ANTI-ISLAM: THE VIDEO STIR

                The anti-Islam film produced by Egypt’s Coptic Nakoula Basseley Nakoula well over two weeks ago has continued to stir an anti-American and Israeli reaction across the globe, the calculated killing of the US ambassador to Libya being one about the most-striking. The questions at hand would start from; why would anybody want to tickle a people at their most sensitive part? What is the real purpose of such a video and its writer/producer? How is the world going to arrest the situation before it snow balls into an untamable wildfire? And very importantly, how good is the situation for Nigeria (considering our heterogeneous composition and our antecedent of religious instability)?

                After the September 2011 al-Qaeda attack on the world trade centre in New York, there had occasionally been counter-attacks on the Muslim world by persons who felt and (obviously) still feel aggrieved by the ideology of extreme Islamists, and this is further aggravated by the incessant crises in the middle-east, the multi-decade Sudan war, and of course, periodical mayhem and destruction of innocent lives in northern and central Nigeria. What exactly is the isolated bone of contention between religions of the world one may never know, but what we know for sure is that some elements within humanity play on these religious differences to enhance their nefarious socio-political and economic interests. Such is the case with the movie that has caused a global outrage and others before it.

                Painfully, the international community has not and cannot do enough to curb this kind of occurrences mainly because one end of the action is unrepentantly violent while the other end is been championed by citizens and inhabitants of countries that (for now) will not bow to international consensus law because of a “world power” status with which they intimidate the rest of the world. Funny enough, Pakistani minister of railway has announced a bounty of$100,000 on the film-maker, “I announce today that this blasphemer who has abused the holy prophet, if somebody will kill him, I will give that person a prize of $100,000” he said(AL JAZEERA English Network, 22^nd September,2012) . Now, if there is no compromise between two warring factions, how can they reach an agreement and how can peace reign? But with the existing state of affairs where the back-ground troubleshooters are right at the helm of affairs, the common is very willing to be a tool and nobody wants to change grounds, it looks like the world religious harmony is really a long way off our grasp.

                I must note that I am particularly impressed with Nigeria at this point in time, although there had been an anti-American and anti-Israeli protest by a pro-Iranian Shiite group in Kano, but that was a very significant break from the past. If we would go down memory lane to 2006 after a cartoon that was claimed to insult the prophet of Islam was released in Denmark, it was greeted by violent reactions which claimed many lives in Katsina, Bauchi and Zamfara states. For Nigeria, there are presently two  not-so-good situations, the first, a resonating global religious crisis, the second, the presence of people within the country who always seek to take advantage of disunity for their own selfish gain. I personally will be glad if Nigeria for once separates herself from a global chaos and not be dragged into this particular season feud.

                                                                        

                                                                         Abiodun Omonijo

NOT AFRAID

I’m not afraid to take a stand, everybody come take my hands, let’s walk this road together.—Eminem

The history of mankind hitherto has comprised of a few oppressors exacting themselves against the will and liberty of the majority of people. Where they have succeeded, the majority of people have suffered an untellable hardship while these oppressors have marshaled resources at the expense of the oppressed and lived in extravagant luxury. But at a few points in history, some men have risen to the challenges posed by the harsh environment and indeed delivered their fellow men from bondage and at least brought them to the doorsteps of the promised land. The few courageous men that will not be easily forgotten in the annals of men include such names as Moses, whom by divine providence snatched ancient Israelites from the jaws of slavery in Egypt, also, Martin Luther, the protestant who refocused the church and saved Christendom from heresy propagated under the reign of the papacy. Again, the Napoleon, Washington, Lenin, Castro, Nkrumah, Macaulay, and Awolowos of this world will not be forgotten because they laboured tirelessly for the liberty of men.

In contemporary times, the agents of oppression are pretty much the same as those of the past, but the methods are a little different. In a civilization where formal education is as important as the life-breath of the individual, it is meant not only for the individual to enrich himself/herself but to harness it to the liberation of the state. Therefore, the education one receives is not for an individual benefit but to fight for the right of man, hence, the rise of intellectual activism. As stated earlier, the method of oppression has changed in this era, and it fluctuates between indirect and direct victimization. Under the Nigerian military eras for instance, many right activists were imprisoned, exiled, and some even got killed. Yet, the living were not deterred, they carried on the struggle for liberty and in the end, it paid off. When thinking about this, a question comes to bare: what if these people did not take upon themselves the task of speaking for the masses? What would happen to the society if those noble men had not staked their lives? I remember the words of Napoleon Bonaparte; “There are so many evils in the world, not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people.” If many people had stood their ground when it mattered, probably the world would not be in such a position today where oppression and victimization reign supreme. How I wish that men would defile all odds and stand for what is at every time, that they would stake their lives for posterity and most importantly, fear no terror. As for me, nothing shall stand in the way of my cry against the enslavement of the human mind and the oppression of the human body. Send me a threat and I will smile back at you, put a gun to my head and I will whistle into the barrel, blow me up and the silence of my blood would be more deafening because no martyr dies in vain.

NIL DISPUNDIUM, AMANDLA AWETU.

                                                                                                                        Genera

THE FEEL OF REVOLUTION

It is no longer news, neither is it surprising that the average Nigerian is very complacent and usually disconnected from the realities of their predicament. It is only in this part of the world that a person pushed to the wall will prefer to jump over it while his counterparts at other places turn around to confront their problems head-on and eventually over-come them. But the Nigerian is so unfortunate that he had allowed the teachings of false and fraudulent religions perforate his thinking, and that has consequently made him nothing short of a confused entity who does not want to take up the responsibilities that his generation has placed upon him to perform, instead, he abdicates those responsibilities at the door-step of a kind God who had hither-to endowed man generously with the gift of reasoning to fish himself out of the icy waters of life. The general situation is not very different even in an academic environment where the students had at one time claimed to be Intellectual Fighters for Emancipation (IFE) as virtually every member of the community has ceased the opportunity of the Students Union’s absence to become a tin-god at the injurious detriment of the generality of students. For this piece, I zoom my critical lens especially on the extravagant and saucy nature of buttery operators around us. Despite the neck-braking prices that students pay for various goods, these sets of people still find it necessary to garnish this burden with verbal insults at the slightest opportunity which they devise very often. But on the 16^th of October, 2012, in Adekunle Fajuyi hall, their cup ran over. While preparing for a 7:00am class which I had on that interesting day, an angry fellow student who had been thoroughly and psychologically battered with words and the sprinkling water the previous night went round the hall with a mega-phone to mobilize students to address issues appropriately that morning. Information later got to me that that morning turned out to be the mother of all alliances as Fajuyians trooped out to lock-up the upper buttery and unanimously sent their tormentors away from business. I believe that event would go down in the minds of all that experienced it that the mass of people cannot be intimidated for a long time for according to Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool all the people sometimes, you can fool some people all the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.

            I am glad that the above serves as an analogy and resonates to the larger society of Africa at large. Leaders at all levels engage in an open rape of the same people they were made to govern with impunity, they insult the moral intelligence of their naturally honest followers and squander the common wealth of the nations. The African had always been made to work out the marrows of his bones to satisfy the whims and caprices of some task masters while his own purse cries heavily. The oppressive class had always trampled on the underprivileged, the poor is getting poorer and the rich getting richer at the expense of the conspicuously poor. The predicament of my fellow Africans get me heart-broken, yet, majority of Africans have proven to be too reluctant to stand for their own cause for various illogical reasons ranging from religion to even the fear of death which is inevitable to us all. Therefore, shake off your fears, damn all consequences and be ready to take your destiny into your own hands. This is a clarion call for my readers to spread the gospel of an all-out African revolution, a call to up-root every element of oppression and neo-slavery and wipeout their agents. This is the only way Africa can be liberated from her present bondage and set her on a pedestal of hope.      

                                                                         

                                                                         Abiodun Omonijo