Annie Brisibe's Wave


Northern Nigeria, especially Kaduna is one of the states in Nigeria that breeds homosexuality, promiscuity, bisexuality and most of all child rape�.was there no Sharia law then.
Tuesday, November 26, 2002



Annie Brisibe
NIGERIAWORLD COLUMNIST

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MISS WORLD AND ISLAM:
"FATWA" AND ISIOMA DANIEL A NIGERIAN "FATWA"



n 1999, I was invited to attend a conference in Abuja titled "Gender Review of the 1999 Constitution," present at that conference were some of the most intelligent women in the country. The likes of Titi Ajanaku, Iyesha Imam and our own lady senator Raihait Abdual-Razak. While women discussed changes to the constitution from pointing out the discriminatory languages used in the Nigerian constitution such as the use of the word "HE" in all as the definition for men and women as well as the law of the male child inheritance without the inclusion of the female child. The later became a bone of contention, when a few Northern women representatives, representing WRAPA, a couple of commissioners challenged the notion that including women in inheritance goes against the Holy Koran. That was the most bizarre thing, I have ever heard. Of course they were challenged by women from the South, who clearly pointed out that the Koran is not the Nigerian constitution, neither is it a representation of the South��..

You can imagine, what poor women who lack political will go through with the lack of support from women whose economic and social classes surpass that of the average class and support the male paradigm of religious operation and domination. These women have no future and no place to run to because their enemies are double folds� women of upper social and economic status and the core male Islamic fundamentalist.

Islamic fundamentalist have taken the laws of the Nigerian state for granted for too long. Isioma Daniel, the ThisDay reporter is the "sacrificial lamb" for Islamic radicalism and government irresponsibility. What in the world would make the Nigerian government sit back and watch a bunch of "small minds" insult and openly rip the Nigerian constitution? Good or bad as much as some of us feel weary about the 1999 Constitution, it is not in the place of any religious leader or religion as the case may be to make frivolous statements as to the Koran being more important than the Nigerian constitution after all what are Islamic politicians doing in government? Was it not the same constitution that Sanni Abacha, Yakubu Gowon, Ibarahim Babangida etc used to rule while they toppled governments after governments because they were probably scared of manifestoes?.........

Nigerian has hosted countless beauty pageants both in the past and now, where were these Islamic faithfuls? It is interesting however, to listen to the likes of Buhari, Shagari and even Abdulasalami Abubakar support the imposition of Sharia in Zamfara state and how many other Northern states subsequently followed suit. In the words of the Zamfara state Deputy Governor Mamuda Aliyu Dallatun Shinkafi "Like Salman Rushdie, the blood of the ThisDay writer can be shed."

These are very threatening and harrowing statements voiced by a government official on the life of a fellow citizen and should be taken very seriously. Isioma Daniel is a journalist, writer and deserves to speak as freely as her profession professes and as liberal as our Democracy and the Nigerian constitution states. If any body found the news story offensive, there is room for a rejoinder and the pen should be the medium in which battles are fought.

Islamic writers have in the past and even now criticized the Christian faith countless times both in speech and words. During the Kaduna riot in 1997-98, bibles were torn and burnt. General Zamani Lekwort was heavily condemned by Islamic fundamentalist greatly because of his Christian faith. Christian students in Northern universities were targeted by their Islamic peers, while citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Christian or not became raw meats for execution by unscrupulous, illiterate, and crude fundamentalists.

Why does Islamic fundamentalist in Northern Nigeria pretend as if women are truly respected as they often times claim�are all these show of religious truism, faithfulness and commitment a genuine concern for the empowerment and true liberation of the Northern Islamic woman? Northern Nigeria, especially Kaduna is one of the states in Nigeria that breeds homosexuality, promiscuity, bisexuality and most of all child rape�.was there no Sharia law then. Where were Ahmad Sani Yerima, Mohammed Ahmed Makarfi and all the faithfulls from other Northern states that have used religion as a political weapon in the process of change within the Nigerian social, political and economic system?

Isioma Daniel has been arrested by the State Security Service, ThisDay office burnt down and hundreds of innocent lives lost for the mere mention of Prophet Mohammed approving of one of the beauty queens as a wife, government blames ThisDay for the publication and Women in Nigeria as well as concerned citizens sit and watch what is unbelievably unfolding in front of our eyes. Where is the Nigerian judicial system, do we have rights as citizens ever in this country called Nigeria? Yesterday, it was the colonialists, today it is the Islamists�..when will us as a people especially as bonafied citizens of this pitiful country ever see peace, transparency, accountability, respect for women, good governance, and most of all have the freedom to speak freely?