Stakeholders in Kaduna State have attributed the protracted crisis in the state to failure of governance, injustice and growing culture of hate among the people.
The stakeholders said in separate interviews with NAN that failure to punish perpetrators of violence in the last four decades has emboldened others to continuously resort to violence at the slightest misunderstanding.
Sheik Jamilu Albani, Special Assistant to Gov. Nasiru El-Rufa’i on Religious Matters said: “The major cause of incessant crisis in Kaduna state is that no perpetrator has ever been brought to book in the last 39 years, hence the recurrence of the crisis.
“There is no single person that is brought to book. Some of these perpetrators were arrested and arraigned before a court of law and were found guilty and subsequently convicted, but later released by government, and some of them were even rewarded with traditional titles.
“Government must rise up to its responsibilities by dealing with anybody, group or groups found guilty in accordance with law irrespective of his or her position in the society and regardless of his religion or political affiliation.
“This action will serve as a deterrent to others who have similar intention.
“Let there be justice to all, whosoever deserves to die should die, whosoever deserves to be jailed for life should serve, who deserves years imprisonment should also be treated as such.
“Also, if a leader is found guilty, let government remove him or her from that position and ensure that he or she is punished according to the law no matter how highly placed. If this is not done, we are going nowhere.”
Also, Rev. Isaac Gbadero, the Pastor of First Baptist Church, Sabongari, Zaria, said religious intolerance, inequality in treating issues of religion especially by political leaders and lack of truth by religious leaders were factors fueling the crisis.
“We, religious leaders, don’t preach the truth to our followers, when we go for meetings before Governors or before other big people, we say peace-peace but we don’t tell each other the truth.
“What we say in the meetings is not what we do out there and some of us don’t choose our words during preaching, we instigate one religion against another.
“Even among the sects, some of us instigate one sect against the other and in that kind of atmosphere, there will never be harmony even within the same religion talk-less of interrelations harmony,” he said.
Gbadero said political leaders must also stop taking side during crisis.
“The moment you are elected as President, Governor, Senator, member House of Representatives or State Assembly, you are supposed to be for all people not only your sect or religion.”
He added that people must learn to respect the tradition and beliefs of one another.
“When you don’t respect my tradition, you should not expect me to respect yours too, tradition to some people is more or less like a religion, hence the need to respect it.
“Another thing is, there should be equal distribution of wealth to all citizens. When we say something is a national wealth or a state wealth, it should be distributed equally. ‘’
Gbadero also observed that the inequality also manifest in employment, where children from poor families are left to rot no matter their level of qualifications.
“Today, we say we celebrate Gamji, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and the rest of them, what does Gamji represents? He represents truth, justice, unity, love and concern for one another. Do our leaders today follow their footsteps?
“Our political and religious leaders today are they doing what Sir Ahmadu Bello did then? Are they portraying the justice, truthfulness, unity and love today, remember, the citizens of toady are wiser than that of yesterday.
“If as leaders, we will be just in what we do, it will go a long way in addressing some of our predicaments,” he said.
On his part, Zubairu Galadima-Soba, Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the state, attributed the clashes to “clash of interest’’ of the different segments of people in the state.
Galadima-Soba emphasised the need for people to respect each others’ rights while fighting to protect their own rights and urged aggrieved persons against taking laws into their hands.
Rev. Enoch Bitiyong, the Secretary, Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), Kaduna South, noted that hate speech by politicians, religious and traditional leaders have equally compounded the problem.
He said that politicians and religious leaders must shift their efforts to uniting the people rather than dividing them.
On his part, Sheikh Kaseem, a member of Consultative Forum for Religious Harmony in the state, blamed the situation on abandonment of God, as people no longer adhere to the teachings of their religions.
Kaseem added that “modernity’’ has derailed age long culture of respect, compassion, and love, and has changed human behaviours such that people no longer value human lives.
He called on relevant stakeholders including traditional and religious leaders to wake up to their responsibilities on value reorientation to promote respect for human lives.
Malam Yusuf Arrigassiyu, Executive Director, Muslim League for Accountability, also blamed the situation on failure of government to enforce laws, thereby allowing people to resort to self-help.
Arrigassiyu noted that people arrested and convicted for igniting violence in the state were often set free by government while recommendations by various Commissions of Inquiry on past crisis were never implemented.
“When people believe that they can take lives anytime they want, and no one can do anything about it, what do you think will happen?
“Until Government shows its strength of authority, conflict will continue in Kaduna state,” Arrigassiyu said.
Rev. Sunday Ibrahim, Secretary of the state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), accused successive governments of partiality in handling “even security issues.’’
“The government is partial, even in handling security issues. Under such condition, people will continue to fight to protect their rights.
“What belong to people should be given to them and justice should prevail when any one felt unfairly treated,” Ibrahim said.
Mr Christopher John, a cleric, also said that government must be fair to all and ensure that victims of various attacks and injustices get justice to enhance public confidence in governance.
On his part, Mr Chris Nnoli, President General, Igbo Community Welfare Association, Kaduna State Branch, identified unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and rumour mongering among issues contributing to the crisis.
Sharing similar sentiment, Most Rev. Mathew Ndagosa, the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, particularly said that rumour mongering causes more deaths than guns in the state.
Dr Khalid Aliyu, Secretary General, Jama’atu Nasril Islam, said government and security agencies must track sponsors of the violence and bring them to justice.
According to him, the failure of government to be decisive in handling security breaches has allowed the crisis to continue.
Aliyu also blamed some religious leaders of stocking the embers of conflicts through their preaching.
“So called people of God instead of preaching peace are busy spreading hate to their followers and the government just keep quite allowing them to continue inciting people to violence.”
The JNI scribe also said that community leaders have failed in their responsibility of ensuring peace and brotherliness among people in their domain, as they also take side, thereby, perpetuating injustice and hate.
Comments