Fairness and justice are critical ingredients of a virile democracy and peaceful coexistence, but in Nigeria, these values are threatened regularly by the forces of intolerance, complacency and favouritism. Intolerance by people that fabricate boundaries of illogicality around issues of reason and common sense- “over my dead body;” complacency from those that should either encourage or take action- “Wetin concern me; siddon look;” and favouritism- borne out of power imbalances- exercised by those that have power, perceive they have power, or arrogate power to themselves by whatever means they could muster- “Wetin you wan do now?”
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Enough of my preamble, the essence of this piece is to confront the demon that is devouring our society. The bigotry of religion that blinds, deafens, and renders us speechless in the face of acts of injustice perpetrated right at our doorstep. It is a debate we should, and must have amongst ourselves and within ourselves; simultaneously as individuals and as a people. A call for a reflection on our common humanity.
The story of the pastor who had been “directed by his G(g)od” to burn and destroy the shrines and temples (places of worship) of his tolerant neighbour, family and community in Ketu, Ogun state. His neighbours worship a different god (perhaps the same god in a different way), in a different style, and possibly has never questioned his audacity to serve his own god in the way and manner he deemed fit. Pastor Wale Fagbire, a son of the earth he sought to defile and the primordial familial connection he inconsequentially dismantled, save for the (un)wise judgement of his neighbours.
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There seem to be a parallel between this pastor’s actions and Boko Haram’s. Or how else could we reframe the pastor’s logic to fit with our sensibilities? Is there a difference between Boko Haram burning down churches and this pastor’s action? Whichever trajectory we scale the argument, one fact remains clear; pastor Fagbire burnt down someone else’s place of worship, a sacrilegious behaviour in a ‘secular’ nation; surely a cannon for chaos and violence. Worse still, there was no condemnation in the newspapers or from the pastor’s church on the criminal act he committed.
In his speech at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs titled, Hatched from the Egg of Impunity: A FOWL CALLED BOKO Haram, Professor Wole Soyinka eloquently narrated the historical evolution of Boko Haram from a rhetoric of ideological purity situated within a single universe of dominance, control and uniqueness, to the barbarity and bestiality it mutated to today. He was very clear about the culture of impunity under which the ideology flourished, that is, a culture of intolerance, complacency and favouritism. Although it may seem impossible that the only region in Nigeria with a semblance of relative peace and precarious harmony would degenerate to that level, it is imperative on us all, in fact, obligatory that we condemn such actions.
What must be understood, and seared on our minds is that Boko haram did not begin as the bloodthirsty mongrels they are today. Today, pastor Wale’s god has instructed him to desecrate peoples’ sacred places; tomorrow his god may charge him to execute the punishment reserved for the condemned in hell by incinerating the “pagans.”
Ethnocultural and religious predilections continue to colour our judgements on core unifying values. By religion, I mean the two dominant enforced orthodoxies with their variant as practised in Nigeria. Of course, it is mostly conflicting and antithetical to our core cultural beliefs and values around mutual tolerance, mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. It is not who I think we are.
But the story did not end there, the neighbours’ decision not to press charges in the court against the pastor’s misdemeanour strikes at the heart of the principle of peaceful coexistence embedded in our culture, and largely our society. Conversely, however, this willingness to pardon and ‘move on’ raises several questions about the principle of peaceful coexistence, particularly when confronted with an unrepentant and obnoxious offender. Is it still valid to say that “justice is the first condition of humanity?”
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