So
far I have only attempted to take on Malam Adamu Adamu from a general
perspective. At this point I would begin to pick him up on certain
specific aspects of that write up. Reading through it one would be
disappointed by either deliberate distortion of historical facts or
evading them, as the case may be, or being economical with the truth,
casting aspersions here and there, all of which smack of snobbery,
mischief and malice. In the first instance, what would become clear to a
careful reader of that article is that Malam Adamu was obviously
roundly putting the blame for the prevaility atmosphere of animosity
between Muslims and Christians in this country upon Muslims.
At
some point of course he made a faint allusion to the fact that both
sides of the divide have their share of blames, but it was glaring that
Malam Adamu heaped the greater part, if not wholesomely, on the Muslims.
Malam Adamu seemed to have alluded or rather insinuated that afterall,
it was the Christians that not only showed greater restraint or
tolerance, but some prominent figures among them even made the rarest of
sacrifice to not only keep the North together and the country as a
whole. I tried to find explanations to this posture but could only
arrive at two. First, I said look! Malam Adamu was on a peace mission,
trying to make amends and build bridges, and so, out of eagerness to
pacify the Christians he would do a costly kaara (looking the other way on the wrongs of others).
But on a second thought I quickly dismissed that explanation (which was born out of husn al zhann),
and I said to myself, would the Malam Adamu Adamu I knew be so naïve
and stupid to do that? I was, therefore, compelled by my second thought
to look for another explanation which goes like this. As a typical
Shiite, although as I said earlier, he always plays the ostrich in that
regard, courtesy of taqiyyah,
it should not surprise anyone if he indicts the Nigerian Muslim Ummah
that is predominantly, 99.9% some may say, Sunni Muslims. The
resentment, bile and hate that Shiites hold against the Sunni are no
small. Throughout history, they are known to have supported non-Muslims
against the Sunni whom they consider as infidels.
Coming
to his accusation of Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi as the person that
made a statement that “constituted the first dagger thrown at interfaith
relations”, one may only wonder how Mallam Adamu could have forgotten
some of the very spectacular incidents in our country that first sew the
seed of discord and mutual distrust between Muslims and Christians. How
would Malam Adamu have forgotten the incidence of the first coup d’état
that was exclusively planned by a group of military officers from one
particular religion and ethnic group, and specifically also targeting
leaders from one particular religion, ethnic group and region or those
who appeared to be their sincere friends and allies like Akintola.
Thenceforth, several other incidents happened that led to very unfortunate things like the a ware (cessation derive)
and the civil war of unworthy memory? Was it the preaching of the
Sheikh that led to that? Did Malam Adamu also forget the embers of
discord that were fanned on the Shari’ah debate of the late seventies?
Still
on the issue of General Murtala’s assassination, Malam Adamu can have
the right to read the meaning he read from the statement made by the
Sheikh on that, but for those of us that grew up in communities that are
rather heterogeneous, we have every reason to agree with the position
taken by the Sheikh because we knew pretty well and we did witness how
the Christians with whom we lived celebrated Dimka as a hero, and were
thus, happy with the assassination.
In
my home town in of Tafawa Balewa, the Sayawa Christians even composed a
song in praise of Dimka, which they used to chant and dance during
their religious and cultural festivities like the Christmas and New Year
celebrations. For the avoidance of doubt, the opening stanza of the
song was, “Dimka duu Murtala, Dimka duu Murtala, kai, kai Dimka duu
Murtala”- (“Dimka has hit (killed) Murtala!, Dimka has hit Murtala!!,
oh, oh, Dimka has hit Murtala!!!”). I was around ten years old then, in
primary two, old enough to understand the mood of the singers and
dancers. Of course, Malam Adamu could say that that action did not
receive media coverage like the statement made by the Sheikh, and could
not have done any damage on the perceptual and relational atmosphere
between Muslims and Christians in the country. Whatever the case may
be, the fact remains that there were actions and utterances from the
Christians that confirmed the position taken by the Sheikh.
One
other historical fact that may further dismiss Malam Adamu’s line of
thinking is the fact that in our kind of multi-ethnic and
multi-religious communities, the obnoxious settler-indigene animosity
even predated Nigerian independence. Malam Adamu should know that in my
home town our parents used to take precautionary measures on every
Sallah day when they were going to the Eid ground for fear of attack by
their Christian neighbours because it did happen a couple of times in
1956 and 1958. Was it the preaching of Sheikh Gummi that created this
kind of hostility then? The fact of the matter is that the resentment
held by Christians in the North against Muslims predated the Tafsir of
Sheikh Gummi.
Books and other
scripts written by them are replete with a lot of venomous and
uncomplimentary statements against what they perceive to be Hausa/Fulani
subjugation and oppression. One case in point, among many others is
Bishop Kukah’s “Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria”,
published in 1993. It may interest Malam Adamu Adamu to recall, because I
believe he must have read Kukah’s book, how he made a lot of scathing
and caustic remarks about our revered leaders like the Sardauna, and the
entire Sokoto Caliphate establishment.
A
further confirmation of this kind of resentment and bigotry held by
some Northern Christians against Muslims even before Sheikh Gumi started
his Tafsir is what Dr. Usman Kane reported in his book titled, “Muslim
Modernity in Post-Colonial Nigeria, p.19. Dr. Kane was narrating what
Bishop Kukah told Dr. Walter Miller, who was described by Ayandele
(1966) as “the most fanatical and perhaps the most dedicated Christian
missionary in Northern Nigeria”. What did Bishop Kukah tell Dr. Miller?.
He said to him, “I remember when I was a kid, if I was eating too
quickly my grandmother used to say, “why are you eating as if you are
running from Hausas?
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