Time to Stop Those Fanning Embers of Religious War in Yorubaland
MAIN POINTS:
*The Ghana incident
*Ola TV’s comparison
*Insulting religion should not become entertainment
*What is happening in Yorubaland?
*The government must apply the law fairly
*Muslims should choose wisdom over violence
*Nigeria cannot afford religious confrontation
*The time for restraint is now
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
There is a legitimate difference between criticism of religion and deliberate religious provocation. People have the right to question ideas, debate religious doctrines and express disagreement. But deliberately mocking sacred personalities, insulting what millions of people consider holy, or repeatedly provoking a religious community can have consequences far beyond the individual who makes the statement. In a country with Nigeria’s religious diversity, irresponsible speech can create unnecessary tension between communities. This applies to everyone.
There is an urgent need for responsible individuals, religious leaders, government authorities and social-media platforms to discourage deliberate religious provocation in Yorubaland and across Nigeria.
Nigeria is a multi-religious country. Muslims and Christians have lived together for generations, sharing communities, businesses, schools, friendships and family relationships. That peaceful coexistence must not be taken for granted.
It is therefore dangerous when people deliberately insult the religion of others, ridicule their sacred personalities or use provocative language against religious communities simply to attract attention on social media.
The Ghana incident
A recent incident in Ghana has generated discussion on social media. Reports and a circulating video appeared to show a pastor being taken to court in handcuffs following an allegation of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). During the incident, a Muslim man was reportedly seen slapping the handcuffed pastor at the court premises.
The reported slapping was itself unacceptable. A person who believes his religion has been insulted should seek lawful remedies rather than resort to physical violence. It is therefore understandable if Ghanaian authorities want to investigate the incident and hold the person responsible for the alleged assault accountable.
The important point, however, is that the two issues should not be confused: alleged religious provocation should be addressed according to the law, and alleged physical assault should equally be addressed according to the law.
Ola TV’s comparison
Against this background, Ola TV reportedly shared the video and commented that if the incident of blasphemy had been in Nigeria where, according to him, people are so much concerned about religion, the country would have been on fire.
That comparison, which in itself is insult to religious sensitivity of those he probably was referring to, deserves caution. If being concerned about religion is not of any importance in Ghana like there nowhere in the world that people have no religion to which they are strongly attached, the pastor he referred to as blaspheming Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him in Ghana would not have been arrested and brought before the court in handcuffs. That is where government has responsibility and fulfills same by protecting the religious rights and values of every of its citizens.
You cannot tag a people as outcast in their own natural land for being particularly Muslims (because Christians have no problems practicing their religion in Yoruba Land only Muslims have) except that you are fanning the embers of religious war, which the politicians – who swore an oath to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution as government leaders – must not allow.
So that is Ghana, and here is Nigeria where that pastor would have received accolades for blaspheming Allah or Holy Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and any attempt by some Muslims to even seek government action and judicial measure to stop the provocation would have been met with humiliating resistance if not excruciating mockery across the main and social media without anyone ever considering it important that Muslims deserve protection against cyber bullying in matter of their religious belief.
But it is not so in Ghana as the government knows exactly what to do and it did just that by arresting the blaspheming pastor and charging him to court, according to the post. So, the two countries (Ghana and Nigeria) may have different legal systems, political circumstances and approaches to managing religious disputes, one thing is clear to both of them: the constitutional provisions guaranteeing religious practice for all citizens.
The political will to enforce that law is where Ghana and Nigeria depart, otherwise, how can the likes of a nickname, Tani Olohun, sit in Ibadan Oyo State to commit breaches of the law and bulling Muslim personalities in Ilorin, Kwara State and police operatives come from Ilorin to arrest him in Ibadan on the order of a court of jurisdiction and, we are told, that person resisted the arrest and still received accolades for proving to be bigger than the constituted authority of Nigerian judiciary? If this sustains, a bad precedence would have been laid, which is dangerous.
A social-media commentator should therefore avoid presenting one country’s experience as a simple template for another.
More importantly, Nigerians should not be encouraged to believe that religious provocation and physical confrontation are inevitable consequences of religious disagreement. If, as it is the case, some people believe and are projecting a scenario of Yoruba Land as belonging to only occultists while tagging Muslims and Christians outcast they claim practice the religions of foreigners, despite their indigeneity to the land, any effort by those they tagged outcast to explain themselves should not be regarded as a crime against Yoruba Land.
You cannot tag a people as outcast in their own natural land for being particularly Muslims (because Christians have no problems practicing their religion in Yoruba Land only Muslims have) except that you are fanning the embers of religious war, which the politicians – who swore an oath to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution as government leaders – must not allow.
There are better ways to play politics and still win elections than for you as politicians in government to play politics in a way that hinders you from standing up against constitutional infractions, which affect the religious rights of people in a section of the society you are vested with political powers to protect.
So I repeat, more importantly, that Nigerians should not be encouraged to believe that religious provocation and physical confrontation are inevitable consequences of religious disagreement. They are not. If, for instance, a Muslim is telling you as a Christian evangelist trying to convert him or his child into Christianity on the ground of an untrue claims that Allah is what the Qur’an does not say of him or on the ground of untrue claim that Muhammad peace be upon him is what is not evident in Islam, and that Muslim counters such erroneous claims by using your very Bible to point out where you are wrong, you should not consider that as religious crime but a religious debate that you caused, which is permitted under any law.
That is called religious comparative. If you do not want that debate to happen, then, stop using falsehoods, hate for Islam and your occupation of positions in public institutions: schools, ministries, hospitals and other public or private offices to force Muslims into your own religion of Christianity before you think they can enjoy their constitutional benefits. That is what is called “Live and Let Live”.
Insulting religion should not become entertainment
The bigger concern is the growing tendency among some social-media personalities to turn religious controversy into entertainment.
There is a legitimate difference between criticism of religion and deliberate religious provocation.
People have the right to question ideas, debate religious doctrines and express disagreement. But deliberately mocking sacred personalities, insulting what millions of people consider holy, or repeatedly provoking a religious community can have consequences far beyond the individual who makes the statement.
In a country with Nigeria’s religious diversity, irresponsible speech can create unnecessary tension between communities.
This applies to everyone.
A Muslim who insults Christianity should be condemned. A Christian who deliberately insults Islam should equally be condemned. Nobody should receive a licence to provoke another religious community simply because the controversy generates views, followers or advertising revenue.
What is happening in Yorubaland?
There is growing concern among some Muslims in parts of Yorubaland about what they perceive as repeated attacks on Islam, Shari’ah and Islamic personalities on social media.
Names such as Korede Adewoyin, Tani Olohun, George Udom and others have been mentioned in public arguments and online controversies involving religious issues. However, specific allegations against individuals should be properly investigated and established before being treated as proven facts.
The principle is bigger than any individual.
Nobody should be permitted to use social media as a platform for deliberately insulting another person’s religion, just as nobody should be permitted to respond to provocation with violence.
The government must apply the law fairly
This is where government has an important responsibility.
Nigeria’s Constitution protects freedom of religion and provides citizens with fundamental rights. Those rights belong to Muslims, Christians and adherents of other faiths alike.
The government therefore has a duty to maintain an environment in which citizens can practise their religions without intimidation, while also ensuring that laws relating to public order, incitement, threats, harassment and cyber-related offences are applied fairly.
If laws exist, they should not be selectively enforced against one group while similar conduct by another group is ignored.
Selective enforcement creates suspicion and destroys public confidence in government institutions.
At the same time, the existence of cybercrime legislation does not mean every offensive religious statement automatically constitutes a criminal offence. Due process, evidence and the specific provisions of the law must determine whether an offence has occurred.
Muslims should choose wisdom over violence
Muslims who feel insulted should not allow anger to dictate their actions.
Islam teaches believers to exercise patience, wisdom and restraint. Where a person believes that his religious rights have been violated, the appropriate response is to document the incident and seek lawful redress.
Slapping, attacking or threatening somebody cannot be justified simply because that person has allegedly insulted one’s religion.
The same principle applies to everybody else.
Those who provoke Muslims should also understand that deliberately attacking Islam is not a harmless game. Religious freedom means allowing people to practise their faith with dignity, not deliberately provoking them and then blaming them for becoming angry.
Nigeria cannot afford religious confrontation
Nigeria has enough challenges already— insecurity, economic hardship, unemployment, political disagreements and ethnic tensions. The country does not need people deliberately creating religious controversies for social-media traffic.
Those who repeatedly provoke religious communities should ask themselves whether the attention they are seeking is worth the damage their words could cause.
Government officials, traditional rulers, religious leaders and civil-society organisations should also speak up whenever religious intolerance emerges, regardless of the identity of the person responsible.
The message must be consistent:
Do not insult Islam. Do not insult Christianity. Do not insult other people’s faith. And do not respond to provocation with violence.
The time for restraint is now
Yorubaland has a long history of Muslims and Christians living side by side. That heritage should not be sacrificed to social-media quarrels.
Those who deliberately fan the embers of religious conflict must stop. Those who are offended must also refuse to be dragged into violence.
Nigeria needs a culture of mutual respect in which people can disagree without hatred, debate without humiliation and defend their religious beliefs without attacking the dignity of others.
Religious freedom is not a weapon for one group against another. It is a constitutional right that belongs to everyone.
The responsibility of government is to protect that right. The responsibility of citizens is to exercise it responsibly. And the responsibility of social-media commentators is to understand that religious provocation may generate clicks, but it can also generate consequences that no amount of online popularity can control.
Adefaka is a media proprietor and publisher of The DEFENDER Newspaper in Nigeria. Email: omope72@gmail.com
