Kaduna — Nigeria's city of Kaduna has repeatedly been the scene of violent clashes between Christians and Muslims. The latest violence came in the run-up to the Miss World beauty pageant, which was scheduled to be held in Nigeria, but was cancelled in the end and shifted to Britain after violent protests.
They were provoked when a Nigerian woman journalist speculated in an article that the Prophet Mohammed might have chosen a wife from among the Miss World contestants.
The reaction was immediate and tragic. Aggrieved young militants, accused the journalist of blasphemy and whipped up communal violence between Muslims and Christians in Kaduna. Nearly 200 people were killed in the rioting which also destroyed houses, churches and mosques.
Christian and Muslim leaders in Kaduna have been working hard to try to restore trust and harmony between their two communities. So, there is some nervousness in the city about Washington's decision to wage a military campaign against Iraq.
The Reverend John Joseph Hayab is the secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in Kaduna state.
Reverend, you have mentioned the 'spectre' of Iraq weighing heavily on people in Kaduna. Exactly what do you mean?
The ongoing crisis in Iraq is part of the reason why people are afraid. The problem in Iraq is between America, Britain and a few allies of America that are trying to attack Iraq. But the way people look at issues in Nigeria - especially crises - is completely different.
Even when this problem began, we began to hear that Iraq is an Islamic country and America wants to attack her, so the possibility is that if America attacks Iraq, then Muslims in Nigeria will also attack Christians.
As far as I¹m concerned, the problem in Iraq is not one of religion, because the deputy prime minister of Iraq is a Christian. If the Americans drop their bombs in Iraq, it will affect both Christians and Muslims.
But unfortunately a learned lawyer in Nigeria came up and said the issue is religion. So, if learned people can say this, then you must be afraid. What of the masses who are just waiting to hear 'go and do it?' So, there is that fear that if America eventually bombs Iraq, if care is not taken and if security is not put in place, then some Nigerians too will take it up as their fight and possibly throw bombs at each other.
That is why we are calling on the government of Nigeria to do everything within her reach to make sure that that doesn't happen.
Nafiu Baba-Ahmed is the secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Sharia (Islamic Legal Code) in Nigeria. After a considered discussion on the upcoming elections in Nigeria, he became excited and incensed as he spoke about U.S. military plans to end the Iraqi leadership of President Saddam Hussein, starting with the ultimatum by President Bush that the Iraqi leader and his sons should leave their country or face the consequences if they refuse to go into exile.
This is one of the hypocrisies a lot of people are afraid to talk about. The same country (the United States) that espouses the principles of democracy which it says should be institutionalised internationally, that same country goes against world public opinion; on the issues of the World Trade Organisation, on the environment and even a conference to censure Israel, it will walk out.
This is a country that claims it is the godfather of democracy. This is America. They have certain interests, they have mapped up what they call a new world order. Part of the new world order is 'we have finished with the Soviet Union, so we are the only superpower. So, we have the right to do as we wish, irrespective and regardless of what anybody says.' That is the motivating spirit behind the actions of George Bush.
Zaki Amani, the former Saudi Oil Minister for 25 years, a few days ago on the BBC revealed that some American friends of his had shown him a letter seven years ago, written by [Vice-President] Dick Cheney and others seven years ago. They wrote to President Clinton saying he should attack Iraq and take over the government.
So 9/11 is nothing but an excuse. It¹s a preplanned thing. You understand? It's part of America¹s idea of geopolitical rearrangement.
And in any case, how about the double hypocrisy? Israel is in the same region, it has more of all of these biological deadly weapons, but nobody is saying anything. The mere fact that Israel, within the same region, has these weapons, is a potential source of perpetual instability in the region. Why should America have the weapons and not Iraq and not Nigeria? I mean, I can¹t understand this.
Honestly, they are lucky they have nimble minds in positions of authority.
I would tell Bush - call his bluff and tell him off and tell him: 'Who the hell do you think you are? If you are telling me to practise democracy, then let's practise democracy in the United States.' But nobody is saying anything.
I think Bush is being driven and tele-guided by an interest group that has been manipulating him, even his own father. But they are past beneficiaries of that system.
If they attack Iraq, they will create not just another Osama bin Laden, but tens of thousands of Osamas - watch my words.
What about the role of the British prime minister, Tony Blair, and the Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar and Washington's other allies?
Tony Blair's case is pathetic, quite honestly. I believe that Robin Cook [Britain's former foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons who resigned this week in protest against military action without United Nations authorisation], like most Britons, must have felt nauseated by the fact that Britain is simply parroting whatever America does.
They cannot reconcile the Great Britain of 50 years ago or so, which had a large colonial empire, [with the now] small island, which is struggling to keep Northern Ireland. Britain has become more or less like the 51st state of the United States of America. They have no foreign policy of their own, whatever America wants, they are ahead. That is a tragedy.
For them to go and rely on the postgraduate thesis of somebody as an authority to justify what they are doing, it shows the desperation. It shows there is more to it than meets the eye.
And what are these issues?
There is the desire to take control of the Middle East, because they can see the emergence of radical, pro-Islamic governments.
They want to deal with Iraq to take over the oil, because it's sitting on 10 percent of the total oil reserves in the world.
By dealing with Iraq, it will be a lesson to other Arab Muslim states that, 'if you don't follow what we want, slavishly, this is the fate that awaits you.'
They want to establish and get everybody to accept that they are the single superpower and can do whatever they wish.
These specifically are the reasons, no more. And these had been planned a long time ago. Even 9/11. It was organized by the CIA [the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency] and the Mossad [Israeli Secret Service].
You mean the hijacking and flying of aircraft into the World Trade Centre towers and the Pentagon?
Yes, yes. It's surprising. I have books challenging every aspect of this and indicating that this would be preplanned. It was just to provide an excuse in the first place.
The Israeli government was getting concerned - and the American government because they are more or less one and the same thing - about the sudden, gradual tilting of sympathy, not only in America but in Europe, from the Israelis to the Palestinians.
People have been watching on TV - women, children and homes being destroyed. So there was a gradual shift of public sympathy from the Israelis to the Palestinians. What to do to change that?
And, [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon has his own agenda. He wants to deal with this, but then he's afraid that if there is no important thing that will take away and divert international public opinion from Israel, then there will be a lot of pressure on them.
Now, he can go anywhere he wants, kill as many people, destroy whatever he likes - you understand.
Isn't that very far-fetched? It seems pretty provocative of you to suggest that it's a CIA and an Israeli intelligence plot.
There is nothing provocative. That is the truth. That is the truth. I have some very interesting literature. There is a book, a very interesting one, called 'The Big Lie'. There is another one, 'Stranger than Fiction'. There are so many books written by Americans and Europeans debunking every issue, every issue, every event that happened and indicating that it was a preplanned and premeditated act for a particular reason - to get American public opinion to support America's warmongering policy and justify it.
What is your message to President Saddam Hussein who is not, after all, the ideal leader, is he?
I have absolutely no sympathies for Saddam Hussein as an individual, absolutely - except that even a bad person should not be wronged. What right has America to go after Saddam Hussein alone? Is he the only bad leader? They have had the longest history of supporting tyrants. There are still tyrants all over the Middle East, [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak and the rest of them, supported by America. Why have they been pointing at him?
My greatest worry is the ordinary people, who do not even understand the politics of this crisis who will end up suffering, dying or - you know - suffering in one way or another as a result of the war.
But God will never allow injustice.
My message to America is that they should learn from past history of previous empires and previous kingdoms that existed. Kingdoms and nations - like individuals - have a life-span. They reach their peak, then down they go. They disintegrate. Others emerge from their ashes.
We had the Roman Empire, we had the Persian Empire, we had the Assyrian Empire, we had the Islamic Empire, we had the Ottoman Empire, we had the British Empire, we had the French Colonial Empire. Now we have America.
We had Russia from 1914 for just about 70 years. They are on the verge of fragmenting. Weakness is from within and outside. It's going to happen to America. And arrogance - that arrogance - is going to first begin to isolate them. They are beginning to offend their closest friends. You understand?
Secondly, there will be internal weaknesses. They should learn from the lessons of history. But, unfortunately, the most ignorant people in the world are the Americans. I am amazed. I have been to America many, many, many times and it's unbelievable. This permeates the totality of the society, from the lowest level to the president.
This president hardly knows anything. He didn't even have a passport until a few years before he became president, because he never traveled anywhere. He doesn't know anything. They are the most ignorant people.
Mallam Muhammad Sani Isah is the chief Imam of the Waff Road Mosque Forum in Kaduna. He has been working tirelessly, with Reverend Hayab and others, in an interfaith effort to bring Christians, Muslims and others together after the episodes of religious violence in Kaduna, most lately because of the Miss World beauty competition. Speaking about the crisis in the Gulf, Mallam Isah had messages for both the Iraqi leader and the American president.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
I advise Bush to think twice or thrice about this issue, because his people also in the US are also always and every day asking him to look twice and thrice, because of the threat internationally. No matter what, he has to justify what he is ready to do; the reality at hand - which the common man is seeing - is that he should have waited for the United Nations to take action. But if he, or the United States as a country, as a government, should take action without waiting for that, you will find that a lot of countries and a lot of governments are not with Bush himself.
I was in the US about four months ago, for some training, and I found out how people are divided into two - some supporting and some against. They are saying their views. This is the good thing about America, you can come and speak your mind.
What message do you think President Bush's action sends to the world?
It's sending violence. Because if they attack Iraq now, as I'm talking to you, it will do more harm than good. It will breed much more hatred towards America and Americans, you know, which innocently we don't have to.
Because, if Bush did something, we don't have to blame the whole of the American people but this is what will happen. A lot of people are ignorant. A lot of people don't know that. They think that all of the Americans are behind him or are with him.
So what I'm saying is that if he does this, it will cause a lot of problems and would do more harm than good. So, he should stop this. It's better, so that peace will reign.
Let us, if possible - and I think it is possible - resolve this problem amicably instead of resolving it by war or through war. Otherwise, I'm afraid innocent people in Iraq and outside Iraq will suffer. Innocent Americans will suffer. Innocent Muslims somewhere in the world will suffer. It will be a suffering for both Muslims and Christians all over the world. So it's not a suffering for Americans only. It will breed suffering to all of us and we don't like it.
And your advice to President Saddam Hussein?
Let Saddam Hussein cooperate with the UN weapons inspectors. Let him give them all the maximum cooperation they need, so that he himself should not contribute to the problem that will come back later and affect Muslims and Christians in Iraq and outside Iraq. He also should cooperate with them and do what he is asked to do so that we live in peace in Iraq and in general.
That is my message. I hope he will listen to me and act accordingly.
