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.Dear Senate of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria,
''We have no other country but Nigeria
and therefore we have to make every
effort to salvage it together''General
Mohammadu Buhari, 1984.
The
above statement is modified from the
original version.I personally want to
thank the Senators of the Federal
Republic under the able leadership of Mr
David Mark for some patriotic, great and
wonderful decisions they have taken
lately. Ranging from the ˜Doctrine of
Necessity resolution to the barring of
former military Heads of State from
enjoying pension and recently the
resolution to support the implementation
of all the reports of the previous
judicial commission of enquiries into
the ethno-religious crises on the
Plateau.
From their actions so far, it is a clear
indication that the Senators are
maturing gradually day by day. The over
10 years of democracy or civil rule as
some pessimists will call it have
starting yielding dividends at least in
the senate. Your actions are rekindling
hope in some of us that have been
totally despaired and hopeless about the
Nigerian project.
My
first special appeal to the Senators is
to insist on the complete implementation
of the Justice Uwais report on electoral
reforms in Nigeria. If the Senators can
continue to take very popular people
oriented decisions like they have done
in the immediate past, they do not need
to rig elections to be voted back into
the senate chambers or to beg PDP for
automatic tickets. In fact they can
stand for election in any party and they
will surely win.
Secondly the Nationally Assembly must as
a matter of National Security
re-equipped the Nigeria Police and
provide them particularly with
helicopters for aerial surveillance and
patrols. Every state command of the
Nigeria Police must be provided with
enough helicopters for aerial
surveillance of their various states.
As
matter of national importance you must
implementation the JusticeUwais reports
to the latter if that will produce the
much desired credible election in 2011.
Please make the amendment of the 1999
constitution sacrosanct.
Finally I have noticed that you were of
the view that, that the genocide on the
Plateau is not religious or that the
national annual mass murder in Northern
Nigeria since the late 1980s is
political. It is anything but a
religious war whether from the Muslims
point of view or even Christians point
of view.
Since you as politicians will want to be
economical with the truth, we are here
to tell you the truth as it is.
All
we want from you is to be alive and true
to your duties. Please go to the streets
of Jos, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Kano, Kazaure,
Kaduna and Abuja and ask the ordinary
citizens about the ethno-religious
crises bedevilling Middle-belt and
Northern Nigerian. The survey carried
out pointed to the fact that it is
purely a religious war. This is farther
supported with facts on ground. Jos.
Kaduna, Bauchi and many other northern
cities is now polarised along religious
lines between Muslim and Christians.
As
at the time of writing this article, I
have not been able to get the statistics
of the number of mosques burnt or
destroyed in ethno religious crises in
Jos or other city since 2006. Statistics
available from some CAN offices showed
that in the February 2006 religious
crises in Maiduguri Borno State, 46
Churches were either burnt or destroyed
and four pastors murdered.
In
the 2008 crisis in Jos Plateau State,
conservatively 43 Churches were either
burnt or destroyed and again four
pastors
In
the Boko Haram religious riots in
Maiduguri Borno State, at least 26
Churches were said to have been
destroyed.
In
the February 2009 religious riots in
Bauchi, seven (7) Churches were said to
have been destroyed.
In
the most recent carnage in Jos,
conservatively over 50 Churches were
either burnt or destroyed and three
pastors killed. In the Kazaure, Jigawa
State religious crisis earlier this
month, six Churches were burnt.
Kindly any Muslim institution that has
the statistics of Mosques destroyed can
send it to my e-mail, (ndiame_2005@yahoo.co.uk.)
Fortunately or unfortunately, not one
political party office has been touched
or destroyed during this crises not even
during the 2008 crises in Jos which some
were claiming was triggered by the local
government elections.
If
these crises are political as some
dubious politicians are wont us to
believe why are the targets mostly
Churches and Mosques? At least we have
witnessed political riots in Nigeria
before during the second republic, no
churches or mosques were burnt them.
Even now we still witness political
riots in Southern Nigeria as recent as
in Ekiti State after the re-run
election. All those buildings touched
were either PDP office or AC and Labour
Party offices, not one Church or Mosque.
Not one Alfa or Pastor was killed. Can
that be compared to the Jos carnage or
the Bauchi or the Bokom Haram massacre
in Maiduguri and Damaturu? Please tell
each other and Nigerians the bitter
truth that the war in Northern Nigeria
and particularly Plateau State is a
religious war. From there you begin to
proffer true solutions by unmasking the
sponsors even if they are amongst you.
However how highly placed the may be in
the society or government of the day. We
all must know that Nigeria is bigger or
supposed to be bigger than individuals
and will outlive us if we all wish.
I
am taking the pain to go through this
analysis to let the Senate know that the
crises in Northern Nigeria since the
late 1980s till date have been religious
and that is the truth. Even if there
were political undertone, it has been
masked by religion and is now purely a
religious war.
The
Senate must therefore look at it from
that angle if they want to proffer
solutions to the fratricidal religious
war that is now looming on the horizon
in Nigeria.
The
Federal government of Nigeria,
especially the National Assembly can
avert this catastrophy by being
proactive and arrest the ugly situation
by insisting on culprits of previous
religious crises are punished without
any fear or favour.
As
it is, if the National Assembly is still
claiming that the crises in Northern
Nigeria and particularly Plateau State
is not religious, then you are not ready
to find the real and right solution to
the problems despite the little analysis
I have made above.
I
pray God will give the courage, wisdom
and honesty to analyse this article
thoroughly and debate on it wisely in
the senate chambers to save our country
from the looming imminent danger.
Thank you and God bless the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
Ndiameeh Babrik
ndiame_2005@yahoo.co.uk
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