By Sam Eyoboka & Olayinka Latona
AT a recent breakfast roundtable held under the theme, “The men Nigeria needs now,” packaged to prepare Christian men for leadership of the country, somebody asked a question on the vexed issue of an Islamic agenda and the convener, a pastor of an established Pentecostal church, who earlier boasted of his role in the 2015 general elections that installed the current APC administration, made efforts to convince his listeners to bury the thought.
When told of the fear of Christian leaders and groups about the implication of the Revised 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum, he argued that the fear was the product of the misunderstanding of a document designed to assist future leaders of the country.
Instinctively, the recollection of the fall of Constantinople to Muslim jihadists, essentially through the connivance of some Christians, came cascading down. Christianity has a long history in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Armenian Highlands (now part of Turkey), the birthplace of numerous Christian apostles and saints, such as Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, Nicholas of Myra, Polycarp of Smyrna and many others, which, today, are homes to approximately 120,000 Christians and 26,000 Jews out of a population of 80 million people.
When Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI was under intense pressure from Sultan Mehmed II, who was spoiling for war to conquer Constantinople, Constantine turned to Western Europe for help; but the price of centuries of war and enmity between the eastern and western churches had to be paid. As it is with the Nigerian Church fighting itself, the Roman Catholic Church was engaged in war against other Christians; and several other internal wrangling easily stimulated a propaganda initiative by anti-unionist Orthodox partisans in Constantinople; the population, as well as the laity and leadership of the Byzantine Church, became bitterly divided.
Latent ethnic hatred between Greeks and Italians, stemming from the events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1182 by the Greeks and the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, also played a significant role. Finally, the attempted union failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church.
Meanwhile, 19-year old Sultan Mehmed II was massing a fleet to besiege the city from the sea (partially manned by Greek sailors from Gallipoli). Before the siege of Constantinople, it was known that the Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized cannons, but the range of some pieces they were able to field far surpassed the defenders’ expectations. Instrumental to this Ottoman advancement in arms production was a somewhat mysterious iron founder and engineer known as Orban (Urban), a Hungarian (though some suggest he was German) who cast superguns named as “Basilica” measuring 27 feet (8.2 m) long, and able to hurl a 600 lb (272 kg) stone ball over a mile (1.6 km).
Orban initially tried to sell his services to the Christian Byzantines, who were unable to secure the funds needed to hire him and he then left Constantinople and approached Sultan Mehmed II, claiming that his weapon could blast ‘the walls of Babylon itself’. Given abundant funds and materials, the Hungarian engineer built the supergun within three months at Edirne, from where it was dragged by 60 oxen to Constantinople. In the meantime, Orban also produced other cannons for the Turkish siege forces.
Orban’s giant cannon was said to have been accompanied by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men. Mehmed planned to attack the Theodosian Walls, the intricate series of walls and ditches protecting Constantinople from the West, the only part of the city not surrounded by water. His army encamped outside the city, Constantinople on the Monday after Easter, April 2, 1453 while the feuding Christians were ill-prepared.
Entering the city at the head of a procession, Sultan Mehmed went straight to Hagia Sophia—a great architectural monument which served as a unique church—and converted it into a mosque. Afterward he established charitable foundations and provided 14,000 gold ducats per annum for the upkeep and service of the mosque. Hagia Sophia now serves as a museum in Turkey.
Enter CAN
There are various accounts regarding the formation of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, depending on the regional and/or religious background of informants. Overall, however, one fact emerges from all the accounts: by the time CAN was formed, the churches were psychologically ready for ecumenism.
One account of the formation of CAN is given by D.D. Dodo, former protem Secretary of the Benue State Branch of CAN. “To a large extent, what is known today as CAN was started in the North by Christians who were worried that the late Sardauna and the Premier of Northern Region, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, in 1965, wanted to Islamize the North and eventually the entire country. Therefore, Christians and even non-Christians in the North came together as a group to resist the Sardauna’s mission”, Dodo said.
Rt. Rev. Peter Jatau, the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna — the metropolitan headquarters of the Catholic dioceses of the North — and Chairman of CAN for the northern states, said the fear of the Sardauna’s moves gave birth to what was called, in those days, the Northern Christian Association (NCA) and later the Christian Association of the North (CAN). It was limited mainly to the North at that time. The association was successful in the sense that it helped many people to stand firm by their religious conviction.
Around 1975-76, during the Olusegun Obasanjo military regime, things were happening in the country in such a way that Christians in Nigeria thought it would be good to have an organization that would bring them together to discuss common problems.
Anthony Cardinal Olubumi Okogie, then Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, described another facet of the birth of the Association. According to him, CAN, as the name connotes, is an ecumenical association which embraces three big blocs — at the initial stage, the Catholics known as the CSN (Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria), the Christian Council of Nigeria, CCN, and OTHERS (that is, those that belong to neither the CSN nor the CCN group).
Mr. C.O. Williams, the first Secretary-General of CAN, said the story of CAN started with a telegram which the CCN received towards the end of its general assembly held in Jos in August 1976 from then Brigadier Shehu Yar’Adua, the Chief of Staff at the Supreme Military Headquarters, inviting church leaders to a meeting at Dodan Barracks — the then seat of government.
The meeting turned out to be a gathering of Christian leaders. Present were 33 church leaders from 13 denominations, namely: Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, the African Church, Presbyterians, the Salvation Army, the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN), the Apostolic Church, United African Methodists (UAMC), the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), and the HEKAN churches.
The church leaders at the meeting had themselves recorded later as the ‘Foundation Members of the Christian Association of Nigeria’. Government was about to consult them on the “National Pledge” which was being recited in schools.
Unprepared to give an impromptu response to the address, and apparently wanting to speak with one voice, the church leaders told the Chief of Staff that a response would be brought to government at a later date.
Meanwhile, immediately after the meeting, Williams stated: “The Christian leaders suddenly thought: if government could call the church leaders together, why is it that we could not call one another together?
“So, we decided to retire to a convenient spot — all the Church leaders. And the most convenient spot at that time was the Catholic Secretariat. So we all went there, and that was how we decided to form CAN. We did not plan it before then; it just came about like that. Of course, with the antagonism mounting against Christianity in the country, the formation came just at the right time”.
Another participant at that meeting, Rev. Habila Aleyideino from the North, recalled a minor but very significant incident which apparently escaped Williams’ attention.
“One of our members asked that the participants at least round off the meeting with prayer, despite the fact that the meeting had not opened with a prayer. Brigadier Shehu Yar’Adua, the host, said that since there were various denominations, he did not know who could be called upon to lead the prayers. We were so worried that government should make this observation about our not being united, so we decided that we must do something”, Aleyideino said.
CAN was born on August 27, 1976, at the meeting held in the Catholic Secretariat, Lagos.
41years after the birth of CAN, however, some Christians believe that Muslims may not require a violent jihad, as it happened in Turkey, to Islamise Nigeria, because within Christendom there is a strong debate as to whether the Islamic agenda launched in the country is real. Immediate past CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, cried himself hoarse, spending his resources to draw global attention to the threat of Islamisation but was despised and lampooned by many from his constituency.
Some Christians are loud in their defence of the suspected Islamic agenda that what General Theophilus Danjuma (ret.), General Joshua Dogonyaro (ret.), General Zamani Lekwot (ret.), Elder Solomon Asemota, Gen. Ishaku Dikko (ret.), Justice Kalajine Anigbogu (ret.), Elder Shyngle Wigwe, DIG P. L. Dabup, and lately Cardinal Okogie as well as several other seasoned professionals have diagnosed as a real problem with Nigeria may not be a ruse after all.
National Christian Elders Forum, headed by Elder Asemota, SAN, says jihad has already been launched in the country and Islamists which, it claimed, had been interfering in the governance of the country using “Taqiyya” (approved deception) as “Stealth/Civilisation Jihad” and Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen as violent jihad, are relentless in their pursuit of eradicating democracy in Nigeria.
As it was in Constantinople, Nigerian Christians are busy shooting one another down despite the obvious lapses in the Revised 9-year Education Curriculum which include inciting/derogatory statements which attack the foundation of Christianity like ‘Jesus was not the Son of God; was not crucified and did not resurrect’, textbooks in print that combine Islamic Religious Knowledge and Christian Religious Knowledge thus exposing children to other religions which negates the principles of our Constitution; absence of subjects like History, Geography and Economics in the new curriculum; making religious studies compulsory without the adequate provision of teachers in those subjects. The implication is that Christian students in the core North will be forced to take IRK while Muslim students in the South will be forced to take CRK..
Some of these policies unfortunately were introduced under a Christian President, Dr. Goodluck Ebere Jonathan, Minister of State for Education Nyeson Wike, a Christian, and Prof. Godswill Obioma, also a Christian, as Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, just as it happened with the compulsory introduction of Arabic language in an NUC draft document in 2014 under Prof. Julius Okojie’s tenure.
In the NUC draft document, a student that refuses to take Arabic language as a result of conflict with his/her religion is short – changed of marks.
CAN, after last week’s reversal to status quo on the Revised Curriculum, urged the Federal Government to direct the NERDC to organise a seminar on the new curriculum with a view to addressing the grey areas in it, especially topics that can promote rebellion in children.
The association, which had earlier raised the issue in a meeting with the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo asked government to ensure there is no discrimination against any student because of religious beliefs in our public schools.
Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, CAN President, foresaw danger ahead if the curriculum that merged Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge with the Civic Education was made to stay.
To buttress his point, Ayokunle cited a case in Kwara State where a Christian student was allegedly brutalised for refusing to register for Islamic Religious Knowledge.
And as if to justify the NCEF argument of approved deception, the Federal Ministry of Education dismissed the claim that Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) had been removed as a subject of study from the secondary school curriculum.
According to the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Chinenye Ihuoma, the ministry had only designed a new subject which merged Civic Education, IRS, CRK and Social Studies into “Religion and National Values”.
But her words, to say the least, only aggravated Christians fear especially when she stated that the ministry had designed a new subject which merged Civic Education, IRS, CRK and Social Studies into “Religion and National Values”.
Mrs. Ihuoma (a Christian) stated: “I have not seen the details but in a case where you have subject combinations in the same period, everyone will attend lectures that correspond with their own religion. Arabic and Islamic Studies are not standing alone. Islamic Religious Study and Christian Religious Study as well as national values will be taught under a new subject.”
In his own reaction, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, who also faulted CAN’s position, contradicted the position of the ministry but his defence too is full of loopholes.
“NERDC hereby states that CRK is still taught in school as a separate distinct subject with the accompanying Teachers’ Guide. CRK is not a theme in Civic Education. Civic Education is a distinct subject on its own which teaches the rudiments of good citizenship”, Junaidu said.
He went further to disclose a directive given by the Minister of Education on the merger which the ministry under his watch claims has not been implemented.
Rising from a quarterly NEC/NAC meeting, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN—with big wigs like Bishop Mike Okonkwo, Bishop David Oyedepo, Rev. Felix Omobude, Apostle Emmanuel Kure and representatives of Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Pastor William Kumuyi—warned the Federal and State Governments against any attempt to force Christian students in secondary schools to offer Islamic Studies. Meanwhile the Nigerian Christian Elders Forum criticised the Revised Curriculum, saying ‘sectional appointments in security and education sectors’ were no mistakes but designs to put Muslims only in strategic positions in Nigeria. “This brazen attempt at Islamization of Nigeria has extended to Classes 1-9 in schools through the introduction of the Religion and National Values subject which denigrates Christianity and promotes Islam”, the group said.
In a related development, a delegation of Christian leaders, led by Prof. Charles Adeyinka Adisa, National President, Nigeria Christian Graduate Fellowship (NCGF), met Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Reading a position paper, Adisa outlined observations, worries and fears of the Christian community on the Revised Curriculum, observing that CRK was listed as part of an omnibus subject called Religion and National Values with others such as IRK, Social Studies, Civic Education and Security Education.
“By this lumping together, in-depth study of the subject is lost to necessity of accommodation of other subjects. Further, we observed that the content of the curriculum and the textbooks approved by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) deliberately denigrated the person of the founder of the Christian faith”, he said.
“The Islamic religious studies section of the same curriculum document impudently denied the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—the cardinal truth of the Christian faith.
“This we consider as obnoxious, offensive and provocative. If this was limited to a private religious belief, it is understandable, but making such statements in a national document for all faiths is indeed obnoxious.
“We also observed that the omnibus subject called Religion and National Values is compulsory in national examinations such as JSS3, SS3 and NECO. The implication is that a student must do any of the two religions as part of the overall subjects.
“In a situation where there is no subject teacher for any of the two religious studies, the student will compulsorily do the available, not minding whether it conflicts with his or her faith.
“Finally, we observed that many schools particularly in the northern part of the country deliberately refused to employ Christian religious teachers, thereby denying the Christian students the right to choose Christian religious studies and indirectly forcing them to do Islamic religious studies.”
According to Adisa, the battle had just begun for the Christian community because “we consider this curriculum a means of promoting one religion (Islam) above other religions in a multi religious nation”.
He went on: “We are also worried that there is a deliberate act of indoctrination of Nigerian children through the curriculum towards Islam.
“This to us is the most subtle and most dangerous way of executing a jihad. We are worried by the confusion this curriculum would create in the minds of the minors.
END
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