Most Reverend Josiah Idowu Fearon is the Secretary-General of Anglican Consultative Council worldwide. The Chairman of Kaduna State Peace Commission, who recently bagged Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation Award for peace on his 70th birthday, spoke with ABDULRAHEEM AODU on a wide range of issues such as having peaceful general elections, the road to peace in Kaduna state among others.
The Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation Peace Award
The occasion was unexpected; I wasn’t expecting any recognition from Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation. It came to me last week when Yeriman Zazzau called me in London and said I am one of the five people to be recognised, in the area of peace. I said I should be allowed to think about it, two days later he asked for my email and I sent it to him. I showed it to my Archbishop and he jumped at it and said this is the best news for us this year. He said if my schedule permits, I should go, so I came in today (morning of the award). I showed the message to my vice chairman in Kaduna State Peace Commission, Mrs. Priscilla Ankut and she said the award is not mine, but for the Commission. It is a happy thing for me, I am happy to make any sacrifice to ensure peace in Kaduna state, especially with the forthcoming general elections.
I think it is almost the height of my priesthood when the federal government honoured me with Officer of Order of the Niger (OON) I don’t have money, I’m not rich but I am not poor. This award is an honour from home, which is a big honour for me. I pay my tax in Kaduna, I have been on many committees in Kaduna especially in Zone II (Kaduna Central Zone).
Significance of Centre for Study of Islam and Christianity
This is Kaduna, the centre of Christian-Muslim religion. The Lord gave it to me in the North, and Kaduna to be precise, the navel of the North. When the NGOs give recognition, over 80% of them don’t understand the other person’s religion and I said you can’t broker peace without knowing the world view of the other person. The Quran is very clear in chapter 49 where it says “we created you males and females from same parents and made you into nations and tribes that you may understand each other.” That is the source of education in Islam. In 1967 in England, I did a course on Islamic civilisation and you can imagine how Arabs help the world in transferring knowledge from Greek to Arabic and to the world. This chapter 49 coupled with what we have in the Bible encouraged me. The people I gun for are the Pentecostals because they are the big problem of this, they want the Muslims to convert, but they don’t want to have anything to do with Islam.
When I wanted to start the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christianity, I asked the Sultan of Sokoto to head the board, but he said because of his position and his involvement in other initiatives he would not be able to join the board, but he nominated the Emir of Kazaure to represent him. Then there was John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Imam Sani Isa, Mahdi Shehu and my wife because she has a master’s degree in conflict resolution. I paid lecturers who come from all over the world to teach the students before an organisation decided to partner with us and support us with grant of €9,000 for a year.
This is what I believe I should do because I have been in Kaduna since 1963, when I joined the military school in Zaria; I finished and came back to Kaduna. It was here that I gave birth to two of my children, Dauda, who is late now, and Ni’imat. So, the Kaduna Peace Commission and the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christianity are my contributions to peace in Kaduna state. We used to have 20 Christians doing a diploma programme, then I said no you cannot have only Christians you should have Muslims too. Now, we have 20 Muslim students for the diploma and six or seven women on certificate course and 16 Christians on diploma course; at the end of the year, they would write a project for us. I cannot see Mahdi take up cutlass and say he would cut my head off. Christians and Muslims have their differences; which are about Isa, Jesus, but I don’t have to fight because of that.
The Commission’s pact on peace ahead of 2019 elections
There have been horrible things said about Kaduna that there would be riot during the forthcoming general elections; it gets me angry, but more committed to work for peace. In the process leading to the general elections next month and in March, there are lots of differences. Money is still going round, but in the area of drugs (to induce youth to engage in thuggery), they are expensive and the money is not there. We have been able to get to the youth to tell them not to accept drugs from any politician. We have been able to reach the religious leaders, to warn them against ungodly acts and remind them that God would hold them responsible for all their actions. We are beginning to see results. We have some elders in the three zones in Kaduna state, two in each zone, who are not politicians, but are well respected and very influential people, who we can report you to. If we discover that you are really difficult, we can report you to the police, we have our mandate that permits us to do that and we are going to do that.
Manipulation of security in Middle Belt and Southern Kaduna
I am also from the Middle Belt; I am Nupe from Lokoja in Kogi state. The Southern part of Kaduna claimed to be Middle Belt. Our programmes are compounded by Christians from the South, who poke us to tell us they are denied certain rights. The North has always worked together because we had a leader. The ardauna of Sokoto did not come up as a Muslim premier, but as a premier who believed in his religion. I was very young then, but if it were now, I would disagree with him in the area of spreading Islam using state tools, but the Sardauna was very fair to all. When John Onaiyekan passed he had distinction and the Sardauna said they should look for him and bring him. We have people who for whatever reasons are trying to drive a wedge between us and there are some Muslim politicians who used Islam for their own benefit and people from the South are saying ‘but we told you’. I suggest we should draw a line. Manipulation is there and the best way to reduce the manipulation level is education.
Reports of el-Rufai discounting Southern Kaduna votes
The Commission can only work on the basis of facts. They said politics is a game of numbers. I would be interested if these journalists find out how many people have registered in Zone I, Zone II and Zone III. All these crowds you see how many of them have their PVCs to vote? If people are only participating by moving from one rally to another, you cannot vote without voter cards. Most of our people in (SouthernKaduna) are not prepared to do politics. Our people don’t support their own, in Zone III there is no cohesion, and this help manipulation and marginalisation. Where you don’t seat at a table and discuss, decisions will be made and taken and it would be binding on you. Our people need re-orientation and our leaders must put the need of our people first for there to be a change.
El-Rufai’s Muslim- Muslim ticket and reactions from Southern Kaduna
As an indigene, I don’t care whether you are Muslim or Christian, if you will be fair, just and honest, I will vote for you. The question of Muslim-Muslim ticket is old story; we need a governor that would meet the need of the people, but because of the sentiments attached to it, I would work hard to get the best person that would lead the people well. How much support did (Stephen) Shekari, (Patrick) Yakowa, (Barnabas Bala) Bantex received from Southern Kaduna people as deputy governors? I don’t believe Governor el-Rufai picked a Muslim running mate in order to say Zone III or Christians are insignificant, you cannot win election in this country on the basis of religion alone. There are Christians in the other zones, there are Christians in Zone I, they are called Maguzawa, and there are Christians in Zone II. Psychologically it is depressing and I can’t disprove that the politics of exclusion is bad, it creates suicide bombers. When we see these things, we meet with the executives, sit down to analyse and advise them, but now the only thing we can do is to melt down the negative impact.
14m out-of -school children and almajirai
We are concentrating mainly on the elections for now, but we have assessed past reports on almajirai in the North and to see what can be done. There are 14 million children that are out-of-school in the North alone. We have to do something about it. If we don’t kill religious division, religion will kill us. Nigerian Christians and Muslims behave like atheists because God says love your enemy, but Nigerians behave as if we don’t believe in God, as if our religion is only on our mouth.
2019 elections and politicians
Politicians must know that if there are no people, you cannot govern dead bodies, they should be careful in choice of words, they should not be involved in hate speeches. They should be very careful with the way they use money. We want to move away from politics being investments; politicians should not do that, so it won’t be do or die. If and when we get to the polling day, I want to plead with the politicians not to buy people. They should not buy our conscience, it is exploitation and God does not like it. They should not drug our young people. The electorates should be very careful, they should be educated to judge whoever wants to be re-elected on the basis of their performances and the person who wants to come in newly, what have they done previously? And for traditional rulers if they collect money from politicians God would judge them.
At age 70
I thank God for being 70 years. I wish the opportunity I have now, I had it 20 years ago, and to go round the world is wonderful. I thank God for the privilege to continue to serve. If I were to remain in the Church, I would retire tomorrow (at age 70), but now I have three and half years to go, after that I want to get a property to site the Centre and serve my retirement there.
