Muslim elites in the North laid the foundation for Boko Haram - Rev Kukah

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew
Kukah, says that the Muslim elites laid the
foundation for Boko Haram in Nigeria. Kukah said
this while delivering a lecture titled ‘The Muslim
agenda for Nigeria: Challenges of development
and good governance’, at a conference organised
by the Islamic Welfare Foundation at the Fountain
University, Osogbo in Osun state recently.
“A hypocritical elite continues to believe
that it can claim the benefits of democracy
but use it only to consolidate its hold on
power. This is what has laid the foundation
for what is now Boko Haram. We must
locate the current crisis of Boko Haram
within the context of the inability of the
northern Muslim elite to live by their own
dubious creed of being Muslims. They
preached Sharia Law but only for the poor.
They preach a religion that encourages
education, yet their own people are held in
the bondage of ignorance. They came to
power on the basis of a democratic society
but they turned around and declared Sharia
to generate a false consciousness among
the poor that they want a theocracy. They
did not wish to live by the same standards,
so they decided to live their own Islam in
the capitals of the world away from the
prying eyes of their own people. Boko
Haram began as a revolt against this
mendacity, subterfuge and hypocrisy. Now,
I hear Muslims in northern Nigeria hiding
under the cover of the facts by saying:
‘These Boko Haram people are not
Muslims. They do not represent us’. Well,
first, they are your own children. You must
take responsibility for what has made them
what they are today and to the rest of
society. They claim they have been inspired
by the Quran and no other holy book. They
say they want to build an Islamic state. So,
they are Muslims. After all, from the
debates of the Constituent Assemblies of
1979, 1988, and 1995 and beyond, did their
fathers and grandfathers not stage
walkouts, demanding Sharia Law? Was it
not to tame them that President Ibrahim
Babangida declared what he called ‘no-go
areas’ in the debates about our
constitution? “The promise to institute
Sharia has become the most potent tool for
political mobilisation and organisation. Till
date, the tactics may have changed, but the
essence has not. Rather than face the
tough questions of how and why over 15
million children in the northern states are
on the streets; how and why the northern
states are falling behind on almost every
index of development, the northern Muslim
elite continues to live for just the moment,
with no plans for tomorrow. Should we
pretend that a society that allows the
forced marriages of its young daughters
could frown on the idea of a group
kidnapping and forcing young girls into
sexual slavery? Islam must have an honest
look at the mirror and have an internal
discussion.”he said