The Boko Haram Are Not Northern Nigerians-femi Aribisala Recants!
I have found Northerners in general to be the kindest Nigerians. They are certainly the most honest. They are far more giving and open-handed than Southerners. They are also unbelievably simple and humble. I recall the late General Joseph Garba, a Langtang man, sitting down to eat from the same plate with junior members of his staff in his New York office as Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations.
These points need to be underlined today, in the midst of all the Boko Haram atrocities in the North, especially since the terrorists often target Christians and non-Northerners. These marauders are the antithesis of everything noble; everything decent; and everything godly about Northerners. We also need to keep stating it emphatically. The Boko Haram are not Muslims: they are just using the Muslim faith as a crutch. Abubakar Shekau claimed his god told him to sell the Chibok girls into slavery. Whichever god told him this; it cannot be the Muslim God.
I have many Muslim buddies and they don’t go round killing or selling anybody. One of my grandmothers was Muslim. I was her favourite grandson and I don’t remember her hankering to kill anybody. There is not a single command in the Qur’an for Muslims to go out and kill Christians or Jews. As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite. We need to differentiate true Muslims from these Boko Haram marauders. We need to differentiate core Northerners from them.
Most important of all, Northerners need to rise up with one voice to decry all those who go round maiming and killing under whatever pretext. These people are a blemish on the Northern image and heritage. They should be ostracised politically and emotionally. They, and not people like my wife, are the real foreigners in Nigeria. These people are not even human-beings. True Northerners are the most upright, most accommodating and most humane of Nigerians. Without Northerners, Nigeria would be a very poor country indeed.
These points need to be underlined today, in the midst of all the Boko Haram atrocities in the North, especially since the terrorists often target Christians and non-Northerners. These marauders are the antithesis of everything noble; everything decent; and everything godly about Northerners. We also need to keep stating it emphatically. The Boko Haram are not Muslims: they are just using the Muslim faith as a crutch. Abubakar Shekau claimed his god told him to sell the Chibok girls into slavery. Whichever god told him this; it cannot be the Muslim God.
I have many Muslim buddies and they don’t go round killing or selling anybody. One of my grandmothers was Muslim. I was her favourite grandson and I don’t remember her hankering to kill anybody. There is not a single command in the Qur’an for Muslims to go out and kill Christians or Jews. As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite. We need to differentiate true Muslims from these Boko Haram marauders. We need to differentiate core Northerners from them.
Most important of all, Northerners need to rise up with one voice to decry all those who go round maiming and killing under whatever pretext. These people are a blemish on the Northern image and heritage. They should be ostracised politically and emotionally. They, and not people like my wife, are the real foreigners in Nigeria. These people are not even human-beings. True Northerners are the most upright, most accommodating and most humane of Nigerians. Without Northerners, Nigeria would be a very poor country indeed.
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