Nasir El-Rufai and Islam in the FCT
By
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
LAGOS , AUGUST 8, 2004
The title of this essay must appear strange to most readers. The FCT
minister, Nasir el-Rufai, has never, to my knowledge, declared that he
was going to "launch" the shari'ah in his territory. Non-Muslims in
the FCT have never had cause to feel threatened by his administration.
If anything, he recently ordered the demolition of places of worship,
including (sacrilege of sacrileges!) mosques, for the minor and
inconsequential oversight of the builders in not obtaining appropriate
authority for their structures. A man who can actually demolish a
"house of God" cannot be in any one's books a believer.
El-Rufai , Nigeria 's brilliant FCT minister, has a reputation for
controversy. At BPE, if it was not the fight with those who misled the
investors in AP, then it was his public and acrimonious altercation
with the raving beauty of the cabinet, Mrs Kema Chikwe. The first
month he became minister he was embroiled in controversy with the
leadership of the Senate, over his assertion that he had been asked
for a bribe to "smoothen" his confirmation by the upper house. He next
proceeded to demolish the houses and other properties of
well-connected, eminent(!) citizens that were at variance with the
approved master plan of the FCT. In this crusade not even churches,
and not even mosques, were spared. Of recent, he has introduced
measures aimed at making sure that all scams involving land allocation
at FCT are exposed by revoking certificates of occupancy and demanding
all land-owners to go through a screening process leading to
re-certification.
But to dismiss Nasir as being "controversial", as many are wont to do,
is a disastrous mistake. First of all, in spite of the fact that he
has ruffled a quite few feathers (including many ostrich feathers),
his actions have been met with the quiet approval of the majority of
Nigerian society. What is termed controversial is in fact a stubborn
desire to be different, not just for its sake, but for the sake of
making a difference, a small positive contribution to a system in need
of change. Without growing a long beard and wearing a turban, without
shouting Allahu Akbar at every mundane and hypocritical political
rally, e-Rufai has set the pace of letting actions speak louder than
words, and being guided by conscience in the conduct of public trust.
He did not have to do that. He could, like many before (and around
him), have continued with business as usual. He could have negotiated
a settlement with rich house owners, spared their houses in return for
a payoff. He could have ridden on the wave of corruption in land
matters at the FCT and allocated plots to himself or his proxies, or
even sold prime land for a large personal fortune. Hew could have done
all this, while blowing his siren everyday to announce that he is
going to mosque, and making inflammatory statements as proof of his
loyalty and commitment to the Muslim ummah. He could have demolished
churches, and found an excuse for not demolishing mosques. He could
have stolen money and paid for the ulama in his town to go to Mecca on
hajj and umrah, or, in the case of the younger, smarter, more
materialistic Wahhabi types, given them some nice corner plots to sell
for a few million naira. He could spend his time mouthing
nonsensicalities about the dress code of women or other matters of
personal morality, while conducting public trust himself in the most
immoral manner.
He could, like many Nigerians, have shivered at the thought of
engaging powerful men and women-including uniformed officers and those
in retirement- in conflict. He could have thought of the need to be
careful, to protect his life and that of his family, from those who
would stop at nothing to protect what they have amassed at the expense
of the public. He chose not to. He opted for the difficult path of
confronting, head-on, a national malady, of risking everything in the
name of his conscience and his country. No one can say if el-Rufai
will last long in government if he continues like this. No one can
tell which powerful toe he will step on that will kick him out of
office. But if that happens, and when it happens, at least we will
know he stepped on a toe, something that we, as Nigerians, have been
too timid to even try.
I do not agree with everything Nasir has done or said. I certainly do
not share his complete confidence in market forces, or at least the
bit of it I saw on display when he was at the BPE. My own development
as an economist was mixed with an orientation and affinity to Marxian
political economy. I therefore have a healthy skepticism for market
forces and find myself ideologically opposed to the monetarism of
Milton Friedman and the Chicago school. This means I probably will
find much to question in economic thinking of Nasir and his close
friends in the Ministry of Finance and the Central bank. But while I
disagree with him on some points, I respect him and also find many
areas of common vision.
Nasir's courage, and principle, are refreshing for many reasons. One
reason is that for those who have lost hope in Nigeria the message is
that not all hope is lost. Along with the Minister of Finance and the
Minister of Information, Nasir is one of a handful of cabinet
appointments made by Obasanjo since he came to power in 1999 that
Nigerians can be truly proud of. Practically every other cabinet
appointment, starting from his choice of running mate, was an
unmitigated disaster. One or two potentially good hands did not last
at all because they would not play ball. The point here is that we now
know there is still hope.
But there is also freshness in the absence of hypocritical
moralization and pretence of religious fervour. We live in a country
reputed to be the most religious in the world. We have Muslim
fundamentalists of all shades and sects, and evangelical, born-again
Christians and prosperity churches. Our churches and mosques are full
of worshippers. Our roads are blocked on Fridays and Sundays by those
who have parked their cars and blocked the road for those who do not
worship God in their own church or mosque, or who worship Him at a
different time in a different manner, or even those who choose, as is
their right to, not to worship Him at all. The worshippers at the
redeemed camp, on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway, make the road
impassable when they go for camping and night vigil.
Yet Nigeria is the most corrupt nation in the world. We are known for
the plunder of public funds, for economic and financial crime, for
drug trafficking and counterfeiting and forgery. There is no security
of life and property. As more Nigerians sink into poverty, religious
leaders are coming out of it and prospering. Obviously if the God we
say we worship is as we say He is, it is not He that we worship if
this is our character. Our president spoke to God and he contested
elections based on this personal conversation. There was no witness
but we will take his word that, at least someone who he believes to be
God spoke to him. One of his special assistants, a pastor with a
history of drug addiction, insists that the president is anointed of
God and threatens fire and brimstone and God's wrath on all who dare
criticize the messiah. Muslim politicians, particularly at state
level, have become religious demagogues. At every forum now Allah's
name is invoked, the shari'ah is referred to, and there is this big
competition to prove commitment to the faith.
In all this, we have done a great disservice to God and religion. By
dragging both into the murky waters of our politics, by mentioning God
at every trivial opportunity, by reducing religious symbols to
political jargon and propaganda instruments, we have desacralised that
which was holy, tarnished that which was pure, and lowered that which
was exalted. Religious scholars have become contractors and political
opportunists. This is not new of course. It is an old insight, going
back at least to Gramsci's Prison Notes, that the religious(and
traditional) establishment is often co-opted by political society as
an active element in the persuasive machinery of the hegemonic state.
This is why, for many of us, the emergence of overtly political
religious movements of the Christian right and Muslim fringe, was
always viewed with suspicion as a threat to our corporate existence as
a polity.
In all the years of shouting religion, most of these politicians have
continued to steal, to lie, to cheat, and to give and receive bribes
with impunity. This is why it is those like Nasir, who make no claims
but act in a manner that is consistent with honour and good
conscience-it is to leaders like him that Muslims should turn for
direction. While those who claim to be the guardians of religion are
busy selling it and desecrating it, those they condemn as irreligious
are restoring its dignity while distancing it from squalor. This is
what it means to be a Muslim, or Christian, leader in a
multi-religious, multi-ethnic country. It is to serve all its citizens
to the best of your ability without fear or favour or discrimination.
It is to act in a manner that is in keeping with the best traditions
of your faith, so that you earn for your religion not ridicule, but
respect.
Ultimately, people like Nasir are standing against a very strong evil
current. The power of that current should not be underestimated and
they could well be drowned by it or swept aside. But for now they are
still standing. What they need is simple. They need more and more
Nigerians to stand up with them. For more politicians, religious
leaders, armed forces personnel, civil servants, bankers,
intellectuals, labour leaders, emirs and chiefs etc to say "no" to the
system we have been running so far and which has led us into this
abyss out of which we are just trying to crawl.
If you cannot raise your voice, much less your head, to be counted
among those who stand for change, then please do this one small thing
for me. Say, along with me, whisper if you like, a silent prayer: "May
Allah protect them, may Allah help them, may Allah guide them in
changing this country for the better."
