Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir’s congressional prayers in Jos today has provoked an angry reaction in this piece by Comrade Muhammed Ishaq, PhD in Mathematics from the University of Khartoum in Sudan and a leader of the Northern Youths Congress for Progress, (NYCP). The original title of this piece has been changed so as to enable a wider debate or reflection on the issues being raised by the author who is obviously angry over the issue. Alternative positions are welcome!
Comrade Muhammed Ishaq
If Sani Yahaya Jingir could be allowed to perform Friday congregational prayer despite an order against that from the Federal Government, I think there is no point in stopping any public gathering again since no citizen is better than another. Therefore, I advise all other mosques and churches to open for congregational worship. I urge all businessmen to continue with their usual businesses. All schools and other institutions should resume.
Nigerian government is not serious about fighting this coronavirus. And it’s not serious with enforcement of law and order in general. It is only serious about collecting donations and foreign aids. We are not a serious country at all. Our leaders are jokers and pretenders who toy with the lives of citizens in exchange of political support from some politico-religious entrepreneurs that call themselves clerics.
If some few citizens are above the law and order, let us all be above the law and order to ensure equality is observed. No nation will go anywhere with discriminatory and selective enforcement of law and order. It is this kind of selective justice that made Boko Haram to thrive and remain undefeated.
El-Zakzaky was wounded and put in detention to date for merely blocking a street which some of his followers did while someone who belongs to another sect is busy defying government’s orders with pride and nothing happens to him.
Giving Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir exceptional treatment has proven to the world and any discerning mind that the merciless treatment given to El-Zakzaky and his followers was nothing but a sheer injustice and crass wickedness. The Government of Nigeria should question its sense of justice and equality.
Last Sunday, COZA Church in Abuja was forced to close and abstain from congregational Sunday service. We thought the rule was universal, thereby applauded the government. But to our utter dismay and surprise, the rule has an exception and it was Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir of Jos.
He boasted in a viral video that no number of policemen or military personnel could stop him from performing Friday congregational prayer. And his gasconade became a reality as he and his followers performed their Friday congregational prayer today without hitches.
The Nigerian government should note that discriminatory treatment of citizens and selective enforcement of law and order is the foundation of chaotic and anarchical society. This is what gave rise to disgruntled and rebellious groups like IPOB, Boko Haram, ISWAP, modern kidnappers, organized banditry, etc. In conclusion, we now understand that government has two different categories of citizens that include those few that are untouchable and the majority that can be arrested and killed.
Today’s selective enforcement of order reminds me of the bullion van that was seen cruising into the residence of APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu in Lagos on the day of 2019 general elections. Though the Government has been beating its chest that it fights corruption and despite receiving petition from concerned Nigerians, up to now the Government through the EFCC has not done anything in that regard! This and other cases have proven to us that Nigeria is a joke seriously and it will remain a joke until when we get leaders that are serious, just and truly progressive!