Ramadan and elections: Irrationality is not exclusive
By Lilian Onoh
With tiresome consistency, the entitled irrationality of the Sharia Brigade that took over Nigeria in 1999 reared its ugly head once the dates for the 2027 elections were announced. They demanded that elections be postponed because it would coincide with Ramadan.
They deliberately ignored the fact that Lent, the 46-day fasting period for Christians, a religion that precedes Islam by about 700 years, also falls in the same period. Yet Christians have never demanded that anything, be it exams, elections, conferences or work be suspended or postponed, as Nigerian Moslems routinely do.
Meanwhile, the Sharia Governors, the official enforcers of Boko Haram’s ideology, have shut down schools, entertainment centres, reduced working hours and created a Hisbah Police force to punish anyone not fasting – Christian or Moslem.
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It is therefore time for Christians to rise up with the same level of entitlement and irrational stubbornness that the Sharia Brigade exhibit and claim back Nigeria. The time for trying to reason with them is over.
It is time to make our own demands that must be met before next year’s elections. If they are not met then nobody should return a single Governor, Senator, Representative or the President to office in 2027.
The baseline is the 1914 Amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria, which expired in 2014. Until it is dismantled, equality, parity and fairness must be applied in both regions, starting with religion.
If Moslems want elections to be postponed for Ramadan, it must also not take place between Shrove Tuesday until a week after Easter. Likewise, in Southern States, no call to Islamic Prayer should be allowed and no Islamic schools should be allowed to operate during Lent, since the Sharia Governors have closed down Christian establishments, including schools, in their area. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
All South Eastern states should pass a law ordering the summary confiscation of cows invading any farmland in the East and mandatory five-year imprisonment for any herdsman found on any farmland in the East. It is time for Governors to make state laws in the same way the Sharia Governors have made new laws in their states.
All cows found on any farmland should be freely distributed to the community where they are found. This is the only way that our farmlands can be reclaimed and communities can return to producing food. Benue, Plateau and any other state can do the same if they want peace in their land.
This is perfectly within the ambit of State Governors’ powers. Once it is state law, the police cannot interfere. If Kano State can have a Hisbah police, then Enugu, Imo or Ogun can have the Cow Capture Brigade, with full authority to confiscate marauding cows, kill them if necessary, distribute to communities and ensure that meat is in plenteous supply across their communities that cannot farm. That is a fair exchange.
This should actually have been IPOB’s strategy instead of crippling the East by their sit-at-home economic sabotage. It is not too late. With the end of the sit-at-home order, IPOB can reinvent itself into ensuring that all cows on farmland in the East are quickly dispersed across communities where they will be quickly captured, killed and eaten since the villagers’ harvest was eaten by the cows. And once any herdsman found on any farm in the East gets an automatic five-year jail sentence, they will remember that no historical routes through Igbo farmlands existed until Buhari made it up.
If the Federal Government will not abolish government sponsorship of religions pilgrimages, then funds allocated for pilgrimages should be the same for Christians and Moslems.
All identified victims of Boko Haram or Fulani Jihadists, Bandits, ISWAP etc. currently in IDP camps must be paid N100 million each by the Federal Government that failed to protect them.
All so-called “repentant” terrorists previously given millions of Naira and houses by State Governors must surrender their largess and be returned to prison and those who killed anyone be sentenced to death and executed. Their “repentance” cannot bring back the dead or heal the trauma of those they raped and tortured; and nowhere does repentance negate punishment – the thief on the cross still had to endure his punishment even though he repented of his sins.
The families of the Chibok Girls and the Dapchi Schoolgirls must be paid at least N150 million each by their State Government. Nigeria must never forget that current Vice President Shettima is the person who ordered the Chibok school girls back to school after President Jonathan had closed them down due to the insecurity in the area, and he was the Governor who personally assured students of total security and threatened them with never taking the exams if they did not return to school. He has never been held accountable. As Vice President he should at least show some contrition by ensuring their release and compensation.
The families of the Chibok girls still in captivity 14 years after their kidnap must also receive a retroactive annual N50 million compensation from the Nigerian Army that failed to protect them. The family of Leah Sharibu, who remains in captivity eight years after she was kidnapped because she refused to convert to Islam must also receive a retroactive N50 million per year from the Nigerian Army.
The Federal Government must declare February 18, Leah Sharibu Day. It must also declare April 14, Chibok Girls Day, with flags flying at half-mast on both days as a show of sorrow and contrition by the State that failed them.
Any terrorist that raped or rapes any captive should be publicly castrated.
The cut-off mark for JAMB and WAEC must be uniform across Nigeria; and if Koranic/Islamic Studies is accepted for employment in the Civil Service, then Bible Studies must equally be accepted.
The composition of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal must be religiously balanced.
Ninety per cent of the Security Vote for 2026-2027 should be distributed to the families of those slaughtered across Nigeria by these bandits since the security services have no further use other than to capture cows – a service that should be paid for by Myetti Allah not the tax payer.
Southern States should demand 80% derivation, with the Federal Government receiving only 20%; and demand the rights over the minerals in their states so that our common patrimony does not go towards keeping children out of school during Ramadan.
And these are very reasonable demands when compared with the unreasonable entitlement of those clamouring for election postponement because they will be fasting. They will lead to peace and progress instead of a return to the dark ages.
Until the 1914 Amalgamation is annulled, we demand full parity. If they don’t want it, they should go their own way and leave the rest of us to progress with the rest of the world. We have had enough. The time to be reasonable with irrationality is over.
The DSS should kindly note that nothing in this article incites disorder but contrarily lays out strategies that would lead to the peace that the state has failed to provide for its long-suffering citizens; and which the DSS should support if they have Nigeria’s best interest at heart. They do not need to invite me or the publisher for “questioning”!
- Lilian Onoh was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Namibia and former Chargé d’Affaires to Jamaica
