Who Are We?

Over the past few months, a man has been arrested for naming his dog Buhari and eight others have been murdered by mobs for apparently committing blasphemy. Governors of Kano and Zamfara have also threatened severe punishment for those who dare to commit blasphemy.

As I was reflecting on the on these issues, it dawned on me that Nigeria is asking us some questions. Who are we? What are our values? What are our fundamental beliefs?

The Christians among us would consider it morally reprehensible for a man to engage in polygamy. On the other hand, the Muslims among us would consider polygamy to be a moral virtue.

The liberals among us would consider it a moral duty to challenge religious figures. On the other hand, a significant number of deeply religious Nigerians would consider it an act of blasphemy and would support the death penalty for anyone who dares to challenge their religious figures.

In the western world, a compromise has been reached amongst citizens of its various countries. In summary, the compromise says that you are free to think, say or act on your individual beliefs as long as they do not cause harm to others. In practice, this would mean that an atheist is entitled criticise and even condemn other religions as long as he does not set out to kill or assault religious people.

However, it appears that from the utterances of Nigerian religious and political leaders, that such a compromise is not suitable. They would prefer a blanket ban on all forms of criticism of religion.

I do not wish to debate the rights or wrongs of the Nigerian approach however I think it is clear to all that our approach is not working. In effect, Nigeria is a union of liberals and conservatives with no agreed rules or frameworks governing our interrelationships.

I think we should all be concerned that businessmen, students and youth corpers are fearful of visiting or working in certain parts of the country because they risk death for holding contrary opinions. If people cannot live peaceably amongst themselves, can they truly be said to be members of the same nation?

As the debate for the restructuring of Nigeria continues, I hope that this is one of the issues to be addressed because I don’t see how we can prosper as a nation if we don’t have agreed values.