-Muslim regime. This is how damaging religion could be to our sanity and sense of judgement. Hearing this, and in this context, I do not have any option than to doff my hat at Karl Marx for concluding that religion is an opium.
But I insist that religion has not failed us, did not fail us, and will not fail us. Those who failed us are the so-called clerics who interpret religion and misuse it to vindicate Karl Marx. These clerics—Christians and Muslims—have surpassed the former colonial masters in weaponizing religion to colonize their victims. What gives these clerics headache is never the pathetic condition of the masses; it is rather the number of Christians and Muslims in any given regime. It does not matter to them if those in power discharged their responsibilities or not, what they bicker about is whether Christians or Muslims are well represented or not. Even if this is not bad in and of itself, it becomes dangerous and retrogressive when it is seen as the essence of government. This will lead us to nowhere but where we have found ourselves.
Nigeria is left behind in all indices of progress such that a country at war has more than enough to help with food. It is high time clerics from both divides came together with one voice to speak truth to power irrespective of the religion these rulers profess. Religion is not a scam, it shouldn’t be made to be seen as a scam. We have been scammed.
However, in the midst of this anomie which Nigeria now is, we find a young Izala guard (Izala is an Islamic organization) by the name Salihu Abdul Hadi who returned a lost and found money to its owner. The money is not few thousands of naira, it is 100 million naira. If not for the influence of religion, who will return this huge money in this hard time? What is even surprising is that Salihu declined a huge gift offered to him by the owner of the money. While he could have accepted the gift and be enriched, Salihu prefers divine reward. “I did it for the sake of Allah,” was his response. This is too strange to believe but it happened. He deserves national award but who will award him? May Salihu, and people like him, never know hardship, hunger, and penury in his entire life. May his reward for his righteousness be eternal. We also pray for the rescue of the kidnapped school kids. Is this really a country?
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
