MOHAMMAD ASHAFA, ISLAMIC TERRORISM AND NIGERIA

 “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it for religious conviction” – Blaise Pascal.

 I sympathise with the family of Mohammad Ashafa, the forty years old man whose story was reported in the Sunday Trust of February 11, 2007, and many other innocent families around the world (and the not too innocent) in Guantanamo Bay and other secret prisons being incarcerated illegally on charges of terrorism; for the ‘War on Terror’ itself has been a political machination to dominate others and has caused so much terror and is still causing terror, sowing disunity, hatred, and so much more among nations and citizens of the world. Not to mention that the Iraqi occupation which was supposedly to be war on terror has all turned out to be a sham, but the war of personal gains as mentioned by Michael Moore in his revealing documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

But the recent information coming out of Nigeria that Al-Qaeda might have penetrated Nigerian soil is disturbing and even frightening. There is no tangible proof yet that Al-Qaeda operatives are in Nigeria but that does not mean they are not or wouldn’t want to be. That is why the arrest of Mohammad Ashafa and his trial should not be politicized. It is important that the Nigerian government gets to the root of any terrorist threat before it becomes a monster for all of us, Moslems and Christians alike, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and any other tribe.

It wouldn’t be wise to merely see the case of Mr. Ashafa as the Obasanjo administration trying to please the United States government by making innocent Nigerians scapegoats. The News review in Sunday Trust on Mr. Mohammad Ashafa does not mention the circumstances leading to his arrest by the Nigerian security operatives. Was Ashafa arrested on the street somewhere as it is done by the police sometimes in aimless raids to collect money for bail or was he arrested with the Taliban groups who were causing trouble in Borno State ? How the SSS did get information linking Mr. Ashafa to Pakistan ?

It is true that many Moslems in Nigeria sympathizes with the Palestinian people over the Middle East crises with Israel and the illegal war in Iraq where people are being killed senselessly and those responsible for the whole problem are relaxing in the United States drinking champagne and chilling out, but I believe Nigerian Moslems are not the types that would go to the extreme as taking it too far to start getting involved and bombing embassies. The Moslems of Nigeria are a peaceful people and have never had such problems aside from the pockets of religious crises here and there which is an internal crises and intrinsically Nigerian crises and profoundly tribal than religious in nature. That is why the case of Ashafa must be thoroughly investigated.

Nigeria and the United States of America have a good relationship as nations and it must not be allowed to turn soar because of such negative publicity. For Nigeria ’s own good any external force to cause confusion must be resisted. It is high time the Federal Government of Nigeria started liaising with religious leaders and making sure they teach their congregations what is right, and it is high time the press stopped heating up the polity with crises in the Middle East and referring to such crises as religious war against Islam. If Iran has problems with the US it shouldn’t be simplified and referred to as war against Islam as North Korea have a similar problem too with the United States .

Somebody must be feeding Ashafa’s family with stories that the Nigerian government receives grants from the US government to victimize Moslems. To borrow an excerpt from Sunday Trust News review of February11, 2007, “But his families, both in Kano and his birth place Mani Katsina state, say Ashafa is being victimized and used as a scapegoat by President Obasanjo to forge America’s interest in their undeclared war against Islam, and also to justify the anti-terrorism grant they are collecting from the US government.” Ashafa’s younger brother in an interview lamented that while terrorist are having a field day in Niger-Delta and are being supported by the government monetarily for every hostage, his brother is being detained because he is from poor background. It is normal for the family to be aggrieved but they should be advised to stop making statements that would be a source of evidence against their brother. How they know so much about US government giving anti-terrorist grants to the Nigerian government to fight terrorism is worrisome and questionable.

The Mai Tetsine crises of the mid-eighties started from something small and later became a monster. It must not be allowed to happen again. Al-Qaeda in Nigeria is going to be worse than Mai Tetsine. The Nigerian government must make sure it gets to the root of the Al-Qaeda accusations and find the bigger fishes responsible or release those in their custody if they have no proofs.

We all know that in the end in this country when there is a crisis, be it political, religious or ethnic, those who pay the price are the common people who know nothing about what is going on. The casualties are almost always those who have lived among us and have become our dear friends and our families, going about their businesses peacefully.

Robot  Villager

# 1 MOHAMMAD ASHAFA, ISLAMIC TERRORISM AND NIGER...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 19.02.2007 18:26

Iphey  Villager

# 2 I wonder which Mohammed Ashafa this is? Is this the one that does conflict resolution with Pastor James Wuye in Kaduna? I'm not aware that he has been arrested and for all things terrorism. The last I knew, they were both in NYC late last year to show thier new documentary on interfaith conflict resolution... so this article is a bit confusing... Please can the author confirm if this is another Mohammed Ashafa? Posted by Iphey| 19.02.2007 22:45