The Shi'ite, the Nigerian Army, Zaria and the Nation

The clash between the Nigerian Army and the Shi’ite clan during a “peaceful protest” in Zaria and people’s reaction to this has left me at a state of aw.   I don’t know much about the North than the few places I have been to and Zaria happens to be one of those places. But one thing remains constant; I get very interested in knowing why a lot of things are the way they are. I had the opportunity to work in Zaria for about a week earlier in 2015 and never stopped asking the locals questions. So, I have a bit of a combination of what I saw and experienced within those few days and the answers I got to the questions I asked. This article however does not explain why the clash turned out the way it did. This is just a simple analysis of how I see it to be from my own personal objective perspective.

Zaria and Kaduna as a whole has heavy military presence and road blocks after about every kilometre going into Zaria. This is something I witness on my way to Zaria all the way from the Kaduna airport. According to the locals, this is what has kept the peace there since the former series of tribal and religious crises Kaduna has been known for. . Kaduna is also seen as the military hub of the country where you will find the NDA (Nigera Defence Academy), Jaji ,military training school, NMS (Nigerian Military School) and a lot more That said, if you have been to the northern part of Nigeria you will notice thousands of children (possibly in hundreds of thousands) who have been born and left astray with no known family trace. They predominantly fall in the 'Almajaris and Mabaraci’ categories. In long years most of them have grown to be lazy jobless and unwilling to take up jobs. A lot of cross state transfers happen in the north where certain states pick up some of these children from their state and dump them in other states vice-versa. Now, from Zaria to Kaduna city in particular you will find these same set of children in huge numbers (why boko haram will always have easy recruits).

You will wonder why I have gone all the way to talk about the Almajaris, Mabaraci and the military presence in the Kaduna state.  Considering the current security state of the nation, the most ideal thing to do is to avoid protests as much as possible especially in the northern region of the country. Looking critically to understand what led to the recent clash between the Shi’ites and the Nigerian Army, I have been able to draw some analysis of the situation comparing it to the video released by the Nigerian Army.

1.)        The security state of the country is highly sensitive especially in the Northern part the county which calls for extreme caution in day to day activities. This I think includes protest (peaceful protests too). The reason for this is simple and clear, there is a major security risk in the country especially in the North faced with threats of likely attacks. This means all eyebrows are raised.

2.)        Understanding the nature of the thousands of youngsters (Almajaries etc) who happen to be in the north searching for that opportunity to be relevant and active. All possibilities indicate that since most of them see it as an opportunity to get active and relevant, joining the bandwagon of protesters will be an easy way to achieve this. I can almost guarantee the main people that led to the scene being bloody are the ones that joined the Shi’ite to protest. We see these things happen in the south too but we have them in fewer numbers and more organised. A typical example is carrying a cutlass and pretend to start a protest you will realise thousands will follow you blindly not even knowing or understanding your cause.

3.)        Analysing the video released by the Nigerian Army closely there were about 4 red necks (senior officers Col. and above) pleading with the protesters to let them through which looked unusual (showing they understood the country is in a sensitive state) Generals normally are unlikely to get involved with such anywhere in the world.

Even though the army isn't justified for this, we are at very sensitive times and the force will do everything to protect their own especially a chieftain under threat.. Security details charge with the responsibility to protect the military chieftains will stand at nothing even on their lives to ensure they do not fail. 

Video released by the army 

source: Dadiyata youtube page

Critically looking at the video you will notice all the security details were on stand by in positions behind the generals. This I believe was on instruction of the senior military officer at the forefront to allow them dialogue with the protesters. A better understanding of how the military work will let you know the soldiers on standby will not let any threat or attack face their generals with virtue of their training. Another scene shows the men at the forefront of the protest carefully listening to the senior military officers (a General inclusive) but others at the rear aggravating the scene with chants which would have possibly gone uncontrolled.

I clearly cannot confidently say I know exactly what led to the blood bath, but all these pointers should give a clearer picture of what we are dealing with as a nation.

After all, we are all concerned about the sovereignty of this great nation... God bless Nigeria.