Trump Strikes ISIS Targets in Nigeria
By: Deji Yesufu
This morning, the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, announced that America has struck ISIS targets within Nigeria. He wrote on his “Truth Socials” account:
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”
Trump had brought the situation of Christians in northern Nigeria to the attention of the whole world when he announced on his social media accounts a few weeks back that there was a genocide against Christians in Nigeria. The debate around this announcement had ranged from whether it was true that there was anything like a genocide against Christians in the country, to whether the United States had the right to invade a sovereign state like Nigeria. What could not be debated, however, was that the painful plight of many innocent Christians had been brought to the world’s attention. For years, Christians in northern Nigeria have had to live as second-class citizens to their Muslim counterparts. In 2009, their situation worsened with the rise of militant Islam in Boko Haram. Thousands of people have been killed, while a lot more have been abducted. The Chibok girls and Leah Sharibu have become international news in the process, while they remain in bondage to these terrorist groups. Boko Haram has also since metamorphosed to ISWAP, an ISIS-supported militant group in northern Nigeria. It is the activities of the latter that caught the attention of the international community and have occasioned these morning strikes by the USA. Reports have not emerged fully as to the extent of the damage by these strikes, but what is very clear is that with the United States military teaming up with the Nigerian authorities, an end can be in sight for the activities of militant Islamic groups in the country.
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Now, as Nigeria begins to prepare for a future without militant Islam in the country, it is important that the country looks into many social concerns that led to their rise and tries to ensure that these things are curtailed so that we do not have to endure these paths again.
The Poverty of North East Nigeria
For many years, Borno State, particularly the city of Maiduguri, was the capital of Islamic education in Northern Nigeria. Many parents in Northern Nigeria, the moment their children are old enough, send them to Maiduguri to learn the Quran. In spite of the obvious progress and enlightenment it brings, there is still a general apathy toward Western education in Northern Nigeria. The idea that “Boko” is “Haram” only became pronounced with the insurgent group that bore that name. Generally speaking, most people in the core north will prefer that their children become versed in Islamic education than have a Western education. So, while these children are in Borno State, they get little or no help from their parents. They finish their Quranic education and become pawns in the hands of politicians. This is how Boko Haram took up a life of its own. Now, because these children have no education and no skills, they are also generally unemployable. So, the best they can get are low-earning jobs – like gate-men, bike riders, shoe menders, mobile tailors, and car drivers. They also marry early and produce many offspring, thereby perpetuating another generation into poverty. The result is that North East Nigeria is the poorest part of the country.
The solution to this problem is simply education, and both the State and Federal government might wish to employ some force to do this. The Nigerian government might wish to enact laws that make it criminal not to educate a child in northern Nigeria. Second, the state government would have to look closely at the religious indoctrination going on in various Quranic schools in the north. Imams who are perpetuating radical Islamic ideas would need to be curtailed. Countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others have had to employ some strict governmental measures to regulate Islamic teachings in their countries. The result is that organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood have been banned in those countries. The Nigerian government should weigh the amount of lives lost to Islamic insurgency since 2009 and also the amount money it has wasted on curtailing these violence, and see that it will cost government less if she deals with these issues more at the roots before they become the conflagration that will require the kind of international help like we are getting from the United States of America now.
Bringing Islam Of Age
Some of the least known realities about Christianity are that our religion used to be militant also until it came of age. In the sixteenth century, following the Protestant Reformation in Europe, most of Europe was at war when Catholics and Protestants fought to the death. The last religious war that Europe experienced was the 30-year war that raged from 1618 to 1648. After that, the concept of tolerance in religion became something that civilized people imbued in the way they lived their lives. So, many countries followed the United States of America by showing that countries can no longer afford to be religious anymore – the concept of secularity of a state came to be. Second, many people understood that religion is essentially a thing of the heart; no one can force religion on another person. In fact, most people imbibe the religion of others not by what those people say to them but by what they do for them. So that charitable endeavors became means of proselytizing the populace. The European missionaries to Nigeria won many adherents through their mission schools and hospitals.
Now, why do some young people spend years studying the Quran and the life of the Muslim prophet, and they end up becoming militant in their worldview? The answer is simple: the Muslim holy books teach violence against people of other religions. We are told that Muhammad only waged defensive wars. This is not true. There are many accounts that show that he waged offensive wars, also. The result is that one hundred years after his death, most of the Middle East had been taken over by Islam, with the adherents pushing their religion with the force of the sword, conquering hitherto Christian countries. It is this seventh-century worldview that is taught to these young people, and they then see Western civilization as an evil thing. The Islamic religion is political at heart. Muslims are seeking to gain the upper hand in society, so they may dominate other religions, particularly Christianity. The challenge, however, with the rise of any religious group, claiming to seek political dominance over others, is that our world today is full of thousands of different religious professions. Even Islam has hundreds of sects within it. A country would therefore have to seek a secular worldview in administering the country, because that country will never find one religious group acceptable to all its people. Islam must come of age and understand that the Quran cannot be used to govern a modern state.
Conclusion
When Donald Trump announced that America would be attacking militant Muslim groups in Nigeria, there were pockets of demonstrations in Kano. One must comment that Northern Muslims are becoming more enlightened. In those days, when I was growing up in Zaria in the 1980s, if such a thing had happened, churches would have been burnt, and Christians killed in their numbers. That such did not happen last time shows that we are making some progress. But we need to make even more progress.
I have argued in my essays that militant Islam thrives in Nigeria because many “moderate” Muslims offer tacit support to militant Islam in Nigeria. It is true that many moderate Muslims have suffered attacks also from these animals, like the recent bombing of a mosque in Maiduguri during Christmas. Yet, I am not convinced that moderate Muslims have separated themselves enough from the militant arm of their religion. We still find many Muslims from the southern parts of Nigeria going to the North to learn their religion. We still find many Muslims criticizing the United States of America, only short of saying “death to America”. There is a rise in radical Muslim preachers in South West Nigeria. Etc. All these points point to the fact that, rather than Islam reforming itself and taking up a modern context, many Muslims are still quite sympathetic to the activities of Boko Haram and ISWAP. I hope that they prove me wrong by coming out to condemn the activities of Boko Haram more and by supporting the recent actions of the United States of America on Nigerian soil.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author o]f HUMANITY. He can be reached [email protected]
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