by Peter Adeshina

“And then one evening

As I sat down to eat my yam

A knock on the door froze my hungry hand.

The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawn

Waiting, waiting in its usual silence.”

Above are the last two stanzas of Niyi Osundare’s excellent poem, Not My Business. The poem mirrored the murderous dictatorship of General Sani Abacha in the 80s and even more significantly, the silence of the people in the face of injustice as long as they weren’t affected.

The main character of the poem ignored injustice meted out to others because, to him, it didn’t matter so long ‘they do not take the yam out of his savoring mouth’.

This problem of hypocrisy and selective outrage is still very much apparent in the country today. It is common to see — and hear — citizens justifying clear injustice simply because they aren’t the ones on the receiving end.

Only recently, the Government of Kaduna State followed the illegal killing of the Shiites by the military with a complete ban of the movement. (The madness has also spread to Kano where the government also announced a ban)

The government, in it’s media release, claimed the ban was necessary for the preservation of peace and security. Presently, it is not even the lie and obvious foolishness contained in the press release that is pissing me off, rather it is the large silence and subtle mockery made by those on the other side of the fence: Sunni Muslims.

The variance in belief and views that exist between the Sunnis and the Shiites is well communicated, and not lost on me. To put it straight, they do not like each other. So, by default, the Sunnis are likely to be happy at moves, like that of Kano and Kaduna State Government, that seeks to terminate the existence of Shiites and the group’s movement.

If they do so, it would be a foolish and ill-thought move.

For a group that likes to cite “freedom of association and religion” in it’s various struggles, most prominently the removal of the ban on Hijabs in schools, it must now ensure that this fundamental right is also applied in the case of the Shiites.

By doing so, they will not be promoting or endorsing the activities of the Shiites as many erroneously think, but they would rather be maintaining that the Nigerian government at all levels pay heed to a constitutional right to which the very existence and protection of their own religion is tied.

In speaking against injustice and obedience to rights, I’ve since learned that feelings for the perpetrator and the victim is irrelevant.

The Sunnis are not short of problems in many states across the country, especially ones where they represent the minority. They are fighting tooth and nail to ensure that the governments of these states acknowledge their right to practice their religion. So, ignoring and scoffing at the clamp down on a group with similar challenges, though with different set of beliefs, would represent a mockery of their struggle.

The government of Kaduna and Kano are about to set a bad precedence that any other government in different parts of the country may choose to follow.

Today, it is the Shiites in the North. Tomorrow, it could very well be the Sunni Muslims in the East.

If there is one thing I have learned about government bodies in Nigeria, it is that foolish ideas spread like wildfire across board.

The jeep in Niyi Osundare’s poem has taken away the Shiites, the Sunnis mustn’t wait for it to park on their bewildered lawn before they speak out.

Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Adeshina Peter tweets @Shina_Pitta