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saharareporters.com
The Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād says its men attacked a police vehicle in Ondo State. According to ISWAP in a statement seen … Continue reading
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“In the last few years there has been incessant and virulent attacks on the Caliphate in the Nigerian press and even published academic works. There is also this growing feeling that the Nigerian State, like many of the artificial creations of European imperialism, is not working and we have spent over three decades after independence groping for a way with very little (some would say no) success. Many feel this has been largely due to our failure to imbibe the ethos and political culture of our pre-colonial societies from whence came our values, culture and aspirations. In this respect the experiences of the Caliphate are essential to the evolution of a workable political arrangement. While it is easy to see the value of showing the relevance of the Caliphal experience to our efforts in fashioning out a workable political arrangement, the benefits seem to be contingent on our dwindling political will.
Thus I would rather opt for looking at the phenomenal aspect of the Caliphate. This has several advantages. First and for once we return to the past not to glorify it but to understand the present and anticipate the future. Second, in these days of visions we should have no difficulty in appreciating the future. Vision 2010, however, appears to be contingent on the continuity of the Nigerian state. There is nothing wrong in hoping for the best, but what harm is done in preparing for the worst? If the optimists fail to win, what do we fall back on? Third, some of us believe that we are first Muslims before being anything else and to this extent we owe our lord and creator, to whom is our ultimate return, an obligation to live the lives of Muslims not only in our private lives but also in the public arena.
In choosing this option, I am not unaware of its problems, particularly the controversy it is likely to generate in Modern Nigeria. I am only too aware that this is neither a typical nor a comfortable way of facing the sad and tormenting facts of modern Nigeria. But I am encouraged by the fact that in my private discussions with people of my generation and older generations many seem extremely worried about the future of modern Nigeria and are prepared to contemplate the impossible. In these days of swift and extraordinary political changes, it is no longer sensible to close options. But many are terrified to contemplate much less mention them, for fear of ridicule, abuse or even something worse. This fear of even as much as thinking aloud seems to me to be a classic indication of our loss of courage, that we cannot simply be ourselves, that we almost feel the need to apologise to modern Nigeria on behalf of the two Caliphates, that we must seek to present ourselves only as modern Nigeria will have us.”
– Dr Usman Muhammad Bugaje, Secretary General – Islam in Africa Organization writing on “The Sokoto Caliphate in Modern Nigeria: Ending it, Mending it or Re-inventing it”, 21st April, 1997.
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