By Abdulwahab Oba
““I stand before God and man to effectively, but legitimately, deploy the instrumentalities of the law and the public fund to achieve peace and unity in the state. Any one who participates directly or indirectly in public disorder shall be brought to book”. Gov Abdulfatah Ahmed.
It was a new day in a new year. And, I had thought I could relax a bit that early morning and shape my body a little bit at the state’s stadium complex. Of course, I enjoy playing badminton after aerobics to keep body and soul alert. But then, my phone kept ringing. The question my caller put to me jolted me: Taiwo Isale on fire! Wow! Fire? I exclaimed. Then, I started to work the phones.
Before I could say Jack Robinson, His Excellency has directed a statement to be out. “The midnight attack on worshippers is criminal, satanic and alien to the state. It shall be so treated”, His Excellency directed. The Governor commended those who made effort to protect some of the victims regardless of their religious inclinations and called on security agencies to immediately launch a manhunt on perpetrators. Dr. Ahmed called on the people of the state to imbibe the spirit of tolerance and harmonious relationship for sustainance of growth and economic development of the state. He also urged parents and guidians to monitor their wards with a view to curtailing their excesses.
Not done, His Excellency summoned clerics for an emergency meeting to discuss the unfortunate incidence of an attack on worshipers during crossover night. During one of the meetings with Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), led by its chairman Professor Tunde Opoola, the governor reiterated his commitment to ensuring that every one lives in peace and harmony in the state of harmony.
But Governor Ahmed also met with muslim organisations led by former Grand Khadi, Kwara State Shariah Court of Appeal, Rtd. Justice Idris Haroon. The muslim leaders commended Christians and churches in Taiwo for sheilding muslims from the rampaging youths.On the crossover night, the devil visited our land. Across the country, the ugly fiend left tell-tales of his evil and particularly on our own soil here in Ilorin. We have seen the extent of his damage and we have also come to know his real intention. And that is why as we review the violence that occurred around the Taiwo Isale axis on New Year eve, our mind is on what the devil actually intended but which the Almighty God disallowed. If God had not helped us, by now the state would have been thrown into a big inter-religious upheavals, simply because of the misdeeds of some son of the guns. But we are grateful to God and all stakeholders who rose to the occasion and ensured that peace reign, even when some had to make huge sacrifices of time, resources and ego, in the process.
The devil visited with the intention of turning Muslims against Christians in the state but God thwarted that mission when Christians turned out to shield Muslims who were under attack and had ran into the churches for protection. What beauty of godliness in humanity! What better way to show the world that indeed, at the most critical times of need, we do actually realise that we are one, on this side of the planet.
What caused the January 1, 2018 mayhem? The state government has set up a committee to unravel the mystery and I trust the competence of the gentlemen saddled with that responsibility to live up to expectations.
The Muslims and Christians in that axis have cohabited for long in terms of sharing space: while the Muslims use the premises of United Primary School for their prayers, the churches have their property both opposite the venue as well as surrounding it. I doubt if in all the years that the Muslims have been observing their prayers, there has been any instance of animosity between them to warrant even the intervention of a government body.
Many of them shared the same taxi to the different events of the night.
Now came New Year Eve. The sons of the gun were on hand to take part in the activities that heralded the New Year. Their own form of Cross Over prayers as the Christians call it, was to take the form of a Carnival. But from what Mallam Usman Gambari who was an eye witness told the governor, such carnivals usually turn bloody and leave many innocent souls wounded and robbed.
Thus, they were denied the by the community the opportunity to hold carnival, but they were not denied the opportunity to gather in small groups which to me was a big security lapse of that night and would prove destructive in the process.
The police came in at a point and made some arrest but it was not enough to deter the boys. It was in the process of chasing them away that the police fired the teargas from the road, which unfortunately landed where the Muslims were holding their prayers.I have reviewed the submissions by the Muslims and this to me seems to be the consistent narrative. Two teargas landed in their midst within ten minutes interval. The teargas came from the side of the main road; where Christians were observing their own prayers. The Muslims came out but into the waiting hands of the wicked boys who had decided to seize the opportunity of the stampede from the Muslims to launch their own attack. That to me was why the Muslims ran towards the churches and expectedly were shouting Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar! (God is great). That is the only language of their religion. They cannot be shouting Jesus, could they?
The boys descended on the Muslims first and when they realised the Christians were offering their victims, (Muslims) safety, descended on the churches too, wrecking great havoc in the process. Terrible.
They are criminals. They are vagabonds. They were not representatives of the Muslim community. At worst they might have tried to turn their agenda of robbing and raping people that night to have a semblance of religious attack but we must not fall for that trick.
What I am trying to point out is that both Christians and Muslims were the victims of the attack from the boys; I do not think it was the Muslims whose prayer meeting had been disrupted by teargas that attacked the churches. Otherwise it would be like saying it was the Christians that attacked the Muslims with teargas. But for what? Or that it was the Christians that descended on the Muslims and took away their phones, robbed them of valuables etc when in reality both sides have commended the godly spirit displayed by the Christians in rescuing and shielding Muslim ladies about to be raped by the hoodlums. Otherwise the Muslims would have also claimed that their attackers were shouting Jesus is Lord as they forced them to run for dear lives.
The Christians suffered a great loss in terms of property destroyed because they have assets in the area. The Muslims would have suffered similar losses if they have mosques or properties for their prayer meeting on that night. Even at that, they had to pull down several sections of the school fence in order to escape from the marauders.
In all of these, I see a lack of effective communication between the Christians and Muslims that night. I suggest they form a joint security team for the sake of future meetings like the New Year edition.
And I also want to appeal to our religious leaders to be more circumspect in the way they react to issues like this. They should listen more and speak less because their words carry a lot of weight, even if they are not factual. Peace is a valuable asset we have in this state and we must not work to lose it. Therefore this new year let us join hands to send the devil back to where he belongs; not in Kwara state. Amen. Happy New Year to my dear readers.
