By Musa Bayi Muhammad
It is no longer new that when it comes to leading the Nigerian people, one does not need to be so objective as to be circumspect in his utterances, let alone be mindful of playing politics with lies because the likes of El-Rufai are so desperate to get power at all cost, so it does not matter what they say so long as they would perpetuate themselves in wheel of governance.
El-Rufai’s latest vacuous statement was aired on the Voice of America in which he shed further light on the prescription he placed on the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. The governor was so carried away by his visceral hatred towards the Islamic Movement in Nigeria that he created lies to justify the persecution of Shias in the state.
In the interview he granted to the VOA, El-Rufai was not even ashamed to describe Shias as “Zakzaky-led thugs” who run parallel government because they do not recognize the Nigerian constitution, block roads and make life difficult for the Gyallesu residents. He also accused members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria of forming a military wing and possessing weapons in order to, as he alleged, declare war on Nigeria when the crunch came.
It is the former president of Nigeria, Olisegun Obasanjo who once lashed out at El-Rufai to the extent that he branded him “a pathological liar,” in response to lies he wrote against him in his book, and the latest round of lies against IMN are a testimony to the fact that El-Rufai has gone haywire in his bids to wipe out Shias in Kaduna and up the ante by paving the way for the prescription of Shiites in the whole country. Islamic Movement in Nigeria has been operating for almost four decades, and it is outrageous to claim that Shias does not recognize the Nigerian constitution when they work in the government, enrol their children in public schools, carry the Nigerian passport and use the country’s currency. It is even more laughable to claim that Shiites have their own governors but he failed, due lack of tangible proof, to accuse them of forming their own ministries and agencies. He moreover, stopped short of mentioning the weapons they seized when the army laid siege to the residence of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and massacred hundreds of his followers. If Zakzaky was a proponent of insurgency, like Gumi, Muhammad Yusuf and Mai Tatsine, he would not have been able to convert millions of Sunnis into Shi’a Islam in just a matter of few decades, he would not have survived many odds to keep the light of Ahlul-Bayt burning for all the world to see.
Zakzaky was, is and will continue to be a pacifist preacher who represents the peaceful teaching of Islam to win the hearts of people, and no amount of lies and propaganda will bury the truth.
Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria have been bearing the brunt of seemingly countless persecutions, ranging from the short-lived regime of Bihari-led junta when Zakzaky was first detained down to the current democratic dispensation, but despite the killing of hundreds of their followers, Shiites see no reason to resort to violence, and it this nonviolent movement that attracts people convert to Shiites en masse.
Therefore, El-Rufai needs to be reminded that the ideology of Shi’a in Nigeria is here to stay: he can kill Shias with the connivance of the security forces, he can destroy the properties owned by Shiites and he can even use his executive power to attack Shiites by hiring Salafi hoodlums, but he can never eradicate the ideals of Shiism in the country.
Musa Bayi Muhammad
Musabayi@gmail.com
@mbayimuhd