Agonizing Nigeria Re-weds with?

Last week, I had an emotional heated argument with a professor from the North Am erican University Benin Republic. He frowned at the state of affairs in Nigeria at this moment, arguing that Nigeria has fallen asleep. The professor maintained that our problem is anchored on Religious malpractices. After our discussion, I was forced to exhume my academic cap. I began to research and write. Islam is one of the prominent major religions in Nigeria. As a religion, it invo lves the belief in God known as Allah. It was founded by prophet Muhammad, with the aim to guide Muslim believers into a new way of life revealed to him by Alla h, peaceful and uniformed life. Some violent extremists have compelled many peop le to view this religion as a threat to our world peace, religion meant for peac e in principle, however a pandemonium in practice. Also in Nigeria is Christiani ty which came through the activities of the early missionaries. These groups kno wn as Christians are ardent followers of Christ with different denomination: Cat holicism, Protestantism and others. Permit me to recount the trends of Nigeria religious mayhem. Religious crises ha ve become a sore thumb in the country since independence with a continuous wasting of lives. In 1991 religious tensions erupted in April, when Shiite Muslim clash ed with police in the north. This led to the culmination of growing strain betwe en the Shiite leader, the military Governor of Kastina. After two days of the cl ash in Kastina, another fight ensued in Bauchi State. These crises claimed at le ast 84 lives and caused an extensive damage in the state. In October of the same year, angry Muslims planned a successful attack on a Christian Evangelist in Ka no, and massacred hundreds of people. In 1999, a terrible heart shaking battle e nsued between the Muslim and Christian communities; it claimed lives and propert ies worth millions of Naira. I would not play away with the 2006/2008 over 500 p eople murdered, families were wipe away and about 10,620 persons were displaced in Jos, Plateau State . In 2009, there were two major different ethno religious crises which involved a bloody sect, BokoHaram it was a moment of bloodshed in nort hern Nigeria. Many churches burnt, pregnant women slaughtered, Catholic priests and Protestant pastors strangled to death, many innocent children lost their liv es and goods worth of millions of naira have been damaged, especially in Kaduna and Jos. The most recent religious crises, in Jos claimed more than 300 lives, w hich was motivated by previous crises. In fact, even as I write this article, no body knows actually the time for the next bloody religious mayhem in a multi rel igious entity, Nigeria. These incessant religious crises confirmed Nigeria as an adulterated country. Th e competent of our security agencies has been questioned. It is regrettable that Nigeria appears to be helpless as some criminal sects continue to cripple the n ations assumed unity, drive away potential foreign investors and destroy already existing investments. Obviously there are diverse views concerning the really root of all these religi ous crises. Some scholars attribute the present religious crises of the two main religions in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam, to the amalgamation of the modern and southern protectorates in 1914. In the words of Adewale, the Nigerian politi cal and religious problems sprang from the carefree manner in which the British took over, administered and abandoned the government and people of Nigeria. The British did not make an effort to wed the country together and unite the heterog eneous groups of people. This led to civil war of about 30 months, ethnic tensio ns and continuous religious violence. These things become Nigerias biggest challe nges Why continuous religious intolerance? Since people are still living as thoug h in their ethnic and tribal nature, unmindful of the common good of all Nigeria ns, therefore we must experience uproars in some aspects of life. The issues of religion itself become ethnocentric. On the other hand, some suggested that the recurrence outbreak of religious violence in Nigeria is motivated by the corrupt

politicians. It is indeed a vehicle to destabilize the people so that they will channel their interest to self preservation instead of examining their corrupt politics. It is not sufficient for the federal Government to set up a commission of enquirywhich serves as an artificial garden that yields no good fruit. Instead of finding lasting solutions to the crises which divides the country, and reduce s our population, the commission chooses to verbally condemn the crises. Recentl y, the national assembly wants to publish the names of politicians that applause the act of the Boko-Haram sect. the question is, if the government knows these people; what is the essence of publishing their names? Why would justice be left in the Bunsen burner? Finally, the government should wake up from its matrimonial bed and descend merc ilessly, on religious extremists among us, and equally punish any murderous sect and their leaders. It is not enough to condemn the act, there is an urgent need for thorough investigations of all deep-seated politicians, religious leaders a nd bring all crime perpetrators to immediate justice. Chenusky uCHENU