by Eze Eluchie,
The document
which is commonly referred to as the ‘1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria’, though in reality merely the appendix to a Military decree, upon
which the Nigeria state is predicated and governed, proclaims unequivocally,
the secular status of the Nigerian federation. With the litany of
ethno-sectarian conflicts which have led to the deaths of countless thousands,
particularly in Nigeria’s northern region, the palpable heightened degree of
sensitivity and apprehension amongst Nigerians regarding any actions by
government to tilt the polity towards any of the two main religious bodies
should suffice to curb any intentions at creating a semblance of foisting a
State Religion on Nigerians or nuances that may create the impression of domination
by one religion over the other.
When however,
a subsisting regime, enmeshed in an aura of self-created invincibility,
all-knowing and we-have-them-by-the-balls mindset, deliberately acts in manners
that projects a secular state as being a one-religion state or ‘dominated’ by
one religion, it is only a matter of time before the veil that has been so
craftfully woven over the eyes of some who ostensibly for lucre and positions
held, are willing to allow the macabre unconstitutional dance towards a
mono-religion state. Then the agitations will overwhelm the already weakened contraption.
The irony inherent in the deliberate perpetuation of a falsehood that a secular state is ‘Islamic’ or
‘Muslim-majority’ is that, resulting from the absence of genuine theocratic
structures and institutions, the State and those who decide to propagate and
project such falsehood are perceived and treated as fraudulent by the wider
international community. This is in addition to the fact that the basic
expectations, from a religious perspective, of an ‘Islamic’ or ‘Muslim
majority’ state will be absent.
In the
instant case of Nigeria, the reality that a sizable percentage of national
income is derived from Value Added Tax (VAT) levied on breweries for alcoholic
products and to a smaller extent livestock (including pork meat) – sources considered
as forbidden under Islamic tenets, and that such VAT proceeds are lumped into a
national treasury which then gets ‘shared’ amongst Nigeria’s constituent levels
of governments (Federal, States and Local Governments), questions the
legitimacy, under Islamic teachings of deploying such public funds to
Shari’a-compliant ventures, as would be expected of ‘Islamic’ or ‘Muslim
majority’ States.
Under the
ruling administration in Nigeria headed by a man, Muhammadu Buhari, who had
severally professed a desire to ensure the application of Shari’a laws across a
secular Nigeria, there have been brash efforts to position and posture Nigeria
as an Islamic state. One of such brash actions has been the involvement of the
Federal Government in promoting, championing and facilitating the SUKUK (Shari’a-compliant)
Bonds, an unconstitutional move in itself since the Federal Government was
deploying state resources in a discriminatory manner towards the promotion and
elevation of a religious faith contrary to the provisions of Nigeria’s
constitution.
Spurious and
tenuous efforts have been made by Buhari’s government to douse the implications
of the Federal Government involvement in a strictly religious financial
instrument, such as the cosmetic positioning of the Governor of Nigeria’s
Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele (a Christian) as the Chairman of the International
Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILMC). Most such diversionary acts amount to naught – as the ludicrous nature
of such farce would have been laughable if not for the dire potent implications
if the continuing religious slant the Nigerian polity is being forced to
digress towards is not hastily corrected.
Not done
with floating and dealing in the SUKUK Bonds, in yet another
to-hell-with-you-guys stance, the occupant of the Office of President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria opted to attend a meeting of a so-called ‘D-8
Organization for Economic Cooperation’, a group comprised of the following
Islamic countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia and
Pakistan and, you guessed right, Nigeria.
How and when
did Nigeria get into this D-8 group, which in its website affirms that the ‘idea
of cooperation among major Muslim developing countries was mooted by Prof. Dr.
Necmettin Erbakan, former Prime Minister of Turkey”? From what sources does the
membership fees for such religion-based organizations emanate in a secular
Nigeria?
When the
above is juxtaposed alongside a very striking religion-based slant in
leadership of state institutions and coming on the heels of Nigeria’s
continuing membership of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), it will
take a spectacularly blind mind not to discern a worrisome pattern that if not stemmed
early enough, portends dire outcomes.
There is
nothing wrong with a people hobnobbing with whosoever they so desire to be
with. When however an entire multi-ethnic and multi-religious contraption is by
deceit, subterfuge, sleuth and all manners of vague posturing ensnared into
being perceived, seen or become a religious state, a transgenerational catastrophe
would have been ignited.
A holistic
restructuring and renegotiation of the Nigerian contraption will spare all and
sundry this looming tragedy.
D-8 website: http://www.developing8.org/
Appointment of Nigeria’s Christian
Central Bank Governor as Chairman of Islamic Institution: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/12/17/emefiele-appointed-chairman-islamic-management-corporation-board/
