I was petrified when I saw thousands of residents of Bama Local Government Area of Borno State cramming into the capital city of Borno State, Maiduguri, recently. I saw a woman with a baby and other two children, who were sleeping by the roadside for two days and others fleeing from the wanton destruction that had engulfed Bama Local Government Area and some nearby villages in the ongoing face-off between Boko Haram militant and the Nigerian Army in Borno State.
My pain is that the casualties are mainly innocent women and children to talk of old people who are too week to escape the mayhem. As a student of Mass Communication, I reflect the Shakespearean noble character Marcus Brutus, who is credited to have stated that “cowards die many times before their deaths” and that “the valiant never taste of death but once”, as a good Muslim I must believe in higher authority. Believing in God and never forgetting pre-ordainment.
Boko Haram claimed that they are the real Muslims who stick to the teaching and practice of Prophet Mohammad (saw). If their claim is true, why can’t we love one another as God commanded in the holy Quran? The insurgency brought about by Boko Haram has displaced many Muslims and made many of them to fall victims of begging. It is common today in Maiduguri to see people begging and depending on common residents for their source of income.
Let us face some harsh realities: today, Nigeria’s biggest treat is religion. An overwhelming number of Nigerians have claimed to imbibe brands of Islam and Christianity characterized by fanaticism, sheer mindlessness and aberrant thoughtlessness. In an interview, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi described the religious fundamentalism in Nigeria as “troubling overt” and highlighted some of the features of our practice of religion: “insular, self-indulgent, self-absorbed and self-congratulatory.”
Therefore, it is a good thing to know that extremist Islam and fundamentalist Christianity are not needed in Nigeria. Many Muslims and Christians were killed in Bama, Gwoza, Damboa, Ngala, Gujiba, Dikwa, Bazza, Madagali and some other small villages in Borno Yobe and Adamawa States in the name of Islam are anti-Islam. Islam strongly condemns and prohibits the killing of innocent soul, extortion, fornication, adultery, robbery, abduction of girls, kidnapping, molesting and inflicting pain on others. Islam is built on the principles of selflessness and compassion. The truth is that an injustice done to one is an injustice done to all.
Recently in Konduga Local Government Area, some kilometres away from Maiduguri, the attack of Boko Haram displaced many people and some of them left their houses and migrated to Maiduguri as refugees for fear of been killed. Boko Haram militants have threatened to kill the Muslims and Christians in Borno Yobe and Adamawa States but the preventive measures taken by the security forces to forestall the scenario is weak and delayed.
Atiku Galadima is a 300 Level student of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri, Borno State.