Towards ethnic and religious tolerance within a united and diverse Nigeria

A Keynote address by Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, Sarkin Yakin Keffi, Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, at the 2001 Week/National Conference organized by Gamji Members Association, Kaduna, January 22, 2001.

 Compliments

When I received the vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s letter requesting me to stand in for him at this very important occasion, I did not hesitate to accept this singular honour for a thousand and one reasons. But let me tell you the most important reason. This annual lecture series is organized by the Gamji Members Association to help us retrace our steps and refocus our energies in the delicate task of nation-building to which we are committed. We count ourselves privileged and pleased to be part of the lecture this year and to be assigned the role we are about to play in it.

We congratulate the organizers, Gamji Members Association. Through their efforts, our country and its people see new challenges in the old and lingering problems. If we must refrain, as we must, from doing violence to the memories of the fathers of our nationalism, the men who fought for our independence across the length and breadth of this country, men without whose dedication and commitment the social and political history of Nigeria would have been other than what it is today, then genuine efforts must continue to be made to bring us together in a collective renewed effort at making our country that country we all individually dream of. Let me quickly say that although I stand in for the vice-president, I do not speak for him. My short remarks with its shortcomings must not in any way be attributed to Alhaji Atiku. They are mine delivered from the vantage position of acting special guest of honour and I take absolute responsibility for them.

An acting guest of honour at such a wonderful gathering of our royal fathers and people that matter in politics, business and industry and the ivory tower faces one problem and that is how to make his short remarks exactly the right length. How short is short? We have been advised that our remarks must not be so short as to leave unsaid what we should say; and it must not be so long that it anticipates the views of the men of timbre and caliber assembled here to do justice to the theme of this year’s lecture series. We wrestled with this dictum and tried to steer a middle course. If, however, we have in any way anticipated some of the views to be expressed by our distinguished lecturers, if indeed, some of the eminent people gathered here find some of our remarks rather eclectic, we plead that due allowances be made for the right of the politician to make informed incursion on the common turf of politicians and academics.

The Gamji Members Association has advisedly chosen the theme, ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF NIGERIAN FEDERALISM, for this year’s lecture series. Seven eminent Nigerians drawn from the north, the east and the west will speak to us on this topic from their various perspectives. The importance of the theme is underlined by the eminent presence of a very eminent compatriot, the former vice-president of the Federal Republic, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, as a guest lecturer. Admittedly, the theme itself is not particularly new. It has featured in several variants as a subject of social and scholarly discourse in our country for quite sometime now. But it remains a fundamental subject that deserves constant examination and re-examination from various perspectives for at least two reasons. Firstly, events in our country since the return to civil rule in May 1999 show that the termites of ethnic and religious intolerance are beginning to eat into the wood works of our national unity and cohesion. Every ethnic or religious crisis sends a tremor, however imperceptible, rumbling through the foundation of our nation as a single entity. The price of ethnic and religious tolerance, therefore, like that of freedom must be eternal vigilance through the instrumentality of public discourse and honesty of purpose in inter and intra ethnic and religious dealings.

Secondly, when a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation such as ours faces increasing crisis of confidence engendered by years of frustrations and disappointments, the temptation to seek refuge in the comparatively safe haven of ethnicity and religion is almost obligatory. When people, out of fear, ignorance or suspicion or a lethal combination of all three, retreat into this ethnic and religious enclaves, their immediate enemies are other tribes and those of a different religious persuasion who, only a while ago, were their best friends. Ethnic and religious intolerance replaces tolerance and understanding. And there are problems.

Today, we see this scenario playing itself out across our country on a regular basis, raising fears about the continued existence of Nigeria as one country. The shadow of ethnic and religious intolerance lengthens; the shadow of understanding is growing shorter. We have no fears that the forces of unity will continue to defeat the forces of disunity in our country because, despite the loud and strident voices of the evil little men, they are outnumbered by good men and women. But by merely piling pious hope upon pious hope we cannot hope to defeat the forces of intolerance. We cannot afford the luxury of such naivety any longer, given the ugly scars of ethnic and religious conflicts that confront us in various parts of the country. A forum such as this is a good beginning. It sends the right message that concerned citizens of our country have ears that hear and eyes that see. We must encourage more of it in various parts of the country. And we can be sure that slowly but surely, we will bridge the widening ethnic and religious divide.

Many self-appointed analysts have continued to predict the failure of our federation on account of our diversity, and have seized every opportunity offered by our occasional political convulsions to assert the imminent fall of our federation. Persons of little faith have indeed wondered if Nigeria with all its different ethnic groups and religions can be moulded into a stable and united federation.

The Sardauna’s success in the Northern region continues to confound these doubting Thomases of the unity of our federation, and to inspire many of us who have an abiding faith in the unity of Nigeria, and who see its diversity as a healthy challenge rather than an obstacle to national unity and development.

We believe the eyes of our past leaders are on us. They may not have all succeeded but the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and premier of northern region; the late Oguefi Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, premier of the eastern region and later president of the Federal republic and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, premier of the western region and later leader of opposition in the federal house, worked hard to rise to the challenges of a new nation by building bridges of tolerance and understanding across our ethnic and religious divide. They were remarkable men. They appreciated the sensitivity of religion. They took care never to offend it. They understood the ethnic and cultural differences in the Nigerian nation. They took care not to exploit them. They appreciated the diversity of tribes and tongues. And they encouraged the maintenance of this diversity, asking only that we understand one another’s cultural and religious differences. The Northern Region led by the Sardauna contains the largest collection of ethnic groups in the country. To his credit the region knew no major religious or inter-ethnic conflicts in the times of the late premier.

A careful examination of the Ahmadu Bello phenomenon in the leadership of the North will reveal several factors behind his success which also recommend themselves to Nigeria as a whole, as we continue to find solutions to the challenges of managing our diversity and sustaining a stable and united federation.

One of the key factors responsible for the Sardauna’s success is to be found in his oft-quoted statement and exhortation to Dr. Azikiwe that we as a nation should seek to understand our differences and respect them, rather than forget and bury them under the carpet, if we hope to sustain unity in diversity. Although students and observers of federalism are bound to have differing opinions on this profound statement, it is an indisputable fact that the Sardauna was able to sustain the unity of the diverse peoples of the North by seeking to study and understand the different groups and interests, rather than ignoring them. He did not only seek to understand the diversity of the North, he fashioned his policies and approach to governance and leadership to suite that diversity.

As a multi-religious and multi-ethnic region, the Sardauna strived to arrive at a compromise on cultural and religious matters. He tried to run a mixed society by respecting the various differences of his region. He offered opportunities and motivated all regardless of their tongues or religion. Today some of the strongest advocates of the Sardauna Legacy are Christians who worked with him and were motivated to believe in his leadership, and in the unity of the North.

Were these men to rise from their graves today, they would be very sad men indeed. The face of the north that would greet the Sardauna would be truly strange to him. Nothing like the region he built – a proud region of proud and tolerant people, warm to strangers and warm among themselves. He would wonder, as some of us do today, what we have done to his legacy of honest political leadership. Where did all this crass materialism and the duplicitous behaviour so alien to the culture of the north come from? He would wonder what has become of the virtues of tolerance of other people’s views, political and religious persuasion and cultural and ethnic differences. He would look at Kaduna, his beloved Kaduna, the city he once proudly said he believed was "the ‘showroom’ for business in the whole of the Northern Region," and see what religious and ethnic intolerance has done to it. He would look at the charred remains of homes, offices, hotels, places of worship, cars and other personal properties and wonder why the devil was let loose on his beloved region.

Zik and Awo would confront similar spectacles in the former eastern and western regions respectively. Awo would be sad to see what ethnic militarism has done to parts of Lagos and the west. Zik would be shocked by the degree of ethnic violence in the region he once led and where he undertook the tough task of moulding the different tribes into a unified people who are tolerant of one another’s ethnicity and religious persuasion.

I believe that some of us sitting here in this hall do, at least in moments of introspection, wonder what has become of the north some of us knew as young men and women as the most peaceful and most cohesive region in the federation. Despite our ethnic diversity, despite our multifarious political and religious persuasions, we saw ourselves and acted as children of one large family. Our tribes shared inter-ethnic jokes. The Tiv man and the Fulani man, for instance. Or the Nupe man and the Katsina Hausa man, the Zaria/Kano Hausa people, Jukun/Rindre people and the Arago/Eggon people. Or the Kanuri and the Fulani. These jokes often made gatherings at northern functions lively.

Similar jokes were shared across the land. The Ibo man and the Hausa man; as well as between the Yoruba man and the Ibo man. Why are we not laughing with ourselves any more? Why are we snarling at one another and creating the unfortunate impression that our unity is being shredded like a discarded piece of cloth? Something has gone badly wrong with our country. And it is clear that the near absence of ethnic and religious tolerance in our national life is rapidly pushing us apart when we need to pull together in one direction.

Political alliances are more or less being formed along old regional lines. Contrast this current development with the first republic when such alliances were formed across the regions with each of the major parties having a toe hold in each of the then four regions in the federation. Some vital lessons of our national history are being lost on our current crop of our political leadership. Idle posturing in vain attempts at local championship, which is applauded by the news media, appears to be the order of the day. Yet, why do we continue to behave as if we have ears but do not hear, eyes but do not see? Today, a minor difference between individuals in any part of the country is instantly given a religious or ethnic colouration, particularly in the north. In this, the north is the worse of. Out-gunned and out-manned in the news media war, the north is a hapless and helpless victim of the worst form of marginalisation imaginable in our country. These days the only good news from the north the average south-west publication bothers to carry is news of minor crisis magnified in calculated exaggerations to create a sense of fear and suspicion among northerners and other Nigerians who live in the north.

We believe there is an urgent need to stop the trend. Our northern leaders must wake up to the dangers of the compartmentalization of social frictions. Time to emphasise those things that unite us rather than those that divide us. A strong and united north translates into a strong and united Nigeria. Let us, once more, see our ethnic diversity as a source of our strength and not of our weakness. We were a rainbow collection long before Jesse Jackson made the phrase popular. Let us live the phrase and demonstrate to the rest of the nation once more that we are what we were and will continue to be.

The late premier once said that the north faced two problems, namely, ignorance and fear. Indeed, those two problems are true of the Nigerian federation. He argued, and quite rightly too, that ignorance fueled fear. Of course, it is common knowledge that fear fuels suspicion. We find it truly ironic that the current age of greater education and more enlightenment has more or less become the dark age of ignorance and fear in our country. Intolerance is beginning to blind if indeed it has not blinded us to the beauties in the culture and religion of other people. We have not succeeded in banishing ignorance and fear from our country. Instead, we encourage them by acts of omission and commission to take deeper roots in our national psyche. We find no better example of this than the controversy and violence in the wake of the introduction of sharia in several states in the north. The crisis and the controversy arose out of ignorance fueled by fear. Had there been proper public education on the sharia, we believe that the crisis would have been avoided. This, of course, raises the obvious point. Only education kills ignorance. A good leader at any level, be it in politics, business or the professions, must also be a good teacher, competent at educating those he leads on issues that concern them directly or indirectly.

We should have no illusions about the enormity of the problems that face us as a people today. The religious and ethnic cards are ready weapons in the hands of political failures who cynically exploit and manipulate the ignorant masses of our people towards selfish and undesirable ends. We must stop them. We must free the people from their grip and their indoctrination. More importantly, we Nigerians must now learn to talk to ourselves as brothers and sisters. Let us once more laugh with ourselves. We will have our quarrels and differences but we must learn to agree to disagree without compromising our principles and beliefs. Mistakes were made in the immediate past but we cannot hold our present progress, political and economic interests hostage to past acts of omission and commission on the part of our leaders at various levels. Instead, let those mistakes, no matter how painful to some of us individually or collectively, guide our present and future conduct in inter and intra ethnic and religious intercourse.

In the context of Nigeria, it is clear that growing religious and ethnic intolerance has continued to put the nation to a severe test. The rise of ethnic armies such as the murderous OPC in the south-west is clear evidence of the increasing fragility of our national cohesion. If other ethnic groups respond to the actions of OPC, surely they will murder sleep in our nation. It is right for us to harp on ethnic and religious tolerance at a forum such as this. But let us not forget that no nation, at least not this one, can legislate against intolerance. Intolerance can only be dealt with through moral suasion. How we can go about it is the question this forum would do well to consider.

Our various constitutions since independence sought to protect our differences and to balance the various interests to ensure the unity of our young federation. Unfortunately we have failed to provide the leadership that can inspire our people to trust in us and in their country. This failure which became precarious with the entry of the military into governance accentuated our difficulties.

You must come up with prescriptions to the growing ills of ethnic and religious intolerance in our nation. The future of our country depends on a new climate of tolerance and understanding of our various ethnic and religious differences. We must cultivate it. We must preach it. We must promote it. We must practise it. It may not take a village but it must take our collective commitment as a people and as a nation in the service of Nigeria.

Let’s give it a shot.

Thank you.