By Dele Sobowale

“Power and money, of course, drive people crazy. So, why shouldn’t people also gain power and wealth through being crazy? Saul Bellow.

(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 195).

The first part of this series was concluded and sent to the SUNDAY Editor on Sunday, August 14, 2016. The next day, Monday, two Nigerian newspapers, GUARDIAN and NATION, carried the same story with the heading ‘New York Imam, Assistant shot dead”. The report was undoubtedly sourced from the wire services or the internet. The NATION’s version is hereby reproduced fully.

“An Imam and his assistant were shot dead as they walked along a street in the New York borough of Queens.

” The men were approached from behind by a man who shot both in the head a police spokesman said.

Last year, the NEW YORK TIMES reported that hate crimes against US Muslims and mosques tripled in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernadino [USA].”

Muslim members of the Imam’s mosque were reported to have expressed sorrow at “the wicked killing of a man of peace” and they went further to state that Muslims in the community are now living in fear for their lives.

Obviously, revenge killings are already underway in some parts of the predominantly Christian world. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to abate as long as Islamic organizations like ISIS and Boko Haram, led by men who had gained power and wealth through being lunatic, continue to unleash havoc on innocent people. It certainly would have been interesting to know what the Muslims in New York denouncing the murder of their “man of peace” thought of the murder of the Catholic priest right in front of his unarmed congregation while performing mass. Did they feel remorse that the heinous crime was committed in the name of their religion by people who are always too eager to lay claim to the crime against humanity? Have they stopped to consider the sense of insecurity Christians and others feel all over the world where there are Muslims among them? Even Australia, so far removed from the Middle East, has felt the impact.

In Europe, refugees bent on premeditated mass slaughter of their hosts have unleashed mayhem several times. Yet, there is outrage when European countries attempt to halt the flow of refugees from Islamic nations. For how long will European governments allow this to continue before political demagogues gain power and start to flush out Muslims. Anybody who thinks another Hitler cannot rise to power promising to rid his country of Muslims must have a crystal ball which can predict up to two hundred years.

At any rate, governments alone might be allowed to decide this matter. Individuals and groups could simply take the decision to fight back as they are already doing in New York and other parts of America. When copy-cats of ISI and Boko Haram take up arms to retaliate, the global Muslim community will find itself at a distinct disadvantage for reasons not too obscure to understand.

In their utter madness, the leaders of ISIS and Boko Haram have failed to notice that predominantly Christian nations and Israel, which is Jewish, possess the more awesome weapons of mass destruction. Even the AK-47 which the lunatic Islamic killers use are imported from non-Muslim nations. On their own they can provide no weapons to threaten anybody. That is why Israel, with a population of less than six(6) million people had defeated the combined forces of more than one hundred million and is still surviving till today on the strength of the superiority of its weaponry. If revenge killing escalates, the global Muslim community will face an arsenal against which it has no defence. That is why it is in the interest of Muslims worldwide to find a way of bringing an end to the mass slaughter of non-Muslims by their brothers in ISIS and Boko Haram. Once retaliation starts, it will take decades before it will stop.

History has provided us with an example with Christians in Northern Ireland when the clash between Catholics and Protestants which started during the time Cardinal Wolsey, 1475-1530, resulting in loss of millions of lives, did not end until the tail end of the last century. Religious conflicts invariably last much longer than wars fought for other reason – mostly because all the combatants claim to be fighting for God. It is thus very easy to recruit martyrs who are too eager to die and to commit mass murders as well.

Let me stop where I started last week – in the beer parlour at Abuja. One of the young men who vowed to kill as many Muslims as possible if any of his family is again  touched by Muslim fanatics made a point by asking a question which he answered himself. “Christ said “if a man strikes you on one cheek, you should turn the other also”. What happens if he slaps the other cheek?”

Before anybody could answer, he had announced the answer. “Since you have no more cheek to turn, you are on your own.” Only God knows how many Christians all over the world now think that they are now on their own…..

WAS BUHARI REALLY IMPOSED BY OBASANJO AND THREE OTHERS?

“Three or four other(sic) of us from different part(sic) of the country got together and said to ourselves ‘what do we do?’ Obasanjo, in a national daily, August 20, 2016.

The PUNCH story was titled ‘I and others brought Buhari to salvage Nigeria’ and it was startling in many respects. Apart from atrocious grammar, Obasanjo has once again demonstrated several of the qualities which make him the most dangerous man in Nigeria alive today. But, let me confirm that he has told Nigerians part of the truth regarding the emergence of Buhari as President.

The log at the Minna Airport will reveal that on the day that Mr Sam Ndah-Isaiah was declaring his bid for presidency under the All Progressives Congress, one of my long-term scouts in Minna, called me at the campaign rally to inform me that Obasanjo had just landed at Minna and was heading for General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s mansion on the hill. I immediately left the rally and called another scout who had access to the mansion.

General Abubakar’s and Babangida’s mansions are very close on one of the best guarded hills in Nigeria. But, as Pindar, c518-438 B.C, Greek poet had said “Neither fire, nor walls of iron can hinder fate” – or for that matter a well-traveled President of Area Boys with scouts nationwide. Soon, I got to know that IBB had joined the two former military Heads of State. It required only a little bit of street wisdom to realize that the only topic on the agenda could be one thing. Who was going to succeed Jonathan? In fact, I am strongly convinced that Jonathan’s fate was sealed that day. There ends the good part; now comes the rest. And that is not so good.

First, until that time OBJ had not torn up his PDP party card and Jonathan was still trying to woo Baba Iyabo without realizing that he was talking to a mole. That is Aremu for you.

A sage once said that “A secret is best kept with two people – with one dead”. Obasanjo’s accomplices in manipulating the last presidential elections were careless to enter into such a deal with a man who cannot be trusted with such things. Uncle Sege talks too much and not often for his own good – or ours. I know the fourth man, another retired general; but his name will remain undisclosed. They worked together before. What is clear from all these is the fact that Obasanjo watched while Jonathan frittered away billions of naira of Nigerian money on re-election when he had been sent packing…