The militant Islamic group, Boko Haram, which has been responsible for much of the insecurity in Nigeria due to it's spate of bombings and attacks on security forces has sent an email to major news outlets signed by it's spokesman, Abu Qaqa, to say that there will be no peace in Nigeria until there is a total implementation of Shari'a law in Nigeria.
Their email which was written in Hausa language had the following message to Nigerians and the authorities "the country would not have peace until there is 100 per cent implementation of Sharia law in the country as enshrined in the holy Quran as well as immediate release of all our members who were detained and in the custody of security agencies for no just cause”. The group which has been celebrating the fact that the FG held a low level Independence Day celebration apparently because of them also declared that they had no iota of respect for the Sultan of Sokoto and other traditional rulers from the North.
In his email, Qaqa disqualified the Sultan thus "our position is that the Sultan is just a traditional ruler who revolted against the teachings of his ancestors and put the Nigerian Constitution ahead of the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet.” This is not surprising especially as NaijaPundit had earlier published a leaked wikileaks cable in which the Buhari team had told American Embassy officials that they had no confidence in the Northern Traditional rulers in general while naming the Sultan of Sokoto and the emir of Kano specifically as people who had tried to corrupt the judiciary.
his agenda of Islamising Nigeria while alarming to some is nothing new to students of history who would recall that this has always been the agenda of the Northern establishment right from pre colonial times. For instance the First Premier of the North, the revered Sir Ahmadu Bello did say only eleven days after Nigeria's independence that "The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power.
We use the minorities in the north as willing tools and the south as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over their future." – Parrot Newspaper October 12, 1960. Nigerians may also recall that the late Sheik Abubakar Gumi had advocated that Nigeria should be ruled exclusively by Muslims. Nigerians may also recall the statement credited to former Military Head of State Buhari to the effect that Muslims should only vote for a Muslim candidate.
Of course Buhari later clarified his statement that what he meant was that Muslims should only vote for those who will promote their religion. How that differs from his original statement is still a mystery. But of course Nigerians do remember that religion was used by Buhari's party, the CPC to campaign and mobilize during the last elections.
How the FG hopes to contain Boko Haram remains to be seen especially going by their latest email but most Nigerians are scratching their heads and asking themselves whether there is any correlation between the comments made by a prominent member of the Northern establishment, Lawal Kaita, to the effect that "we (who are this "we?) will make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan" if he wins. Now that Jonathan has won and attempts are being made to make Nigeria ungovernable, many Nigerians are telling Jonathan that yes he may not need to be a "lion" but Nigeria needs a leader that is also not a sheep!
Is this terrorism or Sharia? I am finding it very hard to understand. First, they were fighting against Western Education, now it is Sharia Law to be imposed in Nigeria. A country that is highly dominated by Christians as well.
This is funny!
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