THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS GAMBLING

In his speech on Wednesday, on the Sharia, President Obasanjo sounded rather pastoral. Every soldier I can see, is afraid of a religious war. And President Obasanjo, understandably, is scared. But he cannot run away from the religious war that is around the corner. War, I agree, leads to destruction. The cost is high. But in this matter of the Sharia, it looks as if we have no alternative.

Former President Shehu Shagari is right: the Council of States is only an advisory body. And the Federal Government is not in a position to dictate to state legislatures. Shagari also made the curious point that the North is in the majority.

Zamfara State Governor, Sani Ahmed, who was at the Council of States meeting is also insisting that the Federal Government is lying. What other proof do we need that there is a grand conspiracy at work?

THE SECOND JIHAD

I have already argued that what we are confronted with is The Second Jihad. It is a religious and political project. The Jihadists are convinced that anyone who is opposed to the Sharia as they have defined it is an infidel. And they'd rather not listen to persons and groups whose humanity they doubt.

First, we are being told that there were only 19 governors at the Council of States meeting, not 36. And that no decision was reached to shelve the Sharia. The immediate effect, then, is that the Jihadists in the North are insisting, stubbornly, that the Sharia is non-negotiable. They not only consider it sacred, they are advertising it as something superior to the Nigerian Constitution. With the Emirs and a big voice like Shehu Shagari sounding so determined, the Hausa-Fulani second-generation Jihadists are all out to remain faithful to the project of their ancestors: which is to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state, to impose the Sharia on the rest of us and to question the very basis of the Nigerian nation.

THE JIHADISTS VERSUS THE PROGRESSIVE CAMP

GOLDEN NUGGET If President Obasanjo continues to fold his arms, what will happen is that right before his eyes, they will bring the Sharia to Abuja. That is what they will do. And then Obasanjo would no longer be able to trust either his cook or his deputy. If matters get to that stage, he would have to do one thing: find his way to Abeokuta as quickly as possible.

We all want the present democratic experience to work. We want Nigeria to recover from the wounds of the past. That is why President Obasanjo has been travelling round the world to attract investors, and new friends in order to jump-start the Nigerian economy and state. But what we have now seen is that there are people in this country who do not want that kind of progress. The only option that is available to the Federal Government is to go after such people and their sponsors. It can't be otherwise. We simply cannot accept a compromise. Those who want to fly the flag of religion will stop at nothing. They want a fight. We must give it to them.

For too long, the progressive camp in this country has had to compromise too many things for the simple sake of ensuring peace. But what we have also seen is that there are people in this country who do not want peace. It is the tendency to accept easy compromises for example that helped to create the myth that Northerners are in the majority in this country, whereas a trip to the North reveals more empty spaces and herds of cattle than human beings. Yet another compromise is the North-South divide, the federal character, the quota system, and the assumption that the South must always carry the North on its back. Shagari is suggesting that the North is in the majority but that majority status is maintained by the oil-wealth that comes from the South. What does the North contribute to this union?

AT THE MOMENT, THE NORTH IS CONTRIBUTING TENSION

With the way their principal figures are sounding, what has happened so far over the Sharia is only a dress rehearsal for that which is to come soon. My suspicion is that the Kaduna riots and the counter-reactions in the South-East are mere dress rehearsals for the big bang that is around the corner. Mark my words: The battle is ahead. The Jihadists are leaving us with no option but war. Their stubborness raises further questions about citizenship. Are these persons citizens of Nigeria? What does it mean to be a citizen of this country? My other suspicion is that the Northern Jihadists do not consider themselves to be citizens of this country. They belong to a religious kingdom, and they have more loyalty to the Arab world than to Nigeria. This problem has arisen because of the weaknesses of the Nigerian state. The state, as constituted, does not give full effect to the meaning of citizenship as defined in terms of rights, duties and privileges in chapters III and IV of the constitution. Nigerians who have British passports or stay permits and the American Green card enjoy more humanity in Britain and the United States than they can ever hope to enjoy in their own country. Citizenship remains a strange concept in this country. When we refer to ourselves as citizens of Nigeria, we do so only artificially. Citizenship is not real for us. This explains why across Nigeria, persons of other ethnic extraction are treated as outsiders and as easy targets of violence whenever there is a disagreement to be settled. The National Identity Card Scheme has not worked, a Nigerian passport is very difficult to obtain and if we can help it, nobody wants to pay taxes. These are the dimensions of the crisis.

Ibos and other South-Easterners are fleeing from the North: Northerners in the South are going into hiding. No serious government must accept that kind of situation. This is not about politics. It is about the future of our country. If we compromise, and allow the Jihadists to have their way, nobody else in the world would ever take us seriously again. We would have mortgaged Nigeria to the fanatics. And the point must be made again, that this does not necessarily translate into any opposition to the Islamic religion, rather what we are opposed to is a certain tendency that a sect within the Islamic religion is threatening to convert into a normative structure. Which is to say that it is not all Moslems that are seeking the Sharia: It is only a sect. Their intention is to impose their preferences on all other Moslems and then by extension, the rest of the country. The Islamic religion is fraught with politics among various sects. God, I believe, does not recognise sects. We are all his children. The rest of us and other sects in Islam have a duty to stop the Jihadists.

The first thing that the Federal Government should do is to declare a state of emergency in all the states that have declared a Sharia system of law, contrary to the laws of this land. The National Assembly has promised to support the executive. It should consider the Sharia unacceptable, and the constitution should be so amended forthwith. If the Jihadists still insist, we should deny them further access to the country's oil resources. That is only fair. We cannot afford to use the resources of faithful citizens to maintain those who are busy abusing the privilege of citizenship. Should they become rebellious, we should crush them. If that results in a civil war, well so be it. We have swept too many things under the carpet for too long. It is about time we rescued Nigeria from the tiny oligarchy in the North that continues to wrong-foot us. What is their problem? They produced Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, and now, they are insisting on the Sharia.

NIGERIANS ARE AHEAD OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

What is clear is that the lion in the North is still stalking the rest of the nation. It can pounce at anytime, and Obasanjo's fears would have nothing to do about that. In other words, the various elements and forces behind the devious machinations in the North and are not going to give up. But what is equally obvious is that other Nigerians are ahead of the Federal Government in this matter. Suddenly, Shagari is defending a state against the Federal Government. Isn't that sweet? But other Nigerians have an answer for that.

In the East, Igbos in Aba and Umuahia have already shown that they are prepared to avenge the death of any Igboman or woman who is sacrificed at the altar of the Sharia. Igbos are fighting back so ferociously because their history has shown that almost on a seasonal basis since 1936, the Hausa-Fulani love to slaughter Igbos. That has been so easy however because Igbos do not always know what is good for them. Look, in 1966, they had all the keys to the nation's armoury in their hands. They had to wait until the Hausa-Fulani seized the keys before they started fighting. I am not too sure Igbos would love to make such a mistake in the 21st century. Even Akwa-Ibomites, who are ordinarily gentle, are fighting back. In the Niger Delta, the Egbesu Boys, and all the other groups are already conducting dress rehearsals. In the South-West, the Oodua People's Congress (OPC) has a standing army of two million, and Ganiyu Adams is still alive. In 1966, the Hausa-Fulani fought the Igbos to a standstill because the Igbos fought the wrong kind of war. They fought a war of seccession instead of fighting against Northern domination. But the times have changed.

JIHADISTS VERSUS A DETERMINED SOUTHERN ARMY

In 2000, the Northern Jihadists want to fight the whole of the South. The battle ahead is important because it is one battle that they cannot win! By insisting on the Sharia, they are placing themselves on the firing line of Southern anger. For too long, too many forces have resisted a Sovereign National Conference, now, a national conference of guns seems inevitable! What I intend to say is that for the first time since 1966, the Jihadists will be confronted by a determined southern army: each locked in its ethnic identity but all of them united by the same objective: to teach the Northern trouble-makers a lesson once and for all. This would translate into a balance of terror. The point will then be made that nobody in this country has a monopoly on madness. Each time madness erupts in one part of the country and it is met by equal madness, sanity is bound to prevail: It is this balance of terror so-called that may well save Nigeria.

OBASANJO'S WRONG ASSUMPTIONS OF NIGERIA

The problem really, is that President Obasanjo came to power believing that Nigeria is one country and a nation. But the safest assumption to be made is that Nigeria is a collection of indigenous peoples.

When Chief Obafemi Awolowo remarked that Nigeria is "a mere geographical expression," this is precisely what he meant. All his life, Awolowo tried to provide ideas as to how that geographical expression could be transformed into a nation-state. He was resisted by the Jihadists. Awo is dead, and the Jihadists seem to be having a field day.

If President Obasanjo continues to fold his arms, what will happen is that right before his eyes, they will bring the Sharia to Abuja. That is what they will do. And then Obasanjo would no longer be able to trust either his cook or his deputy. If matters get to that stage, he would have to do one thing: find his way to Abeokuta as quickly as possible. Hopefully, Ganiyu Adams and the OPC will be waiting to receive him. If the Federal Government does not act quickly and decisively, that is what will happen. We will all rush back to the homelands, and become indigenous soldiers.

Reuben Abati