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50 lives worth a bullet

By Evaristus Bassey
14 January 2016   |   4:21 am
SOME years ago I was in Israel when I watched a news footage about a gun-wielding Israeli soldier who was attacked by some Palestinian youths and all he did was unsuccessfully use the gun to fend off the stones that were hurled at him. Next day I heard in the news that the soldier had…

Buratai

SOME years ago I was in Israel when I watched a news footage about a gun-wielding Israeli soldier who was attacked by some Palestinian youths and all he did was unsuccessfully use the gun to fend off the stones that were hurled at him. Next day I heard in the news that the soldier had been court-martialed for failing to defend himself even when he had his weapon. I believe that ever since, Israeli soldiers have shown no hesitation in using their guns in self-defense when attacked by Palestinians with stones.

By their training, especially in the Nigerian military, there is nothing a military man or woman hates as being impeded in his/her duties or actions by ‘bloody’ civilians. The least soldier is trained to hold in high contempt any civilian except one of a high rank put ceremonially in their charge, for example a minister of defence. Soldiers are trained with such pent up emotion as always to desire action, and it is now clear that all those stories about our troops running away from the battle front were either because they had no weapons, for a soldier is his weapon, or such actions were led by Boko Haram sympathisers.

When I read the story of the confrontation between the men of the Nigerian army and El Zakzaky’s Shi’ites my first concern was to find out the religion of the Chief of Army Staff. I was greatly relieved to affirm that he is Muslim; for I know that if Buratai were Christian, the story would have taken a totally different turn. Our military have done their best to remain professional but many Nigerians would find it extremely difficult to justify Muslims of any sect being killed because of a Christian, even if that Christian were commander in chief.

I read a newspaper article The Duke Would Have Turned, where the writer opined that in other climes, the chief of army staff convoy would have taken a different route but that in Nigeria, the army must have its way even if that leaves scores of people dead. He then made suggestions on other penalties that could have been applied to the Shiites by the local government. These alternatives are laughable, for as revealed, these Shiites live above the law and have no respect for any constituted authority. They go to wherever they please on foot in a disorderly procession and occupy both lanes; you just had to make way for them. Organised processions take the right lane and leave the other for traffic but these adherents have no room for others. It is useless taking them to court because they would not obey, and the police would be powerless before them. Sheikh Gumi said they reigned supreme in Zaria for 40 years.

Wherever these groups exist, they show the weakness and the incapacity of the state. In modern state theory, the state should have the monopoly of violence, but these groups usually portray the underbelly of the Nigerian state as weak, rotten and replete with noxious matter. State officials would bow and tremble before these simpletons, because of their capacity to wield violence. Besides, most Nigerians have respect for what is religious, and this respect overshadows respect for the rule of law. Only the military could have insisted on having passage, as they did, and at the cost of several human lives.

Videos show how soldiers canvassed a safe passage for their general and how the Shiite adherents refused to make way and became violent. I am very certain that from the onset there was restraining order given to the soldiers by Buratai; for the ordinary impulse of the rank and file is to jump in and disperse the crowd with koboko, which would have made it a dangerous mission, with the adherents holding knives and stones and sticks. They would have beaten the soldiers blue, and perhaps killed a few, in which case the soldiers would go away and return to level the entire space, including any living thing seen around the perimeter. It seems to me then that there was an actual threat which occasioned the shootout, especially as these adherents neither value their lives nor that of others.

Nevertheless, I lament the downward spiral in the value of life that is so common in our country Nigeria. The level of indoctrination is so high that for religious reasons, an adherent holds very cheaply such a precious gift as the gift of life. Religious adherents are taught from childhood to sacrifice for God and to see their faith as superior to their lives. This is why we have martyrs in Christianity as well. How I wished every religion respected life as a fundamental gift and right, so that even if one had to allow a life to be taken for religious reasons, it would be one’s own life and not others’. Leaders of religions the world over should take it as a paramount crusade to institute respect for human rights especially the fundamental right to life as criteria for the authenticity of religious practice.

Those of us that are enlightened get very concerned about the audacity of some of the adherents of these religious sects. For instance I find the average Muslim so friendly, dependable and law abiding. Perhaps it is a product of history and we can’t blame our Muslim brothers who can’t really do something about these violent sects. We know that Muslims are mostly divided into Sunnis and Shiites, based on the controversy surrounding the legitimate successor to Prophet Muhammed, with the Sunnis holding that it was right for Abu Bakr who wasn’t a blood relative of the Prophet to be chosen as successor, and the Shiites holding that it should be the holy Prophet’s cousin, Ali.

Shiites make up only about 10 to 15 per cent of the Muslim population in the world. Nevertheless Shiites and Sunnis both hold dear the fundamentals of the Islamic faith, differing mainly in the emphasis they place on certain aspects such as the role of the Imam, and the ‘Ashura’, the Shiite memorial ritual of Husein, Ali’s younger son who was martyred which they mark every year with all kinds of rituals. We know that intra-differences and prejudices could be as strong, if not stronger than differences ad extra. But I think it is time for everyone, Muslim or Christian to take up his/her holy books and read them and understand them and seek for guidance from those who may be wiser, so that we end the hero worship and the consequent toll on God’s gift of life which value is compared now only to our sliding Naira currency. If it isn’t a death toll from Boko Haram, it is civilian-military confrontation or accidents at pipeline vandalising sites. And now, added to these are domestic gas explosion disasters. Behind these figures were once concrete living human beings with hopes and aspirations. It is sad.

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