EL ZAKZAKY, ON EXILE IN AKS Before You Ask For Zakzaky's Release...

EL ZAKZAKY, ON EXILE IN AKS

Before You Ask For Zakzaky's Release...

Do You Know That:

El-ZakZaky was a university undergraduate and deputy leader of the Muslim Students Society MSS, in Ahmadu Bello University ABU Kaduna, when radical Islamic preacher, Muhammadu Marwa Maitatsine, began his murderous rhetoric in the late seventies and early nineteen eighties. ZakZaky was not his member but he was at his prime, horning his skills in radical Islam.

Thursday, December 18, 1980, Police went to stop an illegal gathering of Maitatsine members in Kano and just like Abuja last week, on that day alone, four policemen and a journalist, Tunde Amao of Daily Times were killed by the fanatics. Dozens of vehicles and houses were torched.

The fanatics, who were in their thousands, seized five Mark 4 rifles, six different types of submachine guns, five riot guns, two pistols, from the policemen and began a week of bloodletting until former President Shagari ordered the Nigerian Army to intervene.

The then acting Kano State Commissioner of Police, Jonathan Pogoson, had written to the acting Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Adewusi, seeking permission to demolish Maitatsine enclave, like the Army did to Zakzaky's Gellesu shrine, but Mr. Adewusi called for caution and a court order to do so.

The Assistant Director of NSO in Kano in a letter referenced IS.S 49/594 dated August 9, 1979 had warned the country about Maitatsine and other radical Islamic preachers in the state.

“It is reported that some Koranic Mallams in Kano City have been preaching in various places without permission which is likely to spark off religious trouble,” the letter, which mentioned Maitatsine and six other radical clerics, read in part.

The Justice Anthony Aniogulu-led tribunal on the Maitatsine crisis, in its April 14, 1981 report submitted to President Shehu Shagari, made an instructive mention of Zakzaky, warning the country about the deputy leader of the Muslim Students Society (MSS) in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria named Ibrahim El-Zakzaky:

“On 20th August, 1980,” the report said, “El-Zakzaky was reported to be circulating in the Northern States, pamphlets captioned, ‘Fadakarwa ga Musulmin Nigeria’ (A call on Nigerian Muslims) in which he condemned the Nigerian Constitution for being anti-Islamic, called for Islamic revolution, and urged Islamic students to rise against the Federal Government. He also demanded the recognition of Shariah Law. El-Zakzaky is reported to have visited on several occasions, and he recently returned from Iran where he was said to have received training in planning and executing students’ unrest.”

That that was 40 years ago.

Now the disturbing reports that Zakzaky's Shiites bear firearms give cause for worries to anybody who witnessed or read about the rise or philosophy of violent extremism. It’s a warning signal that the country is in for another showdown with another monster.

Had Nigeria taken heed to the recommendations of Justice Anthony Aniagolu report, the country may not have experienced Boko Haram nor Shi’a crisis, both of which have now become intractable.

The leadership styles of Maitatsine and El-Zakzaky bear a similar pattern: nassicism, arrogation of powers to themselves such that they block roads leading to their spiritual enclaves, harassing passers-by and brutalising neighbors. These were the hallmarks of Maitatsine’s Yan Awaki enclave and El-Zakzaky’s Gellesu shrine.

Before you call for the release of ZakZaky, you should also have a suggestion on how-to deal with his menace. Those structures that these men have built with intent to disrupt peace for the rest of us and abridge life without cause must be demolished and decapitated by the State and brought under the authority of the Nigerian state before this country should consider releasing ZakZaky.

De-radicalization is not a short term remedy but must begin immediately among his followers.

■I will join my voice with Jafar Jafar* of *Daily Nigerian* from whom I copied most of the history in this article, and all Nigerians who agree that there is acute need for regulation in religious affairs in Nigeria, to shout it loud!

■I will also join others in standing with El-Rufai’s law to regulate preaching.

Yours Sincerely,

Citizen Agba Jalingo.