1st April, 2014
By Akido Agenro
True to the observation by Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948] that intolerance is a species of violence, wherever this ugly trait has manifested itself it has left death and destruction in its wake, whether it is called pogrom as in Nazi Germany where six million Jews, homosexuals and communists were massacred in the early 1940s. Or genocide as implemented by the Khmer Rouge regime under the self professed atheist, Pol Pot in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 where 1.7 million people mostly Buddhists lost their lives or ethnic cleansing as in Rwanda in 1994 where close to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were hunted and killed by their fellow compatriots, the Hutus, to mention but only three incidents. As the nation is buffeted from several angles by ethno religious crises, one would have expected that all exertions would be committed to the drive to deepen democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria. Unfortunately the reverse is the case as reports of human rights abuse are fast becoming the order of the day with the unpleasant abridgement of the common people’s rights now a daily occurrence in flagrant disregard of extant laws of the land. After President Goodluck Jonathan, acting against wise counsel, signed the Anti-Gay Marriage Bill into law on 7 January, 2013 to pander to the dictate of fascist elements within the country, gays, lesbians and bisexuals in Nigeria have been undergoing a harrowing experience as they have become the object of attack all over the country.
Earlier this year and at a time when the dust raised by the Lagos State Government’s ban of the hijab in public school was yet to settle, an issue that promised to pitch the government and the Muslim leaders in the state in a long drawn battle but for its timely reversal, came another thunderbolt from Alausa, the Lagos State Secretariat, a circular informing its jolted public servants of government’s prescribed dressing code. This directive prohibited the use of miniskirts and dresses that expose erogenous parts of the female body.
The unfortunate thing about this development is the fact that apart from infringing on the rights of civil servants in the state, the directive has the potential to expose the affected persons to danger. It is worthy of note that a few days after President Yoweri Museveni signed a similar bill into law in Uganda early this year, a law supposedly meant to curb the rising incidents of rape in that country, a lady on the way to her office in Kampala, the country’s capital, was stripped naked in public by overzealous youth who have taken it upon themselves the responsibility to enforce the new law.
Meanwhile, in the State of Osun Christian leaders and the government have been at daggers drawn since February, 2013 when the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola-led government embarked on what it called School Reclassification Programme that aims at merging single-sex missionary schools with other public schools in the state to the effect that hijab wearing female Muslim students sit side by side with their Christian fellow students, a policy that the state’s chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) sees as a veiled attempt at Islamisation of the state and has sworn to resist it at all costs.
The calamity that of late is threatening to engulf Nigeria is due mainly to attitudes that have developed over time and which have refused to yield to the wind of change that is blowing across the world. It is appalling to imagine that at a period as this when everyone looks up to the leadership to initiate policies that would consolidate on the gains of democracy and firmly establish human rights and rule of law on a solid footing given the prevailing state of affairs whereby a number of people would dictate to others how to live their lives to an extent that even the more fanatical members of the society are fighting to impose their religion on the whole populace, many highly placed officials in the corridors of power conduct themselves otherwise.
How else can one explain a situation where political leaders in Nigeria bemoan the killings that have been the lot of the country since the past few years, condemning the heinous crime at every public forums in long speeches that are phrased in the strongest language yet beyond the platitude and perhaps the palliatives sometimes offered to assuage the pain of the victims’ families, do not see the compelling need to uphold human rights and the rule of law as a necessary social condition required to upstage religious diehards.
On their part, members of the public have repeatedly expressed a sense of revulsion, disgust and resentment at the carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram which obliges them into endless prayer sessions in which they entreat the Almighty to end the self-inflicted pandemic. Thereafter all return to their normal lifestyle without giving a thought to how an introspective analysis of their way of life could bring about a solution to the crisis. This attitude is as if life is a fairy tale where the fairy godmother upon receiving a distress call appears from the blues with a magic wand which she swings and all the problems vanishes into thin air. In the words of the German statesman, Willy Brandt [1913-1992] “Peace like freedom is no original state which existed from the start; we shall have to make it, in the truest sense of the word”.
The right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion that is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution as also contained in the African Chatter on Human and Peoples Rights Act and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights 1948, which separately provide safeguard for every person’s rights against assault as a veritable avenue to ensure sustainable peace in the society means nothing to these purists, ethnic chauvinists and religious fanatics. While blame is heaped at the doorstep of the heartless terrorists, greater blame still should be apportioned to those who by act of omission or commission toe the same path of intolerance, immoderation, intemperance and insensibility.
As I write this piece my heart bleeds for all who have been exposed to danger by the monster of intolerance and every other undemocratic attitude in the country particularly those innocent school children who of recent have become the target of Boko Haram insurgents, budding teenagers that probably would have grown up to have a different orientation on interpersonal relations. My heart also goes to members of the armed forces who stake their lives to douse the raging fire of religious hatred that has continued unabated despite the huge resources committed to keep the crisis in check, funds that otherwise would have been channelled to the provision of infrastructure in the country.
But for the resilience of members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) the whole of us Christians, traditional African religion adherents and the pockets of other religious practitioners in Nigeria would have been Islamised by now. I doff my hat for the officers and men who stand guard day and night to save the rest of the population from slavery, the men that bear the brunt of a national burden. My sympathy also goes to the abducted female students and the other young women who are turned into sex slaves by the insurgents.
The so-called great democrats, the political leaders who ought to be custodians of democratic values in the country have by their actions and utterances consistently undermined the democratic process. When democracy activists in a crusade for a free society advocate the institutionalization of democratic norms and values in every facet of the Nigerian society leading to the adoption of widespread liberal attitude that would culminate in the freedom of worship as a means to whittle down the overbearing activities of misguided religious extremists, conservative elements and members of the old guard in the country hound, disparage and vilify us for promoting alien culture in Nigeria.
Going by media reports, the religion instigated conflict has not only remained intractable but has been further exacerbated by the influx of aliens who have lent their support to the jihadists to destabilise the country. It has to be one or the other. Those who close their eyes to facts learn from accident. Now that our lack of insight has finally found us out everyone is pointing fingers in an attempt to exonerate himself. The unpleasant experience of the moment is a practical lesson in the incorrigible stewing in their own juice.
Tackling religious insurgency is not exactly the same as contending with lecturers’ strike, students’ protest or labour demonstration. It is more severe in its scope and vicious in its character because insurgent fighters are motivated by a higher calling unlike the soldiers that engage them in armed confrontation. Religious conflict is one social malaise that statesmen the world over do all within their power to nip in the bud by way of appropriate civic education. A society that treats human rights with levity is one with scant regard for the rule of law and thus stands to suffer unimaginable tribulations since subtle disregard for the fundamental human rights is in itself a tacit encouragement of lawlessness.
Given this state of affairs, nations that are diverse in their composition as Nigeria make all efforts to impart the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law to the citizenry to effectively mitigate the friction that necessarily attend the interactive processes in a multi-ethnic, multi-party, multi-religious and multi-lingual society. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, “the rule of law without human rights is an empty shell, at the same time the rule of law constitutes the backbone for the legal protection of human rights.”
Those who endeavour to regulate the society like butter will learn to their shame sooner than later that human rights are as irrepressible as the stream that will always find its natural course no matter the effort to thwart it. The fact that Nigeria is at the moment haemorrhaging from the intrigues of ethnic jingoists and religious bigots is sufficient evidence indicating an urgent need for a reappraisal of attitude from both individuals and institutions in Nigeria, to uphold human rights, the rule of law and every other tenet of democracy. To the discerning mind the writing on the wall is apparent- our capacity to remain one united and indivisible nation is intrinsically dependent on our ability to build a free society where every citizen exercises his rights without inhibition while at the same time he recognises his limits. The war against religious insurrection is one that is better fought and won at the ideological level than at the battlefield.
The mindset that harbours reservations on any person’s rights is detrimental to the peace and progress of the society. Democratic government cannot exist in isolation of the other equally relevant democratic elements. It should be noted that just as election is a cardinal aspect of democratic institution so are human rights and the rule of law. They all exist side by side, supporting and reinforcing one another. To accept only one of these interrelated and interdependent concepts and deny the others betrays ignorance of the principle and practice of democracy. The flagrant disregard for human rights may on the surface appear inconsequential and irrelevant but the evil effects of such an act have deeper and far reaching consequences for the larger society. It is one social malaise that true statesmen all over the world do within their power to nip in the bud to prevent it from rearing its ugly head.
What Nigeria needs at these trying times are not politicians that can deliver long speeches to impress their audience. Rather, Nigeria is in dire need of men that have not just the moral background but also the attitude of mind to deliver the quality of leadership which aligns with the democratic spirit. Nigeria is in dire need of men in the mould of the former Yugoslavian president, Josip Bros Tito [1892-1980] who will use their wealth of experience, cerebral endowment and uncommon wisdom to provide a sense of direction that will unite a nation strewn apart by crises and on the slide into disintegration.
•Agenro is the Coordinator, Democracy Orientation Movement, 18 James Street, Iju-Ishaga, Lagos. •Email: [email protected].